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Now time for some of today's trending tickers. Let's start with Hyundai. The automaker is mounting a significant expansion in the US as it looks to avoid President Trump's tariff threats. President spoke about the South Korean company's plans just moments ago.

This investment is a clear demonstration that tariffs very strongly work, and I hope, uh, other things also, but the tariffs are bringing them in at, uh, levels that, uh, have not been witnessed. Hyundai will be producing steel in America and making its cars in America, and as a result, they'll, uh, not have to pay any tariffs. You know, there are no tariffs if you make your product in America.

Joining us now with more is Yahoo! Finance's Pras Subramanian. Pras, um, explain this to us here because I assume that Hyundai is not going to make all of the cars it sells in the US, in the US, even after completing this plant. Um, but what's its manufacturing footprint like already in the United States?

Right, so they actually have a plant in, in Georgia where they make a number of cars there, uh, for the US market, right? They've been localizing production in the US for, for quite a while now, Hyundai and its sister company Kia. Uh, this particular project is for a steel plant. I believe a 5.8 million dollar steel plant, uh, creating more than 1400 jobs. Trump said at that press conference. Uh, like I said, like he said, no tariffs if you make stuff in this country. Uh, but, Julie, you raised a good point because Hyundai's other cars that come imported from South Korea don't pay any tariffs either because surprise, surprise, we have a free trade agreement with South Korea. And we also do for Canada and Mexico. So people like Ford CEO Jim Farley asking, well, why aren't you tariffing those products from South Korea when they get in scot-free, and then you're making us pay for the stuff we make in Canada and Mexico or our supposed free trade partners too. So, so while this is good news for Trump and Hyundai in particular, uh, the auto sector is still kind of left in an uncertain role here as to how they should appropriately act. Does that mean everything must be made in the states and not anywhere else unless you're South Korea?

And separately, Pras, BYD stock also popped today after earnings. What can you tell us about that?

You know, big year here for BYD, China's sort of preeminent sort of automaker. Uh, revenue up almost 30% year over year. Net income up 34% in, in, in 2024. A mix of hybrids and EVs is appealing to the customers there, both in China and also globally. Tesla does not have that. We also saw that BYD announced a new Model 3 competitor that costs half as much and kind of has the same range. So, it's a tough sort of competitive landscape for Tesla in China where let's be, let's be clear, BYD does not have the brand cachet that Tesla has or even Neo, uh, but they're bringing stuff like self-driving technology and, and that battery breakthrough we saw, five-minute charging, uh, to their cars that are significantly cheaper than Tesla. That's a big problem, and that could also widen BYD's appeal and competitive sort of setting there in China.

So we're focused on China and the competitive landscape there, and we also, I believe, got some new numbers out of Europe about how Tesla is doing against some of the other big car companies there.

Yeah, seeing some of these German rivals selling better than Tesla compared to Tesla, you know, which does operate a gigafactory in Berlin. According to data from Jato Dynamics, they've done some research and found that BMW and VW products, EVs, are selling better in February compared to Tesla. Um, this is as Musk's standing in the country, uh, by backing the AFD movement. It has taken a hit on his public polling, right? Uh, but also I want to note that German automakers have been making some good EV products for quite a while now. Uh, in particular, BMW is selling very well, uh, topping, in fact, Mercedes and VW combined in the US, but in Germany, in particular, doing quite well. Um, so the question is, can Tesla with both, you know, an aging product lineup with the new Model Y coming out, can they compete on terms with German rivals who are better now, with the overhang of bad PR, a bad Tesla brand image, a bad Musk brand image?

All right, Pras. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Thank you.