AD #3944 – GM & Hyundai Consider Joint Pickups; Trump Promises Widespread Tariffs; Only Tesla Meets EU CO2 Standards

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

TRUMP PROMISES WIDESPREAD TARIFFS
Donald Trump is still 2 months away from being sworn in as President of the United States, but he’s already trying to legislate through social media. On his Truth Social platform, Trump promised to slap tariffs on virtually all imports, and that promise is rippling out across the global economy. Shares of European car makers fell on the news with Stellantis leading the way. Its stock fell over 4%, Daimler Truck fell 3.5%, Mercedes and Porsche were down 2%, while BMW and VW were down 1%.

MEXICO DRAGGING ITS FEET WITH BYD PLANT
And now Mexico, which exports 2.2 million vehicles to the U.S. every year, is suddenly slow-walking BYD’s application to build an assembly plant there. Several Mexican states have dialed back the incentives they were offering to BYD, and the federal government isn’t happy with the timing of BYD’s efforts. It worries that if it approves a Chinese company to build an assembly plant now, it could risk access to the U.S. market under Trump. But what everyone is wondering is this: is Trump really going to slap big tariffs on everything, or is this just a tactic to get favorable trade deals from other countries?

EU OEMs NEED HELP TO MEET CO2 STANDARDS
Meanwhile, over in Europe, automakers are begging legislators to ease off their CO2 emission regulations for next year. The ACEA, which is the European automakers trade association, says the car companies can’t meet those standards due to factors outside of their control, namely insufficient public charging stations for electric cars and not enough subsidies for consumers to buy them. This year new cars must average 115 grams of CO2 per kilometer. Next year, it drops to 93.6 grams. And if they don’t hit that number, automakers have to pay a fine of €95 per gram per kilometer driven for every single car that misses the target. In 2030, the standard drops to only 49.5 grams of CO2 per kilometer and then to zero in 2035. So automakers potentially face billions of euros in fines.

ONLY TESLA MEETS EU CO2 STANDARDS
And based on a report from the European Environment Agency, currently no automaker in Europe will hit that standard, except for Tesla. The worst offenders are Volkswagen, Ford and the Toyota group, which includes Mazda, Subaru and Suzuki. Mercedes and BMW are also well off the mark. The automakers that come closest are Kia, Hyundai and Stellantis. However, there is one loophole. Automakers can pool their emissions together, where companies with lower emissions can combine with those that have higher ones. For example, Honda and JLR have pooled their emissions with Tesla. Up to now, pooling allowed automakers to avoid fines, but next year could be a disaster for the industry and the ACEA warns that the clock is ticking.

GM & HYUNDAI CONSIDER JOINT PICKUPS
GM and Hyundai made waves in September by signing a Memorandum of Understanding to explore ways to collaborate on vehicles, supply chains and clean-energy tech. Well, now a Korean publication reports that leaders from both companies met again earlier this month to discuss the partnership and during that time talked about jointly developing pickup trucks. It says they’re considering rebadging models, but don’t know who will provide the platform yet, and that the trucks would be aimed at the Latin American market. Last year just over 1 million pickup trucks were sold in the region with the Toyota Hilux topping the charts. But with more models, including the BYD Shark and now possibly two more from GM and Hyundai, automakers must feel there’s room for growth. Another benefit is these trucks can usually be adapted for other pickup-friendly markets, like Africa, Australia and the Middle East.

  

CALIFORNIA PLANS ITS OWN EV CREDITS
California is planning to revive subsidies for purchasing an EV if the Trump Administration follows through on its threat to remove federal EV credits. The state phased out its EV incentives last year but Governor Gavin Newsom said California will bring back credits if the federal ones are eliminated. However, Newsome says Tesla will be excluded from receiving incentives which Elon Musk blasted as “insane.”

RIVIAN GETS FEDERAL LOAN FOR GEORGIA PLANT
And speaking of EV incentives, Rivian just received preliminary approval for a $6.6 billion U.S. federal loan for its planned EV plant in Georgia. Rivian delayed construction of the plant earlier this year to help cut costs as it struggled to ramp up production at its plant in Illinois. The factory in Georgia will build Rivian’s upcoming R2 and R3 SUVs. The site will be built in two phases and have an initial capacity of 200,000 vehicles which will increase to 400,000 units in the future. Production is targeted to begin in 2028 but Rivian needs to meet certain technical, legal, environmental and financial conditions to be able to finalize the loan.

PORSCHE EXTENDS ICE DEVELOPMENT
Most automakers have scaled back EV plans because sales aren’t where they expected them to be. And now Porsche is the latest. It previously set a goal of 80% BEV sales by the end of the decade. But now the company’s chief financial officer says it’s going to continue developing ICEs because its EV demand is cooling. Through September, EVs accounted for 7.3% of Porsche’s global sales, down from 12% a year ago. And that’s mostly due to a nearly 30% slump in EV sales in China. Next year Porsche expects its sales of electrics to improve a bit with the updated Taycan and all-new Macan electric arriving in showrooms.

INDY MUSEUM AUCTIONING IMPRESSIVE COLLECTION
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum is selling off some impressive race cars from its collection, in part to help fund new renovations. 9 of the 11 vehicles are estimated to bring in up to $34 million, but the two crown jewels of the auction are expected to bring in a lot more. A 1964 Ferrari that won Le Mans is estimated to bring in excess of $26 million, while a 1954 Mercedes driven by both Juan Manuel Fangio and Sir Stirling Moss is expected to fetch over $52.5 million. Although, some have it valued closer to $70 million. The cars will be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s at events in Stuttgart, Paris and Miami.

GM OFFICIALLY ENTERS F1
Speaking of racing and as a follow up to yesterday, GM officially revealed it will enter F1 in 2026, under the Cadillac brand. Reports say it will initially use Ferrari engines, but GM says it will build its own vehicles and power units by the end of the decade.

NEW CHINA LUX SEDAN STARTS AT $140K
Also, another follow up. Here’s a little more detail of that luxury sedan, the Maextro S800, which comes from tech company Huawei and Chinese automaker JAC. It says it will offer Level 3 self-driving capabilities, but as a model that’s supposed to compete with Bentley and Rolls-Royce, a portion of owners may never get behind the wheel. Starting prices for the S800 range from about $140,000 up to $200,000 and the company is already taking deposits.

As a quick reminder with the Thanksgiving Day holiday approaching in the U.S. Autoline will be off on Thursday and Friday of this week. But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for tuning in.