AD #3570 – Tesla Being Forced Into Advertising; AM Could Be Mandated in Cars; 1938 Mercedes 540 K Streamliner
May 18th, 2023 at 12:09pm
Listen to “AD #3570 – Tesla Being Forced Into Advertising; AM Could Be Mandated in Cars; 1938 Mercedes 540 K Streamliner” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 10:26
0:00 U.S. Charges Chinese National w/ Stealing Apple AV Data
0:52 Chevy, Nissan, Ram, VW Have More Subprime Customers
1:26 Tesla Being Forced Into Advertising
2:21 Geely Buys Bigger Stake in Aston Martin
3:25 Panasonic Boosting Battery Production 4X
3:58 AM Radio Could Be Mandated in Cars
5:08 BMW Integrates AR & VR Into Cars
5:57 Range Rover Becomes More Bespoke
6:34 Lexus Boosts LC 500 Bespoke Options
7:11 Automakers Want Brexit Rules Delayed
8:00 1938 Mercedes 540 K Streamliner
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U.S. CHARGES CHINESE NATIONAL WITH STEALING APPLE AV DATA
The U.S. Justice Department charged a former Apple employee with stealing the company’s autonomous vehicle secrets and then fleeing to China. According to the indictment, the former 35-year-old engineer was hired by Apple in 2016. But he also accepted a U.S. based job with a Chinese company to work on AVs and then waited four months to inform Apple he accepted a new job. Apple says it discovered he accessed proprietary data days before he left the company in 2018, and federal agents say they found “large quantities” of data from Apple after they searched his home. Shortly after that, he fled to China.
NISSAN, RAM, CHEVY, VW HAVE MORE SUBPRIME CUSTOMERS
As U.S. interest rates shot up, that forced many subprime car buyers or people with low credit scores out of the market. But some brands have been hurt more than others. Cox Automotive says brands like Nissan, Chevrolet, Ram and Volkswagen probably have a larger number of subprime buyers because they charge higher interest rates for financing cars. Subprime buyers can still get loans, but they have to pay higher interest rates which raises their monthly payments for both new and used cars.
TESLA BEING FORCED INTO ADVERTISING
Last year General Motors spent $1.3 billion on advertising and promotion in the U.S. Toyota spent $1.1 billion and Ford spent $370 million. Meanwhile, Tesla spent about $152,000 on web banners and billboards. That’s according to Vivvix, which tracks advertising data. But Elon Musk says Tesla will start experimenting with more advertising, so its ad spend will go up. Reuters quotes one advertising expert as saying that Musk can’t criticize advertising anymore since he owns Twitter that gets most of its revenue from advertising. Yesterday on CNBC, former Ford CEO Mark Fields said that Musk wants to start advertising because he’s seeing demand for Tesla’s cars starting to soften up.
GEELY BUYS BIGGER STAKE OF ASTON MARTIN
Not only is Aston Martin having a breakout season in Formula 1, it just got a big financial boost. Geely is buying an additional 10% stake in Aston for nearly $300 million, which means that Geely now owns 17% of the iconic British brand. Geely also gets a seat on Aston’s board, but it agreed not to increase its stake beyond 22% until at least August of next year. Geely leapfrogged past Mercedes as the 3rd largest investor in Aston, only behind chairman Lawrence Stroll and the Saudi Public Investment Fund. Wall Street loved the news. Aston’s stock was up nearly 25% this morning.
PANASONIC BOOSTING BATTERY PRODUCTION 4X
Panasonic is going to significantly ramp up EV battery production. It’s currently one of the top 5 EV battery makers in the world, producing around 50 GWh annually. But the company announced it’s going to build at least two new battery plants in North America by 2030, to help it reach a capacity of 200 GWh or 4 times what it currently produces. Panasonic hasn’t chosen a location for the plants but it did say they’ll produce 4680 batteries.
AM RADIO COULD BE MANDATED IN CARS
There’s a big battle brewing over AM radio of all things. At least eight automakers got rid of AM in their EVs because they claim the electric motors interfere with the AM signals. Even though they can shield the radio to prevent that from happening, they’re using this as an excuse to cut the cost of an AM radio. But several former heads of FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, called on the Transportation Department and members of Congress to prevent automakers from ditching AM. They claim it’s necessary because it’s far more reliable to broadcast warnings during an emergency than streaming. You may remember this from past reporting and now a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers just introduced a new bill to force automakers to keep AM. Automakers aren’t happy and the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, their lobbying group, issued a statement saying the bill is unnecessary because warnings can still be broadcast through FM, internet or satellite based radio and over cellular networks.
BMW INTEGRATES AR & VR INTO CARS
BMW’s longtime tagline was the ‘Ultimate Driving Machine,’ but now it’s working on making that the ‘Ultimate Driving Experience.’ By combining vehicle and sensor data with augmented and virtual reality technology, BMW and Meta say they are the first to be able to display stable virtual content inside a moving vehicle. The automaker and Meta teamed up in 2021 and had to come up with a way to match the virtual device’s motion in the car with the car’s movement in the world. They say they’ve figured that out and will now work on use cases for the tech, which could teach student drivers how to drive, conduct a yoga lesson or allow passengers to play games, and do all that without them getting car sick.
RANGE ROVER BECOMES MORE BESPOKE
There’s good money to be made customizing cars and JLR and Lexus are ramping up their efforts. Range Rover is launching a new division, called SV Bespoke, that provides a wide range of options to owners of Autobiography and SV models. Customers will have nearly 400 interior material and color options, 230 paint choices as well as custom badging and stitching. It’s not going to come cheap, but the base prices alone for these models are roughly $160,000 and $190,000.
LEXUS BOOSTS LC 500 BESPOKE OPTIONS
Now over to Lexus which is expanding its Bespoke Build option from the coupe to the convertible version of the LC 500. Customers will have more options for wheels, spoilers, roof material as well as interior/exterior colors and trim. The sports car also gets a few new upgrades, the biggest being a new digital display. Both the LC 500 Coupe and Convertible go on sale this June. The Coupe starts at nearly $99,000, while the Convertible starts at $106,000, including destination.
AUTOMAKERS WANT BREXIT RULES FROZEN
Automakers in Europe are calling on the UK and the EU to delay trade rules created after Brexit that go into effect next year. In order to avoid tariffs, 45% of the value of an electric vehicle sold in the EU must come from the UK or the EU. Stellantis, Ford and a group representing German automakers want to postpone that rule until 2027. They claim it will delay the transition to EVs and that the extra costs will be pushed on to consumers. By postponing the requirement, automakers say it will allow time for the battery supply chain in Europe to develop and meet demand. Stellantis even warned that it will be forced to close plants in the UK if it’s not delayed.
1938 MERCEDES 540 K STREAMLINER
Aerodynamics has been on the mind of car designers and engineers for over 100 years. In the 1930’s automakers started integrating headlights into the fenders and body shapes became more tear-dropped. But Mercedes was really pushing the limits with the 540 K Streamliner. It’s a one-off car that was delivered to Dunlop in 1938 for high-speed tire testing and added aero tricks like a wraparound windshield and flush-mounted door handles. A supercharged 5.4L V8 making 180 horsepower propelled the 540 to its top speed of 185 km/h or 115 MPH. Mercedes rebuilt the vehicle in 2014 and put it through its wind tunnel. It got a drag coefficient of 0.36, which is a little less efficient than a Rivian R1T. Many of the newest EV sedans have a CD approaching 0.20.
Don’t forget to check out Autoline After Hours later today as we get an insider’s look into the world of EV battery recycling. But that’s a wrap for today’s show. Thanks for tuning in.
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Comments (22)
May 18th, 2023 at 12:28 pm
Hurray for Active Minded band!
May 18th, 2023 at 12:28 pm
The problem with espionage is that the damage is done. Even if the person is apprehended and jailed (amazingly unlikely in this case), the information is stolen. I think high tech should be very wary of hiring someone who’s loyalty might potentially lie elsewhere. You can only hope they were god’s gift to technology to take this risk.
May 18th, 2023 at 12:31 pm
The biggest advantage I can see for the BMW system is now I can use the HOV lane by myself with a VR passenger. Plus, they would not talk at me.
May 18th, 2023 at 12:39 pm
I wonder if this Chinese Nationalist entered the country through our open southern boarder. Either way expect more stories like this.
AM might work better to transmit Federal Emergencies, but it doesn’t matter if no one is listening. It doesn’t operate like a weather band radio and people would need to know to use AM. I’m willing to bet most people under 30 may never have even used AM radio.
Saw this article today claiming they have a battery that powered a Tesla model S 752 miles across Michigan.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/this-ev-battery-can-travel-over-750-miles-on-a-single-charge-fundamentally-reinvent-the-battery/ar-AA15HuiO?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=789a40b330354fa8bb0324879ed73643&ei=79
May 18th, 2023 at 12:51 pm
I vote YES for keeping AM radio in cars! Can the government also mandate a channel and volume knob be required on all cars?
May 18th, 2023 at 12:51 pm
Some day maybe somebody will realize the Chinese government is open the helping it companies steal secrets from around the world to help China companies and the military but what can America do when the president is on the take from China
May 18th, 2023 at 1:24 pm
4 It’s highly unlikely the Chinese national entered the U.S. through the southern border. He probably entered using a work or student visa.
I suspect people under 30 would learn to use the AM radio, if everything else went dead. They should probably restore the 640 and 1240 triangle markings to the dial for emergency information.
May 18th, 2023 at 1:31 pm
4 With the 750 mile range battery, the article didn’t say anything about how the test was run, like maybe with 60 psi in the tires, and going 45 mph for the trip, etc. We should hear more if there actually is a battery with twice the energy density of usual batteries.
May 18th, 2023 at 1:39 pm
It sounds like Aston Martin F1, formerly Force India and other things, is becoming Force China/Canada/Saudi Arabia.
May 18th, 2023 at 1:41 pm
4- Are you implying that he entered the country illegally through the southern BORDER and was hired by Apple unvetted? In order for a foreign national to work in the U.S., they must be granted a work visa and live in the U.S. According to the DOJ’s, indictment “in November of 2017, a little more than two and a half years after being granted access to a range of Apple’s sensitive materials, Wang signed a letter accepting an offer of full-time employment as a Staff Engineer with the U.S.-based subsidiary of a company headquartered in the People’s Republic of China.”
May 18th, 2023 at 1:52 pm
Even if you are under 30, you just might have the ability to select the AM band on the radio and tune in emergency services, particularly when you discover you’re not receiving a signal on Sirius or FM and your cell is getting nothing and wifi has no bars. I’d expect these signs alone would send most young people to assume they are on the brink of armageddon.
May 18th, 2023 at 1:58 pm
7,10 I was kind of joking and don’t really believe an Apple engineer slipped in from our southern boarder. My point was more so directed that, with an open boarder you can expect more stories like this as I’m sure the Chinese are fully capable of generating the necessary paperwork to infiltrate the US with folks willing to do corporate espionage. If the federal government isnt vetting them I’m sure corporations can pick up the slack. (again Kidding).
May 18th, 2023 at 2:10 pm
12 I suspect Apple would vet engineer hires as well as anyone, except maybe some war materials companies.
I doubt if many people crossing the southern border are involved in corporate espionage. They are just fleeing horrible conditions in Venezuela, Guatemala, etc., and the ones who successfully enter the U.S. will be taking crappy jobs in agriculture and meat packing, and the lucky ones in construction.
May 18th, 2023 at 2:28 pm
@Lambo & Kit – We’ve reported on and done an interview with Our Next Energy or O.N.E. They’re the folks that are making battery packs with a hybrid chemistry. A percentage of the pack is a chemistry that it good at handling heavier loads, like accelerating away from a stop light, while the other portion is good at handling light loads, like highway travel. Most of the O.N.E. battery test in the Tesla way highway travel, which is why it was able to get a long range.
May 18th, 2023 at 2:46 pm
#14.) So if I’m understanding you correctly Sean, what makes it a break through is the highway miles. With EVs doing better with urban driving and miles, it’s the long distance, highway miles where to tned to not do as well. If this is what there claim is, their battery chemistry may be the difference that many who are interested in BEVs, but have range anxiety, need to seriously consider buying one. Now the questions are: what was their speed? How much does this chemistry cost in relationship to other chemistries to manufacture? Does it make the battery pack/cells heavier? Etc.
May 18th, 2023 at 3:24 pm
Re: AR and VR in cars – whatever happened to just looking out the window and watching the world go by….
May 18th, 2023 at 3:51 pm
May 16 Autoline Daily posted, “Based on registration data from Experian, Tesla’s U.S. sales shot up 37% in the first quarter. But the Model Y was up 79%. …”
Apparently Jim Farley and whoever posted “forced” to advertising missed it too.
May 18th, 2023 at 4:16 pm
No one is “forced” to advertise, but as more and better competition hits the market, Tesla may need to, especially since they continue to increase production capacity. Things are clearly different, with the store near me having inventory sitting there.
May 18th, 2023 at 9:34 pm
11 Exactly
May 19th, 2023 at 7:16 am
14 Thanks Sean. Was the battery the same size as the Tesla battery it replaced? Similar weight and charging times?
May 19th, 2023 at 7:29 am
11, 19 You think that way because your well aware of the emergency channels on the AM band. Kit even knows the frequency of 640 and 1240. My point is that I bet most under 30 year olds are not even aware of the emergency channels. So if they lost cell signal wernt getting anything on the FM dial they wouldnt even think to search the AM dial. Its like if I tell you that you can do quick measurement and currency conversions on your phone just by highlighting the amount, You wont do it if you dont know its there.
May 19th, 2023 at 8:37 am
Regarding AM radio, many stations with actual local programming are AM, both where I am in FL and IN. Also, I enjoy DXing at night once in a while. It is really cool to pick up a Los Angeles radio station while in Indiana, using my 60 year old Heathkit transistor radio. No, I can’t do that very often.