Small vans are tiny trucks that businesses use to carry stuff around cities. Many companies stopped making these vans for a while, but now they are making a comeback because people still need them.
The Ram ProMaster City is a small van used mainly for carrying goods and tools. Ram stopped making it in 2022 but plans to start selling it again in 2027 because people still want small vans.
The Dodge Ram is a popular big truck used for carrying heavy stuff and work jobs. They're bringing back a smaller van called the ProMaster City in 2027, which is good for businesses that need to move things around in cities.
Automatic emergency braking is a safety feature in cars that helps stop the vehicle if it senses a crash is about to happen. It can help keep you safe by braking for you if you don't react in time.
Operating margin tells us how much money a company keeps from selling its products after paying for the costs of running the business. A higher number means the company is making more profit.
High-margin products are things a company sells that make a lot of money compared to how much they cost to make. Companies like to sell these to earn more profit.
The DAX is a list of the biggest and most important companies in Germany. If a company falls out of this list, it means it's not doing as well as before.
The Tesla Model 3 is a small electric car that many people buy because it doesn’t cost too much and uses electricity instead of gas. It’s one of the more affordable electric cars you can get.
The Rivian R1T is a new electric pickup truck that can go off-road and is made for people who like outdoor adventures. It runs on electricity instead of gas.
Car
Lucid Air
The Lucid Air is a fancy electric car that can go very far on a single charge and has a nice, comfortable inside. It’s a competitor to other expensive electric cars.
The Tesla Model X is a big electric SUV that has special doors that open upwards. It’s a fancy electric car for people who want more space and features.
The Tesla Model S is a fancy electric car that can go really far on a single charge and is very fast. People talk about it with other new electric cars because it's one of the best and most advanced ones you can buy.
The Cadillac Lyriq is a new electric SUV from Cadillac that has fancy features and runs on electricity. It’s made for people who want a luxury electric car.
Days of supply tells you how many days it would take to sell all the cars a dealer has if they keep selling at the same speed. If the number is high, it means they have too many cars and not enough buyers.
LIVE
Welcome to Daily Drive for March 11th, 2026.
I'm Kallen Walker in Las Vegas.
Today on the show, Ram revives the ProMaster City small van after abandoning the segment
just a few years ago.
Porsche reconsiders its product lineup to boost profitability after a rough 2025, and
VW Group's CEO warns the Middle East conflict could hurt demand and profitability.
Plus, analysts say there's a used EV price meltdown coming this year as hundreds of thousands
of them come off lease and hit the market.
We'll hear from plug CEO Jimmy Douglas, who says he's not buying it.
Some of that artificial deflation in demand for newer used EVs has gone away, and all
inventory of all price points is flying off the shelf right now.
Let's run through all the news you need to know to keep up in the auto industry.
Ram is reviving the ProMaster City small van for 2027.
With the move, the brand jumps back into a segment it and rivals abandoned just a few
years ago.
The brand discontinued the model in 2022.
It was part of an exodus that also saw Chevy, Ford, and Nissan leave the space.
But Ram says there's still demand.
The segment once topped 100,000 sales a year representing a $4 billion revenue opportunity.
The new van will be priced to under $40,000.
It will be built in Turkey and upfitted in Baltimore.
It adds modern safety features like automatic emergency braking and offers up to 167 cubic
feet of cargo space.
We'll have more on this story in a minute with our own Vince Bond Jr.
Porsche's new CEO, Michael Liders, is reviewing the automaker's product lineup to boost profitability
after a turbulent 2025.
The company's operating margin collapsed to just 1.1% last year, from 14.1% in 2024,
hit by electric vehicle missteps and tariff costs.
Liders says Porsche will focus on high-margin products like its iconic sports cars while
cutting 3,900 jobs by decades end.
The turnaround effort comes as China sales plunged 26% and the brand fell out of Germany's
benchmark DAX index.
And Volkswagen group CEO Oliver Blum is warning that escalating conflict in the Middle East
could hurt demand in the region.
Blum talked about it this week at the Autobaker's annual media conference.
He said, quote, first the US, then China, and now the next issue is the Middle East.
Customers in the region are unsettled and it will have an impact.
The Middle East represents only a low single-digit share of VW Group's global sales, but executives
say it's disproportionately important for profitability, especially for luxury brands
like Porsche and Bentley.
And those are today's headlines.
You can find more details on all those stories at AutoNews.com.
Joining me now to dive deeper into the Ram story is our own Vince Bond Jr.
who covers Atlantis for us at Automotive News.
Vince, welcome back to Daily Drive.
Thank you.
So Vince, Ram says this segment represents a $4 billion opportunity.
What makes them think they can succeed now when they and everyone else abandon it just a few years ago?
Well, you just made the point yourself.
Everybody abandoned it.
And so now there's just, you know, wide, wide open opportunity for them.
If you look back, so the pro-master city was discontinued back in after the 2022 model year.
And that was around the same time that GM left the space, Nissan was leaving that space,
Ford also dropped their vehicle.
And so Salinas now sees a chance to capitalize on that opportunity.
A lot of those customers who wanted those small vans back in the day, they didn't go anywhere.
They just tried to fill that void with maybe mid-sized pickups or larger vans that really
didn't fit the needs of their jobs.
And so Salinas sees a chance to really improve their fleet sales and go after these customers again.
Well, how are dealers reacting to this news and how soon before they see these vans on their lots?
Yeah, well, so production begins later this year and then it'll be on lots the first quarter of next year.
And dealers had a chance to see this vehicle a few months ago during a confidential preview.
And Ram said that dealers loved it and they can't wait to get on their lots.
And so they're all excited about this opportunity to move some some vehicles for commercial customers out there and business owners.
Perfect. Good stuff.
Vince Bon Junior, as always, man.
Thank you so much for joining me.
You're welcome.
Coming up next, more than 300,000 electric vehicles are coming off lease this year.
Industry forecasters have warned about a potential used EV price meltdown.
But plug CEO Jimmy Douglas sees it differently.
We'll hear from him next on Daily Drive.
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Find out more and apply at AutoNews.com.
Welcome back to Daily Drive.
I'm Kellen Walker.
More than 300,000 electric vehicles are coming off lease this year, a 200% increase from 2025.
Industry forecasters have warned about a potential used EV price meltdown from this influx.
But Jimmy Douglas says that's nonsense.
Douglas is the CEO and founder of plug, an online wholesale auction platform built exclusively for used electric vehicles.
Before founding plug in 2023, Douglas spent years at Tesla as director of sales and delivery operations.
He says auction competition remains fierce as dealers prepare for a wave of inventory.
Our own Jake Nier spoke with Douglas about what's really happening in the used EV market.
Jimmy, thank you so much for joining us today on Daily Drive.
Thanks for having me, Jake.
It's always great to be here.
All right.
So we keep hearing about this so-called used EV price meltdown coming in 2026.
So many leases expiring on EVs this year.
You've said that this narrative about falling demand couldn't be farther from the truth.
So walk us through what you're seeing on plug's auction platform right now.
Where do we begin?
Demand has actually sustained to a degree that surprised us.
Our primary metric for demand in plug's auction is the level of competition on every vehicle.
And if there's at least three dealers fighting for every vehicle on average, then we know we're in a pretty healthy market.
And that has remained true all the way through.
We had a slight dip at the very start of October.
But at that point, there was also a bit of a shortage of inventory.
And now we're totally back to normal as if nothing had ever happened.
But our volumes have nearly doubled while the throughput has remained the same.
But more interestingly, the average selling price of a used EV on plug has gone up.
It was more traditional for us to see $25,000 vehicles, a lot of tax credit cars dragging that average down.
But now our average has gone up to $35,000.
And the reason is because dealers have a much greater appetite for used EVs that are less than a year old.
Whereas those were untouchable before because they were otherwise competing with a new EV on the lot that had a $7,500 tax credit.
So some of that artificial deflation in demand for newer used EVs has gone away.
And all inventory of all price points is flying off the shelf right now.
So is it safe to say that the end of the federal EV tax credits is actually maybe helping used EV sales?
I want to be fair and say that the tax credits had some very noble intentions and some of them did come to fruition, particularly on used EVs.
It was accessible based on a lower income threshold than the new credits.
And it brought people into the EV market that were otherwise not necessarily looking.
They were looking for the most affordable car for their monthly payment money.
And that got people behind the wheel of electric vehicles that otherwise weren't necessarily always looking for that.
At the same time, yes, there was some artificial inflation in the used EV market, particularly older vehicles that probably didn't deserve to sell for as much as they were.
But then there was also deflation on newer ones because they were competing with more heavily subsidized new EVs.
And people don't expect me to say this, Jake, but quite honestly, I think the market is better off in this true free market state and letting the people truly set what the market value of these vehicles are without any government intervention.
I have heard that, you know, we were pretty close to the point of the EV incentives not really being needed anymore.
Even even some EV evangelists have said that.
You know, on the used side, there is this bit of a bit of a misnomer that the whole market was being boosted by the credits.
But the fact is, is that the credit stopped out on twenty five thousand dollar cars and the average selling price of used EVs last year was thirty five thousand.
The vast majority of used EV sales didn't even benefit from the credit.
It was impossible.
So looking forward to the rest of the year, though, I mean, as you and I have actually talked about before at NADA, you know, my car is going to be one of these cars.
Maybe that comes off lease this year and then goes into the used market unless I decide to buy out my lease.
But like, are we going to see, you know, as more and more of those cars come in, though, could that change the direction of the price points and the way that things are headed right now?
Do you do you see that possibly happening?
Well, certainly more inventory entering the market will have an impact on the pricing.
However, there's a couple of factors also at play.
The first is we're not totally sure what's going to happen with oil prices.
But given the state of the world right now, it stands to reason that we might see some pretty expensive trips to the gas pump for the foreseeable future.
And I promise you, you will see a direct correlation between EV sales and the price of gas.
Secondly, as you and all of your listeners are probably aware, we're actually in a used car shortage right now.
Not EVs, by any means, but used cars in general, because we're a few years trailing some lingering shutdowns and chip shortages that came out of COVID.
All of that to say, the used EV price point has come down to parity with used gas powered cars that are five years or newer.
They're basically about the same price point now, but used EVs days of supply as of January was slightly lower than gas powered cars.
So it's it's hard to say exactly where we're going to land here, but more affordability is actually better.
And I think that will open up the market even wider.
So it's a good thing.
You know, you brought you mentioned the price of oil.
I believe you predicted not too long ago that we'd see $100 for a barrel of oil in the market.
Obviously, recent current events have already driven us to that point.
So what does that mean?
And of course, when I say recent current events, I mean the the essential effective shutting off of the Strait of Hormuz related to the Iran conflict.
So what is that?
How do you see that affecting the market?
Yeah.
So if I can accurately predict the price of oil on an ongoing basis, then I'm just going to walk out of here and start day trading.
All of that to say, you can you can quote me in in my statement that you will see EV sales very closely follow the price of gas.
That that's definitely something that you should expect.
And we're already in a bit of an affordability crunch, right?
The prices of new cars were at all time highs.
Interest rates are very high.
The used EV as an affordable option was something that worked out really well when we had a $4000 tax credit, whether people were looking for
EVs or not.
And I believe the same will be true as people are really considering the total cost of ownership when it comes to fueling or powering the vehicle.
I wanted to talk to you a little bit about dealer behavior right now.
Are you seeing more dealers coming on to the plug platform specifically because of used EV price points?
And what's their appetite looking like right now compared to maybe six months or a year ago?
It's not because of price points.
In fact, some of our most active dealers like to complain to me that the cars sell for too much money when they're buying them.
But that's but that's generally the case because they are the most aggressively bidding on the vehicles that deserve to sell for more money.
One of the things that makes plug special is 100 percent accurate representation of EV specific features.
And battery health gets a whole lot of attention, but it goes deeper than that because these are computers on wheels and they have specific computer hardware versions.
They have software enabled features that the self driving technology is becoming increasingly sophisticated.
And suddenly a vehicle that can plug into a Tesla supercharger doesn't have to just be a Tesla anymore, and that's worth a lot.
So we're seeing dealers enter the arena at a faster velocity than we'd seen in historic times.
More dealers are starting to get interested in this line of business, presumably because of the broader used car shortage.
But also because some of them are starting to build the muscle memory in anticipation of the lease return wave.
But they're not coming to us because they're trying to get a cheaper deal.
They need great cars for the right money.
And what are they telling you at this point about their customers and what customers are thinking right now when it comes to
EV price points, EV availability, that sort of thing?
You know, the biggest change since last year is the focus was all about affordability. Find me tax credit cars, get me
model threes and bolts, anything that I can get leaves below $20,000 so I can retail it below $25,000.
And now the emphasis is on very well equipped high end vehicles. We're talking model Xs, we're talking Lucids, we're talking Rivians,
Cadillac Lyriks, vehicles that are really well appointed as an alternative for customers who are otherwise looking at brand new high end vehicles.
And so is there some crossover between, I'm curious,
these well appointed vehicles, like you said, the Lyriks that are on the lots and
sort of lower end new cars? Or is it just high end used and high end new?
It's all over the map, right? And it depends on the strategy of the store and the market and the buying team and all of that.
There's a but for every seat, as they like to say, but I would say the biggest change that we've seen is almost like a 180 in the density of emphasis from
tax credit qualifying
budget options to highly appointed alternatives to brand new luxury vehicle purchases.
So I wanted to also ask you about something that's come up in our reporting at Automotive News.
We're hearing that like a two or three year old off lease EV, same model, same features,
is selling for thousands of dollars less than the new version on the lot right next to it.
How big is that price advantage right now where we sit in in 2026?
And does that create a problem for new EV sales in your estimation?
Yeah, a lot of new cars in general, let alone new EVs, are just too expensive.
And meanwhile, one of the things that's unique about used EVs over these last few years is
they've been appreciating about 50% faster in the first three years of their life, meaning the deal that you're getting on a vehicle that's just a couple of years old is
sort of unbeatable. And the
exacerbating factor here is that on new EV sales, the days of supply is well over 100 days.
Dealers have too many of these on the lots right now and people are not buying what they're selling.
And they cost a lot more money than the slightly used alternative.
So that's going to continue to be a problem and affordability
as we continue to reach volume production on these new EV models should be the focal point.
And of course, that's a bit at odds with the residual value equation.
It's difficult to maintain
positive residual values over a few years if the new models keep getting better and cheaper every year.
But the truth is, is they do need to get cheaper. The cars generally are still too expensive right now for most people.
And that's the biggest hindrance to adoption outside of charging infrastructure challenges in certain regions.
And how does that compare with ice vehicles? Because most ice vehicles are also too expensive for most buyers.
So how does that the fact that there's an affordability crisis throughout the entire industry
affect the way that you think about EVs specifically?
Yeah, that's a problem too, Jake.
But the data shows that new EVs still cost quite a bit more than new gas powered cars on average.
And non coincidentally, the days of supply on new EVs are quite a bit higher than new gas powered cars.
For many vehicle buyers, it really comes down to that monthly payment.
Even if the total cost of ownership might be lower, if you factor
maintenance or fuel savings, people are really buying based on monthly payment for the most part.
And we won't see sales velocity improve until there are products that are more affordable comparatively to the gas powered alternative.
You can hear more from plug CEO Jimmy Douglas' interview with our own Jake Neer on this week's bonus episode of the show
available Sunday morning.
That's Daily Drive for today. I'm Kellan Walker.
Thanks to automotive news journalists Vince Bond Jr. and William Boston for their reporting for today's podcast.
You can get the latest news on the used EV market,
product plans and everything happening in the auto industry at AutoNews.com.
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 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.
About this episode
Ram is re-entering the small van market with the 2027 ProMaster City, aiming to capture a $4 billion opportunity after competitors exited the segment. Porsche is restructuring to improve profitability following a tough 2025, focusing on high-margin sports cars and cutting jobs. VW Group warns Middle East tensions could impact regional demand. Despite forecasts of a used EV price crash due to lease returns, Plug CEO Jimmy Douglas argues demand remains strong, with used EV prices rising and competition among dealers intense. He credits the end of federal tax credits for creating a more balanced market and highlights factors like oil prices influencing EV sales.
