AD #4316 - Trump Kills Canada and Mexico Trade Deal; EV Sales Recovering Faster Than Expected?; China Has a Capacity Problem

AD #4316 - Trump Kills Canada and Mexico Trade Deal; EV Sales Recovering Faster Than Expected?; China Has a Capacity Problem Autoline Daily · Jun 11, 2026

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9:20

Company

Magna

Magna is a company that makes parts for carmakers. If they don’t know what the rules and demand will be, they’re less likely to spend money on new projects.

Concept

excess capacity

Excess capacity is when factories can build more cars than people are buying. If the factories aren’t busy, the cars become harder to profitably sell, so companies start discounting.

Term

utilization

Utilization is how busy a factory is. If it’s running at less than half capacity, each car has to cover more of the factory’s fixed costs.

Concept

price war

A price war is when companies keep lowering prices to attract buyers. If factories are overbuilt, they may have to discount even if it hurts profits.

Company

FAW

FAW is a long-established Chinese car company. The hosts mention it because its sales have been weak for years, showing how tough the market is right now.

Brand

Shaomi

“Shaomi” sounds like it’s meant to be Xiaomi, a tech company that’s been linked with cars. The host is saying more brands like that may be pulled into China’s auto manufacturing race.

Brand

Leap Motor

Leap Motor is a Chinese car brand. The point here is that Chinese cities are trying to bring more automakers in to build cars locally.

Brand

BYD

BYD is a well-known Chinese company that makes electric cars and batteries. They’re mentioned as one of the brands cities want to attract to build more vehicles.

Term

Solid-state batteries are a newer type of EV battery. They replace the usual liquid inside the battery with a solid material, which can help with safety and charging, and may improve how much energy the battery can store.

Company

Stilantis

“Stilantis” likely means Stellantis, the big car company behind brands like Dodge. They’re testing new battery tech in real cars to see if it works safely and reliably.

Company

Factorial

Factorial is the company providing the battery technology. The host is saying Stellantis is putting those batteries into a car to test them on real roads.

Car

Dodge Charger Daytona

The Dodge Charger Daytona is a Charger model. In this story, it’s being used like a test car to try new battery technology on the road.

Term

energy density

Energy density tells you how much “battery power” you get for the battery’s weight. More energy density usually means you can go farther without making the battery heavier.

Term

charge from fifteen to ninety percent in eighteen minutes

They’re saying you can charge the battery from 15% up to 90% in about 18 minutes. That’s meant to show the battery can add a lot of usable charge quickly.

Term

minus thirty degrees and forty five degrees celsius

They’re giving the temperature range where the battery is expected to work well. That matters because EV batteries can behave worse in very cold or very hot conditions.

Company

Novella

Novella is an aluminum supplier. The host says it restarted production, which can help carmakers get the metal they need and stabilize supply.

Company

Intrepid

Intrepid is a tech company that helps car makers test and connect vehicles during development. They provide tools to collect driving data, analyze issues, and even support remote updates. The goal is to make sure cars are ready for production.

Brand

Neovi Cloud

Neovi Cloud is a software platform used to gather car data and send it to the cloud. It can help spot problems, figure out what caused them, and support remote software updates. It’s meant to help car makers test and improve vehicles faster.

Term

federal tax credit

A federal tax credit is a government discount that lowers the taxes you pay when you buy a qualifying electric vehicle. The episode says EV sales changed around the time that credit ended. That makes it easier to see how much the incentive was affecting demand.

Term

average transaction prices

Average transaction price means the typical price people really pay when they buy an EV. The episode says EV prices have been dropping, and that likely helped sales pick back up. It’s basically a way to track how expensive EVs are becoming for buyers.

Brand

Renault

Renault is the car company in this part of the episode. They’re talking about how they plan to sell more EVs and also build cars for other companies. The point is how Renault is changing its approach to growth and production.

Person

Francois Provo

Francois Provo is the executive being quoted. He’s talking about Renault’s plan to move faster in designing and building new EVs, including a target timeline of under two years. It’s about speeding up how quickly new models reach production.

Car

Renault Twingo

TwinGo EV is an electric car model mentioned as Renault’s next project. The episode uses it to illustrate how quickly Renault wants to design and build new EVs. It’s more about the timeline than about technical details.

Term

paint shop

A paint shop is where a car gets its coatings—like primer and the final color. The episode says it’s usually a big, costly part of making a car because it uses lots of chemicals and has to control what gets released into the air. Improving the paint shop can cut waste and pollution.

Brand

Bentley

Bentley is the car brand here. The episode says Bentley updated its factory paint area to reduce waste and emissions. It also launched a new paint finish as part of the upgrade.

Brand

Spectra Flare

Spectra Flare is the name Bentley gave to a new paint finish. The episode connects it to Bentley’s new paint shop, suggesting the upgrade helps create this look. It’s basically a special paint option for cars.

LIVE

Speaker 1: This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. While this is something that the

North American auto industry did not want to hear at all, President Trump says he's not going to renew the USMCA free trade agreement with Canada and Mexico. Instead, the administration

wants a separate trade deal with each country, which we already knew. But here's where it gets to be a

jumbled mess. Trump wants yearly reviews, which means negotiations will

go on for years. And that's exactly what automakers and

suppliers don't want to see.

Speaker 2: Just this week, Swami Kotagiri.

Speaker 1: The CEO of Magna, said they want stability and visibility.

And do you know what happens when automakers and suppliers don't have stability and visibility, They don't invest. They sit

on their hands and wait until they think it's safe for capital.

Speaker 2: Investment.

Speaker 1: Experts and executive in China have been warning that their auto industry is about to go through a massive restructuring.

China may have as much as twenty eight million units of excess capacity, with most plants running below fifty percent utilization, which is the key reason why most automakers they are losing money. It's also a reason why the price war

is still going strong. On top of that, there are

currently seventy one automotive groups, but that's expected to drop to fifteen by the end of the decade, according to planners at the city of chang Chong. It's home to FAW,

which is one of the oldest automakers in the country and whose sales have been flat or declining for a decade.

FAW makes most of its own cars, but it also makes cars for.

Speaker 2: VW Audi in Toyota.

Speaker 1: The city is trying to lure other automakers to the area, like Leap Motor BYD and Shaomi, and we're probably going to see this happen throughout China. Everyone knows the INDUS

has to eliminate excess capacity, but no one wants to be on the losing end. Stilantis is now testing solid

state batteries on the road in the US, integrating batteries from Factorial into a Dodge Charger Daytona. The automaker even

patented and mechanical architecture to accommodate the solid state cells inside the battery pack. Last year, the two companies demonstrated

that the solid state batteries had an energy density of three hundred and seventy five watt hours per kilogram, could charge from fifteen to ninety percent in eighteen minutes, and are reliable between minus thirty degrees and forty five degrees celsius or negative twenty two degrees to one hundred and thirteen degrees fahrenheit. Stilantis and Factorial are now road testing

the batteries to validate their safety, performance and reliability in real world conditions. Good news for Ford, aluminum supplier Novella

has restarted production at its plant New York, which was shut down.

Speaker 2: Late last year by two fires.

Speaker 1: The supply shortages hurt production of the F one fifty, which has aluminum bodies, and led to Ford cutting its profit forecast and taking a charge of up to two billion dollars. In addition to Ford, Novellas also supplies aluminum

to Stilantis and General Motors.

Speaker 3: At Intrepid, we produce network hardware and software solutions enabling vehicle manufacturers to innovate and design the next generation of modern mobility, delivering scalable, next generation solutions requires thorough testing and validation of vehicle platforms. Intrepid specializes in network interfacing,

data logging, simulation, and gateway capabilities. Intrepid's Neovi Cloud platform

provides real time data collection, instant cloud upload, intelligent detection, advance issue analysis, root cause identification, and remote update deployment.

All of these steps ensure vehicles are cleared for production and ready for the road. Taking your fleet testing into

the future of mobility. Intrepid control systems driven by your data.

Speaker 1: US EV sales might return to where they were before the federal tax credit went away faster than expected. Estimates

for May are right around eighty five thousand units, which according to Kelly Bluebook, would be the highest level since the incentive was taken away. Price likely played a role,

with average transaction prices for evs falling for the eleventh straight month. They came in just over fifty four five

hundred dollars, a drop of four percent, which also outpaced the very minor decrease in overall transaction prices, which came in at forty nine two hundred dollars.

Speaker 2: So with a price gap that's narrowing.

Speaker 1: Higher fuel prices and more choice for consumers not even including more affordable models coming like the new Ford truck and the Slate pickup, we can start to understand why sales of evs are growing again. Monthly EV sales used

to hover around one hundred to one hundred and ten thousand units and then peaked at nearly one hundred and forty eight thousand in September of last year, right before the federal tax credit was yanked. Renault wants to develop

all of the models that it sells in Europe at China.

Speed CEO Francois Provo says the automaker isn't focusing on scale like it did in the past. Instead, he wants

to focus on speed and agility. The automaker are already

develop the new TwinGo EV in under two years so now.

Provo says he wants to develop all of its future models in that timeframe. Also wants to build vehicles for

other automakers. It currently has a deal with four to

build two models, and it's collaborating with Gili in South America and South Korea. Renault says it's aiming to build

three hundred thousand vehicles a year for other automakers by twenty thirty The paint shop typically takes the longest to build, and it's the most expensive part of a vehicle manufacturing plant because there's a ton of chemicals used in paints and sealers that are sprayed into the air and need to be controlled so they don't hurt the environment. Bentley

just upgraded to an all new paint shop that will reduce its waste material by forty five percent and cut other harmful emissions by up to ninety eight percent. To

help celebrate the new facility, Bentley introduced a new paint finish it calls Spectra Flare. Two legacy automotive suppliers that

used to compete heavily against each other are joining forces.

While at least partly, Eaton is going to merge its mobility business with Data. It's spinning off its truck transmission,

engine and emissions business, which will be absorbed into Data.

It's all part of a deal called a reverse Morris Trust that will give Eaton shareholders just over half the shares in DAANA. The news broke early this morning, so

we'll have to watch how the stock market reacts to the news. But investors seem like they clearly knew something

was afoot.

Speaker 2: Dana stock is up forty.

Speaker 1: Two percent so far this year, and Eaton's is up forty eight percent. Cars have become bigger, heavier, and so

expensive that most people can't afford to buy a new one.

And that's in the developed world. In the developing world,

the situation is even worse. What we need is to

rethink our transportation system and that's what today's Auto Line after Hours will be all about. We've got Chris Baroni

Bird coming on the show. A lot of you know

he was a key R and D exec at Chrysler and General Motors. This will be a deep dive into

rethinking mobility. So join John and Gary when the show

goes live at three pm Eastern Time today. And that's

a rat for today's report. But we'd like to give

a special shout out to all our members who help us to bring you the most important developments in the global automotive industry.

Speaker 4: Auto Line Daily is brought to you by Bridgetone Solutions for your Journey CSP, the composites solution partner Intrepid Control Systems over the year engineering boost your game and thanks to the following YouTube and Patreon members.

Speaker 5: 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 2: Making a life full of memories, one road trip at a time, that's what really matters.

Speaker 1: Rigdon Weatherpeak Tires with a seventy thousand mile women at Warranty

0:00

9:20

Magna

excess capacity

utilization

price war

FAW

Shaomi

Leap Motor

BYD

solid state batteries

Stilantis

Factorial

Dodge Charger Daytona

energy density

charge from fifteen to ninety percent in eighteen minutes

minus thirty degrees and forty five degrees celsius

Novella

Intrepid

Neovi Cloud

federal tax credit

average transaction prices

Renault

Francois Provo

Renault Twingo

paint shop

Bentley

Spectra Flare

About this episode

Original notes