Interesting article, but the emphasis on 12-Volt in the title kind of throws me off because I don't really get what the "12-Volt" wordplay has to do with anything
Car Makers Remove AM/FM: What It Means for 12-Volt
https://www.ceoutlook.com/2026/01/15/car-makers-remove-am-fm-what-it-means-for-12-volt/
"... Car makers lost huge amounts on electric vehicles. Ford lost $44,000 on every electric truck it sold, and now it needs to find new ways to make money. At first, companies said AM radio interfered with electric cars. But Fix says that’s not true. Car makers solved this problem back in the 1950s when Chrysler added electronic fuel injection. The same fix works today.
The Real Plan: Subscriptions .. ... Because every app on your car screen costs them money in fees. If they control everything, they keep all the subscription money instead. Free AM and FM radio is their biggest problem. It gives drivers a free option instead of paying for streaming services .... Customers are pushing back too. Ford brought AM radio back after people complained. Volvo and Stellantis did the same thing. Toyota and Honda now advertise that their cars have AM and FM radio because they know customers want choices. ..."
https://www.ceoutlook.com/2026/01/15/car-makers-remove-am-fm-what-it-means-for-12-volt/
It's tough to believe that Ford actually loses $44,000 for each electric vehicle it sells. I think you can make these kinds of figures out to what you want them to be.
The Chinese appear to be able to build & sell electric vehicles for well under 50% of what Ford charges. And you can't blame that totally on low worker wages any more.
The bloated American (and Canadian) car companies need to get smaller (ridding themselves of excessive middle and upper management) and far more technologically nimble to survive.
I don't have a clue what 12 volts has to do with anything!
But notice this article says what I have been posting all along. Claiming that AM has to be eliminated because of the noise is garbage! It was never about that, they don't want you to have over the air radio AM or FM as they can't make money on subscriptions for apps and streaming. To put it nicely, screw them all. Like a multi billionaire and close to a trillionaire really will be hurt giving us free over the air radio. These people have so much you have no idea just how much that number is. For example if you saved $10,000 every day from the birth of Christ....that's 2026 years ago, today you would not have near the money that these heads of corporations have. You could save 50,000 dollars every day for 2026 years and you still wouldn't.
They don't want to put an AM radio in a car because they can't make money on subscriptions??..............again screw them all. Elon Musk could give everyone in the world 1 BILLION dollars and he would still have 750 billion dollars. And he is on track to becoming a trillionaire. That's criminal. No one person should have more than everyone in the world combined. Combined 3 times!! And he doesn't want to give you AM radio.....!
I will add to this.....check this fact.....
And this jerk can't give you AM/ terrestrial radio because he can't make money on you? And the 10 people that are like him that run and control everything the same thing. Damn them all.
You just don't know how large the number is with the wealth these people have. I hope this little illustration of just how high the number is puts things into perspective.
I don't want to get it from streaming with a paid for app. Plus for us to check our stations range we need over the air radio. Radio(and TV) should always be free and over the air broadcasting should always be there and protected by law. That is if the governments can stand up to these billionaires and not take bribes and bow down. This is another reason I don't believe in streaming. Pass the AM for all cars act already.
This can't be said enough....
And it's not just a safety thing. There's more to it then just that.
Your math is a little off on Musk giving a billion people $1 billion dollars. He would be giving away a trillion if he gave a million people that amount. But I think we get the picture.
These corporations, and their heads, make obscene amounts of money, while making it look like they don't (for tax purposes). And they always want more. More money. More power. More 'stuff'.
Never mind that they've never paid the true costs of what they do in terms of pollution and destruction of the climate and the planet in general. That cost is borne by everyone else.
There's a great graphic novel out there called Billionaire Island. The premise is that only billionaires can purchase getaways on the island (so they don't have to interact all the time with the great unwashed), and they get to enjoy such amenities as The Endangered Species Restaurant. I highly recommend reading it.
@artisan-radio Yeah I wasn't thinking it through and my math was bad!
But doesn't matter! My other illustration I posted of just how much 750 billion dollars is to get an idea is accurate( I think). And 10 people along with Musk having more than every person in the USA combined is criminal. And to demonstrate the greed Musk bought his own stocks and will be a trillionaire soon. That amount of money is incomprehensible for one or even 10 people together to have. And they won't give you a radio because they don't want you to get something without a subscription.
The thing to do is to beat them at their own game. They rely on the fact that people will just give in and let them get their way.
Don't purchase a vehicle without a radio. Make sure that the sales person who is attempting to sell you one knows the reason they lost the sale.
Don't buy that subscription software, which is a license to print money for these guys. Buy from the competitor that sells something for a one time fee. And let the subscription software maker know!
If a country slaps tariffs on goods, don't buy goods from that country. Don't visit that country. Don't do anything that will give that country cash flow. They'll eventually get the message. Or, at least, the industries that lose out will send the message up the line.
As our esteemed Prime Minister said a few days ago in Davos, "...if we're not at the table, we're on the menu...". Push back.