AD #4324 – 23% of New European Cars Now BEVs; Chrysler Airflow Headed to Belvidere; Investors Eager to Spend on Momenta

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

CHINESE, TESLA DRIVE STRONG EU SALES
The ACEA reported that European new car sales in May hit 1.1 million units, up 3.6%. But virtually all of that increase came from Chinese automakers. Some European brands, like Fiat, Mini and Audi had a good month. But all the major European automotive groups, except BMW, saw their sales drop. Meanwhile, Chinese automakers posted a 63% increase in sales, capturing nearly 9% of the market. Tesla also had a blow-out month, with sales skyrocketing almost 108%.

1 IN 4 CARS IN EU NOW A BEV
And that’s because sales of BEVs shot up 39% across the continent as more and more Europeans decided to power their cars with electrons instead of hydrocarbons. EVs captured 23% market share, meaning nearly 1 out of 4 new cars is fully electric. As for other electrified models, sales of PHEVs were up 13% and hybrids were up 8%.

NISSAN SHAREHOLDERS NOT HAPPY
Nissan shareholders aren’t happy with the company. Of the nine major Japanese auto makers, Nissan now ranks 6th in terms of market cap, after recently being surpassed by Isuzu. Reports say new CEO Ivan Espinosa had difficulty at times keeping order at the company’s General Meeting with one shareholder even proposing to elect indicted and fugitive former executive Carlos Ghosn back onto the board of directors. While that was shot down, another proposal was partially approved, which will see the election of 11 board directors instead of the 12 that Nissan wanted. The one person rejected was Motoo Nagai, who is being held accountable for his role in hiring former CEO Makoto Uchida, who is taking a lot of the blame for the company’s current performance. Notably, Renault, which owns a 17% stake in Nissan, reportedly abstained from backing Nagai. In an effort to keep the meeting moving forward Espinosa highlighted the company’s recovery plan, which includes reducing variable, fixed and development costs as well as job cuts and plant closings to improve efficiency. Nissan says it will close 7 plants, bringing its total to 10 by the end of its 2027 fiscal year.

DRAM CHIP PRICES UP 450%
As we reported yesterday, the auto industry is facing another chip shortage and a new report from consulting firm Kearney shows just how much it’s having an impact on automakers. Prices for what are called DRAM memory chips skyrocketed 450% from September 2025 to January 2026. DRAM is needed to enable OTA updates, ADAS tech, autonomy, infotainment and other features. Automakers now have to compete with AI companies, which use the chips to help power their data centers. And that’s causing a shortage and driving up prices. GM, Ford and Honda have reported losses of hundreds of millions of dollars because of the DRAM shortage. And automakers won’t see any relief anytime soon. Three chip makers control 88% of the global DRAM market and because of that leverage, they’re setting up long-term contracts with automakers at higher prices.

INVESTORS EAGER TO BUY INTO MOMENTA
Investors are hot on the trail of autonomous startups. Waymo is already valued at $126 billion, but it’s still closely held by Alphabet and is not publicly traded. So investors looking for a pure AV play are chomping at the bit to get in on an IPO from the Chinese startup Momenta. It’s already valued at $9 billion and has a blue-chip list of backers including General Motors, Toyota and SAIC. It also has partnerships with Uber and Mercedes-Benz. Our friends at Caresoft told us two years ago that Momenta was the best Chinese company when it came to autonomous technology. And if you want to know why investors are so hungry to invest in AVs, you ought to check out the latest Autoline After Hours with Larry Burns, the former head of R&D at GM. He says the autonomous revolution is coming, and coming a lot faster than most people realize.

CHERY SEES REAL GROWTH IN PICKUPS
Chinese automaker Chery must really see growth potential in the pickup truck market. It recently launched a new commercial division, called Rely and last week we reported how the Chery brand also revealed a new pickup, called the Stockman. Now Chery’s Jetour brand will enter the truck market as well and just showed off the F700, which is an 800-volt plug-in hybrid truck and looks like it’s geared towards an off-road enthusiast. We suspect the F700 will be sold outside of China, like Chery’s other pickups, going to markets like Australia, the Middle East and Africa where trucks are quite popular.

CHINA OFFICIALLY DEFINES SOLID STATE BATTERY
Lots of Chinese battery makers are bragging that they’ve got solid state batteries going into production. But Chinese scientists have warned that true solid state batteries will not reach mass production until the 2030s. And just to make sure everyone knows what a true solid state battery is, China is officially defining them as any battery containing less than 5% liquid electrolyte. Anything over that is defined as a hybrid system. A battery must also maintain specific thermal stability under vacuum to be classified as solid-state.

CHRYSLER AIRFLOW HEADED TO BELVIDERE
We’ve got some important new product intel, thanks to our friends at Autoforecast Solutions. The Chrysler Airflow, a new mid-sized CUV codenamed C4U, will be built at the Belvidere assembly plant in Illinois. Next up, the new version of the Chevrolet Equinox EV is scheduled to go into production in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico in February, 2029. It moves off the BEV3 platform onto a new one code-named BEV-N. And a new Ford Bronco will come on line in January, 2030. It stays on the same platform, but the program code-name changes to U-825. And it will continue to be made at Ford’s Michigan Assembly plant.

But that’s a wrap for this show. Thanks for making Autoline a part of your day.