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Runtime: 10:15
0:00 Biden Backs Off EPA ICE Emission Regs
1:28 Lithium, Nickel Prices Plummet
2:23 NYSE Warns Fisker Over Delisting
2:54 NHTSA Investigates Fisker
3:36 Faraday Sued Over Back Rent
4:30 UAW Threatens Another Ford Strike
5:36 Italy Pressuring Stellantis For More Production
6:23 Stellantis Could Make Chinese EVs In Italy
6:55 NASCAR Teams Hire Lawyer to Litigate with France Family
8:13 Peak Auto: New Car Sales Stalled
8:51 Autonomous Pleasure Boating
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
Sales of electric vehicles are slowing dramatically in China, the US and the EU, and that’s having a major impact on the automotive industry. It’s affecting environmental policy, raw materials pricing, and stock market valuations that we’ll get into in today’s report.
BIDEN BACKS OFF EPA ICE EMISSION REGS
Let’s start in the U.S. where the Biden Administration dropped something of a bombshell over the weekend. It’s going to back off on emissions regulations for ICE vehicles that were designed to push EV market share to 67% of the new car market by 2032. Though we don’t have specifics on the new rules, they would require a slower ramp-up in sales through 2030 but still require a steeper ramp-up after that. Automakers and car dealers have asked the Biden Administration to ease off on the new emissions regulations, but what seems to have convinced the Administration to act was pressure from the UAW to ease up, because it fears EVs will lead to jobs losses. And with the presidential election looming on the horizon, and the fact that the President needs the union’s support, it looks like the UAW got what it wants.
LITHIUM, NICKEL PRICES PLUMMET
Meanwhile, the sharp drop in EV growth is wreaking havoc on prices for the raw materials needed to make batteries. Prices for lithium are down a staggering 90% and the price of nickel has been cut in half. Glencore, a giant mining company, is shutting down a nickel mine in New Caledonia in the Pacific. BHP, the biggest mining company in the world, says it may have to close a nickel mine in Australia. The Wall Street Journal reports that investments in new lithium mines, especially in the U.S., could slow dramatically if prices stay low. But there is something of a silver lining, or maybe it’s a nickel lining or lithium lining. Lower prices for raw materials will make it cheaper to make EV batteries, and that could help spur demand—and start the cycle all over again.
NYSE WARNS FISKER OVER DELISTING
The slowdown in EV sales is wreaking havoc on EV startups that are really struggling.
Fisker was warned by the New York Stock Exchange that it’s in non-compliance with the exchange’s rules because Fisker’s stock dropped below $1 for 30 consecutive days. Three years ago, the company’s market cap reached a high of $7.9 billion but as of Friday it tumbled to only $293 million.
NHTSA INVESTIGATES FISKER
And if that isn’t bad enough, Fisker is facing a safety investigation from NHTSA, because of four owner complaints of “unintended vehicle movement or vehicle rollaway” with the Ocean EV. NHTSA says the owners cite the “inability to shift into park and/or the vehicle not shifting into the intended gear.” This is the second probe NHTSA has launched into the Ocean. It opened the first one in January over allegations of braking loss when traveling on low-traction surfaces or bumpy roads. And in online forums, owners have complained about various software issues.
FARADAY SUED OVER BACK RENT
And it’s not just Fisker that’s struggling. Techcrunch reports that Faraday Future could lose its LA headquarters for failing to pay rent. The landlord says it’s owed nearly $1 million and it filed a lawsuit to get paid. Faraday is also being sued by another landlord for an office it leased in San Jose, California, which claims Faraday owes it $127,000.
So, like I said, this slow down in EV sales is having an impact that is rippling through the entire auto industry.
UAW THREATENS ANOTHER FORD STRIKE
As we reported last week, Ford CEO Jim Farley said the company is going to have to revisit its manufacturing footprint because of the animosity from last fall’s UAW strike. Ford makes more vehicles in the U.S. with more UAW workers than any other automaker. But the cost of the new contract, along with all the vitriol hurled its way by UAW president Shawn Fain, is causing Ford to reconsider making so many vehicles in the U.S. Fain immediately fired back, and threatened to shut down Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant, which is the company’s most profitable plant. That plant still doesn’t have a local agreement, even though the national agreement was settled last October. The issues at the plant involve health and safety issues. But here’s our Autoline Insight. One of the few things that a UAW local can strike over is health and safety. And in the past the union has used that issue to strike a plant, even if the real underlying issue had nothing to do with health and safety.
ITALY PRESSURING STELLANTIS FOR MORE PRODUCTION
Italy wants Stellantis to make more vehicles in the country. In fact, Italy has toyed with taking a stake in Stellantis to get what it wants. So, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said they’re committed to boosting production in Italy to 1 million vehicles annually by the end of the decade, up from 750,000 last year. For now, the Italian government is backing off buying part of the company, but says it would be open to doing so if the automaker requested it. It’s not unusual for a government to have a stake in an automaker in Europe. France already owns 6% of Stellantis, as well as part of Renault, and Volkswagen is partly owned by the German government.
STELLANTIS COULD MAKE CHINESE EVs IN ITALY
Stella may turn to China to boost production in Italy. Automotive News reports that Stellantis may make Leapmotor EVs at Fiat’s Mirafiori plant. It’s considering producing 150,000 EVs a year at the plant, which could start in 2026 or 2027. And the vehicles would be sold in Europe by Stellantis dealers. Last year, Stellantis bought a 21% stake in Leapmotor for 1.5 billion euros.
NASCAR TEAMS HIRE LAWYER TO LITIGATE WITH FRANCE FAMILY
The Daytona 500 was postponed yesterday because of rain and will run this afternoon instead. But the big news in NASCAR is that the teams have hired a lawyer to negotiate their dispute with the France family over money. The France family controls NASCAR and it wants to negotiate with each of the 36 teams separately, while the teams want to negotiate as a block. Even more, they want their teams to be treated as franchises, just like in other major sports such as American football, basketball, baseball and hockey. And they want a greater share of any incremental revenue. So far NASCAR won’t negotiate which is why the teams hired Jeffrey Kessler, from the law firm Winston & Strawn LLP, who by the way, is the same lawyer that successfully litigated to get financial payments to college basketball and football athletes, who also successfully litigated to get equal pay for the women’s U.S. National Soccer Team, and who got more favorable free agency rules in the NBA and NFL. Obviously, the teams want to show NASCAR they’re not messing around and that it better come to the table.
PEAK AUTO: NEW CAR SALES STALLED
Did you know that new car sales in the U.S. are about the same as they were in the year 2000, even though the population of the U.S. has increased by 53 million people since then? And keep in mind that immigration is the only thing that’s keeping the U.S. population growing. So the vast majority of those 53 million people have a driver’s license. The experts call this Peak Auto. New car sales are unlikely to go much above where they were even before Covid hit. We’ve posted a video about Peak Auto on our website and YouTube channel, and you can learn a lot more about this there.
AUTONOMOUS PLEASURE BOATING
You all know about autonomous cars and trucks and buses. But how about an autonomous power boat? Not so much for pleasure cruising, but for docking your boat, especially in really tight situations. As you come towards your marina, all you do is press a button and the system takes over. The system was developed by Brunswick, the boat builder with brands like Boston Whaler, Sea Ray, Bayliner, and Harris Pontoons, to name a few. And it was developed with Apex.ai which is an embedded software company. Brunswick plans to make this technology available on other boats for a variety of applications.
And that brings us to the end of today’s report. Thanks for watching.
Thanks to our partner for embedding Autoline Daily on its website: WardsAuto.com
“So, like I said, this slow down in EV sales is having an impact that is rippling through the entire auto industry.”
Fisker and Faraday Future, add-in Mullen, are not suffering from a slow down in EV sales. They never had a chance for similar but unique reasons, which include not having solid business plans and possibly questionable legal and business ethics.
So illegal immigrants can get a driver’s license?
Do you want immigrants diving unlicensed? The will drive anyway.
@ Norm T. I think the auto manufacturers are only interested if people can afford to buy a car. Drive without a license? Guaranteed there are thousands and thousands of people in the left lane going 80 mph without being legal!
Victor , No I don’t want them driving , I want them sent back where they came from. When they come in properly following all the laws and regulations that legal immigrants follow then we can talk about a driver’s license and even then it won’t come with any voting rights. In many states if you get a drivers license you are automatically eligible to vote.
Peak Auto can be explained by two reasons; 1) Vehicles last longer than they did prior to 2000 so even with more people they sell a new car less often. 2) Immigrants while contributing to the population growth, likely cannot afford or don’t want a new car. Licensed or not, the better question would be “are they insured”? When a creditor realized you are no longer carrying full coverage insurance, they will repossess the vehicle. If you’re just getting by financially and don’t plan to carry full insurance, you don’t want a new vehicle.
It is a logistical and economic impossibility to clear our population. “Papers please” police state? Immigrants legal and otherwise fuel our service and labor economy. That is why the come.
Isn’t a license necessary to get insurance?
So, John, your saying that both the OEMs and the UAW got what they wanted, with the US admin backing off/postponing the ICE bans! Again, IMHO, outside of the many half truths spread about the viability of EVs and their current price point, some of the turn off of purchasing an electric vehicle is the possibility of having a dealer mark the price up! Add to that is the roller coaster/merry-go-round of the OEM’s majorly raising and then lowering the price of the vehicles on their own! Obviously, paying the lowest price is ideal, but the possibility of my getting what I thought was the best price, then learning someone else not just paid a lower amount, which can happen, but spent $10K+ less then I did, would burn! Or the opposite way, in that I had to pay a $10K+ dealer markup on a popular vehicle, only for the OEM to then drop the base price, would also sting too. While this role back might make for a more natural EV transition, on a less accelerated scale, big fluctuating prices by either the automakers and/or the dealers, may still prove their undoing.
Victor , you insure the car not the driver. If you are listening to Liberal mayors of Sanctuary Cities they are telling you it’s financially prohibitive to have millions of undocumented immigrants with unknown backgrounds roaming the country.
The car doesn’t buy the policy. The owner-driver does.
Yes, I want immigrants diving unlicensed.
@Victor- Not necessarily. From Prgressive.com:
“Some insurance companies let the person buying the auto insurance policy designate someone other than themselves as the primary driver — that’s the person who will be driving the car the most. But other insurers don’t, so you may need to shop around to find a company that offers auto insurance for unlicensed drivers.:
The illegal immigrants are coming for the free health care, housing and food. Watch their free cell phones light up with instructions where and who to vote for when the time comes to keep those benefits. Americans are finally waking up.
Insurance companies want it both ways and basically got it both ways.
They want us to have a policy on the vehicle so the rates are based on the type of vehicle you drive. (Porshe vs Honda).
They also want to insure the driver so the 16-25 year old pays a higher premium than 35-year-old.
Then they like to throw in how much you drive and where you live so they can account for high crime rate areas and charge you more cause statistically more likely to be involved in an accident.
I’m not sure why any insurance company would insure someone without a license. Seems they would want to be sure they have the basic knowledge required to drive. Or more likely they take their policy money play dumb and refuse to pay out once it is discovered they don’t have a license. I’m sure some states are different than others.
I would like to see insurance coverage tied to each individual license. You shouldn’t be driving if you’re not licensed and insured. And if you are stopped and cant produce a license or citizenship then you go to strait to jail or jail then immigration.
XA351GT, without a lot of undocumented immigrants, there wouldn’t be anyone to produce our food, re-roof our houses, and other jobs. Yes, we need immigration reform, both to better control the borders, and to provide a legal path to citizenship, but that’s not happening with our dysfunctional congress.
There is no connection between getting a driver’s license and registering to vote. You need to be a citizen to vote in national elections, but in most states, legal non-citizens can get a driver’s license. In many, or most states, illegal immigrants can’t get a license, but, of course, some will drive anyway, just as hundreds of thousands of citizens drive without licenses.
The biggest insurance scam is charging almost as much per car for liability insurance for 3 cars driven a total of 15,000 miles a year by one driver, as for one car driven 15,000 miles by that driver.
Because I think it’s apposite, I’ll repeat my previous comment.
I was curious and searched for European statistics. What I found in this millenium was:
a peak of 19.6 million in 2007
a minimum of 12.4 million – in 2022 (latest @goodcarbadcar.net, ’23 numbers are probably out)
Interesting.
Don’t know if that excludes the UK now. But for context, this is from the BBC, quote:
Across the whole of 2022, 1.61 million new cars were registered in the UK. That was the lowest level since 1992.
Unquote.
2007 was of course the year before the Global FInancial Crisis, precipitated by grossly underregulated lenders.
Kit there are plenty of American citizens collecting a check for doing nothing. If they want to continue to be paid they can do those jobs. Are cities look like war zones . They can start by cleaning up their own neighborhoods . Take a look at Detroit miles of blight in what used to be a beautiful city. Those that don’t live in the cities can be transported to the farms that need help. We don’t need illegals . If you want to come here legally I’m all for it.
As a cashless society continues to get pushed, I wonder how they will deal with illegal immigrants then? They are supposed to have Employment Authorization Document (EAD) and employers are supposed to use an I9 form to determine eligibility. If neither of those can be found they typically end up working in a job for cash like in a restaurant or construction. So yep! Government you don’t get your cut of income tax and that includes the state and cities that actually count on that funding for schools and that requires the rest of us playing by the rules to contribute more to cover the extra resources needed to house, educate and feed illegals.
I’m with XA351GT and all for allowing people in legally. The laws were put in place for a reason and I think most Americans would just like to see the laws enforced. It’s quite dangerous when our government starts to pick and choose which laws they would like to enforce. while others are blatantly ignored. If we truly had a shortage of workers to cut lawns and roof houses the Immigration can increase the level of immigrants it allows in through the legal process. What we see now if 16-year-old kids finding it very difficult to find those part-time summer jobs.
Which I personally believe is also why we see kids waiting much later to start driving. Lots of kids are fine with not driving until they are 18 or even 21. What I hear from them mostly is it’s hard to find a job and if I get one then I need a car and I’m tied down every weekend just to pay for my car. Which I also believe the days of a cheap first car are gone because the illegals help to drive the price up as they are in competition for those budget vehicles. Demand drives up the price. It is a problem, and we haven’t even seen the tip of it yet.
Being close to Detroit and a major border crossing into Canada I’ve worked with lots of Canadian immigrants and have a close family that are first generation from Mexico. The parents speak very little English. Even they are upset that as they jump through all the hoops to become citizens while others are allowed to just walk in and be handed everything. They actually have a much harsher opinion of what’s going on down South than I do. It’s not fair to them and it’s not fair to us. I say if the Gov wants to pick and choose what laws to enforce than we should pick and choose which taxes we want to pay. 🙂
Detroit is “miles of blight,” largely as a result of the riots in the late 60s, not because of immigrants, legal or otherwise.
As far as legal immigration, it is very, very difficult, and not something people people seeking farm and construction jobs would even be able to get approved for, even if they had the means and knowledge to go through the process.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/step-1-submit-a-petition.html
In 1962, when I started driving, every kid wanted to get a license and drive when they were 16. They had free, or almost free driver training in the public schools. Even then, insurance was expensive for young drivers. Now, kids have less desire to drive, but many places in the US, you almost need to drive to go to work, go shopping, etc. Still, I suspect a lower percentage of 16 year olds are driving than at one time, even in places where you almost “need to drive.”
As others have mentioned, cars last so much longer that it’s understandable that fewer will be sold, even with increasing population and number of drivers. The engine in the 1950 Plymouth I drove when in high school was worn out at 60-70K miles. The bodies of 50s and 60s cars would have significant rust when a few years old, even though they didn’t dump nearly as much salt on roads as they do now. Now, almost any car will last over 200K miles with normal maintenance, and the bodies will go 20 years before having serious rust from the road salt in Indiana.
Kit I never said Detroit’s blight was caused by illegals. What I said was there are plenty of people collecting a check (welfare) . Most of them are able bodied enough to perform many of those jobs you think we need illegals to fill. So those in the urban areas could take care of getting rid of that blight in exchange for their check those in rural areas could work on the farms. I absolutely hate hearing ” we need immigrants to do jobs Americans don’t want to do.” Well if you tell them you either do the work or you don’t get a check anymore. It may actually inspire them to get a real job and get off the government teet.
XA351GT- The problem with welfare is people are no longer ashamed to be on assistance but look at it as a free ride and smart for using the system. Secondly you can’t make life better on assistance than having a job. When a single mother has her housing/rent furnished, daycare and food provided and a check each month she will have to get a job making 60K to be able to live on her own. For most that not gonna happen. Why give up the free ride to get less and have to work for it? Thats the problem.
@John, Volkswagen Group: you mentioned that the German government is a shareholder. They are not, as far as I know. The State of Lower Saxony is a shareholder and they have two seats on the Board of Directors.
@Illegal immigrants: I wonder whether we will ever know how many there are. The figures we read are “millions”, but those are just the ones who immediately seek asylum or the ones who are arrested and then seek asylum. There has to be a group of illegal immigrants who cross the border somewhere without getting arrested and without seeking asylum, who disperse in the country. My assumption is that that is the largest number of which we have no clue how much it is and the real number we should get our arms around.
Lots of cable TV infotainment trash talk here today…
I find most republican owned businesses in my state, especially in construction and agribusiness, like having lots of illegals around because they are cheap labor that works hard and doesn’t complain. Ironic the party that complains the most consists of the business owners hiring them the most. People wouldn’t want to come here if those businesses didn’t hire them.
But on the other hand, many of them couldn’t stay in business using high absenteeism, drugged up, low productivity auto worker types. They depend on hard working, high productivity Mexican labor to get the job done efficiently, even if it wasn’t low cost.
It’s a complicated problem that merits more than uninformed sound bite solutions.