AD #3567 – George Soros Dumps Tesla, Rivian, Ford Stock; Used EV Sales Booming; BMW Converts To Electric Ovens

May 15th, 2023 at 11:56am

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Listen to “AD #3567 – George Soros Dumps Tesla, Rivian, Ford Stock; Used EV Sales Booming; BMW Converts To Electric Ovens” on Spreaker.

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Runtime: 9:10

0:00 Auto Supplier Refuses Airbag Recall
1:04 George Soros Dumps Auto Stocks
1:46 Kia Launches EV Lease Program
3:05 Buttigieg Says Don’t Call It Autopilot
3:34 Used EV Sales Booming
4:39 No More RHD Tesla S & X
5:13 BMW Converts to Electric Ovens
5:58 Some Suppliers Safe from Vertical Integration
6:47 Honda Launches Carbon Neutral Plan
7:23 Honda-Isuzu FCEV For HD Trucks

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22 Comments to “AD #3567 – George Soros Dumps Tesla, Rivian, Ford Stock; Used EV Sales Booming; BMW Converts To Electric Ovens”

  1. Lambo2015 Says:

    I guess when it comes to the ARC airbags it really depends on how ARC knows this is an isolated manufacturing defect, and isolated to what? Isolated to the two failures that already killed people or to that day of production or maybe a few thousand. I’m not surprised that the NHTSA just doesnt go after the car manufacturers which will just forward the recall costs back to ARC anyway. Thats what happened with Takata.

  2. Albemarle Says:

    67 million airbags with 2 deaths and 7 injuries. That’s an amazingly reliable safety product. NHTSA is overstepping a bunch. They are setting standards that manufacturers will refuse to sell product into the U.S. market.

  3. Lambo2015 Says:

    Sean maybe you can answer this? The $7500 thats part of the IRA is that still a tax credit or a rebate? Because I know when you lease vehicles now and you want to purchase after the lease is up. You pay taxes on the balance and includes rebates or discounts from the manufacturer. Maybe thats just my state but I wonder how that plays out in these EV leases.

  4. Norm T Says:

    Not sure a KIA EV6 warrants $638/month before taxes and other leasing fees.

  5. GM Veteran Says:

    GM announced this morning that they will be recalling their large Chevy, Buick and GMC crossovers from 2014 – 2017 for this airbag inflator problem. It seems that the problem with all of them is that as they get older, under certain conditions, they could go off randomly. Their safety record could get a lot worse as time goes by. For me, I would rather not drive a vehicle with a potential time bomb sitting in front of me.

  6. Jim Haines Says:

    F Soros and as far as getting rude of ovens like NY is stupid as it gets

  7. Wim van Acker Says:

    @1, 2, 5 I did not know ARC so just looked it up: airbag producer ARC Automotive was purchased by Chinese YinYi Group in 2016. The Chinese owners probably want to avoid major cost.

  8. Victor West Says:

    I just got back from Belgium and The Netherlands. No way total electrification. Way too many existing cars on roads. Mass car ownership. By the way no traffic scars from crashes like on our streets. Greater density of traffic and the almost never hit each other.

  9. Bob Wilson Says:

    For insights on investing, I follow Sandy Munro and other engineers. Everyone else is at best a pretender.

  10. Roger Blose Says:

    Used EVs….I just took a look at the Mach E battery warrantee online. 8 years/100K has some great fine print. Reman batteries if replacement called for as long as the battery has been properly charged and cared for. You can see the fights coming. As they say in Shark Tank, “I am out”.

  11. XA351GT Says:

    Victor my guess is it is a lot harder and more expensive to get a license over there. I know Germany is very strict with their standards for getting license and it is not cheap. I would guess the other Euro countries are also.

  12. Wim van Acker Says:

    @8 I grew up in the Netherlands and spend one month per year there divided over five visits during which I drive a lot between the major cities Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, so know the traffic situation well. I am glad you had such a good impression, but believe me, accidents do happen. The number of road deaths per 100,000 inhabitants and also per 100,000 motor vehicles is a third of ours in the U.S. so much lower but not zero.

    As to electrification: I believe nowhere electrification can be 100% because there are use cases for which an ICE is better suited. I am no expert but expect the percentage of EVs in the Netherland to become among the highest in the world: small area with 17 million inhabitants with a high income per capita, smaller vehicles, very mild winters, a population pro-environmental protection (but strongly opposed to several measures implemented recently which are considered overdone). The use cases which do not favor EVs for many of the Dutch population are long road trips to France, Spain, Austria during the long vacations in summer and winter. So there are limits to electrification in the Netherlands, too, until the battery charging issue has been resolved well.

  13. Wim van Acker Says:

    @11 you are right. Getting a license is not considered a right but a privilege which has to be earned. Driver’s education is strict and the tests are rigorous. Not as sweet as I have seen in the U.S. when my kids got their driver’s licenses. The bar was very low. Our death rate is 3X, partly caused by poor driving skills and discipline of many.

    In Western European countries speed limits are enforced by radar. 2 Miles per hour over speed limit gets you a ticket. I learned that the hard way myself: my mom’s vehicle, which I used a lot does not have cruise control. Apparently I need that because after a few years my sister told me: “You may not be aware of it, but mom usually pays $300-500 in speeding tickets in the weeks after your visits.” When I asked my mom why she never informed me, she said “I am so happy that you visit me so often, so I am happy to take care of the tickets.”

  14. Roger T Says:

    Regarding discontinuing RHD S: Anyone else feels Tesla doesn’t prioritize customer relations? I walked away from a M-Y because I decided to visit their delivery center and was appalled by how they reacted when I asked for a test drive. Tesla changes prices & features as frequently as we cut grass. Car companies announce ahead of time when they’re discontinuing products, obsolescence is planned, always (See Chevrolet’s Bolt communication). Companies treat customers with respect otherwise they ultimately lose.

  15. Sean Wagner Says:

    12 Wim – Nice. I’ve been often. Amsterdam Centraal was one of the first places Tesla Model Ss could be habitually seen in Europe. One of the challenges for full electrification will be the ubiquitous caravans ;)

  16. Wim van Acker Says:

    @14 I have only visited a TESLA delivery center once, so this is not representative for their operation. A friend of mine was very keen on owning a Model X. Availability was very limited: there was one as he wanted it in Columbus, Ohio. A 220 miles drive and he did not know how to get there. He thought about taking an UBER but even he thought that was too much money. I offered him to drive him there, I had just gotten my Diesel powered-Wrangler and did not mind driving a longer distance. He had raved about the easy sales process, all online. The delivery of this $120,000 vehicle was very underwhelming: friendliness of the staff comparable with when I pick up a pizza. They had not even charged the vehicle, so he left for Detroit with a 50% charged battery. He made it to his house without charging but I thought it was poor customer service on many levels.

  17. Merv Says:

    Great comments/great show today

  18. Kit Gerhart Says:

    16 That is seriously poor for a $120K vehicle. The Porsche dealer did much better with my “cheap” base Cayman. It even came with a full tank of gas.

  19. Kit Gerhart Says:

    14 I’m not surprised that Tesla are dropping the RHD S and X. They would be very low volume. I assume they will keep the RHD 3 and Y.

    I am surprised that they didn’t want to give a test drive. I drove through the Tesla store near me recently, and they offered me a test drive, even though I told them I wasn’t in the market, not having home charging, and I’d had a test drive a few months ago. I think the test drives may be only Model 3, unless they think you are a serious prospect for others.

  20. Roger T Says:

    19 – Yeah I was buying the Y, and a dry ‘no’ instead of telling me (which I later found out) that they had a location downtown I could schedule a test drive, it turned me off as I wondered if I would have had to deal with that attitude for servicing later. In either case I feel I got something else I like more, in the end it worked out for me.

  21. Kit Gerhart Says:

    20 So what did you get?

  22. Roger T Says:

    XC60 recharge. Google software issues but once those were sorted it’s been great.