AD #3991 - Bill in Congress Vaporizes EV Incentives; China Tells Media Don't Criticize Tesla; Robots Poised to Eliminate Factory Jobs
0:00
9:33
LIVE
Speaker 1: This is Onderline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Republicans in Congress are introducing legislation
to kill off most EV subsidies. At the same time
they're adding a new tax to make it more expensive to buy an EV. Fifteen Senate Republicans introduced a bill
yesterday that eliminates the seventy five hundred dollars federal tax credit for purchasing an EV, the four thousand dollars credit for buying a used EV, the tax credit for EV charging stations, and the credit for leasing an EV. And
a separate bill was introduced that imposes one thousand dollars tax for buying an EV that will go towards road repairs.
Most repairs are funded through gas and diesel taxes that evs don't pay. The majority of states have imposed registration
fees to evs to pay for road repair, but not the federal government. The senators say the BUCKS is about
the same as what a gas powered owner pays in federal gas taxes for highway funds over ten years. If
I were Honda, I'd be glad I didn't end up in a merger with Nissan. Honda just reported a five
percent improvement in its quarterly operating profit, while Nissan reported a seventy eight percent drop. Nissan also lowered its outlook
for twenty twenty five, the third time it's done so.
To boost its factory utilization. Nissan will close three plants
over the next two years, which will eliminate sixty five hundred jobs on top of another nine thousand jobs that were already announced. It will also start eliminating shifts at
other factories, including those in the US. All told, Nissan
plans to chop a million vehicles of capacity, and it's going to get rid of twenty percent of its executive staff.
Even so, Automotive News reports that some analysts don't think it's enough. They think Nissan is just nibbling around the
edges instead of taking big bites to deal with its problems once and for all. Another thing that Nissan wants
to do is find new partners. Foxcon, the giant Taiwanese
manufacturing company, says it's interested, and KKR, the giant US private equity company, says it might be interested too. KKR
is doing its due diligence to decide if it wants to invest in Nissan, and if it does, we can expect it to put a lot more pressure on Nissan's management to move a lot faster.
Speaker 2: There's nothing wrong with heavy metal hy light enough, but with world class composit material taging automotive technologies makes vehicles lighter, safer, and more eco friendly.
Speaker 1: People are already complaining about the cost of service or repair their cars, but it could get worse. President Trump
says he wants to slap a twenty five percent tariff unimported steel and aluminum from Canada and Mexico. That would
immediately raise costs for automakers and suppliers, but consumers would also likely feel the effects of the tariffs. Those increased
costs are usually passed down to the consumer in the form of higher car prices. On top of that, the
price to import service parts would probably go up, which means that car repairs would be more expensive as well.
Those two things would drive up demanded prices for used cars, so the cost to replace a car would go up, which would also make insurance prices higher, and insurance and repair costs were already up this year. The cost to
fix a car in January was up seven point four percent compared to last year, while insurance prices were up by eleven point eight percent. But, as we said the
other day when the tariffs were first reported, let's see how this plays out. Trump imposed the same twenty five
percent tariffs in his first term, but then dump them as part of the USMCA free trade agreement. They say
that twenty twenty five is the year of the humanoid robot, So could we be on the verge of robots replacing a significant number of factory workers. As we reported earlier
this week, Lear Corporation, the giant seating supplier, is in the process of getting rid of thirty thousand factory workers and replacing them with robots in automation. Moreover, companies like Tesla, BMW, BYD, Hyundai, Toyota,
and Honda are all experimenting with humanoid robots, and BMW is already using them in small numbers at its assembly plant in South Carolina. Now comes word of a startup
in China that's coming out with a humanoid robot for the automotive sector. A robot company called Galbot teamed up
with another called Miracle Automation that specializes in applying AI to fac automation, and that's really saying something. Since China
has some of the lowest labor costs in the world.
As the cost of these robots come down, the threat to factory workers goes up, since these robots don't get tired, don't take breaks, don't take vacations, don't go on strike, don't mind working overtime, and can work multiple shifts every single day. Do you remember the woman that made headlines
a few years ago by jumping on the roof of a Tesla at the Shanghai Auto Show and shouting about how the breaks fail.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 1: The Associated Press has a whole report detailing what led up to that and what followed after, and the AP claims that Tesla is using a legal strategy to defend itself in China that's much more aggressive than any other automaker.
It says, Tesla has sued customers, bloggers, and Chinese media for being critical of the company, and it almost always wins.
Of fourteen defamation cases reviewed by the APE, Tesla one to eleven, two are still on appeal, and one was settled out of court. It also has similar success when
someone tries suing the company owners only won nine out of eighty one civil lawsuits against Tesla for safety and quality issues and contract disputes. The AP claims that Tesla
has been able to limit its accountability because of support from powerful leaders in China's ruling Communist party, and it says that some journalists have even been told to avoid negative reports about the EV. Maker ZEF developed a new
heel air bag to prevent serious leg and foot injuries, but it's actually designed for autonomous vehicles to be more comfortable.
People riding in avs will likely have their seats pushed back further, but doing that makes it harder to protect their legs and feet, which is why ZF created the heel airbag. It says it can be adapted to almost
any vehicle without the need for any additional space in the footwell. ZEEV says the airbag will be available in
twenty twenty eight for automakers that plan on offering seats with extra comfort positions. And speaking of autonomous vehicles, the
CEO of tech Giant by De Robin Lee says that robotaxis are safer than human drivers. By Du currently operates
a robotaxi service called Apollo Go in eleven cities in China and as of November it's provided eight million rides.
Lee says, as of today, the robotaxis are ten times safer than humans and that its insurance claim rate is only one fourteenth of that from a regular taxi or a regular driver. And that brings us to the end
of today's show. Thanks for tuning in.
Speaker 3: Autoline Daily is brought to you by Bridgetone Solutions for your journey, Intrepid Control Systems over the air engineering boost your game, and by Tagent Automotive Technologies the formula for better mobility.
Speaker 4: Developing today's vehicles. Issues can happen in an instant. When's
the best time to solve a problem? The minute you
know you have one. Meet Wireless Neovi Cloud. You're secure
off the shelf solution empowering real time collaboration for quick resolution.
With Wireless Neovi Cloud, your team can prevent issues before they can escalate. Driver communication data and remote diagnostics to
analyze and resolve your problems using OTA, allowing your executives oversight through throughout the process. Wireless Neophy Cloud your vehicle updates,
solution and production, and on the road intrepid control systems driven by your data knowing that a little rain won't slow down your day. That's what really matters. Rich don't
tornso why attract hires confident control in wet conditions
0:00
9:33