LA Auto Show Recap: Are We Ready?

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The 2024 presidential election was going to be significant regardless of who won. The views of each candidate differ immensely from one another, which certainly creates uncertainty when planning for the future. Now that we know who won, is the industry prepared?

Over the past couple of weeks — mostly last Thursday — I spoke with executives from several major automotive brands. With my focus on electrification the past couple of years, that was my focus when talking about an automotive future under Trump.

So what did I learn?

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To be fair to each company I spoke with — Hyundai, Kia, and most of the Stellantis brands — they all had an answer when I asked about potential disruption in electrification plans. Which is good, I’d have been concerned if there was no planning at all.

Most centered around what Olabisi Boyle, senior vice president of product planning at Hyundai Motor North America, told me. Her response focused on the company’s diverse product lineup of gasoline, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, upcoming EREV, and full-BEV vehicles. Additionally, Boyle reminded me that the plants Hyundai has in North America can be flexed to meet whatever customer demand may be.

Eric Watson, vice president of sales for Kia America reiterated that point. That company introduced a refreshed Sportage at the show with several different powertrain options (along with the refreshed full-BEV EV6 and the EV9 GT).

It’s also worth noting that both companies have large manufacturing facilities in deeply red states, which both executives reminded me of. Which is a good point because what governor would want fewer jobs in their state?

In talking to some colleagues — experts in the field — last week there is also a strong opinion on the strength of the ZEV states. During the first Trump presidency, the government tried to strip California of its ability to set emissions targets, ultimately it didn’t prove super effective. He’ll likely try again, but the ZEV state coalition is both large and economically powerful. Plus, no automaker is going to build a car that can only be sold to half of Americans, unless they have an excessive amount of money to burn for no reason.

Near the end of the day on Thursday I was asked by someone who’ll remain nameless what the vibe check was of the other automakers, and I responded, “I’m not super confident. Everyone has an answer, which is good, but I didn’t walk away feeling extra confident about the next four years.” That person replied, “Yeah. We know what we know, but it’s still too early to tell.”

One thing I will say is that I don’t think enough people are taking the potential disruption to the automotive industry serious enough. I’m sure at the automotive manufacturing level, people are, but there’s some in the rest of the industry who are wholly unprepared for what is happening.

For example, Elon Musk is going to be heading an advisory committee that will be making recommendations on the very agencies that are tasked with regulating his businesses. That’s something that hasn’t happened before. He’s not expected to stand down from those businesses, either.

How much damage can he do to automotive safety? LIkely a ton. On the flip side, he is hurting his business by siding with Trump, since Tesla is the only automaker that isn’t seeing BEV sales increase. But too many people out there still believe that because he’s the richest man on Earth he must also be “doing something right.”

It’s important to remember that wealth doesn’t equal intelligence.

And maybe, for the sake of the automotive industry, we might be fortunate that Elon Musk is a very stupid, stupid, stupid man.

So here’s what we know:

1. Nearly every single automaker has a mult-energy approach to its product lineup.

2. Exceptions to that, like Rivian, have just received an influx of cash.

3. DOGE isn’t a government agency with legal authority, but rather and advisory group. There are hurdles for its recommendations to become policy.

4. We already produce more oil domestically than we import, so “drill baby drill” is pointless.

5. We still don’t know, for sure, what’s going to happen.

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