April 6, 2026 | Is it time to kill the gas tax?; Senators push Trump on China

Experience more profitable end-to-end inventory management.

Pricing precision with real shopper data.

Efficient sourcing aligned to your strategy.

AI-powered vehicle descriptions that save time and drive engagement.

Experience more with V-Auto by Cox Automotive.

Welcome to Daily Drive. For Monday, April 6,

2026, I'm Kellyn Walker in Las Vegas. Today on the show,

three Democratic senators push Trump to keep Chinese automakers out of the U.S.

Nick Saban's dealership group expands in South Florida,

and Jeep's simplified Grand Wagoneer strategy is working. Plus,

Alliance for Automotive Innovation CEO, John Bozella,

says it's time to get rid of the federal gas tax.

What would that say to customers? They'd be thrilled if we took the gas tax away,

and what we could do is replace the gas tax with a fee-based system like a user fee or an access fee.

Let's run through all the news you need to know to keep up in the auto industry.

Three Democratic senators are pushing President Trump to keep Chinese automakers out of the U.S.

market entirely. Senators Tammy Baldwin, Alyssa Slotkin, and Chuck Schumer say letting Chinese

manufacturers set up shop here would give them an insurmountable advantage over American automakers

and create national security risk. It's a response to Trump's comments back in January

when he told the Detroit Economic Club he'd welcome Chinese factories if they create American jobs.

The letter comes ahead of Trump's planned summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in May.

Dream Motor Group, which is partially owned by former Alabama football coach Nick Saban,

just picked up two dealerships in South Florida. The group bought a Nissan and Mitsubishi store

from Bill Seidel's automotive group in a deal that closed April 1st. It's Dream Motor's first

time selling those brands. Saban owns the group with his business partners Joe Agresti and Steve

Cannon. And Jeep's revamped Grand Wagoneer strategy seems to be paying off so far. The brand dropped

the confusing Wagoneer nameplate, lowered the Grand Wagoneer's starting price to about $66,000

and slash configurations from $64,000 to just $9,000. First quarter sales soared

more than six-fold to more than $14,000 already surpassing the Grand Wagoneer's best full-year

performance. Joining me now to talk more about this story is our own Vince Bonjr, who covers

Stellantis and its many brands for us at Automotive News. Vince, welcome back to Daily Drive.

Thank you. So Vince, this is a pretty dramatic turnaround. What was going wrong with the original

Wagoneer strategy that Jeep had to make such a big change? Well, the big thing was there was a lot

of complexity in the lineup. And so you had the Wagoneer, you had the Grand Wagoneer. And some

consumers were actually confused that the Grand Wagoneer is, they thought it was bigger than the

Wagoneer, but that's not the case. They each have a regular version and they also have a long

wheelbase. And so there was a longer Grand Wagoneer L and Wagoneer L. And so beyond that,

consumers was really confused about that. They also had their, the trim lineups was also hard

to understand for some folks as well. So they had the series one, two, and three for each model.

And then on top of that, dealers didn't know how to explain it. They were, I spoke to one dealer

who had to use Czech GPT just to figure out how to figure out what features were in each trim.

So there was some confusion around that as well. And so, yeah, they had to really, they had the

streamline that cut down those configurations. And as you saw in the first quarter, you're seeing

some major growth in that nameplate. Well, the new pricing strategy is interesting, starting at about

$66,000 puts the Grand Wagoneer right where the regular Wagoneer used to be. Now, how is Jeep

positioning this now against competitors like the Cadillac Escalade? Yeah, so the thing is what

they did is that, and so obviously the Grand Wagoneer now starts as you mentioned in the mid-60s

where the Wagoneer was. And so this Grand Wagoneer is not exactly as, I guess, as upscale as the

previous base Grand Wagoneer. And so they had to remove some features to get it down to that,

that level. But at the same time, they also have, they still have the upper level Grand

Wagoneers that can compete directly with Escalade that start around, you know, around $90,000 if

you want all the massage seats and the passenger display, infotainment screen and all that kind

of stuff. And so they have the upper Grand Wagoneer still. They just have to expand the reach of it

and they brought it down to, you know, the old range of the Wagoneer too.

Gotcha. Good stuff. Vince, thank you so much for joining me. Yeah, no problem.

Coming up, John Bozella of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation talks about how

surging gas prices are affecting EV demand and the industry strategy going forward.

That's next on Daily Drive.

Are you a dealer creating a workplace culture your employees are proud to be part of?

Applications are now open for the 2026 Automotive News best dealerships to work for program.

This isn't just an award. It's a chance to get real insight into what's working at your

dealership and where you can improve. And we've expanded the categories this year,

recognizing everything from technician experience and leadership development

to AI enablement and employee retention. The registration deadline is April 17th.

Find out more and apply at AutoNews.com.

Running a dealership today isn't just about finding the right cars.

It's about finding the right cars consistently, efficiently, and at the right price

while the market keeps shifting around you. Inventory management has become more complex.

Vehicles come from more sources, margins are tighter, and every buying decision carries

more risk than it used to. Yet too often, inventory decisions are still made with

fragmented data, disconnected tools, and limited visibility into what's actually working.

The most successful dealerships are approaching inventory differently.

They're managing it as a system, not a series of one-off decisions.

They're looking at market data, demand signals, pricing, and acquisition opportunities together,

so every move is more informed and more intentional.

When inventory is managed end-to-end, teams spend less time reacting and more time acting.

They can see what's selling, what's stalling, and where the next opportunity is coming from.

That clarity helps reduce aging, improve turn, and protect profitability.

The right vehicles are out there. The difference is having a smarter, more connected way to find

them, price them, and move them. Learn how dealerships are rethinking inventory management

with the Auto, and what a more confident, data-driven approach can do for your business.

Welcome back to Daily Drive. I'm Kellan Walker.

Gas prices have surged past $4 a gallon in recent weeks, driven by the Iran war and disruptions to

oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz. And that's reshaping the conversation around

electric vehicles and the auto industry's electrification strategy.

At the JD Power Forum in New York last week, our own Molly Boygon spoke with John Bozella,

CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation. They talked about how the spike in gas prices

is affecting consumer behavior, and what it means for EV demand, and the Alliance's push

to get rid of the federal gas tax. John Bozella with the Alliance for Automotive

Innovation, thanks so much for joining us. Happy to be here.

So you had some really interesting things to say on stage at the JD Power Auto Forum here

in New York City. One of the interesting things that came up was how the gas prices increase

because of the Iran war is impacting the auto industry and in particular impacting

a sort of buzz for EVs. So how are you thinking about the impact of the Iran war on the auto

industry? So clearly what we've seen in addition to other challenges and disruptions,

broader economic impacts, impacts to supply chains is this dramatic increase in gas prices.

And it's been like, I mean, I've seen at least in my experience, gas prices go up over a dollar

just in the last three weeks. So there's no question everybody's seeing it. So what is happening?

Well, we are starting to see signs that customers are looking at more fuel efficient models. Now,

this has been true for quite some time with regard to hybrids. So we've seen a long time

run up in hybrids, but we're also seeing a little bit of interest in dealer lots for EVs as well.

What the data tells us is once customers perceive that that gas price increase is lasting,

that usually drives a shift in behavior either to more fuel efficient vehicles or to smaller

vehicles that would be more fuel efficient than a larger vehicle. And what about the other impacts

on manufacturing? Oil prices impact so many parts of the auto industry. We've been covering that

even just beyond the actual fuel for manufacturing into plastics, chemicals.

What are you hearing from automakers about that burden?

Yeah. So we're starting to hear that there are some other stresses in the system related to

other components and commodities. And so we're going to have to continue to watch that.

One thing I would say, by the way, back on the question of the price at the pump,

that policymakers ought to pay attention to is we're in the middle, in Washington,

we're in the middle of reauthorizing a five year surface transportation bill. Every five years,

like the locusts, every five years, Congress does reauthorize this funding for highways. And highway

funding has been reliant on the gas tax. You know what we could do? We could right now repeal the

gas tax. Right now, what would that say to customers? They'd be thrilled if we took the gas

tax away. And what we could do is replace the gas tax with a fee based system, like a user fee or

an access fee. And that would actually increase highway funding, reduce burdens on customers,

and be a fairer way to fund our surface transportation needs. And I really hope

policymakers look at this moment and decide now's the time to do that.

When you talk about user based fees, are you thinking of tolls?

No, I'm thinking about a registration fee. So no one's going to pay attention to how far you

drive or where you drive. Nobody's going to be, there's no nanny state, nobody's going to be looking

into your dashboard to try and figure out where you're going or how far you've gone. It's a pure

annual registration fee type of idea. We don't, we have them at the state level,

but we don't have it at the federal level. And so it's a clean, easy way to do it. And you do it

for every mode of transportation and you base it on weight, the lighter the vehicle, the less

you pay, the heavier the vehicle, the more you pay. I want to come back to that. But just before

we turn away from oil, gas, electric vehicles, hybrids, you were saying on stage at the auto

forum that you feel that right now there's been sort of a lot of movement between extremes.

And that you're hoping for more middle ground on policy encouraging,

alternative power trains, electric vehicles. Can you talk a little bit about what that middle

ground would look like? Yes. So here's what I mean by middle ground. Let's take emissions and fuel

economy. Here's what a middle ground looks like. It looks technically feasible. It looks responsive

to consumer needs. And it looks like continued progress. Those are the three key principles.

Right? If you're focused on those three principles, focused on the customer and providing customer

choice, focused on continued investments in technologies, but technologies that we know

how to build in that are feasible, and we're focused on continued improvement, we're going to

get it right every single time. And the most important thing about that, in addition to

serving the customer well, is it provides the manufacturer with certainty and predictability.

And when you talk about the technical feasibility purpose, I sort of think,

does that include a bit of a stretch? Is the government still supposed to be challenging

the manufacturers? Yes, of course. And that's what I mean by continued improvement.

You have to expect that year over year we're going to continue to reduce emissions and we're

going to continue to improve fuel economy and we're going to continue to improve safety.

What you want to do that is with a balanced approach to technology, right? Not a guess on

what technology might be in the future, but understanding where manufacturers are and where

they're heading and a little bit of stretch to make sure that we're making progress.

I want to turn to the affordability question because I think, I wonder about if there was the

imposition of a registration fee at the federal level, if that wouldn't sort of hurt the consumer's

perception of vehicle affordability, or if it's your understanding that consumers would

basically understand that was coming from the government rather than the manufacturer,

but it still sort of leaves open this idea of the overall price of the vehicle to the consumer.

So I guess generally, how are you thinking about addressing affordability and then how

does it fit in with your idea about the registration? Great question. So first,

the overall question on affordability. Affordability has always been important to

manufacturers, and I would argue important to dealers as well. We absolutely have to provide

customers with what they need and want at prices they can afford. By the way, we do that. On the

floor of the auto show tomorrow, you're going to be able to walk across the floor and see

products available in the low $20,000 to products available in six figures. We do that today.

Part of what's happening with affordability is American consumers are purchasing sort of a

richer, higher level mix of vehicles, but that doesn't mean that there aren't affordable vehicles

available. I hear this all the time. The average transaction price, average transaction price

is around $50,000. That's probably true, but 70% of Americans buy cars at a lower price point than

that. So in other words, the median price is lower, and that means that there's lots of choices out

there. So what do we have to do? We have to continue to focus on cost as manufacturers. We

have to continue to focus on having a balanced policy environment, making sure that we don't

have an excessive tariffs, making sure that we have alignment with regard to what the regulations

are that creates certainty and an opportunity for manufacturers to continue to invest,

and we have to make sure that we're responsive to what the customers need and want. So I think

if we're doing those things, we will continue to address affordability concerns, and we have to.

Now, to your question about, gee, does a registration fee, you know, customers are going

to say, shoot, you're increasing the overall cost of ownership. I'm repealing the gas tax.

And if you look at what's happening with gas prices now, gas prices are increasing so dramatically

that there are a larger percentage of total cost of ownership than they've ever been.

And so the fee would reduce that burden, right? And so, and also fully fund the roads, which,

you know, having lived in Michigan and a part of it, like, you know, like, you know, fix the

darn roads, right? Like, so, so let's do both. Looking ahead to this year, 2026, and, you know,

midterms are coming up, lots of action in Congress. I'm wondering about what policy

decisions you are looking ahead to. And as sort of a part B of that question, I would ask you,

how has your interactions with the administration changed? Do you feel that the administration

is getting more or less receptive, more or less available? What is that interplay looking like

at this point? Yeah, great. So, so first, first thing first, okay, what's on the policy landscape?

I mentioned this highway funding bill. Part of that bill is a what's called a safety title.

So there's going to be a massive amount of policymaking around how to create a more

competitive and more effective national highway traffic safety administration,

remodeling the new car assessment program. All of that will create a new opportunity

for safety policy. And I think that's critically important. So we're going to be focused

on safety and getting that safety title over the line in a way that creates more safe outcomes,

even than we have today. So, so that's, that's, that's a big piece of it. I think there's a lot

of discussion in the policy space around this China question. China is not only a geo strategic

challenge for the United States, but it's also a national security challenge. So we're going to

continue to see policy on China and in the national security space. Now to your last question about

how we're doing with the administration, I will say this, I am highly confident that the Trump

administration understands the critical importance of the auto industry in the US, not only to

our economy, but to our national security. And so I think we have started and continue to be in a

good place. He recognizes how important this industry is, how important it the men and women

who work across the country in this industry are. And so, so that's always a foundational

place that we start. Alliance for Automotive Innovation CEO, John Bozella, spoke with our

own Molly Boygon at the JD Power Forum in New York City. That's Daily Drive for today. I'm

Kellan Walker. Thanks to Automotive News executive producer Jake Nier, as well as our own Vince

Von Jr. and Gail Howe for their reporting for today's podcast. You can get the latest news on

electric vehicles, gas prices, and everything happening in the auto industry at AutoNews.com.

Come back tomorrow for a conversation with Randy Parker, CEO of Hyundai Motor North America.

If you just take a really good look at what that body-on-frame SUV looks like,

I think it's going to give you a really good indication of what the future could be.

We'd love to hear from you. Let us know what you think of the show and the topics we cover today.

Send us an email at dailydrive at autonews.com or leave us a voicemail at 313-444-2774.

And if you enjoy the podcast, remember to like, leave a review, and subscribe so you never miss

an episode.

April 6, 2026 | Is it time to kill the gas tax?; Senators push Trump on China

Jeep Grand Wagoneer

Cadillac Escalade

About this episode

Original notes