AD #3849 - China EV Aces NCAP Crash Test; Honda Outsells Stellantis In U.S.; China EV Price War Spreads to ICE Cars

This is Outoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasisms of the global island of industry and another sign of the troubles at Stillantis North America, Honda sold more vehicles than Stella in the first half of the year. Honda is now the

fifth largest automaker by sales in the US, after GM, Toyota, Ford, and the Hyundai Group. Most automakers saw modest growth or slight declines in

the first half of the year, but sales at Stillantis fell fifteen percent and sales of Ram pickups, the company's most profitable vehicle, were down twenty percent.

We think this helps explain why Stillantis replaced six top executives in its North American operations so far this year. No doubt, elected officials in the state

of North Carolina are scratching their heads over this one. Two days ago,

Vinfest, the Vietnamese automaker, announced it was delaying its four billion dollars assembly plant in the state, citing uncertainties in the global EV market. But this

morning, VinFast announced it's building an EV assembly plant in Indonesia, citing the strong potential for EV's in the region. The two hundred million dollar plant is

sized to make fifty thousand right hand steer cars a year. Meanwhile, the

plant in North Carolina, which is size to make one hundred and fifty thousand evs a year, was supposed to open this year, but it's now scheduled to open in twenty twenty eight. North Carolina provided vin Fast with an incentive

package worth one point two billion dollars to build the plant. Germany does not

want to upset China, which is its largest export market, so it's going to sit out a vote in the EU today to impose tariffs on Chinese made evs. German automakers are concerned that the tariffs could lead to a trade war

with China that would result in retaliatory measures. Germany says it will abstain from

voting because the EU's investigation into Chinese made evs is still ongoing and because negotiations between Europe and China are still happening. Italy and Spain say they will support

the tariffs, but today's vote is none binding and a final vote will not happen until the EU completes its investigation. Even so, many Chinese automakers are

not taking any chances. They want to build assembly plants in the EU Car

News, China reports that SAIC is in talk with Spain about opening a factory in the country, though it could also go to either Hungary or the Czech Republic. SAIC was hit with the highest tariff of thirty seven point six percent.

SAIC will produce MG models at the plant, and it's aiming to kick off production in twenty twenty seven. China isn't just pressuring Europe to drop the

tariffs. It's fighting back against the IRA subsidies in the US and has asked

the World Trade Organization to set up a panel to settle the dispute. Chinese

made evs are excluded from EV subsidies provided by the Inflation Reduction Act. China

says it has not been able to reach a solution in negotiations with the US government, so it's turning to the wto Michigan is leading the charge in mobility and innovation and I can't think of a better state to be in. Even

though evs cost more than ice vehicles on average, a new study by JD.

Power for Automotive News found that evs costs less than ice vehicles over the long term in most of the United States and US three thousand dollars less to own on average over five years than a similar ice vehicle. JD power factored

in the transaction price, federal and state subsidies, OEM charger incentives, interest rates, residual values, and tax title in licensing fees. It also includes

the cost of insurance, maintenance, charging, gasoline fueling, and charger purchase and installation. New Jersey had the highest savings, with EV buyers saving ten

thousand dollars over five years. Maine and West Virginia where the only states where

ice vehicles actually cost less to own. And we should note that the savings

are for purchasing an EV, because a three year lease for an EV costs about eighteen hundred dollars more on average than a nice. In something of a

surprising move, Ballager Motors, the EV commercial vehicle startup, appointed Jim Taylor as CEO. Taylor had extensive experience at General Motors, including running Cadillac and

Hummer, but his last job was as CEO of ELMS or Electric Last Mile Solutions, which was another commercial EV startup. Taylor had to resign from that

position over questionable stock purchases, and ELMS eventually went bankrupt. Two years ago,

Mullen Automotive bought a controlling interest in Bollinger Motors, and Robert Bollinger, who founded the company, decided it was time to step aside as CEO and bring in an experienced automotive exec which is why they hired Taylor. Robert Bullinger

remains with the company, which is expected to start making Class four electric chassis cabs later this year, which will be assembled by Rausch Industries. Early last

year, Tesla kicked off a price war in China that soon spread to every EV manufacturer in the country. That price war does not show any signs of

slowing down, and it's now spreading to ICE vehicles. SAIC Volkswagen just chopped

the price of its top selling sedan, the Lavidia XR, to only about ninety six hundred dollars, which matches the price of the electric byd sgull.

Toyota chopped the price of the camera to just under eighteen thousand dollars. Legacy

automakers are trying to protect their ice market share as evs and peebs eat into their business. Bloomberg reports that discounting on internal combustion vehicles in China hit almost

twenty percent. And I'll say that if car sales are weak this summer,

more price cuts could be on the way and some auto execs will lead the price war could go on for another two to three years. A decade ago,

the crash protection of Chinese made cars was abysmal. You could even call

them death traps. Well not anymore. China's latest crash standards, called c

n CAP, are almost the same as Europe's end CAP standards. En CAP

stands for New Car Assessment Program and an electric crossover from Series and Huawei just earned the highest safety rating under the China end CAP program. That suggests it

could earn the highest rating from euro end CAP, which up to now has rated the Tesla Model Y as the safest car it's ever tested. The Chinese

car that ace the crash test is the Ito M nine, which is available as ABEV or E REV and has priced between sixty five thousand dollars and seventy eight thousand. And that wraps up today's show. Thanks for watching. Autoline

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AD #3849 - China EV Aces NCAP Crash Test; Honda Outsells Stellantis In U.S.; China EV Price War Spreads to ICE Cars

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