The Acura Integra Type S is a sportier version of the regular Integra car. It has better performance parts and is fun to drive, making it popular with car fans.
The Honda Passport Trail Sport Elite is a special version of the Passport SUV made for driving on rough roads and outdoor adventures. It has extra features to help with that.
Left-hand drive cars have the steering wheel on the left side, like most cars in the US. Japan usually has cars with the steering wheel on the right side, so this is unusual.
A reverse import happens when a car made in one country is sent back to the country where the company is from. Here, Honda is sending cars made in the US back to Japan.
Right-hand drive means the steering wheel is on the right side of the car, which is common in countries where people drive on the left side of the street, like Japan.
Trade imbalance means one country buys more stuff from another country than it sells to it. This can cause problems and make companies change how they make and sell cars.
The Nissan Murano is a type of SUV that is good for families and everyday driving. It's been around for a while, so the version they talk about might be getting old.
Digital retailing means you can buy a car online without going to the dealership. You can see prices, choose options, and even finish paperwork from home.
The domestic auto industry means car companies that make cars and trucks inside a country, like the U.S. It includes companies that build cars here and provide jobs.
An auto house is a big car store where you can find many different car brands all in one place, which is common in Europe but not in the U.S.
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Welcome to Daily Drive for Monday, March 2nd, 2026.
I'm Jake Nier in Detroit, in for Kellan Walker.
Today on the show, Honda ships US-built models back to Japan for the first time since 1988.
European auto suppliers face a polycrisis with 350,000 jobs at risk, and first brand's bankruptcy
heads toward resolution with four potential buyers.
Plus, we'll hear from Lei Xing, an independent analyst on the Chinese auto industry,
about why he thinks the threat from Chinese EV makers is not as dire as many experts believe.
Let's run through all the news you need to know to keep up in the auto industry.
Honda is bringing Acura to Japan for the first time
by shipping US-built models back across the Pacific.
The automaker will export the high-performance Acura Integra Type S
and Honda Passport Trail Sport Elite to Japan, starting in the second half of this year.
Both will keep their American specs, including left-hand drive,
despite Japan being a right-hand drive country.
It's Honda's first reverse import since 1988,
when it shipped Ohio-built Accords back to its home country.
The move comes as Japan eases import rules and faces pressure
over its $34 billion trade surplus with the US.
We'll have more on this story in a minute with our own Ervaksh Karkaria.
European auto suppliers are in what experts are calling a polycrisis,
hit by slow EV adoption, Chinese competition, and automaker pressure to cut prices.
The European Association of Automotive Suppliers warns 350,000 jobs are at risk by 2030.
Major German suppliers like Bosch, ZF,
Continental, and Scheffler have already announced 34,000 cuts.
Half of suppliers plan to reduce Western Europe production capacity
as profit margins sink below sustainable levels.
Meanwhile, 11 of 16 planned European battery factories have been delayed or cancelled.
And bankrupt supplier First Brands has four potential buyers lined up for its remaining
auto parts factories, three of which supply Ford Motor Company.
The company's been operating week to week with automakers support after running short on cash.
Ford has paid for parts in advance and covered administrative expenses to keep operations
running. Creditor groups remain in mediation for two more weeks to finalize a resolution deal.
The proposed sales aim to preserve thousands of jobs and avoid a full liquidation that would
shudder remaining facilities. And those are today's headlines. You can find more details on all of
those stories at AutoNews.com. Now let's dig a little bit deeper into that Honda story with our
own Irvaksh Karkarya, who's been covering this for automotive news. Irvaksh, welcome back to
Daily Drive. Hi, Jake. Thanks for having me. Hope you had a good weekend.
Same to you, sir. This story is really interesting and I can't help but wonder,
does it seem to you like this is about trade politics or is this actual market demand
that's driving this decision? Yeah, I think it's a bit of both. It seems to be,
more about optics than it is about significant demand for these cars in Japan. The reason being that
Honda will be exporting these US-made cars in left-hand drive mode while Japan, as you know,
is a right-hand drive market. Obviously, the Germans have done this in the past and other
automakers have done it, but it's for niche audiences, the enthusiast markets. According
to auto forecast solutions, because of the drive configuration, the forecasting company expects
that Honda would sell only about five to six thousand units combined between both the passport,
trail sport and the Acura Integra in Japan. So, I don't think Honda expects this to be a high-volume
move, but it kind of helps to some extent sort of satisfy the Trump administration,
which has been pushing for more American production and it also will help somewhat offset
the huge trade imbalance between Japan and the United States.
You know, you mentioned in your piece that Toyota and Nissan are also looking at reverse imports.
Do you see this becoming a broader strategy for Japanese automakers to address these trade
imbalances? Yeah, I mean, I think it's kind of a ripple effect when one starts doing it,
then the others kind of follow, though I think they're doing it for different reasons. I think in
Nissan's case in particular, exporting to the Japanese market could be driven by the fact that,
you know, they have excess capacity in the US. Nissan is considering exporting the Morano and
Pathfinder to Japan while the Pathfinder, which was refreshed this year, is seeing decent demand.
The long-in-the-tooth Morano is having some demand issues and Nissan is managing the supply,
but this is also a quick way of moving some of the production here to the Japanese market
and reducing the pressure on the dealer network in terms of inventory.
Fascinating stuff. We'll keep an eye on this as your reporting moves forward on this.
Irv Aksh, thank you so much for joining us on Daily Drive.
Thank you, Jake.
Coming up, we'll hear from analyst Lei Xing on why he thinks fears about Chinese EV makers
are overblown. That's next on Daily Drive.
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Welcome back to Daily Drive. I'm Jake Neer.
You've probably heard the narrative that Chinese EV makers pose an existential threat to legacy
automakers that once they enter Western markets, it could be game over for the likes of Ford and GM.
But analyst Lei Xing isn't buying it.
He spoke with our own Molly Boygon on the Shift podcast about why he thinks the threat is overblown
and why it could take decades for Chinese brands to truly establish themselves in the U.S. market
just like Hyundai and Kia did. Here's a piece of that conversation.
You were talking earlier about the possibility of Chinese manufacturers working with domestic
manufacturers. And I think this is a really interesting point. How do you view that strategy
for the Western automakers? Because as I've said, analysts and industry people, executives,
other folks that I talked to, see the entry of Chinese vehicles to the market as almost like a
death knell for the domestic auto industry. And at the same time, do not partner with Chinese
automakers would also appear to be a mistake. So why do you think they're, and I guess actually
to back it up further, how in depth are those conversations at this point? Like how far along
is the possibility of partnership between the domestic auto industry and the Chinese automakers?
So we have to find some kind of middle ground, right? The narrative that it's an existential
crisis, there's some truth to it. The narrative that the Chinese, I mean, Elon Musk said it,
they will dominate without the protection in place. I think it's overblown because in order
for the Chinese to establish themselves, I think coming in and getting a foothold,
it's only the beginning. But from there until you establish yourself as a kind of an Americanized
brand, I think that will take decades. Just like what Hyundai and Kia did, right? Hyundai, Kia,
I'm the owner of Hyundai. And I don't feel like Hyundai is a Korean brand. I feel like they're
just an American brand. Whatever it's selling, Toyota, Volkswagen, any of these foreign automakers
selling in the US, I don't feel as much as the politicizing of it being a German brand,
or it being a Korean brand, or it being a Chinese brand. But for China, for the Chinese brands,
that kind of a narrative is much more blown out of proportion, I think. Because the Chinese,
are they going to compete in the pickup, right? What sells in the US market? I think it's only
going to be slowly, slowly establishing a foothold. And then we can talk about Chinese being where
the Koreans are today in the US market, how they're involved in the local communities, right? How
they're involved in the, to that kind of point, it's going to take years. And what Canada is doing
is actually, right, giving us a small kind of quota, 49,000 units increase that a little bit,
50,000, 60,000, but it's still such a small portion of the market that nowadays, at the
beginning, is more to give consumer an extra option or affordability rather than, okay,
the Chinese are here, they're going to produce in the US that the 4s and GMs, they're done.
I don't buy that. It's just overblown. I laugh at it.
I think that you're the first person, you're the first person I've talked to who said that,
but I think you make an interesting point because what's really happened, given that the industry
is so global, is that as you said, some of the Asian automakers, you know, Toyota, Hyundai, Kia
have basically, as you said, they're not, they're not the domestic auto industry,
but in a way, they do feel like domestic brands and they have manufacturing footprints here in
the United States and they employ American workers and all of this. So it sounds like you're saying
that the Chinese will follow that path to be entrenched in the domestic auto industry. Is
that what you're getting at? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. And that process,
it's going to take some time. I think the easy part is not actually coming into the US and getting a,
let's say we set up a joint venture with Ford, BYD and Ford supposedly set up a joint venture,
right? Or Xiaomi. Aside from the geopolitical kind of the red light, right, that presents,
it's just the kind of a starting point. And until you get to being an established
brand or automaker in the US, that takes significant amount of resources, investment,
time for that to happen. At the same time, overcoming this politicizing of China.
Right. If at all. But that's what I'm kind of pointing to. Yeah.
You know, in our conversation, it sounds like the Department of Commerce rule
comprises the main regulatory obstacle. There are, as you say, kind of like cultural or
organizational obstacles to like meaningful Chinese entry to the US market. I think it's
really interesting that the tariff actually doesn't appear to be that big of a deal. I'm
thinking in particular of the 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles established under
the Biden administration. Is that because the vehicles are so much cheaper to begin with?
Like that doesn't appear to be a meaningful obstacle? Or how are you thinking about
the role of tariffs as Chinese automakers look to enter the US market?
Well, the tariff is still a huge obstacle. I mean, you compare the 6.2% in Canada now for
after the reduction compared to 100 some percent, right? There's the fentanyl component
that given announcement by the Supreme Court, there's actually a portion that should be
gone, right? I forget the percentage, I don't know, 25% or something. But still, it's still
at least 100% plus the 2.5%, right? The number probably is higher, but that's a huge wall.
It's one of many. There's an ICV software hardware band, there's the tariffs, and then you have to
meet the NHTSA and the FMVSS, whether you import or produce in the US. And then just,
there's also these various pushbacks, right? The NADA recently as association, they will support
blocking the Chinese automakers, right? This was set on record, but they will not stop their
members from being kind of in a franchise if they were to, right? The dealer laws are even
different in the US. For example, in Europe, how it works is that you could house different brands
under the same roof. So half of a dealership could be selling on Mercedes, and the other half
are selling on an expo. So this is, it's actually called an auto house. I was in Germany last year,
and that's actually what happens. I think in the US, there's no way you can do that,
given the current, and that has to deal with the cost of it. Being in the same roof on the same
location, utilizing half of the dealership, right? From a cost perspective, it saves you money,
but in the US, it's both cost and the legal aspect, right? So there's these various sets of walls.
That are set up. And then if you, let's say, if somehow the agreement is to produce
mainly America, you hire American workers, then contingent upon that, some of these walls go down.
That that's what I'm kind of thinking of could happen. The product safety quality thing is probably
the easiest. The Chinese automakers, they're there. They caught up. I mean, bar now, and they
caught up in terms of product quality. I have no doubt that they can meet whatever the standards,
but you still need to take, it's a process that you still need to partake to get there.
You can hear our own Molly Boygon's full conversation with analyst Lei Xing on the
latest episode of the Automotive News Shift podcast available now. That's daily drive for today.
I'm Jake Nier in for Kellan Walker. Thanks to our own Irv Aksh Karkarya for his reporting for
today's podcast. We also had reporting from Lois Jones of our sibling publication, Automotive
News Europe. You can get the latest news on trade strategy, supplier challenges, and everything
happening in the auto industry at AutoNews.com. Come back tomorrow for a conversation with
Dan Hirsch of Alex Partners about what the conflict in Iran will mean for the auto industry.
If this were to escalate in any meaningful way, it could certainly become as big or bigger than
the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which had severe disruption in a number of ways. 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 dailydriveatautonews.com or leave us a voicemail at 313-444-2774.
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About this episode
Honda is reviving its reverse-import strategy by exporting US-built Acura and Honda models back to Japan, a move driven by both trade politics and niche market demand. Meanwhile, European auto suppliers face a severe polycrisis with massive job risks due to slow EV adoption and competition. Analyst Lei Xing challenges the common narrative about Chinese EV makers posing an existential threat to Western automakers, suggesting it will take decades for Chinese brands to establish themselves in the US market, similar to Hyundai and Kia's path. The episode also touches on potential partnerships between Chinese and domestic automakers and ongoing industry challenges.
