Of Course Elon Musk Just Backed Trump For President

Good morning! It’s Monday, July 15, 2024, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know.

Tesla’s Cybertruck Has Finally Arrived

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1st Gear: Elon Musk Endorses Trump For President

After months of back and forth between Tesla boss Elon Musk and presidential hopeful Donald Trump, Musk has this week officially endorsed Trump’s bid to re-enter the White House. The EV maker’s boss made the move on Twitter X over the weekend, where he branded the former president and convicted felon “strong.”

Musk has long had close ties to Trump, showering the former president with praise while he was in office and even reportedly eyeing a place in the White House should Trump win the election in 150 days time. Now, the Tesla boss has officially thrown his backing behind the Trump campaign, reports Automotive News. According to the site:

Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk publicly endorsed Donald Trump for the first time in the U.S. presidential race, calling the Republican former president “tough.”

Musk, the world’s richest person, posted the endorsement with a video of Trump with blood on his face pumping his fist after multiple shots rang out at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. Trump was safe.

The posts cement Musk’s shift towards right-wing politics and hand Trump a high-profile backer in his quest to return to the White House in the Nov. 5 election.

“I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery,” Musk posted on his social media platform X.

The post came just hours after an assassination attempt was made on the former president while he was speaking at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Trump was shot in the ear while on stage, with the former president saying he was “saved by luck or God.”

It isn’t just online that Musk has been throwing his weight behind the Trump campaign, though, and he’s also been putting his money where his mouth is. According to Reuters, the world’s richest man has donated to groups working to re-elect Trump in November:

Billionaire Elon Musk, who has been ramping up criticism of U.S. President Joe Biden, has donated to a political group working to elect rival presidential candidate Donald Trump, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing sources.

The report did not indicate how much Musk donated but added it was “a sizable amount” given to a group called America PAC.

Musk’s support for Trump comes as the “Home Alone 2″ actor continues to place future EV mandates, tax breaks and investment on the chopping block. The former president has said he will scrap every “crazy” EV mandate across America should he be returned to the White House later this year.

2nd Gear: Vinfast Cuts Target And Delays U.S. Plant

The electric vehicle industry doesn’t need another Trump presidency to run into troubles, as it’s already facing problems of its own long before the voting has even begun. After Tesla posted declining sales for its EVs in America, Vietnamese automaker VinFast has now slashed its production targets for the year and delayed plans for a plant here in the Land Of The Free.

The EV maker, which currently offers its VF 8 electric SUV Stateside, has pushed back the opening of its North Carolina plant by three years, according to a new report from Fortune:

VinFast Auto Ltd. said it will delay the opening of its electric vehicle factory in North Carolina by three years to 2028, adding to the Vietnamese company’s challenges of becoming a global brand.

The decision will allow it to manage short-term spending “more effectively” and focus resources on near-term growth targets, the automaker said in a statement. It also lowered its full-year sales target to 80,000 units from 100,000 previously.

“We have adopted a more prudent outlook that is carefully calibrated to near-term headwinds, taking into full consideration the realities of market volatility and potential challenges,” VinFast Chairwoman Le Thi Thu Thuy said in the statement.

The cut in targets of 20,000 cars follows similar lowering of expectations from companies such as Tesla and VW, which delayed the rollout of its new ID 7 electric sedan in America.

For VinFast, however, the problems run a little deeper as the launch of its model in the U.S. has been far from smooth. The VF 8 received some pretty woeful reviews and its sales have been struggling ever since. In fact, last year the company sold, on average, just 26 cars per month.

3rd Gear: Partial Self-Driving Doesn’t Make Cars Safer

Cars have gotten pretty safe over the years thanks to the advent of things like impact structures, airbags and even the humble seatbelt. Now, the next great safety features are coming from the world of computer technology, but not all driver assistance tech is actually making cars safer.

In fact, a new report from Ars Technica has found that some partial automated driving systems don’t make cars any safer to drive at all. The report specifically calls out things like lane-keeping assist, which it says has little evidence to support its reported safety benefits. As the site explains:

Driver assists that help steer for you on the highway haven’t contributed much to road safety, according to a new study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Highway Loss Data Institute. That’s in contrast to other features often bundled together as “advanced driver assistance systems,” or ADAS, many of which have shown a marked reduction in crash and claim rates.

“Everything we’re seeing tells us that partial automation is a convenience feature like power windows or heated seats rather than a safety technology,” said David Harkey, IIHS president.

However, Ars was eager to point out that the study relied on older lane-keep tech and driver assistance features. The study used 2017 – 2019 Nissan Rogues with ProPilot Assist and 2013 – 2017 BMWs equipped with Driving Assistant Plus as it was a follow up to an earlier investigation into the safety benefits of advanced driver assist features.

In the initial study, it was found that there were “plenty of benefits to some ADAS features.” However, researchers wanted to uncover the safety benefits of specific tech, such as lane-keeping.

4th Gear: Italy Could Sell Stellantis Brands To China

Italy is having quite the year for car-making headlines after it threatened Stellantis with legal action over the naming of its new Junior electric SUV. Now, the European nation is preparing for another fight with Stellantis as it threatens to sell off defunct Italian car makers to China in order to bring them back from the dead.

Italy is reportedly considering a sale of two long-dead brands that have been under Stellantis’ ownership for years. The brands could be sold to China on the condition that they are revived at new plants based in Italy, reports Reuters. According to the site:

Italy’s government is considering taking over by decree defunct auto brands owned by Stellantis and offering them to Chinese companies to encourage them to set up factories in Italy, Il Sole 24 Ore daily reported on Friday.

The plan would involve the Innocenti and Autobianchi brands, both shut down in the 1990s.

Innocenti was famous in the 1960s and 1970s for producing an Italian version of the British Mini, before it was taken over by Fiat, now part of Stellantis. Former Fiat unit Autobianchi produced upmarket city cars such as the A112 and Y10.

So far, the two companies have been registered at Italy’s version of the U.S. Patents Office, where they have been spotted with new graphic identities compared with the ones used by Stellantis. The government refused to comment on Reuters report, and Stellantis informed the site that it had seen the rumors but hadn’t been informed of any sale by Italy’s minsters.