+++ American president Joe Biden, vowing to “do right by U.S. autoworkers”, launched an investigation this week into whether vehicles made in CHINA could be used to spy on Americans, a far-off threat given the few such cars on U.S. roads now. The White House announced the probe Thursday citing national-security risks about “connected” cars creating “new avenues for espionage and sabotage”. Biden is campaigning for re-election, and U.S. automakers have voiced fear bordering on panic about having to compete at home with Chinese electric vehicles (EVs). An auto lobbying group recently said this could cause an “extinction event” for the American auto industry. China’s EV industry has surged past all others in recent years and aims to export vehicles globally, often at far lower prices than American EV offerings. Biden nodded to that economic threat in his statement voicing concerns about espionage: “We’re going to make sure the future of the auto industry will be made here in America with American workers”. Political and policy experts acknowledge the threat of Chinese spying but also see Biden’s saber-rattling as another opportunity to demonstrate he is tough on China. “The announcement seems as much oriented at blunting accusations of being weak against China as it is at finding a solution to this challenge”, said Scott Kennedy, a China specialist at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies. Washington’s Chinese Embassy criticized Biden, saying he was “hyping up the ‘China threat’ theory” to suppress competition. Kennedy said the probe is reasonable, but he did worry it could also spur protectionism based on “overstated national security concerns.” He warned this could upend global supply chains and hurt U.S. production. Many industry officials urged higher trade barriers against Chinese automakers, and the U.S. and Europe are considering them. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in January that otherwise, China will “demolish” global auto rivals. Biden’s administration offered no evidence of spying involving the very few Chinese-made cars on American roads today. Still, China has a history of using technology for U.S. surveillance, as well as surveillance against its own citizens. Washington last year launched an operation to fight a Chinese hacking operation that compromised thousands of internet-connected devices, Reuters reported in January. Democratic strategist Jennifer Holdsworth said the administration’s probe aligns with Biden’s backing of union manufacturing jobs: “Good policy is often good politics”. Restrictive trade policy toward China is a rare area of partisan agreement in a deeply divided America. Biden has essentially continued the trade war against China started by his predecessor (and now 2024 campaign opponent) Donald Trump. Biden’s rhetoric seeks to build support in Michigan, the hub of the U.S. auto industry and one of a handful of competitive states that will decide the 2024 election, said Michigan pollster Bernie Porn. General Motors, Ford and Stellantis are all headquartered in the state. “He really needs to go on the offensive and disarm Trump’s argument that their jobs are going away to places like China”, he said. Trump often ridicules EVs on the campaign trail, calling them a job-killing “hoax” and a capitulation to China. Biden, who has the endorsement of the United Auto Workers labor union, has repeatedly emphasized the importance of the Detroit Three automakers and their factory workers. Senator Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat, said Chinese EVs posed both an economic and a security threat: “The bottom line is there’s no place in the U.S. for vehicles made by Chinese Communist Party backed companies”. China EV makers’ export surge is adding to the industry’s fears and political pressure on Biden. BYD, the world’s largest EV maker, confirmed plans this week to open a plant in Mexico at the U.S. doorstep, and launched its least-expensive car, the Dolphin Mini hatchback, in Latin America. BYD has denied it plans to use Mexico as a springboard for the much larger American market. Biden faces a gauntlet of conflicting political incentives in crafting his EV policy. He has tried to balance the environmental goal of forcing rapid EV adoption with trade policies aimed at effectively banning cars and components from China, which has developed the world’s most advanced and affordable supply chain for batteries and other EV components. In reforming a $7,500 subsidy for EV buyers starting this year, the administration denied the incentive to cars with batteries or critical battery minerals from “foreign entities of concern” including China. This initially knocked dozens of vehicles off the eligibility list, including some from the Detroit Three, and sent automakers including Tesla scrambling to build China-free EV component supply chains. As such rules raise the challenge for U.S. automakers in building affordable electric cars, the administration is separately negotiating with Detroit automakers on emissions rules meant to force them to speed up their EV transitions. The proposed regulations would dramatically restrict tailpipe emissions with the goal of raising U.S. EV market share from less than 8% now to 67% in 2032. As pressure builds from U.S. automakers and unions for more anti-China trade barriers, the administration is raising alarms of espionage threats, or even darker scenarios, involving high-tech Chinese cars. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo recently suggested that the Chinese government might try to wreak havoc by cutting off hundreds of thousands of Chinese connected vehicles on American roads. High-tech Chinese cars, she said, “could be immediately and simultaneously disabled by somebody in Beijing. It’s scary to contemplate”. She also raised the threat of everyday privacy invasions by “bad actors” from “abroad”. Connected vehicles collect huge amounts of sensitive data, she said, possibly including where a parent drops off kids at school, common routes to the office and calls to drivers from a doctor about a medical issue or a bank about an overdue loan. “It’s an incredible amount of information that you think is private, but that could be transmitted abroad”, Raimondo said, adding that text messages, location data, emails are all vulnerable. Anna Puglisi, a former U.S. counterintelligence official, said Commerce’s national security concerns were valid as cars incorporate more sensors and track location and personal contact information, especially when the companies involved come from a “strategically motivated nation-state” like China. Some China automakers are state-owned and its communist government has broad authority over the whole sector. “The broader issue is how do you deal with a nation-state that blurs public and private, civil and military, and commandeers its commercial sector to serve the strategic goals of the state?” Puglisi said. +++
+++ In the United States, ELECTRIC VEHICLE sales were stronger than ever last year, but automakers have work to do before they’re out of the woods with the relatively new propulsion technology. J.D. Power found that charging remains a significant issue for EV owners and noted that the experience is getting worse. Its 2024 Electric Vehicle Experience Ownership Study also ranked the premium and mass-market electric vehicles with the best experience, rating the Mini Hatch Electric (note that a new Cooper version is right around the corner) as its top choice among mainstream vehicles. J.D. Power says “the overall EVX ownership index score measures electric vehicle owner satisfaction” and “includes 10 factors (in alphabetical order): accuracy of stated battery range; availability of public charging stations; battery range; cost of ownership; driving enjoyment; ease of charging at home; interior and exterior styling; safety and technology features; service experience; and vehicle quality and reliability”. The top mass-market EVs ranked by J.D. Power are: Mini Cooper Electric: Score of 770, Ford Mustang Mach-E: 764, Hyundai Ioniq 6: 759, Kia EV6: 739, Nissan Ariya: 739, Hyundai Ioniq 5: 727 and Kia Niro EV: 706. J.D. Power’s findings about the EV charging experience should validate automakers’ moves to join the Tesla Supercharging network. The study determined that owner satisfaction with the EV charging experience is bad and getting worse, with respondents ranking public charger availability 32 points lower than a year ago. While charging is kind of a mess, mass-market EVs have cause for celebration. J.D. Power found that 11 of the 14 ranked brands outperformed premium brands on quality, saying that minimizing problems is a key step for success in the EV market. Interestingly, the study found that first-time EV owners were less likely to be committed to the technology than those who have owned two or more. They were also more likely to say they’d consider a gas vehicle over an EV for their next purchase. The BMW i4 took the overall highest score among premium brands, outscoring the Tesla Model 3 and the Tesla Model Y with a score of 800. Next came the Tesla Model 3: 756, the Tesla Model Y: 752, the Volvo C40 Recharge: 730, the Volvo XC40 Recharge: 719 and the Audi Q4 e-Tron: 680. In addition to individual models, the company ranked the most common issues with electric vehicles. Its executive director of EV practice, Brent Gruber, said, “Many products are hitting the mark and resonating with shoppers but, at the same time, the decline in satisfaction with public charging availability should serve as a warning because concern about access to public charging is a key reason many buyers currently reject BEVs. For EVs to reach their full potential, this issue needs to be resolved. The study also found that first-time EV owners are less committed to electrics than those who’ve owned more than one. Almost half said they would consider another plug-in vehicle, while 39 percent said they’d consider a hybrid or gas vehicle for their next purchase. At the same time, J.D. Power said that PHEV owners are often disappointed with their operating expenses. It noted that PHEVs have all the costs associated with owning a gas vehicle without reaping the added benefits of their electrified powertrains. It’s worth noting that PHEVs must be charged regularly because they often fail to deliver strong fuel economy with their gas engines alone. +++
+++ FORD sales charged higher in February, making the Dearborn-based automaker the No. 1 seller in America for the second straight month. Ford also noted hybrid and EV sales gains, highlighting the importance of its electrified powertrains. Ford reported February sales were up 10.5% to 174.192 vehicles, topping Toyota’s total of 159.262. Interestingly, hybrid sales jumped 31.5% to slightly over 12.000 units, powered by record sales of the Maverick hybrid compact pickup and the Ford Escape (Kuga) hybrid. Ford’s EV sales (consisting of the Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning pickup) saw sales jump 80.1% year over year in February to 6.368 units sold. Deep price cuts of the Mustang Mach-E and Lightning EV in February likely jump-started sales. Looking deeper into the truck categories, for the month of February F-Series truck sales were actually down 5.8% from a year ago. However, SUV sales were up 23.7% in February to nearly 85.000 units. Through the first 2 months of the year, Ford said it sold 165.901 trucks and vans, making it the top-selling truck maker in the U.S., outselling GM by 26.000 trucks. Note that GM does not report monthly sales data, so this is likely an approximation. Ford also said F-Series pickup sales hit 100.531 through February, with Ford claiming it is America’s best-selling truck, outselling the Silverado by more than 21.000 trucks. Again, note that Silverado sales are likely an approximation and if Silverado sales are combined with GMC Sierra full-size pickup sales, GM would be more competitive, if not the largest truck maker in the U.S. Nonetheless, Ford’s strong truck sales to start the year come despite the automaker only just starting deliveries of 2024 model year F-150s. Ford is beginning to ramp up sales of those 2024 vehicles, starting with the entry-level XL and STX trims, and eventually expanding to higher trim levels. In addition. the 2024 Lightning EV is currently under a “stop-ship” order at Ford, reportedly due to a minor headlight issue. Ford Lightning sales in March may be impacted by this, but there seems to be enough 2023 inventory to keep Lightning sales going. Across Ford’s competitors that do report monthly sales, the general trend has been positive for the automakers. Honda reported sales of slightly over 100.000, notching a 37.8% jump in February, though its Acura division’s sales fell 6%. Hyundai set a sales record in February up 6% to 60.341; sales at Kia fell for the third straight month to 60.859, down 3%. However, both Hyundai and Kia saw strong sales gains with EVs. As noted above, Toyota reported sales of 165.900 units (up 16%), with sales hitting 184.450 including its Lexus division (up 17%). Toyota said electrified vehicle (hybrid and EV combined) deliveries jumped 84% to 68.445. +++
+++ Unveiled at the 2010 Paris Motor Show, the JAGUAR C-X75 could have been one of the British brand’s wildest and coolest models. It received the green light for production, got canned, and resurfaced in the 2015 James Bond movie Spectre before disappearing for good. However, not everyone has forgotten it: Callum, the design firm founded by former Jaguar design boss Ian Callum, has made a C-X75 street-legal. Precisely how Callum’s customer ended up with a C-X75 remains a mystery. The example modified is 1 of the 4 surviving stunt cars built by Williams Advanced Engineering for Spectre, so it might be the one that auction house RM Sotheby’s offered at its Abu Dhabi sale in November 2019. The car was estimated to sell for anywhere between $800,000 and $1.2 million; it ended up not selling during the auction. Regardless, Callum was the right person to take on the Herculean task of making an obscure, experimental supercar street-legal, as he led the team that designed the model. His company made hundreds of small but significant changes including replacing the glass, adding a quieter exhaust with catalytic converters, making tuning changes to the supercharged, 5.0 liter V8 and fitting additional switches inside. Interestingly, the stunt cars were built with foam door mirrors. These had to be replaced with real mirrors fitted with turn signal repeaters. The team also took advantage of the tear-down to make visual improvements, such as reducing and aligning the panel gaps. The C-X75 received a new coat of paint, and engineers made changes to the suspension system: they notably adjusted the ride height. It helps that this version of the C-X75 uses an engine already approved for road use; the V8 has powered the Range Rover, among other cars. Callum’s street-legal Jaguar C-X75 will make its public debut at the Bicester Heritage Scramble event held in England on April 21. +++
+++ MCLAREN ’s long-awaited follow-up to the P1 hypercar will make its debut by the end of 2024, according to a recent report. Tentatively called P18, the model will inaugurate a new, lighter plug-in hybrid drivetrain built around a V8 engine and break with tradition in several key ways. Anonymous inside sources describe the P18 as “Formula One-inspired”. Its plug-in system will develop more than 1.000 horsepower thanks in part to a new V8 engine, though the drivetrain’s layout (including the number of motors) hasn’t been revealed. The same sources revealed that the powertrain will weigh about 70% less than the system McLaren currently uses. And weight is why it won’t be fully electric. “Customers certainly appreciate the electric elements of a hybrid powertrain, but an electric McLaren must also be lightweight and deliver on the brand’s signature driving performance: on the road and on the track. The technology is not there yet. It’s not simply about straight-line performance. It has to be able to deliver 10 laps of sustained performance”, product strategy director Jamie Corstorphine explained. Like the P1, which was built from 2013 to 2015, the limited-edition P18 will be positioned as McLaren’s halo model. “McLaren is putting everything into the car”, the source told. It will reportedly feature a carbon fiber chassis with integrated seatbacks, 3D-printed parts in the suspension system and Formula 1-inspired aerodynamic elements. Interestingly, the report claims that the P18 will be the first street-legal McLaren model not equipped with dihedral doors; it will instead receive a pair of roof-hinged gull-wing doors. McLaren hasn’t commented and it hasn’t publicly announced when the P1’s successor will make its debut. If the rumor is accurate, the British brand will return to the hypercar segment before its main rivals. In the 2010s, the P1 competed against the Porsche 918 Spyder and the Ferrari LaFerrari. Porsche will reportedly decide whether to build the electric Mission X concept in the coming months. Over in Maranello, Ferrari has remained tight-lipped about when it will design a follow-up to the LaFerrari, though I imagine one is coming. Spy shots taken in Italy in 2023 may have given us an early look at the model, though they depicted a heavily camouflaged early prototype. Corstorphine also confirmed that the idea of a more spacious model remains on the table. McLaren remains one of the only luxury brands not present in the SUV segment; Ferrari has the Purosangue, Lamborghini has the Urus and Aston Martin has the DBX. In 2014, McLaren described itself as “a sports car brand” and said it didn’t plan on entering the SUV segment. It reiterated this position in 2018 and in 2019, but the company can’t ignore 2 key points: SUVs and performance aren’t always mutually exclusive and SUVs sell spectacularly well. A family-friendly McLaren should make its debut in 2028. “It may have 4 doors and 4 seats”, Corstorphine hinted during a meeting. Another source claims the model will be developed in-house from the ground up, so it won’t ride on a third-party architecture, and an earlier report suggests the model may not be shaped like a traditional SUV. +++
+++ TESLA unveiled new incentives, including insurance subsidies, on Friday to woo consumers in the world’s largest auto market, where the U.S. electric vehicle giant is in a protracted price war against entrenched rivals such as BYD. Customers picking up existing inventories of Model 3 and Model Y by the end of March would be entitled to a maximum of 34.600 yuan ($4.807) worth of incentives, Tesla said in a post on its Weibo account. Among the incentives are a 8.000 yuan discount in car insurance products with partnerships with Tesla, and a 10.000 yuan discount if the buyer chooses a change of paint. Tesla also offers limited-time preferential financing plans that could save up to 16.600 yuan for purchases of Model Y. When asked about the amount of inventory Tesla had in China, a sales representative said it was limited, but declined to provide details. In the face of slowing demand and rising competition, Tesla slashed prices on some Model 3 and Y cars in China in January and offered cash discounts for some Model Ys from February 1. Its biggest local rival BYD on Friday lowered the starting price of a new version of its Song Pro hybrid SUV by 15.4%. BYD, which dethroned Tesla as the world’s top EV maker in the fourth quarter, had responded with even bigger discounts on an array of new car versions in February. Geely Auto, BYD’s largest domestic rival, also cut the starting prices for its best-selling Galaxy L6 and L7 models by 15% and 9%, respectively, on Friday. +++
+++ The new VOLKSWAGEN T-ROC is in the final stages of development ahead of its launch as the last pure combustion engine car from the German firm, new spy shots have revealed. Set for launch in 2026, the second-generation T-Roc has been given a front end similar to the new Tiguan, with a redesigned grille and refreshed LED headlights. Its side profile looks to have been given a much cleaner design, while it has gained a single chrome strip running from the bonnet to the rear window. At the rear, it has gained Golf-inspired lights and a more steeply raked screen. Underneath, it’s expected to share its MQB Evo underpinnings and range of engines with the new Passat, new Tiguan and facelifted Golf. This could pave the way for the T-Roc to receive its first plug-in hybrid powertrain, allowing it to offer an electric-only range of more than 100 km from a 19.7 kWh battery, as well as DC charging at rates of up to 50 kW. Most of the current ICE powertrains are expected to be carried over to the new generation, as well as the introduction of a mild-hybrid 1.5-litre option for the first time as Volkswagen works to slim its pure-ICE offering to a minimum. The regular choice of 1.0-litre three-cylinder and 1.5-litre and 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol engines are also expected to be offered, as on the Golf. Volkswagen boss Thomas Schäfer recently confirmed that strict Euro 7 emissions regulations contributed to driving the introduction of a mild-hybrid, with the firm prepared to take its small cars off sale instead of engineering them to meet the regulations. The T-Roc was the third best-selling car in Europe in 2023, receiving more registrations in that year than even the Golf. Other small SUVs under the Volkswagen Group umbrella, including the Tiguan, Seat Ateca and Cupra Formentor, have also experienced growth in popularity. Volkswagen previously filed a trademark for the ID.Roc name, suggesting it could build an electric successor to the current T-Roc, but the firm went on to deny that this was in development. A spokesperson previously told: “The move to trademark the ID.Roc name is futureproofing. We don’t have immediate plans for an electric T-Roc, but we see a model like this in the future. The current internal-combustion-engine T-Roc is one of our best-selling models, so we will not abandon this segment”. An electric T-Roc could share the same MEB Entry underpinnings as the Volkswagen ID.2all, a B-segment crossover promised to have Golf levels of practicality. This means it could use a front-mounted 225 hp electric motor and have a claimed range of up to 450 km. +++
