Ford Could Drop Electric F-150; China Cuts EV Tax Exemption – Autoline Daily 4175
This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. I think there’s a good amount of people that blame Elon Musk for any recent sales drop at Tesla. But yet, shareholders heavily voted in favor of the CEO’s new pay package, which could be worth up to a trillion dollars, the biggest in history and larger than the GDP of countries like Belgium and Argentina. The proposal was approved with over 75% support, but in order to receive the full amount, Musk will need to hit some very lofty milestones over the next decade, like delivering 20 million vehicles, getting 10 million FSD subscribers, having a million robo taxis in operation, selling a million humanoid robots, and raising Tesla’s stock value to $8.5 trillion. However, controversy has swirled around the package because Elon can still earn billions even if he falls short of those targets. Reuters reports that Musk bounded onto the stage for the company’s annual meeting after the proposal went through and proceeded to talk about plans for its cars, AVs, robots, and AI. He says the nextG Roadster, which was first announced eight years ago, is aiming for a reveal on April 1st. Although an April Fool’s debut doesn’t instill a lot of confidence that it will come out then. Around the same time, he says the Cyber Cab will enter production at Tesla’s plant in Texas, but no word if it will have a steering wheel or pedals. And to support all this expansion, the company will need a ton of chips. So, it’s considering a partnership with Intel. Full-size electric pickup sales are well below what automakers expected. That’s why Stalantis canled development of Ram’s electric truck back in September. And now the Wall Street Journal reports that Ford is considering scrapping the F-150 Lightning. Production is currently halted due to an aluminum shortage caused by a fire at supplier Nollis’ plant in October. The company is debating whether to restart production, but no final decision has been made yet. It’s not too surprising if the model gets axed. Ford only sold 1,500 Lightnings last month in the US. Plus, the company is developing an affordable electric pickup truck based on its new universal EV platform. That model is expected to launch in 2027 and start around 30,000 bucks. But the big question is, what will Ford do with the massive assembly plant that it’s building in Tennessee called Blue Oval City? It’s supposed to be toled up to make 500,000 full-size electric pickup trucks a year. So, we fully expect that Ford will have to make some sort of adjustments to those plans. Tariffs had a big impact on car buyers. According to the JD Power 2025 US sales satisfaction index, 36% of new vehicle buyers say that tariffs impacted their buying process with most 87% saying they bought earlier than they planned and 15% of those buyers also paid more than they originally intended. Even so, overall customer satisfaction with the car buying process increased over last year. Among the mass market brands, Buick had the highest overall customer satisfaction, followed by Subaru, Chevrolet, GMC, and Mini. And while GM’s mass market brands did well, Cadillac was below the industry average in the premium segment. Porsche topped the list amongst the luxury brands for the third consecutive year, and it was followed by Land Rover, Infiniti, MercedesBenz, and Lincoln. At CSP, we work with OEM engineers across the country on their journeys to lighter, safer, and more eco-friendly vehicles. Learn more at thecsp.com. China is showing signs that it’s going to start backing off of government support for EVs. At the end of October, we reported that for the first time in a decade, electric vehicles won’t be included in the country’s 5-year development plan. And starting at the beginning of next year, NEVs will no longer be fully exempt from purchase taxes, which allowed buyers to avoid up to $4,200 in costs. Instead, that exemption will now be cut in half. With NEV sales soaring past 10 million last year and already topping 11 million this year, China is paying out a lot of money. The Ministry of Finance estimates total purchase tax reductions from 2024 to 2027 will reach over $73 billion. And while NEVs continue to see sales growth, China estimates that by 2040, 1th3 of new cars sold will still use an internal combustion engine. and that IC vehicles will still be in the market for another decade or two. Honda really struggled in the second quarter of its current fiscal year. The automakers sold 841,000 vehicles, down about 7.5% compared to a year ago. That brought in around 36 billion in revenue, a 2% decrease. And its operating profit plunged by a quarter to 1.3 billion. Honda’s earnings were impacted by one-time EV cost, declining sales in China and other Asian markets, and the next periodia chip shortage also put a dent in its earnings. While it did take a hit from US tariffs, the impact was less since Honda builds a high number of its vehicles in the US. But the company expects the second half of the year to be tough and is cutting its fullear forecast by 21%. Not too surprisingly, Kia saw a big drop in US EV sales last month with the $7,500 federal EV tax credit going away. Sales of the EV6 and the EV9 plunged 68% in October. The Nero EV wasn’t included in that figure because there’s also hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions, and Kia doesn’t break down sales for each powertrain. The company was offering $9,000 discounts on the EV6 and EV9 and an $8,000 discount for the Nero EV last month, but apparently that wasn’t enough to attract customers. So now Kia is knocking $10,000 off all the EVs in its lineup to help boost sales. And while EV sales took a big hit, the slowdown might only be temporary. An analyst at Global Data, a company that tracks car sales, doesn’t believe low EV sales will be a new normal and expects to see a recovery. He says there weren’t many EV buyers in October because customers bought EVs earlier in the year while the tax credit was still available. While demand will likely remain low for the rest of the year, a rebound is expected after that since automakers are still planning on launching new EVs in the coming years. And that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for making a line a part of your day and I hope that you have a great weekend. Autoline Daily is brought to you by Alex Partners, when it really matters. 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Autoline reports breaking global car news, with great insight and analysis. Also, top auto executive interviews. We cover electric vehicles (EV), autonomous vehicles (AV) and internal combustion engine technology (ICE), as well as car sales & financial earnings and new car reviews.
0:00 Tesla Shareholders Approve Musk’s $1 Trillion Pay Plan
1:46 Ford Considers Axing The F-150 Lightning
2:55 Tariffs Pushed Car Buyers to Make Earlier Purchases
4:12 China Cuts Purchase Tax Exemption for EVs
5:15 Honda Posts 25% Decline in Operating Profit
6:04 Kia Offering $10,000 Discounts for Its EVs
6:48 U.S. EV Sales Slowdown May Only Be Temporary
Story Links:
– Tesla Shareholders Approve Musk’s Pay Package: https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/tesla-shareholders-approve-878-billion-pay-plan-elon-musk-2025-11-06/
– Ford Considers Dropping Lightning: https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/ford-150-lightning-ev-decision-89dc0d84?mod=hp_lead_pos1
– JD Power US Sales Satisfaction Index: https://www.jdpower.com/business/press-releases/2025-us-sales-satisfaction-index-ssi-study
– China Slashes EV Tax Exemption: https://autodata.gasgoo.com/information/imView/articleDetails/1986407233967403008
– Honda Q2 Fiscal Year Results: https://global.honda/en/investors/library/financialresult/main/08/teaserItems3/016/linkList/00/link/FYE202603_2Q_financial_presentation_e.pdf
– Kia EV Discount: https://electrek.co/2025/11/06/kia-slashes-ev-prices-with-new-10000-discount/
– EV Sales Forecast to Rebound After This Year: https://www.autonews.com/retail/sales/an-october-sales-ev-collapse-1106/
– To read the transcript for today’s show click here: https://www.autoline.tv/daily/ad-4175-ford-considers-axing-the-f-150-lightning-shareholders-approve-musks-1-trillion-pay-plan-china-lowers-ev-tax-exemption/
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