Follow us on social media:
Runtime: 11:10
0:00 Did Trump Just Blink on Tariffs?
1:21 VW, Stella, Renault Benefit More from EU CO2 Easing
2:07 Chinese EVs Sell Well in Australia
3:00 Tesla Sales Plummet 76% In Germany
3:37 Tesla Ups Its U.S. & China Subsidies
4:32 Impressive Specs: Volvo ES90 EV
6:13 Cadillac Escalade IQL Gives GM More EV Scale
7:21 Alpine Teases First SUV
7:58 Mercedes & Its Turquoise AV Mode
8:35 Rivian Says More OEMs To Buy Its Tech
Visit our sponsor to thank them for their support of Autoline Daily: Intrepid Control Systems and Teijin Automotive.
This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
DID TRUMP JUST BLINK ON TARIFFS?
Our Number One story in the auto industry today is still President Trump’s 25% import tariffs on parts and components coming into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico. The news sent automotive stock prices down, triggered warnings that car prices will go up by thousands of dollars, and threatened to wipe out profits at automakers and suppliers. But a huge reprieve might be coming. The Commerce Secretary says the Administration is considering giving tariff relief to any vehicle that’s compliant with the USMCA trade agreement. Well guess what? That would include almost every vehicle imported from Canada and Mexico. Reuters reports that Trump may provide a 30-day exemption from the tariffs if an automaker shows it will increase manufacturing in the U.S. However, that could also hurt an automaker like Audi, which makes cars in Mexico, but not in the U.S. The Commerce Secretary said Trump wants to meet Canada and Mexico in the middle, which suggests the tariff will not be 25%. The current tariff on imported cars is only 2.5%, and zero on USMCA-compliant cars.
VW, STELLA, RENAULT BENEFIT MORE FROM EU CO2 EASING
As we reported earlier this week, it looks like automakers in Europe won the battle to ease CO2 regulations. And Volkswagen, Stellantis and Renault are going to benefit the most from the change. They account for more than half of all sales in the EU and Bloomberg Intelligence estimates that the companies’ earnings will increase $3 billion if the rules are officially relaxed. Automakers wanted the targets eased because they said they faced up to €15 billion in fines for missing the targets. So, earlier this week the EU proposed a three-year window for meeting 2025 CO2 targets, meaning companies can miss the targets this year as long as they’re over-compliant the following two years.
CHINESE EVs SELL WELL IN AUSTRALIA
While governments in the U.S., Canada and Europe have enacted tariffs to keep Chinese EVs out. It’s a different story in Australia where there are no protections against them and consumers are starting to embrace Chinese EVs especially because of their low prices. Chinese EVs account for about one-third of EV sales in Australia and if you include Tesla’s China-made vehicles, the share jumps to two-thirds. BYD is also making big gains. Last year, about one in four EVs sold in Australia were a BYD, and the company expects to double sales this year. That would put BYD on track to pass Tesla by the end of the year. Thanks to the influx of Chinese EVs, electric vehicles now account for 10% of Australia’s car market and the share is expected to double by 2027.
TESLA SALES PLUMMET 76% IN GERMANY
The bad sales news at Tesla keeps getting worse. In January, Tesla sales in Germany fell 59%. Last month, according to the German Federal Motor Transport Authority, they plummeted 76%, with only 1,429 cars sold. Meanwhile, the overall EV market was up 31% in February. So far, Tesla’s sales are down 71% in Germany this year. And while some of that has to do with the ramp up of the new Model Y, it appears Musk’s political meddling in Germany is a bigger factor in driving customers away.
TESLA UPS ITS U.S. & CHINA SUBSIDIES
But it’s not just Germany where Tesla is having demand issues. As we reported yesterday, Tesla’s deliveries in China fell 49% in February. So, to help boost sales in the country, Tesla announced an $1,100 insurance subsidy for purchasing a Model 3 until March 17. And over in the U.S., it’s offering 0% APR financing for new Model 3 buyers and owners that qualify for the $7,500 tax credit can get a deal for $0 due at signing and 0.99% APR.
IMPRESSIVE SPECS: VOLVO ES90 EV
Volvo revealed the all-new ES90 EV, which it says has styling traits of a sedan, fastback and even SUV, so it’s going to let you decide what to call it. But the fact that the ES90 shares its platform with the EX90 SUV and has a big battery in the floor, also likely played a role in its appearance. The electric SUV and the ES90 feature similar-looking dash layouts with a 14.5-inch display screen in the middle, but the ES90 runs off a slightly different computing system. It’s the first Volvo to be powered by two NVIDIA DRIVE Orin chips, which help run all of the vehicle’s safety and technology equipment. It’s also the first at the company to get an 800-volt architecture, which can add 300 kilometers or about 185 miles of range in 10 minutes of charging. Total WLTP range is estimated to come in at 700 kilometers or roughly 435 miles for models with a 106-kWh battery pack and all-wheel drive. While Volvo says there will be all-wheel drive variants, it didn’t reveal anything about the motor setups. However, it’s likely close to the EX90 SUV, which has two all-wheel drive setups; one is 300 kW or nearly 410 horsepower and the other 380 kW or about 515 horsepower. The ES90 can be ordered now in most of Europe and the UK and Volvo says other markets will be added later this year and into 2026.
CADILLAC IQL GIVES GM MORE EV SCALE
Cadillac revealed what it’s going to charge for the Escalade IQL, the long-wheelbase version of its full-size electric SUV. And since it’s a premium product, it comes with a premium price: about $132,700, including destination charges. With a giant 205 kWh battery pack, Cadillac estimates it will deliver 460 miles of range. It also boasts 750 hp and 785 pound feet of torque. 0-60 miles an hour falls in 4.7 seconds and it has a tow rating of 7,500 pounds. Production starts this summer at GM’s Factory Zero in Detroit, which also makes the GMC Hummer, and the electric versions of the GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado. That’s how General Motors plans to get manufacturing scale at that plant, by building 4 different vehicles for 3 different brands that sit on the same architecture.
ALPINE TEASES FIRST SUV
Like Porsche did in 2005, another automaker known for its sports cars is coming out with its first SUV. Alpine will debut the A390 at the end of May. It’s currently conducting cold weather tests on models with camo wraps, but says they feature its final bodywork. While there’s not a lot of details on the new 5-seater yet, Alpine did reveal it will be available with a three-electric motor setup, 5 drive modes including ‘Track Mode’ and active torque vectoring. The A390 will be built at one of the company’s plants in France.
MERCEDES & ITS TURQUOISE AV MODE
Mercedes wants other road users to know exactly when its vehicles are operating in autonomous mode. It’s actually been testing special turquoise marker lights in the U.S. in California and Nevada since 2023, but it now also has approval to try the system out in Germany, which is the first European country to allow tests like this. The lights show up in the vehicles headlamp and tail lamp housings anytime the company’s autonomous system, called Drive Pilot, is activated. Mercedes hopes these tests lead to the marker lights becoming legal, so it can put them on production cars.
RIVIAN SAYS MORE OEMs TO BUY ITS TECH
Rivian landed a big pot of gold when Volkswagen agreed to pay $5.8 billion for its software defined vehicle architecture. But Rivian is getting more than that out of the deal. It’s also getting enormous purchasing scale from VW. In a post, here’s what Wassym Bensaid, the head of software at Rivian had to say.
“We expect that the JV will allow Rivian to access much more competitive pricing in terms of the shared ECU components, through the incredible scale that the VW Group brings. And three, what is really important, is that this positions us as a technology provider of choice for the electronic architecture, the software stack, to address the broad set of vehicle architectures. And eventually, we believe, getting that reference technology solution to many more OEMs.”
That’s pretty interesting. Rivian expects to sell its technology to more automakers. And that could potentially bring in billions more to the company.
But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for tuning in.
Thanks to our partner for embedding Autoline Daily on its website: WardsAuto.com
I see a lot of RIvian made cargo vans Amazon uses in my neighborhood, but none of them has any RIvian Logos on it, only “amazon”.
The EV Escalade. $150k plus with just a few options, and a 200+ kwh battery, I bet the hippo weighs more than 8,000 lbs,
The VOlvo, It’s a 4 door sedan, but for marketing purposes, the fools who buy this very unreliable POS can call it whatever the hell they want. And if you think this vehicle is an… SUV, then I got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. Or maybe you prefer to lease.
And re tariffs or alleged tariffs, I read yesterday that Honda is considering making the excellent Civic in the USA. It has been making the Accord here for over 43 years, maybe 45, and many other best selling models too.
BTW the new Civic Hybrid got rave reviews from a very serious, Pulitzer prize winning Auto Journalist with the WSJ (he writes on the Sat-sun edition weekly). He tested it, got 48 mpg, less than the 52 of the Prius, but says it was a far more satisfying experience than driving the Prius. AND 48 and 52 are essentially the same excellent MPG. (think why before you object).
Sean, If I hit you over the head for no reason, it is not ‘meeting you halfway’ if I offer to hit you over the head only half as hard. Americans need to see this for what it really is. Trump forced Canada and Mexico into a trade deal in his last term as president, but now thinks he can get more concessions. Rather than wait until June when the old deal comes up for renegotiation, he decided to whack people on the head and threaten to invade them as a ‘negotiating ploy’. It might work. Or Canadians and Mexicans will correctly see that Americans, at least Trump-Americans, cannot be trusted to stick to ANY agreement they make, ever. In that case, it would be time for Canada and Mexico to just ban US imports into their countries from the US entirely. After all, there are many better and cheaper cars available from other parts of the world.
Yeah, Honda may move Civic production to the US, in which case Trump would claim victory, never mind that CRV-V will stay in Canada, with nearly twice the sales numbers of Civic. Also, Accord sales numbers decreased from 2023 to 2024, freeing up capacity in the US plants.
I would have checked out the Civic hybrid before buying the Prius, but it is not available. I don’t think the Civic hybrid hatchback, which I’d want, is even listed yet as being offered. As far as mpg, the most efficient version of Prius does 9 mpg better than the most efficient Civic hybrid in EPA combined. The least efficient AWD Prius with 19 inch wheels does 1 mpg better than the Civic. Yeah, all of them are good enough that the difference would be less than a month’s insurance. CR hasn’t tested the Civic hybrid yet. They are always good for comparison data for mpg, and for acceleration.
@kevin a on Canada
“After all, there are many better and cheaper cars available from other parts of the world.”: and as far as I know the import duties on new vehicles into Canada from the EU, South Korea and Japan are very low.
I found that, as in the US, big pickup trucks are the top sellers in Canada, with RAV4 and CR-V close behind. Surprisingly to me, Sierra and Ram 150 outsold Silverado in Canada.
The Escalade IQL is an impressive vehicle, though the value in its pricing is very debatable.
And still, no one can explain what the nomenclature on the right side of the rear of the vehicle means. Ask any modern Cadillac owner. No one knows.
“ it would be time for Canada and Mexico to just ban US imports into their countries from the US entirely.”
I endorse this idea. Because it would be the end of US OEM production in both countries. All of the factory production and the sweet, sweet union jobs that go with them would return to the US. The UAW would be ecstatic. Union strong! Mexico’s economy would collapse, probably also Canada’s.
I’m surprised they haven’t rolled out a massive tax on remittances to Mexico yet, and also requiring some form of registration to do so (registration requirement was actually recently announced under that 1917 law.) That would be way more effective than tariffs. Likely Walmart and Western Union would just drop that line of business rather than be potentially criminally or financially liable for unregistered transfers.
Tesla is a toxic brand. Given the choice, I’d rather drive a Chinese car.
The Pulitzer Prize winner Auto Journalist is Dan Neal. Occasionally he drops in AAH but not in the studio, just online. His EPA numbers were 48 Civic 52 Prius, which are essentially the same, if you get serious about it and calculate your ‘savings’ if you get the Prius, for whatever miles you drive with that one vehicle annually, they will be utterly insignificant (I guess $100-200 a year tops, and in 2025, a stupid steakhouse like my local Ruth’s, I got a $100 gift certificate and it is not even enough for one complete meal for ONE person, assuming salad, main course, dessert and just one glass of wine.
to reiterate, if you are an auto enthusiast, you are far better off with this version Civic Hybrid. Maybe you can find the complete review online by Dan Neal and convince yourself.
BTW I am fine with the previous stylings of the Prius, except the very first which used the ugly Echo short body, and the current one which tries to fool the buyer that it is some kind of a cool little car, by sacrificing rear headroom. A Prius is not a sports car, and pretending to be one offends my intelligence.
Kit,for sure out my way,new ram pickups everywhere, seems to be an uptick in new tundras also.
Actually, last year in the US market, the best selling vehicle was not the 46 year in a row F 150 but the lowly RAV4, most of whose copies must have been Hybrids.
If this does not show you in what huge mess Farley is at Ford, consider how much he loses from his pitiful EVs, It is not even getting any better each year! Last year Ford ev segment lost $4 billion, this (2024) it lost $5 billion. And this while it made pitifully few copies and at least one of them, the so-called Mustang Mach E, is made in Mexico.
I may be too harsh on Farley, but this is only because GM is hiding its huge losses by not annonuncing its EV losses separately from its ICE ones.
Regulus, one of the reasons the Civic hybrid drives better is that it’s both a series and parallel hybrid. So, in most driving modes, the engine operates as a generator to charge the battery. It drives more like an EV in those modes. When travelling at steady speeds under light load, the engine mechanically connects to the wheels and feels more like most hybrids.
The Escalade IQ L is $130K? I thought that was the asking price for the regular version? That amount still undercuts the ICE Escalade V, at $150K! To my eye, both the EV and ICE Escalade are some of the best looking Cadillacs in several years! While the EVs have incredible range, especially for their size, their big batteries are the reason for that. For, as I understand, GMs currect EV motors are not the most efficient. Yet, should solid-state batteries live up to what has been promised (lower cost to make, up to half as much weight and twice the range), those motors not being as efficient may not matter!
The Volvo ES90 really looks good for whatever one wants to call it! While it is well out of my price range, it’s styling does make one hopeful of the look of THE ES60 and perhaps the ES40/30.
When the new Civic hybrid starts showing up at dealers, I’ll want to check it out. I hope I don’t like it too much, or it could cost me money, if I wanted to replace my Prius with one. The Honda hybrids are series-parallel, like Toyota hybrids, but they apparently spend more time in series operation than the Toyotas, but not enough to hurt mpg very much. I look forward to checking them out, when they become available. I’ve read that the Civic hybrid powertrain is similar to a Chevy Volt, but with a small battery.
As far as the new Prius, it both looks, and drives much differently than earlier ones. It’s 3-4 seconds quicker 0-60, and it handles much better. Yeah, it lost some practicality, but I’ll almost never use the back seat, and the floor length with the seat folded down is what counts for my purposes.
Will vehicles and parts moving between Mexico and Canada need to go by ship to avoid the tariffs, or can they go by rail or truck, if they aren’t used or sold in the US?
Sean or John, do you know about moving things between Canada and Mexico?
Thank you John for the good explanation I don’t remember what Dan Neal speficically liked about it, but it’s great to have your cake and eat it too, ie have a hybrid and have it drive like an EV.
One may say that the Volt did the same thing, but it got much less mpg and it was far more expensive than the Prius at the time. And remember the Volt at $40k fifteen years ago is more than $60k in 2025 dollars! Furthermore, it got much poorer MPG than not only the Prius but also the Civic!
On Canada being “a us State”. Long before Trump caused a ton of uproar with his 51st state proposal, offended the failed PM of Canada by calling him governor and all that, I long thought of Canada as the Siberia of the USA.
Most Canadians live within a mere 50 miles from the US border. I think 90%
The Canadian economy is hugely dependent on the US economy, far more than on the UK or any other Economy
Canada has less population than CA but more land than the US (or about the same), and also it is sharply bilingual, so I would not lump it all in one state.
I think it’s fair to make it into 5 states, Quebec, TOronto, BC, Atlantic Provinces and the rest of it, or similar.
Ideally, we should group several tiny population US states so the total is still 50. Do we really need north and south Dakota? Those two and Nebraska would make ONE state, and still it would be small in pop
Same with DW and Maryland, RI and CT, etc.
This will improve the situation in elections where smaller states have disproportionally many electors, the dems always bitch about this.
Regulus, a second generation Volt gets much better mpg on gas than a similar year Civic, though still not like a Prius of the time.
https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbs&id=40924&id=41097&id=40847&id=41161
If Canada became part of the US, which will never happen, it should be 10 states. Yeah, some would be sparsely populated, like Wyoming.
Car parts are actually a greater part of intra-North American trade than assembled vehicles. If items like electronic car keys built in Tlajomulco de Zuniga (Jalisco State) were made in the USA, and that cost increase were applied to all kinds of subassemblies – go figure how much new cars will cost (that’s actually been done).
Never mind where to find the workers. How many people buy American-made socks and shirts again?
@John Interesting comment about the Civic hybrid’s layout. If that’s possible in a comparatively cheap car, why shouldn’t it be done for upscale vehicles? And why is this happening now?
Why exactly would Canada want to become part of the US? Because it would make it easier for the US? Doesn’t Canada have a say in this? So some comes up to you and says that you and your a good friend, not your best friend, but a good friend such become a couple because you have a lot in common and shared interests?! Who would be okay okay or cool with that?? Worst yet, what if someone you were a good friend with, not your best friend, but a good friend, came to you and said to you that the two of you should get married because you have a lot in common and shared interests, and that YOU would be better off for it, becauseTHEY ARE SO GREAT!!! While the US does have a lot in come with the US, there are a LOT of differences, like universal health care among others! This is something that many in the US would fight against. And why is Canada being singled out, for it could be far easier for Mexico to become the US’s 51st state just as ‘easy’ as Canada could?! It would ge the easiest way to address the “crisis at the border”?!?! Wait a minute…are those Blackhawk helicopters outside my house???? That was a joke and sarcasm at best! I think this might be my last comment on ALD for a while!
Here is something interesting.
This vehicle was covered by ALD recently. The Huawei Zunjie S800. ALD described how Huawei showed impressive results in tests and was better than the Mercedes Maybach. Turns out, it was all fake. Huawei rented a Mercedes for test because they were too cheap to buy one. They Deflated tires, disabled the AWD system, used summer sport tires vs Huawei using winter snow tires, in some of their videos the Maybach sits lower than it should which tells me they disabled the suspension, and I am sure there were other shenanigans. The key video ALD highlighted was the S800 manuevering around a line of Mecedes Maybach vehicles using crab walking. Turns out that was fake to. Huawei rented 1 Mercedes vehicle and yet their “video” showed many Mercedes vehicles being crab walked around by the Huawei. The additional Mercedes vehicles were AI generated and I even doubt the Huawei crab walked at all as the whole video of that event looked fake. ALD and a whole bunch of auto journalist were duped. The moral of the story is to always assume a chinese OEM is faking or straight out lying about their vehicles capabilities.
https://youtu.be/Rd_cSXeq-Eg?si=9zBmOSNNmPL_Mamy
Honda should make hybrid versions of Acuras. Toyota sells both “economy” and “performance” hybrid versions of RX, and maybe other products.
https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbs&id=47150&id=47149&id=47151
Honda could make an “economy” hybrid RDX using the powertrain from the Accord hybrid which should compete well with some Lexi.
KIT: The comparison was not between the Volt and anything, but the 1st gen Volt and the current civic Hybrid which drives like an EV. Just the fact that they priced the Volt at $60k in 2025 dollars explains its sales failure. its styling also was poor, the first gen was nerdy-ugly, the second was undistinguished (looked too much like ICE models costing half as much). In any case, the consumers decided and it was thumbs down for the Volt, and GM lost billions in the 10 years or so it made it.
Re Canada, 10 states is out of the question, there is absolutely no justification, 5 states is already very generous. But we should keep the total states at 50, we don’t want to waste more billions for extra do-nothing corrupt senators and congressmen and their staffs.
Speaking of corrupt senators, how about that Bob Menendez (D-NJ), aka Gold Bar Bob? 11 years in the slammer! But so many others run around unpunished…
The base price of the 2019 Volt was $34,395, $43K in current dollars, still kind of pricey, but a long way from $60K. Not many people even knew how the Volt worked, or it would have sold better than it did. I might have bought a second generation Volt, if I had home charging. It would work for nearly all of my driving on plug-in power, except for my two 1100 miles trips a year, where it would get ~40 mpg.
Of the Honda hybrids which “drive like an EV,” I’ll check them out when available. I like Toyota hybrids quite well, with their adequate performance, great mpg, and great reliability. It doesn’t bother me that they don’t sound and feel like a torque converter automatic or DCT.