Canada is considering dropping tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles as leverage in trade talks, potentially opening North American markets to Chinese EVs. Magna will assemble Chinese EVs in Austria to bypass EU tariffs. The SEC dropped its case against Nikola founder Trevor Milton following his presidential pardon. GM's BrightDrop electric van faces slow sales, leading to production cuts. Meanwhile, Stellantis replaces Maserati with Sauber in Formula E amid declining Maserati sales. Innovations in EV manufacturing include advanced mega casting molds and a new thermistor for better temperature control. Automated parking tech and Toyota’s new GR Yaris aero package also highlight industry advancements.
Topics:china ev tariffsmagna ev assemblynikola trevor milton casegm brightdrop salesstellantis formula elegionnaires disease gmmega casting moldsev thermistor technologyautomated parking systemstoyota gr yaris aero
- Canada Could Open the Door to Chinese EVs - Magna to Build Chinese EVs At Steyr - SEC Drops Case Against Trevor Milton - GM to Resume Brightdrop Production - Stella Switches Citroen With Maserati In Formula E - GM Tech Center Building Closes Over Legionnaire’s Disease - Joby Aviation Correction - 3D-Printed Molds Boost Gigacasting - Small Thermistor Leads to More Efficient EVs - iMotion Cracks the Code on Cost-Effective Parking Automation - Toyota Gives GR Yaris An Aero Make-Over
"...ptcy earlier this year. Have you seen any of GM's bright Drop electric vans on the road? You can buy them, you ..."
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Speaker 1: This is autoliged daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Earlier this summer, Canadian government officials
said they didn't want to play the China card when it came to President Trump's tariffs, but it sure looks like they're ready to do that. Canada didn't like it
when Trump slapped thirty five percent tariffs on Canadian goods.
Things got worse when Trump toned Canada about becoming the fifty first state, which made Canadians even angrier. So now
Canada is looking at opening the door to Chinese evs by dropping the one hundred percent tariff that had imposed on them a year ago. Officially, Canada says it's considering
dropping those terraffs as a bargaining chip to get China to drop terraffs on Canadian agriculture. But there's more to
it than that. This summer, a Canadian diplomat told Autoline
that it didn't want to play the China card over US tariffs on cars and components, but that it would if it had to. If Canada does drop the terrace
on Chinese evs, the US will suddenly find Chinese electrics on its southern and northern borders. And here's a major
victory for a Chinese automaker in Europe that also involves Canada. Magna,
the giant Canadian supplier, is going to start building two EV models for GAC and its Stiri assembly plant in Austria.
The models are the ai on V, which is a mid size suv, and the ai on UT, which is a compact hatchback. The aion V will be priced at
thirty seven thousand euros, which is very similar to a Vwid four but significantly cheaper than a pougo E three thousand and eight. Most of the parts to make the
cars will be imported from China, but with local assembly there will be enough local content to avoid the EU's tarraffs on imported Chinese evs. Automotive News for reported the
story and it's expected to be made official next week.
Earlier this year, President Trump pardoned Trevor Milton, the founder of Nikola, who was convicted of securities fraud by a jury, and now the sec the Securities in Exchange Commission dropped its lawsuit against Milton. You may remember that an investment
firm called Hindenberg Research accused Milton of fraud, including rolling one of his fuel cell semis down a hill, recording it and claiming it was a running prototype. Nicholas Stock
dropped on that news, and it ended up filing for bankruptcy earlier this year. Have you seen any of GM's
bright Drop electric vans on the road? You can buy them,
you know, They're on sale at some Chevrolet dealerships, but so far sales are tiny. In the first half of
the year, GM only sold one thousand, five hundred and ninety two of them, so it temporarily shut down the Cami plant in Canada that makes them. But GM is
going to resume production in November, albeit at much lower volume.
The plant will only operate on one shift and at lower line speed, and it's no longer going to assemble battery packs in the plant. We wonder what the future
holds for bright Drop. GM is joining forces with Hyundai
to develop an electric commercial van.
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Speaker 1: Could this be a sign that Stilantis is getting rid of Maserati. It's replacing Maserati with Satroan as one of
its factory teams for the next Formula E racing season.
Maserati has competed in Formula E for three seasons, winning the constructors Championship in its debut but finishing ninth most recently.
It's unclear if that performance played a role in the switch, but Maserati isn't performing while in other areas either. Through
the first six months of the year, it's sold about four thy two hundred vehicles around the world, a decline of thirty five percent compared to a year ago. However,
Maserati still has plans to be part of the racing series.
It says it's committed to being a manufacturer when Formula E moves to its new Gen four cars after the upcoming season. And in case you didn't know, Stillantis's other
factory team in Formula E is DS Automobiles. Uh oh,
this could really slow down General Motors vehicle development. It
had to close one of the main engineering buildings at its Warrant Tech Center near Detroit because two employees tested positive for Legionnaire's disease. It's not clear yet if the
building is the source, but GM decided to shut it down quote out of an abundance of caution. The building
will remain closed until at least September twenty second, pending further test results. Around ten thousand to eleven thousand employees
work in the building, but for now the work from home or at another GM location. Legionnaire's disease is a
form of pneumonia caused by a bacteria that spreads through water systems and a correction here. Yesterday we reported that
Joby Aviation gave fifty thousand passenger rides last year. Well, actually,
Joby bought a company called Blade, which uses helicopters, not vitalls, and it's the one that gave those rides. Automakers are
under pressure to cut costs and speed up EVY development, and that's pushing the industry towards giga castings, you know, using fewer, larger aluminum parts. But those massive castings require tougher,
more complex molds. So the Fraunhofer Institute, McLean Fogg, and
Toyota developed the breakthrough in mold making. Using a new
laser three D printer and a specially engineered steel called L forty, they were able to produce very large die casting molds with integrated cooling channels, something that conventional machining can achieve. Toyota tested the process on a mold for
the Yars hybrid transmission housing. The new tool lasted up
to four times longer than traditional molds, cut down on maintenance, and reduced production downtime For automakers. This means faster development cycles,
lower tooling costs, and the ability to build multiple parts from one mold, a major advantage as the industry ramps up mega and giga castings for EV platforms. The push
for more efficient evs just got a boost from a very tiny new component. Mourata Manufacturing has unveiled a world
first thermister designed to improve the reliability of electric vehicles.
A fister is a kind of resistor whose resistance changes with temperature. The newther mist can be placed directly on
high voltage circuit boards, something that conventional components could do.
Its resin coded design allows it to safely sense temperatures up to one hundred and seventy five degrees celsius, preventing heat related failures in power semiconductors. By allowing for more
accurate temperature monitoring, the newther misters enable engineers to design more compact and efficient power modules, which could free up valuable space inside vehicles for more batteries or for passenger comfort.
Emotion says it's bringing automated parking to the mass market by solving two big challenges technical complexity and cost. Its
APA system not only parks vehicles but can guide them up to three kilometers along learned routes using cameras in ultrasonic sensors. The system uses burnards, iView cameras, and AI
based three D mapping, but instead of requiring costly processors, it runs on Renaissance's thirty four tops chipset, which are far cheaper and offer the same performance. That efficiency could
let automakers bring advanced parking and driver assistance features to more budget friendly vehicles. Toyota took the already very capable
Gryaris and developed a new aero package with input from the racers that drive the full blown competition versions of these cars. There's a total of six modifications that includes
a new aluminum hood with a duct on top of it to help the roughly three hundred horsepower turbocharged three cylinder engine dissipate heat and stay cool. Additional ducting was
applied to the fenders and bumpers as well, while a front lip spoiler helps improve high speed stability. Lastly, covers
over the bottom of the fuel improves airflow, and a large adjustable rear wing sits on top of the hatchback.
The Aero Package version of the gr Yaris goes on sale in Japan at the start of October and pricing ranges from about twenty seven thousand, five hundred to thirty nine thousand, five hundred dollars. And that wraps up this
week's worth of news. Have a great weekend and we'll
see you again on Monday.
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