Uber could pay you to stop driving

Happy Thursday! It’s June 27, 2024, and it’s The morning shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, all in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know.

1st gear: Uber could pay you to leave your car at home

Do you have a car? Do you live in Chicago, DC, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, Toronto or Vancouver? Well, Uber would like you to stop driving and take a rideshare instead, if you could. In fact, the company might very well pay you for it. From Reuters:

Uber will pay $1,000 credits to certain riders in the United States and Canada who ditch their cars for five weeks in favor of public transportation and other services, the company announced Thursday, part of its latest effort to boost business and help reduce emissions.

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As part of the “One Less Car” initiative, Uber will select up to 175 car owners in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC, Miami, San Francisco, Toronto and Vancouver, based on certain eligibility, to the five-week program starting July 22. .

They will receive a $500 credit redeemable on the Uber app, a $200 voucher for car rental or rideshare services and $300 for use on alternative modes such as public transportation.

Since most of the money comes from Uber credits, it’s pretty clear that this effort on the company’s part is just a way to increase sales. It’s a good idea, though: using a 4,000-pound vehicle to move 150 pounds of humans has never been an efficient means of transportation. This article is brought to you by the motorcycle/electric bike/micromobility gang.

2nd speed: China and Europe still negotiating over tariffs…

The EU is considering imposing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, arguing that the country’s government is investing too much of its own money in their development, making it impossible to compete with less-subsidised European offerings. Reuters:

China hopes negotiations will lead to a “mutually acceptable solution” with the European Union on preliminary tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) due to take effect on July 4, its Commerce Ministry said on Thursday.

Beijing wants the EU to abandon plans to impose restrictions, Chinese state media report, but Brussels has made clear that it expects China to participate in technical negotiations this week with a roadmap to “tackle harmful subsidies” in its electric vehicle industry. whether there should be a negotiated outcome.

At least the EU is talking to China, trying to figure out what the best approach is. The US, on the other hand, is taking a different approach.

3rd speed: …While American customs tariffs are already costing us cars

When I drove the Volvo EX30 earlier this year, I came away from this experience with two main takeaways. Firstly, if you travel to Sweden it should be illegal for clouds to cover the Northern Lights. Second, Volvo is really good at building fun little electric vehicles. It’s a shame we won’t see the EX30 for a while, because of pricing. From Automotive News:

Volvo Cars will delay the U.S. launch of its EX30 electric crossover by about a year due to the recent increase in U.S. tariffs on Chinese-made vehicles.

In a June 26 statement, Volvo blamed “changes in the global automotive landscape” for the delay.

The Biden administration, in an effort to prevent Chinese electric vehicles from flooding the U.S. market, increased import duties from 27.5% to 102.5% this year.

The EX30 is currently built in Zhangjiakou, China. Volvo will expand production to a factory in Ghent, Belgium, which will supply the United States and Europe.

You read correctly: a tariff of 102.5% on Chinese-made electric vehicles. Not even electric vehicles from Chinese companies, given that Chinese-owned Volvo can avoid the tax by relocating its production to Belgium. Are American cars really that bad, are American automakers really so terrified that a 102.5% tariff is justified?

4th gear: CDK is slowly bringing dealerships back online

We’ll be dealing with the CDK cyberattack saga for a while, but things may not be as dire as they seem. A test by the company has brought some dealerships back online, as a test, and early reports appear to be going well. From Automotive News:

The aftermath of the CDK Global cyberattack took a positive turn Wednesday after what the company called a successful restart test of a small group of dealerships.

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Worryingly, new market forecasts predict that the June 19 attacks and resulting unrest could reduce new vehicle sales in June by around 100,000 units compared to the previous year.

In an encouraging development, a June 26 announcement by CDK and a subsequent update issued to its more than 15,000 dealers affected by the attacks revealed that a test reboot had produced promising results.

“We have successfully brought a small initial test group of dealers online to the Dealer Management System (DMS), and once validation is complete, we will begin to gradually onboard additional dealers,” the company said in a statement released to Automotive News.

Having worked at a reseller that used CDK, I assure everyone involved that there are other options with better user experiences, And no cyberattacks. Have you used CDK before? It looks bad And it is now hacked. What is the appeal?

Reverse: more like RIP 66