Listen to “AD #3304 – BMW Won’t Commit to Full EV Lineup; Honda Axes Insight Hybrid; bZ4X Is Exactly What You’d Expect from Toyota” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 9:27
0:08 BMW Won’t Commit to Fully Electric Lineup
0:54 Honda Axing Insight to Replace with Civic Hybrid
1:40 VW Makes Big Profit on Nickel Price Surge
3:03 Stellantis Partners with Qualcomm On Connected-Car Technology
3:39 Baidu To Provide VOYAH With AV & Connected Car Tech
4:15 Ford to Start F-150 Lightning Deliveries Soon
4:40 Mustang Is Top Selling Sports Coupe Globally
5:38 bZ4X EV Is Exactly What You’d Expect from A Toyota
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BMW WARNS AGAINST EV-ONLY STRATEGY
The future is electric, but BMW CEO Oliver Zipse thinks automakers need to be careful going EV-only. If an automaker only focuses on electric, Zipse says it could force them to become too reliant on a select few countries. He cites the disproportionate supply of raw materials for batteries coming out of China as an example. A lack of public EV charging and higher prices could also hinder certain customers from buying a new EV and Zipse says there’s still a market for internal combustion cars. And if you’re not the one making an ICE car for that person, someone else will, he says. But offering more efficient engines is still a key for moving forward.
HONDA AXING INSIGHT TO REPLACE WITH CIVIC HYBRID
And even though it just made a huge EV announcement, Honda, too, will focus on coming out with more fuel-efficient ICE vehicles. It plans to boost its volume of hybrids. The all-new CR-V Hybrid is being introduced this year, followed by the Accord Hybrid and then later by the Civic Hybrid. And with the Civic Hybrid on its way, it should come as little surprise that Honda will stop making the Insight in June, since it’s based on the Civic. Eventually Honda expects the hybrid versions of the CR-V and Accord will make up 50% of those vehicle’s sales and is going to help the company reach its goal of 100% zero-emission vehicle sales in North America by 2040.
VW MAKES BIG PROFIT ON NICKEL PRICE SURGE
As we reported last month, the price of nickel is surging this year, up 55% in the first quarter. The spike is partly due to increased demand from automakers, since it is a key material used to make EV batteries. While the price increase isn’t good news for the industry, Volkswagen is actually profiting off of it. That’s because it is hedging nickel and has a long position on the London Metal Exchange as a way to protect it from volatile price swings. VW says its commodity hedging will add 3.5 billion euros or $3.8 billion to its first quarter earnings and bring its total operating profit to 8.5 billion euros or $9.2 billion.
STELLANTIS PARTNERS WITH QUALCOMM ON CONNECTED-CAR TECH
As we’ve reported, Stellantis is partnering with Qualcomm on connected-car technology. As part of the multi-year deal, Stellantis will install Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Digital Cockpit, which includes 5G telematics, into vehicles. That includes all 14 of its brands and Maserati will be the first in 2024. Snapdragon will be used to power the in-car communications and infotainment systems for the automaker’s STLA SmartCockpit, which is being developed with Amazon and Foxconn.
BAIDU TO PROVIDE VOYAH WITH AV & CONNECTED CAR TECH
Chinese tech giant Baidu is forming a partnership with EV startup VOYAH to build in the areas of autonomous and connected car technologies. You may remember the name VOYAH from a story we ran a few months ago. It’s the new premium EV brand from Dongfeng that will start selling an SUV, called the Free, in Norway this June. VOYAH has plans to expand to other European markets and will be the second state-owned Chinese car company to sell vehicles in the region. SAIC has also been selling cars in Europe under the MG brand.
FORD TO START F-150 LIGHTNING DELIVERIES SOON
The all-new F-150 Lightning is about to start reaching customer hands and Ford is throwing a party to celebrate. It’s holding an event on April 26th at Ford’s Rouge plant in Dearborn, Michigan, to mark the launch of the electric pickup. Company and UAW leaders along with customers and employees will be there to celebrate and it will also be livestreamed for those not invited.
MUSTANG IS TOP SELLING SPORTS COUPE GLOBALLY
And speaking of Ford milestones, the Mustang was the best-selling sports coupe globally in 2021, the seventh year in a row. According to IHS, Ford sold just over 69,000 Mustangs globally. Not surprisingly, the U.S. is the muscle car’s top market and accounted for 76% of global sales.
BZ4X IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU’D EXPECT FROM A TOYOTA
It might seem like it’s taken a long time for the company that brought us the Prius, but Toyota will soon be putting a mainstream EV in dealer showrooms. Chad Kirchner, from our partner EV Pulse.com, got to drive the new electric crossover. Despite its brutalist design, he says it’s every bit what you’d expect from a Toyota.
Toyota is now building its first mass-market electric vehicle. The bZ4X is the brand’s new electric crossover designed to go after the likes of the Volkswagen ID.4 and Ford Mustang Mach-E. Toyota offers the bZ4X in two different trims. There’s a basic XLE model. Then there’s a Limited model that’s fully loaded. Both trims are available in front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive configurations.
A front-drive XLE bZ4X has a range of 252 miles and a starting price around $43,000 with delivery. The same XLE fitted with all-wheel drive comes in just shy of 230 miles and bumps the base price up to $45,295. Upgrading to the Limited trim gets you a ten-mile penalty on front-wheel drive variants. The Limited model starts at $47,915. All-wheel drive configurations with the same top-of-the-line trim are rated for 222 miles and sticker for $49,995 to start.
Acceleration is brisk in both front-wheel and all-wheel drive models. Toyota says its single-motor versions can get to 60 miles per hour from a standstill in 7.1 seconds. That number drops to 6.5 seconds when two motors are sharing the load.
That’s plenty of oomph to reach highway speeds, quickly overtake with ease, and shoot gaps in traffic. Ride and handling are fine for an everyday crossover. The suspension is geared more towards comfort and performance, and this would make an excellent commuter car. It’s quiet at highway speeds and outward visibility is decent. All models include Toyota Safety Sense 3.0, which is the company’s latest suite of driver assist functions.
The weirdest thing to get used to in all bZ4X models is the instrument cluster sits on top of the dash. You position the steering wheel so that the cluster is visible above the wheel and not through the wheel. It’s almost as high up in your visibility as a head-up display. We got used to it over time, but it’s weird. Maybe you’ll love it. Maybe you’ll hate it. It’s interesting, to say the least.
The Toyota bZ4X is, in a lot of ways, the Toyota of electric vehicles. It drives well, it’s reasonably well-equipped, and it should appeal to a lot of people. However, it doesn’t break new ground in the EV space. Opting for the bZ4X is the safe choice because it’s a Toyota.
Chad tells us that one other quirk of the B-Z-4-X is that all-wheel drive and front-wheel drive models charge at two different rates. And neither of them are particularly fast. For more details on that, plus a comparison to its closest EV competitors, click the link in the transcript or description box, or look for the EV Pulse channel on YouTube.
But that’s a wrap for this week. Make sure to keep your eyes peeled because we’ll have some more content coming for you this weekend. And I hope to see you back here again on Monday.
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Seamus and Sean McElroy cover the latest news in the automotive industry for Autoline Daily.