What’s This Actually About?

A lot of #resist folks are patting themselves on the back today, pointing out that they predicted the inevitable fallout between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the CEO of both an important car and space company.

First of all, it’s not prescience to suspect that two people whose later careers have been defined by a populist disinterest in consensus and, more importantly, by a resistance to conventional advice are butting heads. This was a reasonable eventuality, and in the “nothing ever happens” universe, it could just as easily be reversed before I even finish this post.

Since The Morning Dump is not about politics unless it relates to cars, I’m going to focus on what this means for automobiles and not the memes. Admittedly, the memes are good. In terms of pure theater, it was amusing, though the chuckle I let out was more of the “this is killing me inside” variety. The suggestion from President Trump is that this is all about tax credits, which is a wild reason to set the world on fire for a day.

Musk might be done with Trump (I sort of doubt it), but everyone else is still trying to make a deal. Mercedes has an outline for one, and I think it’s an interesting proposal worth listening to. The world is a crazy place, as always, and the future of warfare is probably drones. Two companies we write about a lot want to be a part of that future.

Finally, it’s Pesage, the official start of Le Mans! Get excited.

Is This Really About EV Tax Credits?

I will not litigate the ongoing battle between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump, which stems from Musk’s displeasure with the President’s Big Beautiful Law. I will just say that it got extremely nasty, with Elon Musk stating that the reason why a certain List hasn’t been released is because President Trump is on it, and that the President should be impeached. For his part, the President said Musk is mad about losing electric car tax credits and that the government should just cancel all Musk’s many government contracts.

Musk responded by threatening to shut down America’s space program. This isn’t a place where I talk about my political beliefs, but my non-political belief is that we have one elected President at a time, and it’s bad that one unelected person can wield enough power to kill the International Space Station.

That’s a lot of things happening, and yesterday it cost Elon Musk’s companies, notably Tesla, about $38 billion in valuation according to Bloomberg. For whatever reason, Musk chilled out at the end of the day and seemed open to reconciliation (with Trump, not for the bill). There was a rumor of a call between the two men, but President Trump quashed that idea a few minutes ago. Again, I’m not going to play-by-play this because it’s too exhausting and that’s not my job.

I will say that the contention that Elon Musk is mad about losing tax credits is one I’m not 100% sold on. Even before the election was decided, Musk made a point of saying that his company no longer needs the tax credit. He also thinks subsidies should end for gasoline and just about anything else.

Why? To me, this is the ultimate “pull the ladder up behind you” move. It took a lot of tax credits and government investment to get Tesla to profitability, and now Musk might benefit from depriving other companies of that advantage. It might be bad for Tesla, but it could kill a company like Slate Auto before it even sells a single car.

On the other hand, Musk’s big opposition to the bill did come after he reportedly tried to save the tax credits, according to Bloomberg Government:

The Tesla Inc. chief executive officer personally appealed to House Speaker Mike Johnson to save the tax credit, the person said, requesting anonymity to discuss a private conversation.

Tesla’s profitability, to this day, still relies heavily on carbon offset tax credits and other government programs. With flagging sales, perhaps Musk isn’t interested in a bill that risks any of his revenue? That’s President Trump’s contention, but at this point, you’re having to trust one of two people having a huge public spat.

The thing about Regina George is that Regina George was sometimes right.

Mercedes Proposes 1-For-1 Car Export Deal

Mercedes makes a lot of SUVs in the United States for sale in Europe. It also makes a decent number of cars in Europe for the United States. Given all the negotiations over trade between the EU and the United States, it behooves Mercedes to propose a 1-for-1 exemption for car sales.

According to Spiegel via Reuters, that’s what Mercedes wants:

Mercedes-Benz has proposed a deal under which U.S. cars could be imported into Europe duty free in exchange for tariff waivers on the same number of vehicles that EU automakers export to the U.S., the company’s CEO said in a German magazine interview.

“For every car that leaves the USA or Europe, a car from the other side comes in duty free,” Ola Kaellenius told Spiegel. “We have put this idea to both sides and it is a possible component of the negotiations between the USA and the EU.”

A law like this sort of already exists, which is how Volvo is able to sell Chinese-made cars here without paying tariffs.

Subaru And Kawasaki Want In On The Drone Game

A bunch of cheap unmanned drones may have just destroyed more bombers in one day since at least WWII. It’s a growing business, and Nikkei Asia has a report from the DSEI Japan defense equipment show, where both Subaru and Kawasaki were on hand to show off UAVs.

Kawasaki, in collaboration with French startup VoltAero, is developing twin- and single-engine drones that can fly up to 2,700 kilometers at speeds of up to 600 kilometers per hour with a maximum payload of 500 kilograms.

In 2030, the company aims to churn out 5,000 drone engines a year — a task not particularly hard for a company that makes some 500,000 motorcycles every year.

“When it comes to small and efficient engines, no one can beat Japanese motorcycle makers,” said a guide at the Kawasaki booth.

That makes sense given that a lot of these aircraft have engines that are basically of a design and size shared with motorcycles.

Happy Pesage Day!

The official start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is going on right now in France. It’s Pesage, which is literally just French for “we’re going to weigh something.” It’s the initial tech inspection and weight-taking of the week, though it’s far from the last.

Just to make it exciting, this happens in the center of the town of Le Mans so that everyone can gather around and watch. I’ve only done it once, but it was incredibly fun and I highly recommend it.

There’s something incomparable to having the newest and fastest prototypes being driven through an old European city center.

Le Mans itself is also a fun town. I went looking for a stuffed animal for my daughter and discovered, in typical French fashion, that the place had like six lingerie stores and only one good toy store.

What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD

For no reason at all, here’s “Boys Don’t Cry” from The Cure.

The Big Question

What’s your favorite Le Mans car of all time?

Top Photo: Depositphotos.com