Good morning! It’s Thursday, August 15, 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: The Car Recall System Is Badly Broken
Proposed solutions to fix the United States’ vehicle safety recall system have been sidelined or killed (mostly) thanks to some of the biggest players in the automotive industry.
The Detroit Free Press conducted a monthlong investigation, finding automakers overseen by federal regulators are making very little progress when it comes to repairing their oldest vehicles that have potentially life-threatening defects. The issues are putting millions of folks on the road at serious risk. From Freep:
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a former state attorney general who made his name on consumer issues, is pushing his bill to enact a nationwide ban on dealers selling used cars and trucks with open recalls, saying in an interview that “some of these safety defects are serious and potentially extremely dangerous. But consumers have no idea about them, often, when they purchase used cars, and the dealers should have an obligation to repair them before they sell them.”
The Democratic senator from Connecticut has introduced or reintroduced his bill in every new Congress since 2015. The bill also addresses concerns by dealers about having unsellable cars and trucks on their lots. It would allow recalled vehicles to be sold to other dealers who are able to fix the defects. In addition, the legislation would require manufacturers to provide parts to make fixes within 60 days or reimburse dealers if the manufacturers cannot provide needed parts.
Blumenthal isn’t alone. Auto safety experts support his efforts in the Senate.
“New cars can’t be sold with an open recall, why should used cars be an exception?” asked longtime safety researcher Sean Kane of Safety Research & Strategies in a statement to support Blumenthal’s bill.
Michael Brooks, an auto safety advocate, blames the failure of the law’s passage on the auto industry, which has “better lobbyists” than other industries with known defective products that are prohibited for sale. “Because it seems like you would want to get them off the road as soon as possible.”
Some big industry players like Honda Motor endorsed an earlier proposal that would require any outstanding safety recall to be completed before a vehicle could be legally registered in a state. Some consumer groups now criticize that approach because it could unfairly restrict low-income families who depend on their vehicles.
Blumenthal’s sales ban has faced opposition from the National Automobile Dealers Association, which represents about 16,000 dealers. (Representatives for the association did not respond to a request for comment for this article.)
The association has said its dealers don’t sell vehicles with the most severe warnings, such as a “Do Not Drive” edict. Carfax estimates fewer than 10% of all recalls have such warnings.
Of course, the dealer association emphasizes that not all recalls are created equally, and many of them are minor enough to still allow customers to drive while waiting for repairs. The association has said a blanket ban on selling used cars with open recalls would lead to additional costs to the customer.
In exchange for those higher prices, the sales ban wouldn’t really impact the nation’s overall efforts to get recalled vehicles fixed, according to the association. That sounds like an excuse to me, but what the hell do I know?
You all should really head over to the Detroit Free Press for a full rundown on the recall issue facing the country right now. It’s some really fascinating stuff. Of course, finish The Morning Shift before you head over.
2nd Gear: Toyota To Expand Hybrids Even Further
Despite the fact Toyota has been one of the slowest legacy automakers to adopt electric vehicles, it may end up being the first to forgo gas-only-powered cars completely. The automaker is apparently moving to convert most, and eventually all (probably), of Toyota and Lexus’s line-ups to hybrid-only models.
Toyota has long been on the fence about whether or not the mass adoption of electric vehicles was viable, and back in January, Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda said he believed the global share of EVs would top out at just 30 percent. Instead, Toyota is looking at a “multi-pathway” strategy that includes EVs, hybrids, hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, green fuels and (in theory) tech that has yet to emerge. From Reuters:
“Going forward, we plan to evaluate, carline by carline, whether going all-hybrid makes sense,” David Christ, head of sales and marketing for Toyota in North America, told Reuters.
Those evaluations will come with every model redesign, if not sooner.
That includes the pending overhaul of the RAV4 for the 2026 model year. The RAV4, America’s best-selling SUV, already has hybrid variants that account for about half of sales.
Two people familiar with Toyota’s product planning discussions said the automaker is highly likely to ditch the gasoline-only version for the North American market, but hasn’t made a final call.
This hybridization of Toyota’s lineup has already started, and people seem to like it.
The automaker has already stopped offering a gasoline-only version of its Camry, America’s best-selling sedan, for the 2025 model year while its rugged Land Cruiser and Sienna minivan, for example, also now come only as hybrids.
Many of the hybrid-only models will also likely come as a plug-in hybrid with a bigger battery, according to the two people, who declined to be named.
[…]
Stripping out two EVs and a fuel-cell car on sale in North America, there are currently 31 other Toyota and Lexus models. Eight are already hybrid-only and eight are available in gasoline versions only.
The hybrid strategy will also give Toyota unique advantages in complying with increasingly tough U.S. carbon-emissions restrictions, Toyota executives and industry experts said.
As the U.S. lowers pollution limits under regulations announced in March, Toyota’s booming hybrid sales could help the automaker save billions of dollars in regulatory fines and costs while buying Toyota more time to develop EVs or other zero-emission vehicles.
The new emissions standards, opens new tab take effect from the 2027 model year and run through 2032.
The automaker’s hybrid strategy is all about solidifying an already dominant position in a part of the market that has been reinvigorated by slower-than-expected EV sales.
Right now, there’s no deadline for producing an all-hybrid lineup. Certain models, like economy cars and pickups, could take longer because of consumer price sensitivity.
In addition to hybrids, Toyota is apparently poised to convert about 30 percent of its global fleet to EVs by 2030 by focusing on a small number of fully electric versions of existing top-selling models.
3rd Gear: Polestar Production Heads To The U.S.
Polestar has started production of its Polestar 3 electric crossover in the United States in an effort to get around tariffs placed on Chinese-made vehicles. Production of the $73,000+ Polestar 3 is starting at Volvo’s factory in Ridgeville, South Carolina, and the cars built there will be sent all of the U.S. and Europe. It’s also being built in a plant in Chengdu, China since February. From the Detroit News:
It’s a crucial step for the EV maker that has struggled with operational challenges, deepening losses and rising trade tensions between China and the West. Polestar has been cutting jobs to reduce costs.
The manufacturer had plans to produce in South Carolina even before Washington in May unveiled sweeping tariff hikes on EVs imported from China. As part of its push to diversify its manufacturing footprint, the company will start output of the Polestar 4 SUV in South Korea next year. The company is also working on plans to make future models in Europe.
Polestar delivered some 20,000 cars during the first half of the year, with plans to launch in seven new markets in 2025. The company has said previously that its Polestar 3 and 4 models will help boost sales to more than 155,000 vehicles in 2025, a goal that is up against slowing uptake of EVs in the U.S. and Europe.
Both Volvo Car and Polestar are controlled by China’s Geely.
The news of production in South Carolina comes just a few months after Volvo said it was postponing U.S. shipments of its best-selling all-electric EX30 from China because of the tariff hikes.
I’m glad automakers are finding a way to get around these tariffs, because there’s some really great stuff being made in China right now, and it would benefit the U.S. consumer to have the option to buy one of their cars.
4th Gear: UAW Launches Pro-Harris Campaign
The United Auto Workers union is launching a cross-country campaign effort to mobilize its one million active and retired workers to vote for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in the November 5 election. It could provide a big boost to Harris in key battleground states. From Reuters:
UAW President Shawn Fain and his executive board endorsed Harris at the end of July, and Fain has been vocal about his opposition to Harris’ Republican rival, former president Donald Trump.
The UAW’s influence and membership is concentrated in Michigan, where it is based, along with locations in Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania – key swing states that could sway the outcome of the election.
In 2020, the UAW’s membership accounted for 9.2% of U.S. President Joe Biden’s votes in Michigan alone, the union said in its statement. It said its strategy in this election will include engaging with members online, at work sites, and door-to-door outreach.
The UAW declined to outline how much it would spend on its election efforts, but a person familiar with the program said it planned to spend millions of dollars.
Fain last week met with Harris and her vice presidential candidate Tim Walz at two campaign stops around Detroit.
Michigan households with a union member have been more likely than union households nationwide to vote for a Democrat in the last three U.S. presidential elections, according to polling firm Edison Research. In Michigan, those households lean more toward voting for Democrats than non-union households.
The announcement comes on the heels of the union filing a National Labor Relations Board complaint against Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. It cited attempts to threaten and intimidate workers during a live-streamed conversation the two had on X.