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Runtime: 10:07
0:00 Used EVs Have Lowest Ownership Costs
1:03 Lisa Drake to Lead Ford Energy
2:02 Renault Bets on India As World’s New Growth Market
2:51 Stellantis Slashes Prices Putting Volume Over Profits in Europe
4:39 Genesis Europe Ditches Direct Sales, Goes with Dealers
5:33 GM’s Billion-Dollar Subscription Surge
6:42 Ford BlueCruise Usage Skyrockets As F-150 Drivers Embrace Hands-Free Tech
7:27 Mercedes Rejects U.S. Pressure to Move HQ To U.S.
7:54 Heavy-Duty Electric Trucks Outsell ICE in China
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
USED EVs HAVE LOWEST OWNERSHIP COSTS
A study from the University of Michigan shows that three-year-old used EVs now offer the lowest lifetime cost of ownership across nearly every vehicle class—beating out new and used gasoline, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid models. The main reason? Depreciation. Because EVs tend to lose value faster than their ICE counterparts in the first few years, second owners are reaping the rewards. And we think the numbers are stunning. A three-year-old midsize electric SUV can save an owner roughly $13,000 over its remaining life compared to buying its ICE equivalent, with a lot of the savings coming from charging at home. More than 300,000 EVs are coming off lease this year in the U.S. And who knows? They could become the hottest commodities on used-car lots.
LISA DRAKE TO LEAD FORD ENERGY
Ford wrote off $19.5 billion on its EV efforts, but the number is actually bigger than that. SK Innovation reported today that it lost $2.6 billion on its battery joint venture with Ford. No doubt other suppliers are getting dinged too. And yet, Ford is not giving up on making batteries. Last month it announced that it was starting a new business unit to make batteries for energy storage, which public utilities and data centers need. That new business unit is called Ford Energy and yesterday the company announced that Lisa Drake will be the president of the operation, with responsibility for cell manufacturing, system assembly and sales. Interestingly, she will report to John Lawler, Ford’s vice chairman. But remember that name, Lisa Drake. A couple of years ago the rumor was that she could possibly become Ford’s next CEO. That may or may not happen but she’s clearly being groomed for bigger things.
RENAULT BETS ON INDIA AS WORLD’S NEW GROWTH MARKET
Renault dropped out of the U.S. market in 1987 when it sold American Motors to Chrysler and it dropped out of the Chinese market in 2020. So how do you grow your company when you’re not competing in the two largest car markets in the world? Well, Renault isn’t about to let the next big fish slip out of its hands. It’s making India a top priority with a lineup of low-cost cross-overs in the pipeline. As we reported on Monday, India and the EU just signed a trade agreement that will slash Indian tariffs on imported European cars. With annual sales of 4.5 million vehicles, India is now the third largest market for new cars by country. And with a population larger than China’s it’s considered the greatest growth market left in the world.
STELLANTIS SLASHES PRICES PUTTING VOLUME OVER PROFITS IN EUROPE
In an effort to boost sales, Stellantis is slashing prices in its largest European market. The automaker began cutting prices in France last year and plans to continue them in 2026. The Opel Corsa is now available for €15,900, the Fiat Pandina starts at only €9,900 and the Peugeot 208 is offered with a monthly leasing rate of only €208. Reuters reports that to help regain market share in Europe and North America, Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa is prioritizing sales over profits by cutting prices and with more sales to fleets.
GENESIS EUROPE DITCHES DIRECT SALES, GOES WITH DEALERS
Hyundai’s premium brand, Genesis, is ditching its direct-sales model in Europe and is adopting a traditional dealer system. Genesis says it’s making the change because it wants to grow sales and the direct-sales model isn’t scalable. Genesis sold fewer than 2,500 vehicles last year in Europe, mainly because it’s only sold in three markets since entering in 2021, Germany, Switzerland and the UK. But now that it’s moving to a dealership-based system, Genesis will expand into France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands this year. And with that expansion it will cover 75% of the European market. This is all part of Genesis’ plan to sell 350,000 vehicles a year worldwide by 2030. Last year, the automaker sold about 221,500 vehicles globally.
GM’S BILLION-DOLLAR SUBSCRIPTION SURGE
GM is set to earn billions from its software and subscription services. The company revealed that it recorded $5.4 billion in deferred revenue last year from its OnStar-related connected features, which includes things like in-car WiFi, streaming services and Super Cruise hands-free driving. For clarity, deferred revenue is a payment a company receives in advance for products or services it has not yet delivered. And GM expects its deferred revenue to jump by billions more this year, forecasting $7.5 billion in 2026, with Super Cruise playing a growing role in that figure. More than 620,000 owners are now subscribers, up 80% from 2024. On top of that, the feature generated $234 million in revenue in 2025 and is expected to go to $400 million this year. GM says that while it includes three years of prepaid services for Super Cruise, 40% of customers choose to keep paying for it after the free period.
FORD BLUECRUISE USAGE SKYROCKETS AS F-150 DRIVERS EMBRACE HANDS-FREE TECH
Ford also reported that it saw big increases in hands-free driving use. Last year customers drove about 264 million miles using the feature, the equivalent of 3.8 million hours of operation, an increase of 87% compared to 2024. While Blue Cruise is available on the Explorer, Expedition, Mustang Mach-E, and the entire Lincoln line-up, the F-150 accounts for about 45% of total use. And just like GM those numbers will continue to grow this year. Not only is it launching the latest version with automatic lane changes, Ford is expanding Blue Cruise to four new models in Europe.
MERCEDES REJECTS U.S. PRESSURE TO MOVE HQ TO U.S.
Here’s one of the more surprising reports we’ve seen in a while. In an interview with a German media outlet, Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kallenius claims that U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, tried to get the automaker to move its headquarters from Germany to the U.S. The offer happened a year ago and included tax relief and other incentives. Obviously, Kallenius declined, saying its roots are in Germany.
HEAVY-DUTY ELECTRIC TRUCKS OUTSELL ICE IN CHINA
The growth of EVs in China has eaten into the market share of gas- and diesel-powered vehicles and soon the same thing could happen in the commercial sector. Bloomberg reports that sales of electric and new energy trucks topped 230,000 units last year, representing about 20% of the heavy-duty market. And it was the first time that NEV trucks outsold gas-powered ones in China. There’s also fear from the natural gas sector that electrified trucks could eat into LNG usage. Sales of models that run on LNG were just under 200,000 units last year in China. However, LNG still holds a cost advantage over electric and China offered enhanced subsidies to scrap old trucks, which helped boost sales last year. So, this is something we’ll have to keep an eye on.
But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for making Autoline a part of your day.
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It pains me to see the incompetence of the staff of the Trump administration. Lutnick’s effort was a total waste of time that could have been spent doing something productive for our country. I suppose the idea was that if they could convince Mercedes-Benz to move their HQ here it would be a triumph for the Trump administration’s efforts to attract more business to the US. However, anyone remotely knowledgeable of the automotive industry could have advised them that was a fool’s errand. VW and BMW would have rejected the offer just as quickly. Their history, culture and outlook are uniquely German and totally integrated into that country’s economy. A better idea in this realm would have been to try to convince Stellantis to move their corporate offices here from the Netherlands, though that would likely not have worked either. But, at least there is more rationale for that move than there is for the German companies.
Glad to see that GM and Ford are doing well with their subscription services. At least the consumer sees a benefit. Haven’t heard much about the billions they are making selling their customer’s data. I don’t think that is working out the way they thought it would.
I am a GM owner but am not contributing to their billion dollar subscription service. I am in the owners group for my vehicle and I see the reasons why people are subscribing. For my vehicle it is the wifi and remote start using the GM phone app. For whatever reason these people value that. 99% of those owners don’t even know that they can use their smart phone as a mobile hot spot and do not even need onstar provided wi-fi. Usually when I show them how to do that, they cancel their wifi subscriptions. The remote start thing is just silly because they want to start the car in their offices or wherever. They claim it is to have it warm by the time they get to the car. The problem there is that at idle it takes an age to get it to warm up. So these people are admittedly letting it sit at idle for 15-20 minutes so that it is warm. I just never saw the value in that as the car heats up in this freezing cold in less than a minute when you actually drive it and it is way less fuel to do that. It is their money to burn not mine though.
The only other thing is that the GM phone app will give them a terrible description of what is wrong when they get a check engine light or other warning light. It will also send texts for service reminders. I found none of that useful either and went with a $40 OBD2 scanner that gives even more information than the GM phone app if a check engine light was to appear. I can also use that scanner on any OBD2 car. Basically these owners lack knowledge and interpret the things GM offers as a convenience instead of the money grab that it is.
It looks like a lot of people are more receptive to expensive subscriptions than I am. I wouldn’t pay anything for a driver’s aid, unless it would drive me somewhere while I sleep.
As GM vet said, what could Lutnick have been thinking to try to get Mercedes, of all companies, to move their headquarters to Trumpland? Maybe he’ll try to get BMW to move Rolls-Royce’s offices to Dallas.
The cost of ownership charts assumed keeping the vehicles from years 3-10, no doubt assuming no, or few battery replacements. The numbers might change if for years 3-20, where there would probably be a lot of battery replacements. Still, at least currently, used EVs are a bargain. Many of them lose half their value in 3 years.
… but when are Peugeot or Renault going to return to North America. Marketing in Quebec or Louisiana seems like a natural start. I personally would buy an EV or HEV luxury sized Peugeot car again, even if it was branded as a Chrysler! I expect Stellantis would have to sell an SUV and a pickup based on the same mechanicals, in order to get enough volume to assemble it in the US
Kit,
For sure some of these EVs are heavily depreciated and would be a cheap buy. I look at it just like you. If I was to buy a cheap used 5 year old EV, I would likely get another 5-7 years out of it and then it is going to start running into very expensive problems. Once it starts seeing those problems the car is mechanically totaled. Worse than that, the resale value is zero. I just can’t justify it. I can justify buying a 5 year old Corolla as I could drive that for the next 15 trouble free years and still have resale value left over. Better yet, the person buying that 20 year old corolla from me will be getting a very cheap car that is likely to last them an additional 5 years mostly trouble free.
I test drove a Peugeot 505 wagon in the 1980s. I liked it, except for the mediocre performance of the non-turbo four. The ride quality was impressive, and it was roomy. I didn’t seriously consider buying it, because the writing was already on the wall that Peugeot would probably be leaving the U.S. market, meaning depreciation would be horrendous, and service and parts would be hard to get. The 505 was probably Peugeot’s last RWD car.
I have been surprised that the EPA hasn’t tried to ban remote start systems since it does waste some fuel, although at idle it is not much compared to the days of carburetors running at fast idle with the choke on at least partially.
This is the same EPA that insists your car shuts down at stop lights to save the planet, but it’s ok to idle your car for 20 minutes with no one in it.
The current EPA has ended enforcement of fuel efficiency standards, and is part of an antienvironment extremist regime that is doing what it can to kill all renewable energy projects in the U.S. They wouldn’t consider limiting anything that is environmentally unfriendly.
As far as warming up cars in the winter, when I was working in a location with winter weather, I sometimes went outside and started my car to warm it up and get the heat/defrost going, so I could drive off without the windshield frosting up so I couldn’t see. I retired before remote start was a thing, except maybe for “luxury” cars of the the type I didn’t buy.