This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
TESLA OWNERS LESS LIKELY TO CRASH THAN IN THEIR OTHER CARS
You hear a lot about the accidents that Teslas do get in, but less about the ones they don’t get in. And according to a study done by Cambridge Mobile Telematics that looked at drivers who own both an electric and ICE vehicle, Tesla owners are much less likely to get in an accident while driving their Tesla compared to any of the other vehicles that they own. In fact, they’re 50% less likely to get in a crash, according to telematics data from millions of vehicles. But it’s not the same story for all brands. Porsche EV owners are 55% more likely to get in an accident in their Porsche compared to their other car or cars.
TOYOTA SLASHES PRODUCTION FORECAST AGAIN
Parts shortages caused by COVID lockdowns in Shanghai are absolutely hammering Toyota. On Tuesday, we reported that it’s being forced to slash production by another 100,000 units in June. Well, now you can make that 150,000 vehicles. It made the adjustment after a closer look at its operations and expects to make roughly 800,000 vehicles next month. Toyota is still keeping future production targets at 850,000 units per month, but those plans could just as easily be blown to pieces.
CAR RENTAL PRICES LIKELY TO SOAR THIS SUMMER
It’s going to be more expensive to rent a car this summer. Profits for rental companies like Hertz and Avis are soaring, and while that’s good for the companies, it’s not for the customers renting their vehicles. Bloomberg reports that Hertz and Avis charged 25% more on rentals in the first quarter compared to a year ago. That’s because they’re not able to get enough cars to stock their fleets due to parts shortages that forced automakers to cut production. During the first quarter, Hertz charged $59 a day on average for rentals and Avis averaged $54 a day. But that doesn’t include travel taxes, which pushes the actual cost to about $90 a day. And it’s likely to get worse this summer, with more travelers renting cars. One analyst says the average rental cost is likely to increase by another $4 or $5 a day on average. And with companies making more money on rentals, prices aren’t likely to go back to where they previously were.
NIO RECRUITING MANUFACTURING SPECIALISTS FOR U.S. PLANT
It looks like Chinese EV maker NIO wants to jump into the American market and is also planning to build vehicles in the U.S. Gasgoo reports that the company is recruiting manufacturing specialists for a number of different positions in the U.S., including those who already have experience in the country. NIO declined to comment on the report but the company already has a presence in the U.S. Its North American headquarters and autonomous driving R&D center are both located in San Jose, California.
VW LOOKING FOR U.S. LOCATION TO BUILD SCOUT EV PLANT
And speaking of foreign automakers building new EV plants in the U.S., Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess revealed the company is already looking at locations to open a plant that will build electric pickups and SUVs for the Scout brand. Scout was a Jeep-like vehicle built from 1961 to 1980 by International Harvester. Navistar, which was formed after International Harvester went out of business, owned the rights to the Scout name but VW acquired the name when it bought Navistar. Earlier this month, VW announced it will revive Scout, not just as a vehicle, but as a new EV brand. And if you want more insight into VW’s revival of Scout, check out this video John did and why he thinks Scout could become the equivalent of the Jeep brand for Volkswagen. Look for the link in the description box or in today’s transcript on our website.
CHEVY SILVERADO PASSES F-150 AS MOST SHOPPED PICKUP IN Q1
The Ford F-Series has been the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. for decades. But for the first time, the Chevy Silverado passed the F-150 as the most shopped pickup according to Kelley Blue Book’s Brand Watch study. GM’s announcement in January that it’s coming out with an electric version of the Silverado helped generate shopping interest in the truck. The KBB study is a quarterly consumer perception report that incorporates shopping behavior data. On the luxury side, BMW is once again number one as the most shopped luxury brand. Lexus passed it last quarter but fell to number three in the new study. Cadillac made the biggest jump of all luxury brands to the number two spot, thanks to the Escalade, which was the most shopped luxury vehicle for the first time. Tesla fell to fifth from number three in the previous report, but even still, it set a sales record in the first quarter in the U.S. and it gained market share.
HOW LUCID MAXIMIZED THE AIR SEDAN’S INTERIOR SPACE
Lucid’s CEO, Peter Rawlinson, hosted another interesting video on YouTube going into detail about the Air sedan. The first was all about the battery pack. This new one is all about the space concept, or how it was able to maximize interior space. While you have to really consider the entire vehicle, there’s two particular points Rawlinson makes I’d like to highlight. He talks about minimizing the distance between the H-point or hip-point of the rear passenger and the centerline of the rear axle. The shorter the distance the more room for rear seat passengers. But their positioning is also critical for safety, NVH or noise, vibration, harshness and the body packaging with the rear suspension. So, it’s a bit of a dance to make it all work. The other important metric is the distance between the front occupant foot and the front wheel. The further you can push the front seat passengers up the more space for the rear. But again safety is a key. Rawlinson says this distance is not typically a factor with ICE vehicles because you have the engine and transmission in front to help with impact. No so with an EV. Lucid ended up developing a triangulated structure with large castings on either side to help distribute all the forces in the event of an accident. What you end up with is a rather large interior with a smaller exterior footprint. Lucid highlights this by getting its two tallest employees, one 6’7”, the other 6’6”, to sit in the car, one behind the other, to show that it can fit large individuals. We’ll provide a link if you’d like to check the whole thing out.
BENTLEY CONTINENTAL CELEBRATES 70TH BIRTHDAY
Happy 70th Birthday to the Bentley Continental. Production of the R-Type Continental, the first Bentley to wear the Continental name, kicked off in May of 1952. Only 208 examples of this car were ever built and it’s one of the most celebrated in the company’s history.
And a reminder before I sign off. There will not be a new Autoline Daily on Monday as we all celebrate Memorial Day.
But that wraps up today’s show, thanks for watching and have a great weekend.
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Comments (24)
May 27th, 2022 at 12:57 pm
Hertz/Avis and others can charge whatever they want. The fact is their product relies heavily on fuel which is also priced through the roof and is expected to go even higher in the summer. Not much travelling is going to occur in 2022 other than preplanned travel that people might lose a fortune on if they cancel. Most people will stay close to home. I believe that they will increase prices and see profit per vehicle go up; I suspect overall revenue will decline dramatically.
May 27th, 2022 at 1:20 pm
1 The last time I rented a car, fuel was not part of what you paid the rental company, unless you returned the car without a full tank.
A whole lot of traveling seems to be going on. There was more traffic than I’ve ever seen when driving from Florida to Indiana last Saturday and Sunday, and I’ve made the trip on the same route on the same weekend, the weekend before Memorial Day many times.
May 27th, 2022 at 1:40 pm
2 back just in time for Indy? Yea I don’t think gas prices will affect car rental much. Business travel will remain about the same and those that rent for traveling will continue to do so. In fact we made a trip one year where renting a mini van made sense. More room better fuel economy than taking two vehicles. So as gas goes to some may choose to rent a more fuel efficient car over their truck or SUV.
Either way just like anything. Once people get used to paying more the prices rarely goes back down, maybe a little but not to where it was. But when inventory is plentiful and this shortage of just about something new everyday is over the prices will come down some as the availability will exceed demand again. But could be a long while for that. Not until we get someone in charge that can start taking care of this country.
May 27th, 2022 at 1:40 pm
2 back just in time for Indy? Yea I don’t think gas prices will affect car rental much. Business travel will remain about the same and those that rent for traveling will continue to do so. In fact we made a trip one year where renting a mini van made sense. More room better fuel economy than taking two vehicles. So as gas goes to some may choose to rent a more fuel efficient car over their truck or SUV.
Either way just like anything. Once people get used to paying more the prices rarely goes back down, maybe a little but not to where it was. But when inventory is plentiful and this shortage of just about something new everyday is over the prices will come down some as the availability will exceed demand again. But could be a long while for that. Not until we get someone in charge that can start taking care of this country.
May 27th, 2022 at 2:06 pm
3,4 I got to Indiana just in time to not be able to watch the race live on TV. It is blacked out on the Indy stations, and has been most years since TV existed. The 2020 race with no spectators was broadcast live, though. They have a rerun starting at 7:00 pm on the Indy station. I haven’t gone to the 500 since sometime in the ’90s.
Speaking of car inventory, none of the local dealers where I am in Indiana have any, but the Ford dealer has about 20 used late model Escapes in a row for sale. They must be off-lease, or or bought from some kind of fleet.
Unless something happens again resulting in a huge drop in the amount of driving, like during the early part of covid, gas is not likely to go down to $2 a gallon again. If sales of EVs increase dramatically, greatly reducing demand for gas, it might get cheap for a while, until the oil companies reduce production to match the new, lower demand.
May 27th, 2022 at 2:33 pm
I watched John’s video about Scout, and he’s absolutely correct. My father was a big VW fan in the 60s-early 70s, when the air-cooled VWs were simple, easy to work on vehicles for the masses. As they got more complex and tried to go upscale and less “American”, he quickly lost interest in them. They didn’t care about the US and we lost interest in them. As I’ve said here before, in the 90s, I asked why they only had a 3 year warranty when others were doing 10 year or unlimited warrantees; the VW rep stuck his nose in the air and said, “our products are so good, we only need a 3 year warranty”! This made no sense, and proved how out of touch they were. I do remember early VW fondly, and hope they listen to John and it will be a win-win.
May 27th, 2022 at 3:14 pm
6 I’ve had a few VWs, the first a 1970 Beetle, and the most recent a 2004 Jetta wagon TDI. In between, I had a Passat wagon and a GTI VR6. The appeal to me was the European-ness. VW has now abandoned their traditional customers, as they concentrate on Atlases, etc. With the Jetta and Passat wagons, and the base Golf gone, the only remaining VW sold in the US that appeals to me is the GTI.
Except for the GTI VR6, the VWs I had were reasonably reliable, but I didn’t have any of them very long.
May 27th, 2022 at 3:20 pm
I heard that the VW management team is seriously considering a plant location near a town in Pennsylvania called Westmoreland.
May 27th, 2022 at 3:28 pm
1,2. Travel is expected to be very heavy this summer: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/15/travel/trends-spring-2022.html
May 27th, 2022 at 3:31 pm
8. Interesting. That would be a full circle event. VW had a plant in Westmoreland, PA from 1978-1987.
“Volkswagen Westmoreland Assembly was a manufacturing complex located 35 miles (56 km) southeast of Pittsburgh in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, near New Stanton — and noted for manufacturing 1.15 million Volkswagens from 1978 until 1987.”
May 27th, 2022 at 3:33 pm
8 There might be a facility available there. I think Sony quit making picture tubes there a while back.
May 27th, 2022 at 3:40 pm
10 I remember when the plant opened, and closed. VW bought the unfinished plant from Chrysler and made Golf Mk1 (Rabbit in US), and a few Golf Mk2. They sold it to Sony who made CRT TVs and maybe some other items for several years. I don’t know the current status of the facilities. If VW is, in fact, considering moving back to the area, it is probably empty, and available almost for free. Maybe #8 is a late April 1 post, though.
May 27th, 2022 at 4:04 pm
Kit, you are as sharp as ever. Yes, ArtG, my comment was a tongue-in-cheek joke. Its probably the last place VW would want to locate a plant. It would be a PR disaster for them. I expect a Southern location, perhaps not too far from their current facilities in TN.
May 27th, 2022 at 4:19 pm
I would expect VW to expand next door to their Chatanooga facilties, if land is available.
May 28th, 2022 at 11:28 am
I have purchased 3 Jetta TDI wagons since 2003, and owned a total of 8 VW’s through 2017. Sold my 2017 back to VW after the diesel cheating debacle and never looked back. If they were the only car made I’d be walking… but then I probably could use the exercise!
May 28th, 2022 at 4:36 pm
15 It’s almost unbelievable that a huge company like VW would do what they did, with top management apparently knowing, thinking they wouldn’t get caught.
May 29th, 2022 at 7:06 am
What is this travel tax that Sean mentioned in his story about the rental car companies?! Gas tax and car rental tax I get, but a travel tax just seems like a made up cost to charge renters more money. I mean, what is the actual cost too rent a vehicle? While they may quote some metric, that factors the value of the vehicle, maintenance, insurance against full replacement and ‘dealer’ operating cost (which might include a destination charge) and initial fuel-up. So now you rent the vehicle and they then tax you on the number of miles you put on the the vehicle, as travel tax?! I might make sense, but it just seems like a money grab to me! An additional charge that they do not have to disclose, in the original promotional cost of the rental vehicle. $54-55 a day to rental a vehicle doesn’t sound bad, but how that turns into another $45, and a total of $100 a day, by the time walk toward the vehicle, or by the time you turn it in, is crazy talk! And don’t give it back without the same amount of fuel in it that you left with! The last time I rented a vehicle was in early 2000′s, before the the Ford/Firestone tire issues. Back then, gas was around two dollars a gallon or some such. Hertz was charging $5-7 dollars to refuel vehicles, that were bought back at less then they left with! I can’t imagine what they may charge today. Between that and this travel tax, I don’t think I’ll be renting a vehicle any time soon!
May 29th, 2022 at 7:36 am
While the Lucid Air is a beautiful car. It sets a new standard for luxury car design, that is both BEV specific, yet not trying to hard to be needlessly different (I’m looking at you iX and i7!).
I guess my point, or my question is, with all the talk that ‘with no ICE dictating the design parameters of a vehicle’ and that EVs ‘can take the shape of anything a designer wants’, is that really a good thing in the eyes of the consumer? If you look at the designs of some of the first successful BEVs from both start-ups and legacy OEMs, for the most part, they are not much different from traditional ICE vehicles that costumer already buy! While the original Bentley Continental may look much different than the one that’s on sale today, it has taken 70 years to do so. So, I wonder how long, if at all, will it take for automakers build these unique vehicle designs that they have said they can build with these EV platforms and whether or not that would be truly necessary if buyers want something that looks like the ICE vehicle they already have anyway?
May 29th, 2022 at 8:18 am
17 I don’t know what they call it, but Florida has an extra tax beyond sales tax on rental cars. Also, rentals at some, or most Florida airports have a tax beyond that.
Of course, Florida has a “travel tax” in the form of high tolls on a lot of major roads around the Orlando area, and in South Florida. Some of the tolls can’t be paid with cash, and you need a transponder. That works ok for locals, but I hear that it is expensive to rent a transponder from the rental car company.
May 29th, 2022 at 8:21 am
18 If I were spending $200K+ on a Bentley Continental, I think I’d rather have a 12 cylinder ICE than electric powertrain, even though it would be very thirsty.
May 29th, 2022 at 9:59 am
It seems the Lyriq is bringing some luxury to BEV, and while not a blazing performer, it looks like it will be a nice cockpit to be in and have a lot of accouttrimonts of the customary luxury buyer. And all at a more affordable purchase price (mid sixties).
May 29th, 2022 at 11:11 am
21 I went by the local Cadillac dealer yesterday, and the guy I talked to hadn’t seen a Lyric “in person,” but said they had several orders, and they think the first cars should probably arrive in August.
The performance should be more than adequate. Of course, my idea of adequate is different from a lot of people’s. To me, the 12-14 second 0-60 of my 1.9 TDI Jetta wagon was adequate. Quicker is better, though.
May 29th, 2022 at 1:33 pm
22, Correct, the ‘launch’ editions should be starting their deliveries as you say, late summer. I’ve heard that the ’23 model, which had ordering start on May 18th has already filled so until they get production up to speed there will be a line waiting for Lyriqs’ as well. You’re right that the Lyriq’s performance is quite adequate (even the two motor version) and when the AWD comes along it will be pretty quick. I think the TWD is at around 340hp and the AWD at around 500.
p.s. And if you didn’t get to see F1, Monaco, it was wet and wild with rain, both Haas’ out and Perez, Sanz, Verstappen and LeClerc one through four. I’m probably going to skip the Indy 500 as I’ve been sitting too long already with the F1 race. F1 had enough delays that they didn’t finish all laps and was time limited to 3 hours.
May 29th, 2022 at 1:43 pm
23 It looked like pit strategy was everything at Monaco. It seemed to be almost impossible to overtake, with Hamilton stuck behind a slow lapping Alonzo forever, and it didn’t look like there was much chance of overtaking among the top four.
I have the Indy race on the radio, but can’t watch it live on TV, because I’m too close to Indianapolis, and it’s blacked out on the local station.