AD #4001 - 'Chicken Tax' Strikes Kia's U.S. EV Plans; Nissan to Drop Top Executives; GM Boosts Shareholder Dividend

Speaker 1: This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Nissan is in deep trouble and

it's about to get rid of some of its top executives.

Reportedly that will happen in a few weeks, but there's conflicting reports about whether CEO Makoto Uchita will keep his job.

Bloomberg says Nissan's directors are considering replacing Uchetah, but other sources say he'll stay on. U Chetah has been CEO

since twenty nineteen. Earlier this month, Nissan called off merger

talks with Honda because Nissan refused Honda's demand to become a subsidiary. Later, it was reported Honda would resume talks

if Nissan got rid of Ucheedah. So if Uchetah keeps

his job, we think it's a sure sign that Nissan has no interest in merging with Honda. Economically speaking, the

UK seems to be doing better than the EU, even so, it's not immune to the weak.

Speaker 2: Automotive market in Europe.

Speaker 1: While production of Beev's pehabs and hybrids were up one and a half percent, accounting for forty two percent of all the vehicles made last month. According to the Society

of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, automakers in England built just over seventy eight thousand passenger cars and commercial vehicles in January, which was down about eighteen percent compared to a year ago, and more than eighty percent of the cars produced were for export. Production declined because automakers have delayed models due

to slow demand and because the were tooling plants to build evs. Foreign automakers in China have watched their sales

plummet over the last five years and are finally moving to cut back on their operations there. General Motors already

hinted it will likely close a plant there this year.

Porsche and BMW have been cutting head count, and now Reuter's reports that Mercedes been is going to cut ten to fifteen percent of its sales and finance staff there.

China is still Mercedes Benz's biggest market, but sales continue to slide. Last year they slipped seven percent to around

six hundred and eighty seven thousand cars. Meanwhile, Volkswagon keeps

cutting prices of its evs in China to try and boose sales. It just cut the price of the ID

four X by two thousand, seven hundred dollars, which drops it to about nineteen thousand, three hundred bucks. That seven

four hundred dollars below the price of the car when it launched in twenty twenty one. And that shows the

double whammy that's hitting four and automakers in China right now.

Not only are their sales falling, they keep having to cut prices to try and hold on to what they've got, but the whole Chinese auto industry is facing a day of reckoning because, as unbelievable as it sounds, the Chinese car market really isn't growing. When you strip out sales

of commercial trucks, buses, and vans and strip out exports of cars, the number of retail passenger vehicle sales in China are the same today as they were a decade ago, though there is year to year variation. About twenty two

million Chinese have been buying a new car every year on average, and with China's population falling, sales will likely.

Speaker 2: Start to drop in the future.

Speaker 1: We posted a video on what's happening called has China hit Peak Auto?

Speaker 2: And we'll provide a link if you'd like to check it.

Speaker 3: Out knowing that a little rain won't slow down your day.

That's what really matters. Bridge don't to runts of hyattract

hires confident control in wet conditions.

Speaker 2: The chicken tax strikes again.

Speaker 1: The US tariff, which was first implemented in nineteen sixty four in response to European tariffs on American chickens, slaps an additional twenty five percent duty on light duty trucks coming into the country. The definition of light duty trucks

also includes commercial vans and trucks, and that means Kia's new PV five van fits into that category. So now

the automaker is exploring workarounds to the chicken tax, even though it will have no problem selling the Korean made van in Canada later this year or next.

Speaker 2: It says it could work.

Speaker 1: With a local partner to offer custom and modified versions of the PV five in the US, which we would hope look like the off road concept that it showed off at SEMA. But we think Kia might be able

to get around the tax by selling versions for personal use, which are only subject to a two and a half percent import tariff, rather than versions that are meant for businesses. However,

that could be a moot point if the Trump administration goes through with its threat to slap a twenty five percent import tariff on all vehicles coming into the country.

Speaker 2: But that's just in the US.

Speaker 1: The PV five will first go on sale in Korea and Europe in the second half of this year. Customers

will be able to choose from passenger, cargo, family chassis, cab, and wheelchair accessible versions of the van, which can then be converted into crew, drop, side box van, freezer, box prime, and light camper configurations.

Speaker 2: Three batteries will be available, fifty.

Speaker 1: One point five kilowat hours, seventy one point two and a forty three point three kilowat hour pack for the cargo model. Kia says the largest pack in the passenger

version will provide up to four hundred kilometers or about two hundred and fifty miles of range on the WLTP test cycle. All models are powered by a front mounted

electric motor that produces one hundred and twenty kilowatts or roughly one hundred and sixty horse power. The PV five

is the first of what's scheduled to be an entire lineup of electric vans. Both bigger and smaller, and speaking

of Kia evs, in this time ones that will actually be sold around the world, including the US. The automaker

also revealed the EV four sedan and hatchback, as well as the concept of a new small crossover called the EV two. It's a little unclear if the hatchback version

of the EV four will be coming to the US.

It just says the model will be produced only in Slovakia quote unquote, primarily targeting sales in Europe, but the sedan will be for sure sold in the US. The

EV four is built on the same four hundred volte platform as the Hondi Group's current evs, and two battery packs will be available fifty eight point three and eighty one point four kilowatt hours. The larger provides up to

six hundred and twenty kilometers or three hundred and eighty five miles of range on the WLTP cycle. A one

hundred and fifty kilowat or roughly two hundred horsepower electric motor drives the front wheels. A couple of other highlights

include a thirty inch display screen, OTA updates, and eight ass but not hands free driving functions. The EV four

sedan will be made in Korea and goes on sale in the country in March. That will be followed in

the second half of this year by the hatchback for Europe, and then production for North America and other regions is planned for later in the year.

Speaker 2: Now, let's move over to the EV.

Speaker 1: Two concept, which is the company's vision for a future B segment crossover. It looks like it's meant to be

a more entry level model that still offers decent tach and tries to get the most out of its available space.

Kia says it expects to launch the production version for Europe and other countries next year. VW may have had

to cut the price of the ID four in China to try and boost sales, but in the US of A it's a different story. Sales of the Volkswagen ID

four exploded in January. According to Cox Automotive, VW sold

just under five thousand ID fours in the US last month, which was up and I popping.

Speaker 2: Six hundred and fifty three percent.

Speaker 1: Overall, more than one hundred and two thousand pure electric vehicles were sold in January, which was up about thirty percent compared to last year, but down twenty three percent from December. The top five selling models were the Tesla

Model Y, Model three, VWID four, the Tesla cyber Truck, and the Honda Prologue. The average transaction price for an

EV in January was just over fifty five grand, a decrease of one point four percent from a year ago, but that's nearly seventy five hundred dollars more than the average transaction price for an ice vehicle. Last year, General

Motors generated twelve point four billion dollars in free cash flow, and now it's giving a big chunk of that back to its shareholders. It's going to boost its dividend by

twenty five percent to fifteen cents share, and it's going to buy back six billion dollars worth of shares, with two billion dollars of that being spent in the first half of this year. As GM buys back shares and

retires them, that helps boost the price of the stock, and over the last decade it's up about thirty six percent.

With sales of EV's not where they were expected to be just a few years ago, everybody is scrambling to make adjustments, especially battery suppliers. So what does the future

look like for EV batteries, What about LFP solid state and maybe even SOL for batteries. We have so many questions,

which is why we're going to have Bob Lee, the president for LG Energy Solutions in North America, coming on Autoline after Hours today. He'll help us get to the

bottom of what's really going on. John and Gary will

also give their insights on the latest industry news, and we invite you to join them when the show goes live at three pm Eastern Time. For this show and

I hope to see you later today.

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AD #4001 - 'Chicken Tax' Strikes Kia's U.S. EV Plans; Nissan to Drop Top Executives; GM Boosts Shareholder Dividend

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