The episode covers major automotive industry shifts including President Trump's proposed 25% tariffs on imported vehicles, which could disrupt brands like Volkswagen, Nissan, and Kia. Nissan's plan to cut US production in favor of cheaper imports from Japan is highlighted amid Japan's declining auto market. Kia teases its new all-electric EV4 sedan with bold styling, while BMW showcases advanced tech improving EV efficiency. General Motors excels in JD Power's dependability study but faces plant closures in China. BYD announces solid-state battery production by 2030, promising faster charging and better performance. Lastly, ZF's steer-by-wire system debuts on Chinese EVs, offering customizable steering ratios and OTA updates.
Topics:tariffs on imported carsnissan production strategyjapanese auto industry declinekia ev4 designbmw ev technologygm vehicle dependabilitygm china plant closuresbyd solid state batterieszf steer by wire systemjd power dependability study
- Trump’s Car Tariffs to Hit April 2 - Nissan Plans to Cut Rogue Production in U.S. - Japan’s Car Sales Fall as Population Declines - Autoline Viewers Oppose Car Tariffs - Kia EV4 Looks Sensational - BMW Showcases New EV Tech - GM Shocks Industry with Dependability Study - As Sales Sink, GM Closes Assembly Plant in China - Mass Production for BYD’s Solid State Batteries - Nio Buys ZF’s Steer-By-Wire
"...tariff threats. It wants to cut production of the Rogue crossover in the US and start importing more of t..."
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Speaker 1: This is Outline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. President Trump promises he's going to
raise terriffs on imported cars around April second. While he's
been threatening to put higher terrace on cars from Canada and Mexico, he's now going to be targeting imports from Europe, Japan, and South Korea as well. Volkswagen, Hondai, Kia, Mercedes, Nissan,
and BMW have the highest percentage of imported vehicles, so they be impacted the most, but it would hit all automakers hard. Imports account for nearly half of all the
vehicles sold in the US, with most of them coming from Mexico, South Korea, and Japan. However, Nissan seems to
be tone deaf when it comes to these tariff threats.
It wants to cut production of the Rogue crossover in the US and start importing more of them from Japan.
Nissan says it can make the Rogue twenty percent and cheaper in Japan, largely thanks to the extraordinary weakness of the Japanese yen, which is now trading at only one hundred and fifty one yen to the dollar. But Nissan
needs to start paying attention to what's going on in the White House, because Trump will go ballistic if he hears that Nissan wants to cut US production and import more rogues. But Nissan may be willing to endure Trump's
attacks and move more production back to Japan because the Japanese auto industry is in decline. New car sales in
Japan are now a million vehicles lower than they were a decade ago, largely because its population is shrinking. It's
now dropping at the rate of half a million people a year, and if you go back to Japan's peak in the nineteen nineties, total vehicle production is now about three million vehicles lower. There's a lot more detail on
the decline of the Japanese auto industry, and if you'd like to learn more about it, we posted a video over the weekend that dives in to that. And now
back to those tariffs. We posted our first ever YouTube
poll asking you President Trump wants to put an additional twenty five percent tariff on imported cars and components. What
feedback would you give the president? And then we provided
to answers you could vote on. Number one was great idea,
This will bring manufacturing and jobs back to the US, and number two was dumb idea. Car prices will go
up and sales will go down. Well, seventy five percent
of you said it was a dumb idea, and that doesn't surprise us because so many of our Auto line viewers work in the auto industry, and industry insiders believe that the tariffs will hurt automakers and suppliers as well as car buyers. We're going to start doing these polls
about once a week because we got some great comments and feedback from you. You can find it under the
postab on our homepage on YouTube.
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Speaker 1: Kia is the only brand in the Hyndai group that doesn't currently have an all electric sedan in its lineup, but that changes later this year when it launches the new EV four. Right now, it's detailing the styling of
the vehicle, which stays pretty true to the bold design of the concept lots of straight lines, sharp edges, and thin lighting. Kia revealed that there will be a hatchback
version of the EV four as well, but it hasn't said where the models will go on sale yet. It
also didn't provide any details about the battery, powertrain, or the interior, and it would be pretty wild if the interior stays as close to the concept as the exterior styling does, but presumably we'll get more info about the EV four leading up to its official debut at the end of this month. Speaking of new evs that launch
later this year, BMW is showing off some of the tech that will debut in its new class next generation of vehicles, but it's doing it in a rolling test bed called the Vision Driving Experience. BMW says its new
models will feature four main control units or ECUs, one for automated driving, one for infotainment, another for auxiliary functions like HVAC and lighting, and lastly one for a new drivetrain management system called the Heart of Joy. It controls
everything from the drivetrain to the brakes including regent, and to the charging in steering systems. By doing that, BMW
says it can improve ev efficiency by up to twenty five percent, which is great for everyday driving. Or it's
sophisticated enough to individually control brake regen at each wheel while flying around a racetrack with a claim thirteen two hundred and sixty nine pound feet of torque, which is likely actual motor torque multiplied by the gear ratio. The
vision driving experience is more suited for the racetrack, but BMW says it's not destined for production. General motors did
really well in JD Power's twenty twenty five Vehicle Dependability study, which survey's owners about vehicle problems after three years of ownership. Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet,
and GMC were in the top seven amongst all brands.
Buick was the top overall mass market brand and only number two to Lexis, who ranked the highest amongst all brands.
For the third straight year. Mazda and Toyota ranked third
and fourth. I had a Cadillac, Chevy and GMC. Only
five other brands Porsche, BMW, Mini, Kia, and Honda, were above the industry average, and at the bottom of the list was land Rover, Audi, Jeep, Chrysler and Volkswagen. Overall
vehicle problems are at their highest level since two thousand and nine, and compared with twenty twenty four results, the industry is experiencing a six percent increase in problems per one high hundred vehicles. JD Power says the rise in
problems is due to an increase in software defects. General
Motors sales in China peaked at more than four million units in twenty seventeen, but last year they tumbled to just one point eight million vehicles. As we've been telling you,
GM would have to start closing some assembly plants, and the first one to go is in Shengyang, northeast of Beijing, and it makes the Buick GL eight minivan and the Chevrolet Track or suv. GM is spending four billion dollars
to restructure its operations in China, so we figure there will be at least two or three more plant closings.
Solid state batteries could be the holy grail to EV adoption.
They're lighter, more energy dense, charge faster, and are not as effected by cold weather and so here's a pretty significant announcement. BYD says it's only two years away from
using solid state battery and its evs. It plans to
roll them out in twenty twenty seven and says mass production will kick off in twenty thirty. The batteries will
initially be used in mid to high end models, and after twenty thirty they'll expand to more mass market vehicles. However,
BYD isn't as bullish on solid state batteries as some others and doesn't expect them to fully take over, saying that LFP batteries will be around for another fifteen to twenty years. German suppliers ZF secured what is likely a
decent order for its steer by wire system from Chinese automaker Neo. It will be available on Neo's newest EV platform,
called NT three point zero that first underpins its new flagship SUV called the ET nine, with no mechanical connection between the steering wheel and wheels. The steering ratio can
easily be changed depending on the driving situation. For example,
at low speeds, the steering wheel can go from lock to lock in less than one full turn, and actually it's just over half a turn. The steering system also
has OTA update capabilities, so it can be improved over time.
But that brings us to the end of today's show.
Thanks for making autoline a part of your day.
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