Follow us on social media:
Runtime: 8:56
0:00 Trump Slaps Tariff on All Car Imports
3:06 Hyundai Holds Grand Opening for New Georgia Plant
3:59 Audi Controls Production Virtually
4:40 BMW Partners for AI Interior Tech
5:24 Foxconn Hopes EV Showcase Attracts New Partners
6:02 EVs Lose More Value Than Other Vehicles
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.
TRUMP SLAPS TARIFF ON ALL CAR IMPORTS
President Trump sent shockwaves through the global auto industry yesterday, announcing a new 25% tariff on all vehicles imported to the U.S. He claimed those imports, which accounted for nearly half of all new car sales in the U.S. last year, pose a threat to the U.S.’s industrial base and national security. And on top of the vehicle import tariffs, which are supposed to go into effect on April 3rd, Trump also implemented a 25% import tariff on car parts that are not made in the U.S., like engines, transmissions and electrical components, that will kick in around May 3rd. Those tariffs will not apply to parts that comply with the USMCA free trade agreement at first, but the administration is looking at ways that would essentially allow it to apply the tariff to the non-U.S. content of those parts. And these aren’t the only tariffs the Trump Administration wants to impose that will have big impacts on the auto industry. There’s a 25% tariff on imported steel and aluminum, which will stack on top of these new tariffs, there’s been threats of a 25% tariff on products that come from countries that import Venezuelan oil, which seems like it’s mainly aimed at China and also stack on top of other tariffs and the exemption the Administration gave to Canadian and Mexican imports that comply with the USMCA ends on April 3rd as well, but it’s not known what will happen with those tariffs yet. Trump believes the tariffs will help spur growth in the nation because automakers will need to make more cars in one location and that will help the U.S. generate additional revenue of $100 billion a year. That’s a lot of money, but last year the U.S. imported $474 billion worth of automotive related products and passenger cars made up $220 billion of that total. That’s why auto groups and leaders from all over the world have come out against these tariffs, with many now pledging their own retaliatory tariffs. And it caused the stock prices of most automakers to drop. No doubt automakers are stockpiling cars and parts ahead of the tariffs, but as we’ve pointed out, that will only put off the pain for maybe a few months. If the tariffs stick around for any amount of time, pretty much every single analyst says prices will go up by thousands of dollars, which will cause sales to go down, which will result in fewer parts and vehicles being built, which will lead to job losses and fewer vehicle choices for consumers. However, let’s not forget that Trump has used tariffs as a way to negotiate with other countries in the past and we think that’s what’s going on here, because as you can see the impact would be massive.
HYUNDAI HOLDS GRAND OPENING FOR NEW GEORGIA PLANT
And with all this going on, we’ve got to imagine the Hyundai Group is really happy with the timing of its new $21 billion investment in the U.S. Some of those funds will be used to expand its new plant in Georgia that celebrated its grand opening yesterday. The facility will make EVs for Hyundai, Kia and Genesis as well as the ability to build some hybrid vehicles. While it will initially have the capacity to make 300,000 vehicles a year, with the investment and expansion the plant will eventually produce up to half a million vehicles.
AUDI CONTROLS PRODUCTION VIRTUALLY
Audi is digitizing its plants to help make production safer and more efficient. The automaker says that one of its body shops in Germany is the world’s first to feature virtually controlled production, which it developed with Siemens, Cisco and Broadcom. It’s taking hardware-based controllers, which are essentially the “brains” of the machines and bringing them into the cloud. The virtual controllers enable software and new functions to be added faster, making production more efficient. They’re first being used to make the body of a Lamborghini model and Audi is planning to use the technology at another body shop in Germany that makes the A6.
BMW PARTNERS WITH ALIBABA FOR AI INTERIOR TECH
We’ve seen Volkswagen and Mercedes team up with Chinese companies for help on software and now BMW is doing the same. The automaker is partnering with tech giant Alibaba to integrate AI cockpit technology into its vehicles for the Chinese market. The features will launch next year and will include an intelligent personal assistant with enhanced voice recognition, real-time traffic information and parking and restaurant recommendations. Alibaba’s technology is also used by Xpeng, Zeekr and Leapmotor in China. The German automakers have had to turn to Chinese tech companies for software to remain competitive because they haven’t been successful developing it on their own.
FOXCONN HOPES EV SHOWCASE ATTRACTS NEW PARTNERS
Foxconn is stepping up its effort to partner with Japanese manufacturers. Last week, the Taiwanese contract manufacturer formed a partnership with Mitsubishi to build EVs. And now Reuters reports that Foxconn is going to hold an event in Japan on April 9, to showcase its EV strategy in an effort to attract new partners. Foxconn jumped into EV manufacturing five-years ago but previous deals with Geely and Lordstown Motors fell apart. However, it believes it can help automakers, especially Japanese companies, be more cost competitive with the Chinese.
EVs LOSE MORE VALUE THAN OTHER VEHICLES
Electric vehicles lose the most value after five-years of ownership. According to a new study from iSeeCars, which analyzed 800,000 vehicles sold in the U.S. between March 2024 and February 2025, the five-year depreciation for EVs is nearly 60%, compared to the overall average of 45%. Hybrids and trucks had the lowest depreciation, losing around 40% of their value. The top 5 models with the lowest depreciation are the Porsche 911 and Cayman, Toyota Tacoma, Chevy Corvette and the Honda Civic. And at the other end of the spectrum, the five models with the highest depreciation are the Jaguar I-Pace at 72%, followed by the BMW 7 Series, Tesla Model S, Infiniti QX80 and the Maserati Ghibli. In fact, 23 of the 25 models that lost most of their value were EVs and luxury vehicles.
And just a quick reminder that Autoline After Hours goes live at 3PM EST today. We’ve got a cybersecurity expert coming on the show to tell us if all this new tech in cars is going to lead to more hacks. Plus, we’ll get into this week’s top news stories. So, don’t miss out.
But that’s a wrap for this show. Thanks for making Autoline a part of your day.
Thanks to our partner for embedding Autoline Daily on its website: WardsAuto.com
So Trump wants an addition $100B in taxes, in the form of tariffs, which will disproportionately affect lower and middle income people. I guess that is to pay for a trillion dollars in tax cuts for billionaires. The side benefit is that it will crash the global economy. OK, Trump is inclined to to “change his mind,” so we’ll see what ultimately happens, but in any case, this chaos is not good. I’m glad I bought my Prius a little sooner than I’d originally planned.
Sean, The whole ‘tariffs as a negotiating tool’ idea is crap. Trump negotiated and signed the USMCA and now he is violating it himself. No one believes that there is any point in negotiating with someone who is famous for signing deals then not honoring them. The tariffs he is putting on WILL force cars built for US domestic sale to have higher US content. Also, it will force automakers in Canada, Mexico and Europe to eliminate US parts from their cars when counter tariffs go into place. As US owned auto production in those countries decline, those countries will be forced to defend their economies by replacing the local US owned factories with foreign owned factories or just nationalize the local US owned company entirely. I personally think every country should make their own cars, but when that happens, the US companies will be much smaller and ALL of us will have less choice in what we can buy. I hope the US buyers enjoy that when it happens. Also, I hope you manage to sell all your GM, Ford, and TESLA stock before it drops through the floor.
The 15-20% more depreciation for EV’s equates to $7,500-10,000, lines up with tax credits. Or typical federal tax credit for all states or federal and state tax credits like Colorado and New Jersey.
So more tech and lower operating expenses for same priced EV vs ICE!
While in college in the 1970s, I remember talking about cars, and their highly “protected” auto business with an Indian student. The result was little choice, and what was sold was barely updated from the 1950s. For those who like cars, protectionism is not a good thing for vehicle choice, never mind the other fallout from such policies.
I’d expect EVs to depreciate quickly because of concern about the need for a new $20K battery. Maybe not enough EVs are old enough to really know lifetime cost of ownership of them, compared to ICE vehicles, but it’s something to think about. With ICE vehicles, you “might” have an expensive repair over 20 years and 200K miles, but if you’re lucky, you won’t. With an EV, battery issues seem likely over 20 years, regardless of miles.
One side effect of the Trump tariff war (and his other anti-Europe posturing) is that American car brands will be even less desirable across the pond. If the idea GM had for entering Formula 1 in 2026 was to burnish the Cadillac brand on the international stage, it makes you wonder how they can still justify the cost of starting and running a team, not to mention the one time upfront payment of $450 million to the other teams to get their permission for an eleventh team on the grid. What can GM possibly get in return given what Trump is doing to them and the industry in general? GM is going to need that money for domestic re-sourcing and manufacturing investment here at home just to shore up their business. GM should cut their losses and pull the plug on what was basically a vanity project and is now just a fool’s errand. I am an F1 fan and I would like to see more American involvement but the timing could not be worse for GM.
As a Canadian senior,I always thought our agreement was fair with the USA and Mexico. The 3 countries get together on occasion and update things. “We” all 3 signed the deal and have lived with it for years. I still believe it was/is fair.
@Kevin A. on USMCA. In agreement with what you wrote. The administration pointed out that the reason for starting the import duties on products from Canada was the inflow of illegal immigrants and Fentanyl. The flow of Fentanyl is south to north from Mexico to USA to Canada. When you look at the map it is easy to understand that some Fentanyl caught in the U.S. Northeast may have cut through Canada.
@Kit on protected markets: when I moved to Brazil in 1994 it had been a protected market for a long time. The products on the market were pathetic. GM had a so called Chevrolet Opala, which was an Opel from the 1960s. When we left in 2003 for the US supply in the Brazilian market was better, but still limited.
@Kit on EV battery issues: it is my understanding that EV batteries gradually decline (80% capacity left after eight years). I am not aware of any systemic failures when batteries age. Time will tell.
@Merv on USMCA: fully agree with you. IMHO the U.S. needs a similar partner like Canada and a lower labor cost partner like Mexico to be competitive against the EU which has a number of higher cost and lower cost countries on their economic team.
@DanChester on US vehicles’ standing in Europe. Only TESLAs were highly regarded in the Western European market. None of the GM or Ford products in any relevant volume. TESLA is no longer loved because of the political activities of its main shareholder. Musk’s involvement with the AfD in Germany has made him unwanted in entire Western Europe. My friends in Germany are right wing but none of them wants anything to do with the AfD, which they consider neo-nazi and pro-Russia.
Cadillac has, or had planned to sell their various EVs in Europe, but even without a trade war, I don’t know that they’d do very well. I think they “officially” sell Corvette in some European countries, but North American GM, and Ford products are nearly nonexistent in Europe.
Ford still has some European operations, being fairly successful in commercial markets with Transit and other, smaller vans. Of course, GM basically exited Europe a few years ago when they sold Opel/Vauxhall to PSA, now Stellantis.
I’m with DanChester on questioning the benefit of Cadillac getting into F1, especially given things going on. It would be very expensive, and I’d be surprised if they were even a mid-pack team for the first few years. I doubt that their presence in F1 would sell many Lyriqs in Sweden.
I’m wondering what will happen with the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Summer Olympics. Trump is weighing travel bans on visitors from dozens of countries, many of which probably have participants for the events. They could just have all of the World Cup in Canada and Mexico, but it would take a complete redo to move the Olympics. Even if “waivers” would be possible, it would greatly complicate participants entering the country.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-administration-weighs-travel-ban-dozens-countries-memo-says-2025-03-15/
The Biggest Lie of the Dems is that the “rich” (most of whom ARE Dems!) do not pay their fair share of taxes. THis is a Disgrsceful, BIG, Goebbelsian LIE. Look at the FACTS. It is the POOR that do not pay a damned thing in the US, AND on top of it, they get money b ack from the Govt in all k inds of forms. I will not waste my time to teach you.
On the contrary, it is in many EUROPEAN countries that many rich, those who are not salaried but have their own doctors or lawyers or other small business offices, that do not pay ANY taxes, becuse they work with no receipts and claim outrgeously small incomes, and in many cases…. they even get welfare as the incompetent or corrupt states they live on, consider them poor on their basis of their ridiculously low income, This is a big reason they have the VAT tax, so at least the govt can collect on sales, but the VAT is a very regressive tax.
On the Tariff issue: It is the REST of the world, NOT the US, Europe especially, that has many and outrageous tariffs. We RETALIATE with our RECIPROCAL Tariff threat, and if these clowns do not lower THEIR Many tariffs, we impose them. The result will be, the US will just get a COLD, but the REST of the world wil;l get PNEUMONIA. So if they are even REMOTELY RATIONAL, they will beg for negotiations and a good outcome will result, that the US is NO MORE THE SUCKER OF THE WORLD.
Even the VAT tax really works as a tariff. COnsider trying to sell a US car, it will hsve to pay the VAT there, while a Euro import here will only pay the 4-5% sales tax in ech state, AND will NOT pay any VAT in Europe if it is destined for EXPORT.
@Wim, yeah, time will tell about the batteries. My use of lithium batteries, other than the usual phone and laptop, and my Prius, is powering R/C airplanes. That use is very abusive, charging them full, sometimes running them almost completely down, and discharging them at very high rates, like 4 minutes, full to empty. Batteries don’t last very long with that use.
I’m surprised at how well batteries in hybrid cars do. They see frequent high rate charge and discharge, which would seem much harder on batteries than what BEVs see. I think they use only the “middle” ~70%, which probably helps a lot. I don’t know the tradeoffs, other than size and weight, but my current generation Highlander hybrid uses a NiMH battery, like a 2001 Prius. That’s kind of surprising to me.
Another clueless lie is that tariffs will… disproportionally affect lower incomes. IT WILL BE EXCTLY THE OPPOSITE!!!!
THe poor and middle class do not buy Flasgship German Luxury Cars. It is the AFFLUENT that buy six figure cars, AND if their prices go up 25%, these people did not succeed by being IDIOTS, they will REFUSE to buy, and either buy certified used, OR maybe they will see a Caddy or Lincoln they approve of.
This reminds me of Bush 41’s very reasonable “Luxury tax” in the early 90s. Who could disagree with a tax on megayachts and private jets? YET EVEN THIS BACKFIRED, as the Rich, who, I repeat, Are nOT CLUELESS IDIOTS, REFUSED to buy with the new tax and KEPT their excellent yachts and jets and DID NOT order new ones, HURTING THE POOR WORKeRS WHO BUILD THEM AND THEIR FAMILIES.
PS Most low- adn mid-priced foreign cars in the US are also MADE in the US. Even some of the pricey ones (Merc and BMW SUVS) already.
Not sure why Regulus or whatever his/her name is needs to continually scream at us using ALL CAPS, Ok by me is regulus doesn’t feel the need to educate us in the future.
Have a good day.
Regulus, low income people spend all of their money, and they buy food, clothes, and many other things being affected by tariffs. Also, lower income people buy used cars, and the tariffs will increase the price of those. As far as European luxury cars, an extra $30K on price of a Bentley or Maybach is nothing to most people who buy them.
Regulus, in case you didn’t get my point, tariffs raising prices for people who need to spend all of their money to barely get by are affected a lot more than people who live lives of luxury spending 10% of their income.
Here are some ACTUAL DATA from the TAX FOUNDATION, whivch I post to contrast the BIG LIE of the Dems that… the rich do not pay their ‘fair share” of taxes! IT IS STRAIGHT FROM THE IRS:
“The average income tax rate in 2021 was 14.9 percent.
The top 1 percent of taxpayers paid a 25.9 percent average rate, nearly eight times higher
than the 3.3 percent average rate paid by the bottom half of taxpayers.”
ALSO:
“The top 50 percent of all taxpayers paid 97.7 percent of all federal individual income taxes,
while the bottom 50 percent paid the remaining 2.3 percent.”
https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/federal/latest-federal-income-tax-data-2024/
On the topic of what is a fair tax rate I should pay, I asked the question to a friend I have known since we were 10 years old, classmates in school and college, who is not just far left, he is actually a communist, and a hard core one at that, not just a ‘useful idiot” as Lenin called the leftie sympathizers.
He thought about it briefly and replied, 1/3, 33% of my income.
Leaving aside the MORAL question, what the HELL MORAL AUTHORITY does the state have to grab, under the threat of force and imprisonment and financial ruin, ONE THIRD (not just the biblical 10%!) of my hard earned money,
Stsrting next year, in 2026 and going forward, I will be paying MUCH MORE THAN A 33%V Tax rate, EVEN for my Fed Taxes ALONE. in addition, I will pay MI taxes, High Local taxes etc etc.
WHy 2026? This is the year where I have to start taking minimum required distributions from my 401ks., to which I have contributed the maximum possible amounts every year, and expect those MRDs to be of the operder of $300k a year and keep growing. THose in addition to my other income, my non-retirement investments, 200-500k a year depending on markets, AND the tiny SS payments of $5k a month.
If you wise guys who believe the rich don’t pay their fair share, here is your chance to PROVE IT. Tell me what I should do to pay less in 2026. Don’t tell me to buy a McMansion, and make the bank rich so I can deduct the interest, and in any case there is a ceiling to that.
SO STOP WiTH THE LIES, OK?
Regulus. So what? The income and wealth disparity are not a good thing. Maybe we should go back to the “glory days of the American Dream” in the 1950s, when the top marginal bracket was 91%. Also, some huge loopholes need to be closed, which allow the very rich to pay almost nothing.
I don’t watch the local news here, but today I did catch their leading story, and for once it was not some god damned shooting in Detroit, but that our esteemed University, the “Harvard of the Midwest” (but with a better ball team) Shut down its DEI offices! Months before, it had fired its chief DEI officer, a $200,000 a year bigoted and functionally illiterate joke of a “PhD” for unforgivable antisemetic remarks. She lawyered up and is suing the U… maybe she gets lucky and gets a settlement on top of her utterly undeserved salary all these years.
The U has grown from a budget of just a billion $ when I started working there to more than $10 bill today ( of course, adjusted for Bidenflation, $10b now is $3 b then, or less), and gets more than a billion from the Feds, which it risked losing if it continued its idiotic policies.
Talking about DEI and all that, in some campus there was a bake sale (some called it a ‘racist’ bake sale, where they sold stupid pancakes, but the prices were not uniform. The same pancake was $1.50 if you are “Asian”, $1 if you are just a dumb “White”, and $.50 if you are “Black”. See Yoputube video by journalist and TV personality John Stossel.
correction above, not pancakes, cupcakes. Shitty and Shittier foods as far as I am concerned. If you have a death wish for diabetes, losing your legs and premature death, make my day, keep eating them.
Most tax loopholes closed as early as in the REAGAN years, and even before This was done together with lowering the top tax rate from an OUTRAGEOUS 90% and later 70% to a STILL outrageous 37% (just for the IRS!) today.
This is another god damned lie of the left and the dems, they point out to those outrageous 90% and 70% top rastes back then as something we should do again! BUT the TRUTH is, NOBODY paid 90% back then BECAUSE OF THOSE LOOPHOLES THAT DO NOT EXiST TODAY.
OK, what would be your solution to fixing the obscenely great wealth disparity in the US, more tax cuts for the rich and defunding of the social safety net?
“Michigan maintains an Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, or ODEI, that includes a chief diversity officer, Chavous, who earns $417,000 annually plus benefits.Feb 2, 2025”
She makes as much as the POTUS for a phony job. Thanks to Trump, no more. BTW the Pres of UM makes… 3 times what POTUS makes, at $1,300,000 a year. When I started working at UM we had an excellent president who made only $100,000 a year (OK, $300,000 today). AND a beginning tenure track faculty then made $40k a year for 11 months paid work. Today such a new hire will barely make 120k, or also $40k back then!)
“A report in 2024 by the New York Times on UM’s DEI initiatives estimated them to cost $250 million. UM Chief Diversity Officer Tabbye Chavous later said the New York Times story was “filled with misinformation, disinformation and, sadly, sexism.”” Sure… so sad… said the $417k a year joke of a job charlatan.
“It is unclear how many people are employed at UM in DEI work, but the conservative Heritage Foundation ranked UM in 2021 as having the most DEI staff members in the nation at 163 employees. The regents told The Detroit News the number has since grown, but they are not sure by how much.”
The Regents, who are elected and are supposed to have a clue, do not know… what hope do the rest of us have.
$250 million is SAVED today. Maybe the UM can apply it to help its research projects survive under the new 15% overhead limit Trump has imposed.
Hey Regulus, time for you to climb back under your rock, your tired and half misspelled rants are all too familiar to users of this forum, anybody taking bets on how long it takes for Sean or John to ban this blowhard? And how long it takes him to come up with a new email address so he can sneak back in?
From the UM website, I see that UM has, essentially, shut down its DEI program, as a result of blackmail from the new regime. Meanwhile, the regime has its own version of DEI as shown by nominating, and with the consent of their cult mates in the senate, getting confirmed, the most unqualified, destructive, and corrupt people they can find for important positions, like RFK Jr., Hegseth, and Gabbard.
Regulus:
You’re watching too much cable TV infotainment. Switch it off and save yourself by getting outdoors more often. It will reduce your stress level and extend the life of your CAPS key.