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Runtime: 9:37
0:00 Trump Opens the Door to Chinese Car Plants in The U.S.
1:04 8,000 Dealers Gone: The Brutal Restructuring of China’s Auto Market
1:53 Porsche’s 1,156-HP Electric Cayenne Aims to Save Its Chinese Business
3:29 India Slashes Tariffs on EU Cars To 40%—Is an Export Boom Coming?
4:33 No More Discounts? Chinese EVs Pivot to Ultra-Low Interest 7-Year Loans
5:36 China Hits 469 Million Vehicles—The Scale of The Global Leader
6:12 Why Audi Is Losing Its U.S. Plant Hopes
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
TRUMP OPENS THE DOOR TO CHINESE CAR PLANTS IN THE U.S.
As strange as it sounds, President Trump seems to be paving the way for Chinese automakers to build and sell cars in the U.S. market. At a speech he gave in Detroit, of all places, the President said he would welcome Chinese cars plants in the U.S. And last Friday, the Trump Administration pushed out the person at the Commerce Department, Elizabeth Cannon, who had effectively banned Chinese technology in cars that had anything to do with connectivity and data collection. She based that on national security reasons. As you may know, Autoline broke the story that Geely wants to build cars in the U.S. at the Volvo plant in South Carolina, since Geely owns Volvo. And this must be music to Geely’s ears. But it sure is surprising to see President Trump paving the way for Chinese automakers to set up shop in the U.S.
8,000 DEALERS GONE: THE BRUTAL RESTRUCTURING OF CHINA’S AUTO MARKET
Meanwhile, things aren’t all that rosy for retailers in China’s car market. Since the price war broke out in China over three years ago, roughly 8,000 dealerships have gone out of business. Today comes news that Li Auto, which used to be one of the few Chinese automakers that is profitable, is closing 100 retail stores as sales fail to meet projections. And Porsche is going to close 30% of its dealers as sales continue to crater. There’s been a lot of talk about China’s auto industry needing to restructure because of its massive overcapacity, and all these dealerships that are going out of business may be an indication that the process has already started.
PORSCHE’S 1,156-HP ELECTRIC CAYENNE AIMS TO SAVE ITS CHINESE BUSINESS
Meanwhile, Porsche isn’t giving up on the Chinese market. It’s going to use the Beijing auto show for the global public debut of the all-electric Cayenne. There are two models customers can choose from: the base model with 408 horsepower, or the top of the line Turbo Electric with 857 horses that jumps to 1,156 horsepower under launch control. Both models come with an 800-volt architecture and a 113-kilowatt hour battery pack. While Porsche unveiled the Cayenne EV digitally back in November, it wants to make a big splash at the Beijing show to try and turn around its China operations.
INDIA SLASHES TARIFFS ON EU CARS TO 40%—IS AN EXPORT BOOM COMING?
Good news for European automakers. Reuters reports that India agreed to slash tariffs on EU car imports from as high as 110% down to 40% for some vehicles. And it will be lowered to 10% over time. The lower tariffs will apply to about 200,000 gas-powered cars priced above 15,000 euros. Tariffs won’t be lowered for fully-electric vehicles in the first five years of the deal to protect EV investments made by India’s domestic automakers. But after five years EVs will see similar cuts in tariffs. This should help European automakers gain a better foothold in the country, currently they only account for 4% of India’s 4.4 million car market. India is considered to be the last big growth market for the auto industry, and European automakers want to make sure they get a foothold.
NO MORE DISCOUNTS? CHINESE EVs PIVOT TO ULTRA-LOW INTEREST 7-YEAR LOANS
With the Chinese government starting to crackdown on car companies that cut prices, automakers are turning to longer, low-interest loans to lower prices for consumers. Tesla, Xiaomi, Xpeng and Li Auto are now offering seven-year loans with interest rates as low as one-half of one percent, but with big down payments. You can get a Xiaomi YU7 for just $370 a month with a $7,100 down payment. XPENG offers a 7-year option across its entire lineup with 15% down and monthly payments of only $190. Li Auto requires a down payment of $4,600, for monthly payments as low as $370. And Tesla has a 7-year plan for the Model 3 and Model Y, with monthly payments starting at only $275.
CHINA HITS 469 MILLION VEHICLES—THE SCALE OF THE GLOBAL LEADER
And staying in China for the moment, the country’s Ministry of Public Security reports that there are now 469 million vehicles on its roads, including commercial vehicles. That’s nearly 200 million more than the U.S. Passenger cars account for 366 million of them, with the rest being commercial vehicles. There are almost 44 million new energy vehicles, which includes EVs, plug-in hybrids and extended range electrics, accounting for 12% of all cars on the road.
WHY AUDI IS LOSING ITS U.S. PLANT HOPES
The Volkswagen Group is slashing R&D and capex spending by at least €20 billion by 2030 to try and preserve capital. And one of the casualties of that decision is eliminating a U.S. assembly plant for Audi, which has to import vehicles from Europe and Mexico that get hit with tariffs. On last week’s Autoline After Hours, Ryan Decker, who runs strategy for Scout, said they’re ready to make vehicles for other automakers at the assembly plant they’re building in South Carolina. And that would be perfect for Audi, except for one thing. Volkswagen’s U.S. dealers are suing the company for wanting to bypass them and sell Scouts directly to consumers. Scout is doing everything it can to say it’s a separate company from VW, and that franchise laws don’t apply to it. But if it started building Audis in its plant, VW dealers would certainly use that as legal ammunition to argue that Scout is actually part of the VW Group.
That wraps up today’s news, but before we sign off, I want to thank all our Patreon and YouTube members. It’s your support that makes it possible for Autoline to continue to bring you news and analysis of the global auto industry.
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what happened to transcript??
Transcript is there – Just finished reading. Best wishes on finding.
I still wish Porsche would stop it with the Turbo name applied to EVs. Yet here we are….still. It will be one of those things a few decades from now that everyone will laugh about.
To my eye, the Porsche Cayenne EV is a much better looking vehicle than the ICE version. For its duties as a family hauler, I would wonder that it was better suited for that job too! What I don’t get, and I’ve said this before, is the EV Cayenne is a few inches in all directions larger than the ICE version, but not as tall, by a few inches. By may math (the old math, not the NEW math that they taught my daughter in school!), that would make the EV Cayenne larger, if only by a few inches, than the ICE model. How is, then, that Bentley is saying that their new EV SUV, is smaller than the Bentayga, when it is built from the same bones as, and nearly the same size of, the ICE Cayenne?! The Bentley EV SUV is being built around the Cayenne EV and is said to be the same size as that model! It’s not like I’ll ever be able to afore any of these vehicles, but the messaging is giving me an itch in my brain that I can’t scratch! Pray for me!
I can’t imagine air quality as shown in China. Cough cough
I was in China once, Shanghai in 1994. The bad air thing then was the two-stroke mopeds.
Yeah turbo dial-up internet is gone, so maybe turbo EVs should be.
I get that “Turbo” being used as a speed designation like “Sport” could be annoying to the purist, but it does sound fast, and the majority of car buyers probably will think it is turbocharged or won’t care, so I bet the name will stick around. Two other bothersome names that annoyed my dad, and thusly me (but probably no one else) are “motor” for engine, and “gas” for gasoline. Before gasoline came out, gasses were a more common power source, more like coal gas, air-gas, natural gas, LP, methane, etc., Then came kerosine as a liquid power source. The important “oline” part of the name gasoline implied it was a liquid version of a “gas”. Then, as we know, the much too long word “gasoline” got shortened to “gas”, which it is not (a gas),
My dad, being an electrical engineer but also a car guy, was always very specific that a motor was an electrical device, whereas an engine was the ICE that made the wheels move in the car. When electric cars started becoming more popular, I was excited that people would finally designate the term motor as the electrical device and engine as the gasoline powered motivator. I admit gasoline will still be around long after I’m gone, and I do call it gas myself, so I don’t sound like a freak. I do see more and more people knowing the difference between and engine and motor nowadays though, so as a trade off, I’ll accept the word gas and a sporty electric being designated “Turbo”.
Ukendolt,
I have had similar issues with abbreviated names. What really annoys me, and it is all too popular, is using Tranny instead of Transmission. I have always hated that. Yet I have heard it consistently for 40 years. 40 years is a long time to be annoyed by an abbreviated word LOL. I see a ray of hope as the use of Tranny has fallen off a lot in recent years. I may just live to see the day when that abbreviated word ceases to be used in car circles.
Another word commonly used in car circles that should bother me but it oddly doesn’t is “differential” when referencing the rear or front axle. The differential is inside the axle and it is a longer word to pronounce than axle. Yet that is the common word used in car circles. I am not upset by it, just confused by why one would use the longer word to incorrectly describe an axle. I always have a quizzical look on my face when I hear it.
Porsche first used “Turbo” is a model designation in the air cooled era, when the 911 Turbo was the only version which was turbocharged. At some point, nearly all 911 were turbocharged, and they kept using the “Turbo” moniker for a more powerful 911 model. That got carried over to the EVs. It doesn’t bother me.
These are definitions of “motor” from Merriam-Webster. Motor is a correct term for an ICE.
b: internal combustion engine especially : a gasoline engine
c: a rotating machine that transforms electrical energy into mechanical energy
Engine also has several definitions, including this:
1: a machine for converting any of various forms of energy into mechanical force and motion
This would indicate that engine would be a correct term for what is commonly called an electric motor, though engine is rarely used that way.