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Welcome to Daily Drive for Wednesday, August 20th, 2025. I'm Kellan Walker in Las Vegas.
Today on the show, suppliers expect a tough six months ahead.
Honda taps a Silicon Valley startup for self-driving software,
and Hertz partners with Amazon Autos to sell used vehicles online. Plus, the head of Maserati
North America, Andrea Soriani, talks about challenges and opportunities for the brand
in an uncertain trade environment.
Let's run through all the news you need to know to keep up in the auto industry.
Suppliers are more pessimistic about their companies' overall performance than automakers
and dealers. Supplier professionals also have lower expectations about how their companies
will perform and how the auto sector will fare over the next six months.
That's according to Automotive News' first-ever Auto Industry Confidence Index.
About 47% of suppliers said they would rate their companies' current performance as
excellent or good, compared with 56% of dealers and 61% of automakers.
Honda has signed a multi-year agreement to work with a U.S. AI startup to develop self-driving
technology. The Japanese automaker and California-based Helm AI will collaborate on
producing advanced driver assistance systems for Honda's mass-market vehicles by 2027.
They did not give a value or duration of the contract in their statement.
And Hertz Global Holdings says its car sales unit will partner with Amazon to
sell used vehicles. The collaboration builds on Amazon Auto's recent expansion into used vehicle
sales. Hertz and Amazon will start offering their service within 75 miles of Dallas,
Houston, Los Angeles, and Seattle. They plan to expand to Hertz Car Sales 45 locations across the U.S.
And those are today's headlines. You can find more details on all those stories at
autonews.com. Joining me now to talk about how parts makers are feeling in this time of uncertainty
is our own John Irwin, who covers the automotive supply chain for us at Automotive News.
John, welcome back to Daily Drive. Thanks for having me back.
So we recently talked about how suppliers seem to be weathering the tariff storm well so far,
most had higher than expected earnings results in the second quarter.
Why are they more concerned than automakers and dealers?
Yeah, it's interesting because suppliers, like you said, have really done a little bit better,
I think, overall than maybe they were anticipating a few months ago. But there are a few issues that
kind of stand out moving forward for them, maybe even a little bit more than automakers
and dealers. First of all, you kind of have to zoom out a little bit and look at the broader
context of the last several years. Suppliers, really during COVID and then through the
semiconductor shortages, inflation, everything else, their bottom lines are really impacted
and affected maybe to a greater degree than automakers and dealers were. Supplier margins
really shrunk during that time. So they're coming off of a period like that where already they were
dealing with balance sheets that weren't quite where they wanted. And now when we look at tariffs,
while yes, they've been relatively successful in pushing tariff costs from themselves up the
supply chain all the way to automakers, the devil's always in the details. And what
I mean by that is that for a lot of suppliers, depending on how the contracts are written
and who's actually doing the importing and exporting, a lot of them are still having to pay
the tariff up front when they move the part across the border. And because of that,
there might be some cash flow issues, even if they have a deal with their automaker or their
customer to get that money back eventually, that might not happen for weeks or months.
And so that kind of leaves them in a state where there might be some cash flow worries
and that sort of thing. And then on top of that, there's electrification and a lot
of the investments that they've made in that space. Maybe a few years ago,
suppliers putting a lot of money to help support a lot of new EV programs that
automakers were looking for. A lot of those, the return on investment hasn't quite been there
for a lot of these programs, just sales haven't quite been where a lot of automakers were
thinking. And because of that, suppliers are kind of left with a lot of stranded capital
moving forward. That's something that they're really worried about, whether that's
making investments in the US because automakers are looking to get around tariffs
suppliers want to make sure that those commitments are for the long haul and that's
something that a few years from now, if tariffs are scaled back that automakers might move back from
or what have you, or if all of a sudden, a few years from now, EV demand really takes off and
they just shipped it back to making investments in ICE vehicles. They don't want to be left
holding the bag. So there's a lot going on that makes suppliers maybe a little bit more
pessimistic, I guess, relative to automakers and dealers when it comes to
their outlook over the next several months. And what kinds of anecdotal stories did you hear
from sources that you spoke with for this story? Yeah, there were a lot of interesting things that
suppliers who I reached out to had to say, one executive who I spoke with, he runs a
large tier one supplier and he basically was saying, things have been frozen for the
last several months. Their customers aren't making the major investment decisions that
maybe they would have otherwise, at least not to the same extent. And so that's left
everyone else waiting for some sort of long-term clarity on trade, EV plans, everything else.
So because of that, everyone's just stuck sitting around and that has long-term effects.
This executive basically said this is something that has caused some more existential dread
essentially for his company and for the auto industry in general, then even COVID,
the 0809 bankruptcies and the recession. And that's because if you're just kind of sitting
around waiting, not making the investments, you're not necessarily winning new business
first of all in the short term. And then long-term, there's worry about, if everyone's just kind of
not making those investments in advanced technologies, maybe to the same degree because
you're not sure where things are going to end up, that you might fall behind
globally competitively, whether it's with Chinese automakers or other competitors globally.
So that was something that I heard from a few suppliers that you're saying,
even if we're kind of weathering this short term, there are a lot of long-term concerns about where
the auto industry, especially in North America is going to end up and there's a kind of a wide
range of potential scenarios and how things could play out. But a lot of them are worried
about the more pessimistic side of things where maybe things, if you're just sitting
around for 12, 18 months, not being able to make decisions, you really fall behind.
And that gap, which already might be there when it comes to your technology and vis-Ă -vis
China, that might be hard to make up that gap moving forward. So that's a big concern. At the
same time, a lot of companies are still keeping their heads down, just trying to get through day
to day. And like we've talked about before, they've done a decent job of at least doing that.
So it's interesting times for the supply chain as always.
Perfect. John, thank you so much for joining me.
Thanks so much.
You can find all of our coverage of the Auto Industry Confidence Index at AutoNews.com.
Coming up, Maserati North America General Manager Andrea Soriani joins the show.
That's next on Daily Drive.
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Welcome back to daily drive. I'm Kellan Walker.
Of Stellantis's 14 brands, Maserati might have the most uncertain future here in North
America. In June Reuters reported that the automaker was considering a sale of its luxury brand.
Stellantis responded, quote, respectfully Maserati is not for sale. So where does that
leave the brand? Our own Kali Shofner caught up with Maserati North America Chief Andrea Soriani
at Monterey Car Week in California. Here's their conversation.
What are your powertrain plans moving forward?
So Maserati made it clear that we will continue producing ICE internal combustion engines as
long as there is demand, which we think there is going to be demand for a long time.
But for the same token, all of our range except for the MC Pura and the G2 Stradale
is available with the Fogore version. Fogore is our EV version. So the client is looking for an
electric vehicle. We can definitely deliver the electric version, but we will continue offering
petrol engine cars for the foreseeable future. We are not going on electric or we are not going
all petrol. The same token. Okay. So a balance there.
Okay. And we are actually not even forcing dealers right now or clients
to a certain quota of electric vehicles. We will fill the natural demands of electric vehicles.
Okay. And so the initial plan it sounds like was to go all electric by 2028,
but that is now no longer. That's very soon. So that's, that's correct. You know,
I think a lot of companies went on, you know, on the, on electric plans for the future,
depending on, on market rules, regulation. But I think at the end the market is spoken.
And we need to make sure that we have the right products for, for the clients. And again,
you see a mix of demand. So we will keep producing both versions. And actually the
best part is that if you have the Greccale or a Gran Turismo Gran Cabrio, the electric version
looks exactly like the internal combustion engine. So you don't have to compromise on design or to
choose a different design because you can have the, the power train you like. This is a thing
very important. Right. Absolutely. And kind of touching on that. What is your outlook for the
US market? Oh, that's complicated. I think we live in a, in a time of high uncertainty.
We got different news every, every days on global economy. It's a very tough political
environment globally. There are a lot of disruption in the supply chain. Still,
there is some uncertainty around the tariffs. So it's not easy to, to predict the future
right now. What we'll try to do is to be nimble, is to be ready to, to adjust. Because I think the
name of the game now is to manage the uncertainty. Listen, if you know what is happening, you can
plan accordingly. With uncertainty, you need to be nimble and fast to react to the changes
protecting the value of the brand and your, and your consumers. Absolutely. What are some
of the things that you're working on in the US market that you can build upon? Well,
first of all, it's our dealer body. It is, uh, uh, strengthening the relationship with our dealer
body, making sure that we support them in the right way. And this is very important because
they are my first clients. Second, we are working on the tens of marketing and getting more
experiential activities, more activations. We are, we just done a very successful
event at Cota where we had our entire range. We brought in the extreme. We will be in Montremblain
soon. We'll be in Toronto. We will be down in Miami because at the end it's all about driving.
I know that sounds cliche. So our goal is, along with our dealers, to have more and more people
experiencing majority. And then in the, in the mid-term with, with our HQ, we are working
on a new range of products. And, uh, we hope to have some exciting news very soon. Okay. That's
good to know. And touching on the dealers, how many US dealerships do you have now?
US, North America is one or three. Okay. If you want US precisely, get JRD.
Okay. CBD. I can do it. No, because we just made a couple of changes of open Indian closing.
So I want to make sure I give you the most accurate number. Okay. I appreciate that.
I can give you the accurate number because we closed a couple of dealers in minor markets,
but you just opened another one. Okay. And I want to make sure that, you know,
dealers can be very sensitive and I want to get anybody upset. Absolutely. Do you want
more stores being judging by the North American number? Is that number just right?
I think we have 91 in the US, 12 in Canada. Okay. 91 in the US, 12 in Canada. Okay. So
knowing that then, is that the right number from Ozurati? We don't have a preset number.
Okay. As long as we have a dealer in all the right markets and pretty much, it's not that we are
saying, oh, we must have 100, 110 dealers. We must have all the right markets served in the right
way. And that's going to be the name of the game. Okay. Absolutely. Are there any trends
in the luxury market that you want capitalized on? There are a lot of trends in the luxury markets.
Due to motive industry, unfortunately, because of the nature of the business and the product,
sometimes takes time to adjust. Definitely, luxury is continuing the trend of going digital,
which was counterintuitive years ago. A lot of our clients, they begin the journey online.
The showroom experience driving the car is still fundamental. You know, luxury is about,
if you say, it's about the experience that Ozurati is all about emotions. So, you know,
Ozurati is a multi-sensory experience in the design, start with your eyes, then you touch
the leather, you have the smell of the leather, the sound of the engine. So this is something
that our clients appreciate is something that is coming, came a long way in luxury.
What we see is more and more customization. Doesn't mean going to extreme one-off,
but everybody likes something a little bit unique. And definitely, we have just re-launched our
40-series, the 40-series program, which is the customization program. Okay. So definitely,
this is what we are seeing now. Digital trend continuing, but still the importance of having
something unique, something you can experience, and still the connection between the client and the
product. So is when, you know, the emotions became very important and the really the connection
with your products. Okay. Absolutely. You mentioned uncertainty in the market,
tariffs play into that obviously. So how tariffs impacted your US sales strategy
and performance? And is there, are there any changes in your approach there?
Well, definitely tariffs are putting some, some stress on the entire supply chain and
in our bottom line. Right now we are waiting for, you know, there was an agreement that was
reached between Europe and the US. Nevertheless, we still don't have the executive details
on the implementation. Okay. And as you know, Europe is made by independent countries. So
we are waiting for the, let's say, one-on-one negotiations between the US and the States
for visibility. We play according to the news we get on the market. As I said before,
trying to be nimble, we hope on some, on some good news. Yes, absolutely. You and all the
other automakers. I think we are all pretty much together in this one. Yes. Yes, definitely.
And going back to the dealers, what kind of feedback are you getting from them,
especially in recent months, about the state of the business?
State of the business, all together they have a lot of pressure and there is a lot of competition.
So the uncertainty affects OEM, dealers, competition is, is fierce. All manufacturers
have wonderful products, but that's the reason why I said it's really important for me to work with
my dealers, trying to help them to reduce costs, to get the right information, training and coaching
about products, consumer journey and sales experience and delivering the right products
in a timely manner. So it's a whole combination. To me, dealers are my first clients and
they're to be partners. Without my dealers, I can't reach my clients, so my final clients.
So it's really important to have an open conversation and to be nice to each other.
Are there any products, new products coming to the US soon?
Come to see me soon. Okay, soon, soon, like that.
How has the Great Collie Reventions a little bit performed in the US and which variant is selling the most?
Right now is the, you're the model, right? I think it is the model that is selling the most.
It's our, I would like to call, most accessible model.
And it's still the lever chafoum, majority experience, internal design, performance,
versatility, space. So we are fairly satisfied with the performance and definitely it's our
best-selling model right now. Basically, it replaced the Levante in terms of best-selling model.
Oh, wow, okay. Because we just based out the Levante as you know.
That's Daily Drive for today. I'm Kellan Walker. Thanks to automotive news executive producer
Jake Nier as well as our own John Irwin for his reporting for today's podcast.
You can get the latest news on luxury brands, suppliers and everything happening in the
auto industry at AutoNews.com. Come back tomorrow for a conversation with Trisha Johnson,
head of design for EV Startup Slate. It absolutely had to be both really, really low cost and really,
really something people would want. Something people would feel truly proud of.
That's actually why I signed on as a designer because so often one or the other of those
would get left behind. We'd love to hear from you. Let us know what you think of the show
and the topics we covered today. Send us an email at DailyDrive at AutoNews.com
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