Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration are shaking up the global auto industry, with European automakers urging quick negotiations to ease costs. Mercedes and Stellantis are absorbing tariff impacts, but questions remain about long-term sustainability. Stellantis is also evaluating the future of Maserati and Alfa Romeo, considering partnerships or spinoffs amid financial losses. Meanwhile, India is restricting Chinese automaker BYD's investments, signaling caution against dumping. Other highlights include Continental spinning off its components business, and Chinese automakers adjusting pricing and expanding affordable electric vehicle options.
Topics:tariffs impactstellantis brand strategymercedes salesporsche salesindia automotive restrictionsbyd investment bancontinental spinoffelectric vehicles chinaremanufactured auto partsauto industry negotiations
- ACEA Wants Quick Negotiations with Trump - Porsche, Mercedes Sales Down in Q1 - Republicans Blocked from Revoking California Waiver - India Says "No" to BYD - Stellantis Studies What To Do with Maserati and Alfa - Lancia Improves Ypsilon EV - Stellantis Remanufactures LED Headlamps and Screens - Continental Officially Spins Off ContiTech - XPeng Raises Price of Van - Wuling Has Cheapest EREV in China
"Speaker 2: Figured out how to do that yet. Speaker 1: Porsche and Mercedes finally reported their Q one sales and it looks like it could be a rough twenty twenty five, Mercedes saw it sales fall seven percent while Porsche was down eight But here's the weird thing. Their sales were up in the US. The drop off was all in"
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Speaker 1: This is outderligned Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. And here's a quick recap of
the tariff impact before we get to the rest.
Speaker 2: Of the news.
Speaker 1: The ACEA, which represents almost all the automakers in Europe, is urging the EU to start negotiating with the Trump administration to ease the tariff impact. It says that Trump's
tariffs on vehicles and components could cost the European autowindustry eighty billion euros. Meanwhile, Mercedes says it's going to eat
the cost of the teriffs for now, which will keep the brand competitive and help its dealers maintain sales volume.
Automotive News reports that Stilantis is telling its suppliers it will cover the cost of the tariffs as long as suppliers show how they will reduce exposure to them. And
by the way, the tariffs on components don't go into effect until May third, and they're not being applied to components made under the USMCA Free Trade Agreement because the Trump administration hasn't.
Speaker 2: Figured out how to do that yet.
Speaker 1: Porsche and Mercedes finally reported their Q one sales and it looks like it could be a rough twenty twenty five, Mercedes saw it sales fall seven percent while Porsche was down eight But here's the weird thing. Their sales were
up in the US. The drop off was all in
China and Europe. Porsche really took a hit in China
with sales falling forty two percent, while sales in the US were up forty percent and set an all time record.
So now with Trump's tariff's about to take a bite, it's hard to see how they'll maintain sales momentum in the US. Even though Mercedes says it will absorb the
costs of the tariffs, the question is how long.
Speaker 2: Can it afford to do that.
Speaker 1: House Republicans were just dealt a blow in their attempt to revoke California's emission standards. California has for decades been
granted a waiver by the EPA to set its own emission regulations, but Republicans and the House of Representatives introduced resolutions to use a contested method to revoke the waiver and allow them to repeal it with just a simple majority.
But the Senate Parliamentarian just ruled that the regulations California enacted using the waiver cannot be dismissed under the Congressional Review Act, which aligns with the prior federal decision on the matter. While the parliamentarian's decisions aren't binding, it is
rare for lawmakers to go against them. BYD is growing
by leaps and bounds globally, but its growth in India is going to be limited because the government is restricting the automaker's investment in the country. Last year, India rejected
a billion dollar investment from BYD with a local partner, and during an interview with Bloomberg yesterday, India's commerceman Mister said that it has to be cautious about who it allows to invest in the country and quote as of now it is a no to BYD. He also said
that India needs to be cautious about dumping from China.
Another Chinese automaker, great Wall Motor, gave up on the Indian market after being denied regulatory clearances as well.
Speaker 3: 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.
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providing the people in the industry with important data and information and access to the people who are driving the industry forward with the guests that we bring on our shows and the interviews that we conduct. But we need
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Speaker 1: It looks like Stilantis could be starting the process to figure out what it's going to do with Maserati and Alfa Romeo. The automaker has hired consultancy mackenzie and Company
to help it assess options for the brands. No doubt,
the new US Terris played a role in the move.
Both brands import all of the vehicles that they sell in the US, and about thirty five to forty percent of Maserati's sales come from the US, so any disruption could have a big impact on Maserati's profits, and it already posted an operating loss of two hundred and eighty five million dollars last year. Potential options for Alpha and
Maserati allegedly include possible partnerships with other companies, or even a full blown spinoff in the future. Some Asian companies
have reportedly already expressed interest in the brands, but according to sources, Stalantis chairman John Elcan has no plans to sell to a Chinese rival. We think another Stalantis brand
that could find itself under consultancy review is Launchia. It
only has a single model remaining in its lineup, the Epsilon, but it is making some upgrades to the all electric version thanks to an enhancement to the battery chemistry and improvements to the powertrain efficiency. The range of the Epsilon
EVY improved by six percent, or twenty two kilometers, which is just over thirteen point five miles, so it can now travel four hundred and twenty five kilometers or about two hundred and sixty five miles on a charge. And
in one last bit of Stalantis news, at the end of twenty twenty three, it expanded a partnership with supplier company Valeo to start offering remanufactured electronic components which are restored to the same specs and performance and come with the same warranty as the new.
Speaker 2: Parts, but at a lower cost.
Speaker 1: They kicked off rebuilding front cameras, but starting in June that also includes LED headlamps and interior display screens. Up
to fifty percent of the raw materials in the re manufactured headlamps are from old LED units, which helps cut CO two emissions by up to seventy percent compared to making a new one. The headlamps will first be offered
for a couple of Pougeot models, while the rebuilt displays will go into Bougeot's Citrons, DS's and opals. Thirty years ago, Continental,
the giant German tire company, decided to spread out into other automotive components and technologies.
Speaker 2: Back then, the thinking was that.
Speaker 1: Buyers were a low margin, low growth business, and if the company wanted to expand, it had to get into new lines of business.
Speaker 2: Fast forward to today and Continental has completely switched that thinking.
Speaker 1: Its tire business is now the most profitable part of the company, and it's spinning off its component's business.
Speaker 2: Or what it calls conti tech.
Speaker 1: It's a mishmash of products for different business sectors, including agriculture, construction, food processing, mining, and of course, automotive. Some of its
automotive tech includes autonomy, connectivity, and safety systems. You'd think
that technology would be snapped up by competitors or private equity, but one of the reasons that Continental is spinning off conty Tech is that it couldn't find anyone who wanted to buy it. But after the spinoff, it wouldn't surprise
us to see Conti Tech start to sell off pieces of its business. Is this a sign that the price
warrant in China is starting to end? Jipung is raising
the price of its X nine mini van for the twenty twenty five model year. The van went on sale
last year with a starting price of just over forty nine thousand dollars, but the model now starts at fifty four thousand, five hundred bucks, or a fifty five hundred dollars increase. It does offer upgrades like more features and technology,
but the powertrain is similar to the outgoing model. The
X nine also hasn't sold that well, with twenty three thousand, three hundred deliveries from January of twenty twenty four to February of this year. According to Car News China, Wu
Ling now has the cheapest E rev Or extended range electric vehicle in China. The Hongwong E rev Van just
one on sale with a starting price of roughly nine four hundred dollars. It features a ninety four horse power
one and a half liter engine that acts as a generator for an eight and a half kilowad hour battery pack, which sends power to a rear mounted one hundred horsepower electric motor. That set up returns an electric only range
of about fifty kilometers or thirty one miles and a combined range of one thousand kilometers or six hundred and twenty one miles. But what's more impressive to us is
that the all electric commercial version of this van only costs about one hundred and thirty seven dollars more.
Speaker 2: And that brings us to the end of today's show.
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