AutoGuide Hot Takes: Welcome To Tariff Town, USA

1) Now that the Nissan-Honda merger is officially dead the real dirt is starting to emerge. By the sounds of it Honda didn’t really want to merge with Nissan and imposed all manner of unrealistic or unpalatable solutions— like a highball FU bid. The latest has Honda pitching Nissan to ditch its own hybrid technology in favor of Honda’s. This would have been a great windfall for Honda, as it would simultaneously lower the production costs due to scale while securing an ‘outside; buyer for the technology. No wonder Nissan balked.

2) Honda also said it’s interested in reopening talks with Nissan if CEO Uchida leaves. Rumor has it that Honda would rather deal with a Nissan boss who can more effectively manage internal opposition. The Machiavellian take has Honda advocating for Nissan leadership willing to fall in line and let Honda run the show.

3) The Chevrolet Camaro is back in the news. Some executives within GM support resurrecting the seventh-gen Camaro project while others don’t think it makes financial sense. AutoGuide sources have confirmed the 3rd gen Alpha platform still has legs within the company—the enthusiast products from GM aren’t dead yet, they’re just locked away in the basement.

4) Watching William Byron and the iconic No.24 Hendrick Chevrolet win the Daytona 500 back-to-back this past weekend, I started to once again think about what Chevrolet’s plans for the series will be moving forward now that both the Camaro and Malibu are dead. GM can continue to use the Camaro for as long as it wants, but I don’t know how much sense that makes as a marketing exercise.

5) Speaking of the 500, Ryan Preece found himself flipping through the air for the second time in less than a year at Daytona International. Drivers are starting to voice concerns that this new car is like a “sheet of plywood in the wind.” The car might be safer but the severity of the wrecks is growing.

6) The proposed 25% tariff on all vehicle imports will reach every corner of the industry, from the lowest-priced cars to the most expensive vehicles sold in America. Some automakers are already exploring ways to quickly establish production hubs in the U.S., long term this could turn the United States into an even larger exporter of vehicles than it is today. However, who knows how the rest of the world is going to react?

7) Even the well-established domestic automakers are scrambling to deal with tariffs. General Motors confirmed this week it would reconsider plant locations if tariffs became a permanent part of the regulatory environment. As a result GM’s longstanding Korean operations could be on the chopping block.

8) Rivian debuted its first limited edition model, called the California Dune, for the R1S and R1T. They run Rivian’s tri-motor setup with all-wheel drive and 850 hp and 329 miles of range, but the main goods are the sandy color, interior and wheels, which give the Rivian’s electric truck and SUV a desert vibe. They look sharp.

9) Speaking of sharp EVs, the Volvo EX30 Cross Country is the first EV to get Volvo’s all-terrain trim. It gets the usual gear, including all-terrain tires, skid plates, elevated ride height and all-wheel drive. It’s very on-brand for Volvo and it adds a bit of attitude to the smallish crossover.

10) Ford is delaying the next-gen F-150 citing uncertainty in the regulatory environment. It’s likely to do with supplier contracts on key metals like aluminum which were just slapped with a 25% tariff starting next month. The fifteenth generation of the F-150 is now expected to begin production in 2028.

11) All 10 Formula 1 teams showed their new liveries with few surprises. The star of the show is the new Racing Bulls paint scheme which looks to have drawn heavy inspiration from HRC with its white base and blue and red accenting.

12) Mercedes is moving away from its blob-shaped styling for electric vehicles in a move to unify its design language. The strategy is more in line with the approach rivals BMW and Audi take, as their ICE and EV models look similar. Mercedes EV sales took a hit last year, falling 23 percent compared with 2023. Still, the curvy design had its supporters – it was forward-looking and a genuine risk – something staid Mercedes isn’t generally known for.

13) The Mercedes AMG CLA 45 is easy to forget about as it’s been on sale so long, but damn is it still a good car—we’ll have our latest review on it in the coming weeks. Mercedes will reveal the production electric version of the new CLA next mont—based on the automaker’s new design philosophy the combustion version will look identical to the EV. It’s doubtful the successor to the CLA 45 will be as hardcore so you better cherish it now.

14) Sticking with Mercedes, the company will release 19 new combustion engine models and 17 battery-electric cars by the end of 2027, as the company refocuses on combustion engines in a quest for improved profit margins and earnings. Mercedes joins a growing list of automakers—particularly German ones—walking back their electric visions. We can argue about whether the chicken came before the egg, and demand versus scale, but at the end of the day all of these companies are bleeding money building and selling electric vehicles because not enough people want them and they’re extremely costly to make.

15) Kia showed the exterior design of its new PV5 van. It will be offered in both passenger and commercial formats, but further details are scarce until next week. Loosely associated with this news, sources within GM indicate the company’s commercial vans could be going out of production. The details are murky, but they could be replaced with a rebadged version of the PV5’s sibling, the Hyundai Staria.

16) Pirelli has a new performance winter tire on the way called Ice Friction. Kyle Patrick is in Quebec this week to sample the new rubber behind the wheel of a Lamborghini Urus. We'll have a full review posted in the coming weeks!

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