U.S. EV sales surged 43% in Q1, outpacing overall market growth, with GM leading in volume and BMW having the highest EV sales percentage. GM's China sales stabilized thanks to new energy vehicles, while McLaren merges with UK startup for Seven to expand its lineup, including electric models. Volkswagen plans a new Amarok pickup by 2027 and a sporty Skoda Enyaq RS. Mercedes invests heavily in eco-friendly paint shop upgrades. Tesla Semi faces delays and price hikes, causing Ryder to reduce its fleet order and request project extensions. Trade tensions impact automakers' production strategies in North America.
Topics:ev sales growthgm china operationsmclaren and for seven mergervolkswagen amarok pickupskoda enyaq rsmercedes paint shop investmenttesla semi delaystrade tariffs impactus ev marketelectric vehicle production
- Trump Tariff Recap - GM Stops the Bleeding in China - McLaren Could Use Nio Tech - U.S. EV Sales Up 43% - Autoline Poll Available for Members - VW Invests Big in Amarok Pickup - Skoda Shows Sport Elroq EV - Mercedes Invests Big in New Type of Paint Shop - Ryder Not Happy with Tesla Semi
"...the spring of twenty twenty eight. One of Tesla's semi customers is complaining about delays and higher ..."
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Speaker 1: This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. And here's a quick update on
the effects of Donald Trump's terraff on the auto industry.
Valvo's old new CEO, Hacan Samuelson, says it will produce more cars at its plant in South Carolina to avoid the tariffs. Nissan says it's dropping plans to cut a
shift at its plant in Tennessee and will maintain a two shift strategy with the rogue. Nissan was planning to
cut the shift as part of a broader effort to slash five three hundred jobs worldwide this year, so it might have to look to other regions to reduce headcount.
The automaker also announced that it will no longer take new US orders for the Infinity QX fifty or QX fifty five, which are built in Mexico. Canada retaliated with
its own twenty five percent tariff on US car imports that don't comply with the USMCA Free Trade Agree and on non Canadian content of vehicles that are assembled in the US, but the tariffs won't apply to shipments of car parts. And lastly, the Conservative leader running for Prime
minister in Canada is proposing to remove the federal sales tax on Canadian made cars to help boost the country's auto industry. Like all foreign automakers operating in China, General
Motors has seen it sales and profits implode, but maybe GM bottomed out in the first quarter. It's sold four
hundred and forty two thousand vehicles in China, the same as last year, and what stopped the downward slide was the addition of more new energy vehicles. GM says it's
ANYV sales were up fifty three percent, and it's going to have a new NV option for every new model it launches from here on out. Moreover, it's going to
start offering extended range evs or e revs before the year is out. We doubt GM will ever go back
to selling four four million cars a year in China, but it should be able to get its Chinese operations back onto a profitable footing. McLaren Automotive is merging with
UK based vehicle startup for Seven. McLaren was recently acquired
by Abu Dhabi investment group CYVN Holdings, which has now decided to merge it with for seven, which will also pump a lot more money into McLaren. The move also
allows the vehicles already in development at four seven to come to market badged as McLaren's. The company says the
models will have British luxury design cues with some McLaren influence thrown in. This will likely include non mid engine
sports cars and both electric and IC power trains. CYVN
is also the largest shareholder in Neo and their speculation that McLaren's future electric supercars could use tech from the Chinese EV maker.
Speaker 2: Performance that shines even in the rain, that's what really matters.
Rich don't pretends to tires, improved grip and wet conditions.
Speaker 1: Despite all the negative news surrounding evs in the US, the EV segment continues to grow far faster than the rest of the market. We compiled the Q one EV
sales for all the automakers, well almost all of them.
Mercedes and Portie still haven't reported, and Tesla does not break out its US sales, but here's what it looks like for the rest of the industry. Automakers sold nearly
one hundred and fifty thousand evs, up forty three percent compared to last year, and keep in mind that the total market was up four point seven percent, so evs are growing nearly ten times faster. General Motors topped our
list of EV sales, well ahead of Ford and Hdikia.
And another way to measure how well an automaker is doing is to look at eves as a percentage of total sales, and when you do that, BMW including Mini is the best fourteen percent of its sales for eves.
Audi was next with thirteen point eight percent, followed by Volkswagen at nearly eleven percent. And by the way, we're
going to post all the numbers for our Officionado members right now and we'll make it available for our other members at a later time. So if you'd like to
check out the whole list, consider becoming a member yourself.
Your support, which costs a few dollars a month, can help us continue this kind of reporting. Plus, we've got
extra content available for members, like a new member's only autoline poll that we're going to post today, though we will post the results on Monday show. And we really
want to thank everyone that's already signed up. We appreciate
your support. Okay, back to the news now, Volkswagen says
it will come out with the next generation version of the Amorrock pickup truck in twenty twenty seven. It's investing
five hundred and eighty million dollars into the Pacheco plant in Argentina, which is one of the locations where the Amorrock is already made. That plant basically operates as a
joint venture with Ford, and the current Ranger and Amarock are pretty much the same under the skin, So with a new Amrock being designed, developed and produced in South America, it's possible we'll see a new Ranger around the same time.
In other VW Group news, Scota is coming out with a more sporty version of the l Rock EV, which is very similar to the VWID four, and while the ID four also has a sporty model called the GTX, the new l Rock RS benefits from improved motors that VW is developed since the ID four GTX launched. The
dual motors set up in the X Lrock RS makes a combined two hundred and fifty kilowats or three hundred and forty horse power, compared to the two hundred and twenty kilowatts for the ID four GTX. All that power
contributes to the l Rock RS being the fastest model in Scotus current lineup, doing zero to one hundred kilometers an hour, which is similar to zero to sixty in five point four seconds. There's also a lowered and specially
tuned suspension system, as well as unique touches inside and out, but we don't know exactly when it will launch yet.
And Volkswagen isn't the only German automaker that's making a big investment into one of its plants. Mercedes says it's
making a quote high triple digit million euro investment into the paint shop at its plant in Germany, where it makes the S class E class in GLC. The company
will no longer rely on any fossil fuels in the painting process, instead turning to green electric and software to help reduce energy consumption by fifty percent compared to the old paint shop. Mercedes expects to be spraying fresh colors
on new cars by the spring of twenty twenty eight.
One of Tesla's semi customers is complaining about delays and higher prices. Transportation company Rider was awarded funding by a
committee in California to deploy a fleet of Tesla Semis and Mega chargers at facilities that it operates in the state.
Ryder has already asked the committee for an extension, and now it's requesting the project be pushed back by another twenty eight months because of design and production delays with the Semi. Tesla has been building a new factory in
Nevada that it previously said was supposed to start volume production of the Semi and kick off customer deliveries this year.
But on top of the delays, Ryder in the committee also agreed to lower the planned fleet from forty two down to eighteen Semis. Riders said that would allow it
to maintain the original seven and a half million dollars it would pump into the project, which suggests the price of the Semi will be much higher than first thought.
But that brings us to the end of today's show.
Thanks for making autoline a part of your day, and I hope that you have a great weekend.
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