Intel Report: The Weekly Mobility News That Matters

BY AUTOMOTIVE VENTURES | Apr 14 2025 | VIEW ONLINE

Why did Automotive Ventures invest in LoanBridge.ai? LINK

What We're Reading:

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Automotive

A new analysis by the Center for Automotive Research has found that President Donald Trump's 25% auto tariffs imposed in early April will increase costs by about $108 billion for automakers in the U.S. in 2025. The study, released on Thursday by the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based organization, found Detroit automakers Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Stellantis, maker of Jeeps and Ram trucks, specifically will see increased costs of $42 billion. The study found the Detroit Three could see tariffs of nearly $5,000 for the parts they import on average for each car produced in the U.S., and about $8,600 on average for each car they import. | Reuters ($)

President Trump’s 25% tariffs on imported vehicles, which went into effect last week, are already sending tremors through the auto industry, prompting companies to stop shipping cars to the United States, shut down factories in Canada and Mexico and lay off workers in Michigan and other states. | The New York Times ($)

Experts have estimated that tariffs could add anywhere from $3,000 to $20,000 to the prices of new cars, depending on the make and model. But it isn’t just prices for new — and even used — vehicles that are expected to increase as automakers look to offset high tariffs on imported parts or the costs to import vehicles into the country. Experts also warn that the cost of auto repairs will likely rise too. That’s because many parts used in repairs come from other countries and will be subject to the tariffs. Those increased costs on parts will have another impact: auto insurance rates. Insurers will have to pay more for claims on collision repairs. They are likely to pass that extra cost on to consumers with higher premiums, experts said. But just how high remains to be seen. | Detroit Free Press

The costs of car repairs and insurance have soared 27% and 53%, respectively, during the past three years, far outpacing overall inflation, according to U.S. Department of Labor data. The prices of parts that are commonly damaged in collisions, such as hoods, fenders and lights, stand to rise further starting about three months from now, according to Edward Salamy, executive director of the Automotive Body Parts Association, a trade group. If you already know your car is in need of a repair or maintenance, Brian Moody, executive editor at online marketplace Autotrader US, said it would be wise to get the work done soon, and not just to save money. Tariffs could make some parts harder to come by as producers adjust their output, which would put cars out of commission for longer periods. When cars cost more and fixing them costs more, insurance companies’ expenses increase, so tariffs are expected to raise auto-insurance premiums as well. | The Wall Street Journal ($)

Finance and insurance products, besides the staples of guaranteed asset protection coverage, or GAP, and vehicle service contracts, have made up an increasing portion of dealership F&I product revenue since the pre-pandemic year of 2019, according to F&I software and analytics provider StoneEagle. In 2024, service contracts made up 54% of F&I product revenue and GAP was 12%. Revenue from other products, known as ancillary products, had grown to 34%. | Automotive News ($)

Auto consumer affordability appears to be eroding further based on a growing number signing seven-year loans. A first-quarter report by Edmunds indicates 84-month loans reached a historic high at 20% of new-vehicle financing. That’s up from 16% a year earlier and from 13% in 2019’s first quarter. | Agent EntrepreneurJeff Bezos is funding a secretive EV startup based in Michigan called Slate Auto Auto that could start production as soon as next year. Slate Auto is tackling a big goal: an affordable two-seat electric pickup truck for around $25,000. | TechCrunch ($)“Today’s U.S. vehicle fleet — referred to in the report as the ‘car parc’ — is undergoing a transformation that’s anything but cyclical,” said Kyle Krumlauf, director of industry analytics at CCC Intelligent Solutions and co-author of Crash Course. “We’re seeing the convergence of several structural shifts including longer vehicle life, increasingly complex and tech-driven repairs, cost inflation, changing ownership models and rising consumer expectations. It’s this intersection — not any single trend — that marks a true inflection point for the auto claims and repair economy. Our Q1 report helps the industry understand these forces and plan accordingly.” | CCC

Glenn Mercer and Daniel Roeska illustrate the decline of the "Detroit 3" market share over the past 25 years. At the start of this century, the D3 sold 29% of the world’s cars (measured in units). Now they sell 13%.The legend for the chart:D3 = Detroit ThreeJ/K = Japanese/KoreansEU = EuropeansCN = Chinese. | Glenn Mercer

A U.S. Senate version of a federal “right to repair” bill was introduced April 9th. The REPAIR Act was introduced by Sens. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and would give car owners expanded options for automobile repairs. The legislation would guarantee vehicle owners, independent repair shops and aftermarket manufacturers access to vehicle repair and maintenance data. | Automotive News ($)

⚡️ EVs

Americans are less interested in buying and owning EVs than they were two years ago, according to polling Gallup released Tuesday. The poll shows that the number of Americans who are open to buying an electric vehicle has dropped to 51% in early 2025, down from 59% in 2023. | The Washington Post ($)

Electric vehicles could be especially susceptible to tariff-fueled price increases. Lithium-ion batteries in EVs have traditionally been made with rare-earth metals, such as cobalt and nickel, that are largely found overseas. Although some American automakers are transitioning to new batteries that don’t depend on those scarce minerals, many of the largest EV battery producers are in China, South Korea and Japan. Trump announced Wednesday on TruthSocial that he will place a 125% tariff on all Chinese goods. | Los Angeles Times ($)

The manufacturer of iPhones better known as Foxconn plans to make two electric vehicle models for the U.S. as part of a global blitz into the automotive business. Jun Seki, one of Foxconn’s top executives and a veteran of Nissan, pitched the company’s prowess as an EV contract manufacturer to global carmakers at an April 9 press conference here, where he outlined Foxconn’s plans for a lineup of six battery-powered light vehicles and buses. The Taiwanese electronics giant is leaping into the international auto industry amid swirling speculation it will partner with Nissan Motor Corporation, Honda, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, or even a combination of all three, to work on next-generation software-defined EVs. | Automotive News ($)

The number of used Tesla vehicles listed for sale on marketplace Autotrader surged in March. During the final week of the month — the same week hundreds of “Tesla Takedown” protests were held across the country — an average of more than 13,000 used Teslas were listed for sale. That’s the most ever on record and up 67% from the same week a year earlier, according to new data provided by Autotrader parent company Cox Automotive. | Sherwood

Tesla’s sales in the United States fell almost 9% in the first three months of the year even as the overall market for electric vehicles grew, according to Cox Automotive. Sales of all-electric vehicles in the United States rose 11% during the first quarter to about 300,000 cars and light trucks, Cox said, much faster than the overall auto market, which has been flat. About 8% of new domestic car sales were electric, Cox said, a slight increase from 2024. | The New York Times ($)

Electric car owners experience a problem at 1 out of every 5 public charging sessions they initiate, according to a recent survey by Consumer Reports’ EV Charging Community. The likelihood of problems varied widely depending on the charging network, with Tesla Superchargers and Rivian’s Adventure Network having the least number of sessions with reported problems. | Consumer Reports

The recycling of EV batteries means that instead of mining more lithium, nickel and other metals from the ground, we can keep reusing the supplies we already have. Researchers have estimated that, by 2040, over half the demand for lithium and nickel for these batteries could be supplied by recycling. If recycling takes off, the benefits could be significant. According to a 2024 International Energy Agency (IEA) report, greater recycling of critical minerals could reduce the need for new mining by as much as 40% by mid-century. The IEA notes that many governments are creating policies to encourage recycling. For instance, in 2023 the European Union introduced a new Battery Regulation, which will introduce increasingly stringent requirements for "recycling efficiency, material recovery and recycled content", beginning in 2025. This isn't just about being environmentally friendly: there are also geopolitical motivations. In the last 20 years, the international order of things has significantly destabilized, with shocks such as Brexit and the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump impacting global trade and international cooperation. Countries that are overly dependent on imports of critical supplies face significant risks in this new world. | The BBC

🇨🇳 China

China placed export restrictions on rare earth elements on Friday as part of its sweeping response to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, squeezing supply to the West of minerals used to make weapons, electronics and a range of consumer goods. The move, which Beijing had long hinted was possible, further ratchets up trade tensions between the world's two largest economies and leaves American manufacturers scrambling for fresh supplies of the critical minerals they have relied upon for decades. China produces around 90% of the world's rare earths, a group of 17 elements used across the defense, electric vehicle, energy and electronics industries. The United States has only one rare earths mine and most of its supply comes from China. | Reuters ($)

BYD posted 777 billion yuan ($107 billion) in sales across 2024, surpassing U.S. rival Tesla’s annual revenue figures for the first time in 7 years. BYD delivered just over 1 million EV units in the first 3 months of 2025, compared to Tesla’s 336,681 shipments over the same period. | Sherwood

Despite an intensifying EV price war in China, BYD is cutting prices once again. The Chinese EV giant announced a new promotion this month across several Ocean Series models, including the Seagull. The 2025 BYD Seagull EV is available starting at just 56,800 yuan ($7,800). The offer is for the non-Smart Driving Vitality Edition model, which usually starts at 69,800 yuan ($9,500). After launching the new Seagull last year, BYD said the low-cost electric car officially opened “a new era of electricity being lower than oil.” Earlier this year, it upgraded most of its vehicles, including the Seagull, with its new “God’s Eye” smart driving system at no extra charge. BYD’s Seagull is offered in three trims in China: Vitality, Freedom, and Flying. It has two battery options, 30.1 kWh or 38.9 kWh, which is good for the 305 km (190 mi) and 405 km (252 mi) CLTC range, respectively. | Electrek

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Autonomy & Robotics

Kawasaki Heavy Industries has unveiled "CORLEO," a four-legged bionic robot powered by a hydrogen fuel cell system, showcasing future-ready mobile platform technologies. Featuring advanced off-road mobility, integrated hydrogen storage, and human-machine collaboration controls, CORLEO merges robotics with Kawasaki’s motorcycle and energy innovations. | FCW

Boston Dynamics and Hyundai Motor Group yesterday announced plans to deepen their partnership, which includes Hyundai purchasing “tens of thousands” of robots in the coming years. The automaker will also help Boston Dynamics grow by integrating its manufacturing capabilities with Boston Dynamics. Hyundai said it is already deploying Spot robots for industrial inspection and predictive maintenance at its facilities. The Seoul, South Korea-based company plans to deploy Atlas across its factories. | The Robot Report

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Rail

High-speed trains, zooming across the landscape at over 200 miles per hour, have long been a Holy Grail for U.S. transportation advocates. Though projects are advancing in California, Nevada and Texas, progress has been arduous. Even in sparsely populated corners of the American West, from-scratch high-speed rail development is expensive, complex and politically fraught. But brand-new bullet trains are not the only way to deliver faster passenger rail service. In regions with lots of older rail infrastructure, like the Northeast and Midwest, the existing tracks are full of untapped potential. That’s the main finding of a new report by the NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management’s Transit Costs Project, authored by Marron Institute research fellow Nolan Hicks. The strategies outlined in the report, Hicks says, “can deliver a whole lot of what high-speed rail promises using the infrastructure we already have, and at costs that are reasonable for the value delivered in return.” Hicks’ Momentum approach achieves its time savings not so much from increasing top speeds, but from reducing the “dead time” trains spend idling at stops and getting back up to speed again. | NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management

✈️ Aviation & Space

Owned by Musk’s SpaceX, StarLink is indispensable for Ukrainian soldiers, who have relied on its terminals for communication, drone control and artillery coordination since Russia invaded in 2022. But Starlink’s dominance has highlighted the risk of relying on a single U.S. company and its unpredictable owner. European authorities now want Eutelsat Group, based in a nondescript office district outside Paris, to provide a backup to Starlink in Ukraine as quickly as possible, via its satellite-internet service OneWeb. In the longer term, they are counting on Eutelsat to help build a space communication network that would make the continent more autonomous. | The Wall Street Journal ($)

🌡️ Climate

People are dying for clean air. According to the most recent estimates from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, air pollution caused 4.7m early deaths worldwide in 2021—about the same as dementia, road-traffic accidents, malaria and suicides combined. Road traffic is a leading contributor to dirty air; in London, for instance, it is responsible for 60% of outdoor particulate dust. Electric vehicles (EVs) are often preferred because they can be powered by clean, sustainable energy sources and, in contrast to petrol and diesel cars, produce no exhaust fumes. But EVs nevertheless emit other pollutants common to all cars: particles originating not from the exhaust, but from brakes, tires and roads. These can have potentially significant consequences for public health. | The Economist ($)

Over the past 20 years, Paris has undergone a major physical transformation, trading automotive arteries for bike lanes, adding green spaces and eliminating 50,000 parking spaces. Part of the payoff has been invisible — in the air itself. Airparif, an independent group that tracks air quality for France’s capital region, said this week that levels of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) have decreased 55% since 2005, while nitrogen dioxide levels have fallen 50%. It attributed this to “regulations and public policies,” including steps to limit traffic and ban the most polluting vehicles. | The Washington Post ($)

🚘 Car of the Week

Our Automotive Ventures "Car of the Week": a 1989 RUF CTR Yellowbird. | Broad Arrow Auctions

In 1987, Road & Track magazine hosted its top speed challenge at Nardo, including every notable sports car manufacturer, which had prepared its cars very carefully. Among the field was the Ferrari F40, the most coveted car of its era, which arrived with a claimed (and unheard-of) top speed of 201 mph. The Ruf CTR, on the other hand, was driven to Nardo from Pfaffenhausen directly, not trailered like every other manufacturer. Blowing the doors off every other competitor at the high-speed ring that day, it reached a top speed of 211 mph, and indeed it was Road & Track that gave the car the moniker “Yellowbird” as a result.

Have a great week,Steve Greenfield

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Automotive Ventures is very excited that our portfolio company Ottometric has announced the closing of their $10 million Series A financing round, led by Schooner Capital. LINK

📺 In The News

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Great to see WarrCloud nominated for a 2025 Automotive News PACE Award! | Automotive News

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Steve had a chance to catch up with Mark Coleman from the ARA (Automotive Remarketing Alliance) to discuss his new book, The Future of Mobility. | ARA

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Steve caught up with Kathryn Schifferle from Work Truck Solutions to discuss the future of the commercial vehicle business. | Work Truck Solutions

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Thanks to Joe Overby and the Cherokee Media Group team for hosting our panel at the Auto Intel Summit this week.

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Dan Dionne from RockED accepted the Emerging Startup award at the Auto Intel Summit last week.

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On this week's "Future of Automotive" segment on CBT News, we discuss our latest investment in LoanBridge.ai. | CBT News ($)

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From last week's Auto Intel Summit (AIS): Mike Buckingham from J.D. Power comments on the state of the automotive market.

👀 Companies to Watch

🌟 ScaleVoice provides AI agents for Automotive: AI BDC and outbound sales calls, inbound service calls with a human-like voice—seamlessly updating your Xtime, VinSolutions, or any CRM and DMS. | ScaleVoice.com

🎪 Upcoming Industry Events

Fixed Ops RoundtableMay 12-15 | Virtual EventSpeaker(Link)Michigan Automobile Dealers Association Spring Dealer MeetingMay 14 | MichiganSpeaker(Link)AutosBuzzMay 20-21 | Berlin, GermanySpeaker(Link)autopromotecMay 21-25 | Bologna, ItalySpeaker(Link)Virginia Automobile Dealers Association 2025 ConventionJune 8-11 | Hot Springs, VASpeaker(Link)