“If China wanted to come in and open a plant to build their cars here, I’d be okay with that,” Trump said in an interview on the Fox News program “The Ingraham Angle.”

However, he put one condition: Chinese automakers should not build cars in Mexico and ship them to the United States.

“I’m not knocking Chinese cars,” Trump said further.

The US President’s statement arrived immediately after American Senator Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, said there were “rumors that Trump is planning to allow Chinese cars to be sold in the US as part of a larger deal ‌he’s ⁠putting together. ” That would be a strategic mistake.”

Trump, however, called Slotkin’s statement a “total phony rumor” and said he had kept Chinese vehicles out of the United States.

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“We need to have those capabilities in Canada. We need to have those jobs in Canada. It constitutes a huge part of our industrial complex, both in Ontario and Quebec,” Ambassador Mark Wiseman told Reuters.

“From the Canadian perspective, the preservation of a robust assembly and parts industry in Canada is critical,” he added.

Wiseman’s pushback comes after Trump’s move to impose 50% tariffs on USD 20 billion in Canadian goods as bilateral trade talks collapsed a week before. Unresolved issues that pulled down the discussions included whether to cut tariffs on medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.

Canada has responded with USD 20 billion in tariffs that will take effect September 8. Trump’s new tariffs hit sectors including wine, furniture, dairy products, cement, clothing, fishing rods, and hockey equipment.

The duties do not exempt Canadian products under a three-nation trade deal that also includes Mexico and has shielded most Canadian exports to the United States in the past 18 months.

“We ‌will ⁠continue to talk so long as talking and negotiation are producing positive momentum. So we’re not picking up our toys and going home, but we have a plan. We have resolved. We’re not moving out of the neighborhood, neither is the United States,” Wiseman said, while expressing hope about the trade deal getting done.

Wiseman stated that the US congressional elections in November did not influence the selection of tariff targets for Canadian retaliation. Asked if Ottawa is considering more drastic measures, the official refused to divulge further details.

From the American side, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has defended his administration’s handling of the Canada trade talks.

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The only sliver lining for Toyota came at the domestic front, as sales rebounded by 24.2% in Japan. Production also rose 3.4% to 933,685 units.

The biggest takeaway from Toyota’s latest sales data has been its more than 90% export slump in the Middle East due to the ongoing Iran war. The automaker, however, has weathered the conflict better than its global peers by keeping factories running despite Hormuz disruptions.

“While demand remains strong, with customers waiting months for some models in major markets, Toyota’s sales also fell compared to last year when they were bolstered by a buying rush ahead of tariffs and the rollout of a new RAV4 sport utility vehicle model. Sales in China, where market conditions remain challenging for Japanese carmakers, shrank 25%,” reported The Japan Times.

Toyota’s domestic rival, Honda Motor’s global sales in April fell 7.9% to 265,215 units, while output was mostly flat globally. Nissan Motor, another Japanese major, too witnessed its sales shrinking 7.6% to 208,663 units.

Talking about Toyota’s export huddles in the Middle East, accounting chief Takanori Azuma, earlier in May, said the manufacturer exports roughly 500,000 to 600,000 vehicles annually to the region and that it was assuming slightly less than half of that volume would be affected.

The official, back then, also forecast an unexpected profit drop for the fiscal year through March 2027, with the automaker bracing for higher raw material costs due to the Iran war-related disruptions.

The outlook for 3 trillion yen (USD 18.8 billion) in operating income fell short of analyst estimates, as well as the 3.8 trillion yen posted in the prior 12-month period.

Toyota’s suppliers have already been complaining about experiencing supply chain disruptions due to the geopolitical volatility in the Middle East. The carmaker too said it would be difficult to offset the 670 billion yen hit that will likely happen due to the Iran turmoil to its bottom line.

There are even reports about the company planning to increase its overseas production cuts to around 83,000 units due to the ongoing logistical problems.

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The cumulative value of used vehicles sold reached R14.32 billion in January, up from R12.89 billion in December, and R12.59 billion a year earlier. The average transaction price moderated slightly to R416,082 from R419,537 in December 2025, while average mileage declined to 70,938 km, continuing a gradual downward trend.

Toyota continued to capture the majority share in the used vehicle market, with 5,876 units sold in January, ahead of Volkswagen (4,733) and Ford (3,577).

Decoding Ford’s figures, more than half of the total came from Ranger sales, underscoring the continued strength in the bakkie segment. This highly competitive, core automotive market focuses on utility, durability, and lifestyle.

The best-selling used vehicles

According to AutoTrader data, at the model level, the Ford Ranger retained its position as South Africa’s best-selling used vehicle, with 2,069 units sold, up 6.3% year-on-year, followed by the Toyota Hilux (1,604 units), and Volkswagen’s Polo Vivo and Polo. Together, these four maintained their positions among the top four best-selling models.

Compact and value-driven models showed some of the strongest gains. The Suzuki Swift moved ahead of the Toyota Fortuner in overall rankings, with 794 units sold and year-on-year growth of nearly 25%. The Toyota Corolla Cross and Hyundai Grand i10 also recorded notable annual increases, reflecting a continued shift towards smaller, more affordable vehicles.

None of the top 10 models posted a year-on-year decline, although performance varied across brands. Suzuki recorded the greatest month-on-month improvement, while Hyundai achieved the highest annual growth rate. BMW was the only major brand to register a monthly decline, although it remained up year-on-year.

AutoTrader’s “2025 Annual Car Industry Report” reveals the emergence of quite a few trends. One among them is established industry players maintaining strong sales figures. Among the vehicle categories, while compact hatchbacks gained a significant market space, SUVs further consolidated their dominance. If Chinese brands gaining measurable ground was the surprise factor, new energy vehicles (especially hybrid ones) gaining prominence gave a sneak peek at the African country’s direction towards a clean transport sector.

AutoTrader CEO George Mienie stated, “The used car market delivered solid growth. A total of 383,410 used vehicles were sold in 2025, generating R160.1 billion in sales value, representing a 7% increase over 2024. Four interest rate cuts in January, May, July, and November 2025, reduced borrowing costs and provided meaningful relief to consumers. However, while economic conditions improved, buyer behaviour remained disciplined. If anything, 2025 reinforced how firmly affordability and practicality now anchor local purchasing decisions.”

Which models were in demand

Among second-hand cars, search behaviour shifted at the brand and model level. BMW was the most-searched brand on AutoTrader, with 76 million searches. On a model level, the Volkswagen Polo was the most-searched, displacing the Toyota Hilux from its long-standing leadership position. On the search interest front, Ford Ranger, Volkswagen Polo Vivo, and Toyota Hilux continue to dominate overall sales volumes, indicating the strength of established names in the used market.

While the Ford Ranger maintained its position as the most-enquired bakkie vehicle, its demand remained in the higher territory, despite growing cost pressures. Compact hatchbacks have earned significant momentum in the used car market, with models such as the Suzuki Swift and Toyota Starlet capturing a larger share of the market.

“The Swift stood out as the fastest-selling used vehicle in South Africa, averaging just 26 days before sale. That turnaround time reflects strong underlying demand for vehicles that are affordable to finance, efficient to run, and practical for everyday use,” Mienie stated.

While the average used car price grew 3% year-on-year to R417,584 in 2025, the average vehicle age remains five years. The average mileage was 73,646 km.

Pragmatic approach to electric vehicles

The new energy segment (electric vehicles) grew by a strong 73% in 2025, powered by hybrid cars. Hybrids ended up accounting for nearly 85% of all new-energy vehicles sold. This growth also gave an insight into South Africans’ EV adoption strategy: choosing practical, money-saving options instead of waiting for full electric cars that need better charging networks and lower prices.

Hybrids (known for combining a petrol engine with an electric motor) saw sales jumping 76% compared with 2024, with 4,888 units changing hands. In total, 5,727 used hybrids and battery electric vehicles were sold by the end of December 2025, showing steady interest in greener driving options. This segment was dominated by locally built Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid, with many buyers opting for the model’s reliability, affordability in the used market, and, most importantly, the absence of range anxiety of pure electric cars.

Other popular models included the Volvo EX30, and various Toyota and Lexus hybrids, vehicles that offer good fuel savings.

Battery electric vehicles, despite showing a 55% year-on-year increase, remained a distant second in the new-energy car market.

Used hybrids have proven to be game-changers for South African families and first-time car buyers, as these vehicles use less fuel than ordinary petrol cars, produce fewer emissions, and often come with lower running costs, during an age of high petrol prices, and living expenses. Because hybrids do not rely completely on charging infrastructure, they suit South African roads and lifestyles better than full electric cars for now.

China: New player in the sector

While European, American, Japanese, and Korean vehicle brands have been dominating both the new and used vehicle markets, 2025 witnessed the emergence of Chinese brands in the sector.

Chery Tiggo 4 Pro was the best-selling used Chinese car. The crossover, since 2025, has remained one of South Africa’s best-selling new passenger cars, with more than 1,000 units sold each month. Last year, 3,144 units were sold, underscoring the popularity of Chery’s smallest offering. With an average price of R284,779, it is one of the cheapest cars on the list, both on the new and used-car segments, despite its low average mileage of 21,970 km, and a registration age of just two years.

Next is the Haval Jolion, which competes in the same crossover class. However, with fewer models, particularly more budget-focused derivatives (the cheapest new version is R348,950), sales are slightly lower at 2,736 units.

The oldest entry on the list was the Great Wall Motor’s discontinued six-year-old Haval H2, which landed at the sixth spot with 1,063 units, while the much newer Omoda C5 came seventh with 806 purchases.

While vehicles like Chery Tiggo 4 Pro and Haval Jolion are mostly ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) vehicles with some plugless hybrid variants, Chinese automobile players have reportedly started offering more plugin options. These players, already known for their rapid global expansion (using affordability as a weapon), are now sweetening things further for their South African customers by adding more PHEVs (Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles) and BEVs (Battery Electric Vehicles) to both the new and second-hand segments.

Sales of plugin hybrids (PHEVs) were up 280% in 2025 compared with 2024, with brands like Haval, Chery, Omoda, Geely and BYD leading the charge.

“Chinese vehicle manufacturers have learnt how to narrow the gap between cost and perceived value, delivering around 80% of the consumer experience at roughly 60% of the price of traditional players. By focusing on tangible performance and visible benefits rather than legacy branding, they have capitalised on a shift in consumer behaviour. As buyers become more informed and discerning, brand loyalty is weakening, replaced by an expectation for high-quality products that justify every rand spent,” Mienie told Creamer Media’s Engineering News.

Bakkies rule the roost

Bakkies, the Ford Ranger in particular, had a massive share in the used car segment. These are basically pickup trucks with open cargo beds. Renowned as ‘workhorses’ for cargo, bakkies have evolved into popular lifestyle vehicles in the African nation.

According to the AutoTrader data, the used car market shipped 30,742 vehicles in December 2025, with 1,744 being Ford Rangers. Buyers reportedly opted for four-year-old Rangers with an average mileage of 83,958km.

The average used Ranger sold last year fetched a price of R497,960, which represents a saving of nearly R80,000 compared to buying the cheapest variant of the popular bakkie brand new.

In contrast, the most expensive version of the Ranger is the 3.0T V6 Raptor double-cab, which fetches a handsome price of R1,271,000.

A used Ranger comes in many forms: single-cab workhorses, which are found on construction sites and farms, while double-cab variants are often used by families to haul children to and from school. Add the affordable price factor, and buying the vehicle becomes a win-win deal for average South Africans.

For businesses, Ranger, in its current-generation form, offers a reliable fleet option. Be it the powerful Raptor, or versions like XL single-cab and XLT double-cab, they offer varieties like the cheapest, mid-range, and most expensive models, both on the new and used markets.

With regard to Bakkie’s popularity in South Africa, Nissan sold a grand total of 434 units of NP200 in March 2025, despite the fact that the vehicle is no longer officially on sale. It was supposed to be the Japanese company’s last compact bakkie in the South African market, before its discontinuation in April 2024.

Despite Nissan pulling the plug on its NP200, citing ageing design as the primary factor, the model continues to be the workhorse for small businesses and will remain one of the dominating names in the second-hand car market.

Decoding the customer mindset

The year 2025 was the one when South Africa faced an acute cost-of-living crisis. The nation’s Competition Commission’s inaugural ’Cost of Living Report’, which came out in September, presented the harsh reality: prices for electricity, water, education, and food outpacing overall inflation.

Electricity prices saw a 68% increase, followed by water with 50%, exceeding the general inflation rate, which itself stood at 28%. Food staples, such as brown bread, maize meal, and eggs, were witnessing widening margins, or sticky prices in some cases, despite falling producer costs.

With this background, four interest rate cuts were implemented in the year, totalling 100 basis points. Customers bought cars, but with a lot of financial discipline and self-restraint, and that’s what ended up helping the second-hand car industry.

During an interaction with Dealerfloor, Mienie stated, “Buyers are still active, but they are more deliberate and value-driven than ever before. The brands gaining traction are those aligning product offering, pricing and perceived quality with real-world affordability constraints.”

While Ford Ranger, Volkswagen Polo Vivo and Toyota Hilux dominated overall transactions and bakkies topped the chart, reduced financing costs led to accelerated demand for smaller, more economical vehicles. What the recent cost-of-living crisis has told the South Africans is that financing costs for new vehicles go up with every cycle of interest rate climb. Add monthly repayments and insurance premiums, and the situation leads to cash bleeding. A second-hand car, by contrast, often delivers the same utility at a far gentler price point.

According to reports, buyers are also reducing long-term financing exposure by taking smaller loans while also lowering costs on insurance, licence and registration fronts.

The availability of vehicle history reports and online valuation tools allows consumers to assess pricing, mileage and ownership records with ease. If you factor in the dealers’ game of elevating their used-car offerings, providing certified pre-owned vehicles, service plans and warranties, customers are getting an experience similar to buying a new car.

Car ownership is increasingly becoming a practical tool rather than a status symbol. In a climate where every rand counts, buyers are bound to think whether they should complicate their financial health further by buying a brand-new car, with higher financing costs. Thus, the so-called second-hand, but tried-and-tested models, with widespread service support, are capturing the buyers’ minds.

More than swanky features, brands and models known for longevity are in high demand, particularly those with solid fuel economy and manageable maintenance costs. Priority is to choose cars that fit South Africans’ lifestyles, not just their aspirations.

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“The cumulative value of used vehicles sold reached R14.32 billion in January, up from R12.89 billion in December and R12.59 billion a year earlier. The average transaction price moderated slightly to R416,082 from R419,537 in December, while average mileage declined to 70,938 km, continuing a gradual downward trend,” the data noted.

Toyota remained the leading brand in the used market, with 5,876 units sold in January, ahead of its German and American rivals Volkswagen (4,733) and Ford (3,577). More than half of Ford’s total came from Ranger midsize pickup sales, underlining continued strength in the bakkie segment (the category which defines the light commercial pickup trucks). The segment is known for being competitive, dominated by the Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger, and Isuzu D-Max. And of late, Chinese manufacturers like Chery, with new, modern, and potentially electric models, have made their presence felt.

At the model level, the Ford Ranger retained its position as South Africa’s best-selling used vehicle, with 2,069 units sold, up 6.3% year on year. The Toyota Hilux followed with 1,604 units and similar annual growth. The Volkswagen Polo Vivo and Polo maintained their positions among the overall top four best-selling models.

Compact and value-driven models, on the other hand, registered some of the strongest gains. The Suzuki Swift moved ahead of the Toyota Fortuner in overall rankings, with 794 units sold and year-on-year growth of nearly 25%. The Toyota Corolla Cross and Hyundai Grand i10 also recorded notable annual increases, reflecting a continued consumer shift towards smaller, more affordable vehicles.

“None of the top 10 models posted a year-on-year decline, although performance varied across brands. Suzuki recorded the strongest month-on-month improvement, while Hyundai achieved the highest annual growth rate. BMW was the only major brand to register a monthly decline, although it remained up year on year,” reported Bizcommunity.com.

AutoTrader CEO George Mienie termed the January figures as an indication towards sustained consumer demand despite a high price base in 2025, with buyers continuing to prioritise affordability and proven nameplates.

“Bakkies and compact hatchbacks remained the dominant vehicle types in the market, reinforcing their role as core segments in South Africa’s used vehicle landscape as 2026 gets underway,” Mienie concluded.

The post Toyota, Ford lead South Africa’s booming used car sales: AutoTrader data appeared first on International Finance.

Huang believes that beyond artificial intelligence itself, robotics will be Nvidia’s biggest growth market, with autonomous vehicles as the first major commercial application.

International Finance will examine how Nvidia is leveraging its AI prowess to drive breakthroughs in autonomous driving and robotics, and what it means for the company’s future and the tech industry at large.

From GPU king to AI powerhouse

Nvidia has a very underdog story. It was established in 1993 and was almost set to be named GeForce. The name Nvidia comes from the Latin word ‘invidia’, which means envy (or green with envy). In early 2006, they put everything they had into CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture), which began paving the way for AI’s rise. It’s important to note that there would be no ChatGPT without Nvidia.

The company was a household name in the early 2000s, being the top supplier of graphics cards that were necessary to play high-quality video games. Their top competition back then was AMD, which in the 90s had considered acquiring Nvidia. Today, Nvidia dwarfs AMD, as they are single-handedly pioneering AI, robotics, self-driving cars, chip production, and even building supercomputers. The company is considered a major source of inspiration for Silicon Valley enthusiasts. Notably, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was once rejected by Apple, yet he went on to become a titan in the industry and has been referred to as the “Steve Jobs of AI Hardware.”

However, the visionary cofounder of Nvidia knows the semiconductor industry can be cyclical, with data centre investment coming in “booms and busts.” To secure Nvidia’s place in the tech stratosphere long term, Huang has been scouting the next big market beyond conventional “Big Tech” pursuits. At Computex 2024, he declared that two “high-volume” products will dominate robotics in the future: self-driving cars first, and eventually humanoid robots.

These technologies are converging thanks to advances in machine learning, and both require human-like perception, split-second decision-making, and immense computing power, precisely what Nvidia specialises in.

In Huang’s words, “Every single car company will have to be autonomous, or you’re not going to be a car company,” a bold prediction underscoring his belief that autonomy is the future of transportation.

Accelerating the self-driving car revolution

Nvidia has methodically embedded itself at every level of the self-driving technology stack. Huang often describes a three-part approach: one computer to train AI models, another to run simulations, and a third inside the vehicle for real-time driving. By providing the chips and software for all three stages, Nvidia aims to be the go-to enabler of autonomous vehicles rather than a consumer-facing automaker.

“Nvidia has strategically embedded itself in all three key steps that could make every car a self-driving car,” notes Business Insider.

While companies like Waymo and Tesla build robotaxis and personal electric vehicles, Nvidia positions itself as the behind-the-scenes supplier powering those efforts.

Nvidia Drive, the company’s end-to-end autonomous driving platform, exemplifies this strategy. It includes powerful automotive systems-on-chip (SoCs), like the current Drive Orin and next-generation Drive Thor, paired with the Drive OS software and toolkits for perception and mapping. At CES 2025, Toyota (the world’s largest automaker) announced it will integrate Nvidia’s Drive AGX Orin “supercomputer” and Drive OS into its upcoming vehicles to enable advanced driver-assistance and automated driving features.

This was a major win for Nvidia, as Toyota has been collaborating with the company since 2017 on AI for self-driving and even uses Nvidia’s cloud GPUs to train its models. The Toyota deal underscores Nvidia’s “cloud-to-car” strategy: first supplying chips for AI training in the data centre, and now supplying chips and software for intelligence inside the car.

Other automakers are also lining up. Mercedes-Benz, China’s BYD, Volvo, Hyundai, Lucid Motors, and many electric vehicle startups have adopted Nvidia’s Orin-based platforms for their next-gen cars. In early 2025, General Motors struck a broad partnership with Nvidia to use its GPUs and AI software across passenger vehicles, robotaxis, and even factory automation.

GM will equip future cars with Nvidia’s “AI brain,” including Drive SoCs running the safety-certified Drive OS (based on Nvidia’s latest Blackwell GPU architecture), to enable hands-free driving and autonomy. Notably, GM is also leveraging Nvidia’s Omniverse 3D simulation platform to create virtual assembly lines and train its industrial robots, aiming to boost manufacturing efficiency with AI. This includes the company’s Drive AGX system-on-a-chip (SoC), similar to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving chip or Intel’s Mobileye EyeQ.

The SoC runs the “safety-certified” Drive OS operating system, built on the Blackwell GPU architecture, and capable of delivering 1,000 trillion operations per second (TOPS) of high-performance compute.

This partnership came on the heels of GM’s decision to wind down its Cruise robotaxi unit after safety incidents, signalling that GM now prefers to pivot toward consumer vehicles with advanced autonomy, and it’s tapping Nvidia to help make that happen.

Winning over these automotive giants could translate into huge business for Nvidia. The company projects its automotive division will reach a $5 billion annual run rate by FY2025, a fivefold increase from 2023. That’s still modest next to Nvidia’s booming data centre revenue, but the growth trajectory is clear. Nvidia’s automotive VP Ali Kani remarked that the car business is “still in its infancy,” contributing Nvidia chips to under 1% of cars on the road today, but he calls it a “trillion-dollar opportunity” long term.

Industry analysts have taken note: McKinsey estimates assisted and autonomous driving could be a $400 billion market by 2035. And after a few gloomy years when automakers dialled back self-driving investments (Ford and VW shuttered Argo AI in 2022, GM pulled back on Cruise in 2024), Jensen Huang’s confident CES showcase was seen as a “shot in the arm” for the sector.

“Nvidia has reversed that and just gave autonomous driving an absolute shot in the arm,” said one automotive consultant, noting that hearing a tech leader evangelise self-driving renewed investors’ interest in the space.

Crucially, Nvidia’s advantage is its full-stack approach. Few companies can provide the training-side infrastructure (massive AI supercomputers to train driving models) and the in-car chips to execute those models on the road.

Tesla, for instance, trains its Autopilot AI on Nvidia GPUs in the data centre, even though it builds custom chips for its cars.

This “cloud + edge” synergy makes Nvidia a natural partner for any firm aiming to deploy autonomous vehicles at scale. It’s no surprise Huang says Nvidia is “absolutely positioning [itself] as the leader for autonomous technologies, period.”

Indeed, from passenger cars and long-haul trucks to robotaxis, Nvidia’s silicon and software are increasingly becoming the standard toolkit for autonomy. As Huang put it at CES 2025, self-driving cars are no longer perpetually “coming” — “they’re already here,” citing the commercial progress of Waymo and Tesla as proof.

Building an ecosystem of robots

If self-driving cars are essentially “robots on wheels,” Nvidia’s ambitions don’t stop at transportation. The company is simultaneously assembling an expansive ecosystem for robotics and automation in other domains. Huang believes the world is on the cusp of an era of “physical AI,” intelligent machines performing tasks in the real world, and he wants Nvidia to provide the brains of those robots. At Computex, flanked by virtual humanoid figures, Huang proclaimed, “Robotics is here. Physical AI is here. This is not science fiction.”

So, what is Nvidia’s game plan for robotics? In short, to offer a full technology stack akin to its automotive approach. Simulation is one pillar: the company’s Omniverse platform creates rich virtual worlds where robots can be trained and tested safely. Built atop Omniverse is Isaac, described as a “gym” for robots, which lets developers put virtual robots through their paces to practice tasks or generate synthetic training data.

Then comes the edge hardware: Nvidia’s Jetson line of AI chips (with a forthcoming flagship called Jetson Thor) provides the onboard compute for robots to perceive and act in real time. Finally, tying it together are AI models and software frameworks that give robots their smarts.

In 2023, Nvidia unveiled Project “GR00T,” a “moonshot” effort to develop a foundation AI model for humanoid robots. In 2025, this bore fruit in the form of Isaac GR00T N1, billed as the world’s first open-source generalist model for robot intelligence.

GR00T N1 is essentially a robot “brain” that has been pretrained on vast data, not just text or images, but demonstrations of physical actions. It uses a dual-system architecture inspired by human cognition: a “slow-thinking” module that reasons and plans, and a “fast-thinking” module that executes reflexive actions.

This mimics psychologist Daniel Kahneman’s concept of thinking fast and slow. In practice, GR00T N1 can observe its environment (through sensors and cameras), interpret instructions, plan a sequence of actions, and then control a robot’s limbs to carry out complex tasks. Nvidia pretrained it on both real-world human motion data and millions of synthetic scenarios generated in simulation.

Importantly, GR00T N1 is customisable. Developers can fine-tune it with additional data so a robot learns specialised skills. Huang declared that “the age of generalist robotics is here” as he opened up GR00T N1 to the world’s robot makers.

Complementing GR00T is another key piece called Nvidia Cosmos. Unveiled at CES 2025, Cosmos is a family of foundational models focused on modelling the physical world.

Whereas language models ingest books and websites, Cosmos was trained on 20 million hours of video of humans and objects in motion. It generates highly realistic images, simulations, and 3D scenarios, for example, showing boxes falling off a shelf in a warehouse, which can be used to teach robots what to expect and how to respond in the real world.

“It’s not about generating creative content, but teaching the AI to understand the physical world,” Huang explained.

Companies are already using Cosmos: humanoid robot startups like Agility Robotics and Figure, and self-driving car developers like Waabi and Wayve, are leveraging it to accelerate their training and simulation. In essence, Cosmos gives robots common sense about physics and environments, while GR00T gives them the decision-making and motor skills, together aiming to dramatically lower the barrier to robotics development.

Nvidia’s Jensen Huang envisions a future where advanced AI chips and software power fleets of autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots, a vision already taking shape through partnerships with automakers, electronics manufacturers, and even entertainment companies.

Nvidia is backing up these platforms with real-world pilot projects to showcase what’s possible. One headline-grabbing example is its collaboration with Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics manufacturer.

In 2025, Nvidia and Foxconn announced plans for a “robotic factory” in Houston that will use humanoid robots to assemble Nvidia’s own next-gen AI servers.

This would be the first time Nvidia products are built with the help of humanoid machines, and one of the first such deployments in any electronics factory. Foxconn has been co-developing humanoid robots with Nvidia’s hardware and software, including one bipedal model and one wheeled model, and training them for tasks like picking up components, inserting cables, and performing assembly.

The goal is to have a small number of these robots operational by Q1 2026 when the Houston plant begins production of Nvidia’s “GB300” AI servers. If successful, this could herald a new era of AI-driven manufacturing.

Observers note it as a prestige project for both firms: Nvidia would solidify its position not only as a chip and server leader but as a platform provider for robotics, while Foxconn would demonstrate high-tech manufacturing innovation on American soil.

Nvidia’s robotics push goes beyond factories. The company is moving into service and entertainment robots, even magic-infused Disney creations.

In March 2025, it emerged that Nvidia, Disney Research, and Google DeepMind are teaming up on a project codenamed “Newton” to create a new generation of interactive robotic characters.

Newton is essentially an open-source physics engine that will help Disney’s robots learn complex movements with precision. Disney Imagineering’s vision is to bring more lifelike robots to its theme parks, for example, free-roaming droids like the Star Wars-inspired “BDX” robots that were previewed during Huang’s keynote.

“This collaboration will allow us to create a new generation of robotic characters that are more expressive and engaging than ever before,” said Disney Imagineering’s senior R&D VP.

In fact, Disney’s first batch of AI-powered BDX droids has already been play-tested on a cruise ship and will soon appear in Walt Disney World and other parks.

For Nvidia, this alliance is a testament to the scope of its robotics prowess, reaching into animatronics and arts, away from factory floors. It also highlights a familiar refrain: Nvidia is not making the robots or cars themselves; rather, it provides the enabler technology that allows industry leaders (be they Toyota, Foxconn, or Disney) to fulfil their AI-fueled dreams.

Towards a deep tech superpower

All these moves point to Nvidia’s evolution from a pure “Big Tech” company into something broader, a deep technology platform spanning hardware, software, and services for the AI-driven future.

“We stopped thinking of ourselves as a chip company long ago,” Jensen Huang recently remarked.

He prefers to describe Nvidia as an “AI infrastructure” and “computing platform” provider, one that now delivers cloud services, simulation software, and development toolkits in addition to silicon.

By weaving itself into the fabric of emerging industries like autonomous vehicles, robotics, and even defence (Nvidia is a partner in a European project led by Nokia to use drones and robots for critical infrastructure protection), Nvidia is staking a claim as a leader in “physical AI,” the application of artificial intelligence in the physical world.

Huang predicts that in the not-so-distant future, there will be “billions of robots, hundreds of millions of autonomous vehicles, and hundreds of thousands of robotic factories” all powered by Nvidia technology. It’s an audacious vision, but one the company is investing heavily to realise.

Financially, these sectors are still ramping up. Nvidia only recently began reporting its automotive and robotics revenues together, and they accounted for roughly $567 million last quarter (about 1% of total sales), albeit growing 72% year-on-year. The company’s present profitability still relies on data centre AI chips, but investors are keenly watching these nascent divisions.

For tech-savvy investors, Nvidia’s foray into self-driving cars and robotics represents the opening of new multi-billion (even trillion) dollar TAMs (Total Addressable Markets) over the coming decade. It pits Nvidia not against the usual FAANG companies, but against (or alongside) players in automotive, manufacturing, healthcare, and aerospace, industries hungry for AI solutions.

The company’s strategy of partnering with incumbents (rather than competing directly) could yield a sprawling customer base without massive capex on its part. As one set of analysts wrote, Nvidia’s strengths in robotics and digital twins could “scale into massive businesses themselves,” potentially driving decades of growth.

Naturally, challenges abound. Robotics, especially humanoid robots, remain harder than web or mobile tech; they involve complex mechanics, safety concerns, and huge data requirements to function reliably in unstructured environments. Sceptics point out that despite Nvidia’s impressive tools, fully autonomous robots are still in the early stages and demand significant R&D.

Even Huang acknowledges that growing the robotics market “isn’t just a matter of time” or inevitability. It will require continued advances in artificial intelligence algorithms, sensors, and perhaps most importantly, cost reduction, to see robots proliferate beyond pilot projects.

Nvidia’s strategy of open-sourcing models like GR00T N1 and collaborating widely is meant to accelerate this progress by seeding an ecosystem (much as OpenAI frameworks spurred the machine learning boom).

Huang believes that by reducing barriers and providing substantial computing power, Nvidia can do for robotics what it accomplished for AI software: make it accessible enough for an explosion of innovation.

Nvidia has gone from selling graphics chips to becoming the linchpin of modern AI, and now it’s charging into autonomous machines on our roads and in our factories. This pivot could fundamentally reshape Nvidia’s identity, no longer simply a supplier to “big tech” companies, but a superpower in deep tech, commanding influence in the next generation of industries built on AI, from smart cars to smart robots.

Huang’s remarks at a recent shareholder meeting put it best: “AI and robotics are the two largest opportunities, representing a multitrillion-dollar growth opportunity.”

If Nvidia succeeds, it won’t just be leading in AI computing; it will be everywhere that advanced computing meets the real world.

In an era when “everything that moves” is poised to become autonomous, Nvidia appears determined to supply the engines of that revolution, thereby laying the basis of its transformation as a force dominating deep tech innovation.

The post Nvidia’s vision: Chips for a robotic world appeared first on International Finance.

The company is known for offering on-demand and fixed-route autonomous shuttles on American campuses and in planned communities. The start-up’s fleet consists of 40 Toyota Sienna minivans, which have been retrofitted with May Mobility’s software and hardware self-driving stack, and can seat up to eight passengers.

The Tecnobus vehicles, which May Mobility says will join its fleet of Siennas in late 2026, can carry up to 30 passengers, including those in wheelchairs.

Aiming to build a “safer, greener, more accessible world,” May Mobility states that its Tecnobus minibus is designed for urban transit, corporate campuses, airports, and planned communities, with swappable batteries that minimise downtime. The vehicle has also reportedly been approved for use in Europe and Canada.

As of January 2025, the start-up is operating shuttle services with a driver behind the wheel in Arlington, Texas; Detroit, Michigan; and Grand Rapids, Minnesota, among other cities. May Mobility also has a presence in Japan, where telecom company NTT has agreed to license the technology for an autonomous vehicle pilot project in the city of Nagoya. May also has active deployments in Tokyo and Fukuoka.

In today’s episode of “Start-up of the Week,” International Finance will delve into the company’s details.

AV Technology That Imagines Every Possibility

May Mobility claims that its autonomous vehicle technology surpasses the standard frameworks used by its industry peers by employing a patented, real-time learning system that makes the best possible moment-by-moment driving decisions. With this system, the start-up is bringing safe, accessible, autonomous rides to more places—whether urban, suburban, or rural.

“The cornerstone of our technology lies in our Multi-Policy Decision Making (MPDM) system, which is a major advancement over other AVs in the industry. MPDM is a real-time, reinforcement-learning AI algorithm that isn’t limited by training data collected ahead of time. Our vehicles generate training examples relevant to their current environment and learn while driving—every 200 milliseconds! This technology amplifies our system’s ability to learn and react to new situations and driving scenarios over the traditional approaches used by other companies,” the start-up stated.

The MPDM technology addresses the biggest challenge in autonomous driving: safely handling the unexpected. These endless real-time, on-board simulations allow every vehicle to choose the most applicable next step and drive safely in each situation. With MPDM, providers can safely deploy AVs at a fraction of the cost and time, bringing more reliable, safe, and efficient autonomous transportation to more people, faster.

Backed by strategic partnerships with industry leaders, including Toyota and NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation), May Mobility is disrupting the autonomous vehicle industry with one of the most practical vehicle offerings available. The company has completed over 400,000 autonomy-enabled rides across 18 deployments worldwide.

Discussing MPDM, the AI algorithm integrates real-time data every 200 milliseconds to ensure safety and efficiency, while pairing live, online learning with traditional offline training, enabling rapid global deployment at half the cost and a fraction of the time.

The start-up’s latest electric, autonomous minibus will enhance May Mobility’s mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) offerings and advance sustainable transportation. The vehicle has been designed for urban transit, corporate campuses, airports, planned communities, and more.

Understanding The Technology In Detail

With the ability to process thousands of “what if” scenarios every second, MPDM rapidly devises a smart driving strategy fine-tuned to the vehicle’s current situation, making split-second decisions that address every possible environmental condition.

MPDM has become an unparallelled innovation, helping the start-up become one of the only companies in the United States to carry riders without a safety driver, achieving this feat with a fraction of the resources required by its peers.

MPDM contains many components that work together to ensure the safety of riders and other road users. These components include a suite of redundant systems (ranging from redundant power to sensor communication), a robust fallback safety system, and active monitoring and vehicle guidance (tele-assist) in the event of unknown situations.

These critical safety components support the vehicles’ sensor stack and MPDM technology, which has the unique ability to predict potential hazards via constant simulations that allow the start-up’s vehicles to react quickly with safe, predictable vehicle movements.

May Mobility has become one of the AV companies to commit publicly to conforming its safety programme to UL 4600—the first comprehensive safety standard for fully autonomous vehicles.

The Arlington RAPID Case Study

In partnership with transit agencies, cities, states, and other stakeholders, May Mobility’s autonomous vehicle solutions are solving problems unique to communities, from filling transit gaps to growing ridership and revenue.

The start-up’s autonomous vehicle deployments in the United States and Japan have been in pedestrian-dense college towns, rural communities, and a broad range of other real-world environments, to help urban centres overcome transit barriers and connect people and neighbourhoods, thereby creating a thriving, greener, and interconnected community.

May Mobility’s “Transit Approach” focuses on autonomous on-demand and circulator services that create vital first- and last-mile solutions, sustainably improving connectivity, health, and wellbeing in underserved areas while helping local administrations introduce more convenient services in these neighbourhoods.

One prominent example of this operational philosophy has been May Mobility’s service deployment in Arlington, Texas. This service integrates seamlessly into an existing public transit network in Arlington known as Arlington RAPID (Rideshare Automation and Payment Integration Demonstration).

Supported by a USD 1.7 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration’s Integrated Mobility Innovation Programme to the City of Arlington, Texas, May Mobility incorporated five AVs (including one wheelchair-accessible AV) into Via’s existing on-demand public transit service in the city in March 2021. This service, known as Arlington RAPID, is a partnership between May Mobility, Via, the City of Arlington, and the University of Texas at Arlington.

In its first year, RAPID grew to an average daily ridership of 162 and an acceptance rate of 70%, meaning nearly three-fourths of customers preferred an AV over a conventional vehicle. Arlington RAPID reported a 99% on-time performance, and the vehicles were able to operate fully autonomously 80% of the time.

As of January 2025, Arlington RAPID still serves downtown Arlington and the University of Texas at Arlington campus for the benefit of students and other riders. Apart from completing over 153,000 miles, the service has seen a 92% repeat ridership rate and consistently maintains a 4.9/5 rider approval rating from more than 61,000 riders.

What makes RAPID so special? It provides a flexible and accessible public mobility option for an area where nearly two-fifths of households live below the poverty line, and one-fifth includes a person with a disability.

Customers without smartphones can access RAPID by telephone, including account setup, ride payment, booking, and directions to pick-up locations. The solution can also process payments via credit/debit cards or prepaid debit cards, which riders can purchase with cash at local stores.

A Promising Future Ahead

In March 2024, May Mobility was named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in the Automotive category, due to its differentiated business-to-government (B2G) and business-to-business (B2B) go-to-market strategy and MPDM technology. In the same year, the start-up launched a corporate autonomous vehicle (AV) service that utilises Toyota’s e-Palette mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) vehicle platform in Fukuoka, Japan, at Toyota Motor’s Miyata factory.

The venture also expanded its operations in the American city of Ann Arbor, which is the next step toward expanding autonomous driver-out vehicle services commercially across the United States and Japan alongside key partners, including Toyota and Lyft.

Speaking of Lyft, one of the largest transportation network companies in North America, it announced a multi-year partnership with May Mobility to launch autonomous vehicles through the “Lyft App.” The company will launch the first deployment in Atlanta in 2025, using May Mobility’s Toyota Sienna Autono-MaaS vehicles.

The post Start-up of the Week: May Mobility redefines AV industry with game-changing MPDM tech appeared first on International Finance.

It would also give the two companies scale and a chance to share resources in the face of intense competition from Tesla and Chinese rivals like BYD. The Honda-Nissan merger talks have brought back the event in 2021, where Fiat, Chrysler Automobiles and PSA merged to create Stellantis in a USD 52-billion deal.

Smaller Mitsubishi Motors, in which Nissan is a top shareholder, was also considering joining and would make a decision by the end of January 2025, the companies said. The two companies would aim for combined sales of 30 trillion yen (USD 191 billion) and operating profit of more than three trillion yen through the potential merger.

The ventures now aim to wrap up talks around June 2025 before setting up a holding company by August 2026, when shares of both companies would be delisted. Honda, which has a market capitalisation of more than USD 40 billion, roughly four times that of Nissan, will appoint the majority of the company’s board. Combining with Mitsubishi Motors would take the Japanese group’s global sales to over eight million cars. The current number three is South Korea’s Hyundai and Kia.

Honda and Nissan have been exploring ways to bolster their partnership, including a merger. In March 2024, both the ventures were considering cooperation on electrification and software development. They widened the collaboration with Mitsubishi Motors in August. In November, Nissan announced a plan to cut 9,000 jobs and 20% of its global production capacity after sales plunged in the key China and United States markets.

Honda also reported worse-than-expected earnings due to a China sales slump, although solid two-wheeler and hybrid car businesses helped it secure a relatively stable financial base. Honda and Nissan both have lost ground in the world’s biggest market China, as the latter’s automakers are now producing electric and hybrid cars with cutting-edge features like innovative software, while keeping the price tags low.

French automaker Renault, Nissan’s largest shareholder, said it would “discuss with Nissan and consider all possible options,” while Reuters claimed that Renault was open in principle to the tie-up. Taiwan’s Foxconn, seeking to expand its nascent electric vehicle contract manufacturing business, approached Nissan about a bid but the Japanese company rejected it.

China Threat Looms Large

As per the merger plan, Honda will reportedly consider supplying hybrid vehicles to Nissan as part of the plan. The two automakers forged a strategic partnership in March 2024 to cooperate in electric vehicle development, but Nissan has faced financial and strategic troubles in recent months. The merger talks also come at a time, when the global automobile industry is anticipating the potential fallouts that President-elect Donald Trump’s protectionist trade policies may bring from 2025 onwards.

Toyota Motor, which has been the world’s largest carmaker for the last four years running, has been producing hybrids while rivals rushed into manufacturing electric vehicles. While the incoming Trump administration has plans of cutting support for EVs and blocking cars and components from China, analysts see Toyota being least affected by the news. However, Nissan is struggling, burning through cash and with billions of dollars of debt due in a little over a year.

Nissan’s alliance with Renault didn’t bring the desired result for both ventures. In 1999, The French automaker saved its Japanese counterpart from bankruptcy. However, the relationship between the two companies became strained over time due to rivalries and suspicion. In 2023, Renault and Nissan agreed to a “rebalanced” alliance to improve their relationship. Renault reduced its stake in Nissan from 43.4% to 15%, making the two companies more equal partners. Nissan also took a stake in Renault’s new electric vehicle venture, Ampere.

Foxconn wanted to take control of Nissan, maybe because Jun Seki, the current Chief Strategy Officer of the Taiwanese tech venture’s EV arm, once held a leadership position in the Japanese automaker. However, Foxconn has little experience in the car business. Also, it has a strained history with Japan’s industrial circle, ever since the Sharp Corp (taken over by the tech conglomerate) episode, where the latter reported massive losses since 2022 and is exiting TV panel production, with its share price down 96% from its peak.

Now the Nissan-Honda deal will create two poles in Japan’s auto industry, with Toyota being one of them. However, it needs to be seen whether the merger will be a face-saving one, where Nissan gets equal weight to the much larger Honda, or both the stakeholders get weightage as per their industrial positions. As of now, it’s an alliance of unequals, that has all the potential to result in a power struggle among the participants.

However, the alliance has a massive task in its hands: a surge in Chinese EV brands, notably BYD, who have been winning over market share in China, the world’s top automotive market, with innovative EVs and software. To make matters worse, these brands are also in expansion mode in other prominent markets.

Honda faced slumping sales in China, which contributed to the automaker’s recent 15% drop in quarterly profit. Nissan, which has struggled with sales, has announced plans to reduce capacity by 20% and cut 9,000 jobs worldwide. These challenges highlight tough competition from Chinese firms which are catching up to automotive stalwarts.

As per a June 2024 Counterpoint Research study, Chinese carmakers have gained a strong foothold in Southeast Asia’s booming EV market, eating into the share of Japanese and Korean automakers that once dominated the region. In 2023, BYD and its Chinese peers accounted for 70% of all EV sales in the region.

However, Sanshiro Fukao, executive fellow at the Itochu Research Institute in Tokyo, warned that despite the tie-up, Honda and Nissan will find it difficult to turn the tables upon their Chinese rivals. He stressed the urgent and transformational shifts in the industry, and that the era of ‘churning out profits through economies of scale’ is over.

The post IF Insights: All you need to know about Honda-Nissan merger talks appeared first on International Finance.

According to Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Ken Saito, the government will provide up to 350 billion yen (USD 2.44 billion) for 12 projects involving storage batteries or related parts, materials, or production equipment.

“We hope that these efforts will strengthen Japan’s storage battery supply chain and the storage battery industry’s competitiveness,” Saito said, as reported by Reuters.

According to reports from Japanese media, the action will help increase the nation’s yearly production capacity for storage batteries by about 50% to 120 gigawatt-hours (GWh), from 80 GWh at the moment.

“The government backing included support for investments by Toyota, Nissan Motor, and joint projects that Panasonic Holdings’ energy unit would run with automakers Subaru and Mazda Motor, respectively,” Saito said.

The latest assistance follows the Fumio Kishida government’s June 2018 announcement of nearly USD 1 billion in subsidies, with the first batch to be awarded in April 2023, for the production of storage batteries.

With its battery subsidiaries Prime Planet Energy and Solutions and Primearth EV Energy, Toyota would invest a total of roughly 245 billion yen to increase solid-state and prismatic battery production capacity by 9 GWh, according to the industry ministry. Toyota is also opening a new EV battery plant to supply upcoming Lexus EVs, which are slated to open by 2029.

Toyota plans to begin battery deliveries in November 2026. The Yomiuri newspaper reports that the plan calls for the construction of battery plants in the prefectures of Hyogo and Fukuoka.

Toyota acknowledged in a statement that the ministry had approved the plans for the development and manufacturing of its solid-state and next-generation batteries. Still, it did not provide details about the new plants or the amount of money it would be investing.

Nissan announced in a statement that the government had certified its plan to manufacture lithium-iron-phosphate batteries. The carmaker planned to incorporate these batteries into small cars starting in the 2028 fiscal year.

It stated that it would receive up to 55.05 billion yen in support for achieving its domestic production capacity of 5 GWh annually.

Japan’s Panasonic will build EV battery parts for Subaru and Mazda as it teams up with them to boost domestic production. It’s expected to invest around USD 3.8 billion (550 billion yen).

Meanwhile, as per another report from Electrek, Toyota and Nissan will lead the efforts of the Japanese automobile industry that will invest USD 7 billion (1 trillion yen) to boost the nation’s EV battery output. The Japanese government will help as it aims to establish a domestic supply chain while moving away from China and South Korea, which currently dominate the market.

Japan has been seen as one of the biggest laggards as the industry shifts to all-electric. Sales of domestic EVs fell 39% in the first half of the year.

According to the Japan Light Motor Vehicle and Motorcycle Association, domestic passenger EV sales totalled 29,282 through June 2024, down 39% from 2023. Electric vehicle share of passenger vehicle sales slipped 0.7% from the first half of 2023 to 1.6%.

As per a spokesperson of the Japan Automobile Importers Association (JAIA), foreign brands are taking Japan’s EV market by storm. China’s BYD, for example, is offering a “wider variety of models than domestic manufacturers.

BYD’s passenger car imports surged 184% in the first half of 2024. Although only 980 BYD models were imported, BYD is gaining a foothold as new models hit the market.

After launching its first EV, the Atto 3, in Japan in January 2024, BYD has introduced other top-selling models, including the Dolphin and, most recently, the Seal. BYD launched the Seal EV in Japan in June, with starting prices around USD 33,100 (5.28 million yen).

In fact, BYD can now launch low-cost EVs as it controls nearly its entire supply chain. The Chinese automaker, often touted as Tesla’s rival, has emerged as the second largest EV battery maker globally, behind CATL.

As Japan looks to secure an EV battery supply chain, domestic companies, including Toyota and Nissan, are investing heavily.

The post Through USD 2.4 billion package, Japan eyes breaking China’s EV battery monopoly appeared first on International Finance.

July 2 saw positive EV deliveries from General Motors, Rivian and Toyota. Tesla announced a lower-than-expected decrease, which prompted investors to buy shares of several of the firms.

High borrowing rates, economic uncertainty, and consumer preference for gasoline-electric hybrids have all contributed to the slower-than-expected growth in demand for electric vehicles (EVs), which has forced Tesla and other EV companies to lower prices or provide more incentives to entice customers into showrooms.

The need to keep manufacturing and battery costs down will persist, according to analysts. China is leading the way in the spike in electric vehicle sales, which the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts will reach 16.6 million globally in 2024 from 13.7 million in 2023.

Analysts do, however, issue a warning: July 2 sales data is not enough to predict that the increase in EV sales will resume.

Vice president of research firm AutoForecast Solutions Sam Fiorani stated, “We’re going to see this happen for a long time and we’re expecting this period of time to have bumps along the way for the next several years as the transition goes from early adopters to mainstream buyers.”

He went on, “There will be up quarters and down quarters, but overall, the growth won’t be as high as it has been over the last few years.”

In the 2024 second quarter, EV sales in the United States increased by 40%, according to General Motors (GM).

According to a statement from GM’s North American president, Marissa West, “We can win as more consumers embrace EVs and we can keep winning if they prefer to stick with the engine technologies they know.”

Even Toyota, which has benefited greatly from the desire for gasoline-powered hybrid cars, acknowledged the growing demand and announced that it would begin producing two new electric vehicles (EVs) for the US market at its Kentucky and Indiana plants in 2026.

A Kia representative stated that while the percentage rise may not be as dramatic as a year ago, overall EV sales are still increasing at a very good rate.

Damon Rose, vice president of sales for the Toyota brand, said, “We’re continuing to hear some great demand from the marketplace.”

Automakers like Tesla and BYD are giving zero-interest loans and no-down-payment options in that market, and China has offered incentives of up to 10,000 yuan (USD 1,375.29) per auto trade-in to drive demand.

Despite suffering a second straight quarterly decrease, Elon Musk’s Tesla, the leader in the electric vehicle market, exceeded delivery estimates because of these incentives and comparable efforts made by the company in the United States.

Tesla would require a massive second half to match last year’s volumes, which is probably impossible, according to Matt Britzman, a Tesla shareholder and equities analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

“But this isn’t the moment to claim triumph over a poor EV market,” Britzman said.

As EV sales, which account for more than 80% of Tesla’s quarterly income, have slowed down, the company has redirected its attention in recent months toward its artificial intelligence initiatives, such as the soon-to-be-unveiled Robotaxi product and the Optimus humanoid robot.

But warning flags or not, EV enthusiasts remain unwavering in their conviction.

During an interaction with Reuters, analyst Thomas Monteiro said, “Given how pessimistic the market was on the EV play—and notably on Tesla—in the last couple of quarters, these variables should contribute to a repricing of the EV story on Wall Street.”

“A variety of positive catalysts have come together at this precise moment. It is certain that the EV proposal appears more promising now than it did even a fortnight ago, particularly for the larger participants,” he continued.

Global Sales Soaring

Global EV sales might reach 17 million in 2024, which means that more than one in five cars sold globally will be electric. This data, which comes from the International Energy Agency’s Global EV Outlook 2024, makes sentimental reporting on the decline of EV sales look ridiculous.

The enormous demand for affordable, eco-friendly electric vehicles (EVs) over the next ten years will fundamentally transform the global auto industry; by 2035, the IEA predicts that half of all cars sold worldwide will be EVs, reducing the need for oil by 6–10 million barrels per day, an amount that is currently used for road transportation in the United States.

With cheap power dispensing and expensive oil expenditures, drivers can save significant money by driving electric. The price difference between internal combustion engines operating on fossil fuels and electric vehicles has shrunk so quickly that upfront sales prices are hardly different.

It is incredible news for the economy, as it will lower consumer costs, boost investment and employment, and improve air quality.

Anyone, anywhere, will soon have the option to convert their next vehicle to an affordable, clean electric vehicle (EV). Everyone, everywhere, wants to save money and breathe healthier air.

The IEA is widely regarded as the world’s foremost expert on energy trends; thus, its projections are based on data rather than hype. Every year, the organisation discovers and evaluates significant advancements in global electric mobility.

Though recent news stories have suggested that a fall in sales signals the end of the electric vehicle revolution, the real facts in the world’s three largest auto markets could not be further from those sentimental headlines.

In China, the largest auto market in the world, EV sales are expected to reach 10 million vehicles this year, accounting for about 45% of total car sales in that nation; in the US, the second largest auto market in the world, EV sales are expected to increase by 20% from 2023 to roughly 11% of all new car sales. In Europe, the third largest auto market in the world, EV sales may increase by 10%, accounting for 25% of total sales.

The post IF Insights: Despite strong sales data, challenges still aplenty for American electric vehicles sector appeared first on International Finance.