Photo: Genesis
In today's issue:
The tariff on Canadian-built vehicles is set to drop to 15%, and one still-unagreed rule decides whether that costs 3.75% or double
Genesis reveals its first full-size flagship SUV, and the hidden coach doors are real
A Connecticut Nissan dealer gets caught charging customers to "certify" cars that were already certified
THE FINE PRINT
Ottawa and Washington reached a tentative deal on Aug. 18, hours before a fresh wave of US duties was due, and both sides were still finalizing it a day later, per Automotive News Canada. Trump told reporters "subject to the finalization of documents, we have a deal with Canada," while Carney went only as far as "significant progress," per Carscoops.
The 25% duty on Canadian-built vehicles would fall to 15%, applied before any deduction for parts content, per Bloomberg and Reuters reporting cited by Automotive News Canada and Autoblog. Canada pushed for 10% and did not get it.
Which parts count is the part still being argued, and it is worth roughly half the bill. The administration wants only US-sourced content deductible, which lands the effective rate near the 7% to 9% range we reported Tuesday. Canadian negotiators want all North American content to qualify, and on a USMCA-compliant vehicle carrying the required 75% North American content, a 15% headline rate would work out to an effective 3.75%, per Automotive News Canada. That definition remains undecided.
The damage runs both directions. Canadian vehicle assembly fell 15% year-over-year through April, per the Center for Automotive Research, while Canada's counter-tariffs cost American auto exports US$5.6 billion between April 2025 and March 2026, per White House figures, both cited by Automotive News Canada.
Tuesday we wrote that the administration had held firm at a minimum of 15% and that Greig Mordue, the former Toyota executive now at McMaster, cared less about the deadline than the permanence: "If you seal it with this permanency of 15%, or whatever they land on, then that seals the long-term future of the Canadian auto industry." They landed on 15%. What gets signed becomes the opening baseline for next year's USMCA review, which is why the content-deduction rule is the number worth watching, not the headline one. The threshold underneath that rule is contested too: the White House spent the summer pushing to raise the North American content floor to 82% from 75%, which would move the same arithmetic again.
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Also worth knowing
China's Car Market Is on Pace for Its Worst Year on Record: New passenger-vehicle sales fell 25% to 1.35 million in July, a seventh straight monthly decline, putting the world's largest market on course for its first double-digit annual drop; the steepest on record so far is 8%, in 2018, per Automotive News. GM has discontinued Chevrolet in China after more than 20 years, the brand having fallen from a 2014 peak of 767,000 units to below 9,000 in 2025, per Just Auto. Exports are the release valve: 5.35 million passenger vehicles shipped overseas in the first seven months, up 73%. #market
Photo: BYD
Nissan Kills the Cheap Murano, Prices Jump $2,320: The 2027 Murano drops its base SV trim, and the new entry point climbs to $45,535, per Car and Driver and Carscoops; a new Dark Armor trim slots in below Platinum. #market
Photo: Nissan
BMW Puts the XM and 8 Series on the Chopping Block: CEO Milan Nedeljkovic is reviewing BMW's lineup as it rolls out the Neue Klasse platform across 40 models by 2027, and the XM plug-in hybrid and 8 Series are reportedly headed out, with the i4's future left undecided as BMW weighs it against the newer i3, per Automotive News Europe. #news
The 8 Series, headed for retirement. Photo: Dinkun Chen / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Owners Like the Simple Stuff, JD Power Finds: Basic tech like smart ignition beats hands-free L2+ driver assistance on owner satisfaction scores, and passenger screens rank among the most problem-prone features in the vehicle, per CBT News. #analyst
Reveals & culture
Genesis Reveals the GV90, and Yes, the Backwards Doors Are Real: Genesis' first full-size flagship SUV packs a 123.5kWh battery, seating for up to seven, and what the brand calls the world's first independently opening hidden B-pillar coach door, per The Drive and Genesis newsroom.
Ford's Bronco Might Become a Truck After All: A Bronco-based pickup is reportedly planned for around 2030, built at a retooled Michigan Assembly as Ranger production winds down in fall 2029, per Autoblog and Motor1. A Bronco hybrid is expected for the 2028 model year, which Autoblog dates as a 2027 launch.
Recalls & legal action
FTC Nails a Nissan Dealer for Fake Certifications: The FTC and Connecticut secured a $4 million settlement with Manchester City Nissan over allegations it charged customers to "certify" vehicles already advertised as certified and added unauthorized products like total loss protection, per CBT News. If you bought a CPO Nissan there, this settlement is your cue to request a fee audit.
NHTSA Won't Investigate Acura's Alleged AWD Drop-Out: The agency declined a petition alleging 2021-2023 Acura TLX and 2022-2023 MDX vehicles silently switch from AWD to front-wheel-drive while moving, per CarComplaints. The complaint record stays open even though the formal probe doesn't.
Quick links
Tesla's Cybercab Is Set to Join the Austin Robotaxi Fleet: Tesla is expected to add the Cybercab to its Austin robotaxi service later this month, after employee-only trials on private roads, per unnamed sources cited by Carscoops. The Austin fleet currently runs 186 Model Y robotaxis. Prototypes have been spotted both with and without a steering wheel and pedals, and Tesla has not said which version the first fleet cars get. We covered Nevada capping Tesla's robotaxi fleet at 10 on Tuesday.
LG's New Battery Plant Opens Without GM: LG Energy Solution's 226-acre Lansing, Michigan plant began production on Aug. 18 and will eventually reach more than 35 gigawatt-hours of annual capacity, building NMC cells for Toyota EVs including the electric 2027 Highlander, plus LFP cells for energy storage, per GM Authority. GM developed the site with LG through Ultium Cells and sold its stake in 2025.
Wholesale Used Prices Go Flat: Manheim's Used Vehicle Value Index fell to 207.4 in mid-August, now flat year-over-year, while wholesale supply eased to 27.7 days from 28.3 at the end of July, still 2.6 days above last year, per CBT News.
Chery's Margins Widen as Overseas Revenue Jumps 51%: Chery posted a 6.3% net margin in H1 with gross profit up 25.1% to RMB 23.04 billion, even as total revenue rose just 1.2%, per chinaevhome.
Xiaomi Bets on EVs Ahead of Europe Entry: Xiaomi says its EV business is set to deliver a larger share of revenue as smartphone pricing pressure eases, per Automotive News Europe.
Yesterday's picks
Hyundai Redraws Its Best-Selling SUV, and Deletes the Old Screens Too: The fifth-generation Tucson grows 60 mm longer, 40 mm wider and 20 mm taller, with half the added length going into a longer wheelbase, per Motor1.
Used Cars Just Got More Expensive Than New Ones Feel: The average 3-year-old used vehicle hit $32,461 in Q2, a second-quarter record up 4% year over year, while the share of used cars under $20,000 fell from 55.2% in 2019 to 31.8% today, per Edmunds. Meanwhile new-vehicle affordability held roughly flat in July as income growth offset price gains, per the Cox Automotive/Moody's Vehicle Affordability Index cited by CBT News.
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