AD #4306 – Could BYD Buy Alpine F1?; Reuters Disputes Musk’s FSD Claims; Dodge Gets GLH & Hyper Muscle Car

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

TRUMP ADMIN OPENS DOOR TO CHINA AUTO TECH
Two years ago the U.S. Commerce Department under President Biden adopted rules that would ban Chinese hardware and software in cars starting next year, especially anything to do with connectivity and data collection. Earlier this month a bipartisan group of House Representatives and Senators introduced legislation that would put those rules into law. But before that could come up for a vote, President Trump’s Commerce Department just gave Volvo the OK to use Chinese hardware and software in its cars. Volvo says Commerce reviewed its governance, technology and ⁠data security and gave it the green light. This will undoubtedly encourage Geely, the parent company of Volvo, to proceed with plans to build cars in the U.S. using the exact same technology. And Great Wall Motors and Chery say they want to get into the U.S. market, too. So it looks like the Administration may have just opened the door.

USMCA TO BOOST U.S. CAR CONTENT
The U.S. and Mexico officially began negotiating changes to the USMCA trade agreement yesterday. The U.S. will negotiate separately with Canada, and then Mexico and Canada will negotiate their own terms, which is how the Trump Administration wants it. It did not want a trilateral deal, because it worried that Canada and Mexico could join forces to negotiate against the U.S. So there will be a U.S. deal with Mexico, and a separate one with Canada. Auto analyst Michael Robinet from S&P Global Mobility says there’s only a 40% chance the new trade agreement will be done by the November mid-term elections. He says the U.S. will likely demand that the labor content on imported cars from Mexico rise to $20 an hour, up from $16 today. Also, the North American content in those cars will have to account for 75% of the cost, which is aimed to limit the use of Chinese parts and components. Robinette says that tracking the U.S. value added content is going to turn into an accounting nightmare for suppliers.

REUTERS DISPUTES MUSK’S FSD SAFETY CLAIMS
Elon Musk likes to brag about the safety of Full-Self Driving but a new analysis from Reuters found that Tesla’s claims about the technology are misleading. Tesla says FSD is 10x safer than humans. But Reuters examined how Tesla compares its own crash data to federal crash data, reviewed the methodology that Waymo uses and interviewed 11 traffic-safety researchers who analyzed Tesla’s methodology and found several invalid data comparisons in its FSD reporting. While there isn’t a critical safety issue, the researchers say Tesla’s marketing claims about FSD are misleading. Reuters also spoke to several former staffers that trained Tesla’s system who say the company isn’t close to deploying autonomous vehicles at scale. If that’s true, it could put Tesla’s valuation at risk. So analysts now believe it’s just a matter of time before Tesla merges with SpaceX.

ANOTHER CHINA OEM TARGETS JAPAN’S KEI CARS
Chinese automakers are starting to target Japan’s kei car segment, which accounts for 40% of sales in the country. BYD will launch the Racco this summer and now Chery will introduce its own kei car in Japan next year. There aren’t many details about the model but it will be sold under the Emta brand, which falls under a joint venture between Chery and four other companies. In addition to the kei car model, Emta plans to launch 3 more vehicles in Japan by the end of 2029.

POLESTAR SCIENTIFICALLY MEASURES THE THRILL OF DRIVING
Historically, the thrill of driving was all about speed, the roar of the engine and the wind through your hair. But EVs are a different sort of animal. So Polestar teamed up with the University of Oxford to see if the thrill of driving can be scientifically quantified. A team of six Oxford PhDs will analyze physiological, cognitive, and behavioral data of people behind the wheel. Participants will drive a 884-horsepower Polestar 5 Grand Tourer, while the researchers monitor brain activity and biometric signals. The goal is to challenge the idea that driving excitement needs induction noise and an exhaust note and find a way to show how an electric car opens new avenues for emotional engagement. Polestar says it will use this data as a new layer for fine-tuning its vehicle dynamics.

           

DODGE TO GET GLH AND HYPER MUSCLE CAR
So what does that Stellantis re-org have in store for the Dodge brand? First off, it’s going to revive the GLH model name, which dates back to 1984, when Carrol Shelby developed a performance version of the Dodge Omni and said it goes like hell. The time around the GLH will be an entry-level, 4-door compact crossover that will be priced in the low $20,000 range. The Durango will be getting a major refresh in 2 years. And then we believe Dodge will add a turbocharged or supercharged V8 to the Charger as part of an SRT package. At the top of the line will be the Copperhead, a hyper muscle car that looks like a slammed version of the two-door Charger. And all of this fits the brand’s tag line as being the Brotherhood of Muscle.

ALPINE F1 GETS NEW SPONSOR THANKS TO EX-RENALULT CEO
It probably didn’t take much effort for the Alpine F1 team to sell itself to its new title sponsor Gucci. At the start of next season it will officially be known as the ‘Gucci Racing Alpine Formula One Team’ and is actually the first time a luxury fashion brand has been a title sponsor in F1. But we wondered why Luca de Meo, the former CEO of the Renault Group and parent company to Alpine F1, was standing next to current Renault CEO Francois Provost in this release picture. de Meo stepped down from Renault in June of last year, so he’s been gone almost a year. However, after leaving he stepped right into the role of CEO at Kering, a holding company that specializes in luxury goods. And I bet you can now guess that Kering owns Gucci.

COULD BYD BUY ALPINE F1?
Speaking of Alpine F1, it may need to keep up the success it had early this season or it could find itself under new ownership. Rumors are swirling that BYD is considering buying the Alpine team as well as its F1 engine factory in France. Its first choice is to enter as a brand-new 12th team, but it’s exploring all options right now. And there’s speculation that former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner could lead the operations. On top of a potential BYD deal, there’s also word that Mercedes would like to make Alpine its secondary or B-team. But it won’t be cheap. Alpine F1’s valuation has more than doubled over the last 3 years.

AAH TO DIVE INTO STELLA & FERRARI
Be sure to tune in to Autoline After Hours today, where we’re going to be peeling back more of the layers of that Stellantis reorganization. We’ll also dive into the Ferrari Luce, which has kicked off a firestorm. Is Ferrari crazy, or crazy like a fox? Our special guest will be Sharath Reddy, the head of R&D at Magna, and Vince Bond from Automotive News will be with us too. So join John and Gary when the show does live at 3 pm eastern time today.

And that wraps up today’s report, thanks for watching.