AD #3644 – Acura Says No To GM Techs Servicing New ZDX; Tesla’s Sales Soar in China; UAW Calls GM’s Proposal “Insulting”
September 8th, 2023 at 11:51am
Listen to “AD #3644 – Acura Says No To GM Techs Servicing New ZDX; Tesla’s Sales Soar in China; UAW Calls GM’s Proposal “Insulting”” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 9:22
0:00 Rivian Expects Big Drop in Battery Raw Material Prices
0:55 Mullen Automotive in Trouble
1:46 UAW President Calls GM’s Counter Offer “Insulting”
2:32 Ford Fast Tracks 8,000 Workers to Top Wage Rate
3:44 Acura Doesn’t Want GM Techs to Service New ZDX
5:58 Argo AI Founders Form New Autonomous Trucking Startup
6:55 Tesla’s Sales Soar in China
7:43 Cadillac’s Goddess Makes Return on Celestiq
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RIVIAN EXPECTS BIG DROP IN BATTERY RAW MATERIAL PRICES
It looks like some relief is on the way for EV makers. Rivian’s CFO says she expects to see a significant drop in battery raw material prices that will start to have an impact late this year and into 2024. Prices went up in recent years due to short material supplies and strong consumer demand for EVs. But as those two things have started to turn in the other direction, prices are coming down. So, if automakers are spending less to build cars, they’re putting more money to the bottom line, which is especially good news for EV startups like Rivian and Lucid. And hopefully some of those savings will be applied to the sticker price of EVs because right now they’re too expensive for most people to afford.
MULLEN AUTOMOTIVE IN TROUBLE
However, the drop-in battery material prices probably isn’t going to be enough to save EV startup Mullen Automotive. The company announced it received a delisting notice from the NASDAQ exchange for its stock falling below the $1 minimum. Mullen is appealing to get another 180 days to turn things around, but as of this morning its stock was trading at $0.42 cents a share. Mullen is a bit of an interesting company, but it either failed to bring out its vehicles altogether or in very small numbers. It snatched up a number of failing EV startups, including the Coda EV, Bollinger Motors and Electric Last Mile Solutions or ELMS and it’s even trying to launch its own vehicle, called the Five. However, things are not looking good.
UAW PRESIDENT CALLS GM’S COUNTER OFFER “INSULTING”
We reported yesterday that it would probably happen and General Motors did make a counter offer to the UAW. It offered workers a 10% pay increase and two additional 3% annual lump sum payments over four years. It’s also offering a $6,000 inflation related payment, $5,000 in inflation protection over the life of the contract and a $5,500 ratification bonus. But UAW President Shawn Fain was not impressed and called the proposal “insulting” and says it will reduce the annual profit-sharing workers receive. So this isn’t a good sign a deal will be made before the contract expires next week on September 14th.
FORD FAST TRACKS 8,000 WORKERS TO TOP WAGE RATE
And Ford is trying to come out and look like it’s supporting its UAW members. Ford announced that nearly 8,000 UAW members are getting bumped up to the top wage rate. They’ll receive an extra $4.33 an hour on average, which works out to $9,000 a year. With overtime, it says that could increase to $10,000. But the exact increase depends on the specific job of the employee. Under the current contract, it takes 8 years for a worker to earn the top wage and that’s a provision the union is looking to eliminate in the new contract.
ACURA DOESN’T WANT GM TECHS TO SERVICE NEW ZDX
Acura invited us to a local event yesterday where we got to talk to some of the team that helped put together the new all-electric ZDX. Here’s the things that I found interesting. First, I got to talk to the exterior designer about the piano black roof on the Type S version. In person, it’s a very striking feature of the car. With all the pillars and even the roof rails in that deep black it almost fades away into the background. But a semi-polished accent, which was carried over from the concept, helps draw your eye back in and the designer said it helps give motion to the cabin. This is only a feature found on the Type S, which is the quickest and most powerful Acura SUV ever. All modes have the platinum-colored lower accent and the lower A-Spec version will come with a body-color roof. The ZDX is one of two EVs that Honda is getting from GM’s Ultium platform. The other is the Prologue. And like some GM vehicles, Acura says the ZDX will allow for hands-free driving, but instead of being called SuperCruise, it will use the name for Acura’s ADAS technology, which is called AcuraWatch. The EV will be sold in all 50 states, but dealers that wanted to get their hands on a ZDX had to agree to install chargers and train their staff before the EV launches, which will be early next year. Part of the learning curve will be a new digital sales model that will allow customers to make the entire purchase online, which will be the case with every Acura EV going forward. And lastly, I asked about crossover repair service between Honda and GM. Meaning GM could work on Honda EVs and vice versa. There’s a shortage of mechanics, especially good EV techs, and I figured they might want a bigger service net, but Acura shot that down pretty quickly. The brand wants nothing to do with GM service centers. If you’d like to learn more of the specs of the new ZDX, we covered that in a previous show and will provide the link.
ARGO AI FOUNDERS FORM NEW AUTONOMOUS TRUCKING STARTUP
The founders of Argo AI, the former autonomous driving unit backed by Ford and Volkswagen, are forming a new self-driving company called Stack AV. But instead of developing robotaxis, the new startup will focus on autonomous trucking. Bloomberg reports that Stack is backed by a more than $1 billion investment from Japan’s SoftBank investment company. Like Argo, Stack is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and it’s already hired 150 employees and has a test fleet of trucks on the road right now. As you may remember, last year Ford and VW shuttered Argo because they say autonomous vehicles are still years away from reaching mass production and they didn’t want to invest more to keep it going. But Argo’s founders say self-driving delivery trucks show more potential for automation.
TESLA’S SALES SOAR IN CHINA
China’s car market had been slowing over the summer with sales dropping in June and July but last month they rebounded. According to the China Passenger Car Association, automakers sold 1.94 million passenger vehicles in August, up 2.2% from the year before and an increase of 8.5% from July. Thanks to tax incentives and other discounts, sales of new energy vehicles, which includes BEVs, PHEVs and fuel cell vehicles, shot up 34.5% last month and accounted for nearly 37% of the market. Tesla was a big benefactor and it’s market share nearly doubled to 13.2% in August and the Model Y was the best-selling vehicle in China.
CADILLAC’S GODDESS MAKES RETURN ON CELESTIQ
Cadillac’s Goddess is making its return on the new hand-built Celestiq electric vehicle. But not as a hood ornament. A reimagined version of it appears on the front-fender and on a controller on the center console as well as above the vehicle’s charge port. The Goddess hood ornament was first introduced in 1930 and was on most models until the mid-1950’s.
But that brings us to the end of today’s show and this week. I hope that you have a great weekend.
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Comments (25)
September 8th, 2023 at 12:27 pm
Guess who Acura/Honda techs are going to contact for tech support? Yup, GM tech line.
GM techs have be servicing Tesla’s for years now.
https://insideevs.com/news/622471/general-motors-ramping-up-tesla-repairs/
September 8th, 2023 at 12:49 pm
So, is the self-driving technology in the Acura ZDX actually GM’s SuperCruise technology or is it Acura’s technology?
September 8th, 2023 at 12:49 pm
@TESLA Amazing success for TESLA in China. 13% Market share and Model Y best selling vehicle in the market!
September 8th, 2023 at 1:08 pm
I think there is more to tell about Mullen. In addition to the items mentioned in today’s report, they also recently started production of a medium duty EV truck called the Mullen Three and they have been producing the Class 1 small delivery van called the Mullen One for about six months now. That is the van from the ELMS company that they acquired. They have a decent order bank for both of those vehicles. In that deal, they also acquired a small production plant in Mishawaka, IN and recently finished building a new plant to produce all of the Mullen commercial vehicles in Tunica, MS.
They own Bollinger Motors and have a production agreement with Roush Industries to build two medium duty EV truck models at a plant in Livonia, MI.
They also filed a lawsuit against several Wall St firms accusing them of stock manipulation. The company’s stock has been hit hard by short sellers, but it seems there may be even more going on behind the scenes at these investment firms. Time will tell.
September 8th, 2023 at 1:10 pm
So between the inflation related payment of 6k and the ratification signing bonus of $5500 Workers could have gotten $11,500 now with another 5K in inflation protection on top of the 2.5% raise each year for the next 4 years.
Pretty obvious GM is trying to keep labor costs down and is willing to throw some good money at them today to get an agreement. Just too bad that inflation since 2020 totaled about 18.1% according to bureau of labor and statistics.
September 8th, 2023 at 1:34 pm
@Mullen, @4 The Mullen Five is a great looking vehicle as far as I am concerned.
September 8th, 2023 at 1:59 pm
I guess Acura doesn’t trust GM techs, but a reason a Florida neighbor with an MDX is looking elsewhere for a replacement, is that Acura has only a handful of dealers, none very conveniently located.
September 8th, 2023 at 2:19 pm
Is it just me or does the ZDX with the black room and chrome strip have a ‘mini-hearse’ kind of vibe? Maybe they should have waited until Halloween to introduce it.
September 8th, 2023 at 2:32 pm
Autonomous Dreams
I have a 2017 Tesla P100D with FSD. It has been updated continuously with hardware and software. It has become much better, but it still doesn’t drive autonomously the same as, or in my opinion, as safely as me.
At highway speeds it will get still be confused by erroneously taking an exit ramp when I am in the right most lane (or ‘slow lane’ as it is called in the US), although this is occurring less often. It is usually when the exit coincides with a gradual sweeping turn to the left, the opposite direction, and is often associated with a slight gradient change. The car disengages with the ‘full attention alarm mode’.
In city traffic it sometimes does not keep the lane when turning left at an intersection. It ‘slides’ one lane to the right. This is unfortunately the usual unsafe practice of most human drivers in the USA. They should keep the lane, then change lanes once clear of the intersection.
Most recently my car slowed abruptly causing traffic flow behind to do the same. I was on a two lanes each way suburban road (a US boulevard) speed limited to 45 mph, in the left lane and had just passed an intersection. A pickup turned right from the intersection, appropriately keeping their near lane. I would have continued normally while being aware of the truck, but my car slowed abruptly perhaps anticipating a collision. The traffic following me also had to suddenly slow from 45 to 10 mph unexpectedly.
I used to report these types of errors to Tesla by email on my account, but never received an acknowledgment or reply. Tesla has now removed that contact option.
I think autonomy has a long way to go yet. It might be improved by V2V, vehicle to vehicle communications, but try getting individualistic Americans to agree to that, keeping in mind the rancor about daytime driving lights.
September 8th, 2023 at 3:32 pm
Great week of autoline,thanks
September 8th, 2023 at 3:40 pm
@10 Great Autoline shows, indeed.
September 8th, 2023 at 4:03 pm
9 Interesting. I always questioned them calling it “full self driving,” and with good reason. It looks like tailgaters need to avoid tailgating Teslas. Does FSD recognize horns, as they might be used if a car with FSD drifts into your lane when turning a corner?
September 8th, 2023 at 8:31 pm
12 – Good question. I don’t recall being directly honked at. I tend to drive very conservatively (and not in New York city!) But I do know that FSD does not seem to react to honking noises down the street, etc.
September 8th, 2023 at 9:11 pm
Maybe it’s just me but the new Acura ZDX black roof line and trim reminds me of a hearse! Could be a big mistake.
September 8th, 2023 at 9:34 pm
8,14 Two of you are seeing that, so they should probably rethink some styling cues.
September 9th, 2023 at 4:41 am
Very significant Tesla China news, there. But 13.2% market share of 1.9 million vehicles would be 251,000, all from one factory (Models S and X aside). Plus any sold inventory, of course.
Is that the case? I’ve been suspecting that throughput is the chief reason Tesla’s kept stamped chassis parts for the Model 3. I won’t call it revamped.
About ex-Argo, there’s also Waabi from Toronto, a hotbed of AI, focussing on self-driving trucks. It seems like a smart choice, since there are no impatient passengers, and as long as the predicted and promised travel time is achieved, all parties should be happy.
September 9th, 2023 at 6:53 am
I would call the Tesla 3 a mild refresh; maybe not enough to spur new buyers or encourage current buyers to trade in for a new one.
September 9th, 2023 at 8:28 am
17 The refresh has a major turnoff to me, no turn signal stalk. Turn signal non-use will be even worse with these than with other cars, when you have to feel for a button on the steering wheel. The DOT isn’t doing their job to even allow it.
September 9th, 2023 at 8:33 am
Just wondering if the big 3 strike what happens to other auto manufacturers say like Toyota who isn’t union? Can they still get parts they need to run?
September 9th, 2023 at 9:13 am
18, Ditto; and good point(s) about safety, etc.
September 10th, 2023 at 6:32 am
Have to agree that zeroing out the stalks on the Model 3 impacts driving safety. Here in Europe, traffic circles are ubiquitous, and there’s no good way to blink without distraction now. It smacks of activism for the sake of being different.
Tesla reversed itself with the yoke and more significantly radar (I think) – it needs to do the same in this regard.
September 10th, 2023 at 8:51 pm
It would seem that governments’ mandating turn signal stalks, and maybe stalks for wiper switches would make more sense than some things they are mandating.
September 11th, 2023 at 8:04 am
7 I doubt if it’s a matter of Acura not trusting GM techs as much as its about service revenue. Since most dealerships make far more money servicing vehicles than they do selling new ones.
9 Great feedback, and it’s too bad Tesla no longer accepts it or even acknowledged when you did it earlier. That was well written and conveyed the problems clearly. But I could imagine not all feedback it as valuable or clear. Weeding through the nonsense for the helpful feedback was probably a monumental chore. Or maybe they are already aware of most of the things people were complaining about.
I too believe we are much further away from full self driving than we have been led to believe. Sure it will work in select cities and with ideal environmental conditions. So we will likely see the continued expansion of services like Cruise. Which is good to work out the bugs on roads typically under 35 mph. But for the general consumer to be offered a vehicle with actual full self-driving even in ideal conditions I believe we are still many years away (10+) and as for 100% all the time I’m not sure if we will ever get there as freezing rain and snow will be a tough obstacle for all the sensors needed to work properly.
But the good thing is it could one day really reduce the congestion in major cities with large quantity of FSD cabs and possibly even banning personal vehicles from entering without a permit. Making parking garages and lots obsolete.
September 11th, 2023 at 9:34 am
22,7 From a neighbor’s experience, Acura dealer shops have all of the business they need. There are days-long waits to get appointments.
September 11th, 2023 at 10:08 am
22) This is very true. Full self driving in every location in the world is going to require a significant infrastructure improvement to allow it. Mainly in locations that have to deal with snow, ice, and heavy downpour. To go full self driving will require V2V and V2I communication along with an entire array of current and as yet to be developed sensors. The road will need to communicate to the vehicle where the lane is located and what the surface conditions are, particularly in snow which covers up lane markings(V2I). We are decades away from this and will see a series of limited usage and stories from auto journalists proclaiming a future that is farther away then they will know. Of course if all this existed now, we probably would not even require autonomous vehicles…but that is a whole other story.