AD #4145 - Trump Slaps 25% Tariff on Heavy-Duty Trucks; BYD Continues Price War in China; Dreame Technology Rips Off Rolls-Royce Cullinan
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Speaker 1: This is Outderline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Heavy duty trucks are now getting
slapped with impoort terraffs in the US. President Trump announced
he's imposing a twenty five percent tariff on heavy duty trucks starting on October first, to quote protect our great heavy truck manufacturers from unfair outside competition. But no details
or how the plan will be implemented, we're given. Also,
the European Union and Japan have negotiated trade deals that prevent terriffs from stacking on one another, so it's not clear how companies from those countries will be impacted. According
to the Commerce Department, about two hundred and forty five thousand medium and heavy duty trucks worth around twenty billion dollars were imported to the US last year. International Motors
relies the most on imports, with ninety eight percent of its trucks coming from Mexico, followed by Daimler Truck at eighty three percent. However, Pacar and Volvo Trucks build nearly
all of their models in the US, so they'll face little impact. The giant German supplier Bosch is cutting more
jobs a lot more. Last year, it had around four
hundred and eighteen thousand employees globally, but the company announced it's laying off thirteen thousand workers, or about three percent of its workforce by twenty thirty, most of which will be in Germany. Increase competition, weak car demand in Europe,
tariffs and higher costs have pushed Bosch's expenses up by nearly three billion dollars a year, so in order to save cash, Bosch will also reduce material and operating costs, lower investments in facilities, and streamline logistics in supply chains.
But Bosch isn't the only company in Germany that's making cuts.
Volkswagen is planning to reduce output and halt production at two of its EV plants. The plant that builds the
AUDIQ four E tron will be shut down for a week starting on October sixth, and its plant that produces the ID four and ID seven models will also pause production as well as cut back on employee hours. While
BEV sales for the VW Group are growing in Europe, they're growing more slowly than the company forecast, which is why it's making the cuts. Good news for Jaguar land Rover.
The automaker announced it's restarted some of its operations after a cyber attack crippled its entire global operations earlier this month.
JLR says the system that controls the supply of parts worldwide and the financial system that controls the wholesale of vehicles are back online. It's also increased the processing of
invoices for suppliers who are struggling financially because of the shutdown. However,
the automaker's assembly plants will still remain closed until October first, and the BBC estimates that JLR is losing nearly seventy million dollars a week because of the disruption.
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Speaker 1: In the middle of the year, the Chinese government told automakers to stop the price war because it was going to damage the industry, but that never happened because the Chinese industry has massive overcapacity problems and sales aren't growing as fast as they're used to Now. BYD, the biggest
auto maker in the country, is cutting prices again after cuts in May and earlier this month. The company announced
a roughly fourteen hundred dollars discount on some versions of its Kin Plus sedan, which is one of its best selling models. But BYD likely made the move because its
overall sales in China have dropped four months in a row, and coupled with that overcapacity, it's why the company is so aggressive with its global expansion. But that's not just BYD.
Dong Fung says it wants to sell eighty thousand IC hybrid, E REV and electric vehicles in Europe next year, which would be about three times its current sales. Japung, which
already operates in Germany, is expanding to five new markets, including Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia. Then Shaomi plans
to enter Europe in twenty twenty seven, and it just denounced that it opened a brand new R and D and design center in Germany, but this could potentially slow their expansion plans. China's Ministry of Commerce announced that automakers
will be required to obtain permits to export EV's starting next year. China says tightening export rules is part of
its effort to promote the quote healthy development of the EV industry. Shaomi is launching a new car customization service
in China for the top versions of its Tu seven and U seven models. The company will offer unique finishes
for the body, wheels, and brakes. There's new materials available
across the entire interior, as well as customs stitching and badging, and you can even choose from a few different twenty four carrot gold emblems. Shaomi says it's first going to
try out the program for a year and will limit the service to forty vehicles a month, but customers have to commit to at least fourteen thousand dollars worth of upgrades, so has the potential to make at least six point seven million dollars over that year, and you can understand why other brands like Portia offer similar services.
Speaker 3: It looks like.
Speaker 1: We'll see evs in China with sodium ion batteries soon.
Battery maker COTL announced that it will start shipping the batteries to EV makers next year. CTL's sodium ion batteries
can provide up to five hundred kilometers or three hundred and ten miles of range, enough to meet the needs of forty percent of the evs in China. They have
an energy density of one hundred and seventy five hours per kilogram, which is below lithium ion batteries but is similar to LFP. However, sodium ion batteries outperform lithium in
extreme temperatures. They're also safer and cheaper to produce, and
sodium is more abundant than lithium that Chinese vacuum maker Dream Technology is back at it again. In late August,
the company announced it formed Dream Automotive to develop an EV supercar that would take on Bugatti, but the vehicle that it rendered is just a blatant ripoff of the sharone well. It also formed another division called Starry Automotive,
which is said to take on Rolls Royce, and the vehicle that it came up with is just a blatant ripoff of the culin in. I can only assume both
Bugatti and Rolls Royce would pursue legal action if either vehicle hits the market by their plan twenty twenty seven launch.
You know, I thought we were done with these copycat designs, and I wonder if things like this hurt people's view of the Chinese automotive industry. But that's a rat for
today's show. Thanks for tuning in, and I hope that
you have a great weekend.
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