First quarter results are starting to roll in for American automakers, and General Motors is up first this morning with some good news. The company’s margins are good and people are still buying trucks. Even better, the company gets a nice big chunk of change back from the administration in the form of a tariff refund.
If you read The Morning Dump every day, as 2-out-of-10 doctors recommend, the story of the market continues to be that the buyers who can afford expensive nice, new vehicles don’t seem to be that bothered by high gas prices. At least not yet. That’s music to the ears of dealers. The persistent drumbeat of Carvana and CarMax coming for their customers, though, isn’t something dealers want to hear.
The big Chinese car show is ongoing and there’s a new list of five cars you could buy for the average price of an America car, which I think is a little misleading. That’s all heavy, so let’s end with a sweet Caterham.
A Bonus $500 Million Is Icing On The Cake For GM
When the Supreme Court struck down certain tariffs illegally enacted by the Trump administration, it didn’t impact most of the trade barriers that automakers (and, eventually, consumers) are facing. It did reverse some of them, though, and for GM that’s more cash on top of an otherwise good quarter, as CEO Mary Barra mentions in her latest shareholder letter:
In the first quarter of 2026, General Motors once again delivered strong financial performance, driven by our strategic product portfolio and disciplined execution by our teams, dealers, and suppliers.
Our EBIT-adjusted of $4.3 billion surpassed our expectations even after excluding a $500 million tariff adjustment following a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision. To reflect the flow-through of this adjustment, we are raising our full‑year EBIT‑adjusted guidance by $500 million, to a range of $13.5 billion to $15.5 billion.
We have solid momentum in our core operations: We maintained overall sales leadership in the U.S. and Canada. We led the U.S. industry in full-size pickup sales and share, with 42% of the market, and we were #1 in Fleet, including Commercial deliveries. In addition, we were #2 in EVs with growing market share, and #1 in Canada.
GM continues to be in decent shape, and may be even more profitable because of the drop in expensive, money-losing EV production. The market hasn’t reached the point where higher gas prices (which were up again to a peak yesterday) are stopping people from buying exactly the kind of large trucks that GM makes so well. The company also is spending less than the industry average on incentives.
Not everything is perfect. Buick is entirely reliant on imports, which means there’s a tariff cost to its most affordable models, which typically have thinner margins than full-size trucks and SUVs.
‘There’s A Whole New Generation Of People’ Who Have Only Done Digital Car Purchases, Warns Analyst
Both CarMax and Carvana represent serious competition for car dealerships as they’re rivals for both sales and inventory, and that’s before considering whatever Carvana is doing buying all of those Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram rooftops.
A new survey from financial advisor group Stephens, Inc. shows that, unsurprisingly, dealers see both CarMax and Carvana as potential threats for the above reasons, but I think this comment from analyst Jeff Lick, via Car Dealership Guy, points out a longer term threat:
“If somebody shows up on the car lot, they’re there for a reason, and they’re willing to buy from a car lot. The bigger issue that some of the dealers have is that Carvana has created a whole complete process in your driveway system. So you may never see that person…There’s a whole new generation of people who might be 25 that all they’ve ever done is digital.”
I know plenty of people who have had good experiences with Carvana and never needed to walk into a dealership. Carmakers are working on a way to give this experience to customers, via dealers, but it’s possible there’s a generation that doesn’t like buying things in person and will extend that preference to cars as well.
The flipside of this is also a risk to dealers, as becoming so good at selling cars digitally makes it easier for automakers to reduce their dependence on them.
Here Are Five Cars You’d Probably Not Buy Instead Of Grand Highlander, That Would Also Be More Expensive If Ever Actually Sold In The United States
There’s a Reuters list today that’s being published in various outlets (you can read it without a subscription here at The Detroit News), and I don’t really love the framing of it, which is: “For the average price of one car in U.S., you could buy 5 new Chinese EVs.”
Well, no, you couldn’t. Not unless you live in China. In fairness, Reuters does say this in the piece:
Reuters compiled a list of the five best-selling electric vehicles in China that start under $12,000 using DCar data.
These small EVs aren’t available for sale in American showrooms – and may never be – but for about the price of an average new car in the U.S., a consumer in China could buy all five of these EVs.
If you can look past the tariff barriers, there’s also the reality that most Americans don’t want something this small. Some people do, and I’m extremely pro bringing back smaller, more affordable cars like the Honda Fit.
I think the biggest issue is that this article (and videos from influencers) gives people the impression that this is what these cars would cost if they came to the United States. China has provided a lot of incentives to Chinese automakers and there are too many in the market, leading to a brutal price war there.
A good data point is the BYD Seagull/Dolphin Mini, which is noted as having a starting price of $10,200. The Seagull is a great story and a well-packaged vehicle at a low price, but we can see what it costs to make it acceptable to a market similar to ours. The cost of the European-ized Segaull, which we drove last year, went from $10,000 to $26,000. In Mexico, it’s about $24,000.
When comparing apples to apples, it’s probably fairer to say you could buy two of these small cars for the price of one average car. At the same time, you could also get two Nissan Sentras or maybe even a pair of Traxes for the same price.
Check Out This Cool Miami-Themed Caterham
Fortunately for you, I’ve known the press people for the newly reinvigorated Caterham for decades now, so I get all the releases from the British carmaker. Fortunately for them, I’m a sucker for these cars, having last driven one on Hwy 33 in California.
There’s a new “Miami-themed one” that reflects the nearby GP circuit:
Motorsport fans attending the race will have the opportunity to see this lightweight, track-focused special edition from Caterham for the first time on Friday 1st May on Race Street, located in the West Campus of the Miami International Autodrome
The vehicle will be finished in a bespoke Aqua custom paint with a unique Miami Special Edition decal pack in Vibrant Pink and White. To finish the exterior design, the iconic Miami script and silhouette of the circuit features on the rear of the car.
The bespoke aesthetics continue throughout the interior with the Miami script embroidered on the headrests, and an individual numbered plaque located on the dashboard. The hand-built nature of a Caterham Seven means the cars also feature a second plaque in the engine bay, engraved with the names and signatures of the two builders who were responsible for hand assembling the car at the factory in the UK.
The company seems to be going out of its way to not say “Formula 1” as I’m guessing there’s no F1 deal. It’s fine, everyone knows what they mean. As with other Sevens, you get the 2.0-liter Ford Duratec, which is good for 210 horsepower and a run up to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds. If you’ve never tried it, 60 mph in a Seven feels like 300 mph in whatever you drove to work this morning.
Also, you get a free Cuban sandwich. That’s not in the press release. I’m just assuming.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
That’s right, y’all, it’s “Brick House” by The Commodores.
The Big Question
What would you do with a $500 million refund?
Top graphic images: GM
$500 million? I don’t know, buy legal residency in New Zealand or Switzerland and GTFO?
With the 500 million i’ll build my own theme park with black jack and hookers.
A Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian house built to original plans on several wooded lakefront acres in north central Florida. Separate garage for my small collection of vintage European esoterica (Facel-Vega, anyone?) and my ’95 Miata, which will be restored to better-than-new condition. And a tasteful collection of Miro lithographs and maybe a (small) Henry Moore sculpture or two.
My needs are simple.
Probably continue relaxing on my private island (sans underage girls because I’m not one of those rich people). If I had enough money to be getting a $500 million dollar refund then I have enough money that it won’t drastically affect my lifestyle.
Remind me how high Autopian membership tiers go again?
We can create a new one for you, don’t worry!
$500m = lots of Ferraris and a few places to put them. Then a big foundation.
What would you do with a $500 million refund?
Buy a house big enough to house all the Lego I’m gonna buy.
I’d fix my shitty house. Then I’d buy a Saab. Maybe even… two Saabs? Put some money away for the kids to go to school? That’s about all I want.
Not sure what I’d do with the other 498 mil (after taxes).
More Saabs. Always a good answer.
What would I do with $500MM?
1 – Retire.
2 – Pay off the house and make sure my kid’s educations were fully funded.
After that, I’d probably start a car collection and make lots of charitable donations that are relevant to me and those I’m close to. I’m sure my wife will want to travel as well.
“What would you do with a $500 million refund?”
You’d find me enjoying an espresso in a sidewalk cafe in Monaco between meetings with my bankers, accountants, yacht broker, and a member of the Kretz family.
I’d do the usual with the $300 million left after taxes. No debt, make my physical life nicer and spend life helping people.
Speaking of GM, has there been any coverage here regarding the return of the Camaro in late 2027 as a 2028 MY? Reports from GM Authority are that it
1. Exists
2. Will have a manual
3. May be offered in 2 and 4 door form
Would be nice if it were 4. Smaller overall but with 5. More interior space and considerably greater total glass area than the last one.
That Caterham has more total glass area than the previous Camaro.
They don’t know anything! I can confirm with some certainty the new car in question
1.) Will have 6 doors
2.) Will be cvt only
3.) Will be called the Chevette
TBQ: My juvenile self thinks about Lawrence’s response to the “what would you do with $1M” question in the movie Office Space.
(Times 500.)
My pragmatic self thinks about investing half in mutual funds, and the other half I would take to my friend, who works in securities.
My political self thinks I would build a giant ballroom next to my house.
My responsible self thinks I would try to emulate Mackenzie Scott and give money to charity, while taking care of my wife and kids. Perhaps extend my collection of classic Mazda Proteges.
Hard choices…
I’d go with the Mazdas.
Only suckers build their ballroom with their own money. 😛
Thank you for mentioning that the landed cost of the low cost Chinese EVs would be much higher than the sticker price in China. The BYD Seal in Mexico is ~$6k USD cheaper than the Model 3 performance (Only Tesla Model 3 currently available on the Mexican website). That isn’t the world ending price difference that everyone expects to happen when Chinese branded EVs land in the US. The difference would be much less if I could price the premium or standard trim levels for Mexico.
I think Volvo had the best path to introduce Chinese EVs here with the EX30. Then the 100% tariffs killed that business plan so they shifted to Belgium assembly plant. To launch a true Chinese brand here would require a lot of expense to build out the sales, service and support required. We all see how well that’s working for VinFast at the moment.
TBQ – $500 million makes me retire so I can spend a lot more time with my kids. Then when they old enough for school, find some hobby that is cost prohibitive for me today. Perhaps keeping British and Italian sports cars on the road? $500 million may not be enough for that!
kind of seems counterproductive to force tariffs on the American public and not give out those promised tariff checks tot he masses.
GM needs the money to cover the lawsuits on the poor engine designs though I suppose.
The political attack ads write themselves. “You paid the tariffs, now big business gets to keep your money thanks to (insert political representative name here).”
Funny how all of the people that support tariffs and taxes levied against companies claim that the costs aren’t passed on to consumers, but now that the companies that paid them are getting refunds, everyone seems to realize the consumers are getting shorted.
TBQ: I would think $500M would be more than enough to fund a startup to make basic, mostly universal EV conversion kits for old 4wd vehicles. But I’m guessing I’d have to work with China, since they would probably be the best bet at making them close to affordable.
TBQ: I would dump $1mil into the Autopian membership, and force David to come wrench with me at home…
Hell I think David would come wrench with you if you just offered him some rusted out “holy grail” hoopty jeep in exchange for his time.
I think in the early days, they had a membership lvl of $10k and David would come wrench with you at your place.
And bring you a pizza if I recall. I suspect marriage and fatherhood torpedoed that.
I suspect it got shutdown because of crazy internet people like me 🙂
You: yes David just go down the decrepit stairs to my basement don’t mind the smell that isn’t rotting flesh or anything that is just my homemade jerky dehydrating.
Ah yes, the mythical Whale Penis Leather tier.
500 Million pizza party for all the line workers!
Are they pizzas made from gold? I am sure some crazy numbers person on here could calculate out the cost of gold, average pizza size and what gold would weigh in that size and the number of gm line workers and if they could all get a single slice or full pizza haha
Well they do have a lot of factories with a lot of workers and those extra toppings ain’t cheap so…
It ends up at less than an ounce per person given the number of employees Username Loading… offered. About $3000 to $3200 per person, and gold is currently at about $4600 per ounce. So it could be a topping, but it’d be some really thin pizza to even give everyone a slice of solid gold pizza.
I guess it would be depending on who gets the pizza/slices. Cloud Shouter originally said line workers so yeah we would have to find the numbers exactly on how many line workers does GM have? And how do we define that just the boots on the ground peeps working on the line or are we including their managers or any other white collar workers that help out with the line?
This is fun math to attempt. I don’t know if any line workers are on salary or if some of the hourly workers might not be line workers, but Ford said in 2025 that they employ 56,500 hourly employees in the US. If you divvy this rebate among them, that is getting close to getting two ounces of gold ($8850 after I round up to a whole dollar.)
A 10″ pizza is about 78.5″ of surface area has slices of approximately 13 square inches (we’ll assume the half inch is removed by the cuts). Each cubic inch of gold is about 10 ounces. so if we give everyone a slice, it’ll need to be about 1.92 ounces, which is about 0.189 cubic inches of gold. So the slice will need to be 0.01455 inches thick. Pretty thin slice of gold pizza, even for just the hourly workers.
It will be like the size of those little gummy pizza slices you had as a kid hah
Let’s see 500 million, presuming it is not taxed since it is a refund. Now you can get a pizza for like $10 but c’mon, you’ve got 500 mil we aren’t getting Domino’s here, so figure $20, let’s call it $25 per pizza would buy you 20 million pizzas. Numbers I Googled real quick puts GMs global workforce at 156,000 to 162,000 employees using the larger number brings us to 123ish pizzas per employee. I suppose some of that will presumably go to a beverage and napkin budget, but still likely looking at 100 pizzas per employee.
But you have to think of the execs that approve the pizza party. It’s going to be about $30/person for the party, $495 million for the execs who came up with the idea to placate the line workers with pizza.
Domino’s? Are you a heathen? Little Caesars all the way. Supremes. Add in crazy bread and a case of beer for each slice eaten. (Gotta wash it down with something). Bottles, not cans. And figure roughly six slices per person so six cases each. Plus it’s gotta be good beer from a union so the UAW doesn’t get ruffled.
I think it will be taxed as it affected the net income of the company both when paid to the feds (added to the cost of whatever has been imported, reducing net taxable income), and then would probably be classed as other income when, and if, the refunds are received, which would increase taxable income. But not sure, anyone out there know?
When I was a kid, I saw an interview of the Commodores. They were asked where the name came from. They said that they had flipped through a dictionary randomly and put their finger on the page. They liked the sound of Commodore better than the other word that their finger was on. Commode.
I know it had to be a joke, but it was funny as hell to my little kid self.
Brand name sodas on me, fellas!
(Max two per fella, $500 million only goes so far these days)
What would you do with a $500 million refund?
As a local homebuilder, I would keep with what I’m doing until the money runs out.
Personally? I’d have a house built to my specs, get some custom skydiving gear, and probably throw the rest at charities I think can make a difference.
I guess I forgot that Lansing Michigan is in a foreign country…
Buick is entirely reliant on imports, except for the 3 row Buick Enclave which is the same as the Chevrolet Traverse with a different badge.
Is “Brick House” what you call a Grand Highlander that missed its over-the-air update?
$500 million would feed a LOT of hungry kids.
Or cover one inflated medical bill.
What are you? A communist lib?
If God wanted them to eat he would have made them billionaires.
Vast wealth is supposed to be used to generate more wealth for one’s self by extracting more wealth from the working class.
/completely sarcastic. You have a noble goal.
Terrible that some would consider this a political discussion point.