Intel Report: The Weekly Mobility News That Matters

BY AUTOMOTIVE VENTURES | June 9 2025 | VIEW ONLINE

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Automotive

Carlos Tavares believes that the state of manufacturing in Europe and the increasing pressure to electrify fleets will likely lead to more mergers among automakers. "That will happen because the companies will be in trouble," Tavares told Automotive News without specifying which companies he believed will soon be in murky waters. Tavares believes that legacy European brands will struggle to produce electric vehicles that can compete with Chinese manufacturers. Instead, he implored European automakers to work on creating more premium vehicles. Plus, he said that startups like Tesla are starting to lose steam. Tesla has walked away with the EV sales crown in the U.S. for years now, but Tavares said that reality wasn't long for this world. | Road & Track

Car buyers racing to get ahead of President Donald Trump’s tariffs face an uncomfortable truth — the trade war is already boosting U.S. auto prices, often in ways nearly invisible to consumers. The sticker price on a particular make and model may not have changed, at least not yet. But automakers have been quietly cutting rebates and limiting cheap financing deals, adding hundreds of dollars to buyers’ monthly payments even as the companies say they’re holding the line on pricing. Several have boosted delivery charges — a fee everyone must pay when buying a new vehicle — by $40 to $400 dollars, according to automotive researcher Edmunds. Some dealers, meanwhile, have decided to charge more for the cars already on their lots, knowing it will cost more to replace them. | Bloomberg ($)

Restrictions on Chinese exports of rare earth minerals and magnets used in a variety of automotive parts are threatening to create the industry’s next major crisis. Automakers and suppliers around the globe are scrambling to mitigate the restrictions, which could lead to shortages of key components found in everything from electric vehicle motors to alternators to power windows. China produces a vast majority of rare earths but curbed their flow out of the country amid an ongoing trade war with the U.S. Already, some automakers and suppliers have had to idle assembly lines because of a lack of parts. Trade groups and industry executives are sounding the alarm about the potential for more imminent shutdowns to create bottlenecks even worse than what the industry grappled with during the microchip shortage. | Automotive News ($)

Elon Musk was the lowest-paid chief executive of an S&P 500 company last year. Tesla paid him $0. It has been that way for several years amid a legal battle over a monster stock award in 2018. A court has twice thrown out Musk’s pay package—calling the process of creating it flawed despite two votes of support from shareholders. Now Tesla’s business is struggling, Musk is fresh off his detour through U.S. politics, and the Tesla board is exploring a new compensation package for its longtime leader. It must answer a thorny question: How do you pay the world’s richest man? | The Wall Street Journal ($)

Elon Musk, fresh off the back of a short-lived, long-felt political career, is hoping that his artificial intelligence firm xAI will join the $100b club, with the Financial Times reporting that the company is looking to raise a $113 billion cap. That would make the barely 2-year-old entity the fourth-most-valuable startup in the world, behind TikTok parent company ByteDance, OpenAI, and another Musk venture, SpaceX. The small secondary offering — worth just $300 million, or ~0.26% of the company’s value — will offer investors the chance to buy shares from employees, giving liquidity to some of its earliest stakeholders. A larger primary offering is expected to follow the $300 million tender offer. If the proposed valuation holds, it would be a substantial uplift from the $33 billion price tag that the company acquired X (Musk’s social media platform, formerly known as Twitter) for in March. | Sherwood

⚡️ EVs

As America’s enthusiasm for full-battery electric vehicles slows, the humble hybrid is gathering speed. Estimates from Wards Intelligence (part of Omdia), reported last week by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, revealed that 12.4% of the light-duty vehicles sold in America over the last three months were hybrid EVs. Just 7.1% were full-battery electric (BEV) and 2.1% were plug-in hybrids (PHEV). The remainder, some 78%, were traditional internal-combustion engine vehicles, confirming that America remains a long way from fully embracing electric. | Sherwood

Tesla can survive the loss of tax credits. But they risk making the EV pioneer look more like any other automaker—when the market values it as anything but. Eliminating tax credits for consumers would hit demand. The starting price of Tesla’s two most popular cars—the Model Y and Model 3—would be about 17% more expensive without the current $7,500 federal credit, according to pricing details on Tesla’s website. Regulatory credits, on the other hand, contribute directly to Tesla’s revenue. It reported about $2.76 billion in automotive regulatory credits for 2024, or about 4% of its total automotive revenue for the year. But that small revenue stream is very profitable; Tesla says such credits “have negligible incremental costs associated with them” in its annual filings. Stripping out the credits would lower Tesla’s gross profit margin by three percentage points, to 15.4% for the year. That would actually come in a bit below the 16.2% annual gross margin averaged by the 10 largest automobile manufacturers by annual revenue, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. | The Wall Street Journal ($)

A team of researchers in China has found a way to bring dead lithium-ion batteries back to life, potentially reducing both the amount of waste that’s quickly piling up from spent electric vehicle (EV) batteries and the need to produce as many new ones. An EV battery usually reaches the end of its lifetime, or when its capacity drops below 80% of its original level, after about eight to 10 years. The battery accounts for around 40% of the cost of the entire vehicle. The team wanted to find a molecule that could replenish a dead cell by infusing it with lithium ions. | Scientific AmericanGas stations are a lot bigger these days, and there’s a new reason for them to keep growing: electric vehicles. As battery-powered cars become more common on roadways, more gas stations are installing chargers alongside old-fashioned pumps. But E.V. charging takes time, so gas station operators are turning their stores into shopping centers where people can spend time — and money — while they wait for cars to charge. Doing so often means supersizing the business. Buc-ee's, Ltd., which has 51 locations primarily in the South and is working with Mercedes-Benz USA to offer E.V. charging, has stations as big as 75,000 square feet. But the sheer size of the businesses has turned off some communities that don’t want the heavy traffic, bright lights and 24/7 activity. | The New York Times ($)The $5 billion software partnership between newcomer EV startup Rivian and German heavyweight Volkswagen just took a very interesting turn. Not only will the Volkswagen Group have access to a shared software platform to help close the CARIAD-shaped gap in its vehicles, but it turns out that the platform that underpins Rivian's upcoming SUV will actually become the official digital brain of all future Volkswagen-branded EVs. Everything Volkswagen touches in the EV space will now be humming along on the same platform and tech stack that will be used as the building blocks for the highly anticipated Rivian R2. That news comes straight from Rivian's Chief Software Officer, Wassym Bensaid. In an interview with Yahoo Finance, Bensaid noted that the R2's modular platform is set to be the secret sauce that makes up every single Volkswagen EV in the foreseeable future. | Inside EVs

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China

China’s ability to make electric vehicles (EVs) cheaply has caused angst in countries with big carmakers, prompting governments to investigate China’s subsidies for the sector and to erect trade barriers. Now, though, it is China’s own government that is worrying about how cheap its producers’ EVs are. The race to the bottom shows no sign of letting up, and the industry has become emblematic of some of the broader problems facing the economy. On May 23rd China’s biggest EV manufacturer, BYD, caused shockwaves when it slashed the cost of 22 electric and hybrid models. Now the starting price of its cheapest model, the Seagull, has fallen to a mere 55,800 yuan ($7,700). The move came just two years after BYD had originally unveiled the electric hatchback, at a then astonishingly low cost of 73,800 yuan. The latest move triggered official concern about how low prices could go in the world’s largest car market. On May 31st China’s industry ministry told XInhua News Agency, the state-run news agency, that “there are no winners in the price war, let alone a future.” The ministry vowed to curb cut-throat competition, which it said harmed investment in R&D, and could cause safety problems. On June 1st People's Daily, the Communist Party mouthpiece, argued that low-priced, low-quality products could harm the reputation of “made-in-China” goods. The backlash comes as leaders crack down on unproductive, self-harming competition between firms and local governments that has created overcapacity and lowered profits. Their moves are part of a broader effort to rebalance the economy. “Recent developments suggest the old supply-driven model remains intact,” Robin Xing, Morgan Stanley’s chief China economist, wrote in a note. | The Economist ($)

China has signaled for more than 15 years that it was looking to weaponize areas of the global supply chain, a strategy modeled on longstanding American export controls Beijing views as aimed at stalling its rise. Industry executives and analysts say while China is showing signs of approving more exports of the key elements, it will not dismantle its new system. Modeled on the United States' own, Beijing's export license system gives it unprecedented insight into supplier chokepoints in areas ranging from motors for electric vehicles to flight-control systems for guided missiles. | Reuters ($)

Range anxiety has long suppressed sales of fully electric vehicles as drivers opt for the peace of mind that plug-in hybrids and old-school gas-guzzlers offer. But in China, the emergence of extended-range EVs — which run primarily on electricity but use a gasoline engine to charge the battery when it runs low — and the rise in ultra-fast charging could solve the issue once and for all. The recent Shanghai auto show was teeming with EREVs alongside fully electric and hybrid models, including the Luxeed R7, a midsize sport utility vehicle springing from a collaboration between CHERY Auto and tech giant Huawei. Starting at 299,800 yuan ($42,000), the vehicle offers around 360 kilometers (224 miles) of pure-electric range. That figure jumps to more than than 1,600 kilometers, or 1,000 miles, when the gasoline engine kicks in. | Bloomberg ($)

Some European auto parts plants have suspended output and Mercedes-Benz is considering ways to protect against shortages of rare earths, as concerns about the damage from China's restrictions on critical mineral exports deepen. China's decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of rare earths and related magnets has upended the supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world. The move underscores China's dominance of the critical mineral industry, key to the green energy transition, and is seen as leverage by China in its trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump. China produces around 90% of the world's rare earths. | Reuters ($)

Two decades ago, factories in Indiana that turned rare earth metals into magnets moved production to China — just as demand for the magnets was starting to soar for everything from cars and semiconductors to fighter jets and robots. The United States is now reckoning with the cost of losing that supply chain. The Chinese government abruptly halted exports of rare earth magnets to any country on April 4 as part of its trade war with the United States. American officials had expected that China would relax its restrictions on the magnets as part of the trade truce the two countries reached in mid-May. But on Friday, President Trump suggested that China had continued to limit access. Now, American and European companies are running out of the magnets. American automakers are the hardest hit, with executives warning that production at factories across the Midwest and South could be cut back in the coming days and weeks. Carmakers need the magnets for the electric motors that run brakes, steering and fuel injectors. The motors in a single luxury car seat, for example, use as many as 12 magnets. | The New York Times ($)

Four major automakers are racing to find workarounds to China’s stranglehold on rare-earth magnets, which they fear could force them to shut down some car production within weeks. Several traditional and electric vehicle makers—and their suppliers—are considering shifting some auto-parts manufacturing to China to avoid looming factory shutdowns, people familiar with the situation said. Ideas under review include producing electric motors in Chinese factories or shipping made-in-America motors to China to have magnets installed. Moving production to China as a way to get around the export controls on rare-earth magnets could work because the restrictions only cover magnets, not finished parts, the people said. If automakers end up shifting some production to China, it would amount to a remarkable outcome from a trade war initiated by President Trump with the intention of bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. | The Wall Street Journal ($)

Even as the rest of the world tries to close its gap with China in the race to make cheap, safe and efficient lithium-ion batteries, Chinese companies have already taken a head-start towards mass producing sodium-ion batteries, an alternative that could help the industry reduce its dependence on key raw minerals. Chinese carmakers were the first in the world to launch sodium-powered cars. But the impact of these models – all of them tiny with short ranges – has been low so far. In April 2025, the world's largest battery manufacturer, China's CATL, announced its plan to mass-produce sodium-ion batteries for heavy-duty trucks and cars this year under a new brand Naxtra. One segment that is betting big on sodium-ion batteries is the two-wheeler, a fast-growing and highly competitive market in China. | BBC

Shipments from Tesla’s Shanghai factory fell by 15% in May compared with a year before, according to preliminary data from China’s Passenger Car Association. That marks eight straight months of declining output from Tesla’s single biggest electric vehicle factory, accounting for around 40% of its global capacity. These figures don’t break out which of those EVs get sold in China or get exported from there, but this trend is not Tesla’s friend. Through April, its share of China’s battery EV market had fallen by more than half over the past four years, according to data compiled by New AutoMotive, a UK-based research firm. | Bloomberg ($)

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Autonomy, Robotics & AI

Last month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) sent Tesla a letter asking about basic elements of the company’s robotaxi plans only weeks before its slated launch. Tesla uses a third of the number of sensors that Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo vehicles have. Whereas Waymo employs an array of different kinds of sensors — cameras, radar and lidar — Tesla utilizes only one: cameras. The company places an array of them in each vehicle it sells to capture road signs, traffic lights, lane markings and surrounding cars. Other automakers and autonomous-driving technology companies also use radar and lidar, which emit energy — in lidar’s case, laser pulses traveling at the speed of light — to detect the distance of surrounding objects. As active sensors that generate their own signals, they’re not affected by external lighting conditions and function better than cameras in direct sunlight. One advantage cameras have over both radar and lidar is cost. Analysts at BloombergNEF estimated in a report late last year that the sensor suite on a Tesla Model 3 costs just $400. The researcher said that the 24 sensors on the Jaguar I-Pace SUVs that Waymo had deployed in states including Arizona cost 23 times more: roughly $9,300 per vehicle. “The issue with Waymo’s cars is they cost way more money,” CEO Elon Musk said during Tesla’s most recent earnings call in April. Tesla’s online owner’s manual for the Model Y cautions that the vehicle’s front-facing cameras “may not detect objects or barriers that can potentially cause damage or injury,” and that “several external factors” can reduce their performance. The company says the cameras aren’t intended to replace drivers’ visual checks or substitute careful driving. | Bloomberg ($)Tesla investors, fans and critics are closely watching for the first signs of fully autonomous robotaxis on the streets of Austin, Texas, this week as CEO Elon Musk either delivers on his decade-old promise of self-driving cars or postpones again. Tesla fans on social media and at Wall Street investment banks are hoping for success, since the Austin company could potentially scale faster than Waymo given its car-making business. “There will be many setbacks but given its unmatched scale and scope globally we believe Tesla has the opportunity to own the autonomous market,” said Daniel Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities and a Tesla bull. “The march to a $2 trillion valuation for Tesla over the next 12 to 18 months has now begun.” | Automotive News ($)Tesla is trying to prevent the city of Austin, Texas, from releasing public records to Reuters involving the EV maker’s planned launch of self-driving robotaxis in the city this month. The news agency in February requested communications between Tesla and Austin officials over the previous two years. The request followed CEO Elon Musk’s announcement in January that Tesla would launch fare-collecting robotaxis on Austin public streets. On April 16, an attorney for Tesla wrote the Texas Attorney General’s office objecting to the release of “confidential, proprietary, competitively sensitive commercial, and/or trade secret information” contained in emails between Tesla and Austin officials. The Tesla attorney wrote that providing the documents to Reuters would reveal “Tesla’s deployment procedure, process, status and strategy” and “irreparably harm Tesla.” | Reuters ($)

✈️ Aviation & Space

All-electric aircraft developer Archer has entered a key development phase ahead of full-fledged flight certification and commercial operations. Last week, Archer completed a piloted flight in its flagship Midnight aircraft, demonstrating a conventional takeoff and landing instead of vertical (it can do both). | Electrek

🚘 Car of the Week

Our Automotive Ventures "Car of the Week": a RAUH-Welt BEGRIFF 1989 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Coupe. | Cars & Bids

Have a great week,Steve Greenfield

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📺 In The News

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On this week's "Future of Automotive" segment on CBT News, more questions about Tesla’s push to launch its highly anticipated robotaxi service — and whether it’s truly ready for prime time. | CBT News ($)

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