AD #4008 - ICE Outsells NEV In China; China Warns Tesla Over Musk’s Politics; Cadillac Officially Joins Formula 1

Speaker 1: This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Tesla could soon feel the wrath

of the Chinese government, and it all has to do with Elon Musk politics. The China Passenger Car Association warned

that muss association with the Trump White House could hurt Tesla's sales, which fell forty nine percent in China last month, though the association says that's because Tesla's retooling its Shanghai plant for the refresh model Y. Tesla is counting on

the Chinese government to also approve full self driving. Currently

FSD is available, but it's not as capable as the version sold in the US, and Tesla needs access to Chinese road data to train the system. But if the

Chinese government decides to punish Tesla in retaliation to Trump's tariffs, it could really hurt the automaker. New car sales in

China saw slow gain of one point three percent for the first two months of the year, largely thanks to a cash for Clunkers program where owners get a subsidy for trading in their old car for a new energy vehicle.

Analysts like to measure sales for January and February combined because the Chinese New Year can fall in either month and car sales plummet while the country is on vacation, So by combining sales for both months, you get a clear picture of what's going on in the marketplace. And

thanks to the Cash for Clunkers subsidy program, ANYV sales were up nearly eighty percent, and yet ICEE powered vehicles outsold them for the third month in a row, accounting for fifty one point two percent of the market, and that makes us wonder if the NYV segment has started to hit a plateau. There are eighteen thousand, three hundred

and eleven new car dealerships in the US right now, which is up one hundred and seventy one from a year ago. Brands like ship, lay, GMC, Mazda, and Portia

added stores. Together they own twenty nine thousand, eight hundred

and twenty nine franchises, which was actually down slightly, but Automotive News reports that the average dealership sold five hundred and eleven vehicles for the year twenty eight, more than last year. Topping the list was Toyota, with its average

dealership selling over sixteen hundred vehicles. Lexis, BMW, Honda and

subru have the next highest sales per dealership. They all

sell over one thousand vehicles a year. To get higher

sales per dealers, some brands are reducing the number of dealers they have, like Buick, Ford, Lincoln, and Jaguar. However,

that's expensive to do. GM spent a billion dollars last

year buying out some of its Buick dealers. Ford is

struggling in Europe, announcing thousands of job cuts to help reduce costs, But now the automaker is making a big commitment to turn around on its German operations, with plans to inject four point seven billion dollars into the business.

John Lawler, the vice chair of Ford, said in a statement that the company needs to quote continue to simplify our governance, reduce cost and drive efficiencies. Lawler also called

on EU leaders to create a clear agenda to promote evs and bring emissions more in line with customer demand.

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Speaker 1: Tesla is being investigated by Canada's Transport Authority over a suspicious amount of requests for EV rebates. The government program

offered Canadian buyers a five thousand dollars incentive for purchasing an EV, which was supposed to run out in the middle of this month, but officials announced that the money was going away at the end of January because more people were taking advantage of the program than they thought would.

Now Tesla is coming under fire because four of its company owned stores in Canada requested rebates for over eight thousand, six hundred and fifty vehicles in the final three days that the incentive was offered. That means those stores would

have sold about one Tesla every minute, twenty four hours a day for three days straight. Now it is possible

that the company was just submitting their requests all at once, even for vehicles that had already been sold. But those

requests amounted to over forty three million dollars, or more than half of the total remaining funds for the ev incentive program, and that means request filed by other dealers might not get reimbursed. The Canadian Automobile Dealers Association says

nearly three thousand requests from its dealers haven't been paid back yet, which could leave them on the hook for about ten million dollars, so obviously they're not happy and hope officials will step into help. Volkswagen and is already

dealing with slumping passenger car sales and now it's truck unit.

Tratton warns that its sales could be weak this year.

It's forecasting sales to be down as much as five percent or up as much as five percent compared to a year ago, and Tratton's cautious outlook Senate shares down.

Daimler and Volvo truck shares also fell on the news, but in one bright spot for the truck maker, Tratton says it doesn't expect a significant impact from President Trump's terrace in the short term, even though sixty five percent of the trucks it sells in the US are made in Mexico. Ever since Porsche came out with an update

for the Tychon, which included performance and range improvements, prices for used models have been falling fast, and in some cases they're half of the original MSRP. Secondhand examples can

be found online for less than forty thousand dollars. While

that's for rear drive versions, dual motor examples with a bigger battery pack are selling for under sixty grand, so it could be a good deal for someone looking for a more affordable luxury sports car. Cadillac is officially joining

Formula one, the automaker's secured approval from commercial rights holders and the FIA, which governs the sport. Cadillac will become

F one's eleventh teen and starts racing next year. The

two sides reached a preliminary deal late last year, but now Cadillac has completed all the necessary sporting, technical and commercial assessments. F one is using a new engine starting

in twenty twenty six, but Cadillac will use Ferrari engines until it's able to build its own. There's a shortage

of people that work on cars, so Ford is trying to do something about it. The company and its dealers

are offering scholarships to students who are trying to get a degree or certificate in automotive mechanics. The total investment

comes to four million dollars for eight hundred students, which is double what they did for the same program last year.

Students can use the money for things like tuition, tools, living expenses, and transportation, and there's no obligation for them to attend a Ford training center or work at one of its dealerships. The company helps The program helps show

students that you can make good money in the field and work on cool, interesting products. And let's finish up

the show with the results of last Friday's poll. We

asked you why you think Tesla sales have dropped around the world. Sixty six percent of you said it was

because of Elon Musk politics and his association with the Trump administration, but thirty three percent of you said it was because people were either waiting for the new model hy or that sales are always lower until the end of each quarter. Over two thousand, one hundred of you

voted in the poll, and you posted over two hundred comments that included the downward Machine who blamed must by posting quote when only half the country wants your kind of car, but you join the other half to destroy them.

But that was countered by John two oh nine, who said, quote, we got two new Teslas in the last three months just to support Elon. The cars are awesome too. We'll

have a better idea of what's going on at Tesla when we get the Q one sales numbers, but we may have to wait until the end of Q two to know what's really going on. And with that we

wrap up today's show. Thanks for making autoline a part

of your day.

Speaker 3: Autoline 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. There's nothing wrong

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AD #4008 - ICE Outsells NEV In China; China Warns Tesla Over Musk’s Politics; Cadillac Officially Joins Formula 1

Tesla Model Y

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