VOL. I · NO. 8565THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 2026
The Daily Buffoon
TARIFFS ✒ EDITORIAL ABSURDITY: 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

Waymo Imports 3,200 Zeekr Robotaxis Despite Super High Tariffs - CleanTechnica

Filed 1w ago · Via cleantechnica.com · The Buffoon Desk
THIS STORY IS SCORED
The Path of the Goblin King
Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Waymo has imported roughly 3,200 Zeekr-built Ojai robotaxis from Ningbo, China, despite 102.5% tariffs on Chinese-made EVs, with the chassis reportedly costing about $38,000-38,500 before tariffs push the landed price to roughly $78,000. More than 2,600 vehicles have been delivered in 2026, with about 500 recently spotted at a Waymo facility in Arizona.

Customs records reportedly identify the vehicles under the codename CM1e and do not list Waymo as the consignee. The Ojai, featuring an 800V system, 93 kWh battery, and a distinctive pillarless sliding door, has already entered public service in San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK
Tariffs meant to keep Chinese EVs out of the American market apparently have an exception clause for whichever company can absorb a $40,000-per-vehicle markup and still call it a business plan. If the point of the tariff regime was to stop Chinese-built cars from reaching American streets, several thousand robotaxis with sliding doors suggest it isn't working exactly as advertised.
Source: Read the original at cleantechnica.com → Scored: The Path of the Goblin King · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0
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