Automotive News Daily Drive · Automotive News

March 3, 2026 | Iran conflict: What the auto industry needs to know

·23 min·5 clips

Daily Drive opens with a fast industry news rundown. Jake Neer fills in for Kellen Walker and sets the agenda for the morning. Toyota and Honda post higher February sales despite a weak market. Hyundai and Kia also buck the broader softness with higher U.S. sales. The show then turns to Nexperia and the control fight. Nexperia's Chinese owner wants $8 billion as the Dutch block control. That story sits alongside another sign of supplier pressure. Suppliers are trying to diversify beyond cars after getting burned by Stellantis. The central segment shifts to the Iran conflict. Darren Barbee of Heart Energy joins to talk about oil markets. He lays out the possibility of higher crude prices and a temporary premium. He compares that to older conflicts where price pressure lasted for a while and then eased. The discussion stays focused on what that means for U.S. prices versus overseas benchmarks such as Brent. Dan Hirsch of Alex Partners then joins to discuss supply chain exposure. He says the conflict adds risk. He also recommends thinking about rerouting anything that would pass through the region. The conversation turns to warning signs the industry should watch for. The episode keeps tying geopolitics back to real operations. Energy costs, shipping routes, and supplier decisions all come into the same frame. The result is a practical update on how one conflict could ripple through the auto business.

As heard by us

A supply-chain briefing that treats geopolitics as an operating problem.

Daily Drive treats the Iran conflict as an auto industry problem, and that gives the episode real urgency. It also brings in Toyota and Honda's higher February sales, the Nexperia control fight, and supplier efforts to move beyond cars, so the business stakes stay concrete…

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Why you'd press play

You want the Iran conflict translated into auto-industry risk, fast.

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