AD #3830 - Justice Dept Investigates UAW's Shawn Fain; Japan OEMs Losing S.E. Asia to China; BYD Breaks Into Top 10 Global Automakers
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This is Out Aligned Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Just when we thought the uaw's legal problems were behind it, the
US Justice Department opened an investigation into UAW President Sean Fain. A court appointed
watchdog for the Justice Department alleges that Faine is obstructing and interfering with an investigation into infighting amongst the top leaders in the union. Faine is tangling with the
secretary treasurer of the union, whose authority is stripped away, and he demoted Rich Boyer, the vice president of the union who represents Stlantis workers. Boyer
says that was in retaliation for him refusing to engage in financial misconduct that Faine was demanding. Worse, the watchdog opened a separate investigation into embezzlement charges against
a top union official who remains unnamed for now. Anti union factions will undoubtedly
pounce on these allegations as the UAW turns its attention to organize Toyota and Hyundai plants in Alabama. After a stinging defeat at the Mercedes Benz plant in the
state, the US slapped a one hundred percent tariff on Chinese made evs, the EU is expected to hit them with a thirty percent tariff, and now it's Turkey's turn. It just slapped an extra forty percent tariff on all cars
imported from China, with the minimum amount being seven thousand dollars per vehicle.
Turkey says it's doing this to protect its domestic auto industry and reduce its trade deficit. We think it's likely that most countries with an auto industry will raise
tariffs to protect what they've got, and there is at least one domestic EV maker there. Tog Is, a Turkish car company that started selling eve's last
year. Japanese automakers have dominated the market in Southeast Asia for years. Only
a decade ago, they held eighty four percent market share, but Chinese automakers are starting to elbow them out of the way, particularly with inexpensive electric cars.
Last year, Japanese automakers saw their market share fall to eighty percent, and in some countries like Thailand, it fell much faster, losing seven point six percentage points of share last year alone, and the Chinese are just getting started. Byd now has three hundred dealerships in Southeast Asia, with the newest
one opening yesterday in Thailand, and last week Zeker announced that it will start selling cars in Malaysia in Indonesia. The Southeast Asian market is an important part
of the global automotive industry. Last year, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Vietnam, the Philippe and Miyanmar collectively built four and a half million vehicles.
With a combined population of six hundred and seventy million, the region has nearly twice as many people as the United States. Up till now, Toyota,
Honda, Daihatsu, Asuzu, and Mitsubishi have dominated the market, but they're likely to lose a significant part of that. With most major auto makers ditching
the Russian market after the invasion of Ukraine, Chinese companies stepped in to fill that void, mainly with ice vehicles. Bloomberg estimates that since twenty twenty one,
fifty eight percent of the increase in China's IC exports went to Russia.
According to autostat dot Ru, beeves only accounted for one point three percent of sales last year in Russia, while ice vehicles share actually increased from ninety one one to ninety three percent. While Russia's lot of brand is still number one
in the country with thirty percent market share. The next six largest automakers in
twenty twenty three were from China, and they have a combined forty three percent market share. Michigan is leading the charge in mobility and innovation, and I
can't think of a better state to be in. Last week, we reported
that a couple of Chinese automakers were given approval to test Level three autonomous systems on roads in their home market, and then shortly after that, seven more brands got the go ahead to participate in a pilot program that will allow them to deploy advanced driver assistant systems and automated technology. But Bloomberg reports all this
action in China was spurred on by Tesla's efforts to launch FSD in the country, which is expected to happen before the end of the year, and it's easy to see why they all want to come out with the tech money.
Tesla is already charging eight eight hundred dollars for FSD in China even though it's not out yet. It did the same thing in the US take orders before
launching the tech to everyone, but it is also eight hundred dollars more than what Tesla charges for FSD in North America. A monthly fee like the ninety
nine dollars subscription it has in the US will probably be offered in China as well, and Bloomberg reports other companies like great Wall and Huawei are charging anywhere from eleven hundred dollars to about five thousand dollars extra for their advanced driver assistant systems. But we don't know how capable their tech is compared to FSD,
so the difference in price could be because they just can't do as much, which, however, we have seen video from Chinese company Momenta of its system navigating some pretty complex driving situations. Mercedes has already joined on as a partner
with Momenta, and we expect to see a lot more partnerships as some automakers try to catch up to the others. We should find out who the AV
leaders are in China pretty quick. Will this be Hyundai's entry into the affordable
EV segment. It's an all electric compact EV that fits into the a classic
cars called the Inster, which is a mashup of intimate and innovative, as well as an evolution of Casper, a name that it uses for one of its other cars. Hyundai says it has a WLTP estimated range of three hundred
and fifty five kilometers or about two hundred and twenty miles, and it will debut at the Bussan Auto Show in Korea later this month. We's a
historical milestone reached in the industry. Last year. For the first time ever,
a Chinese automaker broke into the ranks of the top ten automakers in the world. BYD, which built three million vehicles last year, came in ninth
place and pushed Mercedes Benz off the top ten list. This year, BYD
will almost certainly move up another slot into the eighth place, pushing past Nissan.
These are some of the insights we gained from the Audo Line industry report card, and you can get access to all the raw data for your own analysis. Check out the merchandise section of the autoline website autolne dot tv,
where you can buy a copy for only forty five dollars. It also has
data that was not available in the video we posted that can provide you with even more insight. In all, we logged about forty to fifty hours to
put the report card together, so hopefully you think it's worth that price.
Is BMW's iedrive system. The reason it hasn't had software issues like GM the
Volkswagen Group in Volvo. A BMW exec that spoke with Automotive News Europe credits
the company's history of developing its own software, like for its user interface system, for helping it to avoid problems. Now BMW is adding even more tasks
and capabilities to its software development. What it says it won't do everything in
house so it can offer the best services and products to its customers. Again,
it's all about money, just like Tesla and all those Chinese automakers with FSD, and everyone is doing it or aiming to. They think you pay
for on demand streaming services on top of a TV, audio services on top of your phone, and add extra storage as well, so why not in your car? Two Right, South Africa wants to boost production of electric and
hydrogen powered vehicles in the country, but I can't find any takers. Earlier
this year, it offered automakers a one hundred and fifty percent tax deduction to build EV plants. But even though at least six major automakers have manufacturing facilities
there, none of them went for the bait. Volkswagen and Asuzu say they
aren't interested, and that's because only seventy seven hundred electrified vehicles were sold in South Africa last year, and eighty five percent of them were hybrids. So
automakers will focus on selling IC vehicles locally and to other African countries. Asuzu
says it expects IC vehicles to dominate the African market for the next twenty to fifty years, and that brings us to the end of today's show. Thanks
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