AD #2884 – Lucid Motors Shares ADAS Details; GM Earnings Beat Analyst Expectations; Charge Your EV For Free
July 29th, 2020 at 11:46am
Listen to “AD #2884 – Lucid Motors Shares ADAS Details; GM Earnings Beat Analyst Expectations; Charge Your EV For Free” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 9:34
0:08 GM Earnings Beat Analyst Expectations
1:07 Hertz to Drastically Cut Its Fleet
1:47 Levandowski Faces Prison Term
2:59 Continental Using Supercomputer to Develop AI
3:48 Lucid Motors Shares ADAS Details
4:32 Hyundai Veloster N Updates
5:27 GM Wants to Maintain Presence in Australia
6:02 Charge Your EV For Free
7:47 What Kind of Truck Is This?
8:17 Ford Updates NAV System for Off-Roading
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
GM EARNINGS BEAT ANALYST EXPECTATIONS
General Motors reported its second quarter earnings, and while it lost money, Wall Street was pleasantly surprised by the numbers. GM sold 1.4 million vehicles worldwide, down nearly half a million units from a year ago. It earned $16.7 billion in revenue, down by almost half, and it posted a net loss of $780 million, compared to a profit of $2.4 billion last year. But here’s why the numbers actually look good. Wall Street expected GM to earn $16.9 billion in revenue, so it didn’t miss by much. Investors expected an EBIT loss of at least $2.6 billion, but GM only lost $536 million. And analysts expected GM to lose $1.76 per share, but it only lost 56 cents. The ‘Street likes what it’s seeing. In pre-market trading this morning, GM stock was up 3%.
| GM Q2, 2020 EARNINGS | ||
|---|---|---|
| Analysts’ Forecast | ||
| Sales | 1.46 million | |
| Revenue | $16.7 billion | $16.9 billion |
| EBIT | -$536 million | -$2.6 billion |
| Net Profit | -$780 million | |
| EPS | -$0.56 | -$1.76 |
| Source: General Motors | ||
HERTZ TO DRASTICALLY CUT ITS FLEET
Well here’s something that could really impact the used car market in the U.S. As part of its bankruptcy settlement, Hertz is going to drastically cut down on the number of cars in its fleet. So it’s about to sell off more than 182,000 cars from now to the end of the year. It hopes to sell anywhere from 9,000 to 48,000 vehicles a month and rake in $3.8 billion, as it tries to pay down over $10 billion in debt. The collapse in the daily rental car business really worries the auto industry. The rental companies buy nearly 2 million new vehicles a year in the U.S. alone.
LEVANDOWSKI FACES PRISON TERM
U.S. prosecutors are throwing the book at Anthony Levandowski, one of the pioneers in autonomous technology. He’s accused of taking documents from Google when he went to work for Uber. He already lost a case in which he was ordered to pay $179 million to Google, and which forced him to file for bankruptcy. Now federal prosecutors want to put him in jail for 27 months, they want three years of supervised release after that, and they want over $756,000 in restitution. All we can say is that the old saying is true, “crime does not pay.”
CONTINENTAL USING SUPERCOMPUTER TO DEVELOP AI
Development cycles are becoming shorter and shorter in the automotive industry. That’s why the German supplier Continental is now using a supercomputer to help accelerate development of artificial intelligence, deep learning and virtual simulation, which will be applied to develop ADAS and autonomous technology. The company is able to simulate real-world test drives, which reduces the time needed for programming. In fact, Continental says the supercomputer reduces development time from weeks to hours. The supercomputer consists of 50 networked NVIDIA DGX units, with each one worth as much as a luxury sports car. Continental’s supercomputer began operating earlier this year in a datacenter in Frankfurt, Germany.
LUCID MOTORS SHARES ADAS DETAILS
EV startup Lucid Motors is sharing more details about its Air sedan, which will debut in an online reveal in September. It will feature an advanced driver assistance system called DreamDrive. The technology suite consists of 19 safety, driving and parking assist features and will be the first to market with the combination of a driver monitoring system and 32 sensors that includes high-resolution LIDAR. Another eight features will be added later through over-the-air updates. DreamDrive is Level 2 capable but the company is also developing Level 3 autonomous capabilities for the system as well. Lucid will start delivering the Air to customers early next year.
HYUNDAI VELOSTER N UPDATES
Hyundai is updating the Veloster N for 2021. It’s now offered with an 8-speed wet dual-clutch-transmission, which was developed in-house by the company. The paddle shifters were moved to the steering wheel and it also comes with new sports seats, which provide extra side bolstering and are over 4 pounds lighter. Other features include a new 8-inch display screen and driver assistance features, both of which are now standard. The new Veloster N arrives at dealerships in October. We recently reviewed the current Veloster N and if you’d like to see our impressions, just click the link in the transcript or description box below.
GM WANTS TO MAINTAIN PRESENCE IN AUSTRALIA
Holden dealers in Australia are already angry with GM and this isn’t going to make them any happier. The automaker filed to trademark the name General Motors Specialty Vehicles or GMSV in Australia and website GM Authority says it will be a joint venture with a local Holden tuner that will sell GM vehicles in Australia. As you’ll remember, GM recently announced it was killing off its Holden division in the country and would exit the market. But now it appears as though it will offer right-hand drive versions of the Camaro, Corvette and Silverado.
CHARGE YOUR EV FOR FREE
Do EVs really need to be charged as fast as possible? Do charging stations have to be located on every street corner, or is there a different way to build up a charging infrastructure? Our West Coast correspondent Chase Drum had a fascinating interview with Andrew Cornelia from Volta Charging, a Silicon Valley startup that has very different ideas on where and how electric cars should be charged up. Even more interesting is that it’s business plan actually relies on charging EVs for free. Take a look.
Andrew Cornelia, Chief of Staff, Volta Charging
“One of our fundamental beliefs is that in the future where you go is where you will fuel. It’s not going to be this model that exists today, which is really the gas station model of going out of your way to fill up your car. So when we think about that and we think about this future of where you go is where you fuel, the need to always be fueling and recharging your vehicle at the fastest rate, at the most powerful rate, is not always applicable. So a lot of our competition, a lot of EV charging companies today, they are talking about higher power output, they’re talking about DC fast. But really when you’re charging your car, while you go see a movie or while you grocery shop, the charging speed, the charging offering, that service amenity really should match the activity or the location where the customer or the EV driver is going. So as we think about planning our network, we really think about a diversified product offering that matches our charging speed and charging offering with the site and with the experience of the EV driver.”
You can find that entire interview as well as all our Autoline Exclusives on our website or YouTube channel.
WHAT KIND OF TRUCK IS THIS?
It’s time for another Wisconsin Barn Find. I picked this picture today because, truth be told, I can’t think of a time we’ve ever featured a truck on Barn Finds. I know y’all will have the answer, but it looks like this particular model was used as a tow truck, at least that’s what the contraption off the back looks like. It also looks like it has dually wheels, which would suggest a beefier model. As always, you can leave your guesses in the comments section.
FORD UPDATES NAV SYSTEM FOR OFF-ROADING
Ford wants to make sure drivers who like to go off the beaten path won’t get lost. The automaker has partnered with Telenav to offer a navigation system that stores maps and continues routing, even if you’re outside network coverage. The system is part of SYNC 4 and it also offers specialized route suggestions for towing and off-roading. The technology is available in the new F-150 and Bronco.
And speaking of the Bronco, if you want to learn about how Ford decided to design the new SUV, join us for Autoline After Hours this Thursday. Our guest will be Paul Wraith, the head of design. We want to know how Ford used customer centric design as it developed the Bronco and Bronco Sport. And if you have questions for Paul, drop us a line at [email protected], or send a tweet to @Autoline. Then join John and Gary for some of the best insider views of what’s going on in the automotive industry.
But that’s it for today’s show, thanks for watching.
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Comments (31)
July 29th, 2020 at 12:09 pm
Looks like a early 40′s Chevrolet Truck chassis used as a tow truck.
July 29th, 2020 at 12:27 pm
I would say that Andrews business model is solid. Makes way more sense to have charging stations at the facilities you frequent. If the business offers free charging that would certainly attract EV owners. Will certainly change the way we look at refueling. It could make a gas car seem less convenient than an EV. Why go out of your way to get gas when you can just get charged where you were already heading.
July 29th, 2020 at 12:32 pm
Appears to be a 1938 or 39 Chevy or GMC to me.
July 29th, 2020 at 12:37 pm
The truck looks like a 1941 Chevrolet. The lack of trim along the hood differentiates it from the very similar 1942 model. It is also similar to the ’41 GMC, which would have a “General Motors Truck” badge where the side hood louvers are on the Chevrolet.
July 29th, 2020 at 12:41 pm
That is a nice, really sharp picture of the truck.
July 29th, 2020 at 12:43 pm
… so why don’t the Aussie GM dealers approach Peugeot? The ‘Opels’ that Peugeot makes are very close to what Holden used to sell anyway.
July 29th, 2020 at 12:46 pm
so the point is to use the model used by Whole Foods, i.e. charge for free but slowly. Only novelty would be if chargers reliably work, unlike those currently in service.
July 29th, 2020 at 12:52 pm
6. That might get complicated, given the existing Peugeot and Citroen dealers in Australia.
July 29th, 2020 at 12:58 pm
Charge at your destination is great for charger sales LOL.
Obviously it will not be at your local convenience store or other location where you are going to spend 5 minutes. It will need to be at a location where you are going to be there for 30 minutes or more. It would be ideal to pair it with inductive charging so that the connection point is passive. Then just have a simple question appear on your infotainment screen asking if you want to begin charging at whatever rate is applicable to where you are at. I could see that working.
I would get annoyed plugging and unplugging charger cables all day long every day though. Then dealing with the hassle of parking at a charger which has damaged cables or otherwise not functioning and trying to find another open spot where the equipment is functioning. That would be worse then spending 5 minutes at a gas station once a week which have never been “out of the way” as this story claims for me.
July 29th, 2020 at 1:13 pm
I know such charging cycles are bad for lead acid and NiCad battery life/memory. Are today’s EV/PHEV completely immune?
July 29th, 2020 at 1:31 pm
Back when I went to restaurants, until sometime in March, that “free” charging would have worked well for me, with the ability to get a few miles of charge while I was there. Still, for me to be interested in an EV, I need to be able to charge at home. When/if the Tesla Supercharger that has been “coming soon” for about two years arrives ~13 miles from my place in Florida, I’d be able get equivalent to a half tank of gas, with a 50 minute round trip to a place I wouldn’t normally go. Five minutes at a gas station on the way to where I’m going anyway is much more convenient.
I suppose inductive charging will become “the thing,” even though it would probably convert an extra 10 percent or so of the power to heat. People are lazy. I’d probably get tired of plugging in cables too, if I plugged and unplugged them five times a day, like if I wanted to get a few hundred feet worth of free electricity while getting a cup of coffee at 7-11.
July 29th, 2020 at 1:34 pm
10. Of what I read about lithium batteries, to make them last a long time, you don’t want to charge them full or run them low. Lead-acid batteries like being fully charged all the time, not what happens in most uses, except the most common, cranking ICEs.
July 29th, 2020 at 2:54 pm
Sean, “GM EARNINGS BEAT ANALYST EXPECTATIONS”: literally yesterday you told us that the Q2 figures would be grim. What was the basis for yesterday’s story?
July 29th, 2020 at 2:54 pm
Sean, “GM EARNINGS BEAT ANALYST EXPECTATIONS”: literally yesterday you told us that the Q2 figures would be grim. What was the basis for yesterday’s story?
July 29th, 2020 at 3:57 pm
As I thumb type this note, I’m charging free at Whole Foods at 22 mi/hr. Dog mode is keeping the puppies at 75F. After getting groceries, I’m enjoying a beverage. Soon Autopilot will drive us home.
FYI, in addition to the built in top and bottom traction battery limits, I normally charge to 67%, 157 miles which is enough to reach Superchargers North, East, South, and West. For more technical details, read about SEI and LiON.
July 29th, 2020 at 4:15 pm
15 Do all Whole Foods locations have chargers like that? Not that it matters much to me, as they don’t have any stores nearby, but I’m curious.
July 29th, 2020 at 4:42 pm
Just as an aside. That Lucid Air vehicle with the angle of that photo looks like an old GM Epsilon platform concept car. I am remembering an old SAAB concept that looked like that. Probably something that looks different in person. It just looks kind of old to me.
July 29th, 2020 at 5:31 pm
Earnings?? LOL. WHAT “Earnings”?
“GM posts $758M Q2 loss “.
GM lost three quarters of a BILLION in Q2 alone. A service provided to all our math challenged friends here.
July 29th, 2020 at 5:40 pm
Speaking of math challenged, I came across a lame “millionaire” rerun where so-called celebrities (I had never heard of any one of them except for Paul Schaffer, former Letterman’s music guy) played for charity.
They were truly pathetic, using valuable lifelines way early in the show, where the questions were Mickey-Mouse easy so that five year olds can get thewm right and stop crying.
Even after they used a lifeline and (for example) the audience correctly did the math for them, they still did not believe the answer was right and quit instead of accepting it.
To give you an example of hoe easy the math in those Qs was, one Q said, if you have ONE banknote of each of our banknotes with US presidents on them, how much $ would you have? And it gave four answers, so it was even easier than actually doing all the ‘math”, such as $36, $76, $126, $176.
The math illiteracy of the average guy on the street is mind boggling, but can be explained by a Teacher;s union who adamantly refuses MERIT PAY (which we do have in all the Nation’s best Universities, which have no professor’s unions nor do they need them!) and the K-12 students learn NOTHING.
It’s no coincidence that, despite spending HUGE amounts per Pupil, US K-12 is the joke fo the world, while our Universities, for more than 75 years now, have been, by far, the best in the world.
July 29th, 2020 at 5:48 pm
11 You can still have a pure BEV in IN and charge it at home. And since you are in IN when the weather is warm, your range should be close or equal to the EPA range and not 30% less as in the winter.
July 29th, 2020 at 5:51 pm
“Hertz will be allowed to “dispose of at least 182,521 lease vehicles” between now and the end of 2020. ”
Bargain Hunters heads up. Wonder if private bidding at the auction is allowed or one has to be a dealer.
NOT all these 182,000 cars will be joyless econoboxes, Hertz has some special rentals too, supercars etc.
July 29th, 2020 at 6:08 pm
20 Yeah, that is true, but I don’t want to spend that much money for a car I’d use only about 1/3 of the year.
July 29th, 2020 at 6:23 pm
@18: analyst prediction was -$2.5 BB for Q2, it turned out $2 BB better than that. Hence the question to Sean about his base for his yesterdays prediction of a disastrous results.
July 29th, 2020 at 6:29 pm
@19: our universities by far the best in the world?
Yes, in teaching English, Political Sciences and Communication. Not in engineering, though. Or would you say that the research & development and engineering departments of BMW, Daimler, Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Rolls Royce, Bentley, etc. are staffed with U.S.-trained engineers? And would you say that the vehicles developed and engineered by U.S.-trained engineers, such as Ford, GM and the likes are far superior to the aforementioned vehicles?
July 29th, 2020 at 9:26 pm
24 ABSOLUTELY. Not sure if they will be so 50 years from now, but since the end of WW II, they ARE the best. WHat planet do you live in????? Have you seen which nation gets almost ALL the Science NOBEL PRIZES EVERY YEAR????? Hellooo?
July 29th, 2020 at 9:49 pm
24,25. For years, I’ve heard that the U.S., overall, had the best post grad programs in science and engineering, but not necessarily the best undergrad programs. Of course, the U.S. is far behind Germany and probably other European countries in training skilled technicians and craftsmen.
I just looked at the list of recent Nobel winners in Physics, Chemistry, and Medicine/Physiology, and there are a lot of Europeans, probably more than Americans over the last few years. Of course, some of the awards are shared between people from different countries and continents.
July 29th, 2020 at 11:57 pm
With some exceptions, Whole Foods has free 208 VAC charging. We use PlugShare to make sure they are operational. But they are so slow, they play no role in cross country trips.
July 30th, 2020 at 8:21 am
19 I’m not sure what the purpose or relation to automotive this post even has. You start with “speaking of math” which no one was but you. It was a continuation of your arrogant comment from 18. Just more patting of your own back. Everyone already knows that celebrity jeopardy or Millionaire or whatever show always throws them softball questions. They’re actors not academics. Many dropped out of HS to pursue their acting career.
July 30th, 2020 at 10:10 am
19, And I had to look it up: the correct answer isn’t given as it is 78 dollars. The one, two, five, twenty and fifty (Hamilton on the ten and Franklin on the hundred, not presidents).
July 30th, 2020 at 10:35 am
29. I kind of remembered that Hamilton was on the ten, but wasn’t sure, since cash is almost obsolete, and I rarely see it. I didn’t know if a president or non-president was on the two or hundred dollar bills. Looking it up, I find that Jefferson is on the two, and Franklin on the hundred. I somehow know that Grant is on the fifty, even though I rarely used them, ever.
July 30th, 2020 at 1:23 pm
@25: No. Try to have facts instead of your emotions rule your key board: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates