Episode summary
GM, Ford, Tesla, and Robotaxis | Barron's Streetwise
Barron's Streetwise
· · Hosts: Jack, Andrew Bary · Guests: Dan Levy
Summary
Gasoline prices rising and auto stocks sliding set up a broader debate about whether the recent shift back toward trucks and internal-combustion vehicles is still working for investors. Dan Levy of Barclays said the near-term impact is mostly about costs and sentiment, not a full change in the industry thesis. He argued that higher oil can pressure supply-chain expenses and eventually vehicle mix, but that the market still favors larger pickups and SUVs, and that the big picture for GM and Ford has not changed yet.
Levy said the U.S. auto market remains resilient because buyers have skewed higher income, average transaction prices have stayed elevated, and automakers have learned to prioritize pricing over volume. He described GM as Barclays’ favorite name, with an overweight rating, while Ford is equal weight. The investment case rests on strong truck economics, narrowing EV losses, and free cash flow.
Tesla is the outlier. The conversation framed it as a company increasingly valued on robotaxi and humanoid-robot optionality rather than car sales, while Waymo and other autonomous rivals are already scaling. Levy kept Tesla at equal weight, and said its valuation depends far more on narrative and future AI progress than near-term deliveries.
Key takeaways
- Levy said higher gasoline prices have not yet changed Barclays’ core auto view, though they could eventually affect vehicle mix and input costs.
- Barclays favors GM over Ford because truck demand is strong, EV losses are narrowing, and GM’s free cash flow is better.
- Levy said the U.S. market has shifted toward wealthier buyers, helping average vehicle prices hold near $45,000 to $46,000.
- He said Tesla is being valued mostly on robotaxi and AI expectations, not car deliveries, which he sees as a more fragile setup.
- Levy said autonomous driving could change ownership economics over time, but not in the next couple of years.
Notable quotes
“ICE is nice. These companies struggled with EVs on profitability and that was when you had a regulatory and policy environment that supported EVs”
“We think it's going to take some time. We think that structurally there are there is a better preference for larger vehicles, pickups, SUVs”
“We're overweight on GM. The GM thesis, I think, is is is two points simply”
“Tesla doesn't care about the vehicle business as much”
“Tesla is one of three companies in the world that is a hundred billion dollar plus valuation but also trades in excess of a hundred times earnings”
How the episode opens
Tesla, the models that made them this disruptive force in auto are are now being phased out as they go to this next phase of AI, humanoid robots, robo taxi, autonomous driving. These are things that the the legacy automakers really aren't interested in.
Hello and welcome to the Baron Street Wise podcast. I'm Jack How and the voice you just heard, that's Dan Levy. He's a car analyst with Barclays and we're going to be talking about what the price of gasoline.
The price of cars. Cars are expensive, but the car makers are doing well financially so far. The stocks were up big last year.
They've been selling off this year. What's next? We'll get to that.
We'll talk GM, Ford, and Tesla. Listening in is our audio producer, Jackson Canrell. Hi, Jackson.
Yeah. Do you know Dan Levy is also the name of uh writer, actor, and Eugene Levy's son uh famous in Shitz Creek? — You can't that you got to bleep that or that's you're going to say that's that's an so you don't have to bleep it.
It's a show. Yeah. S Yeah. Yeah. It's a it's the name of a town where there's a motel. — Feels like a loophole you're using just to get naughty words in the podcast. I don't know. — Yeah, you caught me there. But but he's great. Great, great set of glasses.
This is a different Dan Levy. Uh, absolutely no relation to the great Splash co-star Eugene Levy. — Nothing to do with Splash. — What has gotten more outrageous? A, the price of cars, B, the price of car insurance, or C, the price of cars and car insurance?
Oh man, I have to say cars if you include interest rates.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- gas prices
- auto stocks
- stock picking
- evs
- robotaxis
Companies and tickers mentioned
- GM
- F
- TSLA
- BCS
- General Motors
- Ford Motor Company
- Tesla
- Barclays
Watch the episode
Watch “GM, Ford, Tesla, and Robotaxis | Barron's Streetwise” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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