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Runtime: 9:30
0:00 21 Million Backup Cameras Recalled
0:57 Car Buyers Paying More at Carvana Dealers
1:58 Manufacturing Jobs Falling in Auto Industry
2:42 EV Charging Price War Brewing?
3:40 Geely to Make Cars at Volvo’s EU Plants
5:23 Tesla Cybercab Hitting Public Roads
5:54 New Tesla Roadster ‘Coming Soon’
6:19 Tesla Gets Big Semi Truck Order
6:43 Pony.ai Shows Impressive Growth
7:33 Lincoln Getting G-Wagon Competitor
7:58 Ford Making New Mid-Size SUV in Mexico
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21 MILLION BACKUP CAMERA RECALLED
What the hell is going on with backup cameras in cars? It seems like every single automaker is having problems with them. Yesterday, Stellantis announced it’s recalling nearly a million vehicles because of faulty backup cameras. But it’s not the only one. Over 21 million vehicles in the U.S. have been recalled because of backup cameras. There seems to be two problems. One, water gets into the camera housing and it goes on the fritz, but that doesn’t happen very often. The biggest problem by far is all about the software. Even Tesla is having problems and it’s considered by some to be the best at software. Whoever thought that putting a camera in the back of a car could lead to so many problems?
BUYERS WILLING TO PAY MORE AT CARVANA
The biggest issue in the industry right now is supposedly with affordability. But car shoppers are happily paying thousands of dollars over the sticker price at Carvana dealerships to get the cars they want. Carvana bought 7 traditional dealerships and really turned them around. One of those, in Arizona, is now the largest Stellantis dealership in the U.S. And it’s all about how it treats its customers. First off, you don’t deal with sales people. All the cars at the dealership have a QR code you scan and you can do the entire purchase digitally if you want. There’s no haggling over the price. What you see is what you pay. Some models are priced cheaper than what other dealers are charging, but an analysis done by Catalyst IQ for Automotive News shows that most are more expensive. And this shows that customers will pay a premium to get a better buying experience.
MANUFACTURING JOBS FALLING IN AUTO INDUSTRY
President Trump likes to boast that his tariffs are reviving manufacturing jobs in the U.S., however the opposite is happening in the auto industry. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, payrolls at vehicle and parts plants fell 1% to 964,500 jobs in July, compared with more than 975,000 in March 2025, before the new tariffs went into effect. Most of the losses in the industry have been at suppliers since they’re not as protected from tariffs, which have driven up their costs. In addition to tariffs, the growing use of automation at suppliers has also caused employment to drop.
EV CHARGING PRICE WAR BREWING?
Could an EV charging price war be brewing in the U.S.? Right now Walmart and Ionna are charging quite a bit less than other providers like Tesla and Electrify America. According to data from a company called Paren, Ionna had the cheapest average rate of 17 different networks, charging $0.37 per kWh. Walmart ranked 4th at $0.43 per kWh, while well-known providers like Tesla and Electrify America both charge $0.56 kWh on average. That’s a gap that users will start to notice. As we reported recently, Walmart installed the second most amount of EV chargers in the second quarter of this year. And JD Power recently ranked Ionna, which is a joint venture between BMW, GM, Honda, Hyundai-Kia, Mercedes, Stellantis and Toyota, as the top network in its EV Experience index for public charging.
GEELY TO MAKE CARS AT VOLVO’S EU PLANTS
Geely is adding manufacturing capacity in Europe through partnerships with other automakers. Last month, it signed a deal with Ford to build vehicles at Ford’s Valencia plant in Spain. And now Geely’s new chairman says it will also manufacture cars at Volvo’s plants in Europe. Volvo currently has two assembly plants in Sweden and Belgium and it’s also building a new EV plant in Slovakia. Geely is expected to start building vehicles at one of those plants in 2028, which will likely be its Zeekr or Lynk & Co brands. And don’t forget that Geely is also aiming to produce vehicles at Volvo’s plant in South Carolina at some point as well.
TESLA CYBERCAB HITTING PUBLIC ROADS
Tesla could start deploying the Cybercab as early as this month, according to The Information. It says the 2-door, 2-seater, which doesn’t have a steering wheel or pedals, will first be available to employees in Austin, Texas at the end of August. Then a few days later the Cybercab will be added to Tesla’s Robotaxi fleet for regular customers to use in the city. But no word on how many Cybercabs there will be in this initial rollout or expansion into other areas.
NEW TESLA ROADSTER ‘COMING SOON’
Sticking with Tesla, Franz Von Holzhausen, the EV maker’s head of design, recently said the new Roadster would be coming ‘very soon.’ Even though the company has been saying that since 2017, The Information also reports the sports car will debut at an event that could be held this month. There’s expected to be a standard version and limited-edition version with SpaceX thrusters that can fly. But we’ll believe it when we see it.
TESLA GETS BIG SEMI TRUCK ORDER
In one last bit of Tesla news, it just got a big semi truck order from Swedish autonomous trucking company Einride. It plans to deploy 500 Tesla Semis over the next two years across North America, delivering goods for its customers, which include Amazon. Einride also recently signed a deal with DAF to test autonomous, electric semi trucks in parts of Europe.
PONY.AI SHOWS IMPRESSIVE GROWTH
While it still isn’t profitable, Chinese autonomous driving company Pony.ai is showing impressive growth. The robotaxi provider’s revenue increased 69% in the second quarter to more than $36 million, with robotaxi sales accounting for a third of that total, which was up more than 690% from a year ago. While Pony.ai posted a net loss of $45 million, it was an improvement from the $53 million loss it posted in Q2 of last year. The company says it now has 1,975 robotaxis in its fleet and is aiming to have 3,500 by the end of the year. And it also plans to deploy 4,000 robotaxis outside of China but it didn’t give a timeframe for that.
LINCOLN GETTING BRONCO-BASED OFF-ROADER
Mercedes really hit a home run with the G-Wagon, now a $150,000+ rugged-looking off-road vehicle. And Lincoln believes it can play in the same segment. It’s going to come out with a Lincoln version of the Ford Bronco in mid-2029 at half the price of a G-Wagon. That’s all based on information from Autoforecast Solutions.
FORD MAKING NEW MID-SIZE SUV IN MEXICO
And speaking of Autoforecast, it says Ford will come out with a mid-size crossover that will be built in the same Hermosillo assembly plant that makes the Maverick in Mexico. Ford recently said it will come out with a mid-size crossover that will be priced around $25,000, and putting two and two together, we think this is it. There will be a hybrid version as well. By basing it on the Maverick, Ford will save a ton of investment money. Now the question is whether they’re going to call it the Ford Escape.
And with that we wrap up today’s show. Thanks for making Autoline a part of your day.
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If the new Ford crossover is “mid-size,” rather than “compact,” they might call it Edge.
So, Ford is going to make a G-Wagon competitor for half the price; or are they just going to produce a more expensive Bronco. I’m thinking, the later.
Lexus even has commercials show their large SUV’s going off-road. So why wouldn’t Lincoln? Mustang is getting a 4-door version. Corvette and Cadillac need to expand their portfolios offering 4-door Vette and off-road Cadillac!
Maybe they will put the 3 5 turbo in the Gronco, or whatever they call it. I doubt that it will have a turbo V-8, like the G-Wagon.
A Maverick-based SUV???? Sounds like a Bronco Sport stripper! I hope it not another phony with clumsy off -road styling. Stupidly redundant.
Reverse camera recalls were inevitable. Once it feature became an FMVSS mandate, any failure becomes a recall.
If Ford is going to do a Lincoln version of the Bronco, the would be silly to miss the opportunity of doing a sedan from the 4 door Mustang. This is even more apparent with GM going both a 4 door Buick, Cadillac and maybe also a 4 door Camaro. This would five them great economies of scale for that platform and they could call it the Mark VIII or Mark X. That raise the question of what they might call the Lincoln Bronco? The Lincoln Blackwood or Mark LT?
I recently saw 2 cybercabs in Southeast Michigan, and the greater Detroit area, as well as a couple of Awai (?) vehicles. All four of them were not carrying passengers, but they safety drivers whi operated the vehicles with steering wheels!
I think that tesla semi is a big deal, because it will show whether electric vehicles can be practical in the local-to-medium hauling service. Also, we will see if EVs can actually tow and how much range will a purpose built vehicle loose when towing!
To me, the “off road” vehicle craze is almost even crazier than the pickup truck craze. About 5% of Wrangers or Broncos ever go farther off road than you could go with a Civic or Corolla. Still, the popularity of both the capability few use, and the “look,” as with Bronco Sport remain big, and even growing.