Ireland takes over the EU Council presidency on 1 July with a tech-heavy legislative agenda, but its economy depends on the very companies those rules target. Two firms, understood to be Apple and Microsoft, paid 40 per cent of all Irish corporate tax in 2024.
Ireland takes over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU on 1 July, inheriting a legislative agenda that includes proposals to curb Europe’s reliance on American tech, simplify the bloc’s digital rulebook, decide whether to ban children from social media, and overhaul telecom regulations. The country holding the presidency is supposed to act as an honest broker, finding common ground among 27 member states rather than advancing its own interests.
That role is complicated when the broker’s economy runs on the companies being regulated. Sixteen of the world’s 20 largest tech firms reportedly operate hubs in Ireland, and more than 100,000 people work in the sector.
The tax question
Ireland’s fiscal watchdog, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, warned earlier this year that just two companies, understood to be Apple and Microsoft, paid almost 40 per cent of all corporate tax in Ireland in 2024. That amounted to roughly €11 billion, with a third firm, understood to be Eli Lilly, bringing the share to 46 per cent.
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“It’s widely acknowledged, including by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, that Ireland is too reliant on Big Tech firms,” said Michael McNamara, the liberal MEP who co-led the European Parliament’s package to roll back elements of the AI Act. He said Ireland needs to be “clear-eyed about the pressures that will come during the Presidency” from companies headquartered in Dublin.
The enforcement record
Ireland’s presidency agenda runs through the same regulatory territory where it has faced sustained criticism. The Irish Data Protection Commission, the body responsible for policing GDPR compliance by tech firms that base their European operations in Dublin, has been accused of being too lenient on enforcement and of allowing a revolving door between the regulator and the private sector.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties has called for Ireland to recuse itself from all digital files during the presidency. Lynn Boylan, a left-wing MEP from the opposition party Sinn Féin, said Ireland’s economic model is “deeply tied to keeping a small number of overwhelmingly American tech corporations comfortable,” creating an “obvious conflict.”
What Big Tech wants
Tech firms made their priorities clear in a public consultation Ireland held ahead of the presidency. CCIA Europe, the Big Tech lobby group, called for Ireland to “double down” on simplifying tech rules and “firmly reject” sovereignty provisions that could exclude foreign firms.
Meta urged Ireland to “adopt a leadership position in shaping Europe’s digital agenda,” calling for a “complete overhaul” of the bloc’s digital rules and a “pause on implementation” of new regulations. It also said Ireland should bring its “unique relationship with the U.S.” to the fore during the presidency.
Bram Vranken, a researcher at the transparency group Corporate Europe Observatory, said that while companies lobby every country holding the presidency, “in the case of Ireland they know they have more leverage.” Irish officials pointed to the fact that they published all lobby submissions received during the consultation as evidence of transparency.
The honest broker test
Ireland’s defenders point to its track record. During its last presidency in 2013, Ireland pushed GDPR negotiations so hard that diplomats from other member states slept in tents to maximise negotiating time, earning praise from then-Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding.
Two EU diplomats, granted anonymity to speak candidly, told Politico that Ireland had been “very fair” and “very professional” on previous digital files. Niamh Smyth, Ireland’s minister of state for artificial intelligence, rejected the idea that Big Tech’s presence would compromise the presidency.
“We have had many presidencies before, and we have always done our job well and done it objectively,” Smyth told Politico. Billy Kelleher, a liberal MEP from the governing Fianna Fáil party, added that Ireland should “not be embarrassed about being a success story.”
Whether simplification tips into deregulation will define how the presidency is judged. The question for the next six months is whether Dublin can separate what is good for its economy from what is right for the bloc.
There aren’t many modern sports cars that manage to feel like a genuine loophole in the system, but this one does. It blends two very different engineering worlds into a single package, and somehow it just works.
It’s quick too, with a 3.9-second sprint to 60 mph and an inline-six that’s already earned a reputation as one of the best in modern performance cars. On top of that, it benefits from one of the widest dealer networks you’ll find outside the domestic brands, which takes a lot of the usual ownership stress out of the equation.
The strange part is how few people seem to have fully clocked what this combination actually means. It feels like one of those setups that won’t be around in this form much longer, even if it probably should be.
In order to give you the most up-to-date and accurate information possible, the data used to compile this article was sourced from BMW, Porsche, and Toyota, as well as other authoritative sources including TopSpeed.
This monstrous machine leaves sports cars in its dust.
One of the best modern sports cars is quietly on its way out
A rare performance bargain mixing BMW power with Toyota reliability is ending soon
Credit: Mazda
This sports coupe has been around since 2019, but it’s now heading toward the end of the road. When it’s gone, it’ll leave behind one of those weird, unlikely combinations that probably won’t happen again.
It only exists because a few things lined up at exactly the right time, from partnerships to platform sharing. Once that window closes, it’s hard to see it opening again in quite the same way.
The end isn’t coming—it’s already here
Credit: Nissan
In an official statement, the company confirmed production wrapped in March 2026. You can still spec one on the website, but no new cars are coming off the line.
The news didn’t exactly set the auto world on fire, but the impact runs deeper than the headlines suggested. There’s no successor planned, and last time it took two decades for the nameplate to return.
For now, what’s left is a Final Edition model and the slow realization that this chapter is already closed.
A partnership that won’t happen twice
Credit: NetCarShow.com
This sports car comes from a platform shared by two automakers that couldn’t be more different if they tried. It wears a Japanese badge, has a German twin, and is built in Graz, Austria.
Without that partnership, it probably never would’ve made it to production in the first place. Now that its German sibling has also bowed out, the deal that made both cars possible has officially run its course.
Credit: NetCarShow.com
For this kind of two-door performance car to exist again, the brand would need either a fresh partnership or a completely new platform. The catch is it hasn’t built its own performance inline-six in over 20 years.
Sure, it has the resources to develop one from scratch, but the business case just doesn’t really add up anymore. This sports coupe only happened because the timing and circumstances lined up perfectly — and that window now looks firmly closed.
These family sedans offer sporty handling, strong acceleration, and everyday practicality, making them perfect for driving enthusiasts with families.
The Supra’s BMW DNA is exactly what made it work
What started as controversy ended up being its biggest strength
If you still haven’t guessed it, we’re talking about the Toyota GR Supra. When the MkV first dropped, a lot of the JDM crowd wasn’t exactly impressed—the BMW engine swap caused a full-on backlash.
But looking back now that it’s gone, that whole controversy hits differently. What people once saw as a betrayal is actually a big part of what made this car so interesting in the first place.
The B58 came at exactly the right time
Credit: Toyota
Toyota had been working on the next-generation Supra for nearly a decade before the name finally came back in 2019. One of the biggest challenges was figuring out the right engine—something that wouldn’t be shared across the rest of the lineup.
Even with all its R&D resources, building a brand-new inline-six just for the Supra didn’t really make sense financially or practically. It was one of those cases where doing it alone just wasn’t realistic.
By 2019, BMW’s 3.0-liter B58 inline-six had already built a reputation as one of the best performance engines for the money. It stood out for its smoothness, responsiveness, and surprising durability—all traits that lined up perfectly with what Toyota wanted for the Supra.
Timing-wise, it couldn’t have worked out better for Toyota, which saw the engine’s potential right away. In the GR Supra, the B58 puts out 382 horsepower and 368 lb-ft of torque through an eight-speed automatic, good for a 0–60 mph run in about 3.9 seconds, with independent tests dipping closer to 3.7 seconds.
The Gazoo Racing effect
Credit: Toyota
There’s a common misconception that the GR Supra is just a rebadged BMW Z4, but that’s not really the case. The platform underneath both cars was a joint effort from the start, not a one-way handover.
Toyota’s chief engineer, Tetsuya Tada, pushed for a co-developed setup that fit the vision for a modern sports coupe. Drive a Z4 and a Supra back to back and the difference shows pretty quickly—the Supra feels sharper and more performance-focused, while the Z4 leans more into relaxed grand touring.
The 2026 BMW M240i delivers thrilling performance, sharp handling, and everyday comfort—all without the M2’s hefty price tag.
The GR Supra became a modern enthusiast favorite
A balanced sports car that nails performance, usability, and value
Credit: Toyota
Beyond all the early controversy, the GR Supra has quietly proven itself as a seriously well-rounded modern sports car. When you strip away the noise, it holds up exactly where it matters most.
It’s quick, easy to live with day to day, and doesn’t come with the usual headaches you’d expect from something this performance-focused. In terms of performance, usability, and long-term ownership confidence, it doesn’t just tick boxes—it actually delivers in all of them.
Performance meets everyday usability
Credit: Toyota
The performance you get from the $59,595 2026 Toyota GR Supra 3.0 is honestly hard to ignore. It’ll do 0–60 mph in about 3.7 to 3.9 seconds straight from the factory, which puts it right in the mix with cars like the $86,600 BMW M4 Competition Coupe.
But the Supra isn’t just about straight-line speed. You’re also getting proper hardware like Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires, adaptive suspension, Brembo brakes, and an active limited-slip diff, all working together to make it feel far more capable than its price suggests.
What’s surprising is how easy it is to live with day to day. There’s usable cargo space, comfortable stock seats, and enough refinement that it doesn’t feel out of place as a daily driver. It can genuinely do track days and the weekday commute without much compromise, which is exactly why it stands out in this segment.
Long-term ownership confidence
Credit: Toyota
The BMW B58 used to be the GR Supra’s biggest talking point for all the wrong reasons, but over time it’s turned into one of its strongest assets. It’s built well beyond its stock output and has a long track record of handling serious tuning without breaking a sweat.
Thanks to its closed-deck design and the durability upgrades over older N5x inline-sixes, it has a lot more headroom than most engines in this class. These days, 600+ horsepower B58 builds are pretty common in the tuning world, but that level of strength and reliability used to be almost unheard of in a setup like this.
The GR Supra gets even more compelling when you factor in Toyota’s massive dealer network — the largest of any non-domestic brand in the U.S. It’s roughly 3.5 times bigger than BMW’s, with Toyota dealerships in just about every major town across all 50 states.
Credit: Toyota
In California alone, Toyota has 136 locations compared with BMW’s 52, which makes servicing and support noticeably easier. That kind of coverage adds real-world convenience that goes beyond just the car itself.
On top of that, the Supra comes with a 5-year/60,000-mile warranty versus the BMW Z4’s 4-year/50,000-mile coverage. That effectively gives you an extra year of protection just for choosing Toyota, which is a pretty solid bonus.
It’s German engineering backed by Japanese peace of mind, and that combination is hard to beat.
Supercars may be fun to drive, but they cost a fortune. Here are 10 cars with similar performance, which cost a lot less.
The GR Supra may be the last of its kind
A rare performance formula that’s getting harder to find
Credit: Toyota
The GR Supra’s discontinuation isn’t just the end of a model—it feels like the end of an era for this kind of sports car. We’re drifting further away from a market that prioritizes pure performance engineering, and cars like this are becoming harder to justify.
That means a rear-wheel-drive six-cylinder sports coupe at this price point might not come around again for a long time, if ever.
The enthusiast market is slowly disappearing
Credit: BMW
At $58,300, the 2026 GR Supra 3.0 base trim is definitely not what you’d call cheap. It’s one of Toyota’s more premium and unique offerings, but it still manages to punch above its weight in terms of value.
Compared with its twin, the 2026 BMW Z4 M40i, which starts at $68,400, the Supra comes in noticeably cheaper for basically the same core hardware. Even the 2026 BMW M2 Coupe at $69,000 undercuts it in price but still trails slightly in 0–60 mph performance versus the base Supra.
If you wanted to go Porsche instead, the 718 Cayman unfortunately isn’t part of the picture anymore. Even if it were, you’d be looking at something like a $200,000 718 Cayman GT4 RS to match or beat the Supra’s performance.
The 2026 Toyota GR86 Premium is a great sports car in its own right, but it delivers a very different, more lightweight experience compared to the Supra. At the end of the day, the GR Supra really stood alone as the only car that blended BMW M-level performance with a Toyota price tag.
What comes next won’t be better
Credit: Toyota
It’s hard not to feel a bit pessimistic about where things are heading for driving enthusiasts. As everyday cars keep getting more expensive and priorities shift toward emissions and practicality, traditional sports cars are being pushed further out of reach.
The entry barrier just keeps climbing, and a lot of people who would’ve once been into cars are drifting toward other, more affordable interests instead. If the GR Supra’s successor ends up being a hybrid or EV, it’ll likely feel more filtered, more expensive, and less raw than what came before.
The Supra really nailed a rare formula—BMW-level performance with Toyota reliability—and there’s a real chance we won’t see that combination done quite as well again.
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