AD #4217 – Hyundai Union: “Not a Single Robot”; Geely’s Roadmap to Overtake GM; VW, Audi Dealers Sue Colorado

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

VW, AUDI DEALERS SUE COLORADO
Last month, the state of Colorado granted a dealer license to Scout Motors, which will allow the brand to sell directly to customers. Now Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche dealers in Colorado are suing the state, claiming it misinterpreted the law when granting the license. The heart of the issue is whether Scout should be considered independent from VW or not. The VW Group, which Scout is a part of, claims it’s an independent brand and therefore can sell direct to customers. But dealers say Scout isn’t independent since it has financial backing from VW and should be the same as its other brands like Audi and Porsche. Similar lawsuits have been filed by dealers in California and Florida but unlike Colorado, those dealers aren’t suing the states, they’re suing Scout and the VW Group.

 

AUTOLINE AFTER HOURS: SCOUT’S RYAN DECKER
Speaking of Scout, you’re not going to want to miss today’s Autoline After Hours. We’ve got Ryan Decker, the company’s VP of brand and strategy coming on the show. He was the second person hired at Scout, so he should be a great mind to tap to learn more about the company. Join us when the show goes live at 3PM EST today.

VW’S “SLASH AND BURN” COST-CUTTING
Now going back to Volkswagen, it’s in full slash and burn mode to cut costs and it’s already showing results. It ended 2025 with €7 billion in free cash, a full billion more than analysts expected. And its stock jumped nearly 6% on the news. But VW generated that cash by delaying EV programs, by delaying payments to suppliers and by cutting R&D and CapEx. Going forward, it’s cutting €20 billion from its 5-year plan. VW is also cutting its board of management from 29 executives down to 19, with control of all product development, procurement and manufacturing now being centralized in Wolfsburg, Germany. In all, VW says it will eliminate 35,000 jobs in Germany by the end of the decade.

CANADIANS WHO ARE AGAINST CHINESE EV
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney wants to allow Chinese EVs into the country. But the Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, is flat out against it. He’s calling for a boycott of Chinese cars and he’s not alone. The Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association is completely against it too. It represents GM, Ford, Stellantis, Toyota and Honda, which make cars in Canada. We’ll have to see how this plays out. The USMCA gets re-negotiated this year, and Mark Carney may have decided to use the threat of Chinese imports as a bargaining chip with the Trump Administration.

CHINESE OEMs SQUEEZING SUPPLIERS
The Chinese government already had to step in to force automakers to pay their suppliers in a timely manner, but it sounds like suppliers are still getting squeezed in other ways in China. Gasgoo reports that it’s common for automakers to request price cuts over 10% and that’s eating into their profit margins. Margins currently sit around 4.4%, but that’s expected to drop to 2-3% and it’s particularly bad for interior suppliers, with some already dropping below that 3% profit margin. On top of that, brand consolidation among automakers in China could force the same thing to happen in the supplier industry. One executive said the top 5 automakers in China control about 30-35% of the market, but with consolidation expects that to jump to 50-60% by 2030. And pressure on foreign Tier 1s is ramping up too because foreign automakers are turning more to local suppliers in China.

USED EVs HIT MARKET AT RECORD RATES
Used EVs are coming off lease at record rates in the U.S. market. Cox Automotive reports that in 2025, 5% of the cars coming off lease were EVs. This year that number will more than double to 12%. And by 2028 it will nearly double again when it hits 23%. This is going to present consumers with much more affordable EVs and you can bet everyone in the industry will be watching to see how well they sell.

VOLVO UNVEILS EX60 EV
After teasing the model for the last couple of weeks, Volvo fully revealed the all-new EX60. As we previously reported, it rides on parent company Geely’s SPA3 platform, which brings a number of upgrades to Volvo’s EVs. That includes things like faster charging, large aluminum castings and cell-to-body technology, where the battery becomes part of the vehicle’s structure. Cell-to-body provides manufacturing advantages, reduces part count, which also reduces cost, and allows Volvo to stuff more batteries into the pack. The EX60 has three batteries; 80-, 91- and 112-kWh of usable energy. And that last pack is actually bigger than the one in the EX90, even though the EX90 is a larger vehicle. The two smaller batteries both provide about 300 miles or roughly 480 kilometers of range, give or take 20-miles depending on the wheel size, because one is paired with RWD and the other is paired with AWD. The big battery provides up to 400 miles or about 640 kilometers of range. The EX60 has three main setups; a rear-drive version that makes about 370 horsepower, an AWD version with just over 500 horsepower and another AWD version with roughly 670 horsepower. The latter does 0-100 km/h, which is similar to 0-60, in 3.9 seconds and can tow up to 2,400 kilograms or nearly 5,300 pounds. There’s two suspension setups for the EX60 as well. The standard features hydraulic shocks, but an active system that comes with air suspension is also available. That air suspension system is standard on the new Cross Country trim, but it has the ability to add another 20 mm or about three quarters of an inch of ride height, on top of a 20 mm lift that the Cross Country already comes standard with. Orders are open for the EX60 in Europe right now and the U.S. is said to follow in late spring.

HYUNDAI UNION: “NOT A SINGLE ROBOT”
As we reported yesterday, investors are bullish on Hyundai’s plans to sell humanoid robots and integrate them into its assembly plants. Its stock is way up since the beginning of the year and it now has a larger market cap than General Motors. But not everyone is excited about Hyundai’s plans. The automaker’s union in South Korea is warning the company about deploying the humanoids in plants without the union’s approval. Hyundai is aiming to start using the robots in 2028, first at its plant in Georgia. But its Korean union says that without an agreement “not a single robot using new technology will be allowed to enter the workplace.”

GEELY’S ROADMAP TO OVERTAKE GM
Chinese automaker Geely is aiming to become a top five automaker by the end of the decade. The company, including all of its brands, says it’s aiming to sell 6.5 million vehicles globally by 2030 and it expects one-third of those sales to come from outside of China. Based on 2024 sales, that would put Geely ahead of General Motors and behind only Toyota, the VW Group and the Hyundai Group. Geely says it and all of its brands sold 4 million vehicles in 2025, which already puts it in the top ten in sales.

But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for tuning in and I hope to see you later today.