Tesla's new Model Y has garnered 200,000 pre-orders in China, signaling strong demand despite global sales declines possibly linked to Elon Musk's politics or customers awaiting the refresh. The episode also covers the legal battle over California's emission standards, BMW's non-compliance with USMCA rules affecting Mexican-made cars, and Volkswagen's direct sales conflict with dealers. Toyota and Honda are making strides with affordable and powerful EVs in China, while Electrify America expands its charging network significantly. The discussion wraps with a poll on Tesla's sales drop and insights into the evolving EV market landscape.
Topics:tesla model y preorderschina ev marketusmca compliancecalifornia emission standardsbmw mexico productionvolkswagen scout sales disputetoyota evs in chinahonda ev suvelectrify america charging networktesla sales decline reasons
- New Tesla Y Gets 200,000 Orders in China - Repeal of California’s EV Rules Blocked - Mexican BMWs Not USMCA Compliant - NADA Tells VW To Drop Scout’s Direct Sales - Toyota Intros $15,000 EV In China - Honda Reveals New EV Developed with Dongfeng - Electrify America Sees Big Growth In 2024 - Xiaomi SU7 Ultra Owners Immediately Flip Vehicle - Autoline Poll on Tesla Sales
"... compared to what some US dealers overcharged for Hellcats and Demons, the Shaomi prices don't seem too ridi..."
Select text to request an explanation
Speaker 1: This is Outline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. We've been reporting all week about
how Tesla sales are falling in Germany, France, Australia, China and a number of other markets. Some people say it's
all because of Elon muss politics and his role in the Trump administration, while others say it's because consumers have been waiting for the refresh version of the model Why, and if you've gotten an opinion about that, wait to the poll at the end of the show. But it
does look like that certainly the case in China of people waiting for the refresh version the Why. A media
report from thirty six KR, which is described as the tech Crunch of China, reports that Tesla has two hundred thousand pre orders for the new Why, which went on sale last week. That would be a nice boost for
the company if it can turn a good amount of those orders into sales. Thirty six KR also says that
Tesla will launch the cyber truck in China this year.
Even though pickups don't sell well as passenger vehicles in the country, Tesla believes it will attract younger buyers to the brand. The Trump administration's effort to revoke California's ability
to set its own emission standards just took a setback.
Last month, the EPA submitted three waivers issued to California for review by Congress and said that it considered those waivers eligible for repeal by Congress, and with Republicans controlling Congress, it looked like California's waiver would be revoked, But yesterday, the Government Accountability Office ruled that California's exemption to set its own standards should be considered an order and is not subject to review or repeal by Congress. Eleven other
states have adopted California standards, but this looks like this could be turning into a big legal battle. As we
reported yesterday, President Trump paused twenty five percent tariffs on vehicles from Mexico and Canada for a month, as long as they comply with the USMCA. Volkswagen, which relies heavily
on Mexican made cars sold in the US, said all of its cars are compliant, but BMW told Reuters that its cars are not compliant. Bmwxports the two series, coup,
the M two, and the three series from Mexico to the US. To be compliant, seventy percent of the steel
and aluminum in a car have to be made in North America, So does seventy five percent of the content, and at least forty percent of the vehicle's labor content has to be done with jobs that average sixteen dollars an hour. Also, the core components like the engine and
transmission have to be made in the US, Canada or Mexico.
But right now, if an automaker's car is not compliant, they only have to pay a two and a half percent import tariff, and BMW obviously decided it was just easier to eat that cost. We think Trump's end goal
is to raise the amount of North American content required, raised the average wage, and raised the tariff on vehicles that are not compliant. The war of words between the
Volkswagen Group and the National Auto Dealers Association over Scout's direct sales strategy just went up another notch. Last July,
the NADA sent VW CEO Oliver Bluoma a letter voicing their displeasure, but he ignored it. So the NADA has
now sent a letter directly to Blooma and other key executives telling them that bypassing VW dealers to sell direct was misguided, that it violated US dealer franchise laws and promised legal fights in all fifty states. VW says Scout
is an independent startup that has never used a dealer network and so it doesn't have to. But the NADA
says Scout is part of VW, so it has to use dealers. There is one thing that we can say
for certain in all of this, the lawyers are going to make a lot of money before this gets settled.
Speaker 2: There's nothing wrong with heavy metal. Hey light enough, but
with world class composite material Taging Automotive Technologies makes vehicles lighter, safer, and more eco friendly.
Speaker 1: It looks like Toyota is starting to have some success with its evs in China, but only with the models that it didn't develop itself. The Loan EV the brand
did develop the BZ four X, performed so poorly that the company stopped all deliveries in China. But the BZ
three sedan, which was developed with BYD and features BYD Motors and Batteries, saw sales go up forty five percent in January to over thirty five hundred units, and the newly released BZ three X, which is largely based on an electric suv made by its joint venture partner GAC, got so many orders within the first hour of it launching that it crashed the company's servers. The model rides
on a four hundred volt architecture that's front wheel drive, with either a one hundred and fifty or one hundred and sixty kilowat electric motor, and features new to the platform LFP batteries, the biggest being nearly sixty eight kilowat hours and providing ranges between five hundred and twenty and six hundred and ten kilometers or about three hundred and twenty three to three hundred and eighty miles. Base price
starts just over fifteen thousand dollars, but there will be higher spec versions that have LIEDAR and eight as tech from autonomous startup Momenta, And speaking of new Chinese evs from a Japanese automaker, Honda is launching a new SUV called the S seven that it developed with its joint venture partner Dong Pong. The model is slightly shorter than
a Tesla Model Y and is based on a four hundred volt architecture. It comes standard with a nearly two
hundred and seventy horse power electric motor that drives the rear wheels, as well as a nearly ninety kilowat hour battery pack that provides six hundred and fifty kilometers or just over four hundred miles of range on the Chinese test cycle. There's also a dual motor all wheel drive
version that keeps the same battery, but it makes almost four hundred and seventy horse power and will do zero to one hundred kilometers an hour in four point six seconds.
The S seven is capable of level two hands free driving and will start right around thirty six thousand dollars in China. EV charging network Electrify America saw big growth
last year. At the end of twenty twenty four, it
had more than forty eight hundred DC fast chargers at more than one thousand stations located in forty seven states and seven provinces. Due to its expanding network, consumer demand
increase fifty percent to more than sixteen million charging sessions, and its stations delivered six hundred gigawatt hours of energy last year, which was up sixty five percent. Electric FI
America expects the growth to continue this year and is planning to expand its network by thirty percent. Shaomi's first
performance ev the SU seven Ultra, only recently launched in China, but it's already showing up on second hand sites, with some people possibly looking in to cash in on the car's popularity. Not surprisingly, Car News China reports that models
are being listed for over the original asking price of about seventy three thousand dollars. It seems like some could
be overcharging between about two thousand till a little over sixteen thousand dollars more for the vehicle, but it's hard to tell if these are all base models. And compared
to what some US dealers overcharged for Hellcats and Demons, the Shaomi prices don't seem too ridiculous. And before we go,
we've got another poll where we'd like to get your insight.
Why do you think that Tesla has seen a big drop in sales around the world. One car buyers are
running away because of Elon Musk politics. Two customers have
been waiting for the new model. Y three Teslas sales
are always low until the end of each quarter, and four two and three you can vote in the poll by going to the post tab on the Autoline Network homepage on YouTube, and we'll post it in the comments section for today's show on the Autoline website. But that
brings us to the end of today's show and this week.
Thanks for making autoline a part of your day and I hope that you have a great weekend.
Speaker 3: Auto Line Daily is brought to you by Intrepid Control Systems over the air Engineering boost your game and by Tajent Automotive Technologies the formula for better mobility.
Speaker 4: Developing today's vehicles. Issues can happen and in instant when's
the best time to solve a problem? The minute you
know you have one. Meet Wireless neof Cloud. You're secure
off the shelf solution empowering real time collaboration for quick resolution.
With Wireless neov 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 throughout the process. Wireless neov Cloud your vehicle update
solution and production and on the road Intrepid Control Systems driven by Your Data.
Speaker 3: WARDS is the industry leader for news data and analysis.
That's why companies across the globe subscribe to our premium service.
May be even your own log in for subscriber access.
Now check your company's intranet for details, and rely on Ward's auto dot com to keep you informed.
Request an explanation for:
3 cars
3 cars featured
Request an Explanation
Heard something you'd like explained? We'll add it to this episode.
Sign in to request explanations for terms you heard.
Want to learn more?
Browse our glossary for plain-English explanations of automotive terms, jargon, and concepts.
See something that's not quite right? Our annotations are AI-generated and can sometimes miss the mark.
Click the flag icon on any annotation to suggest a correction.