RIvian EV sales are booming with the more affordable R2 now outselling both R1 models combined. Get all the latest auto industry news in the Executive Briefing.
Today’s headlines:
+ In Iowa, President Donald Trump announced that his administration has the “concept” of a new trade deal with Canada in the works, but declined to offer any further details. More at Reuters.
+ Chinese EV maker BYD posted a sixth straight month of sales growth in October, relying on exports to counter sluggish demand and intense price competition at home. More at Yahoo! Finance.
+ Shares in Stellantis rose last week as the European car giant’s third-quarter revenue results demonstrated it was making progress with its 60 billion euro turnaround plan. More at CNBC.
+ Ford is betting on the low $29,995 list price of the 2028 Fathom electric pickup rather than the now-lapsed federal EV tax credit to propel sales when it goes on sale next year. More at Autoweek.
+ At 20, Kimi Antonelli became the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history by finishing third in the Mexican Grand Prix to clinch the title with four races remaining. More at the Guardian.
+ General Motors is revamping its Lansing Delta Township plant in Michigan to produce hybrid-electric vehicles with the help of a $500 million Department of Energy grant. More at Wards Auto.
+ Insiders say the Ford Escape could return in 2029 as an all-electric crossover built on the company’s Universal EV platform, though the automaker has not confirmed it. More at CBT News.
+ A study from HERE Technologies and SBD Automotive found that just 11 percent of surveyed ICE vehicle owners in the U.S. would consider an EV as their next purchase. More at Autoblog.
+ With the launch of the more affordable Rivian R2 SUV, sales at the EV maker are up 46 percent over last year, with the new model outselling the R1T and R1S combined. More at Car and Driver.
+ Brad Keselowski has received clearance to pursue other NASCAR rides for the 2027 season and will sell his 20 percent equity stake in Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. More at ESPN.
Photo courtesy of Rivian.
Review the previous MCG Executive Briefing from October 30 here.
Join Mac’s Motor City Garage on Facebook and X to receive notices when every new story is published.
I guess that I’m just behind the times, as I know new car costs have been going up. But $29,995 for the Fathom pickup is not the affordable pickup that I was expecting. The Maverick currently costs less, and I thought this would come in under $25,000. I don’t see the point of the Fathom if the Maverick is less expensive, hybrid and has a larger bed.
The Fathom’s only selling point is that it’s electric. People are clamoring for smaller pickups, not electric ones. In my mind, the Slate is looking more competitive than before.
⚠️ DIRE WARNING ⚠️
DO NOT ACTIVATE, USE OR TRUST ANY ADAS OR AUTONOMOUS DRIVING SYSTEM ON OHIO ROADS. Using Tesla FSD, Mercedes MB.DRIVE ASSIST, or Honda Sensing on Ohio roads, you are using a Part 555 exemption vehicle on Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) un-standardized MUTCD non-compliant “chaos sandbox” roads explicitly loopholegineered under NEPA Assignment loophole cascades to trigger ADAS vision failures, revenue transactions (crash taxes) and priceless edge case data. In all Ohio ADAS involved crashes available in the public record so far, you will be held 100% legally and financially negligent for any ADAS glitch and vision hacking bad outcomes, your insurance will absorb the damages, and your close call, entrapment, air bag deploymemt and impact data is harvested by the State of Ohio as a free, crowdsourced and priceless edge case, more valuable than gold and human life to those people. Keep your hands firmly on the wheel, keep your eyes on the road, and treat every automated driving suite as an immediate lethal safety hazard like your life depends on it if you are unlucky enough to be forced to drive in Ohio, especially at ALL junctions, intersections, cross walks, school zones and railroad crossings.
No news is good news according to mr. internet, eh? The punchline of the 89% “EV Anxiety Study” posted on Autoblog is that HERE Technologies is financed by BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Intel, Bosch, and Mitsubishi, and its consulting partner SBD Automotive generates reports like their “EV Anxiety Index” to drive demand for their digital mapping, ADAS infrastructure, and software consulting services. Their corporate customer list spans the.global automotive industry and big data’s tech landscape, including Toyota, Ford, General Motors, Stillantis, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Renault-Nissan, JLR, Tesla, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Baidu and otherd. By self-financing and self-certifying data illusions that highlights “consumer anxiety” around EV infrastructure failures and unlimited single point failure mode safety defects, they effectively loopholegineer problems that can only be solved by purchasing their own proprietary software.
Ask yourself why defective, predatory American road infrastructure and software has legal immunity under USDOT’s national bipartison vision hacking policy since before 2015. Honor system has no meaning to people who have no honor or impulse control with legal immunity because they’ve never been taught or forced to follow the rules IMHO…
He’s got the concept of a plan!