Good morning! It’s Friday, December 20, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know.
1st Gear: Trump To Cut Tax Credits For EVs While Supporting Production
In just 31 days, convicted felon Donald Trump will be sworn into office to run the country, when that happens he’ll have free reign to scrap support for buses and bikes, cut emission targets set out by the outgoing administration and dismantle rights for millions of Americans. Trump also spent a lot of the campaign trail promising to scrap support for EVs and end America’s switch to electric power, but now he’s giving off mixed messages about his stance on the matter.
In the “Home Alone 2″ actor’s first 100 days in office, Automotive News reports that he intends to do as he promised on the campaign trail and scrap federal tax breaks for electric vehicle purchases. At the same time, Trump is expected to speed up federally funded EV projects, like new battery plants and increased capacity at America’s automakers, as Automotive News reports:
Advisers to President-elect Donald Trump are recommending a two-pronged approach to reshape the U.S. auto industry: cut federal subsidies to boost electric-vehicle sales while still fostering a domestic supply chain to produce them.
Taken together, the suggestions highlight how Trump’s campaign promise to “terminate” EV mandates could manifest in policies that prioritize domestic carmakers and suppliers — but without taxpayer support for consumers.
The recommendations were outlined as potential policy changes for the incoming Trump administration’s first 100 days in office, according to people familiar with the matter and a document seen by Bloomberg News. Several initiatives dovetail with the desires of conservative, free-market advocates and fuel producers who have long said the US government shouldn’t dictate what cars Americans should drive and make.
Trump will reportedly increase support for projects that would increase America’s standing as an EV producer, which could include supporting federally-funded EV and infrastructure projects like battery development and mining for essential elements.
The stance sends off some pretty mixed signals about Trump’s thinking on electric vehicles, as it sounds like he doesn’t want consumers to buy them but has no qualms with American automakers assembling a boat load of them.
If the incoming president is set to pair this with a raft of tariffs on imported vehicles, retaliatory measures are to be expected on U.S. exports, which could make American-made EVs less desirable to overseas buyers. Paired with a cut in support for EV buyers Stateside, it begs the question who does Trump think will buy these more expensive electric models?
2nd Gear: VW And Unions Are Nearing A Deal
Discussion between German automaker Volkswagen and unions representing its workers in Europe have been going on all week in an attempt to avert further strike action at the company in the new year. It now sounds as though these discussions have been productive, and the Golf maker is reportedly now edging closer to a deal with workers.
After VW warned that factory closures, wage cuts and restructuring would be the only way to save the automaker, unions fought back with their own ideas to turn around dwindling sales and tough times at VW. The two parties have been in talks with one another since September about the future of the automaker, and Reuters reports that they may finally be on the same page:
Around 100,000 workers have already staged two separate strikes in the past month, the largest in Volkswagen’s 87-year history, protesting against plans to cut wages, reduce capacity and potentially shut German plants for the first time.
The fifth round of negotiations has been under way since Monday and continued deep into the night this week. Both sides have said they are aiming to secure a deal and give workers some certainty by Christmas.
“We are getting closer,” a source familiar with the negotiations said. A second source close to the negotiations confirmed that view.
Initially, Volkswagen warned that it would need to close plants and cut jobs in order to save around 4 billion euros ($4.2 billion.) Unions were against that move, obviously, and thanks to VW’s structure will get a chance to veto any decision to build or move the automaker’s production, explained Reuters.
Further talks are scheduled between union representatives and management today. Any agreement that is reached between the two parties would then require approvals from Volkswagen committees, which the site adds “could complicate and delay a possible deal.”
3rd Gear: Tesla In Talks With Austin For Cybercab Rollout
After more than a decade of claims that self-driving cars are just around the corner, Tesla says that self-driving cars really are just around the corner right now. The automaker unveiled its Cybercab autonomous taxi earlier this year and is now in talks with cities in Texas to begin a self-driving car service sometime next year.
Tesla has reportedly been in talks with Austin, Texas, for months to secure the permits and safety requirements in order to launch an autonomous taxi service, reports Bloomberg. Emails shared with the site show that it is in talks with city officials to ensure can meet the safety requirements for a self-driving car service:
Emails acquired by Bloomberg through public records requests show a Tesla employee has been communicating with the city of Austin’s autonomous vehicle task force since at least May to establish safety expectations for the vehicles as the company decides if Austin will be the first Texas city where Tesla deploys driverless fleets.
“Tesla is still working to strategically find a city within Texas to deploy… The city of Austin is obviously on our roadmap, but has not yet been decided where we will deploy first as we have many options available,” a November email from the employee said.
A successful rollout is key to Tesla as Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has increasingly bet the company’s future on autonomous technology and robotaxis, but the needed approvals could be years away. A number of competitors have already deployed driverless cars on public roads in select cities.
The Cybercab was unveiled by Elon Musk at a glitzy Hollywood event back in October after months of delays and big promises. Musk has pinned the future of the automaker on self-driving tech, so it’s going to be a big year for the automaker after the Tesla boss promised that it would finally make self-driving cars a reality.
As well as the autonomous Cybercab, which could hit the roads before the end of 2025, Tesla has also promised to bring self-driving capabilities to its regular road cars through an update to Autopilot and the Full Self-Driving system.
4th Gear: UAW Makes Unionizing Easier For Rivian Workers
After winning new contracts for workers at Ford, Stellantis and General Motors last year, the United Auto Workers union has made no secret of its desire to bring new automakers into the fold. As well as targeting workers at established brands like Toyota, the union is also hoping to bring employees at Rivian on side in the coming years.
The UAW has reportedly now reached a secret deal with electric vehicle startup Rivian that could make unionizing its factories easier, reports Automotive News. The deal is dependent on a few targets being met, including profitability for the electric truck maker:
Under Rivian and the UAW’s confidential pact, the automaker would adopt a neutral stance toward efforts to organize workers at its Illinois factory where its vehicles are made, according to people familiar with the matter. The neutrality commitment will only take effect once the company reaches certain criteria including profitability metrics, said the people, who didn’t elaborate on what those metrics were and spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private terms.
The neutrality commitment could help pave the way for the UAW to organize Rivian workers, a longtime target in the union’s uphill struggle to unionize the EV industry. But that opening could still be far off: Rivian has never posted a quarterly adjusted profit. That goal has been elusive as the company struggled with supply-chain snags and a broader slowdown in EV demand.
As it stands, Rivian isn’t turning a profit on anything it sells, and is instead losing tens of thousands of dollars on every electric vehicle that rolls off its factory floor. The company has new models in the pipeline that it hopes will turn around its balance sheet, including the smaller R2 electric SUV and the awesome little R3.
If those models are able to turn a profit at Rivian, the automaker has agreed that it wouldn’t oppose a unionization effort by workers at its facilities in Normal, Illinois.
