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By Joseph White, Global Automotive Correspondent

Greetings from the Motor City!

It was a lovely weekend here in Detroit. I put some miles on the vintage Dodge Town Wagon, which is now a “connected car” after I fabricated a holder that positions my smartphone where the dashboard screen would be in a Tesla. I connect a Bluetooth speaker, fire up my favorite Grateful Dead show on Spotify and blast off to 5/8/77!

Speaking of nostalgia, global automakers are wistful about the money they used to make in China as EV prices race to the bottom. That’s our lead story from the World of Cars, and there’s plenty more.

Today –

• • China’s electric SUV market goes crazy

  • Toyota’s got trouble in Southeast Asia

  • Can Lucid and Rivian douse the cash bonfires?

A BYD SUV

Automakers have flooded the Chinese market with at least 90 electric SUV models, and more are on the way. The mad rush to electrify the biggest segment of the world’s largest car market is fueling a profit-destroying price war in China. It’s also driving Tesla and other automakers to accelerate exports to other markets, threatening incumbent automakers’ profits (and jobs).

Automakers saw the Chinese electric SUV explosion coming and assured investors they had plans to duck the blast. But to paraphrase the inimitable Mike Tyson, everybody has a plan until Elon Musk decides to slash Model Y prices.

Consider this: The top three E-SUV brands in China – Tesla, BYD and Aion – account for about 51% of the vehicles sold in the segment.

This is the way the auto industry works. That’s why Detroit had a Big Three – not a Big Ten. In China’s E-SUV market it’s a long drop to #4. If you’re No. 90…. you’re losing money.

The overcapacity-driven price war in Chinese E-SUVs has narrowed or eliminated the price advantage for combustion vehicles, torpedoing global automakers’ sales and profits.

The repercussions will not be contained in China. Chinese automakers – as well as Tesla, GM, Ford and others – are ramping up exports of Chinese-built vehicles.

In all, bad news for automakers, and good news for consumers looking for more affordable EVs.

What Toyota really has to fear in Thailand: A BYD in Bangkok.

Toyota’s operation in Thailand suspended sales of its popular Yaris Ativ after the disclosure last month that engineers at Toyota’s Daihatsu unit had rigged it to pass safety tests.

The stop-sale order is not the only challenge Toyota faces in a region where it has long been the dominant vehicle brand.

Just two days ago, Thai government officials announced that Chinese automaker Hozon plans to build EVs in the country for Southeast Asian markets.

China’s No. 1 EV maker, BYD, plans to expand EV assembly operations in Vietnam, officials of that country’s government said.

With more Chinese-brand EVs made in Southeast Asia and a flood of Chinese-made EVs sailing for the region, Toyota doesn’t have much time to contain the damage from the Yaris affair.

A Rivian delivery van in progress.

Several EV startups, led  by Lucid and Rivian, report quarterly results on Monday and Tuesday, respectively, and all eyes will be on how rapidly they are incinerating cash.

Rivian’s market cap at the start of trading was just above $12 billion – not much more than the $11.6 billion in cash the company reported having on hand at the end of 2022. How much Rivian has burned since then will be one of the first numbers investors look for on Tuesday after New York markets close.

Lucid exited 2022 with $4.9 billion in cash and has been axing hundreds of employees to extend the runway. Tesla’s price cuts have hit Lucid hard.

Smaller startups Nikola and Fisker also report on Tuesday. Investor judgments about both companies are harsh. Fisker is now worth just $2 billion.

Nikola has slid to about $618 million and warned in its 2022 annual report there was “substantial doubt” it could remain a going concern. The outlook for fundraising efforts beyond a share sale in March will be a key element of its Q1 report.

Volkswagen’s troubled Cariad software unit will get a new chief, VW confirmed on Monday. VW CEO Oliver Blume has assigned Bentley production head Peter Bosch the task of getting Cariad’s efforts to develop advanced automated driving and other software back on track after a series of missed deadlines and cost overruns that contributed to former VW CEO Herbert Diess’s departure. Cariad has become Exhibit A for investors skeptical that legacy automakers can catch up with Tesla’s lead in EV software.

Qualcomm will expand its automotive presence with the purchase of Autotalks. The Israeli firm builds chips and surrounding technology used in vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure networks designed to prevent crashes.

You can order an electric F-150 again, despite production snafus Ford is suffering with its best-selling pickup truck. Ford is sticking to a goal of boosting electric F-150 production to 150,000 a year by the end of 2023.

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