Car dealers in California and other states are losing market share and profits to EV startups like Tesla, Lucid, and Rivian that sell directly to consumers, prompting some dealers to adapt while others doubt they can compete. Tesla’s CEO transition has boosted investor confidence. Europe gains a battery plant in Germany backed by subsidies to rival US incentives. VinFast plans a NYSE listing via SPAC amid EV startup market cap challenges. Hyundai and Kia face lawsuits over vehicle theft vulnerabilities. Mercedes will discontinue the CLS to focus on the new E-Class. Honda plans to export Chinese-made EVs to Europe. Linamar is opening a gigacasting plant in Canada, and China’s vehicle exports are causing shipping shortages. Affordable EVs like the Mini EV and Baojun Yep are gaining appeal with cool accessories and customization options.
Topics:ev direct salestesla leadership changebattery plant germanyvinfast spac listinghyundai kia theft lawsuitmercedes cls discontinuationhonda chinese ev exportslinamar gigacasting plantchina vehicle exportsaffordable ev customization
- Car Dealers Losing Market Share - Musk Steps Away from Twitter, Tesla Investors Rejoice - Germany Scores Big Battery Plant - VinFast To Do a SPAC - Hyundai-Kia Face Insurance Lawsuit - Mercedes Axes CLS - Honda To Export MIC EVs to EU - Linamar To Open Gigacasting Factory - Shipping Shortage Due to China Car Exports - Baojun Yep Gets Cool Accessories
"...ting the AX. Mercedes is going to stop making the cls in August after being in production for nineteen ..."
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
Car dealers in California lost out on nearly seven hundred thousand dollars in gross profits last year thanks to EV makers like Tesla, Lucid, and Rivian who sell direct to consumers. That's according to a study conducted by Automotive News.
California has about thirteen hundred dealers and collectively they missed out on nine hundred million dollars in gross profits. That's prompting some dealers to invest more in their stores
to sell more evs, but others believe it's unrealistic to think that dealers selling traditional brands will win over Tesla or Tesla like buyers. And there's now thirty
five states that allow at least some kind of direct to consumer sales model, and Automotive News reports that dealers in Colorado and Washington are already losing market share as well. Tesla investors are rejoicing. Elon must tweet it out that he's
stepping down as CEO of Twitter in six weeks. The Wall Street Journal reports
that NBC Universals had of advertising Linda Jaccarino was in talks to be the new CEO. Must said he will transition to become executive chairman and chief technology officer.
Tesla investors welcomed that news. They had worried that Twitter was diverting Elon's
attention away from the automaker, and yesterday Tesla stock jumped two point one percent when the news broke and was up another two point four percent this morning in pre market trading. Europe and Germany just scored a major victory was Swedish battery
maker Northfolk announcing it will build a new battery plant in Germany. It will
invest several billion euros to open the plant, which will produce enough sells a year to our a million evs. Construction could start later this year and Northfold
is aiming to begin cell production in twenty twenty six. The German government and
the state government where the plant will be located. We're able to lure Norfold
with subsidies that were developed by the European Commission to compete with the US's Inflation Reduction Act. The subsidies still need approval from the EU Commission, but if
it does approve them, it will be the first incentive granted under the new framework. We thought that specs had kind of lost their luster. Eve startups
have watched their market caps melt away over the last year. But vin Fast,
the vietnamesee car company, is going to use a special purpose acquisition company called black Spade to get listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Vin Fast
says that will give it a market cap of twenty three billion dollars, But now the question is can then Fast hold that market cap. When Rivian went
public through a spack, it's market cap hit one hundred billion, Lucid hit eighty nine billion, but now both are worth about thirteen billion. Hyundai and
Kia are about to get sued by insurance companies, and that's because they decided not to equip Pass models with engine immobilizers, which makes them easy to steal.
It could cost the automakers millions of dollars. A wave of car thefts
broke out after social media videos showed how the vehicles could easily be started without a key, and Automotive News reports that a group of US insurance companies filed a lawsuit against the automakers and are seeking reimbursement for money that they paid out to owners who have had their vehicles stolen. The suit claims it can cost
more than three thousand dollars per vehicle to repair cars that have been broken into.
It can cost another ten grand to fix any property damage caused by thieves taking joy rides, and if the vehicle isn't recovered, they say the loss can be as much as twenty grand. All told, the theft could cost
insurance companies as much as six hundred million dollars. Hyundai claims the lawsuit is
unnecessary and that it followed federal anti theft requirements. The automaker did introduce a
software fix, but earlier this week, the AP reported that the rollout has been slow and thefts continue to rise. We want to know what drives you're
testing. Ota Connected Car Diagnostics, Remote Testing. Intrepid Control Systems is here
to help you work from anywhere. Intrepid Control Systems driven by your data.
One of the prettier cars on the market is getting the AX. Mercedes is
going to stop making the cls in August after being in production for nineteen years.
The current generation has smooth lines and good proportions, which seems to resonate with a lot of people, but Mercedes has too many cars in its lineup, and it's getting rid of the cls to make room for the all new E class at its plant in Germany, and the new E class will be on sale before the end of the year. It looks like Honda is going
to start shipping Chinese made evs to Europe. It revealed that its second all
electric model for the European market will be the E N Y one, which it calls a B segment SUV, but it's identical to the E N S one that Honda builds and cells in China with its joint venture partner Dong Fung.
It rides on Honda's Ean architecture f It features a nearly seventy kilowatt hour battery pack and an integrated drive unit with up to one hundred and fifty kilowatts or two hundred and one horsepower on the WLTP cycle. The NY one is
capable of four hundred and twelve kilometers or two hundred and fifty six miles of range. The N S one is already on sale in China, but no
word on one the N Y one might launch in Europe. More gigacasting capacity
is on the way, and this time in Canada. The supplier, Linimar,
is building a new plant that will have three sixty one hundred ton high pressure casting machines. For reference, testless casting machines are eight thousand tons.
Linimar's plant will get built on a brownfield site and well in Ontario, not far from Niagara Falls, and it will start production in early twenty twenty five.
What we want to find out is who Linimar will make parts four, GM, Ford and Stilantis all have assembly plants within about an hour of where Linimar's giga casting facility will go. Toyota has two plants and Honda has one.
Linimar will not say who its customer is, but that it is getting a lot of interest from automakers. China is on an export binge for cars
and that's causing a shortage of cargo ships. Mazda is running into problems finding
ships to export. It's all new CX ninety from Japan to the United States,
and China is expected to export four million vehicles this year, up from three million last year. And keep in mind that pre COVID Germany made four
point seven million vehicles, so that's almost the equivalent of China exporting the entire German auto industry. Every year. When your profit is only twenty two dollars
on every vehicle that you sell, you've got to come up with other ways to bring in money. That's the amount we calculate ruling earns for every Mini
EV. But if you're a regular viewer of the show, you know we
hardly ever show the Plane Jay Mini EV. It's almost always some wild looking
one with bright colors, and I especially like to use this one with big unicorn like wings. These models, like the game Boy Edition, bring in
more money, sometimes thousands more. And now it's doing the same with the
Boojung YEP, which, like the Mini EV, comes from under the GM seic Wouling Umbrella. One version with a two tone paint job, a roof
rack, whitewall tires and chrome hubcaps reminds us of a retro beach buggy.
Sales are said to kick off in May, and with affordable starting prices about forty seven hundred dollars for the Mini EV and fourteen th five hundred dollars for the YEP, buyers are more willing to spend extra to personalize the car, and that brings us to the end of this week. Thanks for making autoline
a part of your day, and I hope you have a great weekend.
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