AD #4048 – OEMs Burning Through U.S. Inventory; China Tariffs Put Focus on Axial Flux EV Motors; China’s Momenta Lands More Robotaxi Business

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

OEMs BURNING THROUGH U.S. INVENTORY 
As we reported on Friday, U.S. car buyers rushed to the showrooms in April to beat any tariff increases. And as a result of that, automakers are burning through their inventory far faster than anyone expected. In January automakers had an average of 91 days’ of inventory. Now they have 61 days, according to Cox Automotive. That’s a 38% drop. Jonathan Smoke, the Chief Economist at Cox Automotive tells the Wall Street Journal, “I’m a little shocked. I really thought it would be the end of May before we would go through this roller coaster ride.” With supply tightening up fast, car companies and their dealers are getting rid of incentives as fast as they can. President Trump warned automakers that he would slaughter them if they raised prices because of the tariffs. But if they get rid of incentives, they can claim they haven’t raised prices, even though customers will pay thousands more per vehicle. Up to now the average incentive was worth about $3,400 per vehicle.

JLR RESUMES U.S. SHIPMENTS
Here’s some other quick tariff updates. Jaguar Land Rover resumed shipping vehicles from the UK to the U.S. And Bentley says it’s going to split the cost of tariffs with customers. So, the company eats half the tariff, while customers eat the other half.

INFINITI COULD GET VERSION OF NISSAN ROGUE
Infiniti could get its own version of the Nissan Rogue, according to Automotive News. It will almost certainly be a hybrid and could even have a plug-in version too. The model wouldn’t hit the market until late 2027 because it gets a complete make-over. It’s not just a rebadged version of the Rogue. Internally they’re calling it the i33C and it will probably cost $10,000 more than a Rogue. And here’s the tariff connection to this development. The Rogue is made in the U.S. and Nissan recently announced it will shift even more Rogue production to its plant in Tennessee. 

CAR BUYERS FACE TOUGHER LOAN STANDARDS
As we said a moment ago car buyers are rushing out to get a new vehicle now before the effects of tariffs kick-in. But according to the Wall Street Journal, auto lenders are rejecting more borrowers because of stricter standards. When vehicle prices soared during the pandemic because of fewer vehicles being available, borrowers took longer and larger loans to afford the purchase. But that led to many borrowers falling behind on payments, so banks and other lenders tightened rules. So now lenders are favoring borrowers with better credit scores because it’s less risky. And since tariffs are likely going to cause car prices to go up further, lenders are expected to be stricter with loans.

 

CHINA TARIFFS PUT FOCUS ON AXIAL FLUX EV MOTORS 
One of the people that helped develop EV motors for Lucid is now the co-founder and technical leader of an electric motor startup called Conifer, which has cut all rare-earth materials from its design. Most electric motors are radial flux, but Conifer is using what’s called an axial-flux or pancake motor. Instead of copper wire encircling a shaft with magnets on it, an axial flux motor has a series of steel plates stacked on top of each other. Some of those plates are fixed, which replaces the copper coil, while the other plates are embedded with magnets and are free to spin. Since the magnets and coils are closer together and there’s a larger surface area for them to interact, the motors are more efficient and can provide more power in a smaller package. Conifer is building on this concept by using more magnets, putting them further out on the spinning plates and then spinning those plates a lot faster, which allows it to use weaker iron-based magnets that don’t have any rare-earth materials. The company has shown applications for fans, pumps, tools, equipment and even in-wheel motors for motorcycles and scooters. And it thinks a small EV using its motors could happen within four years. If you’d like to learn more about axial flux motors, we’ve provided a link to an interview we did with Torev, another startup working on these motors that also won a GAMIC award. 

CHINA’S MOMENTA LANDS MORE ROBOTAXI BUSINESS
Chinese autonomous technology company Momenta is teaming up with Uber to launch robotaxi services outside of China. Momenta will integrate its smart driving tech into Uber’s mobility network starting with Europe early next year. While it did say vehicles would first launch with safety drivers on board, it didn’t say what vehicles they’ll use. However, Uber also recently announced a partnership with Volkswagen to use I.D. Buzzes in the U.S. and VW recently announced a partnership with Momenta. So, it makes sense to us that Uber would use I.D. Buzzes in Europe as well. A technology insider with knowledge of the Chinese market, tells Autoline that they think Momenta is one of the top smart driving providers in China and that could be reflected by the number of legacy automakers that have teamed up with the supplier, including Mercedes, GM, Toyota and Honda. 

IONNA CHARGING NETWORK MAKES SLOW PROGRESS
EV charging network Ionna, is slowly making progress expanding in the U.S. The network, which launched about two years ago, is a joint-venture between General Motors, Hyundai, Kia, Stellantis, BMW, Honda, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota. By the end of the decade, Ionna is aiming to have 30,000 charging bays across the U.S. but right now it has 12 sites in operation with 120 bays. There are 15 more locations under construction and over 200 more contracted, which will give it a total of over 2,000 bays. That still puts it behind schedule, so Ionna will really have to ramp up its efforts. But users should like that it’s avoiding installing chargers in parking lots at shopping centers and building stations that have canopies over chargers, restrooms and indoor waiting areas with food. 

HYUNDAI IONIQ 5 GETS $7,500 REBATE AGAIN
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 once again qualifies for the $7,500 federal tax credit. The model lost eligibility for the past four months despite being built at the company’s plant in Georgia because it’s batteries were made outside the U.S. Although the incentive was still available for those that leased the model. But the Ioniq 5 is back on the EPA list of vehicles that qualify at purchase, now that it is using battery packs made in the U.S. by SK On. And with the credit, it starts at $36,575.

AUTOLINE POLL RESULTS ON SLATE
We’ve got the results of our latest poll, where we asked what you think will happen with Slate, the company that’s coming out with that $27,000 electric pickup truck. 25% of you said it will be a smash success. 22% said it would be a one-hit wonder that will go belly up in a couple of years. 11% said it would be dead on arrival. And 42% said none of the above and left a bunch of comments. 

Kit Gerhart hit on a common topic. He said, “I’d think it would have more appeal if it were hybrid, or even ICE. I’d expect it to appeal more to younger people, many in apartments, than to people with home charging in their garage.”

A number of you felt that if the $7,500 rebate goes away the truck would not be competitive. Matthew Clarke said, “Good idea, but still far too expensive. $27k is similar to the price of a new Leaf.”

Bryan Falchuk worries about the range of 150 miles for the small battery and 250 for the big one. He said, “I love the idea, and it could be very successful. I think the issue will be with the range.”

But Eric Cardwell said, “Production is hell, if they can get through production then it could be a great seller!!”

I wish we could get to all the comments, but we don’t have time to go through them all. The poll was only open to viewers who have Autoline memberships with Patreon and YouTube, but some of you non-members complained about being left out. We’re doing a poll every week, but going forward, every now and then, we’ll post a poll that’s open to everyone.

And that’s a wrap for this show. Thanks for tuning in.