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Runtime: 11:39
0:00 Auto Stocks Tank on Trump Tariffs
1:14 How Will Tariffs Be Applied?
2:06 ACEA Sounds Alarm Bells Over EU CO2 Regs
2:43 Tesla Sales Slide 63% In France
3:29 Stellantis Shakes Up Management
4:49 Porsche Ousts Two Board Members
5:44 Huawei Introduces New Head-Up Display
6:22 Chinese New Year Slows EV Sales
7:07 Tesla Charger Port Location Due to Elon’s Garage Layout
7:54 Mustang Mach-E NASCAR Prototype Revealed
8:47 1954 Mercedes F1 Car Fetches $54 Million
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
AUTO STOCKS TANK ON TRUMP TARIFFS
We start out this week with the global auto industry in turmoil. And it’s all got to do with President Trump’s tariffs. Stock prices of virtually every single automaker and supplier were down after Trump announced on Saturday he is slapping tariffs on Canadian and Mexican cars and components. And the effect was global. European, Japanese, Korean, American, Canadian and Mexican automakers and suppliers all saw their stock prices fall by 3% to 7%. The Administration reportedly won’t start enforcing the tariffs until tomorrow, and that’s when we expect to see the troubles really start. Some expect that back-ups at the border could be horrendous. No doubt automakers and suppliers have stockpiled parts in anticipation for this, but they probably only have enough to fill about a week’s worth of orders. And remember, if you have one critical missing part the line stops, the whole plant shuts down, and then that ripples out through the supply chain.
HOW WILL TARIFFS BE APPLIED?
One question is, how will the tariffs be applied? Is it a 25% hit to anything imported from Canada or Mexico, or will the tariff only apply to the value that was added in Canada and Mexico? If they are applied to any imported product, we think car prices could go up by an average of $10,000. If it’s only to the value-add, then the increase could be more like $3,000. But most suppliers will not be able to absorb a 25% increase on Canadian and Mexican materials and components. And unless their customers, the automakers, agree to absorb those costs, we could see the suppliers shut down production. One thing’s for sure, no matter which way it goes, the industry is reeling from the President’s actions.
ACEA SOUNDS ALARM BELLS OVER EU CO2 REGS
Last week we reported that the ACEA, the European automakers lobbying group, was practically on its knees begging the European Union for relief from its CO2 regulations, which it says is going to cost automakers 15 billion euros in fines and compliance costs this year. Well, apparently the ACEA thinks the EU wasn’t listening closely enough. So it reiterated the warning again today. And it doesn’t want Brussels to spend any more time debating the issue. It demands action now, not months from now.
TESLA SALES SLIDE 63% IN FRANCE
Speaking of Europe, it looks like European EV buyers are revolting against Elon Musk sticking his nose into the continent’s politics. Tesla sales plummeted 63% last month in France, while the rest of the EV market was only down one-half of one percent. Last year Tesla sales fell 41% in Germany compared to a 27% decline for the whole EV market. And they were down 25% across the EU. Musk has attacked the British and German governments on social media and is calling for right-wing populist groups to take power. While Tesla still has the highest EV sales in Europe, this doesn’t bode well for the company.
STELLANTIS SHAKES UP MANAGEMENT
Stellantis made a number of management changes that it says simplifies its organization. Antonio Filosa will continue on as the head of the automaker’s Americas region and had his role expanded to include global chief of quality, but he will no longer lead Jeep. That title will go to Bob Broderdorf, who had been the head of Jeep North America. Former VW executive Alain Favey, is now the head of Peugeot. A new marketing office has been created which will be led by Chief Marketing Officer, Olivier Francois. Stellantis is integrating its software activities into a new Product Development and Technology organization that will be led by Chief Technology Officer Ned Curic. But Stellantis Chairman John Elkann says the automaker is still in the process of appointing a new CEO to replace Carlos Tavares, who left the company at the end of last year. A decision is expected to be made by the end of the first half of this year.
PORSCHE OUSTS TWO BOARD MEMBERS
Porsche made an odd move over the weekend. In fact, John says he can’t remember this ever happening in his career. On Saturday, it openly announced that it’s trying to get rid of its board members in charge of Finance and IT and Sales and Marketing. Porsche says the Supervisory Board authorized its Chairman to enter into discussions with the executives in hopes of coming to an amicable early termination of their roles. And that’s it. Porsche didn’t provide any other details for why it wants to get rid of them. While global sales were down last year, capped off by a nearly 30% drop in China, usually executives, even ones that aren’t performing well, see a glowing review when they leave, and typically we don’t hear about it until after the move has already been made. So, that’s why this situation with Porsche seems so odd to us.
HUAWEI INTRODUCES NEW HEAD-UP DISPLAY
Huawei introduced its latest head-up display that will provide drivers with more information. It has all your typical readouts as well as improved vision at night and when combined with augmented reality the HUD offers features, like dynamic navigation. But the real evolution is incorporating safety, where the HUD tracks other cars and pedestrians, and can provide safety warnings to the driver. Improving safety is great, but do you think Huawei has hit the point of too much information in the HUD where it could actually become distracting to the driver? Let us know in the comments.
CHINESE NEW YEAR SLOWS EV SALES
The Chinese New Year holiday slowed EV sales in January from the month before. BYD was number one with more than 296,000 sales of PHEVs and EVs, that was down 42% compared to December but up 47% from the year before. Geely was the only EV maker to post a monthly gain in January with 121,000 vehicles sold, up 4% from December and 83% from a year ago. Xpeng sold 30,350 EVs in January, just 423 more than Li Auto, which made it the number one EV startup.
TESLA CHARGER PORT LOCATION DUE TO ELON’S GARAGE LAYOUT
The charging port on all Tesla’s is located on the back-left side of the vehicle, which forces most owners to back into charging spots. Lucid CEO and former Tesla chief engineer Peter Rawlinson claims that when he was developing the original Model S, he wanted to place the charger on the front fender on the driver’s side of the vehicle. But he claims that Elon Musk forced engineers to place the charger on the rear of the vehicle because it suited the layout of his garage. And while Rawlinson still prefers the charger on the front of the vehicle, Lucid is going to place the charging port on the upcoming Gravity SUV in the rear, so it will be easier for owners to charge at Supercharger stations.
MUSTANG MACH-E NASCAR PROTOTYPE REVEALED
NASCAR’s all-electric prototype has a fresh, new look. In July of last year, it revealed its first EV demonstrator vehicle, which has a 78-kWh battery and three electric motors that can produce over 1,000 kW or about 1,340 horsepower, while still using the steering, suspension, brakes, and wheels from the current Cup Series car. Now it looks like NASCAR is getting its race teams involved and that vehicle has been converted to look like a Mustang Mach-E. The original car was developed with ABB Group, which is involved in the all-electric racing series, Formula E. And when it first debuted, I said I think we’re still a long way off from watching an EV NASCAR race. But does Ford’s involvement make the project more legitimate? Let us know what you think.
1954 MERCEDES F1 CAR FETCHES $54 MILLION
Speaking of race cars, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum just sold a historic 1954 Mercedes Grand Prix car that went for almost $54 million. That’s the most any Grand Prix car has ever sold for. The car was driven to victory by both Juan Manual Fangio and Sterling Moss in different races in the 1955 season. It’s a W 196 R streamliner. The Museum has owned it for 59 years and is selling it off, along with 10 other cars, to raise $100 million to refurbish its facilities. Next up is a Ferrari 250 LM that won the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans. It’s expected to go for $30 million. And here’s a couple of interesting points. None of the cars it’s selling ever raced at Indy. And the IMS Museum is run separately from Penske Entertainment, which owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
And that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for tuning in.
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The tariff against Mexico is “on hold” for 30 days, but still planned to go into effect against Canada and China tomorrow.
From NYT:
President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico struck a deal with the Trump administration to delay stiff tariffs, which were set to take effect on Tuesday, for a month as the two countries reached a series of agreements on border security. Ms. Sheinbaum agreed to deploy 10,000 additional troops, who President Trump said would be designated to stop the flow of migrants and illegal drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border.
In return, Mexico will get at least a temporary reprieve from the blanket 25 percent tariffs Mr. Trump announced on Saturday, as well as help from the U.S. government to stanch the movement of guns from the US into Mexico.
NASCAR has already lost a lot of its’ luster from the glory days. The cars have become boring. Making them EVs will not add any excitement to the mix.
To me, about the only thing good to come of NASCAR over the last 40 years or so, is that the cars are much safer. The “playoffs,” “competition cautions,” and “stages” have all been a turnoff to me. Of course, when NASCAR was really interesting was in the early years, when they used real cars, but too many drivers were getting killed.
Surprised that Tesla sales haven’t declined more than what we’re seeing now. I suspect Tesla cars won’t sell much in canada, europe and much of the world. People associate products with brand, big part of purchase decision. Republicans don’t like EV, democrats don’t like Musk. Incredible reality we live in.
IMS museum is an incredible venue, rich in history and an amazing vehicles portfolio. Can’t wait to see the remodeled museum, wow $100M project!
I’ve been to the IMS museum 3 or 4 times, and it’s always interesting. I hate to see them sell some of their more historic cars, but getting that kind of money, it makes sense. It brings in a lot of money to do renovation, and keep the cost of admission fairly reasonable. Another great auto museum in Indiana is the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg museum. The art deco building itself is almost worth the visit.
My first thoughts on the heads-up display which is the ‘busiest’ yet, was that exactly, too much distraction to the driver.
And on electric NASCAR; I don’t follow the electric Formula cars (though I’ve tried a couple of times); for me, dead on arrival (Mustang involvement or not).
Chuck, I watched a little Formula E once, for about 15 minutes. It didn’t do anything for me either. For the last few years, F1 has been the only racing series I’ve followed, along with one Indy Car race, the Indy 500. I’ve gone to the 500 a few times, most recently probably ~30 years ago. I went to the first and last F1 races at IMS. It was convenient, and relatively cheap to attend, for an F1 race, but the drivers didn’t like the course very well, and Bernie E. didn’t like the boring city of Indianapolis.
Mexico has already bent the knee to avoid tariffs. Who could have foreseen this except anyone with common sense. Now all the pundits and congress bedwetters can tell us how 10,000 mexican army securing their side of the border is somehow a bad thing since their original fear mongering talking point has evaporated . Canada will do the same. Baseline fact is that without access to the US market, they are done.
Across the pond, ACEA better be careful spouting all those facts and common sense. They’ll find themselves sitting in the pokey if they dare tweet anything that can be construed as climate denialist. Meanwhile, China is preparing brand new BYD signs to hang on all those former Volkswagen facilities.
Something Mexico got, is Trump saying he will do something about the rampant flow of guns and ammo from US stores to arm the cartels in Mexico. Given Trump’s, uh, lack of truthfulness, and being in bed with the gun industry, I wouldn’t expect much, but if something is done, it would be helpful.
So looks like Trump threatening tariffs is working and Mexico is finally taking an active role in controlling the flow of people and drugs into the US. I said it was all part of negotiations and even the tariff on Canada if it does go into affect won’t be there long. It’s a matter of getting stuff done. Doesn’t sound like lying to me but the success has tot be killing you kit. Crazy how MB and BMW are looking at moving lines to Tenn plants that were slated to made in Mexico or overseas. This is the right direction. As for electric NASCAR that will be DOA. Much like the electric trucks that no one asked for. Built simply cause it was a popular vehicle that customers were willing to pay 40-50k for. So they thought why not easy to package batteries and then realized it needed to be priced more like 60-70k. By the end of 2025 you’ll be able to pick up one of those ev trucks for probably 45k.
I’m not real clear what difference having the Tesla charger on the front or rear quarter matters. If it makes you back in then you can pull out forward. If it were in the front you could pull in but need to back out. Maybe I’m missing something.
Canada and US now also have an agreement of cooperation (similar to Mexico) on defending our northern border. Tariffs delayed for 30 days. See how this works. Its called negotiations, not rolling over to the rest of the world who need the US economy more than we need them. Trump is playing 3D chess and you all are reporting on the checkers board.
Trump will claim victory, as he lies about everything. He blames everyone for what they had nothing to do with, and claims victory, when he was just BSing all along. Whatever happens with the tariffs, a huge amount of damage has been done. No one will trust trade agreements that the US has signed on to.
Other than East Germany/East Berlin using soldiers to keep people from leaving during the cold war, is it even normal for countries to use their militaries to keep people in, as Mexico and Canada will now do, according to Trump? Countries use their borders to keep immigrants out. They rarely use them to keep people in, as Trump wants Mexico and Canada to do.
Now, we will now see what “deal” Trump makes with China. We’ll see if the price of iPhones, TVs, and most other consumer electronics soon goes up by near 10%.
Here’s a good article about what is really happening.
https://newrepublic.com/post/191067/trump-victory-lap-mexico-tariffs-farce?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the_ticker_rss&utm_term=tnr-newsletter-20240823
Sorry, off-topic, sort of
Wow, the shape of the Mercedes F1 looks a lot like the Ferrari racer. I guess sea of sameness that exists today is nothing new.
Kit you sound blinded by hate. Been watching too much CNN. We are moving in the right direction as much as you dislike the success of these negotiations.
Get serious, Lambo. Actually, I haven’t been watching much cable news at all. Sadly, we are in for a rough four years with a lying, corrupt, lawless head of state who is nominating the most unqualified people he can find for important positions. Trump is claiming a “win,” when Mexico and Canada are continuing to do what they were already doing.