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Lovers of sleek, luxurious, and insanely expensive cars, you’ve now got an American-made EV equivalent in the form of Cadillac Celestiq. General Motors just announced that it has finally started production at its factory in Michigan, but only in very limited numbers, of course. Here’s what that eye-watering starting price of $340,000 will buy you.

While the Rolls-Royce Spectre gives off a more stately, monolithic appearance, Cadillac’s designer went for dynamic proportions here with a sweeping roof and sleek lines, polished off with an echo of the Cadillac bustleback of yore. It’s American luxury at its finest, and inside the car, you’ll get a sense of what it’s really like to be among the 1%: bright leather (electric blue as an option), a 55-inch HD display, 38-speaker custom audio system (plus three external speakers), adaptive air suspension with 5-link front and rear, active rear steering, Eames bucket seats, climate-controlled zones, and even heated armrests.

Similar to the Rolls-Royce Specter, the 2024 model is only in limited production, with only six to be assembled at any one time, and it’s completely made to order so “no two will be alike.” Total volume will likely be around 100 to 150 units a year, GM said, with starting price at $340,000, but that’s before all the customization. For comparison’s sake, the Rolls-Royce Spectre, which has a starting price at $422,750, sold 326 units in Q4 of last year, so Cadillac is expected a bit fewer than that.

GM had originally said earlier in the year that the car would be in production at the end of last year, but quietly slipped into production this week.

Spec-wise, the Celestiq 2024 debut model comes equipped with a 111-kilowatt-hour battery pack for an expected range of about 300 miles of range on a single charge. The dual-motor, all-wheel-drive powertrain is 600 horsepower (447 kilowatts) and gives 640 lb-ft (868 Nm) of torque – for 0-60 mph in 3.8 seconds. If we’re splitting hairs, that’s a few tenths of a second faster than the Rolls-Royce Spectre’s 4.4 seconds. And that puts it in a similar category as the Audi e-tron GT or Porsche Taycan.

The vehicle can fast charge at up to 200 kW, offering up to about 78 miles of range in 10 minutes. You’ll find a similar rate in GM’s other Ultium cars, although pickups with large 200+ kWh batteries can charge at up to 350 kW and replenish 100 miles of range in 10 minutes.

A more modest option, the 2024 Cadillac Lyriq starts at $57,195, with the mid-range Luxury trim begins at $61,295. The top-of-the-line Sport mode starts at $61,795. The all-around Lyriq has been compared to the Mercedes EQE SUV, Audi A8 e-tron, and BMW iX, but it offers an impressive 300 miles or range at a price set around $60,000. The single-motor, rear-drive model comes with 340 horsepower for 0-60 mph in six seconds, and 500 hp for dual-motor.

Photo credit: Cadillac/General Motors


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Toyota the EV battery supplier? Honda will use them to power up its 400,000 hybrids in the US

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Toyota the EV battery supplier? Honda will use them to power up its 400,000 hybrids in the US

Toyota is now a battery supplier? That’s the plan. Honda will use Toyota’s batteries to power up its around 400,000 hybrids sold in the US.

Toyota will supply batteries for Honda hybrids in the US

Toyota’s $14 billion battery plant in North Carolina is ready for business. The facility will begin shipping out batteries next month, and it looks like Toyota already has its first customer.

According to a new Nikkei report, starting in fiscal 2025, Toyota will supply batteries for the roughly 400,000 Honda hybrids sold in the US.

Honda currently uses batteries from China and Japan for vehicles sold in the US, but the company is (like most) preparing for changes under Trump.

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Honda’s electrified vehicles, including EVs and hybrids, accounted for over a quarter of US sales last year. The company sold over 308,500 hybrids and 40,400 electric vehicles in the US in 2024. The batteries will likely be used in the CR-V and other Honda hybrid vehicles.

Honda-Toyota-EV-batteries
Honda Prologue Elite (Source: Honda)

Earlier this month, an extra 10% tariff on imports from China took effect. And that’s on top of the 10% imposed in February.

With more expected, including a 25% increase in vehicles imported from Japan, automakers are tightening up their supply chains.

Toyota-new-bZ4X
Toyota’s new bZ4X AWD model introduced in Europe (Source: Toyota)

A 25% tariff on Japanese vehicles, up from 2.5% currently, is estimated to cost the six major Japanese automakers about $20 billion in the US.

Tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada could cost Honda roughly $4.7 billion alone. Teaming up with Toyota to use its batteries for its hybrids is part of Japan’s broader global plans to ween off dependence on China and others for batteries and other emerging tech.

Toyota-Honda-EV-batteries
(Source: Toyota)

The new US plant, Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina (TBMC), is over seven million square feet, or about the size of 121 football fields.

As Toyota’s first in-house battery factory outside of Japan, the plant could be a game changer as Trump’s tariffs take effect. Securing Honda as a buyer will already help Toyota cut costs as it ramps up output.

Toyota plans to ramp up electrified vehicle (EV, PHEV, and hybrid) sales in North America from around 40% last year to 80% by 2030.

Electrek’s Take

Trump’s tariffs are already causing havoc, with nearly every automaker warning that they put the US further behind. Overseas automakers are not the only ones feeling the heat, either.

The “Big Three,” GM, Ford, and Jeep maker Stellantis all build vehicles in Canada and Mexico. GM cut output at its plant in Mexico in January, where the electric Chevy Equinox, Blazer, and Honda Prologue are made. Stellantis halted operations at its Brampton Assembly Plant in Canada last month, where it was expected to launch the Jeep Compass EV production. What’s next?

For Toyota, it looks like its $14 billion bet to build batteries in the US is already paying off. Now, we just need it to introduce more EVs.

After unveiling three new electric SUVs in Europe last week, including the updated bZ4X, Toyota hinted more is on the way for the US. Check back soon for updates.

What do you think? Do you want to see more Toyota EVs in the US, like the new C-HR+? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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Oil rises as Trump says Iran will be held responsible for any future Houthi attacks

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Oil rises as Trump says Iran will be held responsible for any future Houthi attacks

U.S. President Donald Trump looks on as military strikes are launched against Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis over the group’s attacks against Red Sea shipping, at an unspecified location in this handout image released March 15, 2025.

White House | Via Reuters

Oil prices rose on Monday after President Donald Trump said the U.S. would hold Iran responsible for any future attack by the Houthis, a militant group in Yemen that has launched missile strikes on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and on Israel.

U.S. crude oil futures rose 40 cents, or 0.6%, to $67.58 per barrel. Global benchmark Brent traded higher by 44 cents, or 0.62%, at $71.02 per barrel.

“Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN,” Trump said in a post on social media platform Truth Social. “IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!”

Trump’s threat comes after the U.S. launched a new wave of airstrikes against the Houthis over the weekend. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday the U.S. campaign will continue until the militant group halts its attacks.

“This campaign is about freedom of navigation and restoring deterrence,” Hegseth told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “The minute the Houthis say we’ll stop shooting at your ships, we’ll stop shooting at your drones, this campaign will end. But until then, it will be unrelenting.”

The Houthis began targeting commercial shipping traversing the Red Sea in late 2023 in support of Hamas, after the Palestinian militant group launched a surprise attack on southern Israel and Israel responded with a ground and air campaign in Gaza. The Houthis and Hamas are both allied with Iran.

The Houthi missile strikes have forced international shipping companies to reroute container ships that would normally pass through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.

Trump has reimposed a “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran with the goal of driving down the Islamic Republic’s oil exports. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently said the Trump administration’s goal is to collapse Iran’s economy.

The White House believes Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapon, an allegation the Islamic Republic denies. Trump’s national security advisor, Mike Waltz, said Sunday that “all options are on the table” to ensure Iran does not acquire a nuclear bomb.

“We cannot have a situation that would result in an arms race across the Middle East in terms of nuclear proliferation,” Waltz said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Trump has said he wants to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran. In 2018, the president withdrew the U.S. from the nuclear deal negotiated by President Barack Obama, an agreement called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

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If Musk wants to sell Tesla cars to conservatives, Tesla needs stores and service in red states

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If Musk wants to sell Tesla cars to conservatives, Tesla needs stores and service in red states

Elon Musk wants to sell Tesla cars to conservatives, but if that’s the strategy, the automaker should start with having stores and service centers in red states and rural areas.

It’s no secret that Elon Musk’s approval ratings with progressives have been plummeting over the last few years and even more so in the previous few months.

Since he has control over Tesla and he is the only official spokesperson since he let go of the PR department in 2020, the CEO is dragging the automaker along for the ride.

This is a problem for Tesla as Democrats are much more likely to buy electric vehicles than Republicans:

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Tesla’s sales have been crumbling over the last few months, and after the stock crashed 15% last Monday, President Trump held a controversial commercial for Tesla with Musk on the steps of the White House on Tuesday.

A day later, it was reported that Musk plans to give Trump another $100 million in political donations.

It was an apparent attempt to try to promote Tesla to Trump’s fans: conservatives.

Based on a Tesla inventory check and new order delivery timeline, we reported that the Trump ad appeared to have little to no impact on the demand for Tesla vehicles.

It could be that people see through Musk and Trump’s quid pro quo and, therefore, don’t value Trump’s “Tessler” endorsement seriously. Still, there’s also a more practical reason why Trump’s fans and conservatives generally don’t buy more Tesla vehicles: the locations of Tesla’s stores and service centers (hat tip to Ben).

Even if some Trump fans were interested in buying a Tesla after the White House commercial last week, they might have been turned off by the idea of having to drive several hours to a store or service center.

Tesla does not have stores or service centers in Alabama, Arkansas, North and South Dakota, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, or Wyoming.

In some cases, it’s not entirely Tesla’s fault, as some of these states have laws against Tesla’s direct sale models. They force automakers to go through third-party franchise dealerships. This is an abuse of old state laws aimed at protecting dealers against unfair competition from the automakers they represent.

Car dealer lobbies use their influence on state legislatures to use these laws to block Tesla, Rivian, Lucid, and other automakers who never had franchise dealerships from operating their own stores and service centers.

But on top of not having locations in several red states, Tesla also primarily has locations in urban areas, whereas conservatives disproportionally live in rural areas.

The automaker has several dead zones and doesn’t operate locations in smaller cities and towns where there are several Ford, GM, Toyota, and other car dealers:

While it certainly does happen, it’s hard to convince someone to buy a car if they have to drive several hours to pick it up and have it serviced.

Electrek’s Take

In short, it’s not only harder to convince conservatives, on average, to buy an electric vehicle, but Tesla is also not correctly set up to sell and service cars in conservative regions of the US.

Though, I think that’s a small part of the problem.

Cars are not supposed to be political.

Even if Tesla successfully converted a significant percentage of conservatives to electric vehicles, it wouldn’t stop the company’s brand destruction.

Tesla’s reputation amongst Democrats and independents has sharply decreased over the last few years, and especially over the last few months, and that’s thanks to Elon Musk alienating them.

It’s tough to be a successful consumer product company when you have alienated 50% or so of your market.

Tesla is basically becoming the MyPillow of Trump’s second term.

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