AD #2827 – Tesla Profit Should Worry Competitors; Bollinger Shows Commercial EV; Hyundai Design Head Steps Down
April 30th, 2020 at 11:40am
Listen to “AD #2827 – Tesla Profit Should Worry Competitors; Bollinger Shows Commercial EV; Hyundai Design Head Steps Down” on Spreaker.
Follow us on social media:
Runtime: 10:37
0:07 Tesla Profit Should Have Competitors Shaking
0:52 Tesla Model Y Profitable in Q1
1:53 Musk Goes Off on Stay at Home Order
2:31 Musk Could be Worried Quarantine Hurting Tesla
3:27 Bollinger Wants to Tap Commercial Market
4:14 Porsche AR Technical Service Triples in Use
5:05 Porsche Extends Warranties Worldwide
5:16 Luc Donckerwolke Steps Down as Hyundai’s Design Head
6:12 GMC Hummer EV Reveal Delayed
6:31 Fill Up While Gas Is Cheap
7:42 Benefits of a Composite Battery Case
9:27 BMW Driver Honing Skills on Simulator
Visit our sponsor to thank them for their support of Autoline Daily: Bridgestone.
This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
TESLA PROFIT SHOULD HAVE COMPETITORS SHAKING
Tesla reported its first quarter earnings, and considering that the auto industry is getting slammed by the virus crisis, the numbers are surprisingly good. The stock jumped over $80 a share on the news in after hours trading. Tesla brought in almost $6 billion in revenue, posted an operating profit of $283 million, and for the first time ever in the first quarter, it reported a GAAP net profit of $16 million. Normally, sixteen million bucks would be considered pathetic, but the fact that Tesla posted a profit at all is going to send shivers down the spines of all its competitors, both traditional automakers and startups alike.
TESLA SAYS MODEL Y PROFITABLE IN Q1
There were lots of little nuggets of information during Tesla’s earnings call with analysts. Tesla made more Model Ys in the first quarter than it made Model 3s in its first two quarters. Tesla says the Model Y was profitable in Q1. It also says that thanks to a new heat pump design in the Model Y it has the same driving range as the 3, despite being a bigger and heavier vehicle. Elon Musk says the real range of the Model S and X is now 400 miles, which will be borne out the next time the EPA tests the car. He also said Battery Day has been tentatively moved to the third week in May and that they have very exciting news to announce. He then let it drop that Battery Day will be in California or Texas. And that makes us think that maybe he’s going to announce that the Cyber Truck will be made at a new plant in Texas.
MUSK GOES OFF ON STAY AT HOME ORDER
But then, inexplicably, Musk went on a tirade against the stay at home orders in the U.S. Sounding very much like President Trump he said that “forcibly imprisoning people in their homes against all their constitutional rights… and breaking people’s freedoms in ways that are horrible and wrong is not why people came to America or built this country. WTF?” Only he didn’t use those three letters, he spelled the whole thing out. He went on to say, “… this is fascist. This is not democratic. This is not freedom. Give people back their goddamn freedom.”
MUSK COULD BE WORRIED QUARANTINE HURTING TESLA
Here’s my Autoline Insight. I think Musk is deeply worried about how the stay at home orders are hurting Tesla. Like every other automaker, the company is burning through cash. It spent $895 million in Q1, and the cash burn will likely be worse in the second quarter. Tesla has $8 billion in cash right now, so unless things improve it will be out of cash by Christmas. And if investors react negatively to that Musk could lose out on a massive bonus that could top a billion dollars. And I think that explains why he went off the nut on this tirade about fascism.
BOLLINGER SHOWS CLASS 3 COMMERCIAL TRUCK
EV startup Bollinger Motors has more ambitious plans than we realized. It just unveiled a platform for Class 3 commercial trucks. That’s like a Ford F-350-size truck. Bolliinger will produce and sell the all-electric B2 Chassis Cab, which it claims is the world’s first Class 3 electric truck platform. It will be offered with two-doors or four-doors, multiple wheelbase lengths and in both full cab and cut away variants. Other features include a 120-kWh battery pack, 5,000-pound payload, all-wheel drive and all-terrain capabilities. Bollinger’s chassis cab will be available for commercial outfitters in late 2021.
PORSCHE’S AR TECHNICAL SERVICE TRIPLES IN USE
Porsche has got a really cool way to help dealers solve complicated repair problems. It has techs called Field Technical Experts who normally visit dealerships when a technician runs into a complicated repair that the dealership can’t fix. But with lockdowns they’re not able to travel to shops. So Porsche rolled out what it calls Tech Live Look, which uses augmented reality smart glasses to connect technicians with Technical Experts. The Expert is able to see what the tech sees and help guide them through the repair. They can even send pictures or repair instructions right to the glasses. This method proved to reduce the time to find a fix by 40%. And Porsche says from February to March the number of Tech Live Look sessions has more than tripled.
PORSCHE EXTENDS VEHICLE WARRANTIES WORLDWIDE
In other Porsche news, it’s extending vehicle warranties worldwide. Any vehicle with a warranty that expires between March 1st and May 31st will be extended for another three months.
HYUNDAI GROUP DESIGN LEADER STEPS DOWN
Here’s an item that caught us completely by surprise. The Hyundai Group’s chief of design, Luc Donckerwolke, who is 54, is stepping down citing “personal reasons.” He said it was an honor and privilege to help shape the look of the group. Donckerwolke only joined Hyundai in 2015 and took over his current role in 2018 when then head of design Peter Schreyer started to lessen his duties. We most remember Donckerwolke, who was Bentley’s design chief at the time, for criticizing the similarities between the Lincoln Continental Concept and the Bentley Flying Spur, asking Ford, “Do you want us to send the product tooling?” Hyundai has not named a successor, but SangYup Lee, the head of Hyundai and Genesis design or Karim Habib, the head of Kia design are likely high on the list.
GMC HUMMER EV REVEAL DELAYED
If you watched the Super Bowl you may remember that the all-new GMC Hummer EV was supposed to make its debut soon, but that’s not going to happen. GM is pushing the truck’s reveal date back, which was scheduled to take place on May 20th. And there’s no new debut date to check off on your calendar just yet.
FILL UP WHILE GAS IS CHEAP
Here’s an Autoline Tech Tip for some of you to take advantage of while gas prices are low. If you have a vehicle with port injection, not direct injection, go and fill up and run a tank or two of premium fuel from a Top Tier fuel provider, like Shell. Shell premium has enough detergents that it can actually clean carbon deposits off internal engine parts. In some cases we’ve seen engine power restored and fuel economy improve after a couple of fill ups with Shell premium. Then after those tankfulls, switch back to a lower grade gas from a Top Tier fuel provider, which will help prevent more deposits pilling up. If you’ve never heard of Top Tier fuel, do an online search. It’s the only gasoline that gets the official blessing from automakers. And the good news is, most gas stations already provide Top Tier fuel. This can be a cheap and easy way to keep older vehicles running properly, because they’re more likely to have port injection.
BENEFITS OF A COMPOSITE BATTERY CASE
Most of the battery packs, or battery trays, that we’ve seen are made out of aluminum. But the supplier Continental Structural Plastics or CSP, is making composite ones. I spoke with Mike Siwajek from CSP and he talked about the benefits of making battery packs out of composites instead of aluminum.
Mike Siwajek, CSP
“We think that’s where our value proposition comes from, in all our composite applications across the board, but especially in batteries. With the fact we can mold in the features in one tool, not have to worry about multiple parts being joined together. So you don’t have to worry about seal surfaces as much. You don’t have potential sources for leak, where you know, if we’re doing a cover and a tray and we put them together with one seal that’s really our only issue. Where If you’re doing multiple pieces of aluminum stamping, we can get much more elegant designs where we can use more features that are molded into the part as opposed to having to stamp it. We think parts consolidation and design freedom is one of our biggest assets.”
You can watch that interview on our YouTube channel.
If you love classic cars that show the patina of history, you won’t want to miss today’s Autoline After Hours. We’ve got Tom Cotter from Hagerty’s popular YouTube show Barn Find Hunter and known woody wagon fanatic. Tom scours the country looking for tucked away relics all while sharing his tips and tricks for finding such cars and telling the stories behind the metal. So, join me, Gary and Mike Austin from Hemmings live at 3pm eastern time for some of the best discussions in the automotive industry.
BMW DRIVERS HONING SKILLS ON SIMULATOR
Simulators are playing a larger role in vehicle development, not only for passenger vehicles but also motorsports. BMW’s simulator in Munich, which it uses for Formula E and the DTM series, helps drivers get to know a new track, work on their strategy or experiment with different vehicle setups. It’s also used to develop new race cars. To simulate movement, it features actuators and a turntable and the system is able to do 100 billion calculations a second, which helps it react quickly to inputs. And three projectors display the race track for the driver. The simulator not only helps speed up development, it also cuts costs by allowing engineers to try multiple configurations in the virtual world.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and we’ll see you again tomorrow.
Thanks to our partner for embedding Autoline Daily on its website: WardsAuto.com
Share
Permalink
Comments (41)
April 30th, 2020 at 12:08 pm
John, I don’t know what it is, but it seems that ever since AD got shifted into COVID-19 social distancing mode, the shows have grown in average length and content, which is a good thing! I don’t know if you’re still in one-man operational mode there at the studio, but keep up the great work!
April 30th, 2020 at 12:09 pm
In spite of everything Elon Musk has accomplished, it sounds like he is as deranged as some other people I can think of. Disappointing.
April 30th, 2020 at 12:11 pm
Have most, or all of these Models Y been built in Shanghai?
April 30th, 2020 at 12:14 pm
Gotta step outside the automotive topic a moment here and make a social comment.
Why is it perceived as the ultimate taboo to pronounce the F-bomb over public airwaves, but when it comes to saying the Lord’s name in vain, there’s not one ounce of reservation?
I already know the answer to that. but I’m just trying to invoke some deeper thought.
April 30th, 2020 at 12:16 pm
Does anyone in the real world believe people will buy an electric Hummer? Not I.
April 30th, 2020 at 12:18 pm
4. I think both should be ok, since they are in common use with a lot of people.
April 30th, 2020 at 12:19 pm
Elon, shut the F up!
April 30th, 2020 at 12:22 pm
Perhaps Shell’s premium fuel has even more of the cleaners in its gasoline, but according to their website: “All three grades of Shell gasoline contain the patented Shell Nitrogen Enriched Cleaning System”. Wouldn’t hurt to fill up with premium but with continued use of regular or midgrade (I’m thinking) would yield the same. Using TopTier, in general, is a good thing (all manufacturers).
April 30th, 2020 at 12:23 pm
John, Why does Elon Musk feel the need to build a pickup plant at all? With the current economy and his high stock price, he should be able to buy Bollinger, Rivian AND Workhorse in a share swap. I have to believe at least 2 of them would be interested in guaranteed survival if he buys them out!
April 30th, 2020 at 12:34 pm
Another great show. Autoline is the best.
Fwiw I agree with Musk. We flattened the curve for the sake of the hospitals and now that national concern is over.
We never agreed to wait until wow stopped getting sick..
We all feel.bad for the .02 percent of the people that pass away but that’s part of living.
The experts were wrong on their facility rate projections.
Now the idiot Democrats who claimed Trump was a king? Are literally acting like monarchs after a state of emergency gave them special.powers.
Time for those powers of governors be stripped away.
My point is…Musk is right…
April 30th, 2020 at 12:36 pm
8. I was under the impression that all grades of Top Tier had the same detergents, and so all grades should be ok for cars with GDI. I’ve used all Top Tier, mostly regular in my Corvette, and it’s running fine. I’ll have to check out the Top Tier site again. I may have missed something.
April 30th, 2020 at 12:45 pm
10. We’ve sort of “flattened the curve” in some locations, because the physical distancing worked. Still, we are having new “hot spots,” like in meat processing plants, with the number of new cases more than doubling last week in Nebraska, close behind in Iowa and Kansas.
April 30th, 2020 at 12:56 pm
@10 – Wow. Seriously?. The National concern is not over. It’s not close to over. Present testing has high failure rates. We can live with false positives, but it has a very high rate of false negatives.
The death rate is not .02%. It is 2-8% of known cases. And its lethality is not restricted to a predictable population.
One year from now, we will look back and declare we were either too lax or too strict in following the stay at home and social distancing regimen. You may want to be more lax, but don’t put others at risk. Wear a mask and gloves!
April 30th, 2020 at 1:13 pm
Right on Musky, and what’s with all these stupid seat belts??? barely anyone is killed in a car anymore and don’t get me started on fire codes and building codes! Buildings are so safe now why do we need those. Fascist governments just trying to justify there jobs. – sarcasm
April 30th, 2020 at 1:16 pm
11, All grades of TopTier have the required additives to earn top tier status for any brand represented; my conjecture was whether they (Shell) added even more to their premium. Their marketing alludes that it may but I’m suspect that all grades have the same amount and Shell is just not addressing it as such. (you know, marketing)
April 30th, 2020 at 1:36 pm
Also Tesla outlined their EV credits (from FCA/GM?) which helped them obviously. And they will be getting credits for the next 2 years.
Its tricky to get the restart right and obviously some places should and some should not. Its great to be king/governor but if you keep it too long without obvious reasons folks will reject it gradually.
April 30th, 2020 at 1:37 pm
15 I just read some of the Top Tier site, and a couple other articles about Top Tier, and they didn’t seem to say if premium had “more” of what makes it Top Tier, but that it complies with the standards. I suspect there is no harm from using premium occasionally, even if you don’t need it, and it might do a little good. At today’s prices, why not? I’ll stick with regular in my Camry, though.
Yeah, marketing is a big thing in gas, as with everything else. Shell uses “nitro” in their advertising, I guess meaning that their gas will make your Corolla run like a top fuel dragster.
April 30th, 2020 at 1:39 pm
#1. Glad you like our longer format, and the content. I’m still the only one in the studio, but the rest of the crew is making all our shows possible by working from home.
April 30th, 2020 at 1:51 pm
I can hear our politicians now saying, “ if it saves just one life”. Nobody wants people to die but as Ben Franklin said, “those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither and will lose both”. The original goal was curb flattening but now it’s to reduce the infection incidence rate to very low levels. More people will die from lack of access, lack of work, lack of money (oh, never mind there. The government printing press is on overtime who’s paying for this, again?) lack of other medical care, than will die from CV19. Have we all agreed if we’re worried enough the Constitution can be thrown out the door?
April 30th, 2020 at 2:00 pm
2. Precisely. There is perhaps a fine line between genius and madness; whatever the case, Tesla rolls on for another day with an incredibly inflated stock value! The “genius” in this case is more of a “native cunning,” an ability of EM to stay just ahead of the curve.
April 30th, 2020 at 2:06 pm
A recent report stated that the 1st quarter sales of EV credits for Tesla totaled $360 million. So, again, without credit sales this company is a money losing proposition. They have achieved some great things but ultimately they are a car company and they need to find a way to make money building and selling vehicles.
In two years, all Jeep models worldwide will have some level of electrification. That will apply to much of the rest of FCA’s lineup. Ditto for GM. When they no longer need to buy Tesla’s credits, how will Tesla make money?
April 30th, 2020 at 2:08 pm
Most of the Shell stations in my area are gone. The only one I know of is a distance away and is ridiculously overpriced.
April 30th, 2020 at 2:29 pm
I want to share my good fortune and,yet, sadness with you.
I was fortunate enough to spend a few days with my nephew, Kenny John Lantz, at the Norwalk Ohio Speedway in 2019. This was the first time I saw Ken in 30 years since he moved to Seattle area. You see, Ken was the crew chief for Hancock & Lane race team and I was invited to be a part of it. Cody Lane set a new National record on the last day driving his Cavalier in the Super Stock Division. We had such a good time we made plans for me to spend a month with him and the team on the circuit. Sadly, I didn’t make it due to the passing of my in-laws, then the epidemic. I planned to head west as soon as it was safe to travel. Cont.
April 30th, 2020 at 2:30 pm
@18 – Thanks to the rest of the Autoline team as well then!
@13 – Correct, CDC reports roughly 6% of known cases. The problem is, however, what that percentage does not represent (which the media won’t even mention) is that there are exponentially more cases than those reported.
A. MANY carriers are asymptomatic. They show zero signs of it, and therefore don’t even know they have it.
B. Many others show only minor to moderate symptoms. So minor that they mistake it for cold or seasonal allergies, and never seek medical attention.
C. The remnant are those who show full-blown symptoms and seek medical attention. These are those who show up in the statistics that would other wise indicate that the pandemic has a whopping 6% death rate. Which for that reason is largely deceptive.
April 30th, 2020 at 2:46 pm
We Phoned and text often about the project of a life time; Ford asked the team to test their Mustang Cobra Jet 1400 at the Ford proving grounds! I’m sure many of you read the review in MT and C&D, but the excitement he often shared was far more breath taking. You have no idea how tough it was for me not to be able to share this with The Autoline gang but I promised to say nothing until published.
Sadly, at the end of the trial Ken had a massive heart attack and passed away instantly during the celebration.
What is worse was that family could not attend his funeral nor comfort his wife Joanne. I plan to fly to Seattle this summer to honor his memory. Say a prayer for him. The last picture I saw of him was in the video of Jeff Lane’s arm around him while walking back to the pit. What a tale he has to tell in heaven!
April 30th, 2020 at 2:48 pm
25. Sorry to hear that.
April 30th, 2020 at 2:49 pm
#24cont. In other words, that 6% death rate is in reality much closer to the .1% to .2% of the common seasonal flu than the media would like to admit because the vast majority of people who have (and HAVE HAD) C-19 never reported it.
April 30th, 2020 at 2:50 pm
25. Yes… Very disheartening to hear.
April 30th, 2020 at 2:59 pm
28. Until, and unless we know actual infection numbers, there is no way to know the death rate. Now, of course, the death rate is vastly undercounted, with people dying at home, likely from the virus, but not confirmed, so their deaths are listed as “other causes,” or something.
April 30th, 2020 at 3:17 pm
Kit, in your state of Florida it was said the number of deaths reported do not include the snowbirds like you.
April 30th, 2020 at 3:17 pm
Kudos to Autoline who in the face of the current pandemic has done great work! You’ve added extras but there is not web link to find them easily. Perhaps in the future.
As for Elon, his recent tweets about the COVID-19 shutdown has all but guaranteed another UAW representation vote. Heck, even the local public health officials will work for the union.
The only thing Bollinger Motors is missing are photos of customers taking delivery. Lucid Motors has the same problem. Give anyone free prototype articles but only one free “pre-production” article. Thereafter they must provide photos of first, production deliveries.
April 30th, 2020 at 3:57 pm
30 I heard that just yesterday, with likely correct speculation that the governor is doing counting that way to lower numbers, so he can justify opening things up sooner than is probably advisable.
April 30th, 2020 at 10:47 pm
#2 #7 If the Loose Cannon gets wind of Musk’s comments he’ll be inviting him to Washington to appear at one of his afternoon misinformation sessions. Or better still invite Musk to be on stage when he starts his farewell tour
April 30th, 2020 at 11:07 pm
I’m not fan of Elon, the cult of personality around him makes me sick, but John, don’t call it a tirade when he rightly calls out the overreach and economic destruction being caused by our government.
April 30th, 2020 at 11:09 pm
I’m not fan of Elon, the cult of personality around him makes me sick, but John, don’t call it a tirade when he rightly calls out the overreach and economic destruction being caused by our government. To all those that want to stay at home because they are paranoid, uninformed, or of terrible health, go for it. It’s call freedom.
April 30th, 2020 at 11:41 pm
34,35 It was a tirade. A major function of governments is to protect the health and safety of people, which is what state and local governments are doing.
May 1st, 2020 at 11:23 am
WTF?
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1256239554148724737?s=19
May 2nd, 2020 at 1:58 am
WTF?!?!? You can’t say the words to WTF, but you can say Goddamn?!?!? BULLSHIT!!
May 2nd, 2020 at 10:26 am
ONWARDS AND UPWARDS, GREAT TESLA!!!!!
May 2nd, 2020 at 10:27 am
38 It’s an abbreviation, not just a concealment. Saves time.
May 2nd, 2020 at 10:29 am
35 Good points. The opening is VOLUNTARY. if you are at risk and have preexisting conditions, you should STAY HOME, even if your state is open. Our Governor here has overreacted and shut MI for another month, and the media demonize the protesters who are in DIRE ECONOMIC STRAITS aftwer so many weeks of closing down.