These 3 major automakers may team up to save themselves, build cheap EVs
Plan A isn’t working, so it’s time for Plan B. Three major legacy automakers are considering a creative approach to staying in the game amid fierce competition from Tesla and Chinese rivals – all in an effort to make cheap EVs, and a whole lot of them.
Volkswagen, Renault, and Stellantis are weighing possibly joining together to make cheaper electric vehicles – fearing it’s their only option. The urgency is growing as European automakers are being far outdistanced by BYD and Tesla. “A business-as-usual approach is a losing option,” reports Bloomberg. Hmm, didn’t anyone get the memo sooner?
Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis told Automotive News Europe that there is a “perfect recognition that in the future, the companies which are not fit to face the Chinese competition will put themselves in trouble.”
Ideas on the table range from “pooling development resources to bundling businesses across European borders to better compete in the once-in-a-generation shift.” Whatever happens, it will happen soon, within months, the report said.
2024 has so far served up a series of obstacles impacting EV sales, and automakers are saying they have been woefully unprepared. Among the issues, some governments have reduced or dropped EV incentives, rental companies are scaling back on EVs, and anti-EV buzz is brewing during what will be a tense election year in the US and Europe. Even Tesla is feeling the burn at this point, with a 20% share low this year wiping out about $150 billion from its market capitalization, more than double VW’s value, Bloomberg writes.
Next challenge is tighter emissions rules coming into effect in the EU next year, meaning it’s do or die for automakers: make more BEVs or pay hefty fines. To get a sense of what’s possible, if not a worst-case scenario, VW could face fines of more €2 billion ($2.2 billion) if it doesn’t reduce fleet emissions, Bloomberg writes.
Meanwhile, BYD plans to show off its latest EVs at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show, including a Mercedes G-Class rival luxury SUV – which is all rather anxiety-inducing among the Europeans.
Renault CEO Luca de Meo has suggested forming an “Airbus of autos” – which refers to the pooling of resources from Germany, France, Spain, and the UK to vie with Boeing – by bringing together three of Europe’s biggest automakers to build cheap EVs, and build them on a large scale.
Still, most analysts agree that 2024 will be a weird year, and that the “slump” in EV sales certainly won’t last – and that the biggest barrier is cost, with consumers needing to spend more on insurance in some cases, as much as twice as much in the UK, alongside higher upfront costs.
VW, Stellantis, and Renault are all (separately) working on new BEVs priced at €25,000 or less, while Mercedes and BMW plan to launch new EVs with improved technology by 2025. VW, which has been plagued with buggy EV software, may need the help more than anyone, despite its massive EV investment after the 2015 Dieselgate scandal.
Electrek’s Take
All roads seem to be leading to a big push from automakers to convince the EU to slow down its ramp-up to EVs, just as is potentially happening in the US – actions that will have a devastating impact on the climate. According to Bloomberg, the EU is already due to review the plans, with automakers getting their lobbyists ready for a fight soon after the European parliamentary elections in June.
Of course, automakers have failed to sort out a working plan in their EV transition, and that is falling on the backs of an entire industry that employs millions of people, and represents 7% of the entire EU economy. Companies such as supplier ZF Friedrichshafen has spent billions to prepare for EVs, but now may slash as much as 20% of its staff as automakers are pulling back on EV production. Meanwhile, thousands of other jobs – the good-paying kind with benefits and protections – are on the line, with Volkswagen cutting thousands of jobs in Germany to slash $11 billion in costs, and auto suppliers in the EU laying off tens of thousands of workers – just this week a major auto supplier for Tesla, VW, and Ford announced it was slashing 10,000 jobs. 2024 will be a bumpy year, indeed.
What about the US? Well, General Motors and Ford are both scaling back EV investments while also indicating that they are “open to partnerships with peers.” Of course, they have more time to play with than their European counterparts, especially if Biden shifts back the EV strategy in the coming months.
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No matter how badly a fleet wants to electrify their operations and take advantage of reduced fuel costs and TCO, the fact remains that there are substantial up-front obstacles to commercial EV adoption … or are there? We’ve got fleet financing expert Guy O’Brien here to help walk us through it on today’s fiscally responsible episode of Quick Charge!
This conversation was motivated by the recent uncertainty surrounding EVs and EV infrastructure at the Federal level, and how that turmoil is leading some to believe they should wait to electrify. The truth? There’s never been a better time to make the switch!
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Vermont’s EV adoption has surged by an impressive 41% over the past year, with nearly 18,000 EVs now registered statewide.
According to data from Drive Electric Vermont and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, 17,939 EVs were registered as of January 2025, increasing by 5,185 vehicles. Notably, over 12% of all new cars registered last year in Vermont had a plug. Additionally, used EVs are gaining popularity, accounting for about 15% of new EV registrations.
To put it in perspective, Vermont took six years to register its first 5,000 EVs – and the last 5,000 were added in just the previous year.
Rapid growth, expanding infrastructure
In just two years, Vermont has doubled its fleet of EVs, underscoring residents’ enthusiasm for electric driving. To support this surge, the state now boasts 459 public EV chargers, including 92 DC fast chargers.
The EV mix in Vermont is leaning increasingly toward BEVs, which represent 60% of the state’s EV fleet. The remaining 40% consists of PHEVs, offering flexible fuel options for drivers.
Top EV models in Vermont
Vermont’s favorite EVs in late 2024 included the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Nissan Ariya, Toyota RAV4 Prime PHEV, Tesla Model Y, and the Ford F-150 Lightning. These vehicles have appealed to Vermont drivers looking for reliability, performance, and practical features that work well in Vermont’s climate.
Leading the US in reducing emissions
This strong adoption of EVs earned Vermont the top ranking from the Natural Resources Defense Council for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in transportation in 2023. “It’s only getting easier for Vermonters to drive electric,” noted Michele Boomhower, Vermont’s Department of Transportation director. She emphasized the growing variety of EV models, including electric trucks and SUVs with essential features like all-wheel drive, crucial for Vermont’s climate and terrain.
Local dealerships boost EV accessibility
Nucar Automall, an auto dealer in St. Albans, is a great example of local support driving this trend. With help from Efficiency Vermont’s EV dealer incentives – receiving $25,000 through the EV Readiness Incentive program – it recently installed 15 EV chargers for new buyers and existing drivers to use.
“Having these chargers on the lot makes it easier for customers to see just how simple charging an EV can be,” said Ryan Ortiz, general manager at Nucar Automall. Ortiz also pointed out the growing affordability of EVs, thanks to more models becoming available and an increase in pre-owned EVs coming off leases.
Read more: Vermont becomes the first US state to pass a law requiring Big Oil to pay for climate damage
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Elon Musk said Tesla’s self-driving will start contributing to the company’s profits… wait for it… “next year” with “millions of Tesla robotaxis in operation during the second half of the year.”
The claim has become a running joke, as he has made it for the last decade.
During Tesla’s conference call following the release of its Q1 2025 financial results, Musk updated shareholders about Tesla’s self-driving plans, which he again presented as critical to the company’s future.
He made a series of claims, mainly updating timelines about Tesla’s self-driving efforts.
Here are the main comments:
- The CEO reiterated that Tesla will launch its paid autonomous ride-sharing service in Austin in June.
- He did clarify that the fleet will consist of Model Y vehicles and not the new Cybercab.
- Musk also confirmed that Tesla is currently training a fleet specifically for Austin.
- As we previously reported, this internal ride-hailing fleet operating in a geo-fenced with teleoperation assist is a big change from Tesla’s approach.
- Musk said “10 to 20 vehicles” on day one.
- Musk said that Tesla’s self-driving will start contributing positively to the company financially in the middle of next year, and “There will be millions of Teslas operating autonomously in the second half of next year.”
- Musk has literally said something similar every year for the past decade and therefore, it’s hard to take him seriously.
- The CEO claimed that Tesla would get “a 90-something percentage market share” in the autonomous market.
- Musk again claimed that no one else is getting close to Tesla’s capacity, and he criticized Waymo for being too expensive.
- Musk is “confident” that the first Model Y will drive itself from the factory to a customer’s home later this year.
- The CEO said that he is confident that Tesla will deliver “unsupervised full self-driving” in consumer vehicles by the end of the year.
Despite Tesla missing earnings expectations by a wide margin, the company’s stock rose 4% in after-hours trading following Musk’s comments, indicating that shareholders still believe Musk’s self-driving predictions, despite his predictions having been incorrect for almost a decade.
Electrek’s Take
The first point I believe will happen. Tesla needs it to happen. It badly needs a win on the self-driving front.
However, as we previously explained, while Tesla will claim a win in June, it will be with a limited geo-fenced and teleoperation-assisted system that won’t scale to customer vehicles, which is what has been promised for years.
Tesla was even asked how it plans to launch this in Austin in June, when FSD in consumer vehicles currently requires frequent interventions from drivers, and Ashok, Tesla’s head of autonomous driving, admitted his team is currently focused on solving the intervention specifically related to driving in Austin.
With training on specific Austin routes and using teleoperations, Tesla can make that happen, but the road between that and unsupervised self-driving in consumer vehicles and “million of Tesla robotaxis” in the second of next year is a long one.
Basically, other than the first point, I believe Tesla will not achieve any of the other on anything close to the timelines announced by Musk today.
I’m willing to take bets on that.
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