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Runtime: 11:07
0:00 Trump Tariffs to Hit OEM Profits
1:22 Automated Braking Regs Likely Dropped
2:20 U.S. Car Dealers Bullish On 2025
3:05 Mitsubishi Gets Nissan EV
4:05 JLR Sees Big Profits in Bespoke Paint Jobs
5:22 Audi Off-Road Q6 e-tron Teases Portal Axles
6:01 Genesis GV60 Concept Features Tank Tracks
6:28 BYD Generates Most Revenue in China
7:43 Maextro Lux Sedan Crab Walks
8:31 Daytona 24 Hours See Record OEM Participation
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
TRUMP TARIFFS TO HIT OEM PROFITS
A huge day for the auto industry is coming this Saturday. Automakers are very worried about President Trump’s threat to slap an additional 25% tariff on imported vehicles on February 1. While Trump has threatened an additional 25% tariff on vehicles from Canada and Mexico, Moody’s and S&P expect European imports to be hit with a 10% tariff on top of the 2.5% they pay now. Moody’s says Stellantis would see its profits fall by 15% since 40% of the vehicles it sells in the U.S. are made in Mexico and Canada. It says the Volkswagen Group, including Audi and Porsche, would see a 5-10% drop in profits on vehicles it imports from Europe and a 15% drop with the ones it imports from Mexico. The tariffs would impact the bottom line of all automakers, but Moody’s says that Stellantis, Volkswagen and Volvo would be hit the hardest. The U.S. imports about $40 billion a year of cars and parts from Europe, while Europe imports about $9 billion of cars and parts from the U.S.
AUTOMATED BRAKING REGS LIKELY DROPPED
But even though automakers are deeply worried about those tariffs, they also welcome the Trump Administration reconsidering a rule that requires all-new vehicles to have advanced automatic emergency braking systems by 2029. Last year, NHTSA finalized the mandate which requires vehicles to be able to stop and avoid hitting a vehicle in front of them at speeds up to 62 MPH. But the Alliance of Automotive Innovation, a group that represents most major automakers in the U.S., filed a lawsuit to block the requirement because it says it’s “practically impossible with available technology.” Now NHTSA says it is reviewing the rule and will make a final decision in March. The agency previously said the mandate will save 360 lives and prevent 24,000 injuries annually.
U.S. CAR DEALERS BULLISH ON 2025
While automakers are worried about Trump’s tariffs, car dealers in the U.S. are pretty optimistic about 2025. According to Automotive News’ 2025 Dealer Outlook Survey, 57% of dealers say they expect their overall business performance to be better or much better than last year. And the same number expects new and used car sales to be better than 2024. The number one concern for dealers this year is vehicle affordability followed by lower profit margins and economic uncertainty. Most of the dealers said that the best opportunity for profit growth in 2025 is in used car sales and in services.
MITSUBISHI GETS NISSAN EV
Mitsubishi will launch its first fully-electric vehicle in the U.S. next year. The model will be based on Nissan’s CMF-EV platform, the same as the Ariya and it’s expected to be a small crossover and have similar styling to the Nissan Leaf replacement which launches at the end of this year. But Automotive News reports that Mitsubishi dealers are concerned that the new EV won’t be able to make up the volume for the loss of the Mirage, which went out of production at the end of last year. The Mirage was Mitsubishi’s second-best selling model in the U.S. in 2024 and accounted for 28% of its total sales.
JLR SEES BIG PROFITS IN BESPOKE PAINT JOBS
People say that paint color is an important factor when buying a new car. But price and availability are bigger and buyers can typically get a better deal on a vehicle that’s already on the lot, which is likely to be some shade of black, white or silver. However, JLR’s bespoke painting program, which has hundreds of color options, has seen its number of clients more than double since 2022. So, it’s investing 65 million pounds or over $81 million to upgrade its paint facilities in the UK and to build a new painting area in Slovakia. While that’s a lot to invest, JLR says that a bespoke commission, which likely includes other upgrades besides paint, adds an average of 70,000 pounds or over $87,000 to the price of the vehicle. And with the upgraded facilities it will also be able to paint 17,000 more vehicles a year as well as reduce its environmental impact with newer, more efficient equipment. Right now, paint shops account for 80% of all operational emissions produced by JLR globally.
AUDI OFF-ROAD Q6 eTRON TEASES PORTAL AXLES
Audi is showing off its idea for an electric off roader with a modified version of the all-electric Q6 e-tron. Ride height has been increased over 6 inches or 160 mm thanks, in part, to portal axles, which increase torque at each wheel by 50% and allows the vehicle to climb 45-degree grades. And in combination with fat, studded off-road tires, vehicle width has increased nearly 10 inches or 250 mm. The concept is finished off with plenty of lighting to illuminate any trail.
GENESIS GV60 CONCEPT FEATURES TANK TRACKS
It would be fun to see a head-to-head off-road competition with this vehicle and Genesis’ GV60 Mountain Intervention concept vehicle. Like others before it, Genesis replaced each wheel and tire with their own tank-like track system. So, it won’t have a top speed quite as fast as the Audi, but would be exceptional in slippery conditions.
BYD GENERATES MOST REVENUE IN CHINA
Even though BYD sells a lot of cheap cars, it sells so many that it generated more revenue in China last year than any other automaker. According to a study from Sina Finance, the average transaction price for BYD was $16,700 but it generated $58 billion in sales. Mercedes-Benz was in second place, even though it sells far fewer vehicles. But their average transaction price was $59,500, which generated over $42 billion in revenue. Volkswagen was in third place with transaction prices averaging $19,700 and total revenue of almost $42 billion. Toyota has an average of $23,300 and over $36 billion in revenue. BMW averaged almost $47,000 per car with total revenue of nearly $33 billion. And rounding out the list is Tesla in 6th place with an average of $33,800 and total revenue of $22 billion.
| OEM | ATP | REVENUE |
|---|---|---|
| BYD | $16,700 | $58.1 Billion |
| Mercedes-Benz | $59,500 | $42.4 Billion |
| Volkswagen | $19,700 | $41.9 Billion |
| Toyota | $23,300 | $36.7 Billion |
| BMW | $46,900 | $32.7 Billion |
| Tesla | $33,800 | $22.3 Billion |
| Source: Sina Finance | ||
MAEXTRO LUX SEDAN CRAB WALKS
The Maextro S800, a large luxury sedan from Huawei and JAC, is targeting its closest competitor with a clever new ad. CarNewsChina shows the S800 crab walking around a line of S-Class Maybachs, a nod to the car’s 4-wheel steering. While the Maybach also has 4WS, the S800 can turn its rear wheels up to 16 degrees, 6 degrees more than the Maybach. The Maextro goes on sale soon in China and also undercuts the price of the Maybach by about $40,000. And if you’re wondering, the crab-walking GMC Hummer EV, turns its rear wheels up to 10 degrees, the same as the Maybach.
DAYTONA 24 HOURS SEE RECORD OEM PARTICIPATION
The 2025 racing season got off to a roaring start at the Rolex 24-hour race at Daytona. 61 cars entered the race, representing 12 different brands, which were driven by 230 drivers from 31 countries and 6 continents. There are four categories of cars, from the powerful hybrid-electric GTD prototypes to GT3 versions of cars that you can buy in the showroom. At the end of the 24 hours, Porsche Penske took the overall honors, while a Ford Multimatic Mustang took the GTD Pro win and an AWA Corvette won the GTD class. The LMP2 class, which features cars all made by French constructor Oreca, was won by Tower Motorsports. It’s impressive how popular long-distance, sports car racing has become and surprising to see the kind of participation it’s generated from so many different automakers.
But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for making Autoline a part of your day.
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Lets put aside that the Maextro video looks computer generated for the moment. That is a feature display that shows no particular relevance to driving. Nothing was done there that a normal steering system without crab walk could have done. I guess if there is a perfectly staggered line of parked cars you could show off to your friends maybe?
The only benefit for these crab walk systems in a sedan is parallel parking. Something all three can do the exact same job at. There may be some advantage off road, but that is also going to be limited to very specific instances that don’t normally occur. Just like 4WS since 1988, these features still don’t make any sense compared to the cost to buy and service.
Merkur Driver, I can envision crab “crawl” can have benefits during high speed emergency lane changes, providing less yaw for a more controlled maneuver.
Drew,
I can see that being a benefit if you can control the instability of high slip angles at high speed. High slip angles at high speed are going to cause a crash unless a very skilled driver is at the wheel. So as speed climbs you allow less crab walking. In fact, you allow zero crab walking at high speed because the skill of the driver is not assured. Thus why you always see these marketed at low speeds. Which is why all these systems tend to fall apart quickly financially. You are paying a lot of money for low speed maneuvering capability that can be easily accomplished without the expense of 4WS.
It’s hard to see how many buyers will pay the tab to own that off-road Audi, and then only drive it off-road from time to time. It seems a bit too extreme to drive it as an everyday vehicle that will also go off-road. Having to jump in and out and having your friends and spouse get their pant legs dirty as they enter and exit the vehicle will get tiresome. It seems like a very small niche.
Despite some of the reports we have heard lately about the decline of Western automakers in China, the list of top revenue generators today says otherwise. Perhaps some of those makes are not doing as well as they used to, but remaining in the top handful of brands is nothing to be upset about. I did notice that GM is missing from that list. It seems that they fell further than any other Western OEM.
I don’t see how car dealers can be optimistic, when prices of what they sell will go up drastically, if Trump follows through with his tariffs. Also, prices of food will go up and construction work will slow down, if he follows through with deporting millions of farm and construction workers. It sounds like a recipe for a recession, not a great year for car sales. Yeah, we shall see what actually happens.
These concepts are getting kind of strange. Neither that Audi nor the Genesis would be remotely practical for actual transportation.
Kit,
I remember driving a Hummer H1 with the portal axles. It was not an experience that was thrilling on the road in the least. Off road it is great though!. Portal axles definitely will not fit into the Audi ethos and it certainly will not be something to be driven on the Autobahns of Germany nor will it drive smoothly or handle well. I am reminded of the Lamborghini LM002 which was a great offroad machine, but a very terrible Lamborghini. The LM002 was a very agricultural experience to drive despite the countach 12 cylinder plunked into its engine bay. It didn’t sell well but its rarity makes them pretty expensive these days though. I suspect this Audi is pure concept.
Regarding those concepts, there might be a need for them in climates like Greenland or Norway and places that get extreme conditions. Perhaps Dubai and other places where there is a lot of low traction spaces. Your right that even then, urban areas attached to those locations, there would be no immediate need for them.
Here, though, is what I don’t get on the pushback on automated braking: aren’t many OEMs working on autonomous driving vehicles? Ford with Blue Cruise, GM with Super Cruise and both BMW and Mercedes have their own self driving systems. If I’m not mistaken, a number of other company’s have their own and will be coming out with one. Aren’t those systems suppose to have automated braking as a part of their programing??? Or what would be the point of having them and when your on the freeway and the vehicles ahead of you abruptly stop, shouldn’t the system be able to come to an emergency stop too? Maybe OEM’s complaint is the speed at which the system is supposed to activate. Again, I can’t see the reason for the lawsuits, when the automated braking is for those instances where the driver is in control, but can’t stop in time. When the automated driving system is in use, that is supposed to do the same thing, but the driver is letting the system drive for them! How can they say the technology doesnt exist, when they already have it as a part of the autonomous driving software?! It seems to me that there my be a financial setback at play. The autonomous driving software, a customer has to pay for, sometimes as much as $5-10K or pay a subscription. Yet, if they have to abide by the mandate, a portion of that system would have to be included in the vehicle purchase or least, at no additional cost!
Not related to today’s show, but there seems to be a major disconnect between EPA range of some EVs, and the highway range CR gets when they charge them full, and drive them at 70 mph until they coast to a stop. An example is that a Mercedes EQE got 52 miles more than its EPA range in the test, and a Lucid Air got 33 miles less. Is there some cheating on these tests, as was found with some ICE vehicles a few years ago?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Lamborghini LM002, but I remember seeing a Jeep Wagoneer with a Ferrari engine at the Harrah Museum in Reno in the ’80s. Maybe that was the inspiration for the LM002.
Don’t some cars already have emergency braking like what the regs were about? My Toyotas have something similar, but maybe they would only soften a crash in some scenarios, rather than avoiding it completely.
Interesting data on China revenue in ’24. Meanwhile, the two latest stats on one of my essential sources:
JANUARY 27, 2025
Forecast wholesale power prices and retail electricity prices rise modestly in 2025
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=64384
What this shows again is a little abstract, but the wholesale (!) electricity prices for 2025 should range between $29 and $55 per MWh, which would translate to fully charging a Tesla Model S or X for $2.90 to $5.50. And interestingly, the state with the most renewable energy (Texas!) has the lowest prices.
ANUARY 24, 2025
New solar plants expected to support most U.S. electric generation growth
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=64364
Neat graphic showing US electric power generation by source.
Kit,
Could be they got the inspiration from the Ferrari engine Wagoneer, it is hard to tell what went through their mind. Lamborghini is a tractor manufacturer, even to this day. So maybe the thought process back then was to give the farmer who owns a Lamborghini tractor something more practical to drive to get feed and grain than a Countach. A farmer that buys a Lamborghini Tractor definitely has some wealth. The tractors are wickedly expensive and make John Deere seem like the poor mans tractor. It would be interesting to know why Lamborghini made a V12 SUV as I am sure it may have made sense at the time. I would like to own one just because there was never before nor after a Factory V12 SUV. That uniqueness is why I would own it, even though it is terrible to drive and just as unreliable as a Countach.
Lamborghini was also selling their V12 for boats in catalogs back in the day. I have their catalog from the factory. I would like to find a V12 Lamborghini powered boat although I suspect that they were used in bigger yachts rather than inboard speed boats. They never sold the boat motors here so it would be near impossible to find one in the USA.