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Runtime: 11:42
0:00 Oil Prices Jump on Israeli Attack
0:37 Trump Threatens Higher Car Tariffs
0:54 Trump to Slap Fees on Ro-Ro Ships
1:38 Ford Still Moving HD Trucks to Canada
2:54 U.S. EV Sales Fell in April
4:03 EV Sales Up Globally
4:38 Tesla Updates S & X, Raises Prices $5,000
5:43 Geely Boasts 47.26% ICE Thermal Efficiency
7:04 Ford F-150 LOBO Gets Low Rider Treatment
7:57 VW GTI Gets 50th Anniversary Edition
8:34 More Updates for Next-Gen Nissan Leaf
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
OIL PRICES JUMP ON ISRAELI ATTACK
We normally try to avoid stories like last night’s Israel attack on Iran, but it could have a direct impact on the auto industry. That attack sent oil prices up sharply in early market trading because there’s worry that Iran may try to shut off some oil shipments. And when prices at the pump go up quickly, car sales stall out, especially sales of full-size pickups and SUVs, which is where automakers make the most of their profits.
TRUMP THREATENS HIGHER CAR TARIFFS
Meanwhile, President Trump is threatening to raise tariffs on imported vehicles even higher. And he says it could happen in the not too distant future. “The higher you go, the more likely they are to build a plant here,” he said at a White House event.
TRUMP TO SLAP FEES ON RO-RO SHIPS
Trump is also going to slap fees on ro-ro ships that bring foreign cars to the U.S. Ro-ro stands for roll-on, roll-off, where cars are driven directly on and off ships without cranes or tow-vehicles. The fees could add as much as $300 per vehicle and would apply to any ro-ro ship that was not made in the U.S., which means almost all of them, since the U.S. builds very few ships for transporting commercial vehicles, although the military has some. Just like higher tariffs on vehicle imports will see more plants being built, the President believes that making it more expensive to use foreign ships will increase ship building in the United States.
FORD STILL MOVING HD TRUCKS TO CANADA
Despite the threat of tariffs, Ford is moving forward with its $3 billion project to retool its Oakville plant in Canada to build Super Duty pickups. Ford of Canada’s CEO says the update is “well in the works” and that trucks should start rolling down the line by the end of next year. The plant will have the capacity to produce 100,000 Super Duty’s a year. It used to build the Edge but production ended last year. Ford initially planned to replace the model with a new three-row EV but the company scrapped those plans because its projections on expected EV demand were off. But Ford’s plan to build Super Duty’s is a risk too because of the tariffs. According to AutoForecast Solutions, Ford only sells around 20,000 Super Duty’s in Canada, so the rest of the trucks will be shipped to the U.S. and slapped with tariffs.
U.S. EV SALES FELL IN APRIL
Despite discounts from automakers and the availability of the $7,500 federal tax credit, EV sales in the U.S. fell for the first time in 14 months. According to S&P Global Mobility, more than 97,800 EVs were registered in April, down 4.4% from a year ago. That dropped EV market share to 6.6%, down from 7.4% last year. Tesla registered just under 40,000 vehicles, which was a slip of 16%, so if you take out Tesla, EV sales were likely up. But Tesla wasn’t the only automaker that struggled to sell EVs in April. Ford, Hyundai, Rivian, Mercedes-Benz, Kia, Toyota and Volkswagen, also saw drops of anywhere between 19% to 77%. On the flip side, Chevy, BMW, Cadillac, Nissan, GMC, Honda and Volvo all saw gains. And despite April’s decline, EV registrations are up 11% through the first four months of the year to about 405,500 vehicles.
EV SALES UP GLOBALLY
And globally, electrified vehicles continue to grow. According to market research firm Rho Motion, automakers sold 1.6 million pure-electrics and plug-in hybrids in May, up 24% from a year ago. The overwhelming amount of those sales were in China, which accounted for 1.02 million sales, a 24% gain and the first time this year China topped 1 million sales. Electrified sales in Europe were up 36% and in North America they were up 7.5% in May.
TESLA UPDATES S & X, RAISES PRICES $5,000
Tesla is launching refreshed versions of the Model S & X, a move it first confirmed in February. There’s a new Frost Blue paint color available, a new camera in the lower part of the front fascia that improves visibility, new wheel designs that have better aero, which increases range slightly on some sizes, and the Model S Plaid gets a few styling tweaks that improve high-speed stability. Tesla said it also made adjustments to the suspension to help smooth out the ride, added some ambient lighting, made the interior less noisy and added some third-row space in the Model X. Those upgrades increase prices by $5,000. The Model S Long Range now starts just below $85,000 and the X Long Range just below $90,000. But since they were already priced in the premium to luxury category, I don’t think the increase will have a big impact on sales. In the first quarter in the U.S. Tesla is estimated to have delivered a combined 5,100 Model S & Xs.
GEELY BOASTS 47.26% ICE THERMAL EFFICIENCY
China plunged head first into promoting electric vehicles because it knew it was so far behind foreign automakers in internal combustion engines. Or, that used to be the case, because now it looks like several Chinese car companies are making the most efficient engines in the world. Geely announced it’s coming out with a 1.5-liter engine with 47.26% thermodynamic efficiency. Keep in mind that most engines are in the 30-35% range, while Formula One engines, which cost about $10 million apiece, barely get above 50%. Thermodynamic efficiency relates to how efficiently an engine converts fuel to power, versus the energy in the fuel needed to overcome friction or get converted to waste heat. Geely calls its new setup the Leishen AI hybrid and it’s going into the PHEV version of the Galaxy A7 sedan, which is rated at 117 miles per gallon, or 2 liters per 100 kilometers. It goes on sale in the second half of this year. And Car News China reports that a 2-liter version using hydrogen as a fuel hits a 48.15% thermal efficiency rating. It will be offered as an option in the fourth quarter.
FORD F-150 LOBO GETS LOW RIDER TREATMENT
Ford is giving the F-150 the LOBO treatment. While it’s not quite to the same performance street truck level as the Maverick LOBO, it does have a lot of features that make it unique. An updated suspension drops the truck by 2-inches, while a 10-piece ground effects package makes it look even lower. 22-inch gloss-black wheels are standard as are dual exhaust tips and hood vents. Under that hood is Ford’s 5.0L V8, which makes 400 horsepower and is mated to an upgraded two-speed automatic 4WD system. The F-150 LOBO also features unique lighting and front end styling, in both the grille and lower fascia. Overall, it’s a $4,700 package on top of an STX CrewCab model, which brings the starting price to around $61,000.
VW GTi GETS 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
Speaking of special-edition packages, Volkswagen is getting ready to launch a 50th anniversary edition of the Golf GTI, which it says is the most powerful production GTI ever. While it hasn’t revealed exact power figures yet, based on the previous statement, it will have more than 306 horsepower. And the company just took a “near-production” test vehicle to the Nurburgring and set a new record for itself. Lapping the famous track in a little over 7:46, no street legal Volkswagen has ever gone faster.
MORE UPDATES FOR NEXT-GEN NISSAN LEAF
Nissan is sharing more details about the next-gen Leaf. It says when connected to a fast charger, the model can add up to 250 kilometers or 155 miles of range in 14 minutes. After a destination is entered into the navigation, the car will automatically optimize the cooling of the battery to help conserve energy. In the U.S., the Leaf will be available with outlets inside the car that power small to medium devices. And in Japan, the Leaf will be capable of bidirectional charging, so it can connect to an owner’s home to power appliances or charge devices as well as use it as a backup generator during a power outage. The new Leaf makes its global debut next week.
But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for making Autoline a part of your day and I hope you have a great weekend.
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The F-150 Lobo package seems expensive for what you get. Its essentially an appearance package that ends up looking much less distinctive compared to other F-150s than the Lobo Maverick does as compared to other Mavericks. That nearly $5,000 price tag would buy at least two years of gas for most owners. Lobo is a Nogo for me.
A big advantage of the LOBO is that it’s lower, more like what the standard ride height of pickup trucks should be.
Trump’s tariffs will just reduce choice and increase prices, and in all likelihood, cause a recession. Companies like Audi and Porsche will just wait it out, unless they move a small amount of production to the Scout plant already being built.
It’s interesting that the front drive GTi is faster around the Nurburgring than the AWD Golf R. I guess most of the circuit is high enough speed that getting power to the ground in lower gears is not a factor.
Best wishes to Leaf. Seems like an ok commuter car, not sure of how big the market in the US is for that anymore.
Bidirectional charging in my opinion is a high value attribute to consumers, when paired with solar it makes all the sense in the world. I think people will eventually figure it out, and the only reason i may get a used lightning for myself.
I had the dealer install a $1k lowering kit for $1k labor on my new ‘15 Silverado. It was lowered 2.5” in front and 4” in the rear and made a huge difference in the handling and ease of use. It doesn’t look like the LOBO is lowered enough to really make a difference in handling. Lowering a truck as much as I did creates some issues. My 1” wider summer performance tires have rubbed some holes in the plastic front inner fender liners after 100k miles. My plastic front air dam has scrubbed a number of driveway aprons and parking curbs. I added booster air bags to the rear when we decided we would use a small camper instead of our tent for camping. I’m looking to get a new truck and will probably drop this one too.
I lowered my 1995 S10 a little, by switching from 75 to 60 series tires. Unfortunately, there was no way to correct the speedometer and odometer.
My 2003 S10 came with 235/55-16, I changed to 245/50-16 BFG comp 2. Much better than the Goodyear’s and no speedo error
As I remember, my S10 came with 205/75r15, and put 215/60r15s on it. I won my class in an autocross with it. Even with the 4.3, it was in the lowest class, H stock, and was easy to drive, starting in 1st and the rest of the run in 2nd with the manual trans.
There couldn’t have been much speedo error or lowering with that tire change. Mine was an extended cab Xtreme with the 4.3 and 5 spd. I think it was lowered 2” from the factory. Best handling car I’ve ever owned. That sort of tells you what I’ve owned.
Not much lowering, about an inch, and about 7% speedo/odo error.
My 60 series tires were Dunlop “touring” tires of some sort. I disabled the one channel ABS (removed the fuse) for autocrossing.
While the updates to the Model S and S are welcome, the S has aged while, but the X not so much, IMHO. Don’t get me wrong, the raised rear doors still look cool and ahead of its time, but with the R1S, Lyriq, Vistiq, Escalade, Q8 e-tron, EQ SUV Series and now the Gravity, the Model X is is looking long in the tooth by comparison. The hard and software maybe still be the tip of the arrow, but the exterior styling and shape of the X is starting to show. What’s amazing, though, is the exterior design of the Model S still seems to be able to hold its own! Even against the much newer models like the i5, EQ Series and A6 e-tron, with only the Polstar sedan, Emeya, Air, Taycan and SU7, being able to stay with it with regard to flash and flare. While I get the ‘don’t fix what ain’t broke’ thinking for the X, but I think the Gravity, Vistiq and the Escalade IQ, might give Tesla reason to rethink that position!
Call me crazy, but, is it me or does the Toyota sedan EV from yesterday’s report, look like a better looking Afeela EV sedan?! Just a thought.
To me, the Model S always, and still looks decent. On the other hand, the X always looked bulbous and bloated. Also, the Model X doors are “interesting,” but stupid. They couldn’t be opened in a lot of garages.
Of course, the S and X are “just for fun” for Tesla, like the Cybertruck. The 3 and Y are 90+ percent of Tesla sales.
Unrelated to today’s show, but to GM’s plans to replace some EV production with ICE production, GM really needs to make some hybrids. I didn’t consider a Traverse, when the Highlander hybrid I bought uses half as much gas in most of my driving, but if GM made a competitive hybrid in that type vehicle, it would have been high on my shopping list. Since GM completely quit making cars, except Corvette, I wouldn’t expect them to make anything to compete with Prius or Camry, at least for now.
Well, Cadillac still has cars, and they need hybrid versions to improve on the mediocre mpg.
Isn’t the Traverse the one with the well known transmission failure problem? I’d avoid that one regardless of mpg.
Those Ford Super Duty trucks already cost over 80 grand don’t they? With most all of them bound for the US, seems like willful negligence to build them in Canada due to shipping costs and tariff bait.
Daily Driver —
I wonder if Ford knows that most of those $80K Super Duty trucks are purchased or leased by companies and corporations, so that the overall cost with the 24% tariff could be written off as a business expense? With a lot of the “BBB” set the favor business and the wealthy, perhaps there is an allowance or loophole that will address that type off spending?
Ford’s tooling of Oakville to build the pickups is well underway. Trump will be gone, and given his day-by-day changes of mind, who knows what tariffs will be in place a year from now? Also, the Oakville plans are part of the union contract with the CAW.
As far as Traverse, CR’s reliability surveys show transmission trouble from 2016-2019, but very good transmission reliability since then. Did they change transmission sourcing, or just fix something?