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Runtime: 10:44
0:00 Trump Apologizes to Hyundai
1:24 Tariff Impact: U.S. Production, Auto Jobs Down
2:14 Recon Tests Market for Off-Road Jeep EVs
3:23 Ford Bronco EV Only $32,300 In China
5:04 Xpeng Wants More EU Production
5:29 Waymo Expanding to More U.S. Cities
5:51 Zoox Offers Public Rides In San Francisco
6:08 Tesla Ride-Hailing, But Not Autonomous
7:01 GAC Testing L3 Cars At 120 Km/h
7:47 Nio AV Chip Outperforms Nvidia Orin
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TRUMP APOLOGIZES TO HYUNDAI
Two months ago, U.S. Immigration, FBI, DEA, ATF and Georgia State Patrol officers launched a major raid on a battery plant in Georgia that’s being built by Hyundai and LG Energy Systems. They came in heavily armed, wearing masks, and started arresting just about every foreign looking person they could find, who were mostly South Korean. About 475 people were led away in handcuffs and later kicked out of the country. The raid kicked off a furor in South Korea and came just a month after Hyundai had pledged to invest $26 billion to boost its manufacturing in the U.S. Then it turned out that some of those workers actually had valid visas. And the others had visas that are commonly used for temporary workers. At the time of the raid, President Trump said the workers were in the U.S. illegally, but yesterday Hyundai’s CEO Jose Munoz said he got an apology from the President of the United States. Some of the workers who were kicked out have actually returned to work at the plant. But most of them decided they never wanted to go back.
TARIFF IMPACT: U.S. PRODUCTION, AUTO JOBS DOWN
President Trump has another problem on his hands. Those tariffs that were supposed to bring back car assembly and jobs to the U.S. aren’t working. An analysis by WP Browne Consulting shows that light vehicle production dropped by a quarter of a million units this year. Capacity utilization dropped by three percentage points. Automotive employment dropped by 18,000 jobs. And that’s just this year. Browne Consulting says the numbers will drop even more in 2026 and 2027, because tariffs will drive car prices up and car sales down. While there has been some on-shoring and some plants are building more vehicles in the U.S., overall, the tariffs have been a net loss for the industry.
| TARIFF IMPACT ON US. AUTO INDUSTRY | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | |
| U.S. Production | 10,804 | 10,560 | 10,675 | 10,760 |
| Cap. Utilization | 81% | 78% | 77% | 74% |
| Auto Jobs | 1,008 | 990 | 985 | 987 |
| Source: WP Browne Consulting | ||||
RECON TESTS MARKET FOR OFF-ROAD JEEP EVs
Say is there really a market for a hard-core off-road electric Jeep in the U.S. market? We’re about to find out. Jeep is finally launching the Recon, which was first shown to the media three years ago, back in September of 2022. It goes into production the first quarter of next year at the Stellantis assembly plant in Toluca, Mexico. The batteries will be made at a Stella plant in Kokomo, Indiana. The Recon sits on the Stella large platform and is a powerful beast, with 650 horsepower and 620-pound feet of torque. It will do 0-60 in 3.6 seconds, but only has a 250-mile driving range. The base price is $65,000, and with a limited range and a sky-high price, the Jeep people are under no illusions as to how this will sell. They are not going to allocate it to all their dealers. Instead, they’ll focus on EV friendly regions, primarily in ZEV states.
FORD BRONCO EV ONLY $32,300 IN CHINA
OK, so this isn’t going to be a fair comparison, but take a look at the Ford Bronco EV that’s going on sale in China. It has 376 horsepower and thanks to its 105-kilowatt hour battery pack it has a claimed CLTC range of 650 kilometers. That would translate to about 422 miles on the EPA test cycle. There’s an EREV version that goes even farther. And here’s the real kicker, the Bronco BEV starts at only $32,300. Ford has lost a tremendous amount of market share in China and this Bronco is clearly priced to start turning that around. But we can’t help but compare the Bronco EV to the Recon: 40% more range at half the price.
XPENG WANTS MORE EU PRODUCTION
Chinese automakers are taking the European market by storm and Xpeng is already looking to expand production in Europe. It’s been using Magna as a contract manufacturer for two EVs at its plant in Austria. But Nio is already looking for other production sites. By boosting production in Europe, Nio will avoid the EU tariffs on Chinese-made EVs.
WAYMO EXPANDING TO MORE U.S. CITIES
We keep saying 2025 is the year of autonomy and here’s more proof. Waymo is going to start testing its robotaxis in Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando. The trials have already kicked off in Miami, while the other cities will follow over the coming weeks. Next year Waymo will open its doors to riders.
ZOOX OFFERS PUBLIC RIDES IN SAN FRANCISCO
Zoox is now offering free robotaxi rides to the public in San Francisco. And Zoox wants riders to provide their feedback to improve the experience. The company did the same thing in Las Vegas in September and claims it will add more locations over the coming months.
TESLA RIDE-HAILING, BUT NOT AUTONOMOUS
Tesla is making progress in launching its robotaxi service in Arizona. In September, it got a permit to test and operate autonomous vehicles in the state with a safety monitor on board. Now, it got a separate permit to operate a ride-hailing service. That will allow Tesla to operate an Uber-like service and charge passengers, but it doesn’t allow it to operate without a human driver on board. Tesla launched its robotaxi service in Austin in July with a safety driver and it also operates a ride-hailing service in San Francisco with human drivers using FSD. Elon Musk says Tesla will launch its robotaxis in 8 to 10 U.S. cities by the end of the year. We’ll see. Most of us have become inured to Elon’s promises on autonomous cars.
GAC TESTING L3 CARS AT 120 KM/H
Make no mistake, all this autonomous stuff is a race between the U.S. and China to see who will dominate the technology. And over in China, GAC just became the first automaker to receive permission to test Level 3 autonomous vehicles on the highway at speeds up to 120 km/h or about 75 MPH. GAC will be testing its Hyptec A800 sedan that it developed with Chinese tech company Huawei. The model features 34 sensors including, radar, hi-res cameras and lidar. The sedan will make its public debut at the Guangzhou auto show later this week, where its capabilities will be demonstrated for the first time.
NIO AV CHIP OUTPERFORMS NVIDIA ORIN
And in one last bit of AV news, Chinese automaker Nio is going to start selling an advanced intelligent driving chip that it developed in-house. Nio currently uses the chip in three of its models and it has nearly 4-times the computing power of Nvidia’s Orin-x chip. Nio’s new chip has the potential to generate a lot of money for the company. According to chip industry experts a single IP authorization with another automaker could be worth several million dollars, while a system-level SoC could be hundreds of millions of dollars.
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I was reading an article in Car and Driver and AutoCar about the Recon and what they said was that the price quoted in ALD report, was the amount for the top trim and that a lower trim would be coming out later. What C&D pointed out was that the $66K was about $10K more of the base Wrangler, but $15K less then the top of the line V8 Wrangler! In te end, on the price front, its about middle of the road for this type of vehicle in the Jeep line up. I think it cost less then the Rivian R1S, yet not much smaller then it, while being nearly half the price of a Hummer SUV! I don’t think the Chinese Bronco is, or doesn’t look to be, as capable off-road as te Recon will be, yet neither would/could live up to the Wrangler and ICE Bronco, but for those looking for serious EV offroader, this might be it! As long as you don’t go too far offroad.
I hope Trump doesn’t send his thugs to the Stellantis/Samsung battery plants in Kokomo, where a number or Koreans are working. Maybe the Hyundai fiasco was a learning experience.
Today’s Amazon van at my condo was a Promaster, not a Rivian. I’d think the Promaster would be good for that type of use, and should be fairly cheap to keep going. The same powertrain in a friend’s minivan is still going at over 250K miles. I wouldn’t expect it to last that long in the much larger Promaster, but it should be relative cheap to replace and/or repair powertrain parts.
Is charging available at the necessary places for EVs to be good hard-core off-roaders? Maybe they have diesel generators at places like Rubicon Trail.
Why are north American consumers being screwed on prices? This is continual problem; we are taken advantage of while the Chinese consumer gets the benefit.
Stelantis has real problem with Jeep, they keep trying to milk the brand for profits making almost every model uncompetitive.
KIT: Yes, the Hyundai fiasco was indeed a learning experience. And now we know what a thug is. Can you please give us a label for an illegal alien who has been arrested for committing Bonafide crime?
I recall from the past that Kit was one who complained about political comments on this forum. For the last year or so Kit is responsible for most of the politicizing. I’m quite tired of it and will permanently leave the forum. I am not interested in politics here. I have no problem with laying blame where blame is due but as soon as you add “Trump’s thugs” it becomes political. Occasionally it comes from Sean or John as well.
Korea manufacturing needs to tow the line. There is no red carpet like Japan got when their sales were ramping up and decimating U.S. sedan market.
Kit, just imagine a ProMaster hybrid like our PacHy!
Gary, they would be criminals.
I seriously doubt that many, or any of the Koreans at that plant had committed any crimes, except driving faster than the posted speed limit or rolling through a stop sign, if they drive. I’m sure you have never done that.
Norm, a PacHy hybrid could good, if they can improve reliability. They should have room for a big battery under the floor of the Promaster.
Yes,Kit,the transmissions are a issue in Amazon Promasters. It’s like taxi or police service, they are hard on the 6 speed transmissions. 9 speed transmissions seem to hold up better. I haven’t seen one at our Stellantis dealership yet but I hope the transmissions in the electric Promasters prove to be more durable.
Mark, did Promaster switch from the 6-speed Chrysler design to the 9-speed ZF design in 2017, when they started using the 9-speed in minivans, or was the 6-speed used longer in Promaster?
The transmission in the EV should be ok, since it would be a simple “nothing but gears” reduction unit.
The fueleconomy.gov web site is not working. Did Trump have it shut down, or is it just temporarily down?
fueleconomy.gov is now working. It was just temporarily down.
The problem I see with the recon is the aforementioned price, but also the 4 wheel independent suspension. Not much of an off-roader with that type of set up. You can put all the fancy differentials, driving modes, doo dads, and nick nacks you want on the Recon. You will not defeat the independent suspension and its limited travel just like Hummer, Rivian, Tesla couldn’t defeat their independent suspensions and thus are not serious off roaders. Jeep is already stating that the 33 inch tires are maximum but off roaders are wanting 35s minimum and they will not fit according to Jeep. Jeep should have released a beam axle both front/rear if they were serious about it being an off roader. The Recon is destined to be viewed by the off road crowd as a mall crawler. I am sure it could sell to those who would otherwise buy a Grand Cherokee as those buyers don’t care about the axles when they go to the mall. The off roader crowd will just go out and buy the Scout which will be a proper EV off roader.
Kit, regarding diesel generators at Rubicon: they may have some kind of diesel/gas/hydrogen back-up, but the main power source is solar. The solar-powered level 2 charging is at the trailhead and key points, like Rubicon Springs. They are also at other iconic trails like Moab and Big Bear. Jeep’s 4xe program installed them, but they are operated by Electrify America. With an app, you can access free charging and monitor the status. You can top off your charge or even fully charge in about 2 hours.
Living in Georgia, I’ve been closely following the Hyundai dealings (and then fiasco). After we begged and incentivized Korea to build here, then treated them so poorly and sent them back home, I’m glad to see he at least apologized for the ambush.
OK, I’m not an off-roader, so I’m missing something. Why is extra low tech suspension better than higher tech suspension for off-roading?
Ukendoit, thanks for info.
As they expand the trail charging network, Electrify America says the charging stations will all be “connected to the power grid or use solar power”. I could not find if the solar ones had any other power back-up. I would assume the trailhead chargers would be the ones connected to the grid and solar on the trail and the trail ones would be mostly for top-offs.
Kit,
Basically it is all about keeping wheels on the ground when you are off roading. No wheels on the ground, no go. Independent suspension has travel limits for the wheels because you have upper and lower control arms that will crash into each other and you can’t twist bushings into candy cane shapes without causing massive failures. Thus you can not allow a high degree of wheel articulation. In an off road scenario the wheels will be in the air a lot as a result.
With the beam axles there are zero upper/lower control arms to crash into each other. The limit are the springs and what motion control features you attach to the axle such as centering bars and such. As a result you get very high wheel articulation. In a jeep with the sway bar disconnect active, a front wheel can lift almost as high as your waist line before it starts to lose contact with the ground. With a 4 wheel independent you will lose contact more or less below your knee. So you get more contact with the ground off road with the high articulating beam axles and thus more ability to go. As a result they are preferred by the off road crowd and why the wrangler, for as crappy as it is, is the preferred choice for off roading. The wranglers’ major competitor, bronco, has an independent front suspension which limits its ability and it shows when you go on an off road event. The Bronco is good, but it is not and never will be a wrangler off road. The Bronco has good on road manners because of that independent front, so there is that at least.
MERKUR, thanks for the explanation.
Ukendoit, would the solar chargers have battery storage?
Kit, yes, the solar arrays look huge, providing shade/rain coverage when charging, and they do have battery storage, though I don’t know how large.