DAILY: Germany Backtracks On Pollution Goals, VW Struggles With Job Cuts & Ford Ranger Upgraded | 28 Nov 2025

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Home.

Get where you're going with MDY, the original mid-cap ETF from State Street Investment Management.

Getting there starts here.

Before investing, consider the fund's investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses.

Visit statestreet.com slash IM for a prospectus containing this and other information.

Read it carefully.

MDY is subject to risk similar to those of stocks.

All ETFs are subject to risk, including possible loss of principal, Alps distributor, Zinc distributor.

Welcome back to the podcast.

Today, Germany backtracks on pollution goals.

VW struggles with job cuts and the Ford Ranger is upgraded.

Plus, they tuned later in the show.

I'll tell you why people in Australia are bidding on Rivians.

They can't even drive.

And on EV News China, our Chinese spin-off show,

today, we're talking about China EVs joining the global top 10,

Leap Motors Laffer 5,

and Tesla denying a China breakup.

Let's get into it.

Germany's Chancellor will write to the European Union

and oppose the ban on sales of new combustion cars from 2035,

setting up a high-level clash at the heart of Europe.

Europe's clean air goals, reduction in pollution,

cleaning up the air that we breathe is crucial for this and all future generations.

And now, Germany breaking from those promises, it seems.

Friedrich Mertz, the Chancellor, said in Berlin earlier today

that he will send a formal letter to the European Commission

urging it to keep technological options open for the auto industry.

And from 2035, he wants plug-in hybrids, combustion engine range

extenders and more efficient conventional engines.

This, of course, would be a disaster for air pollution

across the bloc, and there's going to be many countries

that push back on that within the European Union.

And of course, it just doesn't seem the right thing to do.

What with wanting to clean up the air for future generations that we pass on,

but still Germany and its auto industry in a perilous position right now.

The timing is deliberate because on December 10th,

the Commission will unveil a support package for Europe's struggling car industry,

which is wrestling with patchy battery EV demand in some places.

American tariffs and competition from China.

The package will revisit the EU's 2035 emissions roadmap earlier this year.

Carmakers won relief on CO2 rules.

Emissions will now be averaged across the 2025 to 2027 period,

rather than over this single year.

Mertz's stance largely matches the preference of the German automakers, of course,

who want more flexibility to carry on selling combustion engines

and highly polluting vehicles because it makes the money.

Campaigners say Berlin is turning its back on cleaning up the air.

Sebastian Bock of Transport and Environment, Germany,

warning that anyone who thinks Germany will be able to secure jobs

and value creation in the future with combustion,

which is already outdated even today, is closing their eyes to reality.

OK, let's move on.

Volkswagen is one of those struggling companies.

Their main car brand is falling behind its own overhaul itself.

Volkswagen pledged deep job cuts in Germany to fund the shift to EV,

yet the pace of departures is slowing as thin EV margins and high US tariffs squeeze them.

In December, the company set a goal of cutting 35,000 jobs in Germany by 2030.

That's about a quarter of the brand's German workforce.

An internal memo seen by the Financial Times today says 25,000 staff

have accepted exit deals since early in 2024.

But momentum has now faded.

Only about 1,000 people signed up to leave in the third quarter of this year,

compared to an average of 4,000 every three months over the previous year and a half.

Volkswagen still needs 10,000 more Germans to agree to go.

The timing is awkward.

The company's traditional cost base is colliding with the much slimmer margins

on the electric cars they make.

And on top of that, it faces five billion euros of extra costs from high US tariffs

and mounting losses at Porsche are eroding the funds for new models and battery investment.

Let's talk for they're doing more than refreshing the Rangers plug-in hybrid in Europe.

It's turning the region's best selling pickup into a bit of a tech demo.

New trims, big screens and a segment first hands free highway system.

BlueCruise is coming to the Ranger plug-in hybrid on top of the existing XLT

wild track and MSRT versions.

Ford Pro is adding platinum and limited trims to the plug-in hybrid Ranger.

The idea is to widen access while keeping the trucks core strengths, towing,

off-road ability, payload, vehicle to load.

All Ranger models now come with a 12.4 inch configurable digital

instrument cluster and a 12 inch central touchscreen.

Let's go to France.

They're keeping their electric vehicle purchase subsidy,

the so-called bonus ecologic in place until the end of next year.

The move preserves the legal framework that was due to run until the end of this

year and offers rare policy stability for Europe's second largest EV market.

At a delicate moment, the current bonus depends on both household income

and the carbon footprint of making the vehicle and the battery.

Since the middle of this year, France has dropped fixed grant amounts,

supporting instead levels move with the prices in the market for energy

saving certificates or the CEE and funding now comes from this CEE system

rather than the state budget itself.

At today's prices, low income households can receive up to 5,700 euros.

Middle income buyers get 4,700 euros and higher income buyers

still get 3,500 euros off a new vehicle.

This framework is now locked in until the end of 2026,

designed to taper support over time.

Even so, subsidy levels were raised in July of this year

after sitting between two and four thousand pounds since the beginning of 2024.

Tying the bonus to the CEE prices looks like a response to softening demand

after a small drop in EV registrations in the first half of 2025.

Let's talk Hyundai.

They're expanding their vehicle to grid and vehicle to home services

in Korea, Europe and the United States,

so their EVs will be part of the national energy systems.

The latest phase adds V2G in Korea and Europe

plus vehicle to home in the US.

In Korea, Hyundai plans the country's first vehicle to grid

customer pilot on Jeju Island by the end of this year

using the Kia EV9 and Hyundai Ioniq 9.

In Europe, a commercial V2G service will start in the Netherlands

with customer onboarding expected by the end of this year

and talking about supporting the grid from 2026 Renault

and We Drive Solar will offer the Netherlands

first vehicle to grid AC service for private EV owners.

Instead of just drawing power,

Renault's will work as mobile batteries that support the grid.

Owners will charge when wind and solar output is high

and electricity is cheaper at those times.

Then sell it back to the grid

when demand and prices are higher.

A small group of early users in the Netherlands

will start onboarding in the coming weeks

ahead of a full public launch in the first half of 2026.

The Dutch rollout follows Renault Group's earlier launch

of AC vehicle to grid in France.

To begin with, the service will be limited to Renault Group models

fitted with V2G ready onboard chargers

and more vehicles due to be added next year.

It builds on We Drive's 10 years of work

on bidirectional charging

and its national network of AC V2G charge points

and their role in projects such as the Utrecht Energised Scheme.

Now, Tesla is stepping up European production

as demand for the Model Y from Berlin

is redrawing their delivery routes.

Gigafactory Berlin has moved to two full shifts

while in Norway, Tesla is setting new annual sales records

beating Volkswagen's long-standing benchmark from 2016.

Berlin plant manager Andre Thierig telling German news agency DPA

that the factory has been running two shifts since September

to keep up with demand.

The site now ships cars to over 30 markets

because of the tariff spat between the US and Europe.

Model Y is built in Germany, now go to Canada.

Even with the second shift, Berlin still has plenty of room to grow.

The plant builds several versions of the Model Y.

Performance and standard among them,

but it remains focused on that single model.

Tesla's factories elsewhere in Texas, Fremont and Shanghai

each assemble more than one vehicle line,

which suggests Berlin has scope either to add new models

or to lift Model Y volumes.

One of the questions being asked today

in an analysis piece by Reuters, which I thought was interesting,

was about where Tesla goes as a car company.

Their decade long growth story as an automaker

has stalled in 2025 as they very publicly pivot to AI and robotics.

New figures show sharp sales declines in Europe

are now going to be locked in for 2025,

growing pressure from China and a fading lift

from the American tax break since the end of the tax credit.

In Europe, Tesla's sales are down 49% from a year ago,

according to the European Car Makers Association.

In 2025, sales in the region are down

as the overall EV market is up 26%.

The analyst platform, Visible Alpha, expects Tesla's

global deliveries to be down 7% this year.

Contrast with Tesla's record third quarter deliveries

because of American buyers racing to claim their tax credit.

The numbers suggest deeper problems, though.

In Europe, Tesla depends on just the three and the why.

Analysts see market saturation and fierce price competition

below $30,000, where more than a dozen electric cars now vie for buyers.

Electrifying.com counts at least 50 new electric models

due in the UK next year.

Its boss, Ginny Buckley, says out of those 50,

none of them will be a Tesla.

Rivals are seizing the opening as well.

BYD sold 17 and a half thousand cars in Europe in October,

more than twice Tesla's tally.

Volkswagen's global EV sales through September up as well,

roughly three times Tesla's.

The problem for Elon Musk is also that Europeans have caught up,

says Ferdinand Dudenhofer of the car Think Tank.

In China, Tesla's deliveries are down 36% in October

and 8.4% the year so far, squeezed by heavy discounting

from the likes of Xiaomi, Cherry, BYD and others

and in the United States, where the end of the tax credit

brought forward sales, the 18% sales jump in September

turned into a 24% drop in October.

So Reuters asking today in their analysis piece,

if you're an investor, you face a hard question.

Do the cars that they make matter as much anymore

when the future is robots and lines of code

can cheaper versions of the Model 3 and the Y

retreating electric plans at some legacy car makers

and indeed the CEO's bet on self-driving.

Steady demand, well, whilst ambitious,

Tesla's chief executives new pay package

requires an ever smaller amount of actual cars to be sold.

Only 1.2 million vehicles to hit his trillion dollar payday.

Selling that many per year is well below even the 2024 volumes.

So maybe we'll be talking a little less about them here.

Maybe a little bit more if we have a launch robotics news daily.

That might not be happening. We'll take a break.

And when we come back, we'll talk batteries and theater and KGM.

And Russia, stick around back in a moment.

Let's do the 60 Second Savings Challenge.

Step one, download rocket money.

Step two, link your accounts and see every subscription you're paying for.

Tap one you don't use and cancel it.

That's money back every month.

Step three, create a financial goal.

Fifty dollars every paycheck or let the app automatically move small amounts of cash

when you can afford it. In a week, you'll forget you set it up.

In a month, you'll see real dollars piling up.

In a year, you'll be shocked at how much money you've saved.

Bonus challenge, upload an internet or phone bill and let rocket money try to lower it.

You only pay if they find you savings.

On average, rocket money members can save up to seven hundred forty dollars a year

when using all the app's premium features.

Users love the app with over one hundred eighty six thousand five star ratings.

Make saving money the resolution you actually keep.

Start the 60 Second Savings Challenge at rocketmoney.com slash cancel.

That's rocketmoney.com slash cancel. Rocketmoney.com slash cancel.

Hear that? That's me with a lemonade in a rocker on my front porch.

How did I get here? I invested to make my dream home home.

Get where you're going with M.D.Y., the original mid cap ETF

from State Street Investment Management. Getting there starts here.

Before investing, consider the funds, investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses.

Visit statestreet.com slash IM for a prospectus containing this and other information.

Read it carefully. M.D.Y. is subject to risk similar to those of stocks.

All ETFs are subject to risk, including possible loss of principal.

Alps Distributors, Inc. Distributor.

The holidays are expensive.

You're paying for gifts, travel, decorations, food, and before you know it,

you've blown way past what you were planning to spend.

Don't start the new year off with bad money vibes.

Download rocketmoney to stay on top of your finances.

The app pulls your income, expenses, and upcoming charges into one place

so you can get the clearest picture of your money.

It shows how much to set aside for bills

and how much is safe to spend for the month so you can spend with confidence.

No guesswork needed.

Get alerts before bills hit, track budgets,

and see every subscription you're paying for.

RocketMoney also finds extra ways to save you money

by cancelling subscriptions you're not using

and negotiating lower bills for you.

On average, RocketMoney users can save up to $740 a year

when using all the app's premium features.

Start the year off right by taking control of your finances.

Go to rocketmoney.com slash cancel to get started.

That's rocketmoney.com slash cancel.

Rocketmoney.com slash cancel.

League One volleyball is back.

The world's best players together on American soil.

This is volleyball like you've never seen before.

Huge swings, massive blocks, jaw-dropping digs.

A sport where every play is a highlight.

League One volleyball returns January 7th, 2026

with teams in Atlanta, Austin, Houston,

Madison, Nebraska, and Salt Lake.

To buy tickets, visit lobb.com slash iHeart.

All right, welcome back to the podcast.

A huge new battery plant is rising

next to Nissan's Sunderland factory.

Sunderland, a city in the northeast of this country

where Nissan's made one of three locations

that have made the leaf traditionally around the world.

Global cell maker AESC is preparing to switch on

a 15.8 gigawatt-hour factory

that will feed directly into Nissan's next-generation leaf

and the UK's wider EV plans.

Fresh job listings show the project

is moving into its launch phase.

This will be AESC's second battery plant in Sunderland,

taking its total annual capacity in the city,

two 15.8 gigawatts, enough cells

for about 100,000 electric cars a year.

Built on land previously owned by Nissan

and sitting directly beside the car plants,

you can go from one place to the other

with an overpass over one of the main roads.

The new facility will supply batteries

for the third-generation leaf.

That should be with customers soon.

Fiat has slashed the starting price of the Panda

in the United Kingdom.

Brits will now pay £21,000 to get into that

thanks to a new base trim.

Official range around 200 miles.

The new pop grade, previously limited to the Grand Panda hybrid

replaces red as the entry specification.

Standard kit, 16-inch steelies, LED headlights,

two-tone black and blue cloth upholstery.

Red-painted cars at any trim now wear red badging

in support of the AIDS Fighting charity.

At £21,000, the Panda Electric undercuts rivals,

but not those like the Leap Motor T03

that's still cheaper, as well as the Dacia Spring,

BYD Dolphin Surf and Citroën EC3 coming in lower,

but it is very competitive pricing.

Fiat is pitching the car as a straightforward city

and runabout.

Power from the front-mounted 111-horsepower motor,

44-kilowatt-hour pack, good for 200 miles of range,

DC-rapid at 100 kilowatts,

and an integrated AC charging cable.

If you haven't seen the pictures, many people over the years have said,

why don't the cars just have some sort of flap you can open

and it comes out?

Well, it does from the front on a stretchy cable,

so you haven't got to carry an AC lead around in your boot,

as Europeans are used to doing.

Now, let's talk about the South Korean company,

formerly Sangyong, now KGM,

widening their EV footprint in Australia,

with a mid-size SUV called the Torres EVX,

the brand's first all-electric model in the class.

It's a $58,000 drive-away,

pitched squarely at mainstream contenders

like the BYD C-Line 7 and the Kia EV5.

It's their second EV announcement in quick succession,

following confirmation of the Musso EV.

That's a ute, by the way,

and underlines the rapid shift to going EV.

Power comes from a single front-mounted electric motor,

152 kilowatts, 81 kilowatt-hour LFP pack,

on the WLTP cycle, good for 462 kilometers of range.

10 to 80 in 37 minutes.

It's a bit of a slouch when it comes to charging.

Have you ever been kept awake at night

wondering what Vladimir Putin thinks of EVs?

No? Neither have I.

But I'll tell you anyway.

Chinese electric cars are now crowding Russia's roads,

even as direct imports from China have fallen sharply.

The mismatch between what Russians are driving

and what China is shipping points to a quiet change

in how Beijing's car makers serve Russia.

In an interview with television on Thursday yesterday,

Vladimir Putin lavished praise on Chinese makers,

quote,

the Chinese make electric cars better and cheaper than Europeans.

The European automotive industry is in tatters overall.

He said Putin says Russia is striving for maximum localization,

including production of component parts of cars for its own market.

That pushes reshaping which firms rely on exports

and which are preparing to build on the ground.

Li Auto, Voyer and Zika are important shippers

of finished vehicles to Russia.

Li Auto, known as Li Xiang in China,

plans to open its first Russian showroom within weeks.

Its October deliveries in Russia,

just under 1,500 vehicles,

hint at the early spread of higher-end Chinese EVs.

Now, what does the Essex town of Basildon

have in common with Ho Chi Minh City?

Well, both sets of residents probably share the same frustrations.

For instance, Ho Chi Minh City commuters

have to navigate millions of scooters

zipping between street food carts,

whilst Basildon residents have to stay sharp

in the town centre multi-storey for discarded asda trolleys.

But now, both places can say that they are electrifying

their bus networks. Basildon,

located just outside London

and built as a post-war overspilled town,

has opened Essex's first fully electric bus depot

after a £30.6 million upgrade by first bus.

The site now has a regional test bed.

The site is now a regional test bed

in Britain's wider shift to zero-emission public transport.

The cherry-down-way depot has been retrofitted

with high-capacity chargers to sport 55

battery-electric buses that charge overnight.

The development with Essex County Council

makes Basildon the first town in the county

with a fully electrified bus facility.

Meanwhile, in Ho Chi Minh City,

they plan to convert 19 bus stations

and depots into all electric vehicle charging hubs,

adding both bus chargers and battery swap cabinets

for electric motorbikes.

The move is the city's most tangible step so far

to electrifying their public network.

Under the proposal,

the Public Transportation Management Centre

will manage the sites and work with private money

to build and run the facilities.

Operating rides at all 19 locations

will be auctioned off,

and leasing the space will bring in about 22 billion dong.

That's about 834,000 US dollars equivalent.

And finally,

what's worse than buying something like a used Fisker

made by the now defunct EV maker

with the possibility that one day

you'll just wake up and the thing won't work

and there's very difficult ways to fix it?

Well, try not actually being able to drive the car

that you just bought.

A batch of Rivian R1Ts

brought to Western Australia for mining

have ended up in the auction lane.

The vehicles are imported for a startup called Mevco

and their planned mining fleet.

It was a venture that has since collapsed, unfortunately.

Well, the sale of the vehicles

from the collapsed mining company

throws up an awkward question about left-hand drive vehicles

and stranded cars in Australia.

Grey's Auctions has confirmed that it will sell

all the R1Ts that Mevco had bought

for their mining operations

with multiple examples being spotted in the company's Perth Yard

as they are prepared for cataloging.

All are left-hand drive

and were shipped in specifically

for Australian mining work that never happened.

Across most of Australia,

left-hand drive vehicles can't be registered

for normal road use until they're more than 30 years old

and for anyone hoping to buy one of the Rivians

and drive it home, that's a bit of a roadblock.

Western Australia actually softens the picture,

but only slightly.

WA allows left-hand drive vehicles

to be registered after 15 years

for personal use,

but there are exemptions for rare models,

but the Rivian R1T is a mass-produced US pickup.

It's not really going to qualify as a rarity.

Several trucks appear to be wearing

mining-spec hardware in the pictures,

including Kevlar and steel underbody protection.

Custom tool drawers have been installed in the gear tunnel.

They look actually really cool.

And bullbars on the front.

Clear signs they were built for harsh,

remote work sites and not the suburban school run.

Without right-hand drive conversion,

which would technically be possible,

there is no obvious route for anyone

who buys these to even register one for public roads.

In the short term, that confines them

to mainly off-road recreation,

maybe private industrial sites

or future conversion projects

from specialist workshops willing

to take on the engineering work required.

And that's your podcast for today.

Thanks to our premium partners,

National Car Charging on the US mainland

and the Lohar Charge in Hawaii

and Octopus Electroverse.

Global public charging made simple

with one app and one map

and a new name to add next week,

which I'm really excited about.

Have a good and sit amore.

And remember, there's no such thing as a self-charging hybrid.

The holidays are expensive.

You're paying for gifts, travel, decorations, food.

And before you know it,

you've blown way past what you were planning to spend.

Don't start the new year off with bad money vibes.

Download rocket money to stay on top of your finances.

The app pulls your income, expenses,

and upcoming charges into one place

so you can get the clearest picture of your money.

It shows how much to set aside for bills

and how much is safe to spend for the month

so you can spend with confidence.

No guesswork needed.

Get alerts before bills hit.

Track budgets and see every subscription you're paying for.

Rocket money also finds extra ways to save you money

by cancelling subscriptions you're not using

and negotiating lower bills for you.

On average, rocket money users

can save up to $740 a year

when using all of the app's premium features.

Start the year off right by taking control of your finances.

Go to rocketmoney.com slash cancel to get started.

That's rocketmoney.com slash cancel.

Rocketmoney.com slash cancel.

League One volleyball is back.

The world's best players together on American soil.

This is volleyball like you've never seen before.

Huge swings, massive blocks, jaw-dropping digs.

A sport where every play is a highlight.

League One volleyball returns January 7, 2026

with teams in Atlanta, Austin, Houston, Madison, Nebraska,

and Salt Lake.

To buy tickets, visit lobb.com slash iHeart.

It's been 100 years of changing the game.

Bring the whole family and be part of the legacy.

This game is once in a century.

Be there at Motor Center on January 24th.

Go to HarlemGlobetrotters.com for your tickets

to the 100-year tour.

League One volleyball is back.

The world's best players together on American soil.

This is volleyball like you've never seen before.

Huge swings, massive blocks, jaw-dropping digs.

A sport where every play is a highlight.

League One volleyball returns January 7th, 2026

with teams in Atlanta, Austin, Houston,

Madison, Nebraska, and Salt Lake.

To buy tickets, visit lovb.com slash iHeart.

This isn't just a game.

It's a once in a generation event.

The Harlem Globetrotters 100-year tour.

Celebrate 100 years of high-flying dunks,

100 years of showstopping moves,

and 100 years of changing the game.

Bring the whole family and be part of the legacy.

This game is once in a century.

Be there at Motor Center on January 24th.

Go to HarlemGlobetrotters.com for your tickets

to the 100-year tour.

DAILY: Germany Backtracks On Pollution Goals, VW Struggles With Job Cuts & Ford Ranger Upgraded | 28 Nov 2025

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