It’s great when tech just works, am I right? Especially in-car tech—nobody wants to be fiddling with a million menus to turn on the wipers or dealing with a driver assist system that slams on the brakes for no good reason (looking at you, Tesla Autopilot). Sometimes I feel like that meme of Abe Simpson, yelling at change that happens for the sake of change. Apparently I’m not alone there.
Welcome back to Critical Materials, your daily roundup for all things electric and tech in the automotive space. Motorists are tired of being nagged by tech behind the wheel according to a new survey. Plus, Tesla investors are celebrating today after the automaker’s stocks made a record rebound on Wednesday. And we’ve officially entered the era of the seven-year car loan. Let’s jump in.
30%: New Survey Shows Drivers Feel Over-Nagged By Car Tech
New cars are turning into big metal balls made of software. That’s great for tech that reliably helps drivers, but features that are more akin to a digital finger wag? Motorists have had enough.
A new survey of 500 vehicle owners by AutoPacific shows that owners are sick and tired of these so-called advanced features—many of which were implemented in the name of safety but come across as a nanny yelling at you from the back seat. Instead of making drivers feel safe, it’s just something they want to switch off.
Here’s the scoop from Automotive News:
Eighty-eight percent of respondents viewed parking sensors favorably, according to the findings, while blind-spot cameras (83 percent) and rear cross-traffic alerts with automated emergency braking (80 percent) also received high satisfaction marks.
Consumers reported their highest levels of disapproval with speed-limit warnings and driver-monitoring systems, which they viewed as vehicular schoolmarms. Eighteen percent said they did not like driver monitoring while 17 percent disliked speed-limit warnings.
The findings may complicate efforts to rely on new technology as a primary means to combat traffic deaths on U.S. roads. Despite an influx of technology offerings, road fatalities remain higher than they were a decade ago.
[…]
Part of the reason: Consumers remain reluctant to pay for technology features, even as their awareness of them grows, according to AutoPacific’s research.
This is slightly awkward news for automakers that have dumped billions of dollars investing into tech. Some brands have done it with the idea of raking in more money—think Ford BlueCruise, GM Super Cruise or Tesla Full Self-Driving. These are all tech packages that can earn automakers recurring annual revenue that they otherwise would have never earned post-sale.
On the consumer side, some people like being able to hop behind the wheel and be driven around. That’s not the problem here. The issue is the other features that come baked in, those primarily designed to make sure people aren’t abusing the system. Robby DeGraff, AutoPacific’s manager of product and consumer insights, explains:
“People want to be helped, but they only want to be helped so far,” said DeGraff in an interview with Automotive News. That basically translates into consumers telling automakers to give them tech that steps in before they back into a concrete pillar, but not nag every time they hit a mile per hour over the posted speed limit.
Part of that reluctance is the old saying “out of sight, out of mind.” Many drivers don’t actually know what tech comes in their car, and the only experience they get with the features is during an emergency situation where it activates. One finding of the survey is that dealerships need to do a better job of explaining these features and their benefits during the sales process.
“Awareness for a lot of these features is pretty good, but the reality is it could be a lot better, and a lot of that responsibility falls on dealers,” said DeGraff.
The bottom line is that consumers don’t want their cars to babysit them. They want to feel like their cars have their back in case something unexpected happens, but they don’t want to be yelled at from the back for no apparent reason.
60%: Tesla Investors Are Having A Stock Party—That Might Be Premature
Photo by: InsideEVs
If you’ve got any footing in the stock market, you probably need a neck brace after this week’s tariff-induced roller coaster ride. As U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on tariffs, Tesla became one of the biggest winners of the day. So what the heck happened?
Let me start out by saying that Wednesday was historic for Tesla. It was the automaker’s second-largest single-day gain in history. Shares shot up an astounding 22.7%—the only time it topped that was in May 2013 when Tesla announced it made a quarterly profit for the first time. Here’s the kicker, though: automotive tariffs remain unaffected by the pause; so Tesla’s lifeblood of a complex supply chain (much like other automakers) is still going to be taxed.
One of the real reasons that Tesla’s stock shot up—like most stocks on Wednesday—is that Wall Street analysts are feeling a bit more secure about economic growth. Now that the U.S. has decided to pause on tariffs for three months and present a “lowered reciprocal tariff of 10%,” analysts forecast that consumers won’t necessarily be impacted as heavily (though China’s 125% tariff is still extremely significant and will certainly impact consumers if not curbed).
Wall Street also hasn’t forgotten that automakers are the subject of 25% import tariffs on cars. Auto parts will soon be added to that list as well. This has led to Tesla’s price target being cut pretty much across the board.
From Barron’s:
Goldman Sachs analyst Mark Delaney cut his Tesla stock price target to $260 from $275, saying it will be hard for car companies to pass on tariff-related costs. He kept his Hold rating on shares.
UBS analyst Joseph Spak cut his price target to $190 from $225 a share, citing new trade policies that will raise costs and hurt demand. Spak rates Tesla stock Sell. Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh cut his price target to $375 from $430, noting the 90-day pause didn’t apply to cars. He rates shares Buy.
The average analyst price target for Tesla stock is about $341 a share, according to FactSet, down about $32 a share over the past month.
Let’s not forget that Tesla now has an image problem to face as well. CEO Elon Musk’s reputation has soured with consumers thanks to his political ties; an ongoing issue tied to Tesla sales slipping and something that investors are still figuring out how to address.
As Axios points out, there’s an even bigger problem that Tesla will soon have to face. As much as 20% of the brand’s sales were thanks to China last year, and Gigafactory Shanghai is the automaker’s most productive assembly plant that supplies the greater world with Chinese-built Teslas. If trade tensions continue to build, Tesla (and Musk) could be put in the middle of a very weird predicament between the two countries.
All of that being said, Tesla’s rally feels more like muscle memory than rational optimism. Traders see the word pause and capitalize on the opportunity to return to the status quo, especially after a hard fall just days earlier. A “buy first, ask questions later” kind of deal.
90%: One-In-Five New Car Buyers Opted For 84-Month Loans In Q1
The era of the seven-year car loan is here, folks. New data from Edmunds shows that one-fifth—or 20%—of new car buyers opted for a brutal 84-month auto loan last quarter. By comparison, this was at 13% in 2019 and 16% in 2024.
On top of loan length, the amount financed has increased to $41,473. That’s up from $40,427 in 2024, which might seem like a lot given that it’s an increase of over $1,000, but it actually is just about even with inflation. In 2019, new car buyers financed an average of $32,165—accounting for inflation, this means that new car buyers are financing about 2% more than they were six years ago.
“The auto finance market showed signs of steadiness in Q1, but that stability doesn’t mean affordability has improved,” said Edmunds’ head of insights, Jessica Caldwell. “When 1 in 5 new-car buyers are taking on seven-year loans, it’s clear how many consumers are still financially stretched. Even with rates holding relatively flat, the continued reliance on extended terms and high monthly payments reveals how challenging car buying remains.”
Generally, 84-month loans aren’t favorable to the consumer. Sure, it means a lower payment, but it also means being underwater on a car for longer, paying a higher interest rate, and taking on a greater risk should the vehicle be a total loss at some point during ownership. It also means paying more overall once the interest is added in.
Auto dealers don’t necessarily see 84-month loans as a great thing for the industry either (well, maybe except for Nissan, king of the Pandemic-era 84-month term). Here’s what one dealership executive told Automotive News about long loans:
Michael Cummings, vice president at Cummings Automotive and the general manager for its I-10 Toyota dealership in Indio, Calif., said April 7 his store seeks to avoid prolonged loans.
“I really, really don’t like going 84 months,” Cummings said.
He said the store will do an 84-month deal if the customer requests it, “but it’s generally not something we pitch just because it’s not healthy for the customers in the long run. It’s not healthy for us dealers in the long run.”
And it wouldn’t be news if we didn’t sprinkle a bit of tariff uncertainty on things. For example, higher component costs will translate into higher vehicle costs, potentially raising the average transition price and racking up even higher monthly payments. Caldwell says that with the ongoing trade war, those are just some of the additional risks that new car buyers have to be ready to take on:
“And now, with auto tariffs officially taking effect […] there’s a risk that they will add fuel to the fire—triggering a disruption that could push vehicles even further out of reach for many shoppers.”
100%: Design The Perfect Driver Assist Setup
Photo by: InsideEVs
You know, maybe car owners are right. Maybe our vehicles are getting too bossy to the point where it’s becoming a distraction. I’m thinking back to my own Model 3 and Autopilot. If I’m on a straight road and switch the feature on, within seconds it’s asking me to yank the steering wheel. I’ll get an initial beep and visual warning to nudge the wheel despite being on a straightaway at 55 MPH. It’s easily one of the most annoying things about the car.
Do me a solid here. I want you to think long and hard about what goes into a driver assist setup. Lane keeping, speed limit monitoring, crash avoidance—the works. Consider every car that you’ve driven with these features and where the pain points have been.
Now take all of that data in your head and design the perfect driver assist system. What does it have? What does it leave out? Let me know in the comments.
