Stellantis and Nissan and Hyprocrites, Oh My!

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This week has been quite a wild ride, and it’s only Thursday! I thought for sure we’d still be talking about South Korea, but there have been several major news stories since then. Anyway, let’s get into it all before you hit that unsubscribe link! 😉 

In This Issue

• “Who’s Coming With Me?”

• Ramaswamy Is A Hypocrite

• Tavares Out

• The Death of Nissan?

• More Goodies

“Who’s Coming With Me?”

Earlier this week, I shared with you that President Yoon of South Korea was attempting a military takeover — an autogolpe — of the government. But in perhaps the funniest thing ever, he didn’t double-check to make sure anyone else would back his martial law declaration.

Nobody backed him (except for his Ministry of Defense).

In the time it took for me to take an extended lunch break, the South Korean parliament gathered, rescinded the order, and forced President Yoon to stop his coup attempt. Now parliament says they’re drawing up articles of impeachment, and Yoon might not be president for too much longer. How refreshing it must be to have a functioning government.

So the impact on the automotive industry, fortunately, is minimal. What was impacted was the perception of the social media network BlueSky, which not only became the source for information coming out of the Korean peninsula but had coverage much quicker than on Twitter, further solidifying Twitter being relegated to the annals of history as a Nazi propaganda site and nothing more.

One of the accounts to follow was The Verge’s Sarah Jeong, who has an incredible writeup of her experience stumbling, drunkenly, into covering one of the most important political events of the century for South Korea.

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Ramaswamy Is A Hypocrite

Before I get into why, it’s important to remember that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is not yet a real department and might never actually be a real department. It’s an advisory board, at best, and while President-elect Trump might follow the group’s advice, the leaders of that group are unelected broligarchs who are going to take away your Social Security.

I digress.

Co-douchebag Vivek Ramaswamy is on the warpath raging against the government’s $6.6 billion loan to Rivian made through a Department of Energy (a real department) loan program. He is quoted as saying, “The $6.6 billion loan to Rivian ... I don’t think it will be paid back.”

First off, he has no idea if the loan will be paid back or not. His gut is meaningless in the real world, especially when his gut told him he should campaign on TikTok.

Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, Tesla took a similar loan when it needed help and paid that loan back completely. Unlike PPP loans, which helped some businesses while also providing a cash windfall for corporations who didn’t need it, DOE loans need to be paid back. They’re actually real, you know, loans.

I also don’t expect Elon Musk to remember when the government bailed him out, because he also doesn’t remember the emeralds he sold to make his dad money or that his mother is so racist it made pro-apartheid family friends uncomfortable. The attached podcast, while very long, is a fascinating look into Musk’s childhood and how much he tries to distance himself from his past.

Directly cutting off a Tesla competitor to a program that Tesla itself took advantage of would be an extremely corrupt move. So I guess it makes sense why Ramaswamy is so interested. I’d like to also point out that it makes Musk’s criticism of California governor Gavin Newsom wanting to enact an EV incentive program that would leave Tesla’s vehicles out in the cold just petty virtue signaling.

I’d offer him a fainting couch, but J.D. Vance said he wouldn’t let me borrow a sofa for the cause.

Tavares Out

Stellantis is reeling from a lot of bad press, delayed product launches, and an uncertain future in regards to some of its key markets. That is probably why its CEO, Carlos Tavares, moved up his resignation as CEO to this past weekend.

In the United States, new product rollout has been slower than expected. The company told me at the beginning of the year that there’d be four new EVs on sale by the end of the year. You’d have the Fiat 500e, the Jeep Wagoneer S, the Jeep Recon, and the Dodge Charger Daytona.

So far the Fiat 500e is only one in dealerships. I’m driving the new Charger Daytona very soon, and I expect there to be sales before the end of the calendar year. But the other two vehicles, along with the all-electric Ram REV and range-extended Ram Ramcharger are going to be next year at the earliest.

Perhaps complicating matters even more is the proposed 25% tariff on all goods coming in from Canada. Even though you could stand at the top of the Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit and throw a rock and hit the Stellantis assembly plant that makes the Charger Daytona and the Chrysler Pacifica, that plant resides on Canadian soil. That’s one of the many facilities Stellantis counts on where the product coming out of it will be more expensive.

It’s no wonder he got out while the gettin’ is good.

The Death of Nissan?

The Financial Times is reporting that a senior official close to Nissan told the publication, “We have 12 or 14 months to survive.” That seems to be a pretty extreme statement designed to generate headlines. But are things actually that dire?