This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.

TESLA MODEL Y #1 IN THE WORLD
It’s a historic day for electric vehicles. For the first time ever an EV was the best-selling vehicle worldwide. Tesla sold a little more than 267,000 Model Ys in the first quarter of the year, according to the market research company JATO Dynamics. The Y beat out all body types of the Toyota Corolla, which were more than 10,000 units behind the Tesla. But Toyota will likely retain its spot as the top automaker for the full year. It holds the next three sales spots with the Hilux, RAV4 and Camry, and in that order. 

FORD GETS TESLA SUPERCHARGERS
Speaking of Tesla, it’s giving Ford access to its Supercharger network. And not only that, in 2025 Ford will start equipping its EVs with Tesla’s style of charging port, which it now calls the North American Charging Standard. This gives Ford owners access to more than 12,000 Supercharger locations across the U.S. and Canada and builds on the 10,000+ fast chargers that Ford already operates in its own BlueOval Charge Network. Ford claims that its owners now have access to the largest charging network in the U.S. and Canada. It’s no secret that Tesla’s Superchargers provide the most consistent and reliable experience and Ford CEO Jim Farley says “widespread access to fast-charging is absolutely vital to our growth as an EV brand…” 

BRAZIL’S LULA MAKES CARS MORE AFFORDABLE 
Brazil’s president Inacio da Silva, better known as Lula, wants to make cars more affordable for middle class people. Bloomberg reports that the interest rate on a car loan for most Brazilians is 29%. So Lula is handing out tax breaks of about 11% on cars that cost less than $24,000. That will drop the cost of the cheapest cars to about $12,000. Brazil is a tough place for legacy automakers to make a profit. Ford closed its assembly operations there in 2019, Mercedes sold its plant to Great Wall last year and Toyota will pull out this year. But Chinese automakers see big opportunities in Brazil. In addition to Great Wall, nine other Chinese automakers are making vehicles, including Changan and BYD.  

U.S. SLASHES AIR POLLUTION
Do all these emission controls really make any kind of difference? You bet they do. The EPA published its annual air quality report for the US and the improvements are significant. Compared to 1970 the 6 key air pollutants that the EPA tracks are down 78%. Since 1990 carbon dioxide is down 81%. Since the year 2000, 2.5-micron particulate matter, what they call PM 2.5, is down 42%. And since 2010 lead in the air is down 88%. NOx, sulfur dioxide and ozone are also down dramatically. Not all that improvement came from emissions controls on cars, but they played a big role. And the economy kept on growing even as air quality regulations were tightened up.  

U.S. MAY SALES LOOKING GOOD
Good news for automakers in the US. May sales are expected to be strong. J.D. Power and LMC Automotive are forecasting that sales this month will hit 1.34 million units, up more than 15% from a year ago. That includes both retail and fleet sales. Retail sales were just over a million units, which is a nearly 10% gain. And with inventory improving, automakers are allocating more vehicles to fleet customers, which are expected to increase 50% in May compared to a year ago. Fleet sales account for about 20% of the total market. But despite more vehicles going to fleets, which can drag down value, transaction prices continue to rise and will reach an average just below $46,000 or 0.7% more than last year. That means car buyers are on track to spend $47 billion on new cars this month.

BENTLEY STEALS VOLVO’S HEAD DESIGNER
Bentley went on a head-hunting trip and ended up with Volvo’s head of global design, Robin Page. This is actually a reunion for Bentley and Page. Before joining Volvo, he was head of interior design at Bentley from 2001 to 2013, and was involved with the Continental GT, Mulsanne and the state limousine for the royal monarch. Page will report directly to Bentley Chairman and CEO, Adrian Hallmark and he’s replacing Tobias Suhlmann, who’s leaving the company to pursue other opportunities, as they say.

NIKOLA FACES DELISTING
The Nasdaq is threatening to delist another EV startup, this time it’s Nikola. The company’s shares are trading at 73 cents, which is below the $1 minimum requirement to stay on the exchange. Last month, the Nasdaq warned Lordstown Motors that it too could be delisted for falling below the requirement. But as we reported yesterday, Lordstown did a 1:15 reverse stock split to boost its shares over a dollar. And a quick correction from yesterday, I mistakenly said for every 15 shares of stock you own, you’ll get another one. I should have said for every 15 Lordstown shares that you owned, you’ll now just have one.

BLUE BIRD BUILDING EV SCHOOL BUS PLANT
You can expect to see a lot more electric school buses picking up and dropping off kids. Blue Bird, one of the biggest school bus makers in the U.S., opened a new multi-million-dollar facility in Georgia that features a dedicated assembly line for electric school buses. Its production volume will increase from 4 buses a day up to 20 and give Blue Bird a yearly output of up to 5,000. The electric buses it makes are the ones that look like a big rectangle and feature a propulsion system developed by Cummins as well as a 155-kWh lithium ion battery, which provides up to 120 miles of range. Blue Bird made the move to meet rising demand because there’s more incentive to go electric. The new infrastructure bill in the U.S. will give out $5 billion over five years for clean school bus transportation. And as we recently learned, a single electric school bus with bi-directional charging can earn as much as $10,000 selling electricity back to public utilities.

NSU CELEBRATES 150TH BIRTHDAY
Some car companies didn’t start out as car companies. Peugeot traces its roots back to 1810 as a steel foundry making hand tools. In 1926 Toyota started making weaving looms. And now Audi is celebrating the 150th anniversary of NSU. It started making knitting machines in 1873, then started making motorcycles in 1901 and then cars in 1905. NSU is not well known outside of Europe, but it was a pioneering company. It was the first automaker to use wankel engines when its RO 80 sedan came out in 1967. In fact, Mazda licensed the right to use wankels from NSU. But the wankel almost bankrupted NSU and in 1969 Volkswagen bought it and later merged it with Audi. And that’s why Audi is celebrating the 150th anniversary of NSU. 

I hope you enjoyed that little history lesson. Have a great weekend, and because of the Memorial Day holiday on Monday in the US, we’ll see you back here next Tuesday.