Good morning! It’s Monday, August 5, 2024, 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: Musk Gave Trump ‘No Choice’ But To Support EVs
After months spent bashing electric cars and the measures the Biden administration has brought in to speed up their adoption, presidential hopeful Donald Trump changed his tune last month and became an EV fan out of the blue. The convicted felon claimed he was “totally for” electric cars and even went so far as to call them “incredible.”
Now, Trump has shared a little more about his sudden change of heart, and it’s related to the backing he’s gained from Tesla boss Elon Musk, of course. The Republican nominee admitted he felt he had “no choice” but to support EVs after the Tesla boss pledged his support to the Trump campaign, reports Business Insider. As the site reports:
At a rally in Georgia on Sunday, Trump told the crowd he supported electric cars but thought people should still have access to gas vehicles.
“I’m for electric cars. I have to be because, you know, Elon endorsed me very strongly,” Trump told the crowd. “So, I have no choice.”
He then clarified that he only supports them as a “small slice” of the larger auto industry.
“You want to have gas-propelled cars. You want to have hybrids. You want to have every kind of car,” he said.
This marks a serious turn in opinions from Trump, who has previously called for an end to an EV mandate that doesn’t exist, branded the electrification of the auto industry a “green new scam” and even went so far as to pledge an end to EV sales.
Still, Trump does at least have one EV that he actually likes, and it’s the one you’d expect it to be: the Cybertruck. Trump said he was a “huge fan” of the divisive truck earlier this year, according to Musk.
2nd Gear: U.S. Could Ban Chinese Software Next
The U.S. government has made a big deal of its fight against Chinese tech. First, it moved to ban TikTok and take our funny car videos, then it strapped an enormous tariff on any Chinese electric cars hoping to find their way into American dealerships. Now, the next victim of America’s might could be Chinese autonomous cars.
The eye of the Biden administration has moved onto cars equipped with self-driving tech developed in China, reports Bloomberg. Lawmakers are now considering a ban on such technology, which the site reports could come into force in the “coming weeks.” As Bloomberg explains:
The Biden administration plans to propose a rule that would prohibit Chinese software in vehicles in America with Level 3 automation and above, Reuters reported, citing unidentified sources. This would effectively also ban testing on US roads of autonomous vehicles produced by Chinese firms, the report said.
The government is worried that smart vehicles using Chinese software could collect sensitive data about US citizens and infrastructure, and send the data to China.
According to Bloomberg, the Biden administration is also targeting cars with wireless tech developed by China as well. Cars with connected technologies like mobile connectivity and voice-recognition may face increased scrutiny from lawmakers over national security concerns, reports the site.
Under new proposals, cars fitted with such tech may have to verify if the connected technology or advanced autonomous vehicle equipment was developed in a “foreign entity of concern,” such as China.
3rd Gear: European Automakers Hit By Flooding At Supplier
Jaguar Land Rover is one of several European automakers to face production slowdowns as a result of aluminum shortages across the bloc, reports Automotive News. The alloy shortage at Jaguar has been caused by flooding at a supplier in Switzerland and follows similar constrictions at automakers such as Porsche and BMW.
Flooding in Sierre, Switzerland, has hit aluminum producers Novelis and Constellium, which supply the metal to JLR for production of cars like the Range Rover and Ranger Rover Sport, reports Automotive News. The shortage of aluminum could hit JLR’s output and sales figures for the remainder of this quarter and into Q4. As Automotive News reports:
The floods caused by heavy rain in July stopped production at Novelis’ plant in Sierre, Switzerland, and shut down two plants owned by another aluminum supplier, Constellium. Both Novelis and Constellium list JLR as a customer, along with a several other automotive companies.
“We will do our damnedest to make sure that does not stop us hitting our EBIT targets for the year,” Molyneux said on Aug. 2 during JLR’s earnings call for the quarter ending June 30.
“Our industrial operations team are very good at finding alternative sources, and we are also leveraging the Tata ecosystem to help us,” Molyneux said.
Aluminum shortages across Europe recently hit Porsche, which was forced to lower its sales outlook for the year as a result. The shortages have also hit BMW, Mercedes and Audi, but Automotive News reports that they have been able to find alternative sources of the metal.
JLR is working to minimize the impact on the alloy shortage, which could hit the record profits it’s been racking up this year. The company’s pre-tax profit increased by almost 60 percent compared with the same period last year. During the three months from April to June, JLR made $883,000 million, the company reported last week.
4th Gear: Probe Into 1 Million Dodge SUVs Deepens
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has expanded an inquiry into door locks fitted to Dodge SUVs so that it now covers almost a million cars, reports Reuters. The probe was initially launched into door locks and window controls fitted to 82,000 Dodge Journey SUVs from 2009, but now covers cars from 2009 to 2020. As Reuters explains:
NHTSA said it first opened the investigation after a report of a person allegedly entrapped and killed during a vehicle fire that resulted in a death in Middleton, Wisconsin in December, 2022.
NHTSA said it is still exploring the cause of the fire and any potential link door-lock malfunction.
The regulator said there were 19 potential incidents of door and window malfunction incidents including the fatality in Wisconsin.
The initial investigation was launched in May 2023 and relates to cars that weren’t locking and latching correctly. The issue saw people get locked inside their cars while driving and others reported that their cars could randomly unlock while parked. Stellantis says it is “providing NHTSA with our full cooperation,” as part of the probe into the issue.
The investigation doesn’t guarantee a recall of the impacted cars, but does indicate that the problems could run deeper and require one. In order for NHTSA to issue a recall of the impacted models, an engineering analysis would first be required.