BMW remains optimistic about US tariff relief by July, leveraging its large South Carolina plant and export value. Mitsubishi eyes expanding US production, possibly at Foxconn's Ohio plant. Rivian’s Q1 sales dropped but software revenue surged, reducing losses. Lamborghini posted strong sales growth, though tariffs may impact future gains. China’s EV market sees new players like Junyao Airlines entering, while fast charging concerns arise due to battery degradation risks. Hyundai struggles in China but aims to rebound with a new EV. Geely plans to take its subsidiary, Zeekr, private amid market challenges. Shami capitalizes on Nürburgring fame with a carbon fiber hood accessory.
Topics:us tariffsbmw productionmitsubishi us expansionrivian earningslamborghini saleschina ev marketfast charging battery impacthyundai china strategygeely zeekr privatizationshami nurburgring accessory
- BMW Predicts Tariff Relief by July - Mitsubishi Angling for U.S. Production - Rivian Sales Fall, But Loses Less Money - Lamborghini Profits Up, Threatened by Tariffs - Chinese Airline Jumps into EV Cars - Don’t Fast Charge Under 10% Or Over 90% - Hyundai’s First China-Specific EV - Geely To Take Zeekr Private - Optional Xiaomi SU7 Hood “Only” $5,800
"...lve p have Revwelto and the hybrid version of the URUS for pushing up sales and earnings, but the compan..."
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Speaker 1: This is Goutline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Here are a couple of potential
significant developments on the tariff front. While most automakers and
analysts are cutting their US sales forecast for the year because of the tariffs, BMW is not one of them.
It's sticking to its original forecast because it expects US car tariffs will decline in July based on talks that it's holding with the Trump administration. BMW's plant in South
Carolina is the largest one it has in the world, and it is the top exporter by dollar value compared to any other assembly plant in the US. BMW's CEO,
Oliver Zipsut told analysts in its first quarter earnings call that being the largest exporter will play a role in negotiations and that it's this large footprint will not be ignored.
Here's our outline insight. We think that we and all
the dust settles the Trump administration will end up with a ten percent tariff on European car imports because that's with the EU charges on US imports. Now to the
other potentially significant tariff development. Last week, we identified eleven
car brands that were in deep trouble over the tariffs because they do not have any US assembly plants. One
of those companies is Mitsubishi, which plans to bring a compact electric suv to the US market next year, which is based on the next gen Nissan Leaf. Remember, Nissan
owns thirty four percent of Mitsubishi, and the Leaf is assembled in Tennessee, so it sure sounds like Mitsubishi will get cars from that plant. And here's where it really
gets interesting. Mitsu just signed a deal to have Fox
Cohn build a compact crossover for it in Taiwan that it's going to export to Australia and New Zealand. Also remembered,
Fox Cohn has an assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio that's practically sitting empty. Mitsubishi obviously needs more US production than
just getting its own version of the Leaf, so we've got to believe that Mitsubishian Fox Cohn have had some kind of talks about moving production to that plant in Lordstown.
Now to some earnings reports, Rivian had a really tough first quarter. It only sold eighty six and forty vehicles
over the first three months of the year, which was down thirty six percent from a year ago, and yet its revenue was virtually unchanged from last year, coming in at one point two billion dollars. That's because the income
that Rivian got for it software and services skyrocketed by two hundred and sixty three percent, putting three hundred and eighteen million dollars on the top line, and almost all of that increase came from the work that it's doing for Volkswagen. Even so, Rivian still lost money. It posted
an adjusted EBIT DOT of three hundred and twenty nine million dollars and a net loss of five hundred and forty one million dollars. But here's the good news. That
EBIT doll loss was fifty eight percent less than last year and the net loss was actually a sixty two percent improvement. Yesterday we reported on how Ferrari had a
great first quarter. Today it's Lamborghini's term. It sold two
nine hundred and sixty seven cars, up a strong twelve point eight percent. Revenue shot up nearly thirty percent to
eight hundred and ninety five million year euros. It posted
an operating of two hundred and forty eight million euros, which was up in impress of thirty two percent. Lambeau
credits the V twelve p have Revwelto and the hybrid version of the URUS for pushing up sales and earnings, but the company could be pressed hard to keep this kind of growth going. Its biggest market is in the
United States, and the Trump tariffs are sure to have an impact since all of its cars are made in Italy.
You know, there's so many car companies in China, no one seems to know for sure exactly how many they're are.
There's the state owned enterprises, the soees. There are the
ev startups like Neo, Shaomi and Byd. There's the tech
companies like Huawei that have jumped into the game. But
an airline that's a new one on us and yet Car News China reports that one of China's biggest airlines, Junyao, just started selling a five seed electric sedan in China.
It's called the jy Air. It goes for about twenty thousand,
five hundred dollars, has a one hundred and fifty kilowatt motor that's about two hundred and one horse power, and has a range of five hundred and thirty kilometers or almost three hundred and thirty miles, but CARNWS China says the company probably cannot survive in the hyper competitive Chinese market and will have to rely on overseas production and sales.
There is an absolute frenzy in China to create the fastest EV charges on the planet. BYDS super e platform,
for example, claims it can hit one thousand kilowat speeds that will add two hundred and fifty miles in only five minutes. But a report from Shinkwa University says fast
charging really degrades battery life. It says that frequently using
fast charging over one hundred and twenty kilowatts can cut battery life forty percent compared to slower charging. EV owners
are advised to use fast charging less than forty percent of the time, and they should not use it at all when the state of charge is under ten percent or over ninety percent, because that's when most of the damage is Donehundai's sales in China have completely fallen off a cliff. In twenty sixteen, It's sold one point one
six million vehicles. The last year that plummeted to just
one hundred and fifty one thousand, Yet nine given up on the Chinese market. It just introduced a new model
that it hopes will turn things around. It's called the Alexio,
and the crossover is the first fully electric model that it has launched that was designed and developed specifically for China.
Hyundai developed the platform with BAIC and the Moodle's range and pricing will be revealed later this year. You know,
Hundai was one of the first foreign brands to launch in China and it did really well early on, especially with taxis, but political tensions between China and South Korea have hurt the brand. So to help reverse its slide,
last November, Hyundai and BAIC committed to invest one point one billion dollars for new EV's and to expand exports.
And here's a strange development. About a year ago, Zeker
went public with an IPO, but now its parent company, Jili, wants to take it private. Gili says it will pay
year holders a fourteen percent premium to buy their shares.
That would play Zeker's value at about six point four billion dollars. Last year, Zeker started trading on the New
York Stock Exchange, but at stock dropped twenty percent this year over concerns of tariffs and that price war going on in China. Gilie chairman Li Shufu is shaking up
the company. Over the last decade, the automaker aggressively expanded,
acquiring all kinds of brands like Volvo and Lotus, and it's now got nine brands under its umbrella. But now
Jilia is starting to consolidate its operation and cut costs to become more competitive. Hey, take a look at the
optional hood that you can now buy for the Shaumi SU seven Ultra. That's one of the hottest evs in
China right now, and it's been showered with all kinds of press coverage, ranging from a horrific crash that killed three occupants while allegedly running in autonomous mode that made headlines all across China to proudly setting the fastest lap time for a four door sedan at the nurburg Gring.
Now to cash in on that Nurburgring success, Shami is offering this carbon fiber hood with scoops for only five eight hundred dollars. The scoops on the hood are not functional,
which has offended some buyers, but they sure make the car look cool. Hey, before we go, a special shout
out to you who have signed up to support auto line with Patreon and YouTube memberships. More and more of
you are joining every day and getting early access to content as well as exclusive content that's only available to members.
And with that we wrap up today's report. Please join
us again tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Autoline Daily is brought to you by Intrepid Control Systems.
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