AD #4260 – Crossovers Have Highest Fatality Rates; GM Could Lose U.S. Sales Crown to Toyota; GM Testing Next-Gen Super Cruise

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

EUROPEAN NEW CAR SALES RISE IN FEBRUARY
New car sales picked up slightly in Europe last month. Automakers sold 979,000 vehicles in February, an increase of 1.7% from a year ago. Even so, the boost in sales only came from 6 of the top 20 automakers who sell in the region. The Volkswagen Group was up 2.6%, but that was mainly thanks to Skoda. Stellantis was up nearly 10%, mainly thanks to Fiat and Opel. SAIC, BYD and Tesla also posted strong gains, but everyone else was down. PHEVs were the fastest growing segment, up a strong 33%. BEVs were up almost 16%, and hybrids up 10%. Meanwhile, gasoline and diesel powered cars continued to lose share. So, here’s our Autoline Insight. It’s good to see the European market showing some forward momentum, but until we see sales consistently top a million units a month, automakers and suppliers are going to face a tough financial environment.

RENAULT DEBUTS ALL-ELECTRIC TWINGO UNDER 20,000 EURO
And maybe more affordable EVs will be the shot in the arm that Europe needs? Renault is now launching the all-new Twingo with a starting price under 20,000 euro. Developed twice as fast as its previous electric models, highlights include a 27.5 kWh LFP battery pack that returns 263 kilometers or about 160 miles of range on the WLTP test cycle and a roughly 80 horsepower electric motor. A-segment vehicles, like the new Twingo, only make up 5% of the European market today, but Renault says that’s not a reflection of low demand. It says customers still want these vehicles, it’s just that there’s not a lot of choice anymore. So, there should be potential growth in the segment.

TOYOTA INVESTS BILLIONS TO CHALLENGE GM FOR U.S. TOP SPOT
Toyota is pretty bullish about its future in the U.S. market. It’s investing $1 billion to increase capacity of its assembly plants in Kentucky and Indiana, so it can make more Camrys, RAV4s, Grand Highlanders and new EVs. Last year Toyota invested almost $1 billion to make more hybrid components and in total, it will invest another $8 billion or so in the U.S. over the next four years. Toyota already sells more vehicles in the U.S. than Ford, but it’s about 300,000 units behind GM, and we have no doubt in our minds that it would love to take over the top spot in the United States of America.

    

BOSCH AND TATA AUTOCOMP FORM ELECTROMOBILITY JOINT VENTURE
Bosch and the Tata Group’s auto component business, Tata AutoComp Systems, are forming a 50-50 joint-venture that will focus on electromobility. Specifically, the two companies will engineer and manufacture eAxles and electric motors for the Indian market. Operations are expected to start in the middle of this year, pending approval.

SMART PIVOTS TO PHEV AS LARGE EV SALES STALL IN CHINA
Smart is known for its tiny compact cars but in an effort to grow sales, it introduced larger vehicles in China. However, customers didn’t flock to the showroom. The brand, which is now a 50-50 joint-venture between Mercedes and Geely, sold just under 30,000 vehicles in China from March 2025 to February 2026. And the #1, the smallest vehicle in Smart’s lineup, accounted for nearly two-thirds of that total. It’s larger #3 and #5 models, represented just 14% and 22% of sales respectively. As a result, the bigger models are now being liquidated through used car channels at big discounts. The #5 for example, is selling $14,500 below its recommended price. But Smart isn’t giving up. While it will introduce a small 2-seater at the Beijing auto show next month, it’s also planning to introduce a new plug-in hybrid, the #6, which will have the longest wheelbase in its lineup.

GM BEGINS TESTING NEXT-GEN LEVEL 3 SUPER CRUISE
GM has started testing its next-gen hands-free driving system on public roads, which will still be called Super Cruise. The company is running a fleet of modified production vehicles that will feature a human in the driver’s seat to take over if necessary. The vehicles have started testing in California and Michigan, but are currently using a version of the system that is limited to Level 2. However, GM will use what it learns from the tests to expand Super Cruise’s capabilities. It plans to launch a Level 3 system, so hands off and eyes off, as an option on the 2028 Cadillac Escalade IQ, which will also debut the company’s new centralized computing platform that supports these autonomous features, plus a bunch of other new tech.

AFRICA EXPORT BANS DRIVE UP COBALT AND LITHIUM PRICES
For more than a decade, Chinese miners have invested billions of dollars on operations in Africa. But in an effort to encourage local processing, which can generate extra value, several countries have recently curbed exports of metals used for EV batteries. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is cutting back on cobalt exports and the top producer in the country is now mining more of the metal than it can export. And Zimbabwe banned shipments of lithium. Because of those moves, cobalt and lithium prices are currently at or near multiyear highs. So, now the Chinese miners are looking into investing in refining capacity in those countries to avoid the bans.

NEW DATA REVEALS CROSSOVERS HAVE HIGHEST FATAL ACCIDENT RATES
Want to know what the most dangerous vehicles on the road are? Maison Law, a law firm that handles auto accidents and injuries published a list of the vehicles that showed the greatest increase in fatal accidents in the U.S. from 2019 to 2023. Not surprisingly, the Chevrolet Silverado, along with the Toyota Camry and Corolla, and Honda Accord and Civic showed the biggest increase. I say not surprisingly because there’s so many of those vehicles on the road that it’s kind of obvious they’d get in more accidents. So we asked Maison Law to run the numbers again, but to look at fatal accidents as a percentage of models on the road. And here’s what they came up with. The Toyota RAV4 tops the list, followed by the Nissan Rogue, Ford Edge, Chevrolet Equinox and Honda Pilot, to name the top 5. And the data that jumps off the page for us is that they’re all crossovers.

But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for making Autoline a part of your day.