AD #4076 - Trump Threatens Higher Car Tariffs; Geely Boasts 47.26% ICE Thermal Efficiency; VW GTI Gets 50th Anniversary Edition

Speaker 1: This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. We normally try to avoid stories

like last night's Israel attack on Iran, but it could have a direct impact on the auto industry. That attack

sent oil prices up sharply in early market trading because there's worry that Iran may try to shut off some oil ship mints. And when prices at the pump go

up quickly, car sales stall out, especially sales of full sized trucks and SUVs, which is where automakers make most of their profits. Meanwhile, President Trump is threatening to raise

tariffs on imported vehicles even higher, and he says it could happen in the not too distant future. Quote the

higher you go, the more likely they are to build a plant here, he said at a White House event.

Trump is also going to slap fees on rowrow ships that bring foreign cars to the US. ROWROWSS for roll

on roll off, where cars are driven directly on and off ships without cranes or tow vehicles. The fees could

add up to as much as three hundred dollars per vehicle and would apply to any Rowrow ships that were not made in the US, which means almost all of them, since the US builds very few ships for transporting commercial vehicles, although the military does have some. Just like higher terrace

on vehicle imports will see more plants being built. The

President believes that making it more expensive to use foreign ships will increase shipbuilding in the United States. And despite

the thread of tariffs, Ford is moving forward with its three billion dollar project to retool its Oakville plant in Canada to build super duty pickups. Ford of Canada CEO

says the update is quote well in the works and that trucks should start rolling down the line by the end of next year. The plant will have the capacity

to produce one hundred thousand super duties a year. It

used to build the EDGE, but production ended last year.

Ford initially planned to replace that model with a new three to row EV, but the company scrapped those plans because its projections on expected EV demand were off. But

Ford's plan to build super duties is a risk too because of those tariffs. According to Auto four Cast Solutions,

Ford only sells around twenty thousand super Duties in Canada, so the rest of the trucks will be shipped to the US and slapped with tariffs.

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Speaker 1: Despite discounts from automakers and the availability of the seventy five hundred dollars federal tax credit, EV sales in the US fell for the first time in fourteen months. According

to S and P Global Mobility, more than ninety seven eight hundred evs were registered in April, down four point four percent from a year ago. That dropped EV market

share to six point six percent, down from seven point four percent last year. Tesla registered just under forty thousand vehicles,

which was a slip of sixteen percent, so if you take out Tesla, EV sales were likely up. But Tesla

wasn't the only automaker that struggled to sell EV's in April. Ford, Hyundai, Rivian, Mercedes, Benz, Kia, Toyota,

and Volkswagen also saw drops of anywhere between nineteen to seventy seven percent. On the flip side, Chevy, BMW, Cadillac, Nissan, GMC, Honda,

and Volvo all saw gains and despite April's decline. Ev

registrations are up eleven percent through the first four months of the year to about four hundred and five thousand, five hundred vehicles, and on a global basis, electrified vehicles continued to grow as well. According to market research firm Romotion,

Automakers sold one point six million pure electrics and plug in hybrids in May, up twenty four percent from a year ago. The overwhelming amount of those sales were in China,

which accounted for one point zero two million sales, a gain of twenty four percent and the first time this year China top to million sales. Electrified sales in Europe

were up thirty six percent, and in North America they were up seven and a half percent. In May, Tesla

is launching refreshed versions of the Model S and X, a move it first confirmed in February. There's a new

frost blue pink color available, a new camera in the lower part of the front facia that improves visibility, new wheel designs that have better arrow which increases range slightly on some sizes, and the Modelesque plaid gets a few styling tweaks that improve high speed stability. Tesla said it

also made adjustments to the suspension to help smooth out the ride, added some ambient lighting, made the interior less noisy, and added some third row space in the Model X.

Those upgrades increased prices by five thousand dollars. The Model

S long range now starts just below eighty five thousand dollars and the X long range is just below ninety grand.

But since they were already priced in the premium to luxury category, I don't think the increase will have a big impact on sales. In the first quarter in the US,

Tesla is estimated to have delivered a combined five one hundred Model snx's China plunged headfirst into promoting electric vehicles because it knew it was too far behind Foign automakers in internal combustion engines, or that used to be the case, because now it looks like several Chinese car companies are making the most efficient engines in the world. World Gili

announced it's coming out with a one and a half liter engine with forty seven point two six percent Thermo dynamic efficiency. And keep in mind that most engines are

in the thirty to thirty five percent range, while Formula one engines, which cost about ten million dollars a piece barely get above fifty percent. Thermodynamic efficiency relates to how

efficiently an engine converts fuel to power versus the energy and the fuel needed to overcome friction or get converted to waste heat. Gili calls its new setup the leyshen

Ai Hybrid, and it's going into the p have version of the Galaxy A seven sidan, which is rated at one hundred and seventeen miles per gallon or two leaders per one hundred kilometers. It goes on sale in the

second half of this year, and Carnu's China reports that a two liter version using hydrogen as its fuel hits a forty eight point one five percent thermo efficiency rating.

It will be offered as an option in the fourth quarter.

Ford is given the F one fifty the Lobo treatment.

While it's not quite to the same performance street truck level as the Maverick Lobo, it does have a lot of features that make it unique. An updated suspension drops

the truck by two inches, while a ten piece ground effects package makes it look even lower. Twenty two inch

gloss black wheels are standard, as are dual exhaust tips and hood vents. Under that hood is Ford's five liters

V eight, which makes four hundred horse power and is madeed to an upgraded two speed automatic four wheel drive system.

The f one to fifty Lobo also features unique lighting and front end styling in both the grill and lower facia. Overall,

it's a four seven hundred dollars package on top of an STX crew cab model, which brings the starting price to around sixty one thousand bucks. In speaking of special

edition packages, Volkswagen is getting ready to launch a fiftieth anniversary edition of the Golf GTI, which it says is the most powerful production GTI ever. While it hasn't revealed

exact power figures yet, based on the previous statement, it will have more than three hundred and six horse power, and the company just took a quote near production test vehicle to the nurburg Ring and set a new record for itself, lapping the famous track in a little over seven minutes and forty six seconds. No street legal Volkswagon

has ever gone faster. Nissan is sharing more details about

the next gen Leaf. It says when connected to a

fast charger, the model can add up to two hundred and fifty kilometers or one hundred and fifty five miles of range in fourteen minutes. After a destination is entered

into the navigation, the car will automatically optimize the cooling of the battery to help conserve energy. In the US,

the Leaf will be available with outlets inside the car that can small to medium devices, and in Japan, the Leaf will be capable of bi directional charging, so it can connect to an owner's home to power appliances or charge devices, as well as use it as a backup generator during a power outage. The new Leaf makes its

global debut next week, 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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