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Runtime: 9:55
0:00 China Likely Headed for New EV Regs & Policies
0:57 Automakers Push Back Against Dealer Laws
1:44 Volvo Wants EU to Drop U.S. Import Tariffs
2:31 BMW Recycles Old Plastic for 3D Printers
3:15 NHTSA Nominee Would Prioritize Speed & Tech
4:59 U.S. Removes Emission Fines As Far Back As 2022
5:29 Buick Adds EREV Tech to China Sedan
6:15 Ford Reveals EREV Bronco Sport for China
7:11 Ford Bronco Sport BEV
7:40 NIO Cracks Down on Battery Swap Abuse
8:35 Hyundai’s Interesting Approach to Planting Trees
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
CHINA LIKELY HEADED FOR NEW EV REGS & POLICIES
Let’s kick things off in China, because the government is starting to wave red flags about the overcapacity that’s beginning to crush its auto industry. None other than Xi Jinping, who is the President of the country and the head of the Chinese Communist Party, questions whether every single province should be building EVs. And we don’t believe that’s just some rhetorical question. When the President and head of the Chinese Communist Party gets up in front of everybody and questions whether so many provinces should be building EVs, we think it’s a clear sign that he’s about to lower the boom. Other Party officials are also talking about putting an end to the “irrational competition” in the EV business. And so it could be any day now we can expect new policies and regulations.
AUTOMAKERS PUSH BACK AGAINST DEALER LAWS
Now let’s jump over to the U.S. where there’s a war brewing between automakers and their dealers. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents automakers, is asking the Justice Department to look into whether franchise dealer laws limit competition. However, the National Auto Dealers Association says this is a “direct attack” on franchise laws. Scout Motors, which wants to use a direct sales model that bypasses car dealers, is also asking the DOJ to eliminate state franchise laws. Under the Trump Administration, the DOJ set up an Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force, which has the goal of eliminating regulatory burdens, and that’s exactly who Scout sent the letter to.
VOLVO WANTS EU TO DROP U.S. IMPORT TARIFFS
Now let’s bounce across the Atlantic to Europe, where Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson is begging EU lawmakers to completely get rid of tariffs on U.S. car imports. He wants the EU to make a deal, sort of a ‘we’ll get rid of our tariffs if you get rid of yours.’ Europe has a 10% tariff on imported vehicles, while the U.S. now has a 27.5% tariff on European car imports. Volvo posted an operating loss of more than $1 billion in the second quarter largely because of the U.S. tariffs, but also because of model delays. As we reported yesterday, Volvo is moving production of the XC60 from Sweden to the U.S., in order to avoid tariffs.
BMW RECYCLES PLASTIC FOR 3D PRINTERS
BMW is trying to create a more circular economy around 3D printing. It’s now taking waste 3D printing powder and other used plastic parts that were previously thrown out and turning them back into new plastic wire filament for 3D printers. This sure makes sense. BMW says every single one of its plants is using 3D printers, giving those sites the ability to make several hundred thousand components. They mainly produce production aids that make things easier and safer for line workers, including parts that protect from paint scratches, fitment tools like gauges and templates and even entire grippers for robots can be 3D printed.
NHTSA NOMINEE WOULD PRIORITIZE SPEED & TECH
President Trump’s nominee to lead the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says he will prioritize safety while speeding up deployment of autonomous vehicles. In a Senate committee hearing, Jonathan Morrison, told lawmakers NHTSA “can’t sit back and wait for problems to arrive with such developing technologies.” At the same time, he doesn’t want to “impose undue costs or design restrictions that hamper innovation.” Currently automakers are limited to 2,500 autonomous test vehicles without a steering wheel or brake pedal.
U.S. REMOVES EMISSION FINES FROM AS FAR BACK AS 2022
The Trump Administration isn’t just getting rid of fines for automakers who miss their emission targets. It’s retroactively going back for the last three years, to the 2022 model year, to get rid of them. So, we think this means companies like Stellantis, which paid $190 million last year for missing targets, will get reimbursed. Automakers have had to pay fines for not meeting fuel economy rules since 1975 but now they don’t face any penalties going forward.
BUICK ADDS EREV TECH TO CHINA SEDAN
Extended range EVs, or EREVs are spreading all over the world and over in China they’re the hottest segment in the market. Two new entries really caught our eye, because they come from American automakers. Buick is unleashing its Electra L7 sedan with a 1.5 liter gasoline engine serving as a range extender. That’s paired with front and rear electric motors which collectively produce an impressive 502 horsepower. The 4-door sedan uses an LFP battery pack, but for now we don’t know its size or how much driving range it delivers. Buick says the base price will be $34,800 which we think is a screaming deal for a car with over 500 horses.
FORD REVEALS EREV BRONCO SPORT FOR CHINA
Ford is also jumping into the EREV segment in China with a new trim level of the Bronco Sport. It uses a 1.5 liter gasoline engine that recharges a 44 kilowatt hour battery. On battery power alone, it’s rated at 220 kilometers of range on the Chinese test cycle. That would be about 90 miles on the EPA test. But the range extender takes that up to 1,220 kilometers of range, or 493 miles on the EPA. No word yet on what the price will be, but you can see why so many car companies are excited about EREVs. You get the full electric driving experience–smooth, quiet, and powerful–but with no range anxiety, no charging time anxiety and no worries about losing range in cold weather. That’s why we think that EREV technology is going to quickly spread around the world.
BRONCO SPORT BEV
By the way, there’s a BEV version of the Bronco Sport for China as well. It’s an all-wheel-drive model with electric motors front and rear that produce a combined 311 horsepower. It uses one of BYD’s 105 kilowatt-hour LFP battery packs and delivers 650 kilometers of range on the CLTC test cycle. We estimate that would adjust to about 262 miles on the EPA test.
NIO CRACKS DOWN ON BATTERY SWAP ABUSE
NIO is cracking down on owners that abuse its policy on free battery swaps. In 2019 it started offering free unlimited battery swaps for life. As the charging infrastructure grew in China, NIO began to roll back and now caps free swaps at four per month and free power discharge to 15 kWh per month. But its early adopters got to keep their unlimited swapping perks. However, as we reported a month ago, NIO was not happy to learn that some of those owners were abusing the system, from minor infractions like using their vehicle as a taxi or charging up other EVs to more serious offenses like powering entire businesses as a way to skirt electricity bills. So, NIO has revoked the unlimited free swaps from owners that it deemed were misusing the perk.
HYUNDAI HELPS PLANT TREES
Hyundai is helping to plant more trees in Korea and it’s doing it in an interesting way. It customized an IONIQ 5 and 9 so they can launch drones that are capable of dropping clay balls filled with tree seeds into remote areas. The IONIQ 5 has a landing pad and can charge the drones, while the IONIQ 9 has a dual monitor setup for flying the drones and even has custom seats that swivel all the way around. Hyundai says its reforestation efforts will start out in a region that was hit by widespread wildfires in 2022.
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If Buick produced a sedan in the US and other markets, that looked as good as the one in today’s report, I would think they would have another best seller, whether it was ICE, BEV or EREV!
If/when the U.S. removes emissions fines as far back as 2022 and reimbursing companies that fell short, how is that fair to the companies that spent billions (through the cost of engineering compliant systems, or purchased credits from other automakers) to meet them?! Shouldn’t they too be reimbursed? Reimbursing them seems to imply that the governments expectations were too were either too high or unrealistic to meet, so shouldn’t all OEMs be getting money back? Reimbursing the violating companies, seems like the US is setting it’s self up for lawsuits from compliant companies!
I can see a potential war brewing within the Republican party. The auto dealers have owned the backing of the party for decades, but if the justice department wants to weaken franchise laws, the dealer organizations won’t like it.
All of this talk about EREVs is interesting, but even more interesting, would be to know how they actually perform. I suspect the reason we have never seen one in the US market, except the i3 REx, is because they are horribly inefficient when running on gas. Maybe we will get some efficiency data on them eventually.
I looks like it will be full speed ahead for gas hogs, with no incentive for car companies to improve efficiency, at least for another 3.5 years. Also, I guess the people in power want to add even more to the national debt.
A friend just bought a Honda Prologue, with about $10K of mfg and dealer incentives, plus the $7500 from the govt. I rode in it, and it seemed nice, quiet, comfortable, etc., but I suspect it will depreciate quickly. I think it will work well for them for several years, doing everything they need, with mostly home charging.
wmb,
I like the look of the Buick, but it seems to have a similar issue that the former Chrysler 200 had when they decided to make the body more swoopy to increase sales. That issue was the lack of rear headroom due to the slope of the roof in the rear. It will likely be a kids only space but getting them in and out of the rear seat, if they are of the age that they cannot do it themselves, will also be challenging for adults because of the sloping rear roof. That was one of the major issues with the former Chrysler 200 that looked pretty decent, but nobody wanted to put up with that roof. The model prior to that was really ugly, but it was functional at least with its straighter rear roof.
I have a car that was compromised somewhat in the name of style, a 2024 Prius. It lost a little headroom, and the rear door openings are kind of small, making access less easy than with many 4 door cars. That doesn’t matter much to me, because the rear seat is rarely used, and when it is, it is for short trips with generally agile teens. It’s lower, making it a little harder to get in the front, but I don’t have a problem with it, even though I’m old. The downside of the new Prius, to me, is that it lost the spare tire, but it’s quicker, and generally drives much better than earlier Prii.
pathetic wishful thinking by the incorrigibles on the far left here. Laughable. You should see the CNN video with poll data re the DISASTER (not the victory!!!) that awaits the disgusting Dems in the 2026 midterms. You read right, CNN, not.. FOX.
That Buick looks to me like some heavy Ford Lincoln influence. The front end lets you know it’s electric with Tesla like front missing grille and the side reminded me of the fusion with the rear and looking very much like a Lincoln.
I’m a little torn on the whole direct sales/dealers fight. I feel like dealerships are just a middle man that add cost to the product with very little value for what they bring to the table. However knowing a dealership is nearby when a vehicle is under warranty is important to me. So from the service side they are valuable and can make the difference of a product I might or might not buy. If the closest dealership is 2 hours away I’m not sure I would buy anything from them. I also don’t like outdated laws forcing us to use a middle person to buy a product that literally can be ordered online dropped at my door and financed online.
Yes, Reg, the MAGAts are playing games of delaying the start of some of the worst hurt until after the midterms.
MERKUR And Kit —
Both the Fusion and Malibu had coupe like roofs, but out side of the low entry point, the inside roof Accommodations was pretty decent. The issue with the 200, was that it was the same as the Dodge Dart, with the only difference being the added length behind the rear wheel. Perhaps that added length required lowering the roof over the rear passenger to add better proportions for the overall shape of the vehicle, you think? I must say, to my eye that Buick sedan looked pretty sharp, but if it’s marketed to mature drivers in China as Buick did in the US, that deep bending and stooping, may have them looking elsewhere.
I got in the back seat of my Prius, and the biggest issue seems to be the smallish door openings. The outside releases in the C pillar are “different,” but work ok. I’m about 5’10” and had plenty of headroom, but tall people might not.
wmb, I haven’t been in China in 30 years, but when I was there, few “mature” people were grossly overweight, and could probably get in cars like that Buick without difficulty. I checked Consumer Reports charts, and rear headroom of the last Chrysler 200 was only a half inch less than a current Camry. The Uber I used to pick up my Mini 3 years ago was a 200, and the back seat had plenty of room for my 5’10” frame. The bottom line, is that Americans like trucks, not cars. I’m clearly an outlier, 79 in a month, and I like cars, even the low, 56 inch high current Prius.
Wow. The Prius is a bit taller than I would have thought. The shortest car in the fleet is a Pontiac Fiero which is all of 46.9 inches of height stock. I lowered it an inch making it 45.9 inches in height. That car is so low you feel like you are sitting on the road itself which is kind of true. Getting in and out of it is “interesting” as my knees are higher than my hips when I get in/out of it. Even my mother who is all of 5 foot tall struggles to get out of that car. It gets a bit scary driving that car around all the people with Escalades and Silverados. I am never quite sure they know the Fiero is in front of them.
Wow, Merkur, I knew the Fiero was short, but 3.75 feet tall is shorter than I would have imagined. I have driven a few low slung sports cars before that felt like that, several Porsches, a few Corvettes, and a souped-up/lowered 1990 Prelude come to mind. Now I want to go measure some of them!
Edit: I looked it up, if you care, the stock 3rd gen Prelude ride height was 49.2″. I don’t know how much my friend lowered it, but I’m guessing it probably was not as low as your Fiero.
The C4 was 46.7″, and the Porsches around 50″.
The fiero is short in height, short in length, but strangely wide. They prioritized space for the occupants so once in, it is just fine. You feel like you entered the Tardis(reference for the doctor who fans).
Not a sports car, but the Toyota iQ had a similar Tardis feel. It was not exceedingly short in height (59″), but it seemed nearly as wide as it was long (it’s width was more than half it’s length). it seemed like you could hit your head on the back window if you reclined, but it was very roomy side to side. I only drove that once, but it was a unique experience.
A C8 Corvette is 49 inches tall, and a recent Boxster is 50 inches. I didn’t realize a Fiero was that low. A “classic” Mini is 53 inches tall.