AD #4149 – OEMs Step Up to Replace EV Incentives; U.S. Market Share Winners & Losers; BYD’s Sales Drop

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

OEMs STEP UP TO REPLACE FEDERAL EV INCENTIVES
Sales of EVs hit a record 12.2% market share in the U.S. last month, according to JD Power. General Motors alone sold 66,500 EVs for the third quarter, and may have even posted an operating profit at that scale. But with federal subsidies for EVs going away, everyone is sure that sales of electrics will now fall through the floor. But it may not happen right away. There are about 134,000 EVs sitting on dealer lots right now and dealers and automakers will continue to offer some kind of incentives to move those vehicles. As we reported earlier this week, GM and Ford made down payments for leases on EVs that their dealers have in inventory, which qualified them at the last minute for $7,500 federal rebates. Nissan says it will be cutting deals on its EVs, too.

HYUNDAI SLASHES IONIQ 5 EV PRICE
And you can add Hyundai to the list. It says all 2025 IONIQ 5s still in inventory will continue to qualify for a $7,500 cash incentive, whether it’s leased or purchased. While 2026 model year IONIQ 5s, which are already in production, don’t qualify for the cash rebate, the company is significantly cutting prices. A base 2026 IONIQ 5 will now start at $36,600, down from over $44,000, while other versions are getting nearly $10-grand off the sticker price. The company says these changes are part of a broader strategy to keep the IONIQ brand competitive in the EV market, while responding to shifting consumer expectations and growing pressure from competition.

HYUNDAI SIMPLIFIES KONA EV CHOICES
Speaking of Hyundai EVs, it’s slashing the Kona EV lineup. The model is going from 4 trim lines and two battery options, to just one trim and one battery. It will only be available in the SE trim for 2026 and with the smaller 48.6 kWh battery pack, which delivers 200 miles on the EPA test. The previous model year was also available with a nearly 65 kWh battery that offered up to 261 miles of range. While Hyundai hasn’t announced pricing yet, the SE trim previously started at about $34,500.

STELLANTIS WANTS TO SELL FREE2MOVE
Stellantis is looking to cut costs everywhere it can in order to save cash. Bloomberg reports that the automaker is considering selling its ride-sharing business Free2move. The company has reached out to potential buyers but the discussions are in the early stages and a decision to sell hasn’t been made yet. Free2move launched in 2016 and it currently operates in 16 cities around the world including Washington DC, Paris and Berlin.

  

DODGE AXES TOP EV CHARGER TRIM
Another way Stellantis is cutting costs is scaling back on its EV plans. The automaker already scrapped the all-electric Ram pickup and the plug-in version of the Jeep Gladiator. And now Mopar Insiders reports that the range-topping version of the electric Dodge Charger Daytona is being axed. The model was going to feature an 800V architecture and was expected to deliver more than 1,000 horsepower. The electric Charger currently on sale uses a 400V platform and delivers 670 horsepower. But it’s not too surprising that the high-performance version is being canceled. Through the first nine-months of the year Dodge has sold just over 7,000 electric Chargers.

COULD CARBON CAPTURE SAVE THE IC ENGINE?
The big problem with internal combustion engines is that they run on gasoline or diesel and can emit massive amounts of CO2. But what if there was something like a new fangled kind of catalytic converter that could clean up some of those nasty tailpipe emissions? That’s what today’s topic on Autoline After Hours will be about. We’ve got Yabs Kebede, the systems engineering director from a company called Remora, coming on the show to talk about their carbon capture technology. Frank Markus from Motor Trend will also join us, so be sure to tune in when John and Gary go live at 3 pm eastern time this afternoon.

    

BYD SALES DROP
BYD is the juggernaut of the Chinese auto industry and it’s the benchmarking target of virtually every other car company in the world. But it just posted its first monthly drop in sales in 18 months. The automaker sold more than 396,000 vehicles in September, but that was down 5.5% from a year ago. BYD somewhat recently cut its sales forecast for the year by 16% to 4.6 million vehicles. And analysts from Morgan Stanley estimate that the automaker needs to sell an average of 447,000 vehicles per month in the fourth quarter to reach its full-year target. So BYD really needs to pick up the pace if it’s going to hit its goal.

RENAULT & CHERY JOINT AUTO ASSEMBLY IN SOUTH AMERICA
When the EU slapped import tariffs on Chinese EVs it wasn’t long before Chinese automakers started looking for local manufacturing opportunities, so they could start avoiding those tariffs. Since then we’ve seen other countries, like Brazil and Mexico, start slapping their own tariffs and restrictions on Chinese imports, so Chinese automakers once again are looking into local manufacturing. Bloomberg reports that Chery is in talks with Renault to manufacture and sell vehicles in South America. Discussions include Chery building combustion engine cars in Renault’s plant in Columbia, which would also be rebadged as Renaults, and to make Chery-branded plug-in hybrid trucks at Renault’s factory in Argentina. The report says Chery would fund the entire project as well. Renault has a similar deal with Geely in Brazil, but it’s said any partnership with Chery would not have an impact on its other projects.

U.S. MARKET SHARE WINNERS & LOSERS
About a decade ago, the auto industry hit peak sales. Since then, car sales in all the major markets of the world have stopped growing. So how do you grow your company when the market isn’t growing? You go for market share. And that’s where we’re at right now, in a market share war. We’ve got the latest market share projections for the U.S. from Cox Automotive and this very simply describes who’s winning and who’s losing. So far this year, General Motors has gained the most market share, up 6%, followed by the Hyundai Group up 5.3%, Toyota with a 4.8% gain, BMW up 4.6% and Ford up 3%. Honda and Mazda were flat with no change, so now we get to who those other automakers are stealing from. The biggest losers so far this year are Mercedes-Benz, down 13%, Tesla, which is down 12.5%, the Volkswagen Group, down 12.1%, Stellantis, dropped 12%, Subaru went down 4.7%, and Nissan-Mitsubishi are down 3%. Here’s a tip if you’re shopping for a new car. All those names on the loser list? They’re probably going to have the best deals.

GM SHOWS NEW LUNAR ROVER
Hey, what is it about car companies and lunar rovers? Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan and Audi have all shown concept drawings or crude prototypes for a lunar lander. Now, as NASA plans to go back to the moon, it’s running a contest to see who can come up with a lunar rover. It’s awarded contracts to three groups and one of those is General Motors, which will develop the battery and power system, as well as the chassis, suspension, steering, and autonomous features. GM wants to use Nickel Cobalt Manganese Aluminum batteries that will last at least a decade and deliver 30,000 kilometers of driving, or about 19,000 miles. One of the rover’s tasks is to map the moon surface wherever it drives so it can then offer autonomous driving. This is sort of history repeating itself, because General Motors was involved in developing NASA’s original lunar rover back in the 1970s.

And that wraps up today’s report, thanks for watching Autoline Daily.