To our American readers: Welcome to a brand new week. You formally have a brand new president, and he is promised loads of change over the subsequent 4 years. Lots of his insurance policies goal the U.S. auto trade, which is now sweating over the sheer uncertainty that President Donald Trump’s plan for tariffs might have on its backside line—and the common shopper’s pockets.
Welcome again to Vital Supplies, your day by day roundup for all issues electrical and automotive tech. Right this moment, we’re chatting concerning the potential impact Trump’s tariffs might have on the North American auto trade, plus, Scout points a stern warning to Volkswagen sellers seeking to get in on its gross sales, and Rivian’s partnership with the Germans might get even tighter. Let’s soar in.
30%: GM’s Canadian Management Sounds The Alarm On Trump’s Tariffs
Photograph by: Chevrolet
Nicely, people, it is official—Donald Trump has been sworn in as President of the USA as soon as once more. On this new period of Trump, the auto trade is bracing for tariffs promised to be imposed on two of America’s closest buying and selling companions: Canada and Mexico.
With post-inauguration day actuality lastly setting in, the top of Basic Motors’ Canada division is now sounding the alarm. If Trump follows by means of along with his plan to push ahead with tariffs, many years of progress may very well be unraveled from the fragile North American auto trade provide chain, inflicting automobile costs to spike. And meaning the buyer will in the end be the one who suffers.
“It’s a disruption that’s in nobody’s curiosity, particularly within the U.S.,” warned GM Canada President Kristian Aquilina throughout an interview with Bloomberg.
Aquilina’s warning is one echoed by Canadian officers who’ve threatened retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. ought to the president push ahead along with his threats of responsibility charges of as much as 25% for Canada and Mexico. And may any of these retaliatory tariffs be geared toward vehicles and vehicles, properly, it might spell catastrophe for any automobile assembled within the U.S., no matter model.
This could strike up warning indicators for producers who arrange store domestically in the course of the Biden administration as a way to make sure that upcoming fashions can qualify for the EV tax credit score, one thing which Trump additionally threatened to repeal when he took workplace. However do not forget concerning the numerous different overseas and home producers who produce legacy gas-powered vehicles within the States, both.
Many of those manufacturers even have factories in Canada and Mexico which construct parts, powertrains, or whole autos which can be then imported into the U.S. This might imply tariffs getting in and tariffs popping out. And, once more, a better price ticket on a automobile’s Monroney sticker.
It isn’t simply the U.S. that might face greater automobile costs, both. If a automobile is assembled within the U.S. and exported to different markets (like 60% of the SUVs produced by BMW in South Carolina), it might in the end be dearer as a result of tariffs imposed on imported items. Canadian residents particularly will even be affected, as an estimated 50% of the autos offered in Canada in 2023 had been imported from the U.S.
Throughout his inaugural tackle, Trump mentioned that the U.S. would gather “huge quantities” of earnings particularly from overseas commerce by means of a brand new company he wish to have created referred to as the “Exterior Income Service”—that means that the federal authorities would gather taxes by imposing tariffs on items flowing out and in of the U.S.
No tariff reform was signed into workplace by means of govt order on Trump’s first day, however experiences from Reuters and different information businesses sign that the President will direct federal businesses to guage commerce relationships with Canada, Mexico and China in February.
60%: Scout Warns VW Sellers: Do not Tread On Us
Photograph by: Scout Motors
Should you thought Scout was all retro-rugged vibes and Southern appeal, assume once more. It seems that the model has grown some sharp tooth earlier than a automobile has even hit the streets. After being hit with a case and desist letter from Volkswagen’s U.S. sellers, Scout is metaphorically waving the Gadsden flag in a transparent response to sellers throwing a tantrum over the model’s direct gross sales mannequin.
See, CEO Scott Keogh has defined to Volkswagen’s sellers time and time once more: Scout Motors isn’t within the dealership mannequin. No franchises, no up-selling nitrogen-filled tires, and positively no seller markup. The resurrected model is not right here to play by the previous guidelines and its direct-to-consumer gross sales mannequin goes to be what modernizes the model together with different EV upstarts like Tesla and Rivian.
The direct gross sales strategy particularly has VW sellers feeling some kind of approach—maybe even threatened amid a seismic shift within the trade. That is why the Nationwide Auto Sellers Affiliation even referred to as the plan “salt within the wound” final 12 months.
Keogh has remained steadfast, although. And that has pressured Volkswagen’s sellers to take each angle they’ll as a way to maximize their probability at getting a bit of the Scout pie.
First observed by our buddies over at The Drive, Scout’s double-down on doing its personal factor got here within the type of a “gotcha!” letter drafted by its attorneys as a response to a stop and desist letter drafted by the California New Automobile Sellers Affiliation (CNCDA). The declare is that Scout’s direct-to-consumer gross sales mannequin straight competes with present dealerships that function beneath the present Volkswagen franchise settlement.
There’s only one drawback: Scout Motors is not Volkswagen. That is the argument being made by Scout’s attorneys, anyway:
“[Volkswagen Group of America] isn’t approved by Scout Motors to promote, and won’t be promoting or distributing, Scout-branded EVs in California or another state. Scout Motors and the Scout model exist and function independently of VWGoA and its manufacturers corresponding to Volkswagen and Audi. They’ll proceed to take action sooner or later,” writes Scout Motors’ basic counsel, Neil Sitron, in a strongly worded response to the CNCDA. He later continues:
“Volkswagen-brand sellers don’t have any proper to Scout-branded autos, nor do another franchised sellers.”
Scout’s showdown with VW’s seller community is larger than only one model combating the previous guard. It is about the way forward for automobile gross sales, the continued rising pains of EV adoption, and forcing the auto trade to get with the instances. For now, one factor is abundantly clear: Scout is not right here to play by the previous guidelines, and it will not be bullied into submission.
90%: VW CEO Hints At Potential Expanded Rivian Partnership
Photograph by: InsideEVs
Sizzling on the heels of a virtually $6 billion deal between the 2 manufacturers, Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume hints that its partnership with Rivian may very well be simply the tip of the iceberg.
In an interview with German information outlet Der Spiegel, Blume talked about that Volkswagen is contemplating increasing the partnership. The specifics are nonetheless being mentioned, however Blume did point out the potential for {hardware} sharing and quantity buying alternatives—which might imply decrease prices for each manufacturers enabled by the Software program-Outlined Car platforms that VW will depend on the partnership for.
“We’re occupied with sharing modules and bundling buying volumes,” mentioned Blume in an interview with Spiegel. “The Volkswagen Group provides nice alternatives for a small model like Rivian.”
To Blume’s level, Rivian remains to be really a small model. Final 12 months it delivered 51,579 autos in 2024—13,423 of which had been its business EDVs (like those utilized by Amazon). Volkswagen delivered greater than 9 million vehicles worldwide, 744,800 of which had been EVs. In terms of quantity pricing, it will appear that Rivian might drastically profit from the amount through which VW purchases sure parts for its autos. And with the cheaper R2 and R3 platforms due out very quickly, penny-pinching may very well be what really shaves down the price of these platforms and makes Rivian attain a revenue sooner.
The partnership between the 2 corporations (formally branded Rivian and VW Group Know-how, LLC—catchy, I do know), is targeted on constructing the software program in fashionable Software program-Outlined Autos. It particularly permits each manufacturers to share the event prices of extra strong zonal structure tech already championed by Rivian. For Volkswagen, the most important benefit is definitely using a software program platform apart from the money-bleeding headache that’s CARIAD. This may enable the Germans to go from utilizing greater than 100 completely different management models in its fashionable autos to simply seven—the identical quantity utilized by Rivian’s zonal stack in the present day.
Clearly, reducing prices is the primary goal right here. And if VW can do this with software program whereas additionally shaving just a few cents per half off for {hardware}, it might make sense to dig in even deeper. Volkswagen wants a win in America, and Scout’s independence means that it’s not going to be the group’s magic ticket—however maybe Rivian and VW can share some success the place they each can use it most.
100%: What’s The Vibe On Direct To Shopper Gross sales?
Yeah, yeah—we have all jokingly referred to as it the “stealership.” Many years of this mannequin led to customers distrusting the franchised seller blueprint, main corporations like CarMax, Carvana, and Vroom to choose up the slack with extra high-tech methods to promote you a used automobile.
And now most fashionable startups are completely satisfied to promote you a automobile straight and minimize the seller out of the equation—properly, so long as franchise legal guidelines have not made it unlawful to take action with no dealership, that’s.
How do you’re feeling about dealerships versus direct-to-consumer automobile gross sales? Are sellers a crucial evil, or simply one other step within the shopping for course of that may be minimize out? Does this modification relating to servicing your automobile? Let me know your ideas within the feedback.
