US automakers are rapidly depleting inventory as buyers rush to beat tariff increases, leading to fewer incentives and higher effective prices. New developments include Infiniti's upcoming hybrid SUV and Conifer's innovative axial flux EV motors that avoid rare earth materials. Chinese autonomous tech firm Momenta partners with Uber for European robotaxi launches, while the IONA EV charging network expands slowly in the US. Hyundai's Ioniq 5 regains federal tax credit eligibility with US-made batteries. Listener poll reveals mixed opinions on Slate's affordable electric pickup truck, highlighting concerns about range, pricing, and production challenges.
Topics:us inventory depletiontariffs and pricinginfiniti hybrid suvaxial flux ev motorsmomenta robotaxi partnershipiona ev charging networkhyundai ioniq 5 tax creditslate electric pickupauto lending standardsev battery sourcing
- OEMs Burning Through U.S. Inventory - JLR Resumes U.S. Shipments - Infiniti Could Get Version of Nissan Rogue - Car Buyers Face Tougher Loan Standards - China Tariffs Put Focus on Axial Flux EV Motors - China’s Momenta Lands More Robotaxi Business - Ionna Charging Network Makes Slow Progress - Hyundai Ioniq 5 Gets $7,500 Rebate Again - Autoline Poll Results on Slate
".... Twenty seven k is similar to the price of a new leaf. Brian Falchuk worries about the range of one hun..."
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Speaker 1: This is Outoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone. As
we reported on Friday, US car buyers rushed to showrooms in April to beat any tariff increases, and as a result of that, automakers are burning through their inventory far faster than anyone expected. In January, automakers had an average
of ninety one days of inventory. Now they have sixty
one days. According to Cox Automotive, that's a thirty eight
percent drop. Jonathan Smoke, the chief economist at Cox Automotive,
tells the Wall Street Journal quote, I'm a little shocked.
I really thought it would be the end of May before we would go through this roller coaster ride end quote.
With supply tightening up fast, car companies and their dealers are getting rid of incentives as fast as they can.
President Trump warned automakers that he would slaughter them if they raise prices because of the terraff. But if they
get rid of incentives, they can claim they haven't raised prices, even though customers will pay thousands more per vehicle. Up
till now, the average incentive was worth about three four hundred dollars per vehicle. And here's some other quick tariff updates.
Jaguar land Rover resumed shipping vehicles from the UK to the US, and Bentley says it's gonna split the cost of terraffs with customers, so the company eats half the tariff while customers eat the other half. Infinity could get
its own version of the Nissan Rogue. According to Automotive News,
it will almost certainly be a hybrid and could even have a plug in version two. The model wouldn't hit
the market until late twenty twenty seven because it gets a complete makeover. It's not just a rebadged version of
the Rogue. Internally, they're calling it the I thir three
C and it will probably cost tenth thousand dollars more than a Rogue. And here's the tariff connection to this development.
The Rogue is made in the US, and Nissan recently announced it will shift even more Rogue production to its plant in Tennessee. And as we said a moment ago,
car buyers are rushing out to get a new vehicle now before the effects of the tariffs kick in. But
according to the Wall Street Journal, auto lenders are rejecting more borrowers because of stricter standards. When vehicle prices soared
during the pandemic, because of fewer vehicles being available, borrowers took longer and larger loans to afford the purchase, but that led to many borrowers falling behind on payments, so banks and other lenders tightened rules. So now lenders are
favoring borrowers with better credit scores because it's less risky, and since tariffs are likely going to cause car prices to go up further, lenders are expected to be stricter with loans. One of the people that help develop ev
motors for Lucid is now the co founder and technical leader of an electric motor startup called Conifer, which has caught all rare earth materials from its design. Most electric
motors are radial flux, but Conifer is using what's called an axial flux or pancake motor. Instead of copper wire
encircling a shaft with magnets on it, an axioflux motor has a series of steel plates stacked on top of each other. Some of those plates are fixed, which replaces
the copper coil, while the other plates are embedded with magnets to spin. Since the magnets and coils are closer
together and there's a larger surface area for them to interact, the motors are more efficient and can provide more power in a smaller package. Conifer is building on this concept
by using more magnets, putting them further out on the spinning plates, and then spinning those plates a lot faster, which allows it to use weaker iron based magnets that don't have any rare earth materials. The company has shown
applications for fans, pumps, tools, equipment, and even in wheel motors for motorcycles and scooters, and it thinks a small ev using its in wheel motors could happen within four years.
If you'd like to learn more about axial flux motors, we've provided a link to an interview we did with Torev, another startup that's working on these motors that also won a Gammic award. Chinese autonomous technology company Momenta is teaming
up with Uber to launch robotaxi services outside China. Momenta
will integrate its smart driving tech into Uber's mobility network starting with Europe early next year. While it did say
vehicles would first launch with safety drivers on board. It
didn't say what vehicles they'll use, however. Uber also recently
announced a partnership with Volkswagen to use ID buzzes in the US, and VW recently announced a partnership with Momenta, so it makes sense to us that Uber would use ID buzzes in Europe as well. A technology insider with
knowledge of the Chinese market tells Autoline that they think Momenta is one of the top smart driving providers in China, and that could be reflected by the number of legacy automakers that have teamed up with the supplier, including Mercedes, GM, Toyota, and Honda. EV Charging Network IONA is slowly making progress
expanding in the US. The network, which launched about two
years ago, is a joint venture between General Motors, Hyundai, Stilantis, BMW, Honda, Mercedes, Benz, and Toyota. By the end of the decade, IONA is
aiming to have thirty thousand charging bays across the US, but right now it has twelve sites in operation with one hundred and twenty bays. There are fifteen more locations
under construction and over two hundred more contracted, which will give it a total of over two thousand bays, but that still puts it behind schedule, so IONA will really have to ramp up its efforts. But users should like
that it's avoiding installing chargers and parking lots at shopping centers and building stations that have canopies over the chargers, restrooms and indoor waiting areas with food. The Hyundai Iyanik
five once again qualifies for the seventy five hundred dollars federal tax credit in the US. The model lost eligibility
for the past four months despite being built at the company's plant in Georgia, because its batteries were made outside of the US, although the incentive was still available for those that leased the model. But the Ionic five is
back on the EPA list of vehicles that qualifies at purchase now that it's using battery packs made in the US by Skon and with the credit it starts at thirty six thousand, seventy five dollars. We've got the results
of our latest pull where we asked you what you think will happen with Slate, the company that's coming out with that twenty seven thousand dollars electric pickup truck. Twenty
five percent of you said it will be a smash success, twenty two percent said it will be a one hit wonder that will go belly up in a couple of years, eleven percent said it will be dead on arrival, and forty two percent of you said none of the above and left a bunch of comments. Kick Gerhardt hit on
a common topic. He said, I think it would have
more appeal if it were a hybrid or even ice.
I'd expect it to appeal to more younger people, many in apartments, than to people with home charging in their garage.
A number of you felt that if the seven five hundred dollars rebate goes away, the truck would not be competitive.
Matthew Clark said good idea, but still far too expensive.
Twenty seven k is similar to the price of a new leaf. Brian Falchuk worries about the range of one
hundred and fifty miles for the small battery and two hundred and fifty for the big one. He said, I
love the idea and it could be very successful. I
think the issue will be with the range. But Eric
Cardwell said production is hell. If they can get through production,
then it could be a great seller. You know, I
wish we could get to all the comments, but we don't have time to go through them all. The poll
was only open to viewers who have Autoline memberships with Patreon and YouTube, but some of you mes complained about being left out, So we're going to do a poll every week, but going forward, every now and then we'll post a poll that's open to everyone. And that's a
wrap for this show. Thanks for tuning in.
Speaker 2: Auto Line Daily is brought to you by Intrepid Control Systems.
Over the Air Engineering Boost your Game, Tajan Automotive Technologies the formula for better mobility and by there's nothing wrong but heavy metal. Hey light enough, but with world class
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