What will president Donald Trump mean for electric car production?

By the time you read this the fact that Donald Trump has become the first person since Grover Cleveland in the late 19th century to win non-consecutive US elections will no longer be news; but at the time of writing, two hours after his victory became beyond doubt, it most certainly is. One day the world will look back at the moment a convicted criminal became the de facto leader of the free world and barely believe it possible. At least I hope so.

But for now it’s the job of people like me to see what effect he is likely to have on the industry upon which I report, and it’s hard for that old and only apocryphally Chinese curse about living in interesting times not to spring to mind. If you happen to be a manufacturer who has bet the farm on our all-electric future, this is doubly so. Because if the short to medium-term future of EVs and those who make them seemed uncertain before Trump regained power, it is nothing compared to what I fear is to come.

First, there is the man himself. Someone far smarter than me once said when trying to explain Trump’s 2016 victory that the mistake most make was to take him literally but not seriously, when in fact precisely the opposite approach is required. Which means that, right now, we haven’t a clue what he’s going to do.

“For years I’ve wobbled on about ‘less being more’ in Porsche 911s. But it’s true”

Of course you could look at his new best mate Elon Musk and conclude that the former staunch Democrat who has called Trump both nuts and “the world’s champion of bullshit” has only cosied up to him to ensure massive price penalties are slapped on the Chinese EV and battery manufacturers that so threaten Tesla’s business; but Biden already did this earlier in the year with a 100% tariff applied to all Chinese-built EVs. Will Trump really go further and risk the reprisals? Who knows? Or will he do a volte-face and try to build bridges with the Chinese rather than blow them up? Avowed isolationist that he is, you’d not have thought so, but then who’d have expected he’d call North Korea’s Kim Jung-un “little rocket man” one minute and then become the first sitting president to visit North Korea the next. Truly he is a man who loves to spring a surprise.

Unfortunately, though, our industry, like most, is less fond of them. How do you decide whether, where, when and how much to invest when you have no idea what the US president, a man with the instincts and disposition of a hypoglycaemic two-year-old, might do next? Or how the rest of the world might then respond?

Then again, perhaps I’m wrong. I’m told confidence in his ability to run the economy was the single greatest factor behind his victory and as I write these very words, my telephone just pinged to tell me Wall Street has hit record highs. Maybe all will be well, I don’t know. What I do know is that the next four years will be the most crucial in the transition to electric vehicles and if I were a car manufacturer right now I’d not be taking great comfort from the fact Trump has said the EV lobby should “rot in hell”. Even if my first name was Elon.

I’ve been driving quite a few Porsche 911s of late, partly because I’m not very good at turning down opportunities to do so, but also because it is today what it has been these last 60 years or more: the benchmark, the sports car by which all others are judged. In just the last few months I’ve been in a standard Carrera, a T, a GTS, a Turbo S, a GT3 and GT3 RS, but here’s the thing – the base ‘standard’ car has only ever been used as transport to get me to all the others. Which means that every time I climb out of one of its more-vaunted stablemates and head for home, it’s in the Carrera that I go. And despite being so pared to the bone its total option count amounts to less than £1000, not once has it ever felt like the poor relation.

On the contrary, it has almost everything I need from cruise control to seat heaters, and comes with a simplicity that I love and, lest we forget, lightness too: it’s not only half the price of the 911 Turbo S, it’s 135kg lighter too. For years I’ve been wobbling on about ‘less being more’ when it comes to 911s, but it is as true today as when I first drove one, well over half its, and my, lifetime ago.

I was going to devote some space this month to reviewing the new Alfa Romeo Junior because, well, it’s an Alfa Romeo and surely a little bit of all of us is interested when a brand new one comes along. But actually? I’m not going to.

It’s not because it is in any way terrible; frankly if it were that, it would make me more likely to write a few sentences about it. It’s just that appearance aside, it is a car of no distinguishing characteristics of any kind or importance I could discern. It’s just another rather compromised, rather dull compact crossover built in a Polish factory on a platform shared by myriad other brands within the Stellantis family. It may look something like an Alfa Romeo but that’s as far as the connection to the badge on its bonnet goes. I think that’s rather a shame.

Review

Ariel Nomad 2

After 10 years, a replacement for the Nomad 1
On off-road tyres it’ll skid about deliciously for as long as you want while providing invigorating performance. The ex-Focus ST lump is gruff and agricultural in voice, the six-speed gearbox unco-operative at times. At £67,922, it’s dear but Ariel would simply point to its three-year waiting list. Verdict: Pity it’s dropped Honda power.

Coming soon

Alpine A290

Renault 5 EV-based hot hatch for early ’25
Unlike conventional hot hatches that place most of their weight in the nose, the Alpine has a close 50/50 distribution, not to mention a very low centre of gravity and a multi-link rear axle. UK sales begin early next year with £38,000 buying the flagship 217bhp GTS.

Insider news

Where’s Mission x?

All has gone quiet on Porsche’s EV hypercar
Porsche unveiled the concept of the new Mission X hypercar in 2023 but has since stayed quiet on the subject of a production version. Then again, Mission X is a pure EV. Could it be that Stuttgart has looked at the fortunes of the few electric hypercars that have gone on sale and decided now is not the time? I can’t say I’d blame them.