AD #4151 – Kia Axes the Soul; Trump Considers Tariff Relief for U.S.-Made Cars; What Will Tesla Unveil Tomorrow?

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

TRUMP CONSIDERS TARIFF RELIEF FOR U.S.-MADE CARS
The Trump Administration seems to be getting the message that its tariffs are hurting the American auto industry. Reuters reports that it’s considering tariff relief for any vehicles that have final assembly done in the United States. The government would provide automakers with a tax credit worth 3.5% of the retail price of those vehicles for the next 5 years, which could also extend to the final assembly of engines as well. That’s good news for automakers who make cars in the U.S. but it doesn’t seem to provide any relief for suppliers. Several supplier CEOs have told Autoline that they are extremely worried about smaller Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers because they’re under severe financial distress from the tariffs, especially tariffs on steel and aluminum.

DETROIT 3 FEUD OVER TRUCK TARIFFS
​​And speaking of tariffs, the Detroit automakers are now feuding over them. Bloomberg reports that Stellantis is lobbying the Trump Administration to get rid of or lower a possible 25% tariff on its medium-duty trucks made in Mexico. But General Motors and Ford are lobbying the administration to ignore that request because they say it will give Stellantis a cost advantage over trucks built in the U.S. that use imported parts already subject to tariffs. UBS analysts estimate that the 25% tariff will cost Stellantis around $2 billion in adjusted operating income annually. However, the timeline the administration set to impose the tariffs on October 1 has already passed and it’s not known when a decision will be made on them.

  

JLR RUSHES TO PREVENT SUPPLY CHAIN COLLAPSE
As we reported last week, Jaguar Land Rover is slowly beginning to resume production after a cyber-attack crippled the company. But it’s far from out of the woods. It’s not expected to hit full production until after Christmas. And it’s mostly got to do with its supply chain. JLR’s suppliers are under so much financial distress that it’s going to provide them with £500 million, or $674 million in relief. The British government provided JLR with a £1.5 billion loan, while the company is trying to raise another £2 billion from banks. 

WHAT WILL TESLA UNVEIL TOMORROW?
Is Tesla going to unveil a new low cost car tomorrow? That’s what investors are expecting after the company posted a couple of teasers on Twitter that suggested some kind of announcement is coming. We’ve been waiting for Tesla to come out with a decontented version of the Model Y that would be priced around $30,000. But then again maybe it’s finally ready to unveil the roadster which has been in the works for years. And yes, we know that Twitter was renamed X after Elon Musk bought it. But we noted that in one of his recent live-streamed events that he was calling it Twitter, so we may as well do it, too.

    

COUNTERFEIT CAR PARTS A GROWING PROBLEM
More car owners are ordering parts online to save money, but you need to be careful. Last year, the U.S. government seized more than 211,000 counterfeit car parts, which is double the amount from 2023. But experts say the number is a lot higher than that. The Department of Commerce estimates that there is $3 billion worth of counterfeit parts coming into the U.S. every year. They’re on the rise because custom officials can only inspect a small percentage of the parts coming in. And counterfeiters are getting better at making parts look like the originals. Experts say be on the lookout for parts that are significantly cheaper. Check details on the box, like the logos or the language on the packaging, which can all indicate a counterfeit.

DACIA REVEALS NEW SPRING EV
The EU slapped tariffs on Chinese-made EVs because it was worried about low-priced models flooding the market. But those models aren’t just coming from Chinese automakers. In fact, the cheapest new EV you can buy in Europe right now is the Dacia Spring, at just under 17,000 euros or about $20,000, even though it’s made in China. And now it’s getting some significant upgrades. Based on a platform developed by Chinese partner Dongfeng, the Spring is getting a new LFP battery that’s slightly smaller than the previous pack at just over 24 kWh, but it still provides the same 225 kilometers or 140 miles of range and offers faster charging capability. Standard motor output was increased from 45- to 70-horsepower, while the more powerful option went from 65- to 100-horsepower. The upgraded Spring also gets aerodynamic improvements and digital screens now come standard. However, pricing still remains the same.

DACIA UNVEILS HIPSTER CONCEPT
And speaking of Dacia, it revealed a boxy new concept car, called the Hipster. The company envisions this as a future affordable car for the masses, kind of like the Spring. But when that future comes, it wants to have cut its carbon footprint in half compared to its current EVs. One way it plans to do that is with lightweighting. The Hipster is 20% lighter than the Spring, even though they’re both about the same size, which is slightly larger than a Fiat 500e. Affordability will also be a key in the future. The average price of new vehicles in Europe rose by 77% between 2010 and 2024, which is pricing people out of the new car market.

KIA ELECTRIC VAN DETAILS 
Kia says it plans to sell 250,000 all-electric vans by the end of the decade. These are the company’s Platform Beyond Vehicles or PBVs that are built on a next-gen platform that allow for up to 16 different configurations. The first to launch is the PV5 this year, followed by the PV7 in 2027 and PV9 in 2029. Production of Passenger and Cargo versions of the PV5 are already underway in Korea and now we’re getting important details about the model. The Cargo is available with three battery packs; just over 43 kWh, 51.5 kWh and a little over 71 kWh, which provides up to 416 kilometers or roughly 260 miles of range on the WLTP cycle. The Passenger version only gets the two larger packs. But both are powered by a single 120 kW or 160 horsepower electric motor. Other highlights include the ability to power other devices, large display screens and advanced driver assistance functions. 

KIA AXES THE SOUL
And in other Kia news, it’s killing off the Soul at the end of this year. The model injected some fun-ness into the brand not long after it was introduced in the U.S. in 2009. And since then it’s sold over 1.5 million examples. But the Soul does not fit into Kia’s future plans for its utility vehicle lineup. 

EV INCENTIVE POLL RESULTS
Ok, it’s time to go over the results of our latest poll. We asked our YouTube and Patreon members how big of an incentive would you need to consider buying an EV? And 22% said you need an incentive of $5,000 or more. Only 4% would need an incentive of $1,000 to $5,000. 54% said you’ll buy an EV without an incentive. And 20% said you don’t want an incentive because you’re not interested in an EV.
 
As always, we got some great feedback. Thomas Joyce commented “I voted ‘no incentive’ even though I would like to own an electric car. The money spent on incentives should have gone into building out the charging infrastructure.”
 
Sabina Coppola said “Cars should be priced competitively w/o relying on government incentives.”
 
Thomas Bowen said “I’m on my fifth EV since 2019, but I only received tax credits on two of them. The credit was important for my first, and it shaped my decision on my current because it determined which was the best value.”
 
And Kyle Robinson said “I already own three EV’s. So I’m good for now :-)”

Thanks for all your feedback. While not a huge sample size, I found those numbers to be pretty interesting.

But that wraps up today’s show, thanks for watching.