Electric vehicle sales in the U.S. hit a new record despite Tesla's decline, with strong growth expected as more models arrive. Honda faces allegations of falsifying EV sales reports. UAW President Shawn Fain is under investigation for misconduct amid union struggles. Foreign automakers produced more vehicles in the U.S. than Detroit's Big Three for the first time. Volkswagen plans to close a European plant due to high costs and declining demand. China's new energy vehicle sales continue to surge, though many factories operate below capacity. The Corvette Museum marks 10 years since its famous sinkhole incident with a special exhibit.
Topics:electric vehicle salestesla sales declinehonda ev sales lawsuituaw union investigationforeign automakers us productionvolkswagen plant closurechina new energy vehiclesfactory capacity utilizationcorvette museum sinkholeauto industry trends
- U.S. EVs Up Strong, Set Sales Record - Hyundai Accused of Falsifying EV Sales - UAW’s Shawn Fain Under Investigation - Foreign Automakers Make Most Cars in U.S. - VW May Close EU Plant for First Time Ever - NEV Hot, ICE Not, In China - China Plants Only At 58% Utilization - 10th Anniversary of Corvette Sinkhole
"...ot wide sinkhole opened up underneath part of the Corvette Museum in Bowling, Green, Kentucky, and while som..."
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While good news on the EV front, sales of electric cars in the US exceeded expectations and set a record for the second quarter. Cox Automotive reports
that EV sales were up eleven point three percent year over year, compared to overall sales that were up only point one percent. Automakers sold three hundred and
thirty thousand, four hundred and sixty three electric vehicles, accounting for eight percent of the market, up from seven point two percent last year, and those sales were up even though Tesla was down. Cox Automotive estimates that Tesla sold
six point three percent fewer cars in the US and Q two. That's based
on actual registrations, since Tesla does not break out regional sales. Most analysts
are expecting EV sales to be even stronger in the second half of the year as more models, especially from GM, Honda, and Stalantis, come into the market in the coming months. And speaking of evs, Hondai faces an
accusation that it falsified sales reports. Automotive News reports that the Napleton Automotive Group,
which is a large auto retailer filed a lawsuit against Hondai Motor America, claiming the automaker would give them more of its fast selling vehicles if they reported unsold evs as part of their loaner fleet that would artificially inflate EV sales.
Hondai Motor America says it does not condone actions like that and launched an immediate investigation. But there's bad blood between the Napleton Automotive Group and the automaker.
Hondai terminated one of Napleton's dealerships in Florida when the son of the group's owner was charged with sexual battery of an employee. UAW President Sean Faine is being
accused of seeking benefits for his fiancee and her sister. That's according to Neil
Borrowsky, a court appointed monitor overseeing the union. He filed a motion yesterday
revealing that he's investigating Fayne over allegations from two UAW leaders, vice President Rich Boyer and Secretary General Margaret Mock, that say Faine stripped assignments from them in retaliation for not taking actions to benefit Faine's fiance and her sister. Borowsky is
also accusing the Union of not providing documents related to the investigation in a timely manner, and the filing revealed a separate investigation into an unidentified regional director, accusing them of embezzling funds. These revelations come at a horrible time for the
UAW. It's trying to organize more plans in the South, including Toyota and
Hyundai, and opponents of the union will no doubt used these allegations to argue that the union is still corrupt. For the first time ever, foreign automakers
built more vehicles in the US than the Detroit three. According to Auto Drives
America and the American International Automobile Dealers Association, four and automakers produced four point nine million vehicles last year in the US, while GM FOURD in Stilantis assembled four point six million. But if you include Tesla, Rivian and Lucid,
which built more than seven hundred and fifty thousand vehicles in the US last year, it boosts vehicles made by US based companies to more than five point three million units. Of course, Stilantis is not an American company and Lucid is
sixty percent owned by the Saudis, but you should get the point we're trying to make here. Four and automakers have significantly boosted capacity in the US from
two point four million vehicles twenty five years ago to four zero point nine million today, an eighty five percent increase. During the same period, the Detroit
threes production in the US has been cut in half, with much of it moving to Mexico, Canada, South Korea and China. Trusting tires designed for
the long haul because you'll always go the distance for friends. That's what really
matters. Breach down a lens of tires with an eighty thousand mile unted warranty.
The Volkswagen Group is on the verge of closing a car plant in Europe for the first time ever. It says it's looking at ways to restructure a
plant in Belgium that makes out eqight E trons, but if no alternative is found, it will shut it down. While this will impact about three thousand
workers, it doesn't sound like the plant has a good chance of survival.
Part of it has to do with location. The building is close to the
city center of Brussels, so any expansion would be difficult and logistics are harder, which means its production costs are higher compared to other plants. The other
part of the equation is that even Audi admits the electric SUV has seen a quote intensified drop in demand and announced earlier this year that the successor to the Q eight E Tron will be built in Mexico. That's why it's hard to
see a path where the Brussels site continues to build. Audis. The last
time that the VW Group closed a plant was its Westmoreland site in Pennsylvania in nineteen eighty eight. China's new energy vehicle or any V sales continue to outpace
the rest of the market. Last month, passenger vehicle sales topped one point
seven million units in China, down six point seven percent compared to last year.
Full year results are a little bit better at over nine point eight million vehicles up three point three percent, but ANYV sales in June were over a million units, up thirty percent, and for the full year, nearly five million nevs have been sold in China, which is a jump of thirty two percent. On the flip side, conventional ic and hybrid sales were down twenty
seven percent last month and are down thirteen percent for the year. A rural
thumb in the auto industry is that a car plant doesn't start turning a profit until it's producing at least eighty percent of the vehicles that it's capable of or its capacity utilization rate. But according to Global data, China's factories were only
running at fifty nine percent last year. That means production lines were sitting idle
for a lot of the time. In fact, twenty percent of factories made
less than one thousand cars and seventeen percent made less than ten thousand. Only
fifteen percent of car plants in China had a capacity utilization rate over ninety five.
But get this, those plants built nearly half of all cars in the country last year. That's part of the reason. Byd, who had an
eighty percent utilization rate, and Liatto were the only two Chinese automakers to turn a profit on any of these last year, while others like Neo lost about thirteen thousand, seven hundred and fifty bucks on every vehicle it sold. Can
you believe it's been this long already? In February of twenty fourteen, a
forty foot wide sinkhole opened up underneath part of the Corvette Museum in Bowling, Green, Kentucky, and while some of the classic Corvettes were damaged, fortunately the museum was closed and no one was inside when it occurred. So now
the museum is commemorating the ten year anniversary. It has an exhibit called Ground
de Sky The Sinkhole Reimagined, which runs until September fifteenth. Two fully restored
vets, a two thousand and nine Blue Devil ZR one, a nineteen ninety two model that was the one million Corvette built, as well as other cars that were damaged when the sinkhole opened up. Auto Line after Hours will be
back tomorrow after being off for a week, and we'll be talking about Vtall's or vertical takeoff and landing aircraft with Tim Jackson, who wrote the book Dude, Where's My Flying Car, as well as talking about a company that's using AI to help dealers predict what cars they should order. And that brings us
to the end of today's show. Thanks for making Autoline a part of your
day. Autoline Daily is brought to you by Bridgestone Solutions for your journey,
Intrepid Control Systems, over the Air, Engineering, Boost Your Game, MEDC where Michigan businesses are powering the future of mobility and by Tajent Automotive Technologies the formula for better mobility. Michigan is leading the charge in mobility and innovation and
I can't think of a better state to band. There's nothing wrong with heavy
metal, hey light enough, but with world class composite material, Tagent Automotive Technologies makes vehicles lighter, safer, and more eco friendly. Intrepid's Neovipie allowing
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designed for automotive environments, allowing use with relative power ranges and applications. In
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One of many Intrepid tools used for developing zonal architecture and software. Divine vehicles,
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