One of the biggest advancements in modern cars is not a specific propulsion technology, but a materials and packaging story. Cars are getting heavier, but not as heavy as you’d imagine, given all the added safety equipment. You can thank the use of aluminum and other materials for this.
This is another Morning Dump where I talk about tariffs, because this is a tariff story. And an environmental one. There’s a decent chance that it might just be cheaper, in the long run, to let cars get a little heavier.
Here’s a heavy bit of news if you’re in charge of sales for Tesla: the company had another bad month, losing out to BYD in Europe, again. It’s also losing out to Renault, which is kinda killing it with its affordable EVs.
Stellantis had a better month, but it was not enough to prevent the company from slowing down its European production.
The Industry Has To Do Something About The $188 Billion Tariff Hit Coming
Automakers will surely continue to absorb some of the expected tariff costs. How much is another question. According to the Center for Automotive Research, the total cost to the automotive industry from all the various materials, parts, and vehicle tariffs will be about $188 billion (and that’s the conservative estimate).
In addition to eventually passing that cost onto the consumer, one of the ways automakers could save money is just by not trying so hard to make cars lighter. That’s at least one proposal coming, according to Automotive News:
Lightweighting has been crucial for automakers looking to reach global fuel economy targets and emissions regulations. A 10 percent reduction in vehicle mass can lead to a 6-8 percent improvement in fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions, according to a 2024 study conducted by researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy.
While global standards aren’t going away, the Trump administration has signaled it is scaling back U.S. environmental regulations and reversing much of the Biden administration’s pro-EV policies.
The federal government’s $7,500 EV tax credit expires after Sept. 30. In July, the EPA proposed rescinding its 2009 legal opinion that greenhouse gas emissions harm human health, which would end limits on vehicle tailpipe emissions.
“One big thing going on is there are no more carbon credits to buy,” AutoForecast Solutions CEO Joe McCabe said at the Center for Automotive Research’s Management Briefing Seminars held Sept. 15-17 in Detroit. “Now you just found yourself a couple hundred million dollars of revenue to throw back in the mix.”
It’s generally understood that it’s more expensive to make a lighter part (perhaps using aluminum and some sort of composite as opposed to just steel). Now that companies need to make cars cheaper and there’s less pressure to make them efficient, it’s a potentially viable trade-off.
Of course, this isn’t a change you can make overnight. Trying to go back to certain materials and older designs is going to take time. There’s also the risk that you’re making a vehicle for one country, and other places still maintain their regulatory environment.
Making cars lighter is better for safety, better for the environment, and better performance. It may not be better for the bottom line anymore.
One interesting solution is to use recycled materials, which, if produced in a tariff-friendly way, could reduce cost and be better for the environment. In a fun coincidence, I got an email from Brembo this morning saying that’s exactly what they’re doing, with the first-ever caliper made with 100% recycled aluminum.
After extensive scouting and testing, Brembo found the perfect match: an alloy made entirely from recycled aluminum. Using this alloy, CO₂ emissions across the entire lifecycle of the caliper can be reduced by 70% compared to a conventional alloy.
The shift to the new material demanded a re-evaluation of the product and an update to the manufacturing process. A comprehensive redesign and reindustrialization effort was launched to ensure the new solution could be scaled globally across all Brembo plants, delivering the highest quality and performance.
Brembo produces equipment all over the world, so I did ask a spokesperson specifically where the aluminum was being recycled.
The recycled alloy is sourced regionally, which aligns with Brembo’s strategy of sourcing near factories and producing parts near our customers’ factories. The alloy will be rolled out to global markets.
Makes sense.
Europe Continues To Be Tough For Tesla, Better For BYD
Sales of BYD EVs in Europe were up 201% year-over-year in August of this year. Tesla? Sales were down 36.6% over the same period, which means that BYD is selling more cars in EU countries than Tesla.
You can see the full sales release from the ACEA, but it shows that it’s not impossible for BYD to pass Tesla in sales in Europe this year. At the very least, it’ll be close.
And it’s not like people in Europe aren’t buying electric cars. The overall market was relatively flat in August, but BEVs were up 30.2%, hybrids were up 14.1%, and PHEVs were up 54.5%.
Now that the revised Model Y is entirely out, I think it’s safe to say that Musk’s antics, combined with growing competition, have clearly had an impact.
Check Out The Renault 5
Renault Group was up 8.1% year-over-year in August sales, with the Renault brand edging up 5.7%.
As Autocar points out, a lot of Renault’s success has come from the “brilliant” Renault R5 E-Tech. Will the company abandon the model? Of course not!
It would be a “massive mistake” for Renault not to replace the 5 in around five years time, and the next-generation supermini must be “very carefully” evolved to preserve its wide appeal.
That’s according to chief marketing officer Arnaud Belloni, who told Autocar that the reborn Renault 5 has made a huge impact on the French brand’s market footprint and public perception.
The 5 has only been on sale for around a year but is already one of the most popular EVs in Europe and is playing a pivotal role in attracting new customers to the Renault brand, with an 84% conquest rate in the UK.
It’s almost as if people will buy EVs if you make them fun and affordable…
Stellantis Is Pausing Production In Europe To Adjust To A ‘Challenging Market’
Stellantis had a decent August, growing 3.4%, but it’s still down about 8.9% for the year and saddled with a lot of inventory.
According to Automotive News Europe, there’s an obvious solution to that:
The automaker will temporarily halt production of the Fiat Panda and Alfa Romeo Tonale at its factory in Pomigliano, near Naples, from Sept. 29 to Oct. 6, Stellantis said on Sept. 23. The plant’s 3,800 workers will be put on furlough, it added in a statement.
Production will be suspended in Poissy, west of Paris, from Oct. 13 to 31, Stellantis said. Poissy builds the DS3 and Opel Mokka small SUVs.
Stellantis is “adapting the rhythm of production in some of its plants in Europe,” the company said in a statement on Sept. 23.
The company “aims to adjust the production pace to a challenging market in Europe while managing inventories as efficiently as possible before the end of the year,” Stellantis said.
Also, do you know what’s a great way to sell Tonales in the United States? Make them more expensive, which is exactly what tariffs did.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
It’s getting grey outside, and “Action/Adventure” from Andrew Bird seems to hit the spot.
The Big Question
What’s the heaviest vehicle you’ve ever driven?
Top photo: ABB/Newspress
My college had a car hauler truck, a ’70? or so Chevy cab body with a big long box on back. A 4 speed manual and carb’ed 350. Drove it a time or two across parking lots.
I once drove an air brake equipped F750 flatbed (’98 or so) on an industrial site. No, I don’t have a CDL.
Driven many a U-Haul/Penske/Ryder over the years.
M2 Bradley was the heaviest vehicle I’ve driven. Absolutely terrifying, as the hydraulic transmission needed MORE throttle going into a turn to maintain progress, letting off was akin to heavy braking, and actually using the brakes would stand it up on the nose of the tracks. But it would barrel down a wooded trail at 35 mph pretty comfortably (provided you aren’t riding in the back) and any trees less than 4″ thick were completely unnoticeable if you hit them
Gawd that first lede is depressing. Cars are getting too heavy as is, let’s just de-incentivise ANY improvement.
$188 Billion in tariffs (paid for by us) in just one industry should have the pitchforks waving.
If traditional materials get too expensive, why not go full-Trabant? Discarded clothing (and not just underwear and undershirts) is clogging our landfills – why not turn it into body panels?
“One interesting solution is to use recycled materials, which, if produced in a tariff-friendly way, could reduce cost and be better for the environment.”
There is no tariff, yet, on importing scrap materials to be recycled into new metal…which is why other countries are looking to implement export tariffs to keep all this raw material from leaving their country to go to the US. I also think recycling rates in the US are 10% at best so I highly doubt this will save that much in the long run.
Plastic recycling rates are near 10%, but metals recycling is far higher, especially for cars.
The big issue is sorting scrap so you don’t downgrade the material quality. Right now one of the easiest ways to “recycle” is by dumping recycled scrap into cast engine blocks or construction materials where a higher mix of random other metals isn’t as critical. The real trick is being able to make A-class stamped panels out of post-consumer recycled metal.
Good point. There is a reason all machine shops have chip bins. Curious how effective metals recycling is on the consumer level.
I generally don’t have a super wide range of driving experience, with family always driving the tow vehicles and other such things, and now living in the city, even less of a reason. Even our U-Haul rentals were filled more with volume than mass. I’d have to guess a Pontiac Montana minivan loaded down with about a half-ton of split wood in the back? Although who knows, given how much lighter cars were, it probably barely weighed more than our Polestar now.
The heaviest *feeling* thing I’ve ever driven was my 2012 Hyundai Accent loaded down and stuffed to the gills with approximately 50 cases of water and sports drinks. Clearly overloaded the suspension by a significant margin, but it was during our 2021 heatwave and we were trying to get fluids out to folks in encampments to prevent heatstroke.
For anyone with mechanical sympathies, you can probably guess that slipping the clutch to get moving on some of the hills around here with that tiny little engine felt nothing short of torturous.
I recall reading a long time ago that recycling aluminum (cans, etc…) takes one tenth of the energy required to make aluminum from bauxite ore. Those Brembo calipers look cute (don’t ask me why… Jason probably could explain it though, since he knows all about anthromophizing inanimate objects) plus: nice colors!
Though I’ve no actual need to own an EV, let alone buy a new one, the base Renault R5 would be sorely tempting were it available stateside. I don’t need or want insane 0-60 times and a huge battery, most of which is wasted carrying itself around to get range. 250 miles of range is plenty, and even the slowest EV is quick compared to the gas cars I’ve driven all my life. The R5 and it’s cousin the Citroen ë-C3 are (to me, for my modest needs) great cars. If a Japanese or South Korean manufacturer (that sells in America) ever manages to produce something comparable for an actual $25K MSRP, I think they’d secure a huge chunk of the entry-level EV market for years.
I still love those 5-leaf-clover wheels on Alfas. I wonder what else they might fit? There must be a website somewhere that cross references lug patterns/offsets/sizes for such a purpose, right?
🙂
I worked for a greenhouse and had to drive a rather large refrigerated box truck with a manual with LOTS of gears. It had to have weighed more than some moving trucks I have driven. My wife on the other hand was a fire fighter and drove some rather large ladder trucks and such.
I’ve done quite a few EV drives, so I think it would be either a Escalade IQ or a Hummer EV. If you count combined weight of trailers, it would probably be my Truck and Camper combo at about 11,000 pounds.
Does a boat count as a vehicle? Then a tug boat with many barges of various material that I was allowed to pilot under supervision for a few minutes.
If not, then a semi truck with less than 26,000 total GVCWR.
The dream is to pilot a space restaurant, one that is built like a steakhouse but handles like a bistro.
We kindly request that you wear pants in our space-based food-service environment.
Nope, only velour skants with white gloves and boots.
(aggravated Kif sigh)
Can one just have an underling shield one’s bare legs with their body instead? Asking for a, uh, friend. Yeah.
If this means we can go back to metal coolant fittings, I’m all for it. Doubt that’ll happen though as plastic molding is cheap.
(I got to see Andrew Bird at I believe the Orange Peel in Asheville NC 25-27 years ago opening for Arcade Fire. Never heard of him at the time and I don’t think he even had any albums out, but I was blown away by what one guy with a violin and a loop box could do and have been a fan ever since.)
Heaviest thing would have to be a 60′ JLG boom lift that I believe was 30,000Lb. Still blows me away that it happened, I was working at a factory and needed some cabling run across the ceiling to some cameras pointing at various parts of the machinery below, and their certified driver was on vacation so they just gave me the keys and a 1 minute intro into what all the controls do. TBH I hated it, once you’re 40-50′ off the ground any small movement makes the basket you’re standing in bounce up and down what feels like 6′. (was probably only 1-2′ from any perspective but my own.)
If anything, more plastics will be used. Plastics are a byproduct of the oil and gas industry and as a major producer and exporter of oil products; plastic parts are one of the most viable products manufactured domestically. I always look for country of origin on plastic products and you would be shocked how often they are US made.
I abhore JLG’s and will nope out at any opportunity. I’d rather climb the ladder in a sling than ride in one. I’ve been to the top of 200+ foot distillation columns by ladder.
I got to see Andrew Bird about 12-years ago in Chicago and he put on an amazing show. I have a bunch of his albums. His solo work is great, but I love his earlier work as “Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire” in the late 90’s even better.
“According to the Center for Automotive Research, the total cost to the automotive industry from all the various materials, parts, and vehicle tariffs will be about $188 billion (and that’s the conservative estimate).”
Pet peeve but could you include the time scale with numbers like that? I know it’s in the link (3 years) but so often giant numbers like that are thown out but without any time scale to determine if it’s OMFG or Meh.
Not sure it was purposeful, but nice selection of green cars for the photos today.
Anyways, like many I’m guessing, the heaviest vehicle I’ve driven was a box truck. Unfortunately for me, this one was powered by an ancient 300 I6 and was also the slowest vehicle I’ve ever driven.
I had thought maybe a rental box truck, but it seems the heaviest I’ve ever driven is still a Kaiser-Jeep M35 at about 13,000 lbs. Unless you count, like, boats, but that gets trickier with displacement at different loads
The heaviest for me was probably a rented 26′ box truck full of moving boxes while towing a car on a trailer for about 2500mi. Second heaviest would be my 24′ Class A motorhome also towing a car on a trailer.
Heaviest is my dad’s 1942 American LaFrance pumper, but as a model built for the military, it was only five and a half tons (with an empty tank). No power steering (or synchromesh).
Heaviest thing?…probably the big forklift at work. Can’t remember the capacity exactly but it’s in the tens of thousands of pounds. Even unladen those massive counterweights on the back are pretty much giant hunks of iron and weigh literal tons by themselves.
Are we talking commerical vehicles and if so combination vehicles? I have to drive semi trucks at work so that is the heaviest I have driven around. I don’t have CDL so I normally just drive them bobtail around our test track but have moved a few with s fully loaded trailer here and there. If not commerical or combination vehicles I would say the heaviest I have moved is my D250 with the bed fully loaded with gravel or bricks.
Combining part I and Part II… If selling carbon credits is no longer a thing, and I seem to recall that selling carbon credits was a big source of income for Tesla, then that’s bad for Tesla, right?
Yes. Allegedly the elimination of the carbon credits was one of the primary reasons for the alleged fallout between the leader of Teslania and the leader of the USA. Allegedly. *shrug*
The heaviest thing I have ever driven is surely the Mississippi River barge I was able to pilot for about 15 minutes many years ago. That was over 20 million pounds, not including the boat doing the pushing.
On the road, the heaviest is a Case 1370 towing three wagons loaded with hay. Hopefully it still counts if my top speed was about the same as an easy jog.
A barge?! Awesome! Mercedes will see this and add a new box to her checklist…
My grandfather worked on the river with the Army Corps for his entire working life, and we took a few barge trips together over the years. We would hop on at one set of locks and then ride down to the next set and hop off. The trip could easily take all day. The last time we did it, I was in college, and the captain let me pilot it briefly. Technically, I was driving it, but it wasn’t like I was actually doing much. The lag time between manipulating the controls and any action occurring is significant.
That’s awesome! My grandparents lived within walking distance of lock and dam #8 up in Wisconsin. Loved going to visit them as one of the things to do was go watch the river traffic and corresponding lock-operation over there. Would’ve loved to have ridden on one, let alone take the controls. I did get to re-create a barge accident several years ago and we had to render 20 minutes up to the incident so the client could illustrate that significant lag-time you mentioned.
I know that area a bit. My grandfather was from further north. If you have a chance, you should stop by the Lockmaster House Museum in Guttenberg, Iowa. It is the last example of the houses they built for the people running the locks. My mom and grandparents lived in one near LaCrosse for a number of years.
My grandfather has a bottomless supply of stories from his years on the river. Millions of tons of liquid moving by every day can cause a lot of interesting things to happen.
Thanks for the suggestion – that looks like a great place to checkout some weekend. The LaCrosse area was always fun to visit as a kid – we’d usually run up from my grandparent’s place in Genoa to have a pizza at Big Al’s or just drive around seeing the sights. I’d love to hear some of your grandfather’s stories – river life is fascinating.
My uncle worked on the Delta Queen for awhile whenever he wasn’t running freight for Burlington Northern. Also quite a few stories – it seems being on the river was good for generating them.
You can always check out the Stockholm Pie Company further north or the Stone Barn Pizza farm and Nelson Cheese Co. around Nelson, WI, as well. All worth the stop. It is a beautiful part of the country. Some great driving roads, too. Especially between LaCrosse and Madison in the Driftless region.
Ditto on the tow + barge! There is just so much mass involved, it’s somewhat daunting.
Unless there’s a container ship pilot on here or something, I suspect you win. 🙂
When I was working for a landscaping company, I frequently drove a Ford F700 dump truck with a 7 yard bed and a two-speed rear axle. I think it scaled (empty) at 12,000# ish.
Also, the color on that Tonale is pretty, but the wheelbase is too short for the body and it looks silly.
Also also, Nissan needs to sell the R5 here as the Micra they sell in Canada, because I’d buy the shit out of that.
Unrelated to the Morning Dump but while driving today, I saw a Saturn Vue Hybrid, a vehicle I didn’t know existed!
Well, I don’t know if we count my dad’s log truck, which I have only moved in the driveway a little. So maybe a small-medium bulldozer? I am not in the habit of hitting the weigh stations, so I don’t know. I’ve had opportunities to drive weird equipment, so it’s hard to say.
I feel like the tariff & EPA issues are short-term enough that OEMs wouldn’t necessarily incorporate it into their engineering decisions. They’re too slow-moving for that. I can see it happen on a vendor level, though.
Heaviest vehicle I’ve driven was a dually Transit with about 2 tons of car batteries in the back (which is about 1000lbs over its payload rating but shhhh don’t tell anyone!)
I was typing a comment similar to this when yours popped up. My best guess is that in three years regulatory changes, such as the EPA’s, will go back to what they were before Trump’s second term. If I were an automaker, I would make no investments in less fuel-efficient vehicles because the lag time on any investment puts the product’s release squarely in unknown territory. If I already had a super inefficient product that I could keep going for longer, I might*, but I certainly would make no plans based on the current regulatory environment.
*See: Dodge
This is the beauty of the Dodge/Ram v8 plan right now. Investment is incredibly minimal, but market goodwill from their fan base is super high. Cash now to help float them while they figure out how to escape the hole that Tavares put them in. But without that cash now, the job would be so much harder.
I wouldn’t expect them to do anything to figure out how to get out of the hole they’re in. They’ve been milking that V8 plan for 20 years already. Instead they will take this as a way to stay the course and be shocked when they find themselves exactly where they were before these roll backs.
I drove a tractor trailer with a fuel tank hooked up. It was empty, enough. That was still pretty heavy. No idea the actual weight.