GM's Q2 earnings reveal a sharp profit drop due to tariffs, despite shutting down its loss-making GM Crews unit. Nissan plans multiple plant closures globally to cut capacity amid shifting production. Stalantis may close European plants to meet tough CO2 targets. UAW leadership faces internal conflict with calls to remove current president Sean Fain. Chinese auto sales rise strongly, with foreign luxury brands still holding appeal despite local competition. Russia's auto industry struggles with plummeting sales and high loan rates. Volkswagen offers an aggressive EV lease deal on the ID4, while Ford delays the next-gen Mustang Mach-E. The EU's proposed EV fleet mandate faces political pushback.
Topics:gm earningstariffs impactnissan plant closuresstalantis europeuaw leadership conflictchinese auto marketrussian auto industryvolkswagen ev leasemustang mach-e delayeu ev fleet mandate
- GM Profit Plummets on U.S. Tariffs - Nissan to Close Plants in Mexico - Stellantis Could Close Plants to Meet CO2 Regs - Former UAW Leader and Local Turn Against Shawn Fain - German Brands Still Dominate China Luxury Segment - BYD's Luxury Brand Headed to Europe - Russian Auto Industry Goes From Bad to Worse - VW Offers Screaming EV Lease Deal - Next-Gen Mach-E Not Coming Until 2030 - German Chancellor Blasts EV Fleet Mandate - Toyota Tundra, Sequoia Updates
"...yota's isodynamic seats that first debuted in the Tacoma. Speaker 2: Those are those sweet off road seats."
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Speaker 1: This is Underline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. General Motors reported its second quarter
earnings this morning, and now we have concrete data of the impact of tariffs in the US. GM sold nine
hundred and seventy four thousand vehicles in the last three months, down by sixty nine thousand vehicles from last year. Revenue
came in at just over forty seven billion dollars, down almost two percent, while it posted an EBIT profit of three billion dollars that was down nearly thirty two percent, and its net profit dropped more than thirty five percent to about one point nine billion GMCFO Paul Jacobson had warn Wall Street that the second quarter would be bad and that subsequent quarters should be better as GM figured out how to overcome the cost.
Speaker 2: Of the tariffs.
Speaker 1: But keep in mind that these latest financial numbers no longer include GM Crews, which was losing a billion dollars a quarter. GM shut Crews down to save money, and
yet instead of profits rising by a billion, they drop by a billion. And that shows you how the terrafs
are hurting the industry. Nissan is planning to close another
factory that has historical significance for the company. Last week,
it announced that it's closing its Opama plant in Japan, which is Nissan's oldest and now Automotive News reports that it will close its first international plant, which was opened in Mexico in nineteen sixty six. The Sivak plant, which
builds the Novara and Frontier pickups for Latin America, will end production by early twenty twenty seven. Last year, it
produced eighty thousand trucks, which is less than a third of its capacity, but those models are not going far.
Nissan is moving the trucks to another factory in Mexico. However,
Nissan is also ending a joint venture that it has with Mercedes in Mexico at a different plant, it builds two Infinity crossovers that will go out of production at the end of the year, while Mercedes will end production of the GLB in the first quarter of next year.
In order to cut costs, Nissan is closing seven plants worldwide to reduce capacity by thirty percent to two and a half million vehicles by twenty twenty seven. So it's
got at least four more plants to go, and Nissan isn't alone. The head of Stalantis is European Operations Jean Felippe.
Imperato says it may have to close plants in Europe in order to avoid fines for missing CO two emissions.
Speaker 2: Even though the EU eased.
Speaker 1: Emission targets for twenty twenty five and is now giving automakers three years to reach them, Imparato says they still aren't achievable. B evs need to account for twenty five
percent of total sales in order to meet the targets, but in the first quarter beev's only accounted for fifteen percent of overall sales in Europe. In Parato says that
it will need to cut production of ice vehicles in order to meet the targets, which means it will likely have to close factories. There's trouble Bruin and UAW headquarters.
The previous president of the union, Ray Curry, is attacking the current president, Sean Fain, saying his management style is one of quote, fear, intimidation and retaliation.
Speaker 2: In March, a court.
Speaker 1: Appointed union watchdog criticized Faine's management style too. While Sean
Fain made national headlines with the lucrative labor contracts he negotiated.
Speaker 2: With gm Ford and Stilantis.
Speaker 1: The union's leadership has been marked with bickering and political infighting.
Ray Curry also accuses Fane of bringing outsiders in to run the union who have never worked on the factory line.
And it's not just former UAW leaders who don't like Faane.
UAW Local one forty and Warrant, which represents Stalantis's Warren Truck plant in Michigan, just voted to start the process to get rid of fame. Other UAW locals are also
reportedly getting ready to vote on the same thing.
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Speaker 1: We have concerns about the overall health of the Chinese auto industry, but sales are up.
Speaker 2: A decent amount.
Speaker 1: In the first half of the year, automakers sold ten point nine million vehicles, representing a nearly eleven percent increase compared to last year, while any V sales were up over thirty three percent and accounted for just over half of the overall market.
Speaker 2: If you look at the top sellers by.
Speaker 1: Price, we're not surprised to see Chinese automakers dominate the low end of the market, but it is a bit of a shock to see Audi, Mercedes, and BMW each have two models in the top ten.
Speaker 2: Of the luxury category.
Speaker 1: These brands have been getting hammered in the Chinese market by surging local automakers, but I think this shows with the right updates, there's still desire.
Speaker 2: For foreign luxury brands in China.
Speaker 1: However, they need to watch out for those surging automakers like Ido and Denza. And we're not just talking about
the Chinese market. Denza, which is a premium brand owned
by byd had already been confirmed for the European market early next year, and now the VP at BYD says that its luxury yang Wang brand will follow later in twenty twenty six. They didn't say what models yang Wang
would offer in Europe, but in China it currently sells a phev and electric suv in sedan and an all electric supercar. Sales of that suv in its home market
have dropped off considerably, only sixty four units were sold in June, so it's not a real surprise that BYD would want to expand the yang Wang brand into Europe.
The Russian auto industry is going from bad to worse.
After Russia invaded Ukraine, almost every FOURIGN automaker pulled out of the country except for the Chinese, and the Chinese are running rampant. They've captured almost fifty percent of the market. Moreover,
with heavy government spending on the war, interest rates have soared to try and contain inflation. The interest rate on
a new car loan ranges anywhere from nineteen to twenty four percent. Autovaz, Russia's largest car maker, has seen sales
drop twenty five percent this year to only one hundred and fifty five thousand cars, and so it's going to a four day workweek to cut production. But Autovaz employs
thirty thousand workers, which is an awfully lot of people for such low production, so it's safe to say the company will have to take much more drastic action to have any hope of avoiding a total catastrophe. If you
think the Hyundai Iyanik five is a good EVY lease deal at one hundred and seventy nine dollars a month, or the Tesla Model Y at one hundred and ninety nine dollars a month, well, Volkswagen has got them both beat.
In the US, the company is offering the ID four for as low as one hundred and twenty nine dollars a month through lease, while some dealers have shaved that down even further to ninety nine dollars a month. The
ID four is reportedly going through a major redesign for the twenty twenty six model year, with one executive saying that it fits in with the company's new design language, probably closer to the ID two, so this screaming lease deal will probably help clear the way for the new version.
In one other quick bit of ev news, the Mustang Machie is going to stay around in its current form for the next four to five years. Auto four Cast
Solutions reports that the next gen Maki won't go into production until April twenty thirty, and it will still be made at Ford's plant in Mexico. The European Union is
proposing to force car rental companies and large corporations to buy only electric vehicles for their fleets by twenty thirty, but it looks like it will face an uphill battle.
Germany's chancellor blasted the proposal, saying it quote completely ignores the needs.
Speaker 2: We have in Europe right now. He says Europe.
Speaker 1: Should remain technologically open and not limit companies to only electric vehicles. If the proposal goes into effect, it would
impact sixty percent of the new car business. According to
one EU lawmaker, the Toyota, Tundra and Sequoya are getting a few updates for the twenty twenty six model year.
The only ones that grabbed our eye are a bold new blue pink color called wave Maker, and that the Tundra TRD pro will be getting its own version of Toyota's isodynamic seats that first debuted in the Tacoma.
Speaker 2: Those are those sweet off road seats.
Speaker 1: That have built in shock absorbers so your body doesn't get thrown around and beat up as much out on the trail. Both the Tundra and Sequoya are made at
Toyota's manufacturing plant in Texas, and that brings us to the end of today's show. Thanks for making autoline a
part of your day. Auto Line Daily is brought to
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