Intel Report: The Weekly Mobility News That Matters

BY AUTOMOTIVE VENTURES | Mar 3 2025 | VIEW ONLINE

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Automotive

The U.S. economy has never been more integrated with Canada and Mexico. The 25% tariffs that President Trump has said he would impose on America’s two largest trading partners on Tuesday could upend those relationships—and no sector is as exposed as the automotive industry. The odyssey of a single car part shows the potential for higher costs and snarled supply chains. A module used in automatic transmissions—and components used to make it—can cross a border several times before a consumer drives off a dealer’s lot in the U.S. Depending upon how the Trump administration structures the tariffs, each crossing involving the U.S. border could be subject to a duty. | The Wall Street Journal ($)

Elon Musk and his businesses have received at least $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies and tax credits, often at critical moments, helping seed the growth that has made him the world’s richest person. The payments stretch back more than 20 years. Nearly two-thirds of the $38 billion in funds have been promised to Musk’s businesses in the past five years. | The Washington Post ($)National “right to repair” legislation was reintroduced in Congress in early February by a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers. The Right to Equitable and Professional Auto Industry Repair (REPAIR) Act (HR 906) said it would preserve consumer choice, a fair marketplace where independent repair shops can compete with dealerships and the continued safe operation of vehicles on the road across the country. | Automotive News ($)

🇨🇳 China

Four years ago, Xiaomi was a successful smartphone business and its car business consisted of nothing more than a plan approved by the board and a vow by billionaire founder Lei Jun to make it work. This year, the company’s assembly lines are set to turn out 300,000 vehicles, and it has already shipped more than 135,000 in less than a year on the market. Lei has done what Tesla, Apple, Ford Motor Company, and General Motors have been unable to do: create a hit, inexpensive electric vehicle—and fast. Tesla took more than a decade from its founding to reach the 300,000-vehicle production level. Fifteen-year-old EV truck maker Rivian made one-sixth that number last year. | The Wall Street Journal ($)

⚓️ Marine

Asian shipyards churn out hundreds of big boxships and oil tankers a year. The U.S. is lucky if it can finish more than one each year. It has been that way for decades. Few major American shipyards remain and they now mostly build or repair vessels for the U.S. Navy. Those that do produce new commercial ships mostly make small vessels for U.S. companies operating on domestic routes, not the giant containerships and ocean vessels that underpin global trade. | The Wall Street Journal ($)

✈️ Aviation & Space

Four commercial jet crashes have occurred in the last 10 weeks. But, over a longer time period, this spike in accidents doesn’t seem so alarming. In fact, we've experienced a decrease in fatal airline crashes of 97% since the 1960s. | The Verge

Starlink has since 2020 launched more satellites into low-Earth orbit (LEO) - an altitude of less than 2,000 km - than all its competitors combined. Satellites operating at such low altitudes transmit data extremely efficiently, providing high-speed internet for remote communities, seafaring vessels and militaries at war. Elon Musk's primacy in space is seen as a threat by Beijing, which is both investing heavily in rivals and funding military research into tools that track satellite constellations, according to Chinese corporate filings and academic papers whose details have not been previously reported. | Reuters ($)

📚 Investing

Peter Walker from Carta shares the typical employee option pool size by funding stage. | Carta

🚘 Car of the Week

Our Automotive Ventures "Car of the Week": a 227-Mile 2018 Ford GT in Gulf Blue. | Bring aTrailer

Have a great week,Steve Greenfield

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📺 In The News

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Upwell is hiring. | Upwell

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On this week's "Future of Automotive" segment on CBT News, we we look back at Sergio Marchionne's (former CEO of FCA Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) "Confessions of a Capital Junkie" presentation from 10 years ago. In the document, he argued that industry consolidation was the path to evolve past the OEM’s addiction to massive and inefficient capital investment, and as a result drive out costs and deliver higher margins for industry players. | CBT News ($)

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Companies to Watch

🌟 Elevat offers the off-highway market end-to-end business IoT solutions that unlock the full potential of IoT technology. | Elevat

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