Good morning! It’s Friday, January 24, 2025, 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: Donald Trump’s Cuts Won’t Stop The Electric Revolution
Since taking office on Monday, U.S. president Donald Trump has signed executive orders to dramatically cut support for electric vehicles, threatened increased tariffs on cars imported into America and rolled back diversity initiatives in government. It’s enough to make you feel a little helpless about the state of the country, truth be told, but the moves might not plunge us all into the dark abyss that some are predicting.
In fact, EV maker Rivian believes that there’s little the new administration can do to prevent the inevitable switch to electric power in the automotive world, reports Business Insider. In an interview with the site, company boss RJ Scaringe said that despite effort to roll back tax credits for EVs, emission targets for automakers and other steps that Trump branded an “EV mandate,” it’s inevitable that we’ll all be driving electric one day:
Scaringe called the Biden-era subsidies a “tailwind,” but he said Rivian’s business wasn’t designed to rely on incentives and his company didn’t expect them to last forever.
“It’s not like the business has some deep fundamental design around IRA,” he said, referring to the Inflation Reduction Act. “It was there — that was nice. It’s not going to be there now, but it’s okay.”
EVs have become a hot-button political issue in recent years. Former President Joe Biden pushed electric vehicles as part of his administration’s broader goal to combat climate change. Trump has repeatedly bashed the technology, once calling them “too expensive,” and criticized their range at a rally in Detroit in 2023.
Scaringe added that “the end state’s still clear. It’s still going to be electric,” reports the site. To reach this goal, though, he admitted that making products that people actually want to buy would be as important as pricing them competitively.
With this in mind, the company has outlined a future product roadmap that includes more affordable cars like the R2 SUV, which is due to enter production next year, and the cool-as-heck R3X, which has won almost every car fan’s heart, it seems. As Business Insider added:
“I think we have to be really careful that it doesn’t feel like people are being forced to make a decision,” he said. “And so the best way to do that is to make products that are so cool and so desirable that it’s not something that you’re buying purely because it’s sustainable, you’re buying it because it’s exciting.”
Will cool cars sell, though? The list of America’s best-selling models is awash with woefully uncool models that shift numbers because they’re affordable, practical and get the job done. If Rivian can manage those three and make a car cool and electric, then it just might be onto a winner.
2nd Gear: Tesla Issues Fix For Half Of All Cars Sold In China
Tesla took the title for the most recalled car company in America last year after issues were uncovered in almost every car in its lineup. It’s starting 2025 in a similar vein, but this time it’s issues are extending beyond our fair shores.
The American EV maker has been forced to issue a software patch for around half of all cars it’s sold in China, reports Bloomberg. The patch will be rolled out to more than 1.2 million cars in China after safety concerns were uncovered in the country:
Tesla Inc. will release a software update to about 1.2 million cars in China — around half the fleet it’s sold in the country — to fix issues with the vehicles’ power steering and rear-view cameras that may pose safety risks.
The steering issue stems from a software problem that can cause the electronic power steering system to fail, the State Administration for Market Regulation said in a statement Friday. A potential malfunction of the cars’ rear-view cameras could meanwhile impair drivers’ fields of vision when reversing, increasing the risk of collisions.
Tesla will deploy an over-the-air software fix to 871,087 domestically produced Model 3 and Model Y vehicles to address the power steering failure. Another 335,716 cars – a mix of imported Model S and Model X electric vehicles and domestically produced Model 3 and Model Ys — will get an update for the camera malfunction.
A similar fix was rolled out here in the U.S. earlier this year and impacted more than 200,000 cars on America’s roads.
In total, Tesla has sold more than 2.3 million cars in China and sales are split between models produced domestically and cars imported into China from the U.S. The company had enjoyed a meteoric rise in China, but is now facing stiff competition from BYD, which is eating into its market share of EVs sold in China.
A huge safety issue like this isn’t going to do much to renew consumer confidence in the brand and boost sales, which Tesla desperately needs as the EV competition hots up.
3rd Gear: Ford Recalls 273,000 Trucks Over Battery Issues
While we’re on the topic of recalls, let’s check in with Ford to see what issues it’s facing today. Ford also recalled millions of cars in 2024 and was even fined by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over its handling of recalls. You might have thought this would lead the automaker to clean up its act, but it’s just announced another massive recall.
Ford has uncovered an issue with its Maverick and Bronco Sport models that could impact around 273,000 vehicles, reports NPR. The problem relates to the 12-volt battery in some models, which could cause the cars to lose power:
The recall specifically covers Ford Bronco Sports from model years 2021-2023, and Ford Maverick pickups from model year 2022 and 2023.
According to documents Ford submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a manufacturing defect can cause the batteries to degrade suddenly while driving. That can mean a loss of power to accessories such as the hazard lights, or a vehicle stalling out while coming to a stop. It could also leave a driver stuck when the SUV or truck can’t restart after the engine stops automatically, like at a red light.
As required in a safety recall, Ford will repair the problem for free.
Ford reportedly uncovered the issue while investigating another recall of the Bronco Sport and Maverick models last year. That problem related to onboard computers that monitored the 12-volt battery and was fixed with a software patch that was deployed last year. The fix for this latest problem will see Ford swap out defective batteries and offer “higher quality replacements,” NPR adds.
If you are worried that your car might be affected by a recall, there are a few easy ways to check if it’s the case. First up, the NHTSA has a super handy app that you can use to see if your vehicle is impacted by a recall, or you can head to the regulator’s website and plug your VIN into its recall search tool.
4th Gear: Stellantis To Reopen Belvidere Plant
Let’s round out the week with some positive news for auto workers in America, as Stellantis has pledged to reopen its idled Belvidere production plant and says it will build the replacement for the aging Dodge Durango SUV at a site in Detroit. Isn’t that nice.
The announcement follows months of back and forth between Stellantis and the United Auto Workers union over the future of the Belvidere plant in Illinois, reports the Detroit Free Press. The plant will start up once again to begin building a new mid-size truck and will see around 1,500 UAW workers return to the facility:
The news, announced in a letter Wednesday to employees from North America Chief Operating Officer Antonio Filosa, also provided some good news to workers in Toledo, Ohio, and Kokomo, Indiana, where investments are planned. The Belvidere plant will start production of a new midsize truck in the next two years.
The letter said company Chairman John Elkann had met last week with President Donald Trump before his inauguration on Monday. Elkann shared “our enthusiasm for his strong commitment to the United States auto industry and all that this means for American jobs and the broader economy.” Reuters reported that Elkann met with Trump twice, but did not attend the inauguration.
Elkann said Stellantis planned to continue the company’s long history in the United States “by further strengthening our U.S. manufacturing footprint and providing stability for our great American workforce,” according to the letter.
In a statement shared by the UAW, the union said that bargaining talks in 2023 had secured the future of Belvidere and would keep Dodge Durango production here in the U.S. However, the union said those commitments were “walked back by disgraced former CEO Carlos Tavares, and are being honored by the company’s new leadership,” the Free Press added.
Tavares left his role of CEO at Stellantis in December after facing backlash from Stellantis dealerships across America, falling sales for the company’s brands and rapidly swelling inventories that were forcing price cuts.