Listen to “AD #2786 – Renault’s Wild Morphoz Concept; U.S. Car Sales Up in February; GM to Take Hummer Orders in May” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 8:27
0:23 U.S February Sales Better Than Expected
1:10 Daimler To Cut Engines & Platforms
1:49 Geely To Use Satellites to Operate AVs
2:17 Aston Martin V12 Speedster
3:51 Ford Expands Electric Transit to North America
4:57 Renault’s Wild Morphoz Concept
5:57 Dacia Introduces 1st EV
6:25 AIWAYS Unveils U6ion Concept
7:09 GM to Take Hummer Orders in May
7:45 GM Adds More EV Charging Stations
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U.S FEBRUARY SALES BETTER THAN EXPECTED
While the coronavirus has impacted car sales globally, it hasn’t kept customers out of showrooms in the U.S… at least not yet. According to Wards Intelligence, the Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate or SAAR was 16.83 million units in February, which was ahead of its 16.6 million forecast. Automakers sold 1.36 million vehicles, which is up a strong 8.4% compared to a year ago but that was due to having an extra weekend this February to sell vehicles. While these numbers are encouraging, as we reported earlier this week, sales could be impacted rather quickly due to low inventory levels and parts shortages caused by the coronavirus.
DAIMLER TO CUT ENGINES & PLATFORMS
Daimler is going through a bit of a rocky period. Last year its net profit plunged 64%, mainly to pay for diesel emission fines, recalls and to fix defective Takata airbags. At the same time, the company plans to cut thousands of jobs to help pay for new electric and autonomous vehicles. But those job cuts won’t be enough to pay for those technologies. Reuters reports board member Markus Schaefer, says the company plans to build vehicles on fewer platforms and some engine families will be eliminated due to stricter emission regulations.
GEELY TO USE SATELLITES TO OPERATE AVs
Geely has a pretty wild and ambitious plan to help with the deployment of autonomous vehicles. It’s investing over $325 million to build low-orbit satellites that will provide high speed internet, navigation data, and cloud computing capabilities to vehicles with autonomous features. Geely plans to make 500 of these satellites a year by 2025 and will start launching them by the end of this year.
ASTON MARTIN V12 SPEEDSTER
Following in the footsteps of Ferrari and its Monza SP1 and SP2, Aston Martin is making its own limited-edition speedster. It’s built on the automaker’s latest bonded aluminum architecture, but also uses elements from the DBS Superleggera and Vantage models. The body is made almost entirely from carbon fiber and takes inspiration from past race cars, production models and concept cars. Despite its ties to the past, the V12 Speedster has a surprisingly futuristic interior with even more carbon fiber elements. As its name implies, there’s a V12 engine lurking underneath its long hood. The twin-turbo 5.2L unit is estimated to make 700 horsepower and is mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission that drives the rear wheels. It’s able to do 0 to 100 km/h in 3.5 seconds. Aston will only make 88 examples of the V12 Speedster and that exclusivity doesn’t come cheap. Pricing starts at 765,000 pounds or nearly $981,000. Deliveries begin in the first quarter of next year.
There’s a lot of electric vehicle news today. So let’s get to it.
FORD EXPANDS ELECTRIC TRANSIT TO NORTH AMERICA
Ford is going to expand the use of its all-electric Transit van. It previously announced it will launch the van in Europe next year and now it says the electric Transit will come to the U.S. and Canada in 2022. Pretty much every version of the van can be had with an electric powertrain, including the cargo van, cutaway, chassis cab and in three roof heights and three body lengths. Ford also revealed that the vans will be American-built and they’ll be able to integrate the in-vehicle electrical architectures with cloud-based services to aid fleet operators. What Ford didn’t announce was any performance specifications. But we’ll note that Ford provides Transit chassis’ to EV manufacturer StreetScooter, which is owned by DHL, who converts them into delivery vans. Its most capable setup combines a 90-kW electric motor with a 76-kWh battery pack that provides up to 200 kilometers or about 124 miles of range.
RENAULT’S WILD MORPHOZ CONCEPT
Renault revealed a wild concept called the Morphoz, which is the company’s vision of what shared electric mobility will look like beyond 2025. Equipped with Level 3 autonomous technology, it’s built on the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance’s CMF-EV electric platform. As the name suggests, the vehicle is able to morph or extend itself to make room for extra batteries. In City mode, the vehicle is 4.4 meters long and comes with a 40-kWh battery which provides 400 kilometers of range. In Travel mode, it extends to 4.8 meters long and is able to add a second 50-kWh battery at a swapping station. With the extra battery, the Morphoz’s range increases to 700 kilometers. Renault plans to introduce a crossover built on the concept’s platform in 2021.
DACIA INTRODUCES 1ST EV
And speaking of Renault, its low-cost brand Dacia, unveiled its own electric concept called the Spring. A production version will launch in 2021 with over 200 kilometers of range based on the WLTP test cycle. It will be the first city car in the company’s lineup to come with four real seats. Not many other details were shared but Dacia says this will be the most affordable all-electric car in Europe.
AIWAYS UNVEILS U6ION CONCEPT
Last month, Chinese EV startup AIWAYS released a couple of teaser shots of its U6ion crossover. And now the company has unveiled the vehicle, which it calls a concept but it looks production ready to us. And while it’s not as sleek looking as the teaser shots, it does boast a drag coefficient of 0.27. It’s based on the same platform as the company’s U5 SUV and the styling was created by Ken Okuyama, a former Pininfarina designer and the creator of the Ferrari Enzo. No powertrain details were shared but the company plans to launch its first vehicles in Europe in August.
GM TO TAKE HUMMER ORDERS IN MAY
General Motors will begin taking preorders for the new GMC Hummer electric pickup on May 20th. The vehicle will be unveiled the same day in a livestream event, where its battery details, price and production numbers will be revealed. Production of the electric pickup is scheduled to kick off in September of 2021 at its Detroit-Hamtramck plant. The company has already announced that the electric Hummer will have up to 1,000 horsepower, 11,500 lb.-ft. of torque and will move from 0 to 60 MPH in just 3 seconds.
GM ADDS MORE EV CHARGING STATIONS
And in other GM electric news, the company will install 3,500 additional EV chargers at its facilities in the U.S. and Canada, tripling the amount it currently has. Finding a place to charge is one of the issues holding back EV adoption and GM hopes this will encourage more of its employees to own one.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.
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John McElroy is an influential thought leader in the automotive industry. He is a journalist, lecturer, commentator and entrepreneur. He created “Autoline Daily,” the first industry webcast of industry news and analysis.