March 13, 2026 | EV registrations plunge 41%; Stellantis dealer upbeat on new products

Welcome to Daily Drive for Friday, March 13th, 2026, I'm Kellan Walker in Las Vegas,

today on the show, EV registrations tumble 41% in January, the auto industry's EV Retreat

Bill hits $70 billion, and the Trump administration sues California over EV mandates.

Plus, our own Dan Schein visits Healthman River Oaks CDJR in Houston, where sales manager

Blake Healthman is excited about Stellantis' product refresh.

Gee, because you think as a premier leader in the SUV market space, and to not have a car

in that class has been tough over the last few years, so now we're back in that mid $30,000

price point range, where I think some of our competitors have been very successful.

Let's run through all the news you need to know to keep up the auto industry.

EV registrations dropped 41% in January compared to a year earlier,

that's according to S&P Global Mobility. Electric vehicles now make up just over 5% of the market,

down from more than 8% last January. Gas-powered cars picked up more than two points of

market share. Hybrids gained about a point. Tom Libby at S&P Global Mobility

calls it a reset after Congress repealed the federal EV tax credit last year.

He says it's going to be a slow climb back. We'll have more on this story in a minute with our

own Lauren Seiliff. It looks like Honda will pull the plug on the prologue EV. It's only battery

electric vehicle in the US when production ends in December. According to industry forecaster

auto forecast solutions, the auto maker won't build a second generation of the GM built crossover.

The move caps a dramatic retreat. Prologue sales crashed 74% this year after the Trump administration

eliminated the federal tax credit. Honda slashed production in half and now expects to sell

just 17,900 units. Honda's also cancelling three upcoming US-built EVs. The company blamed

weak demand, tariffs, and profitability challenges pivoting instead to hybrids.

The bill for the auto industry's EV retreat is approaching $70 billion. Honda is adding nearly

$16 billion to that tally with this week's cancellations. Add to that, write down from GM,

Ford, and Stellantis, and the sum is pretty staggering. Just two months ago, the industry's

restructuring cost stood at $50 billion. That included $26 billion forced Stellantis and $21 billion

for Ford alone. What's notable here? These aren't just canceled vehicle programs.

The loss of span EV factory capacity, battery manufacturing, and years of development work

that's now being written off. Analysts say auto makers will keep investing in EVs and batteries

partly to reduced costs, but mostly hedging against regulatory whiplash under a future administration.

In meanwhile, the Trump administration is suing California over the state's electric vehicle

mandates, saying they violate federal law. Here's the thing. Congress already killed California's

plan to ban gas cars by 2035, but the state still has earlier rules on the books that require

auto makers to sell more and more EVs each year. The Trump administration wants those gone too.

Arguing auto makers should only have to meet one set of federal standards, not California's

stricter requirements. And those are today's headlines. You could read more about all these stories

at autonews.com. Joining me now to talk more about the story about cratering EV registrations in

January is automotive news reporter Lauren Seiliff. Lonnie, welcome back to daily drive, sir.

Hey, man, it's great to be here as always. So Lonnie, this data is from January before the conflict

in Iran and other developments that could affect the EV market. What should we make of this big drop

and are things likely to turn around? Okay, so you know, January is a continuation of what happened

last year. You know, the tax credit that goes back to 2009 was repealed in July. Then it went away

in September 30th. And then we've seen every single month. They've gone down and down and down.

Now January, they fell 41%. That's a big number. And basically what's happening is kind of a

structural thing. Things are big things are changing in the auto industry. And that is that you

lose that credit, which was driving sales. And then the administration also got rid of penalties for

fuel economy rules. So the carrot of buying EVs is gone. And the stick forcing automakers to buy

them is also gone. So, you know, with gas prices going up and everything, I can see like a

California where EVs are very mainstream. It's just another choice, right? And it could be,

oh yeah, that looks interesting. But I think most of the country is going to go to hybrid. That's

what our number show is that that's kind of, you know, gaining. It's easier for people to say,

oh, gas is going up. But my next car, maybe I'll get a hybrid and I'll get, you know, 30 or 40%

better gas mileage. And I think it's going to be a bigger leap going to an EV because of just what

I said, the incentives by an EV both on the consumer side and on the automaker side that has to

sell them and promote them and give you money to drive them off the lot is gone. What are the big

takeaways from specific brands, EV sales? Yeah, it's very interesting because now we're seeing

a pattern and January is a very interesting month in that EV makers like Tesla, right? That's the

big EV maker. Everybody associates EVs with them. They were down 26% versus 41% for all

EVs. And then the model Y was only down about 5%. So it shows you that there's still a very core EV

market, right? And they like Tesla's Tesla's market share has gone up 10 points, right? Because

people are gravitating to them. And some of these other brands are kind of giving up, right? We just

saw Honda cancel three EVs. But even the one EV that they have is cratering. And so you really see

kind of the strong EV players, you know, Tesla, Rivian, Lucid kind of fighting it out there in

the market. Cadillac's in there too because they have a bunch of models and they have some commitment.

And some of the other ones that are less committed are just kind of giving up and their numbers are

down like 80%. Wow. Good stuff, Ladi. Thank you so much for joining, Mr. Thank you very much.

Coming up, Blake Healthman sales manager at Healthman River Oaks CDJR in Houston talks about the

excitement around Stellantis's product refresh and how the dealership is using artificial intelligence

to improve operations. That's next on Daily Drive. Are you a dealer creating a workplace

culture your employees are proud to be part of? Applications are now open for the 2026 automotive

news best dealerships to work for program. This isn't just an award. It's a chance to get real

insight into what's working at your dealership and where you can improve. And we've expanded the

categories this year, recognizing everything from technician experience and leadership development

to AI enablement and employee retention. The registration deadline is April 17th. Find out more

and apply at autonews.com. Welcome back to Daily Drive. I'm Kellen Walker. Stellantis dealers

are seeing a wave of new product after years of limited refreshes from the V8 powered Ram Trucks

to the two and four door Dodge Charger, the all new Jeep Cherokee and a refreshed Pacifica.

The brand is betting on new metal to gain market share. Automotive news senior retail editor Dan

Shine recently visited Healthman River Oaks CDJR in Houston where sales manager Blake Healthman

talked about the product pipeline, how the dealership is using AI to mine service customer data

and his thoughts on Chinese automakers potentially entering the US market. Blake, thanks so much for

joining me on Daily Drive. Awesome. I'm happy to be here. So thanks for having us here at your

dealership. It's a great place. I like great busy service bays going on there. I want to talk,

we just kind of before we I push record here, we talked a little bit about this new Texas DMV

legislation about registration requirements down state of Texas. What are your thoughts on that

and how it might impact your sales and business here? Yeah, no, I mean definitely could impact us.

We're in the early stages of this taking place. We're hopeful that there is a common ground

that's coming together. Every day, our TADA is releasing emails and guidance on the situation.

We're hoping that they'll come up with more solutions so that more people are able to

purchase a vehicle, re-register vehicle because you know, it could present a hurdle down the road

for selling and re-register vehicles. So, 2026, at least for new vehicle sales are,

looks down a little bit than in the past. What's your outlook on business for 2026? What

are you kind of bracing for? Well, we're super excited. You know, at the Stellanza

Sprang, we got a lot of new changes coming to the front. We just came back from NADA a few weeks

back and the manufacturer released quite a few new vehicles and is going to release a

quite a few new name plates to us, which is super exciting. Haven't had a lot of, I guess,

refresh product over the last couple of years, especially we were headed down a path of electrification.

Now, we've pivoted back and we've come out with the V8 trucks. We're coming out with performance

trucks. Dodge is back with a 2 and 4-door charger, which is super excited. We now have a refresh

pacifica coming that we're now able to order. Ram announced yesterday the pro cities coming back.

And then on the Jeep brand, we have an all-new grand Cherokee that hit an all-new grand wagon

year that hit. We're going to be seeing a refresh gladiator and Wrangler over the next two years,

which is exciting. The Jeep Cherokee is back. So, super, super excited about that segment.

Jeep, as you think, is a premier leader in the SUV market space and to not have a car in that class

has been tough over the last few years. So, now we're back in that mid $30,000 price point range,

where I think some of our competitors have been very successful. The compass is redesigned

in back. It's got a lot of new, really good things going our way for 2026 that we're super excited

about. And new leadership as well. New leadership as well, yes. Antonio Flos has done a great job

at the helm. It's just in a short time, but made a ton of changes a lot on the product side

that we hope are going to drive incremental growth over the next year. And we've already seen

quite a bit of it. And you know, it got a lot of incentives that just hit even two over the last

few weeks. So, the brand is definitely committed to gaining market share and they're doing so through

product and current incentives. For consumers out there, I think, you know, affordability has

been kind of the buzz word that we hear a lot about. We heard a lot about it at NEDA.

How do you combat that for those folks who have been on the sidelines,

I think sticker price may be a little bit too high. The incentives have not been there

much for in 2025. Interest rates have moved, but not greatly, but a little bit. How do you

get folks in the door here and convince them that they need to buy new? Absolutely, yes. So,

you know, we're fortunate, you know, in our brands, at least recently, you know, the prices have come

down. We've had a lot of MSRP adjustments over the last six months to a year, which has really

helped on the Jeep side. You know, on the Ram side in particular, just yesterday, they announced

84 months at 4.9% and no payments for 90 days. So, I mean, two really significant incentives that

help the consumer out from an interest rate perspective and then also a delayed payment perspective

as well. And in addition to that, they're also offering rebates on top of that. So, I think the

factory recognizes that they need to step in and help as well and they've done so, which has been

super exciting. So, we've got Ram Truck Month going on right now. So, all these three, you know,

combination of incentives should really help to drive truck sales and affordability.

Okay. One other thing we heard a lot when you were at NADA as well, AI, artificial intelligence

and how it might fit into either ship operations. For you guys, how if you kind of approach this,

are you deep into it? Are you not so much? What is your kind of thinking on artificial intelligence

and how it might help you in every day business here? Yeah, it's huge. You know, Mike actually

our service director and I talk about it every day and then along with the sales guys, we're

sitting on so much data as a dealership and how to take that data and convert that is the big

is the big challenge. So, whether it be something like software updates and recalls in the service

department and how to reach out to those customers in a timely fashion in, you know, at a very high

speed, we're working on that. Try to be more proactive on that front in the service departments. We're

working with a lot of AI companies to try to get customers in quicker, follow up with them better.

And then communication as well, we have a texting platform that we implemented in the service

department. One of our biggest complaints was a way to communicate to and from our customers.

And so now that we've opened up a text line of communication that our BDC manages, it's been

really smooth in the communication front there. Artificial intelligence, we do a lot of equity

mining in the sales department, finding people that are using our service department and are in

good position in their vehicle and then trying to reach out to those customers from a sales perspective.

That's been huge in the artificial intelligence space. And then, you know, the little things,

like, you know, we try to reach out to everybody via text messages to offer them a trade

in value on their car that come into service. So that's been, we'll work with a few companies

on that route. Yeah, I mean, it's hitting us daily with new changes. So for us, it's great.

You know, it's new opportunities for us that we can take advantage of in the dealership space

and it's an opportunity for us to become more efficient as well.

Regardless of staffing and retention, turnover, it can be an issue at dealerships. How are you

as far as staffing goes and retention? And if you're doing well, how are you keeping folks here?

You know, I think the big thing is our ownership is private. So my grandpa started our dealership

group in the early 50s. And my dad is now the president of our auto group and we have family members

at run each location and have been there for a long time. And I think when you have leadership

that's been in the same place, you're able to keep a lot of the same people. And I think that

truly is what drives retention inside a dealership. We have a lot of turnover. It's difficult to

keep the same people. So I think, you know, I think strong leadership at the top. And I think

consistent leadership as well when you don't have a lot of turnover that helps. And finally,

I want to maybe talk a little bit about Chinese vehicles. They're going to be in Canada. They're

going to be in Mexico. They're going to, you know, have the US just rounded a little bit.

What is your view on China vehicles coming into this market and whether you see that as a

potential threat or something that maybe you would want to, if an opportunity came up that you

could sell Chinese vehicles? Yeah, you know, I mean, we're in the business, obviously,

of selling cars. And, you know, our brands have shifted ownership over time, whether it be,

you know, the United States owning us or the Italians owning us or the French owning us.

And so we've kind of moved, you know, with respect to the Chinese coming into the market,

you know, obviously that's a political decision and not in our wheelhouse necessarily. But,

you know, I think, you know, hopefully our manufacturers are watching what they're doing,

their technology, their quality and trying to compete with them, you know, at least for right now.

You know, it seems like everything I see, they make really good-looking vehicles. But, you know,

is that what our market wants? You know, I don't know. You know, I think that, you know,

the majority of our customers want affordable vehicles. So I think that's the biggest thing.

And is the is affordability through electrical vehicles or is it through gas and hybrid?

You know, right now it seems to be that hybrid and gas vehicles are a lot more affordable

than electric vehicle, especially that the government's not subsidizing a lot of that price

and payment. You know, I hope that, you know, the manufacturers that we have franchises with

will continue to watch what they're doing. And not just them. I mean, there's a lot of other,

you know, I know a lot's to be said about the Chinese, but there's a lot of other automakers

in countries that are very competitive in that space. And, you know, our brands are competing with

them right now, head on in a lot of markets and foreign countries. You know, that's the benefit

of being with Stellantis is that right now they're competing against these Chinese, you know,

whether it's in Europe or in Asia or in South or Central America. I mean, we're already going head

to head with these guys and Ford as well. We have a Ford store also. So I know that, you know,

they're watching them closely. Blake, we really appreciate your time.

Yes, of course. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you so much.

That's daily drive for today. I'm Kellyn Walker. Thanks to automotive news executive

producer Jake Near, as well as our own Lauren Seiliff and Lindsey Van Hully for their reporting

for today's podcast. You can get the latest news on EV registrations. Stellantis has product

refresh and everything happening in the auto industry at autonews.com. Come back over the weekend

for our weekend drive edition of the show. Our own Michael Martinez and Lindsey Van Hully

talk about the biggest stories from the past week, including the staggering $70 billion bill

for the industry's EV reset. I think it's a sign really of just this broader

reset that's ongoing and everyone's sort of taking this view of how much space and how much

capacity do we really need right now? We'd love to hear from you. Let us know what you think of

the show and the topics we cover today. Send us an email at dailydriveatautonews.com

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