Tariffs on Chinese electric car batteries are rising sharply, impacting US EV production costs, while new rules may ban Chinese connected cars over national security concerns. Hybrid vehicle sales are booming globally, outpacing battery electric vehicles, prompting automakers like Volkswagen to shift focus. Honda plans major EV investments aiming for 40% EV and fuel cell sales by 2030. Tesla's Cybertruck outsells Rivian's R1T two to one, with Ford's F-150 Lightning leading overall. Chinese automaker Nio launches a budget EV brand targeting Tesla, and Stellantis partners with Leap Motors for affordable EVs. Industry experts will discuss these trends and more in an upcoming panel.
Topics:us tariffs on chinese ev batteriesnational security and connected carshybrid vs electric vehicle saleshonda ev investment strategytesla cybertruck vs rivian salesford f-150 lightning salesnio new ev brand launchstellantis leap motors partnershipev market trendsautomotive industry regulations
- Biden Raises Tariffs on Chinese Batteries, Parts - U.S. Looks to Ban Chinese Cars for National Security - Hybrid Sales Soar While BEVs Sputter - VW Backs Off BEVs, Pushes into Hybrids - Honda Makes Big BEV Commitment - Cybertruck Outsells Rivian 2:1 - FSD Take-Rate Only 2% - Mitsubishi Eyes Futuristic Van - Nio Launches New Brand, Targets Tesla - Stellantis and Leap Send Shock Waves Through Industry
"... at the Tesla model Y. It features a nine hundred volt architecture and has an energy consumption of twe..."
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This is Outoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
Yesterday we reported that the Chinese made cars sold by Buick and Lincoln in the US would be hit by one hundred percent tariffs, But it turns out that the tariffs only apply to electric cars, so Buick and Lincoln will not be affected. Where the tariffs will have in immediate effect is with batteries and
battery parts for electric cars that are imported from China. The tariffs on those
batteries and parts were at seven and nine half percent. Now the Biden administration
is raising them to twenty five percent, and that will have an immediate impact on companies that are importing them from China. For example, certain versions of
the Mustang Maki and F one to fifty lightning use LFP batteries made by CAATL in China. The twenty five percent tariff could wipe out the low cast cost
advantage of LFP batteries from China. Even though that one hundred percent tariff only
applies to electric Chinese cars, The Biden administration is working on another way to prevent any Chinese car companies from getting into the American market. Gina Raimondo,
the US Secretary of Commerce, will propose rules later this year that could ban connected cars sold by Chinese automakers. She says it's all about national security.
Connected cars collect data on people and infrastructure everywhere they go, and that could be beamed back to China. Every new car today is connected, so banning
Chinese cars on a national security basis could make it harder for China to get the World Trade Organization to rule against it. Wow, this is certainly turning
out to be the year of the hybrid in the US market, and not just there. Data from S and P Global shows that sales of hybrids and
peahebs shot up forty eight percent in the first quarter, while sales of BEVs were only up five percent, and hybrids and peaebs evely outsold beds four hundred and thirteen thousand to two hundred and sixty four thousand. And you know,
we're saying the same thing. In the European market, hybrid's up twenty percent,
electrics only three percent. And right on Q with that, in the
Volkswagen Group announced it's going to back way off its evy or bus strategy and it's going to put more investment into hybrids. One reason is that Germany and
Sweden have cut back the subsidies they offered to consumers to buy electrics, and that had an immediate impact on sales. Meanwhile, Honda is going in the
opposite direction. While Japanese automakers have been criticized for dragging their feet on transitioning
to electric vehicles, Honda says it's going to invest sixty five four billion dollars in evs through the end of the decade. That's about six point four billion
dollars a year, because they're counting from twenty twenty to twenty thirty. But
you know, even though they're going to spend six point four billion a year, Honda is already spending six point two billion a year on R and D, so it's really not increasing its investment that much. However, it will
likely slash development of ice products and put that money into electrics. Honda's strategy
is to reduce BEV production costs by thirty percent, cut battery costs in North America by twenty percent, and make its EV supply chain more vertically integrated.
It's going to launch seven of its zero series evs globally by twenty thirty, with the first of them launching in North America in twenty twenty six. By
twenty thirty, Honda's aiming for evs and fuel cells to account for forty percent of its global sales and have them represent one hundred percent by twenty forty.
When the elements are working against you, being confident in your grip on the road is what really matters. Breach through a lens of tires, improved acceleration
in wet conditions. The Tesla cyber truck is already out selling Rivian's electric pickup
truck two to one. According to S and P Mobility. The cyber truck
had one thousand, one hundred and fifty eight new registrations in March in the US, compared to just five hundred and forty eight for the Rivian R one t pickup, but the Ford F one to fifty Lightning beat both of them with two thousand, eight hundred and ninety three registrations, which is nearly triple the amount from the year before. Speaking of Tesla, only a small number
of owners decided to buy full self driving after a free one month trial, and after Tesla slashed the price to eight thousand dollars, or only ninety nine dollars a month. According to yippit data. Out of the nearly three five
hundred owners who participated in that free one month trial, only fifty of them bought or subscribe to FSD. That's only a two percent take rate. However,
Elon Musk disputed that number and says debt take rate is much higher, but he didn't say what the number is. Mitsubishi doesn't sell a lot of
cars in the US. Last year, it only sold eighty seven thousand,
and that's with three vehicles in its lineup, but things are starting to pick up. First quarter sales shot up nearly thirty six percent, and it's going
to add another model to its lineup, a sporty passenger van, and hopefully it's going to look a lot like this DX, a six seedter p concept van that it unveiled last year in Japan, but the van will not be on sale until late in this decade. Chinese automaker Neo officially launched its new
low cost brand called Envo Meet. Its first model, a mid size crossover
called the L sixty, which is aimed directly at the Tesla model Y.
It features a nine hundred volt architecture and has an energy consumption of twelve point one kilowatt hours per one hundred kilometers, which is just a little bit lower than the Model HY. It has three battery pack options sixty ninety, one
hundred and fifty kilowatt hours, which provide ranges from three hundred and forty five miles to six hundred and twenty one miles, but that's based on the pretty easy Chinese test cycle. Like Neo's other models, the L sixty also features
swappable batteries. It's available to order now and has a starting price of only
thirty thousand, five hundred dollars, which is twelve percent cheaper than a Model HY. Deliveries of the L sixty begin in the third quarter this year.
You know, when Stilantis announced it's going to start selling electric cars made by Leap Motors in China, it sent shock waves through the industry. Even though
Mercedes and Volkswagen are cooperating with Chinese automakers, Stella is going farther than that.
It's going to use cars made by Leap Motors to fill out its lineup.
We might see electric fiats, pougeots, and opals that were either made by Leap Motors or which are based on their platforms, and that's got to have other automakers wondering if they should team up with Chinese automakers to get access to low cost EV technology. And this is a trend we're going to have
to watch closely. Hey, be sure to join us for outline after hours
today. We're going to have Mike Ramsey from Gartner Research and Joe White from
Reuters. Some of the topics we're going to get into include what the heck
is going on with autonomous vehicles and what's going to be the impact of those Biden tariffs on Chinese cars and how is the UAW going to be able to go to organize the transplants anyway. That brings us to the end of today's
report. Sean's going to be back in this chair here tomorrow and it's been
a real pleasure for me to fill in while he was away. Over and
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