In Your Face 🇨🇳 (My Car Week)
Tariffs on Chinese Cars, Race Weekend, LEGO, and the IONIQ 5 N
Hey.
The weeks is a wild mixture of topics! We start at the dawn of a trade war, talk briefly about weekend occupations and watch cool videos of the stunning Hyundai IONIQ 5 N.
In the mood?
Enjoy!
In this email
The EU Slaps Tariffs on Chinese EV Imports
The IONIQ 5 N is Your Next Supercar
50% of Most City’s Land is Dedicated to Cars
Service Announcement – I will take a little holiday break at the beginning of July & use the time to move this newsletter to a new service (Beehive; which also is compliant to GDPR). Just so you know …
🤑 Tesla investors reapproved Musk’s 2018 pay package, which allows him to purchase 304 million shares at around $23 a pop. Makes Elon happy, ofc. / QZ
The EU Slaps Tariffs on Chinese EV Imports
As expected, European Union has decided to place an additional tariff on electric vehicles imported from China. Starting next month, all manufacturers from China will have to pay extra tariffs as high as 38 percent, adding to the existing 10 percent duty the EU imposes on foreign vehicles. There will be some different tariffs per manufacturer, such as BYD (17%) and Geely (20%).
The EU has left a loophole and is talking about waiving the import duty if "another solution" can be found with China – meaning, China could stop their subsidies for Chinese EV manufacturers.
European car manufacturers are warning of a trade war with China via associations. Unlike the USA, which recently imposed 100% punitive tariffs on Chinese EV imports (see My Car Week of May, 17th), the German car industry in particular is more dependent on the Chinese market. BMW and Mercedes, for example, generate more than 30% of their sales in China. No wonder that BMW CEO Oliver Zipse is one of the strongest opponents and warns that the industry should be strengthened in competition rather than hiding behind tariffs.
However, the punitive tariffs come at the worst possible time for the industry. After a year of record profits, manufacturers are under pressure because sales of electric cars are stagnating due to inflation and ongoing political discussions.
The EU is giving car manufacturers a period of grace to apply for exemptions. Tesla seems like having already done so; it can be assumed that Mercedes and BMW will also react accordingly, as electric MINI models, BMW iX3 and smart, among others, come from China.
/ European Commission & The Verge & heise (German)
🇨🇳 China is testing more driverless cars than any other country, and robot taxis are becoming more popular with government help.
Race Weekend
Le Mans 24 hours race is happening this weekend. To everyones surprise, BMW is finding itself in the prime spot after a chaotic qualifying. But don’t put too much money on them… / Autosport.com
If you are more into “old” racing, this remastered 70mm film, shot at the 1962 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix, is the best racing you'll watch this weekend. It's just nostalgic perfection. / Motor 1
Otherwise, the European Championship in soccer is starting today – but who cares about that anyways?
💸 There are either a lot of Cybertruck flippers out there, or people aren't happy with their electric pickup trucks: Roughly 5 Percent Of All Cybertrucks Are For Sale Online Right Now / Jalopnik
The IONIQ 5 N is Your Next Supercar
Albert Biermann spent most of his professional life at BMW M before switching to Hyundai, where he became Head of Development for Hyundai N. The all-electric IONIQ 5 N performance SUV can be described as his masterpiece before retirement. In this video with JP Performance’s JP Kraemer, Biermann is showing the IONIQ 5 N and telling a bit about the development road. / Youtube (German)
…you knew the IONIQ 5 N can sound like a real racing car and also has a shifter, even though it is electric, right?! / Youtube
…and of course you knew, how the IONIQ 5 N performs in a Drag race against a Porsche Macan GTS, Jaguar F-Pace SVR, and Maserati Grecale Trofeo! And maybe a Lamborghini Urus Performante!? Watch it! / Youtube
The compact class is making a small comeback. Although SUVs still dominate the market, the Golf and similar models are catching up - not least because they are cheaper in inflationary times. The problem is that there are few compact minis left, especially electric ones. / Autohaus (German)
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LEGO Lamborghini Countach (That’s Enough For a Headline)
There’s a new supercar for your LEGO-garage: the Lamborghini Countach 5000 Quattrovalvole is the perfect car to be build out of bricks, due to its iconic, wedge-shaped design. The car features working scissor doors, a detailed cabin with working steering; also the front trunk can be opened as well as the rear hood, exposeing a little V-12 “imitation”.
Available at the LEGO shop.
180 EUR for 1,500 pieces is somehow expensive, even for LEGO. There’s a cheaper option for just 60 bugs, without the official label and not from LEGO. / LEGO & Bluebrixx
Scandal in Japan: Mazda, Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha have smuggled their vehicles through safety tests for at least a decade / ABC
The Average European Car Spends 92 % of its Life Sitting There Waiting For You
…and only 1.5 of the five available seats are occupied on average.
That’s it for today! Cheers.
– Thomas