Toyota Opens Japan Dealers to U.S. OEMs; GM Doubles EV Sales in U.S. – Autoline Daily 4073

Toyota Opens Japan Dealers to U.S. OEMs; GM Doubles EV Sales in U.S. – Autoline Daily 4073

this is Outline Daily the show dedicated to enthusiasm of the global automotive industry we start out in Japan today where those trade negotiations with the US have yielded a completely unexpected development toyota says it’s willing to let US car makers use its dealer network in Japan to sell cars foreign cars with the exception of luxury and exotics have never sold well in Japan one key reason is it is so difficult to build a national dealer network land is very expensive and all the good locations in major cities are taken hyundai has tried using a direct sales model but with little success so for Toyota to offer its dealer network to companies like GM and Ford is a major concession one thing though just having access to Toyota showrooms will not be enough american automakers would have to offer something different from Toyota’s lineup you know GM is doing a pretty good job with EVs and there isn’t a very good selection of EVs in Japan so far so maybe this could be a golden opportunity but Toyota isn’t exactly sitting on its hands when it comes to developing EVs we’re probably a year or two away from seeing the results of its Bev factory which is the name of Toyota’s Semisk Skunk Works EV operations in Japan and even before those EVs hit the market Toyota just launched the BZ5 electric in China that we told you about last week but now we’ve got more info it’s a midsize SUV with four trim lines that are priced from only $18,000 to 22,000 there are two LFP battery pack options from BYD a 65 kWh and 74 kilowatt hour pack which deliver 341 miles to 391 miles of range that’s based on the CLTC test cycle you know that’s an awfully aggressive price and it shows that Toyota is serious about competing in EVs and in China okay now over to the States where to emphasize how it’s growing its EV business GM said it sold 62,830 EVs in the US for the first five months of the year almost double of what it did last year a lot of that growth comes from GM adding more models to its EV lineup and it will add more this year cadillac alone is adding four of them we think that a loose rule of thumb is that automakers need to sell 50,000 EVs a quarter to start turning a profit on them that means GM needs to increase its EV sales by another 25% to hit that number but that would probably give it profitable economies of scale at least with its batteries EV motors and inverters and here’s some relatively good news for Tesla even though its sales in China were down 30% last month the Model Y emerged as the bestselling SUV this is based on registration data for car insurance the Model Y squeaked past the BYD Song Plus or maybe we should say the Song Plus sank below the Model Y sales of the Y were actually down 38% from a year ago so it’s amazing to see it was still the bestselling SUV in China knowing that a little rain won’t slow down your day that’s what really matters bridgestone Toronto quiet track tires confident control in wet conditions toyota and Daimler Truck announced they finally agreed to merge their truck companies Heno Motors and Mitsubishi Fusso they announced their plans to merge the truck companies in 2023 but HEO got caught up in an emissions and fuel economy scandal so the plans were put on hold but Hino resolved those issues and the merger is back on the companies say the combination will create and I quote here a new strong Japanese powerhouse which will collaborate on commercial vehicle development procurement and production the new company will have 40,000 employees and it’s expected to begin operations in April of 2026 the global auto industry has been warning for weeks that China’s restriction on rare earth supplies will soon car production but Hyundai is not phased at all it did a great job of reading the political winds and started stockpiling rare earth minerals it has nearly a year’s worth on hand also it diversified its supply chains and took advantage of a recent period when China relaxed export restrictions that gives Hyundai an advantage since it’s going to be able to produce EVs and hybrids for about a year with no production disruptions as President Trump gets rid of subsidies to buy EVs and build battery plants we’re seeing an immediate impact battery maker AESC is pausing construction on a $1.6 billion battery plant in South Carolina that was supposed to supply battery cells to BMW the company made the decision based in part on Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports since the machinery in the plant will mostly be brought in from China plus tariffs on steel and aluminum will raise costs on the equipment aes says it’s already invested more than a billion dollars in the plant and that it’s still committed to opening it but let’s see what happens nissan dropped another video of its redesign of the Leaf EV and we finally have got some real numbers on the car the third generation Leaf is aimed at mainstream customers not early adopters it’s based on Nissan’s CMF EV platform which gets rid of the torsion beam rear axle that was previously used and goes with an independent multi-link suspension instead that increased lateral rigidity by 57% the powertrain components including the motor gear reducer and inverter have been combined into one unit that’s 10% more compact than before the motor generates 160 kW of power or 214 horsepower and 355 Newton meters of torque that’s 261 lb feet the air conditioning unit was moved from behind the instrument panel into the engine compartment to provide more interior room and the car now has a turning radius that’s 10 cm smaller or about 4 in nissan has got a lot riding on the Leaf it was one of the first mass market EVs when it hit the road in late 2010 but Nissan squandered its lead and it’s clearly trying to make up for lost time with this new generation and that brings us to the end of today’s report thanks for watching and a hearty shout out to all you Patreon and YouTube members who are supporting the work that we do autoline Daily is 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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 Toyota Opens Japan Dealers to U.S. OEMs
1:15 Toyota Launches $18,000 EV In China
2:16 GM Doubles EV Sales in U.S.
3:07 Tesla Model Y #1 SUV In China
3:59 Toyota & Daimler To Merge Japan Truck Ops
4:42 Hyundai Stockpiled Rare Earths
5:21 AESC Pauses Battery Plant In South Carolina
6:07 3rd-Gen Nissan Leaf Gets Big Changes

Story Links:
Toyota Opens Japan Dealers to U.S. OEMs: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-10/american-cars-could-use-toyota-s-sales-network-in-japan-vp-says

Toyota Launches $18,000 EV In China: https://carnewschina.com/2025/06/10/toyota-launches-bz5-electric-coupe-suv-with-byd-blade-battery-starting-at-18000-usd-in-china/

GM Doubles EV Sales in U.S.: https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/general-motors/2025/06/09/gm-ev-electric-vehicle-sales-quarterly-report/84050821007/

Tesla Model Y #1 SUV In China: https://carnewschina.com/2025/06/09/tesla-model-y-reclaims-the-best-selling-suv-crown-in-china-for-may/

Toyota & Daimler To Merge Japan Truck Ops: https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/corporate/42912472.html

Hyundai Stockpiled Rare Earths: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/hyundai-motor-has-rare-earths-stockpile-that-can-last-about-year-source-says-2025-06-10/

AESC Pauses Battery Plant In South Carolina: https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/a-chinese-owned-battery-plant-in-south-carolina-halts-construction-77e9441e?mod=Searchresults_pos1&page=1

3rd-Gen Nissan Leaf Gets Big Changes: https://usa.nissannews.com/en-US/releases/the-all-new-nissan-leaf-a-perfect-blend-of-performance-comfort-and-efficiency

Read the transcript here: https://www.autoline.tv/daily/ad-4073-toyota-opens-japan-dealers-to-u-s-oems-gm-doubles-ev-sales-in-u-s-3rd-gen-nissan-leaf-gets-big-changes/

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