Chinese automakers are pushing into the U.S. despite efforts to ban Chinese cars and technology, with robotaxi plans and EV-related workarounds in the mix. Carvana is also rattling the dealer network, quietly acquiring Stellantis stores and boosting sales after taking over. Meanwhile, lawmakers are floating higher annual road fees for EVs and hybrids, and auto lending shows a growing share of subprime borrowers.
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Speaker 1: This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Shaun's out at RAM media event today,
so I'm filling in. Bipartisan effort is underway in the
US House and Senate to ban Chinese cars and technology from the US market, but that is not deterring some Chinese automakers. In January, Outline broke the story that Gili
plans to enter the US market by the end of the decade. It plans to build Zeekers and Lincoln Co
Cars at Volvol's assembly plant in South Carolina and now great While Motors says the US is the number one market it wants to get into. We're assuming it's also
looking at making cars in the US. Chinese companies are
leveraging their expertise in robotaxis to crack open the US market as well. E car X, which is backed by
Leshu Fu, who's the CEO of Jili, is going to make electric robotaxis for Mad Mobility. That's the robotaxi company
based in Michigan. Up to now, it's been using Toyota
CNA minivans. Getting robotaxis from China will cut the cost
in half according to e Carx, even with those one hundred percent US tariffs, and it says the robotaxis will be compliant with US regulations that ban Chinese tech for software and hardware related to communication and connectivity. As we've
already reported, Waimo is using Chinese made robotaxis that it's buying from Zieger, which is also part of Jile. They're
already up and running in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix. Today,
Xpeng officially started mass production of robotaxis that it will start testing in Guangzhu soon. Like Tesla, Xpeng will not
use lidart for its autonomous taxis and will use cameras and AI instead. And just to show you why there's
so much interest in the robotaxi business, we Ride says its revenue shot up fifty eight percent from a year ago.
The company is still losing money, but it's gross profit hit and impress a thirty five percent and the expectation is that it's on its way to becoming profitable. It's
delivering seventeen rides per car on average, with peak times hitting twenty eight rides. We Ride only has one three
hundred robotaxis in its fleet right now, but expects to grow that to two hundred thousand in the next five years.
So what happens to car sales when there's millions of robotaxis in service all around the world. Legacy automakers don't
want to talk about it because they don't want to upset investors that they might become much smaller companies in the future. But it's our duty at Auto Line to
ask uncomfortable questions like this, because unless you know the challenges you face, you can't plan ahead to deal with them.
Speaker 2: 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 1: Carvana, the used car retailer, has quietly acquired about a half a dozen Stalantis dealerships across the US over the last year, and it's now selling cars on its website and providing home delivery just like it does with used cars.
And Stillantis dealers are not happy that Carvana is part of their network. At a recent meeting with the executives,
dealers brought up concerns over Carvana taking sales away from them, since it can undercut their prices and offer free shipping to customers who might be hundreds of miles away from the nearest dealership, and no wonder they're worried. One Carvana
dealership in Phoenix is selling three hundred and fifty cars a month compared to thirty to fifty cars before it took over. The US House of Representatives introduced legislation to
impose a yearly one hundred and thirty dollars fee on electric vehicles, and that's going to gradually rise to one hundred and fifty dollars. They also want to put a
fifty dollars fee on hybrids. Committee leaders say the fees
are necessary so that evs and hybrids pay their fair share for road repairs, but opponents point out that gasoline powered vehicles only pay about eighty eight dollars a year on average in federal gas taxes. And for a deeper
dive into this, check out my interview with Chris Hartow from Consumer Reports about why that fee isn't fair. Some
automakers are late to the party for pickup trucks. But
like the old saying, goes better late than never, Renault is getting ready to reveal a pickup called the Niagara in September, and it's going to start selling it in Latin America right after that. It's inspired by a concept
that debuted in twenty twenty three with the same name, and is based on a new Renault Group modular platform.
It's also capable of supporting gasoline diesel, flex fuel LPG, mild hybrid, full hybrid, and both front and four wheel drive.
The concept was shown with a mild hybrid setup with an additional electric motor on the rear axle. Speaking of
pickup trucks, JELI is fully taking over its Radar brand, which it helped establish in twenty twenty one. Radar sells
pH and pure electric passenger trucks in China and in Southeast Asia and Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.
Absorbing Radar into its broader pickup operations will help consolidate assets and will give Gely access to its sales and service centers. Plus, it's getting Radar on the cheap, only
thirty two million dollars to make Radar a wholly owned subsidiary.
I don't know about you, but I don't think this is a good sign. Auto lenders are loosening their standards
and the number of subprime borrowers just hit its largest share in years. Subprime borrowers are the people who have
risky credit scores. According to Experient Automotive, fifteen point four
percent of loans for both new and used cars in the fourth quarter were for subprime or deep subprime borrowers.
It was only up zero point eight percent, but it was the largest fourth quarter share since twenty twenty one. Obviously,
the lenders want to bring more buyers into the market, and those people need cars. But when you lower your
standards to boost your business, you're just asking for trouble somewhere down the road. And that wraps up today's report.
A big shout out to all of you Patreon and YouTube members. We are truly grateful for all of you
who support the show. Thanks for watching. We'll be right
back here again tomorrow.
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