AD #4025 - Mercedes May Drop Entry-Level Cars in U.S.; U.S. First Quarter Car Sales Increase; Changan and Dongfeng Hold Merger Talks

Speaker 1: This is Outoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Many of President Trump's import tariffs

are set to kick in tomorrow, and since nobody really knows how this is going to go, automakers are considering all of their options, and according to Bloomberg, Mercedes could start cutting imports of its least expensive models, like the GLA Crossover. The automaker denied the report, but if the

tariffs do go into full effect, it could potentially wipe out any profits Mercedes would make on the vehicle, and it wouldn't just be Mercedes. Most entry level or affordable

vehicles are made outside of the US, and most automakers are probably crunching the numbers to see if it would still make sense to import those models with the tariffs in effect. And that's only part of what makes tomorrow

such a big day, because so many groups will be impacted, maybe even some you never thought of. Automotive News reports

that classic car importers and parts dealers have no idea if the tariffs will apply to them, because not even officials from US Customs and Border Protection have been updated by the administration yet. If they are hit It would

be especially impactful the vintage trucks from foreign automakers since they're already slapped with the twenty five percent chicken tax, so any new tariffs would stack on top of that.

And in some cases, these importers are not big businesses, they're small groups or individuals, so they could be hit harder by any price increases. But it looks like Trump's

negotiation tactics have paid off with one country. Reuter's reports

that India is going to lower its import tariff on evs, which is as high as one hundred percent in some cases, although it's not known how much it will be lowered or when. But part of what makes this so interesting

is that automakers in India like Tata and Mahindra are against lowering the terrace right now. They were hoping to

see the tariff stick around for another four years then see a phased rollback after that. However, it looks like

the ev imports will be part of a wider trade deal between the US and India. Did American car buyers

rush out to get a new car before those terras raise prices well, to some extent, but maybe not as much as we thought automakers sold over three point six million vehicles in the first quarter, up four point seven percent.

General Motors saw its sales sore nearly seventeen percent, Hyundai, Kia and Mazda were up ten percent, Subaru was up nine percent, and Volvo up eight percent. But it was

a disaster for Stilantis, which saw its sales plummet nearly twelve percent. Ford saw its sales fall one point three percent,

which it blamed on lower fleet sales. It also phased

out the Ford Edge, which cost it thirty five thousand units compared to last year. As of when we recorded this, Mercedes,

Benz and Portia had not reported their sales, but they won't change the numbers much. Analysts expect sales to stay

strong for at least a couple more months before the impact of the tariffs take hold, and we expect Toyota, Honda, and subru to feel the impact first since they operate with the lowest levels of inventory.

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Speaker 1: Well, that didn't take long. Yesterday we reported that the

Chinese government wants to restructure state owned car companies because there are too many of them making too many vehicles.

And now The New York Times reports that two of those state owned car makers, Changan and dong Funk, are in talks to merge. The report says the two companies

have also alert to their foreign partners about a potential tie up. Dong Fung has a market cap of four

point nine billion dollars, while Changan is valued at fifteen point six billion. A merger between the two automakers isn't

too surprising, because back in February, there was speculation the two could merge after they both announced plans to restructure.

At the same time, the EU is fining most members of the ACEA or the European Automobile Manufacturers Association nearly five hundred million bucks for taking part in a vehicle recycling cartel. The EU says the scheme took place between

two thousand and two and twenty seventeen, and it accused the companies of agreeing not to advertise what percentage of a vehicle can be recycled and not disclosed how much recycled material is in a vehicle. The EU also says

the automakers agreed not to pay dismantlers to recycle end of life vehicle. EU law requires automakers to pay for

recycling cars if needed, to allow customers to get rid of a car that's no longer usable. The ACEA represents

sixteen automakers in Europe and only Mercedes avoided a fine because it blew the whistle on the cartel. Volkswagen, Stilantis, Renaul,

Nissan and Ford received the largest fines, and speaking of the ACEA, it says Europe needs to do more to boost demand for electric vehicles. While the group is happy,

the EU recently gave automakers a three year window to meet twenty twenty five emission targets and says it's quote a step in the right direction. The ACEA wants Europe

to do more to promote evs. The share of pure

electric vehicles in Europe is fifteen percent, so the ACEA is asking for more EV incentives and more investment in the charging infrastructure. It's also calling on the EU to

do more to help with zero emission commercial trucks, which currently only account for two percent of registrations in Europe, because that puts the segment in danger of missing emission targets. Hey,

you may remember we told you that Honda was considering setting up a memorabilia business and selling things like parts from Mayaritan Senna's nineteen ninety f one championship vit An engine. Well,

it officially launched that business and we'll soon start offering the parts and much more through private sales or auctions.

And hey, before we go, we need to ask for your help. We're now offering memberships to Autoline that you

can sign up for on YouTube or Patreon. As you

probably know, the automotive media is going through enormous upheaval.

Lots of media sites are going out of business. We

need to make sure that doesn't happen to us, and we need your support. To keep going. You can look

for the membership join button on our YouTube homepage, or better still, you can do it with Patreon, which is actually more beneficial for us. We have three levels of

membership and offer different perks for each level. Just a

few dollars a month can go a long way for us, and I'm hoping we can count on your support. But

don't worry. Absolutely nothing will change with your current viewership

of Autoline Daily. Will still be here every day and

after hours every week. We're just offering a lot more

on top of that, and that brings us to the end of today's show. Thanks for making Autoline a part

of your day.

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AD #4025 - Mercedes May Drop Entry-Level Cars in U.S.; U.S. First Quarter Car Sales Increase; Changan and Dongfeng Hold Merger Talks

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