The Cost of Tariffs on Auto

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“By means of glasses, hotbeds, and hotwalls, very good grapes can be raised in Scotland, and very good wine too can be made of them at about thirty times the expense for which at least equally good can be brought from foreign countries. Would it be a reasonable law to prohibit the importation of all foreign wines, merely to encourage the making of claret and burgundy in Scotland?”—Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations

Here’s something to think about regarding the possibility of tariffs and how they will affect vehicle pricing and/or availability.


David Christ, group vice president, general manager-Toyota Division, Toyota Motor North America, pointed out yesterday (the day after the election) at a meeting of the Automotive Press Association, that Toyota has 10 manufacturing plants in the U.S. It is building its 11th in North Carolina that will open in 2025 for the production of batteries for electrified vehicles. A $13.9-billion plant.

Certainly a solid U.S. footprint. It employs some 49,000 in the U.S.


Christ said an issue with tariffs is that things not necessarily visible to the end consumer—like parts—can have a big effect.


He said, for example, that the Camry is about 90% U.S. by content. But that means 10% comes from out of the country.


That’s because Toyota, like other manufacturers, has a global supply chain.


OEMs don’t make everything that goes into their vehicles. And suppliers of components not only have to find the lowest-cost places to produce their products, but they need a sufficient number of customers for a given part to be produced in a given plant, so with those two factors they are likely to be located somewhere that isn’t necessarily the U.S.


So regardless of the high level of domestic content, that 10% will drive up the cost of the car.

Who benefits from that?


For customers, this makes the vehicle less affordable.


A costlier vehicle might mean fewer of them are purchased.


Fewer cars purchased means fewer cars built.


Fewer cars being built means fewer hours are necessary for people to work.


The trail of consequences continues. Makes you want to reach for a domestic claret or burgundy.


And while it might be thought that this is something that is not an issue for the traditional domestic manufacturers like Ford and General Motors, it is worth noting that in the 2024 Cars.com American-Made Index, which takes into account assembly location, parts content, engine origin, transmission origin and U.S. manufacturing workforce, the top-10 most-American vehicles are:

  1. Tesla Model Y
  2. Honda Passport
  3. VW ID.4
  4. Tesla Model S
  5. Honda Odyssey
  6. Honda Ridgeline
  7. Toyota Camry
  8. Jeep Gladiator
  9. Telsa Model X
  10. Lexus TX

What you don’t see is either Ford or General Motors. And as Jeep is owned by Stellantis and as Stellantis is headquartered in Hoofddorp, Netherlands, it can no longer be considered a “traditional domestic.” But the folks that build the Gladiator in Toledo, Ohio, still certainly are.


(In case you are wondering: the highest-ranking vehicle from GM is the Chevy Colorado, at #23. Ford makes it at #29 with the Lincoln Corsair. Which means the cost of tariffs would be higher for them.)


“Free and fair trade is the best way to go,” Christ said.


Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations in 1776. That idea has been kicking around for quite some time.

Maybe the Scooter Version of the 500e Will Do Better

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Another stylish moped rolls out in Europe. . .

By Gary S. Vasilash

One of the things that European companies are superlative at is developing mopeds. Presumably this is because whether it is London, Paris or Rome, there tends to be considerable congestion so zipping through the gridlock on a scooter is ideal.

A new scooter was announced this week, the E-Moped 500, which is built by Platum, a company that focuses on micromobility solutions, and was designed by Pininfarina with the cooperation of Centro Stile FIAT.

The Fiat 500e is cute, but the E-Moped 500 is cool. (Image: Pininfarina)

The scooter has a range of 115 km (71 miles) and a top speed of 80 km/h (50 mph).

One of the features of the E-Moped 500 is a large front wheel that is described as being “a good ally against potholes and cobblestones.”

Certainly the former is familiar in U.S. cities, but cobblestones not so much.

The E-Moped 500 is influenced by the styling of the Fiat 500e electric vehicle.

Presumably Platum is hoping that the scooter does better than the car is doing: the Mirafiori plant in Turin where the car is built has been idled for several weeks given lack of demand for the 500e.

Advancing Air Mobility

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Toyota’s efforts in transportation go far beyond building Camrys. . .

By Gary S. Vasilash

“Air mobility has the potential to change our ‘sense of distance and time,’ and open a future with the new option of air mobility that will further enrich the lives of many people.”

You can imagine someone who is in the business of making things like electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxis saying something like that.

But that was said by Hiroki Nakajima, executive vice president and chief technology officer of Toyota Motor Corporation.

Toyota is working with Joby Aviation on the development and production of eVTOL air taxis. (Image: Joby)

That’s right: an exec at a company that is best known for building things that travel on the surface of the earth promoting getting from point A to B in the sky via eVTOLs.

Nakajima made the statement earlier this week when an electric aircraft built by Joby Aviation, a company founded in 2009 and based in California, made Joby’s first international exhibition flight at the Toyota Higashi-Fuji Technical Center in Shizuoka, Japan.

One could argue that Toyota is in the business of making things like electric air taxis because it has invested $894-million in Joby; it has Toyota personnel working along side those who work for Joby in a facility in California; and it has signed an agreement through which it will be supplying powertrain and actuation components to Joby for the build of the aircraft.

Although one of the business cases that is being made for these electric air taxis is transporting people from places like the Downtown Manhattan Heliport to LaGuardia or JFK, there are also opportunities for using the aircraft in rural areas. Think, for example, of emergency transport of people who are in places where the terrain means the roads have twists and turns, adding to additional transport time vs. flying in from point A to B and back.

Another example of why the future of transportation is multimodal.

2025 Infiniti QX60 Luxe AWD

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Perhaps the Majestic White would be a better look. . .


By Gary S. Vasilash


When you have a vehicle that has “Luxe” in its name you figure that it must be, well, luxurious. But one thing about the QX60 Luxe as driven here is that it has the “Black Edition Package,” a $1,900 option that provides gloss-black 20-inch wheels, gloss black roof rails, black grille, and black headliner on the inside. And the Black Edition Package makes it possible to select from three premium paints: Mineral Black, Majestic White, or a newly developed color, Harbor Gray.


The first two rows of the three-row SUV have leather, which also happened to be black. (The front seats are the comfortable “Zero Gravity” style that Nissan had initially launched in the 2013 Altima and which have been improved since; the second-row seats (and know that the outboard seating positions back there are heated, while the front seats are heated and ventilated).)


But the thing is, the whole execution seemed less luxe to me and more like I was living in Wednesday Addams’ world.


The QX60 is powered by a turbocharged 2.0-liter I4 that produces 268 hp @ 5,600 rpm and 286 lb-ft of torque at 4,400 rpm. It is mated to a nine-speed automatic.


The vehicle weighs 4,696 pounds.

2025 Infiniti QX60 Luxe Black Edition. (Image: Infiniti)


And it really seemed that in some cases when I planted the accelerator (e.g., coming off a freeway ramp into the speeding traffic) I would have been happy with, say, a couple more cylinders. (To be fair, however, it should be noted that a competitive vehicle, like the Lincoln Nautilus (though it has two rows, not three), also has a turbocharged I4. While it has 250 hp, the vehicle is lighter, so it turns out that a power-to-weight ratio is essentially a wash. The point being that this is something that is characteristic of the vehicle type, it seems.)
It should be noted that the fuel economy numbers are 22 mpg city, 27 highway, and 24 combined, so there is something to be said for not having two extra cylinders.


It checks the boxes with a sizeable touch screen (12.3 inch) and an array of standard safety tech (forward emergency braking with pedestrian detection, predictive forward collision warning, rear cross-traffic alert, rear automatic braking, blind spot warning, lane departure warning11 and high beam assist). There are also things like traffic sign recognition, intelligent cruise control with stop-and-go, and other features and functions.


New to the 2025 QX60 is a key fob that is recognized by the vehicle such that when you approach the vehicle with said fob there is a beep from the SUV announcing that the door is unlocked. When you turn off the SUV and exit, once you’re a few feet away the vehicle beeps and the doors lock. Clever, but I was a bit concerned when I happened to be repeatedly walking by the SUV with the fob in my pocket. I was afraid that the repeated beeps and locking-unlocking would cause the processor to throw an electronic gasket.


That didn’t happen.


Convenience really matters when you actually need a three-row vehicle (i.e., you have your hands full—figuratively and often literally). Which is probably why there is that fob arrangement.


Credit to the Infiniti folks to be thinking of things like that.

2025 Lexus UX300h F Sport Handling

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Lexus brings a small hybrid. But the styling could use some help. . .?

By Gary S. Vasilash

The good news about the Lexus UX300h F Sport is that it is a hybrid. And not just any hybrid system but the fifth-generation Lexus Hybrid System. Which doesn’t necessarily mean all that much at first. I mean, does anyone remember the second- or third-generation Lexus Hybrid System?

I didn’t think so.

But what this does mean is that the UX300h has a system that has been refined multiple times, more times than probably any competitive hybrid vehicle out there.

As for what that system consists of: it is a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that is supplemented by two motor generators via a planetary-type continuously variable transmission. There are front and rear motors and a 60-cell lithium-ion battery.

All of which means that there is a total horsepower of 196.

And a combined fuel economy of 43 mpg.

Which is a nice thing to have.

The thing to know about the hybrid system in this vehicle is probably this: you can simply ignore it. It just works. There is nothing that makes you think, “Hmm. . .I wonder what’s going on in there?”

In a word: seamless.

Lexus UX300h. The plus is that it is a hybrid. The minus is in that styling. (Image: Lexus)

The model driven here features the F Sport Handling package. Which means there is active variable suspension from a mechanical standpoint and an aluminum pedals and sport seats (among other things) from an aesthetic and functional perspective.

Regardless of the active variable suspension—as well as active cornering assist—the UX300h is not exactly the sort of thing you’re going to take to the local gymkhana and crush it.

Lexus says there is “the higher seating position and versatility experienced in a crossover.”

I suppose there is a higher seating position compared with, say, a Lexus RC, but while this is supposed to be a “crossover,” it is a diminutive one (176.97 inches long, 72.49 inches wide, 60.63 inches high, and a 103.94-inch wheelbase) and with a 6.3-inch ground clearance, this isn’t exactly something you’ll wonder about a running board for ingress and egress.

There is a 12.3-inch color touchscreen. There is the Lexus Safety System+ 3.0, which includes various collision prevention/mitigation technologies as well as driving enhancements.

The tech isn’t overwhelming in the UX.

But then there is the styling.

And this is something that I think is not only underwhelming for a Lexus, but underwhelming, period.

The cladding around the wheels doesn’t make the vehicle look robust. The creases in the body side unnecessarily break up the surface (i.e., this is a small vehicle, so it’s not like there is a giant slab that would require some sort of visual relief).

About the only thing it has going for it is the spindle grille, and that’s something that many people find to be off-putting.

The base UX300h MSRP is $36,340.

The one driven here has base MSRP of $47,647.

And that’s a problem, I think.

One could select the top-of-the-line Toyota RAV4 Hybrid and get a bigger, more powerful vehicle with a slightly smaller touchscreen (10.5 inches) and a bit less in the way of fuel economy (40 mpg combined)—and have a base price of $40,205 for the loaded-trim.

“But it’s not a Lexus.”

Yes.

Still. . . .

OEMs Chasing the Well-Heeled

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Higher margins matter. For now. . .

By Gary S. Vasilash

One of the issues that consumers face in the new-car market in the U.S. is the non-trivial sticker price. According to Kelley Blue Book, the average transaction price for a new vehicle was $48,397 in September.

Charlie Chesbrough, Cox Automotive Senior Economist, said of the number, “One reason transaction prices are lower in 2024 is that many buyers are choosing smaller, less expensive vehicles. The subcompact and compact SUV segments are outperforming the market this year, and by no coincidence, they’re also two of the lowest-priced product segments in the market.”

Two points about that:

  1. It is surprising to think that prices are “lower in 2024” when that number is above $48K.
  2. Subcompact and compact SUVs are growing in popularity, but it seems the likes of GM and Ford are still more interested in the other end of the spectrum, which helps with their earnings now, but perhaps not for the long run, when people simply can no longer accept high monthly payments. (Given the number of large, expensive vehicles that are still being sold, it is clear many people continue to be accepting. But at some point other bills are going to take precedence. After all, when the average monthly car payment is on the order of $750, and the Bureau of Labor Statics found that car insurance premiums increased an average 20% between June 2023 and June 2024, something’s got to give.)

This phenomenon of going for the upper end of the market is not just one in the U.S.

Renault Rafale E-Tech 4×4 with the Atelier Alpine features a chassis and agility control system developed by the engineers of Alpine Cars. There is a self-adjusting ting smart suspension with a camera for predictive control. (Photo Clément Choulot / DPPI)

Renault just introduced a new plug-in hybrid crossover, the Rafale E-Tech 4×4. It is a 300-hp vehicle that has a 22-kWh battery that the company says can power the car some 105 km (65 miles) on the European WLTP schedule (which is different than the EPA).

What did Bruno Vanel, VP, Renault Brand, Product, Revenue & International Markets Expansion, say of the new vehicle represents? It “symbolizes our move upmarket and our legitimacy to conquer all customers with a high-performance version.”

When you think of European vehicles that are (1) upmarket and (2) high performance, odds are something from BMW comes to mind. And this is probably the case in France, as well.

But Renault wants some of those higher margins, too.

The Mixed Signals on Robotaxis

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Those who have been in them like them, but then there is consumer readiness, which isn’t much. . .

By Gary S. Vasilash

Although Waymo vehicles are transporting people in places like San Francisco and Phoenix with vehicles that are without a driver in command and while Tesla showed off its steering wheel- and pedals-free Cybercab, presumably for any of these to be commercially viable (i.e., allow the operators to make money), then there has to be a significant number of people taking advantage of the autonomous rides.

The J.D. Power 2024 Robotaxi Experience Study showed that those who have taken a ride in a self-driving vehicle feel good about the experience: 76% are confident in the vehicles after they’ve been in one compared with 20% who haven’t had the experience feeling confident about them.

However, another study—the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Mobility Confidence Index Study, shows that on a 100-point scale, the score for “consumer automated vehicle readiness” is at 39. That’s two points better than in 2023, but it is where it had been in 2022.

One of the interesting findings this study goes to the point of insurance. While 71% of consumers say they don’t expect to acquire insurance on a pay-per-ride basis when using a robotaxi (did you ever think about acquiring insurance when getting in an Uber or on a bus?), 57% say they expect the vehicle owner to have liability coverage for the self-driving vehicle.

And while the Cybercab is designed without a steering wheel or pedals, 86% of the people surveyed by J.D. Power say they want the ability to take control of the vehicle if required. . .which seems to indicate the requirement for a steering wheel and pedals.

Faraday Future Is Hiring!

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EV company is launching a second brand. . .perhaps

By Gary S. Vasilash

If there was an ROI for persistence, Faraday Future would have a market cap that would rival Tesla’s.

The company—which says it is developing AIEVs, as in “advanced intelligent electric vehicles”—first showed off a vehicle at CES, the FFZERO1, in 2016.

The following year, again at CES, the FF 91, its first “production” model was shown.

Apparently, what happens in Vegas really does stay in Vegas, because it has taken a long time for there to be any Faraday Future product on roads not associated with a glitzy intro.

In 2023 the company reportedly sold four FF 91s and leased six.

For the entire year.

The Faraday Future website allows the preordering of the FF 91 2.0 Futurist Alliance, a name that sounds like it comes out of some Star Wars knockoff.

It has a range of 381 miles, a top speed of 155 mph, and there will be just 300 produced. Globally.

The base price?

$309,000.

Although it is not an AIEV, I suspect that the Rolls-Royce Wraith might be an even more exotic expenditure of ~$300K.

But back to persistence.

Faraday Future has announced that it is hiring for a second brand, Faraday X.

Positions including production planning director and head of vehicle engineering.

The second brand is meant to create vehicles that offer “twice the performance at half the price”—but half the price of things that aren’t the FF 91 2.0 Futurist Alliance.

The FX 5 model will have an “expected price range” of $20,000 to $30,000. The FX 6 will be at $30,000 to $50,000.

There will be two powertrain types: a range-extended EV and a battery electric.

Faraday Future anticipates the vehicles will be in production by the end of 2025—“subject to securing necessary funding.”

Celebrating Auric Goldfinger?

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Yes, it is the 60th anniversary. But he wasn’t a very nice man. . .

By Gary S. Vasilash

In the movie version Goldfinger, the character Jill Masterson dies because she is painted gold. That led to her death by asphyxiation because she helped out James Bond. Auric Goldfinger, the villain in the movie, was not to be trifled with.

Simply put, he was a bad guy.

“For a golden girl knows when he’s kissed her
It’s the kiss of death from Mister Goldfinger. . .” (Image: Rolls-Royce)

Which makes it odd that Rolls-Royce has developed the Phantom Goldfinger, a one-off extended model that is a tribute to the 1937 Phantom III Sedanca de Ville that the villain had in the movie. (It was used to smuggle gold, as it had body panels made of the stuff, which would have meant a rather hefty motor car, estimated to be on the order of two tonnes.)

Because Bond and Goldfinger have their first encounter at a golf course, there is a gold-plated putter affixed to the underside of the trunk lid. The club has an “AG” monogram, which is a refence to the signet ring that Goldfinger wears.

The master plan of the villain is to set off a nuclear device at Fort Knox so that all of the gold stored there would be useless (the film was released in 1964; while Franklin Roosevelt took the U.S. off of the gold standard in 1933 for domestic transactions, it wasn’t until 1971 that Richard Nixon ended international convertibility of the dollar to gold). Consequently the villain would be wealthier.

Seems strange that Rolls-Royce would be so chuffed about celebrating a villain who once threatened James Bond with a laser beam.

About Battery Timing

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At some point will it be analogous to buying Duracell, Eveready or Kirkland. . . ?

By Gary S. Vasilash

Compared with GM and Ford, the other company in the “Detroit 3,” Stellantis North America, which is still simply referred to as “Chrysler” in southeastern Michigan, is behind the curve when it comes to electric vehicles.

You can buy or lease an EV from GM or Ford.

But so far, with the exception of the exceptionally limited Fiat 500e (limited as in having a range of 149 miles, which is about half of what many people are interested in when thinking about an EV), there is no mainstream EV available from Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, or Alfa Romeo.

But earlier this week it announced that NextStar Energy, a joint venture between Stellantis and LG Energy Solution, has started battery module production in its plant in Windsor, Ontario. Next year it plans to launch cell manufacturing.

The Dodge Charger, electric version. (Image: Dodge)

And the company also announced that it will be operating a demo fleet of Dodge Charger Daytona EVs with solid-state batteries from Factorial, a battery company that it has invested $75-million in.

What is interesting about the Factorial battery is that the company claims they’re working for a range of 600+ miles from a battery that is 33% smaller and 40% lighter than a conventional lithium-ion battery.

However, that fleet won’t go into operation until 2026.

So presumably if all goes well, it would still take some time before the Factorial tech makes its way into production vehicles, which explains why there is the production at NextStar Energy: they’re going to need something sooner rather than later.

Factorial is also working with Mercede-Benz. The two companies announced last month the development of a new solid-state battery technology, about which Markus Schäfer, Chief Technology Officer and Member of the Board of Management at Mercedes-Benz Group AG, said: “The Solstice solid-state battery technology represents another landmark milestone in our partnership with Factorial, which is a cornerstone of Mercedes-Benz’s strategy and commitment to leading the charge in battery development. Solstice offers further improvements in energy density and safety features that will help us develop electric vehicles that set new standards in range, cost, and performance.”

Note the future tense of “will.” Not now. But sometime.

In the meantime Mercedes gets batteries from companies including LG Energy Solution and CATL.

Mercedes, like Stellantis, has had a joint-development arrangement with Factorial since 2021.

So at some point in the future will the situation be that multiple OEMs will have access to the same battery technology and so there will be differentiators required other than charging time and range?