Good morning! It’s Friday, December 13, 2o24, 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: Tesla Could Get Another Win Under Trump
The Trump transition team is encouraging the incoming administration to do away with a car-crash reporting requirement that Tesla CEO Elon Musk isn’t a fan of. Surprise, surprise. According to documents viewed by Reuters, the move could seriously harm the government’s ability to investigate crashes and regulate the safety of vehicles with automated driving systems. I, for one, am shocked.
It’s becoming increasingly more clear why Musk spent over a quarter billion dollars of his own money on Trump’s election effort. From Reuters:
Removing the crash-disclosure provision would particularly benefit Tesla, which has reported most of the crashes – more than 1,500 – to federal safety regulators under the program. Tesla has been targeted in National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigations, including three stemming from the data.
The recommendation to kill the crash-reporting rule came from a transition team tasked with producing a 100-day strategy for automotive policy. The group called the measure a mandate for “excessive” data collection, the document seen by Reuters shows.
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Reuters could not determine what role, if any, Musk may have played in crafting the transition-team recommendations or the likelihood that the administration would enact them. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group representing most major automakers except Tesla, has also criticized the requirement as burdensome.
NHTSA data reviewed by Reuters shows that Tesla vehicles accounted for 40 out of the 45 fatal crashes reported through October 15. That is… a shocking number. It includes crashes like when a Model S with Autopilot engaged crashed into a stopped firetruck, killing the driver and injuring four firefighters.
NHTSA said in a statement that such data is crucial to evaluating the safety of emerging automated-driving technologies. Two former NHTSA employees said the crash-reporting requirements were pivotal to agency investigations into Tesla’s driver-assistance features that led to 2023 recalls. Without the data, they said, NHTSA cannot easily detect crash patterns that highlight safety problems.
NHTSA said it has received and analyzed data on more than 2,700 crashes since the agency established the rule in 2021. The data has influenced 10 investigations into six companies, NHTSA said, as well as nine safety recalls involving four different companies.
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NHTSA’s so-called standing general order requires automakers to report crashes if advanced driver-assistance or autonomous-driving technologies were engaged within 30 seconds of impact, among other factors.
In addition to ditching the reporting rule, the recommendations call for the administration to “liberalize” autonomous-vehicle regulation and to enact “basic regulations to enable development” of the industry.
In an October Tesla earnings call, Musk called for “a federal approval process for autonomous vehicles,” rather than a patchwork of state laws he called “incredibly painful” to navigate. He said he would use his position as a government-efficiency czar, a post Trump had promised him, to push for such regulatory changes.
Tesla’s CEO wants to do away with a system of reporting like this? Unbelievable. It just isn’t like Musk or his Austin, Texas-based automaker to be against this kind of regulation.
2nd Gear: Legacy Automakers Drive EV Sales Growth
Legacy automakers led the way for an uptick in new electric vehicle registrations in October. At the same time, Tesla’s volume declined for the seventh time in the first 10 months of the year. Still, Tesla’s stock is just about higher than it’s even been, so who knows what really matters anymore? The age of reason has ended.
Anyway, US registrations for fully-electric vehicles grew five percent to 101,403 in October, according to data from S&P Global Mobility. Tesla is still far and away the leader of the pack, but its registrations slipped 1.8 percent from the same month a year ago to a still very solid 45,200 vehicles.
If you take Tesla out of the equation, EV registrations grew 11 percent to 56,203 vehicles. The top five, outside of Tesla’s 45,200 were Chevy (7,427), Ford (6,669), Hyundai (5,628), Honda (4,168) and Kia (4,040).
The top overall models were the Tesla Model Y (21,787), Tesla Model 3 (17,419), Hyundai Ioniq 5 (4,485), Chevy Equinox (4,180), Honda Prologue (4,168) and somehow the Tesla Cybertruck (4,041). From Automotive News:
“Prior to February, Tesla was pulling the EV market, and since February, Tesla has been hindering the EV market,” said Tom Libby, an analyst at S&P Global Mobility. Many of Tesla’s competitors have boosted EV sales, and “a lot of it is due to new products,” such as the Chevrolet Blazer and Equinox, Honda Prologue and Kia EV9, he said.
EVs made up 7.6 percent of new-vehicle registrations in October, according to S&P Global Mobility. Although registrations increased, EV share of the total light-vehicle market remained little changed with October 2023, when EVs accounted for 7.7 percent of new-vehicle registrations.
EVs lagged the rest of the light-vehicle market in October, the last sales month of the year prior to the presidential election. Registrations for all light vehicles, regardless of fuel type, rose 6.7 percent year over year to 1.3 million in October, S&P Global Mobility said. Still, EV registrations topped 1 million in 10 months this year — one month faster than last year.
The pace of EV sales growth has slowed throughout 2024 after explosive sales increases over several years. EV sales surged nearly 50 percent in 2022 and 2023 and soared nearly 90 percent in 2021, according to S&P Global Mobility.
Luxury EV and Tesla sales often tick up in December and will likely follow the same pattern this year, and S&P Global Mobility forecasts total EV share will inch up to 8.5 percent for the full year, Libby said.
Reportedly, we can expect to see moderate EV growth continue through 2025 as hybrids become more popular. In October 2024, conventional and plug-in hybrid retail volume was up 28 percent to 154,172.
3rd Gear: Farley: Ford “Well-Positioned” For Trump Policy Changes
Ford CEO Jim Farley says his leadership team is watching and waiting for policy changes in Washington, D.C. once Trump returns to the presidency on January 20, however, they don’t seem to be worried. Farley said “After 120 years, we’re pretty experienced with policy change,” adding that he thinks Ford is “very well-positioned” for whatever the next administration has in store. From the Detroit Free Press:
Ford is expecting changes in tariffs, emissions regulations and tax benefits for consumers purchasing electric vehicles, Farley said during a scrum with reporters during a Ford press event at Michigan Central Station in Detroit on Monday.
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He went on to say:
We have the highest number of U.S. employees of any car company.”
“We have the largest number of production of U.S. vehicles.”
“We have the largest exports from the United States of vehicles.”
“We have hybrid and electric, so people can choose.”
About 14% of Ford’s sales in November in the U.S. were hybrid or electric vehicles, Farley said. “Almost one out of five vehicles in our lineup globally is now a hybrid or EV. What I’m excited about is working with the administration to make sure that we’re rewarded for our commitment to America and Michigan.”
Farley has remained quiet on whether he or other Ford executives have talked to Trump or members of his next administration. The former and future president has met with Executive Chairman Bill Ford during one of many past visits to Michigan.
“Ford’s employment profile and importance in the U.S. economy and manufacturing, you can imagine the administration will be very interested in Ford’s point of view,” Farley said.
The automaker is looking at key milestones related to electric vehicles through 2027, Farley said.
“We almost got to 11,000 EV sales in the U.S. last month, which was a very very strong month for us. We launched three years ago, so our products have been in the market for quite some time now,” he said. “Hybrids are up 40% as well. … We did take some pricing action. We’re working with our dealers to make sure they sell the whole lineup, not just our hybrids. So they’re putting more emphasis on EVs … in certain parts of the market. Personally, I expect there to be more demand. Customers are smart. They’re going to do the math … (now) is probably the best time to buy an EV.”
Farley toed the line when asked if he thought Tesla CEO (and top Trump advisor) Elon Musk would play a role in killing or keeping the $7,500 electric vehicle tax rebate.
“I don’t know how to handicap that,” Farley told Freep. “We’re just focusing on us.”
4th Gear: Tavares Quit Stellantis Over Strategy Disagreements
It’s been a little under two weeks since former Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares called it quits on the automaker. Now, we’re learning a bit more about why the “amicable” split happened, and it apparently has a lot to do with disagreements with the board over strategy going forward. From Reuters:
He did not go into details on his differences with the board of the Franco-Italian automaker, but told Portuguese newspaper Expresso the decision on his exit had been made jointly between him and chairman John Elkann.
Asked if he felt hurt by the outcome, he replied: “No, not at all”. He said he would act the same way if he could go back in time.
Previously regarded as one of the most respected executives in the auto industry, Tavares’ approach came under scrutiny after slumping sales in North America led the automaker in September to issue a profit warning on its 2024 results.
Dealers, industry experts, and customers say Stellantis had priced itself out of the market in both the United States and Europe under Tavares’ leadership.
In the interview – the first one granted since his resignation – Tavares described the current moment in the auto industry as the beginning of a “Darwinian” period.
“When you’re facing a storm, you have to steer the boat according to the waves. You can’t have a discussion about the best way to face them.”
Honestly, I think it was the right thing for both parties to split. I don’t have anything against Tavares personally (other than his gargantuan paychecks), but it’s very clear that whatever Stellantis is doing is not working right now.
