AD #4143 - Data Centers Use 10X Electricity of EVs; North American OEMs Cutting Overcapacity; Tariffs Not Helping U.S. Auto Industry

Speaker 1: This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. The business outlook for Stillantis in

Europe is really looking grim. Yesterday we reported that it

was shutting down one of its assembly plants in France for a couple of weeks due to weak demand, and today it announced the shutdown is spreading to six other assembly plants in Italy, Germany, Spain and Poland. While new

car sales in Europe are flat, Stilantis is down by more than six percent. At the same time, Chinese automakers

are making significant gains, and that means Stilantis has a growing problem of over capacity. Speaking of over capacity, it

looks like automakers in North America are starting to get their act together. Auto analyst John Murphy with Haig Partners

points out that overcapacity has come down significantly from a decade ago. As you can see in this chart, the

blue and gray columns show capacity, while the red life show capacity utilization. At the far right of the chart,

you can see that by twenty twenty seven, North American automakers have capacity and utilization in balance. John Murphy says

that getting rid of over capacity will give automakers stronger pricing power, and we would point out that it also makes them more profitable. Say, are electric cars hogging up

all the electricity and gonna make the grig collapse. Scott Case,

the CEO of Recurrent Auto, says all US evs on the road today consume less than one percent of the country's annual electricity. Compare that to data centers, which use

four and a half percent of the nation's electricity, and that's forecast to grow between seven to twelve percent in the next eighteen months. By the end of this year,

he says, data centers will use ten times more energy than all the evs on the road, but that's not the public perception. Recurrence market research shows one out of

three people believe evis use more electricity than data centers.

Nissan Sedan lineup is shrinking in the US. The Maxima

is already gone, the Versa goes away at the end of this year. Production of the Ultima ends at the

end of next year, and the company is undecided if it will have a next gen version that just leaves the CenTra, but since it's one of Nissan's best selling models, it's getting a major refresh. The twenty twenty six model

features all new styling with a much more expressive front facia.

The interior also looks all new, with a standard twelve point three inch center screen and an available digital display for the driver of the same size. While it seems

like the powertrain and platform layout is mostly unchanged, it's still powered by a two liter four cylinder engine made it to a CVT transmission. Nissan did make four wheel

disc brake standard, added reinforcements to increased body rigidity, made the steering damper bigger, and retune the shocks. Look for

the new CenTra to start hitting showrooms later this year.

Speaker 2: 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: Mercedes Benz is growing its ties with Chinese companies to improve its software capabilities. It plans to take a minority

stake and autonomous driving company that's abbreviated CQT, which is backed by Chinese automaker Gli. There aren't many other details

about the deal, but it could be announced as soon as this week. Mercedes is also expanding a partnership with Byteedance,

which owns TikTok. The automaker is integrating its AI technologies

into its products and business operations in China. The all

new CLA, which launches this fall, will be the first Mercedes model equipped with Byte dances. And speaking of Mercedes

and technology, the automaker's chief technology Officer, Marcus Schaefer is retiring in December after more than thirty years with the company.

Replacing Schaefer is your Burzer, who is currently Mercedes Head a production, quality and supply chain. Ford is consolidating its

sales and service network in China. The automaker announced it's

establishing a wholly owned subsidiary that will be responsible for managing the marketing, sales and services for Ford passenger vehicles in China. Ford's joint venture with Changan used to operate

as sales and services, but the new subsidiary will give Ford direct control of its sales efforts in China. China

wants to crack down on retractable door handles because of all the failures in safety issues that they create. So

now the country's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has drafted a set of rules and is looking for feedback from the public. Those rules would include every outside handle

providing enough space for someone's hand, every door except for the trunk featuring a mechanical release, and outside doors opening without tools even when there's no power. And then there's

similar rules for the inside doors and where the mechanical releases can be placed. China is taking the public's feedback

until the latter part of November. Did you know that

you can watch and listen to auto Line daily in a variety of different languages. It's a service that YouTube offers.

It doesn't have all the languages, but it sure has a lot. Just click on the gear icon to see

the different settings, scroll down to where it says audio settings, and choose the language you want from the list. Our

President Trump's tariffs helping the American auto industry grow not.

According to a report from the Detroit News, automakers and parts suppliers are now forking out about six billion dollars a month in tariffs. Before the President and announced his

Liberation Day, that number was a billion dollars. At the

same time, US automotive exports are down, mainly because most of them went to Canada and Mexico, and those markets are turning their backs on American made cars and turning to Chinese ones instead. Analyst Warren Brown Warren's US policy

is essentially handing the Latin American market to Chinese automakers.

So far, automakers in the US have largely eaten the cost of the tariffs and not passed the cost on to consumers. But Patrick Anderson of the Anderson Economic Group

says that starting now, the cost will become impossible for them to absorb. And that's a wrap for today's show.

Thanks for making autoline a part of your day.

Speaker 3: Auto Line Daily is brought to you by Alex Partners.

When it really matters CSP, the Composites Solution Partner, Intrepid Control Systems, over the Air Engineering, boost your game and thanks to the following YouTube and Patreon members.

Speaker 4: We help businesses respond decisively to their most critical challenges, from urgent performance improvement to enterprise wide transformation. We work

across the full value chain in automotive and in industrials, helping clients navigate disruption, drive innovation, and unlock sustainable growth.

ALEX Partners When it really matters.

Speaker 5: Developing today's vehicles, issues can happen in an instant. What

good is knowing your problems without the data to solve them.

Meet Wireless Neova Cloud your secure off the shelf solution, empowering real time collaboration for quick resolution. With Wireless Neova Cloud,

your team can prevent issues before they can escalate. Driver

communication data and remote diagnostics to analyze and resolve your problems using OTA, allowing your executives to oversight throughout the process.

Wireless Nearby Cloud your vehicle updates solution in production and on the road. Intrepid control systems driven by your data

Nissan Maxima

About this episode

Original notes