AD #4161 – Car Loan Fraud Hits Record Highs; GM, Ford to Launch Families of Affordable EVs; Autoline Poll Results on AI in Cars

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

CAR LOAN DELINQUENCIES UP SHARPLY
This industry just seems to be lurching from one crisis to another. You’ve got Trump’s tariffs. You’ve got China clamping down on rare earths. You’ve got a fire at an aluminum plant. You’ve got stranded EV investments. You’ve got high interest rates. And now, delinquencies on car loans are up sharply. In the U.S. they’re 50% higher than they were in 2010, according to a company called Vantage Score. And here’s the kicker. This is true across all credit scores, not just people with poor credit scores. Even people with prime scores are missing payments. Even though lenders started tightening up their standards a year ago, delinquencies continue to rise. Car loans used to be considered one of the safest forms of credit for lenders. Not anymore.

CAR LOAN FRAUD HITS RECORD HIGHS
One of the things that’s driving up these delinquencies is much higher rates of credit fraud. Car loan fraud is now 21 times higher than it is with credit cards. And the loss for auto fraud is over $19,000 per car, compared to about $900 per credit card. In many cases, the fraudsters have low credit scores. So they file a report claiming they’re the victims of ID theft and that all the delinquent payments they have were the result of that theft. Then the credit agencies raise their credit score, they use that to get a car loan and maybe even make a couple of payments on the loan, then just simply stop paying.

      

PORSCHE OFFICIALLY NAMES NEW CEO
Porsche made it official. It named Michael Leiters as its next CEO, replacing Oliver Blume. Shareholders were unhappy with Blume’s dual role as CEO of both Porsche and the Volkswagen Group. And they’re especially unhappy with Porsche’s sinking sales and profits. Leiters previously worked at Porsche for 13 years until 2013, he then became Chief Technical Officer at Ferrari for 8 years before being hired as CEO of McLaren. And while Blume is being replaced at Porsche, he will continue to be CEO of the VW Group.

DON’T PAY ELON $1 TRILLION, SAYS ADVISORY GROUP TO SHAREHOLDERS
Some people just don’t want to see Elon Musk get that $1 trillion pay package. A company called Institutional Shareholder Services, which serves as a proxy advisor for shareholders, is urging Tesla shareholders to vote against the compensation plan. ISS cited “unmitigated concerns” with the size of the pay and design of the plan and they also say it doesn’t have any specific requirements to make sure Elon keeps his focus on Tesla. Tesla responded to the ISS saying it “once again completely misses fundamental points of investing and governance.” But the ISS might not have much sway over shareholders. In 2018 it recommended that investors reject Musk’s pay package, but three-quarters of shareholders voted for it anyway.

GM, FORD TO LAUNCH FAMILIES OF AFFORDABLE EVs
InsideEVs has a great interview with GM President Mark Reuss. In it he talks about how the company is “absolutely” planning for a day when it has to compete against Chinese automakers in America. But Reuss says GM can’t copy what the Chinese are doing, it has to do better. He thinks the company’s investments in R&D and new technology will be the key factors for why it can compete. The new Lithium Manganese Rich or LMR batteries it’s working on with LG is going to be one of those key pieces of tech. They use less critical minerals that China has a stranglehold over. The cost could be even less than LFP batteries. But they have even more energy density than LFP. Along with better packaging, that’s why Reuss says LMR batteries can provide 400 miles of range, but with a much smaller pack. He also says LMR could unlock the business case for a mid-size electric pickup truck. However, there could be a whole new family of affordable EVs that use these batteries when they’re expected to launch in 2028. About a year ago, GM talked about a family of Bolts. Reuss says they may not be called Bolts, but they’re expected to be around the same size and price as the Bolt, which starts just below $30,000. He even talked about “white spaces in size, class, of forms,” for all different kinds of tastes. This could turn out to be a battle royale between GM and Ford over affordable EVs. Ford’s Universal EV platform is also going to churn out a family of affordable EVs.

  

EU OEMs TO PAY CHINESE € BILLIONS FOR CO2 CREDITS
European automakers are demanding that the EU give them regulatory relief over the billions of euros in CO2 fines that they face. So far they’ve only been offered modest relief, so Nissan is going to pool its emissions with BYD to avoid paying the fines. BYD has accumulated CO2 credits for all the EVs it’s selling in Europe, and it’s cheaper for Nissan to pay BYD for those credits instead of paying the fines. Mercedes is pooling with Geely, and Ssangyong from South Korea, which was renamed KG Mobility, is pooling with XPeng. So not only do European automakers have to compete with Chinese automakers in their own market, they’re going to have to pay them billions of euros for CO2 credits.

APPLE GETS F1 STREAMING RIGHTS IN U.S.
Big news in the world of Formula One. No we’re not talking about Max Verstappen winning the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin yesterday. We’re talking about Apple getting the streaming rights for all F1 races shown in the U.S. Apple will pay F1 $140 million a year for five years for the rights to show all the races, sprints, practice and qualifying on Apple TV. It will also provide content on all its other apps including Apple News, Apple Maps, Apple Music, Apple Fitness+ and Apple Sports. You know that Formula One movie that came out earlier this year with Brad Pitt? That was produced by Apple’s movie studio called Apple Original Films. By the way, that’s the highest grossing film that Brad has ever been in.

AUTOLINE POLL RESULTS ON AI IN CARS
Ok, let’s go over the results of our latest poll. We asked if generative AI is something you’d want in your car. 27% of you said yes, if it makes the car better. A majority, 62%, said no because you’re concerned with data or personal info being collected. And the remaining 11% said none of the above. We got a lot of great feedback.

Pietro is in favor of gen AI, “If regulated correctly, then sure, if it makes the vehicle more dependable, drive better, better for the environment, and safer.”

Kelly Sponberg says “My store specializes in replacing failed tech in vehicles, so bring it on! More $$$ for me!”

Thomas Scherer had this to say “Just make my vehicle perform reliably and economically. I can control the heater.”

Bobby Bishop points out “All this talk of them tracking your car. Wake up people, if you have a cell phone you’re already being tracked everywhere you go.”

And Luke Rinderknecht says “What’s the application or task that it’s specifically performing. For me it’s not the technology, it’s what purpose is it serving.”

We really appreciate all your feedback. And we hope that all you viewers who work in Product Development are paying attention. AI can do a lot of terrific things, but people are still wary about having it in their cars.

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