Nio is one of the most interesting Chinese automakers, primarily because it’s not a huge exporter of cars and seems content to serve its home market. If you want to understand the state of China’s EV market, Nio is a good place to start, and the company’s CEO thinks the “golden era” of Chinese companies is over.
I agree with this sentiment. It’s a bit glib, but you don’t know how good the times you’re living in are until they’re over. Is this the best The Morning Dump is ever going to get? It’s possible. For the car market in the United States, the golden era is in the past, and maybe in the future. Right now we’re in the…. bronze era? It’s fine. It’s maybe better to be fine for Honda, which made a bunch of questionable decisions, but at least has some hybrids to sell.
If you’re a Spanish police officer, these times are gonna be great if you enjoy driving capable off-roaders.
The Chinese Market Becomes A Little More Like The American Market
I had to explain who Yao Ming was to Mercedes this morning, and then my bones turned to dust. It’s remarkable that I can type at all after that.
The former Houston Rocket was on hand earlier today in China to help Nio CEO William Li show off the new six-seat ES9 electric SUV. According to Li, this is the largest all-electric SUV produced in China. I was going to question that until I remembered that the YangWang U8 is an EREV.
Having former Rocket and current/always tall guy Yao Ming show off your big car is a stroke of genius, and at the unveil they had Ming sit in the car to show off how easily he fit. Also, we got this hilarious photo where the scale is way off on everything.
The ES9, if you’re curious, gets 385 miles of range on China’s notoriously generous test, so roughly 270 miles on the EPA range test. It’ll cost roughly $75,000 and comes with a 47-speaker sound system and a 48-inch center display. It is, in every way, a big luxury Chinese SUV.
It’s Nio’s attempt at improving margins, and it’s been amusing to watch China basically speed run the US automotive industry. Bloomberg was at the event and shared this observation:
Like in the US, new car models in China are getting bigger as they bring higher profit margins. With EV subsidies for cheaper models reduced, there’s also more incentive for consumers to buy larger vehicles. As a result, competition in the large SUV segment is also intensifying, with Nio’s lower retail price indicative of the pressure.
“For survival and also to address customer demands, we’re also making big cars,” Chief Executive Officer William Li at a briefing on Thursday. “And big cars actually sell relatively well.”
Nio has been mostly unprofitable, though sales are growing. It got stuck in the brutal price war and never quite got around to setting itself up to becoming a huge exporter (though the company does sell a few cars in Northern Europe). Reuters was also there, and got Li explaining why he thought the ‘golden era’ was probably over:
A rebound in the world’s largest auto market has yet to materialise, despite the sector’s continued export strength, Li told reporters in Beijing.
[…]
In April, China’s domestic car sales fell for a seventh straight month, though exports remained strong.
China’s automobile ownership hit 370 million vehicles, meaning it’s “no longer a growth market, but rather a saturated market,” Li said.
Yup.
May Was Probably A Decent Month For US Car Sales
The car market in the US continues to stubbornly trod forward in the face of all sorts of headwinds. In many ways, the small ups and downs of any individual month is more a reaction to last year’s tariff-induced and tax credit-induced insanity. The pull-forward of sales due to the tariffs last year made April a little harder, year-over-year, whereas this May the market benefits. That, plus the little boost some consumers got from tax cuts, is propelling sales according to Cox Automotive.
“May sales appear to be holding up despite significant economic uncertainty,” Cox Automotive Senior Economist Charlie Chesbrough noted. “New-vehicle buyers today are more affluent than ever, so they may not be as impacted by inflationary pressures as much as other consumers who are more acutely feeling the sharply higher fuel costs. If the economy and stock market can remain on this growing but volatile path, new-vehicle sales will likely follow. However, those are two large necessities during extremely volatile times.”
This continues to be the Wile E. Coyote car market, and so long as nothing goes terribly wrong and no one looks down it’ll probably be fine.
Honda Might Have A Good Year Even With All The Drama
I get how reading The Morning Dump might lead you to believe that Honda is going to have a rough year, what with having to delay cars, extend current generation vehicles, and abandon its EV plans.
Things aren’t great. Also, things aren’t that bad, with Honda hitting 10% of total market share in the United States. What’s going on? While Honda probably should have already rolled out its larger hybrid platform already, it still has the most popular hybrid in the form of the CR-V.
As Honda’s sales chief Lance Woelfe told Automotive News, it’s not so dire:
“We believe 10 percent is an achievable direction for Honda over the next several years,” Woelfer said. “We see a clear opportunity to gain share as we move forward.”
Meanwhile, Honda is sticking with its goal of growing sales 4 percent in 2026, to about 1.5 million vehicles, despite ending production of the Acura RDX and canceling several electric vehicles.
Honda is positioned to achieve that target amid rising gasoline prices, EV market shifts and economic uncertainty, Woelfer said, thanks to its value pricing, “industry-leading” fuel economy and rapidly growing hybrid sales.
In fact, gas prices have emerged as an unexpected tail wind for Honda by accelerating a shift toward hybrids.
The Decade of the Hybrid remains undefeated.
Is It Too Late To Join The Spanish National Police?
The Ineos Grenadier is a great looking rig, and extremely capable, so it’s no surprise that they’re starting to pop up more and more as fleet vehicles for organizations needing something for the most extreme situations.
One of the latest buyers is the Spanish National Police, which nabbed ten of them for the Police Intervention Units:
Specifically designed to work under harsh conditions, the INEOS Grenadier combines a robust ladder frame chassis with permanent four-wheel drive and class-leading off-road capability, making it a particularly valuable tool for police operations that require travel beyond paved streets.
These new vehicles will enhance the UIP’s deployment capability in rural areas, mountainous regions, natural spaces, or environments affected by emergencies, where rapid arrival and the ability to overcome obstacles can be critical. The Grenadier’s capability and local supply lines make it ideal for deployment in defence and public sector fleets across European countries.
Also, it looks cool so much cooler than those random ex-military MRAPs used by police here in the United States. I feel like this is tough but approachable. It’s there to help.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
There’s not only a new Muna, the video for “Eastside Girls” includes a smokey (well, smoking) Ford Ranger.
The Big Question
What was the ‘Golden Era’ of American cars?
Top photo: Nio
A good argument could be made for any of the following:
1908-1925 or so. Relative to the world, a single American car model was far enough above anything anyone else built that it defined an era.
1949-1972. Relative to the world, the entire American car industry was far enough above everyone else in terms of style and technology that it defined an era.
2010-now. American cars, relative to history, are the best built, safest, most efficient, and best performing they’ve ever been.
I’d say the mid 2000s to about 2020 (before quality control took a nosedive during The Event).
Horsepower, safety, and comfort were all aligned with fairly good pricing to create a fantastic car market.
Is there qualitative data showing that quality drop? I know a lot of people feel this way, but I’d be curious to see metrics on it.
AKA: The end of near-limitless growth regardless of product quality.
This is massively good for consumers.
It means the pencil gets sharper and product gets less frivolous. Maybe we see a focus on core product improvements instead of twelve updates on four platforms of BYD Seal variants per year.
Yo, can I write a check? Living rent free in my head for 22 years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGFmJ631JBM
So what is China’s equivalent of the Malaise era cars? And what will we be seeing at China’s Radwood equivalent?
We are in the golden era of American automobiles right now. Cars have never been better, cleaner, or more fuel efficient.
THANK YOU MATT. Please continue to beat the drum of CLTC to EPA range discrepancy, this factor alone has caused so much widespread misinformation about the difference between Chinese and non Chinese EVs. I won’t pretend that the Chinese automakers are not ahead of Europe and US companies, but the gap is far smaller than reported.
I think it’s easy to say the 50’s and 60’s, but the early 00’s had some neat stuff. Cobalt SS, Neon SRT-4, Viper, Solstice/Sky, Focus SVT, Ford GT. They all had a full lineup of almost anything you could want.
2010-2020. Horsepower was growing again alongside fuel efficiency. We had some connected features but not an obnoxious amount and they weren’t necessary if you didn’t want them. The US got genuinely good compact cars for a hot second. If you got the manual ones and not the Ford PowerShi(f)t transmission or whatever Chrysler was slinging. The ZF 8-speed went into all the things possible and genuinely made people not exactly miss a manual transmission. Also EV’s got moved from rich person’s toy to a viable daily driver.
The US golden era has to be the insane postwar boom through about 1972.
But as far as the Chinese gold era, is like 5ish years really an era?
Oh, believe me, I KNOW.
This I did NOT know. I tend to be unaware of videos. But see people three-across in a Ranger bench takes me back, so I’m here for it.
I think there was a US golden era from about 1986 – 1996. Ford built the original Taurus, then the SHO. GM released the original ZR-1 world beater and the STS. Chrysler was on a roll with the ZJ Grand Cherokee, ’94 RAM and the original LH sedans. We had funky designs and funky colors. It seemed the US industry was FINALLY waking up to challenge the world.
Throw in the Viper, the probe, hell even the GT90 concept. You could buy a geo tracker and have all of the fun of a wrangler but not have to pretend you’d take it offroad. If you did want to go offroad, you could get a 2door Tahoe or a White Bronco. Times were fun…
(oh yeah, this also introduced the Explorer and the downward spiral that followed)
Ford and GM BOTH built new, in-house, ground up OHC V8 and V6 engines during this period. Chrysler designed an OHC V6. Paint and interior material fit/feel/quality improved by leaps and bounds.
1990s by far.
Yes the Chinese auto industry is just like the US industry, they put Yao Ming in a Nio the same way the US put Shaq in a Buick.
I was beginning to wonder if we were renaming The Morning Dump to something else.
Not any more.
I’m not a huge fan of the thumbnail and topshot not having the label on them. I’m generally anti-icon-only. But it’s nice that the name persists.
Well, the icon is a dump truck. I suspect this may be due to some ‘smut’ filter on some app to improve site visibility across the web.
Fair. I just think it’s strange that all the other features have words on them (Cold start, member’s rides, etc.) but not the morning dump. Maybe they could just use TMD instead and get around filters that way.
I saw Yao Ming in person at the NBA Rookie Game. It was his rookie year, but he had been voted to play in the actual All-Star game. It was the era of big suits, and he was wearing one that absolutely hung off of him, and that combined with his flat top haircut made him look just like Frankenstein’s monster.
I hope the two-days-in-a-row of Spani-related articles have nothing to do with me becoming a member on Tuesday 😛
Having said that, is Europe the only market which cannot be like US (or China)?
“I had to explain who Yao Ming was to Mercedes this morning, and then my bones turned to dust. It’s remarkable that I can type at all after that.
The former Houston Rocket was on hand earlier today in China….”
So Ming works on rockets in Houston for NASA? Odd that you would expect Mercedes to know everyone that works in the space industry.
Just kidding – I assume Ming plays a game involving a ball of some sort at the professional level.
https://youtu.be/vGFmJ631JBM?si=zc8sDYvDhX8hRXwl
The 1920’s, everything was new and innovations were huge leaps from the years prior and people were just finally ditching horses as primary means of transportation. You had a fuck load of recent and start-up manufacturers, brands, and a whole bubble of fake money to keep it flowing and yeah, this is pretty much exactly what has just happened in China
I was going to say from about 1955 to “Unsafe At Any Speed,” but you’re probably right.
This is probably the correct answer, now we will see many players go out of business and the remainders get consolidated into larger entities.
Post ww1 logic tracks.
Also coincides with the rise of wrist watches & disposable razors following WWI.