AD #4122 - Mercedes Pension Dumps Nissan Stock; Why Global Auto Regs Have Never Happened; Ram Returns To NASCAR Truck Series, Can Cup Be Far

Speaker 1: This is Autoligne Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. For nearly half a century, the

auto industry dreamed of a day when the world would adopt common safety and emission standards because it would eliminate a ton of regulatory costs, it could simplify manufacturing operations and plants that have to ship cars to different global markets, and it would also allow automakers to offer low volume models in markets where the cost of compliance would otherwise make the money losers. Well, maybe that day is at hand,

at least between the US and the EU. Automotive News

reports that the latest trade agreement between the two has a sentence that would quote provide mutual recognition to each other's standards for automobiles. So while they would not commonize

their standards, they would accept any imported car that met its own countries' regulations. And here's our auto line insight.

There's a lot of detas tales to be worked out before this happens, and you can expect a lot of blowback from regulators on bull sides. Whenever the idea of

commonizing regulations was raised in the past, everyone would agree that it was a good idea. Then the Europeans would

say everyone should adopt our regulations. The Americans would say, no, no, no,

you should adopt ours, and the Japanese would say, we don't want either of yours. Ours are the best. So

nothing ever got done, but let's hope this time is different.

Porsche is scrapping plans to build its own high performance EVY batteries. The automaker created a subsidiary called Cell Force

to produce batteries, but the business will now become an independent R and D unit. Porsche is cutting about two

hundred of the nearly three hundred employees at sell Force. However,

Volkswagen's battery subsidiary Powerco will offer positions to some of the laid off workers. Porsche's laming the decision on slower

than expected demand for evs and changing market conditions in the US and China. And the bad news keeps piling

up At Nissan. Now comes word that the pension trust

fund that Mercedes Benz runs for its retirees is dumping all the shares that it holds in Nissan, which are worth about three hundred and forty six million dollars. Though

shares go on sale tomorrow, and the Wall Street Journal says that Nissan stock price will likely start dropping once the trading starts. Looks like Elon Musk won't be bringing

Groc to China. According to Tesla's website, it's going to

start integrating two competing AI systems into its vehicles in the country. The company will use deep Seek as a

chatbot or voice assistant similar to GROC, but another called Doboo will also be able to control certain vehicle functions which GROC currently can't do. It's unclear if they're available

right now, but they should be soon and will first be offered in the new long wheelbase version of.

Speaker 2: The model Y.

Speaker 1: Tesla launched rock in newer US vehicles recently as well, so it's clearly making a push to bring AI into its lineup. But most data makers in China already have

AI in their vehicles, so Tesla is actually playing a little bit of catch up.

Speaker 3: At CSP, we work with OEM engineers across the country on their journeys to lighter, safer, and more eco friendly vehicles.

Learn more at VCSP dot com.

Speaker 1: Renault is following a more traditional path for model updates in India. Four years ago, it launched a brand new

compact crossover called the Kaiger that is specifically designed for the market, and now that vehicle is getting its first update. However,

other than a new front end, it's a pretty mild refresh.

The rest of the body panels, interior, and three engine choices are mostly the same. Renault's relatively slow model refresh

rate in India could be impacting its sales there. Last month,

it only sold three hundred and twenty three Kaigers. RAM

says getting into racing is both a natural and strategic move for the brand because over forty percent of NASCAR fans are truck owners. In June, RAM announced to move

to join the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series next season, and now it has its first racing partner, Colleague Racing, which already competes in the cop and Exfinity Series, is now going to the truck series for the first time and will field up to five RAM trucks. Their first race

will be in February of next year at Daytona, and don't be surprised to see Stalantis move into the NASCAR COP and or Exfinity Series as well, most likely with Dodge.

We think there's a good chance it sticks with colleague, which currently races Chevy Camaros, and rumors have it that Honda could get into NOW two and possibly even drop out of Indy Car. We keep saying that twenty twenty

five is the year of the autonomous car because we believe we're at the beginning of that hockey stick inflection point.

And now comes word that Weimo just got permission to start testing autonomous cars in New York City, specifically in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Only eight avs will be part of

the test, and they'll have a human on board behind the wheel in case anything goes wrong. But Weimo is

already operating in at least five other cities, with another two more on the way, and it looks like it's probably only a matter of time before New York joins that list. Audi is launching the updated version of the

Q three. Like the previous generation, the model is available

in two body styles, a traditional suv and a sportback, which has a roofline that's twenty nine millimeters lower than the suv. The base Q three is powered by a

one and a half liter four cylinder engine and with mild hybrid technology, while A two liter diesel is also available.

Both produce one hundred and ten kilowatts of power or one hundred and forty seven horse power. There's also a

plug in hybrid, which delivers two hundred kilowatts or two hundred and sixty eight horse power. It features a nearly

twenty six kilowat hour battery that provides one hundred and nineteen kilometers or seventy four miles of electric range for the Q three suv and one kilometer less for the sportback.

The suv starts at forty four thousand and six hundred euros or about fifty two thousand bucks, while the sportback starts at forty six thousand, four hundred and fifty euros or about fifty four grand, and both launch first in Germany in October. And speaking of Audi, it's dropping the

standard A seven to Dan and Sporty R S seven variant from its lineup in the US and will only offer the high performance RS seven for the twenty twenty six model year. Audi says the new A six, which

launches in the US at the end of the year or early next year, will represent the brand in the mid size sedan segment. Okay, let's go over the results

of our latest poll, which was open to our YouTube and Patreon members. EV startups were counting on ZEV credits

and seventy five hundred dollars rebates for their business plan, but now that the Trump administration has axed all of that, we wanted to know what your outlook for the EV startups is. Close to a third of you said don't worry,

they'll survive, but more than half were pessimistic and said this is going to cripple their operations, and sixteen percent said none of the above. Here's some of the feedback

that we got. TX Craig believes the startups will be okay.

The idea with the credit was to try and bring the cost of evs down to the price of IC.

It's sad it's gone, but I don't think it's going to slow anything down much. Thomas Bowen had this to say,

quote history is littered with the wreckage of failed auto startups, and this will add to the pile. The EV sector

is facing stiff headwinds from an oversaturated market and long established players can't turn a profit. Stephen Releia says there

are so many indirect waves fossil fuel companies have been subsidized.

The US should reconsider its support of EV startups. The

automobile industry is strategically important to the long term health of the US economy, but not everyone is on board with EV subsidies. Kelly Spraunberg says, if your business model

is sound, you don't need government handouts. The product should

stand on its merits, not just the price, and Keith Mensing echoed that thought. We never should have subsidized expensive

cars for the upper slash luxury car segment, and that's what most of the evs are. If you have a

good product and business, you will probably find success US.

It won't be because the government subsidized your business. Thanks

to everyone that voted and took a moment to leave a comment. We love getting your feedback. That wraps up

today's report. Thanks for watching.

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AD #4122 - Mercedes Pension Dumps Nissan Stock; Why Global Auto Regs Have Never Happened; Ram Returns To NASCAR Truck Series, Can Cup Be Far

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