Automotive News Daily Drive May 11, 2026

May 11th, 2026 | Nissan cuts tariff costs $2.3B; Geely lands first in Canada

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Brand

Geely

Geely is a car company from China. In this episode, they’re described as being the first Chinese brand to sell electric cars in Canada, starting with a specific EV model.

Concept

A software-defined vehicle is a car where lots of important features are controlled by software. The concern is that more software means more ways hackers could potentially break in, and a single flaw could impact many cars at once.

Term

cybersecurity problem

In this context, cybersecurity problem refers to the risk that hackers could access a vehicle’s connected systems or software. The segment emphasizes the scale of the threat by citing the large amount of onboard code and the idea of many potential “entry points.”

Brand

Lotus Elutra

The Lotus Elutra is an electric SUV/crossover. The show says it’s the first electric model being shipped from Geely’s group into Canada under the new trade arrangement.

Brand

Cherry

Cherry is a Chinese automaker mentioned as planning to come to Canada. The hosts are basically saying multiple Chinese EV brands are preparing to compete there.

Brand

BYD

BYD is a Chinese car company. The episode says it’s getting ready to sell EVs in Canada along with other Chinese brands.

Term

entry points

“Entry points” are the openings a hacker might use to get into a car’s computer systems. The episode’s point is that modern cars have many possible openings, so one weakness could be widespread.

Term

lines of code

“Lines of code” is a way to describe how much computer programming is inside the car. The more code a system has, the more chances there are for mistakes or weaknesses that hackers could exploit.

Concept

cyberattacks

Cyberattacks are digital break-ins or disruptions that can hurt a company’s operations. The segment says the auto industry is losing a lot of money to these attacks, and they’re happening more often than a few years ago.

Concept

Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers

In car-making, there are different levels of suppliers. Tier 2 and Tier 3 are deeper in the chain, and the point here is that hackers often target these smaller or less-visible companies first.

Concept

tariff strategy

A tariff strategy is a plan for dealing with taxes on imported goods. Here, Nissan is trying to pay fewer tariffs by building more cars in the US.

Company

Nissan

Nissan is a car company, and here they’re talking about how Nissan lowered the extra taxes (tariffs) they pay. They did it by building more cars in the US instead of importing them.

Concept

Made in America strategy

A “Made in America” strategy is an approach where an automaker increases the share of vehicles built in the US to reduce trade barriers and improve supply-chain control. Here, Nissan increases domestic production at its Smyrna, Tennessee and Canton, Mississippi plants to grow the portion of US sales built in-country.

Car

redesigned Rogue

The Nissan Rogue is one of Nissan’s biggest-selling cars. When they say it’s getting a redesign, it usually means Nissan will update it with changes to keep it modern and competitive.

Term

e-power hybrid

Nissan’s e-Power is a hybrid system where the gas engine mainly acts like a generator. The car still drives using an electric motor, so it can feel smoother than some traditional hybrids.

Term

body on frame platform

Body-on-frame means the car has a strong “skeleton” frame underneath, and the body is attached on top. It’s common on trucks and some SUVs because it can handle heavy-duty use well.

Car

Nissan Frontier

The Nissan Frontier is Nissan’s midsize pickup, and it’s one of the company’s key US-made vehicles mentioned in the segment. In pricing and financing strategy, pickups like the Frontier are often treated as “utility vehicles” that respond strongly to incentives.

Car

Nissan Murano

The Nissan Murano is Nissan’s midsize crossover SUV, included here as part of Nissan’s US-made lineup. The segment frames it as one of the vehicles benefiting from broader sales and production efforts.

Car

Nissan Pathfinder

The Nissan Pathfinder is Nissan’s midsize three-row SUV, and it’s listed alongside the Rogue as a US-made sales focus. The segment ties its sales push to pricing cuts and financing incentives, which are common levers for large family SUVs.

Term

0% financing for 60 months

“0% financing for 60 months” is an incentive where the buyer pays no interest over a five-year loan term. Automakers use these offers to lower the monthly payment burden and stimulate demand, especially for higher-volume “utility” models.

Car

Kicks

The Nissan Kicks is a compact crossover that the segment says Nissan produces in Mexico for the US market. It’s included in the tariff-cost discussion because increasing US-sourced components can reduce the effective tariff burden on imported vehicles.

Term

tariff bill

A “tariff bill” is the total cost a company pays in import duties due to tariffs. The segment explains that by using more US-sourced components, Nissan can reduce the tariff impact on vehicles built in Mexico.

Term

25% tariff

A “25% tariff” means imported vehicles or parts face an additional 25% duty cost. The segment argues Nissan is effectively absorbing that cost for the Mexico-built models until the tariff changes, which helps explain why prices aren’t rising as much as they otherwise might.

Company

Volvo Cars

Volvo Cars is the automaker being discussed through its engineering leadership in this segment. The host references Volvo’s high SDV readiness score and asks its technology executive what “SDV ready” actually means.

Company

S&P Global Mobility

S&P Global Mobility is a company that does automotive research and publishes industry data. Here, they’re mentioned because they released scores about which automakers are ready for more software-driven cars.

Concept

SDV readiness scores

SDV readiness scores are a way to judge how “ready” a carmaker is to make cars that rely heavily on software. It’s basically a checklist-style score for the systems and processes needed for that approach.

Concept

level 3, 4, 5

These “levels” describe how automated a car is. Higher numbers generally mean the car can drive more of the job by itself, with less help needed from the driver.

Car

EX60

The Volvo EX60 is a Volvo model that’s being built around advanced software. The idea is that the car can gain features over time, not just at the factory.

Term

open network

In this context, an open network refers to the vehicle’s internal communications being designed to allow data exchange and software access across systems. The speaker emphasizes that the car can be both read from and written to, enabling updates and new functionality.

Term

read and write possibility

It means the car can share information out (read) and also accept changes back in (write). That’s how software updates can add features or adjust behavior.

Term

domains

In car software, “domains” means different big areas controlled by computers. The speaker is saying updates can improve more than just the entertainment screen.

Term

infotainment domain

“Infotainment domain” is the car’s computer system for things like the screen, music, and navigation. The speaker is saying SDV is bigger than just updating that part.

Term

domain based systems

Domain based systems split the car’s electronics into separate groups, like one group for the engine-related stuff and another for the cabin and entertainment. Each group has its own computer that controls its functions. As you add more features, coordinating all those groups can get complicated.

Concept

sensors and actuators

Sensors are what the car uses to “sense” what’s going on. Actuators are what make things happen, like moving parts or adjusting systems. Together they connect the car’s physical world to the computers that control it.

Term

ECUs

ECUs are the car’s computers. They take information from sensors and then control parts of the car that do something physical. Many cars have several ECUs working together.

Term

tier one

A “tier one” supplier is a major automotive electronics or systems vendor that supplies complete subsystems (often including software) to automakers. In the transcript’s context, tier ones commonly write much of the vehicle code, while the automaker focuses on system integration and coordination. This supply-chain structure strongly influences how vehicle software is developed and maintained.

Concept

zonal architecture

Zonal architecture means the car is organized into sections (zones) like different areas of the body. Instead of grouping electronics only by function (engine vs cabin), the system is grouped by where things are in the car. That can make it easier for the car’s computers to coordinate actions.

Term

domain architecture

Domain architecture is how a car’s electronics are grouped. Instead of organizing by where components are located, it groups them by what they do (like engine-related systems vs cabin systems). How you group these systems affects how complicated it is to add new features.

Car

Toyota A90

The Toyota Supra is a sports car made for driving fast and feeling connected to the road. It’s often discussed when people talk about how a company improves its performance cars over time. The “step forward” idea usually means updates to how the car is built or how it drives.

LIVE

Welcome to Daily Drive.

For Monday, May 11th, 2026, I'm Kellan Walker in Las Vegas today on the show.

Geely becomes the first Chinese brand to enter the Canadian market.

Software-defined vehicles create a $20 billion cybersecurity problem and Nissan slashes its

tariff bill by more than $2 billion.

Plus, Volvo's Anders Bell talks about how organizational changes help the automaker

become a leader in software-defined vehicles.

There's no shame in domain.

We will have domain systems that will be making kick-ass for us for many years to come.

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

The race to be the first Chinese brand in the Canadian market is over.

Geely is now exporting electric vehicles to Canada under a new Trans-Pacific trade deal,

starting with 18 Lotus Elutra crossovers that shipped late last week.

Here's the backstory.

Canada agreed in January to let in up to 49,000 China-built EVs a year at a 6.1% tariff.

That's after slapping a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs back in October.

The high-performance SUV is built in Geely's plant in Wuhan.

Lotus has opened six Canadian dealerships so far and plans six more by the end of the

year.

And Geely's not alone.

Cherry and BYD are gearing up to enter Canada this year too.

Software-defined vehicles are creating a cybersecurity problem for the auto industry.

Modern vehicles have about 100 million lines of code that's 100 million potential entry

points for hackers.

And a single vulnerability could hit millions of vehicles at once.

According to a new analysis from Reuters Events, cyberattacks cost the global auto sector more

than $20 billion in 2025.

That's 20 times higher than 2022.

And most attacks don't start with automakers.

They start with Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers, where automakers have limited visibility.

And Nissan slashed its tariff bill last fiscal year by $2.3 billion.

It cut those costs 61% by ramping up US production and pushing sales of vehicles built in Tennessee

and Mississippi.

The automaker expects to pay a billion dollars or less in tariffs this fiscal year, down

from $3.8 billion it initially faced.

Joining me now to talk about Nissan's tariff strategy is our own Ervash Karkaria who wrote

about it on AutoNews.com.

Ervash, welcome back to Daily Drive.

Thanks for having me, Gil.

All right, Ervash, give us more details about how Nissan pulled this off while other Asian

automakers struggled with tariffs.

Yeah, so in the past year, Nissan has focused on its Made in America strategy.

They have tried to maximize as many of the vehicles they sell in the US.

They've tried to localize as much of that volume.

So basically, in January of last year, about 40% of their US sales were built at its two

plants, one in Smyrna, Tennessee and the other in Canton, Mississippi.

In December of 2025, that percentage rose to 65%.

And by late 2028, they plan to increase that production to 70%.

And longer term, over the next three or four years, they hope to get that to 80%.

And the way they're doing it is they're adding newer models to US production.

So in 2028, they will have a redesigned Rogue, which is their volume seller.

But they're also going to bring a hybrid, an e-power hybrid Rogue to market, which is

expected to over time sort of be the majority of Rogue sales.

So that will eventually get localized in 2028.

And then further out, they've launched a new body on frame platform, which will support five vehicles.

So local production will significantly ramp up in Canton, Mississippi.

In addition to increasing production, Nissan has also increased sales of its US made vehicles,

primarily the Rogue, the Frontier, the Pathfinder and the Murano.

And they've done that by cutting prices, especially on the Rogue and the Pathfinder,

but also having aggressive 0% financing for 60 months on those four utility vehicles.

Finally, they've increased more US content in the vehicles that they make in Mexico.

So they make the Centra and they make the Kicks in Mexico, which are high volume vehicles

for the US market.

But by increasing the US-sourced components, they're able to lower the cariff bill that they pay on those vehicles.

Now, Ervash, is that why Nissan is still building the Centra and the Kicks in Mexico despite the 25% tariff?

That's correct.

So Nissan had explored as automotive news reported plans to move or to move some of the

Centra production to the US.

Centra is their number two selling vehicle in the US, but essentially the math doesn't work.

If they move the production to the US and then also continue to build in Mexico,

their costs will be still higher and the price of the Centra would go up or the Kicks would go up

more than what they pay tariffs on.

So they're stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Until the 25% tariff comes down in Mexico, they are essentially absorbing the cost on these imports.

They haven't increased the sales price significantly.

However, they have significantly cut back on incentives.

So in a sense, both these models have gotten a price cut in the US, which has also affected their sales.

I spoke to Christian Buñer, the chairman of Nissan Americas, and he said that Nissan is in talks with

both the US and the Mexican governments to try and lower the price on these Mexican imports,

especially the more affordable vehicles.

Nissan really can't increase the price on these cars because their unique selling point in America,

in the US, is that they are affordable and that their lower costs are sub-30,000.

And by moving production up here, that won't make sense.

Buñer has essentially called the tariff on Mexico cars as unfair, arguing that Mexico and Canada are

the US neighbors and they have a 25% tariff.

Meanwhile, South Korea and Japan have 10% tariffs.

So he is echoing several executives, automotive industry executives,

wondering why our neighbors, which we have a trade agreement with, face such high tariffs.

Here's a piece of that conversation.

Anders Bell, Chief Engineering and Technology Officer at Volvo Cars, thanks so much for joining us.

Thank you for having me.

So a month ago or so, S&P Global Mobility published its SDV readiness scores for 2026,

and Volvo and the Chinese manufacturer NEO got the top scores.

So what do you think from your perspective as someone who's been determined to be SDV ready,

what actually makes an automaker SDV ready?

Yeah, thanks. That's a good question.

And I think it's good that S&P makes this effort to kind of start to normalize it,

to be able to answer the question, what is an SDV?

Because it definitely comes at different levels, right?

Everybody talks about the software-defined vehicle these days, but it's a pretty wide definition.

So having something we can all look at and say, hey, level 3, 4, 5, what is what, right?

And of course, that definition didn't exist when we started the development of what is now

the EX60 and the entire platform. So happy to have kind of be recognized from the outside on

that we created something which is kind of tip of the spear, automotive technology in 2026.

But it's really like, I often get questions, even also internally, why all this, what's the

SDV? What are we going to do with it? What does it do, right? And there's several different kind

of paths to take into depending on where you come from. Obviously, we start always with the

customer. What's in there for the customer? And for us at Volvo cars, it's really

understanding what goes on in the real world in real time. We've always been extremely curious

what happens in the real world outside the labs, what's going on. So we always had like safety

first. We've been obsessing about safety since the company was born almost 100 years ago.

This is just to kind of give an example. We've always been curious of going out and

find out. So we've been out since the 70s, basically checking accident scenes, measuring tapes,

police reports, medical reports, working with insurance companies to get data and all that's

kind of what's going on in the world. What did we miss? How can we make the cars better, safer,

et cetera. And for us, that's kind of the primary now with the software defined vehicle, full kind

of open network where we have read and write possibility to the car. We can basically understand

what happens in the real world in real time and feed that back into the drawing board.

But we can also at the same time, not only learn what we need to do better and can improve

further in the next hardware generation, but also quickly, what can we do with further with

software improvements and then provide back functionality. And this goes for all different

domains to the customer of improved functionality. How do we maximize the usage of the hardware

that we have on the roads by unlocking functionality through software goes to all domains. It's

far beyond just being able to update infotainment domain, for instance. I think the second kind

of entry into this, if I may, is the more industrial view or kind of more technical industrial view

on the software defined vehicle. So we've been building cars on domain based systems for the

last 20 or so years, which has served us extremely well. It's where you have basically your sensors

and actuators behind a NECU. And then those typically come from the entire system comes

from a tier one. And the job of the car maker and the OEM in that in that world is basically

to put a bit simplicity is to make all those ECUs talk to each other with limited in-house

software. And it's to a large extent a specification and coordination work. And the code is mostly

written by by tier ones. Nothing wrong with that model. But as functionality in the vehicles

grow and the consumers demand for digital integration and increased functionality grows,

you just keep on building more and more hardware systems on top of each other. Eventually you

will drown on the complexity or fall behind in the customer's expectations on features and

functionality. So from this perspective, the software defined vehicle is like a massive reset.

Like let's let's simplify the hardware layer as much as possible and standardize it and look at

it as a capability and then move the complexity over to the software layer. So we can keep on

kind of the S curve of continuously spinning out meaningful functionality, safety,

range improvements, anything that you might think of through software. So that perspective

changes completely how you approach the product from a product development organization.

So do you feel like you mentioned domain architecture and the movement towards zonal

architecture and listeners of the podcast will remember from an explainer a few months back

that the contrast between those is easy use and related functionality organized by domain, meaning

you know, function sort of category versus, yeah, versus zonal architecture, which is the physical

zone of the car. Do you feel like that is really the key to being SDV ready or is it some other

sort of, I mean, you talked about moving the complexity away from the hardware toward the

software. I'm just wondering what else Volvo is doing that is really like practically taking

taking that a step forward. It's kind of, as a carmaker, like I said, carmaker coming from a

domain based world, you're kind of slicing the car in a 90 degree, if you did it horizontally

before, now you need to think vertically or the other way around, doesn't matter, right?

I think the bigger part is the movement towards a centralized core compute advanced zonal system

is one of moving software in house. That is the bigger move. It's not the the architecture is

required because there is no and certainly wasn't when we started a few years ago on this journey,

there is no solution to buy. It takes a carmaker to make car complete car software. So there's

nobody to turn to you did now they are emerging pits and bits and pieces of the stack that you

can buy and increasing the size. But there is like it's a movement of software from being something

that is specified by us and done by somebody else to fully in house becoming truly a software

company. That is the bigger complexity. It's not changing the electrical architecture per se,

but it's like you need to approach it from a completely different end to end perspective.

It's almost like organizational architecture rather than vehicle architecture.

Big cultural challenges, organizational challenges to kind of get, I mean, we're in

all the people, a lot of the people listening to this podcast are in the business of creating

the most complex consumer product known to mankind. And the car of 2026 is the physical

object in the universe. I'm that big word here now just to make my point that contains the

most line of codes of any object created by humanity. It is a complex product and on top of

that it's a two and a half ton physical object that moves around in public streets, around schools,

around people. So we need like safety requirements or must be top notch. So it is hard and moving

all that software in house and executing it and sitting as a car maker and allocating functions

across your topology is something that you haven't done before. So you need to be humble approaching

it. Volvo's Anders Bell spoke with our own Molly Boygon. You can hear the full conversation on the

that's daily drive for today. I'm Kellen Walker. Thanks to automotive news executive producer Jake

Nier, as well as our own Irvash Kakharia and Yang Jian for their reporting for today's podcast.

We also have reporting from Lois Jones of our sibling publication Automotive News Canada.

You can get the latest news on software defined vehicles, Chinese automakers in Canada and

everything happening in the auto industry at AutoNews.com. Come back tomorrow for a conversation

with Uniform President Lana Payne about how Canada's largest auto worker union sees the state of

trade with the US as leaders look to renegotiate USMCA. If we truly want to protect the Canadian

auto industry, these are the kinds of discussions that we need to be having at the table and it's

in the Americans interest to solve this problem too. We'd love to hear from you. Let us know to

drive at autonews.com or leave us a voicemail at 313-444-2774. And if you enjoyed the podcast,

remember to like, leave a review and subscribe so you never miss an episode.

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17:16

May 11th, 2026 | Nissan cuts tariff costs $2.3B; Geely lands first in Canada

sensors and actuators

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