AD #2954 – Porsche Says No Way to Electric 911; NIO Passes GM in Market Value; Lucid’s Battery Pack Advantage
November 6th, 2020 at 11:56am
Listen to “AD #2954 – Porsche Says No Way to Electric 911; NIO Passes GM in Market Value; Lucid’s Battery Pack Advantage” on Spreaker.
Follow us on social media:
Runtime: 9:23
0:08 China Approves Made-In-China Model Y
0:51 NIO Passes GM in Market Value
1:35 EU Sales Down in October
2:12 Electrified Vehicles Outperforming the Overall Market
3:55 Bentley Commits To 100% BEV by 2030
4:30 Porsche Says No Way to Electric 911
5:07 GM Plans to Export Full-Size SUVs To China
6:24 Bosch Develops First Split Screen for Motorcycles
7:05 Lucid’s Battery Pack Advantage
Visit our sponsors to thank them for their support of Autoline Daily: Bridgestone, Hyundai and Intrepid Control Systems.
This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
CHINA APPROVES MADE-IN-CHINA MODEL Y
Tesla is one step closer to selling made-in-China Model Ys in the country. Electrek reports that the Chinese government just registered the EV, which means it could start building it soon but Tesla still needs a production permit from the government. Tesla is aiming to begin delivering made-in-China Model Ys by early next year. Earlier in the year, the EV maker started expanding its plant in Shanghai to make room for the Model Y, which is now double in size. The electric crossover is expected to be a big hit in China. One analyst predicts the company could sell as many as 30,000 a month once less expensive versions are available, and that is about three times as many Model 3s it sells in a month in China.
NIO PASSES GM IN MARKET VALUE
And Tesla’s success is boosting other EV startups. Chinese EV maker NIO, just passed General Motors in market valuation. The company’s stock has increased nearly 30% this week alone and it’s now worth $53.4 billion, compared to GM’s market capitalization which is at $51.6 billion. Investors are betting on big growth in the Chinese EV market over the next five years and investors view EV startups more as tech companies rather than auto manufacturers, which helps explain NIO’s growth. But it has a long way to go to catch up to Tesla, which is now valued at over $410 billion.
EU SALES DOWN IN OCTOBER
Uh-oh, these numbers don’t look good. New car sales fell more than 6% in Europe in October. Everyone was hoping that the European auto industry was on the mend after sales did well in September. But that’s not happening. LMC Automotive reports that the SAAR last month was only 12.7 million units. And now with a second wave of the coronavirus sweeping through the continent, LMC expects sales to be significantly worse in November. But if Europe can avoid the kind of lockdowns it went through earlier this year, LMC expects sales to rebound next year.
ELECTRIFIED VEHICLES OUTPERFORMING THE OVERALL MARKET
And speaking of car sales, as we reported earlier in the week, sales in the U.S. were down nearly 3% in October. But there’s one segment that’s more than holding its own during the downturn…electrified vehicles. According to Wards Intelligence, sales of battery electrics, hybrids and plug-in hybrids, were up a whopping 25% last month. BEVs, which for the most part is just Tesla, posted an increase of 5.4%. Hybrids were up an impressive 46%, while plug-ins declined about 2%. And for the year, electrified vehicle sales are down over 5%, which normally is nothing to celebrate but with the overall market down 17% through October, it’s pretty impressive. And if you’re wondering why we didn’t include fuel cells, that’s because sales of those vehicles are miniscule, less than 100 were sold last month.
| Electric Vehicle Sales October 2020 | ||
|---|---|---|
| BEV | 24,318 | +5.4% |
| Hybrid | 47,382 | +46% |
| Plug-In Hybrid | 6,272 | -1.8% |
| TOTAL | 77,972 | +25.9% |
| Electric Vehicle Sales Jan.-Oct. 2020 | ||
| BEV | 178,596 | -12.3% |
| Hybrid | 343,268 | +3.8% |
| Plug-In Hybrid | 49,030 | -30.3% |
| TOTAL | 570,894 | -5.6% |
| Source: Wards Intelligence | ||
BENTLEY COMMITS TO 100% BEV BY 2030
Another luxury mark is jumping into electrification. Bentley says all of its models will be plug-in or full battery electric by 2026. By 2030, all of its models will be BEV. It won’t be long before we see some of these vehicles. Two PHEVs will come next year, while its first all-electric is scheduled to be launched in 2025. Bentley also plans to reduce the environmental impact of its operations. It wants a 75% reduction by 2025 and to be end-to-end carbon neutral by 2030.
PORSCHE SAYS NO WAY TO ELECTRIC 911
And the Volkswagen Group may just need those carbon credits generated by Bentley. Porsche CEO Oliver Blume says, “Let me be clear, our icon, the 911, will have a combustion engine for a long time to come.” Blume added that it would not be useful to combine electrification with the car because the 911 was designed for a combustion engine and that Porsche believes in purpose-built BEVs. But the 911 seems to be on an island in the Porsche lineup. Blume expects half of its sales to be plug-in or pure electric by 2025.
GM PLANS TO EXPORT FULL-SIZE SUVs TO CHINA
There’s a bit of an odd sight at a Chinese auto expo going on right now. Cadillac is showing off the long wheelbase version of the Escalade. The massive SUV would normally seem out of place but the head of GM in China says the automaker is going to start exporting its full-size SUVs, including the Chevy Tahoe and Suburban, GMC Yukon Denali and Cadillac Escalade, to China. It did not say when this would start happening. But it’s making the move because it sees an opportunity to attract growing Chinese families. GM currently produces all of the vehicles it sells in China in the country and this would also mark the first time it sells GMC vehicles in China. It builds in China because otherwise the vehicles would be slapped with a big import tariff. So, these full-size SUVs are not going to be cheap. But it’s not only thinking of sending vehicles to China, GM is considering exporting Chinese-made EVs around the world as well.
BOSCH DEVELOPS FIRST SPLIT SCREEN FOR MOTORCYCLES
The giant German supplier Bosch introduced what it says is the world’s first fully integrated split screen for motorcycles. It’s a 10.25-inch display, which shows information, like speed and warnings as well as app content from a smartphone. Riders decide what they want to see, which can be selected on the handlebar. The new screen debuts this year on BMW motorcycles. At the same time, Bosch is also introducing its mySPIN feature to the motorcycle segment for the first time, which integrates the smartphone with the display screen. Ducati and Kawasaki will introduce mySPIN to its bikes next year.
LUCID’S BATTERY PACK ADVANTAGE
Some experts say that charging time is the key to selling more EVs. If that’s the case, then Lucid Motors may have an advantage over everyone else. On Autoline After Hours, Peter Rawlinson, the CEO and CTO of Lucid, explained the advantage they have with their battery pack.
“We’ve gone from modular pack design its 924 ultra high voltage which makes the whole car much more efficient. It means that we can charge up to 20 miles in one minute, but at that at our optimum state of charge. You can’t suddenly say, ‘if I can do 20 miles in one minute, I can do 200 miles in 10 minutes.’ It doesn’t work like that. But we can get 300 miles in just 20 minutes and this is unprecedented. We very recently tested at over 300 kilowatts with an Electrify America outlet (inaudible). Oh it’s a Lucid Air and their technical director rang my VP of Hardware immediately to congratulate him just last week. So, we got a pack that charges faster than anything at else, we’ve got a pack which has truly got the race car DNA in it.”
When Peter talks about race car DNA he’s referring to the fact that Lucid makes all the battery packs for Formula E. And that helps explain why this company has so much EV expertise.
But that’s all for today, thanks for watching and have a great weekend.
Thanks to our partner for embedding Autoline Daily on its website: WardsAuto.com
Share
Permalink
Comments (29)
November 6th, 2020 at 12:26 pm
That’s awful news Bentley thinking about going all electric.
November 6th, 2020 at 12:26 pm
That’s awful news Bentley thinking about going all electric.
November 6th, 2020 at 12:29 pm
With regard to the motorcycle displays: Royal Enfield just introduced their Meteor 350 and it has an interesting little bit on the instrument binnacle that is a small, round dial that contains a color LCD. It links to your smartphone and can provide a variety of functions such as turn-by-turn navigation.
This is interesting because the bike is intended to be their new “bread & butter” bike for the Indian market and would not normally be expected to have such a feature at that price-point.
November 6th, 2020 at 12:36 pm
So China abolished the 1 child limit back in 2015 and now they have the need for the big American SUVs.
Porsche is smart when it comes to designing an EV to be an EV and not trying to retrofit an existing platform like the 911.
November 6th, 2020 at 12:40 pm
Given the desire of Bentley owners (even more so, Rolls Royce owners) for a quiet driving experience, I think full electrification may suit that brand quite nicely.
Though it will be hard to give up their ICE bragging rights. Their engines are already putting out insane amounts of power and torque. At nearly 5,300lbs, the Speed variant of the new Bentayga SUV is 1/10second quicker than a 3,600lb 2019 Corvette ZR1 in 0-60 time, coming in at 3.1sec and 3.2sec respectively. OUCH!!
November 6th, 2020 at 12:41 pm
Bentley engines are quite underrated, I think…
November 6th, 2020 at 1:05 pm
seeing autoline after hours with the performance and luxury of the Lucid without outrageous repair costs how will Bentley and RollsRoyce compete
November 6th, 2020 at 1:11 pm
5 The Bentley truck has 4WD, which helps a lot in getting 0-60 times much below 4 seconds on street tires, no matter the power to weight.
I see Bentleys and Rolls-Royces very rarely, but when I do, it is usually during an occasional trip to south Florida, where I see them cruising A1A in Miami Beach. EVs would be great for that. The people who have the cars would be able to charge them in their 5 car attached garage, and easily do their 40 miles of cruising on a charge.
November 6th, 2020 at 1:14 pm
6 Now that the old Rolls-Bentley pushrod V8 used in the Mulsanne is going away, Bentley engines are from the VW-Audi “parts bin,” both the V8s, and the W12. I don’t know how reliable they are, but they work well.
November 6th, 2020 at 1:19 pm
8. Yes, but all-wheel drive aside, I think you must admit it is still quite an impressive feat to launch a 5,300lb brick quicker than a 3,600lb arrow
November 6th, 2020 at 1:24 pm
@4: how about teenaged children of wealthy families who go out and travel together?
November 6th, 2020 at 1:25 pm
7. With regard to the Ultra Lux crowd, I think that (regardless of the cost savings or charging time) them opting for a Lucid over the very storied and high-brow RR’s and Bentley’s, would be akin to Larry D. opting for a Genesis over a Mercedes
November 6th, 2020 at 1:25 pm
7 You are serious, are you? LOL. You have NO EFFING CLUE what a PROPER Luxury car is.
The OSAMA MOTORS Lucid has cute exterior styling, but its interior looks like some concept drawing to impress 12 year olds.
November 6th, 2020 at 1:26 pm
It makes sense for Bentley and Rolls to be all electric. They want their vehicles to be quiet and have lots of torque. Their customers don’t tow or haul heavy things. Judging by what I see around me, these cars are not being used for long trips. Most have a luxury SUV for long trip duty. Their owners generally have private garages which can be used for recharging them. I doubt their customer base cares how the car is powered at all, just that it is powerful feeling. All the right boxes are checked for Rolls and Bentley to be an electric car.
November 6th, 2020 at 1:27 pm
8 the Bentley breadvan is a pimped up Cayenne, much smaller than the Rolls Royce Breadvan, the Cullinan (which is so successful, it sold as many units as all the many other ROlls models put together)
November 6th, 2020 at 1:28 pm
10 Yep, over 600 hp, and good gearing selection for getting to 60 quickly. I suspect they use shorter gearing for the hot version, to improve acceleration in the speed range where they would normally be driven. The Corvette would have higher power to weight, but its low speed acceleration would clearly be traction limited.
November 6th, 2020 at 1:30 pm
@13: do you have a clue about luxury cars? I bet nobody takes you serious when you pull up to a luxury car dealership in one of your old HITLER Diesels.
November 6th, 2020 at 1:31 pm
7 and seriously, you also have no effing CLUE how much more expensive a ROlls or a Bentley is compared to a Model S, OR to your “lucid”, IF, after more than a decade, they manage to PRODUCE even ONE unit to sell. It is a two and three to one up to a TEN TO ONE ratio, depending on option.
You are comparing “premium economy class” to “First Class”, to put it in terms you may understand. Or, make it “RULING CLASS”… LOL.
November 6th, 2020 at 1:38 pm
@18: if you yourself would understand what a proper luxury vehicle is, you would know that the buyers’ purchasing decisions are not based on operating cost.
Take it from somebody who actually owns a $400,000 vehicle.
November 6th, 2020 at 1:42 pm
15 In dimensions, the Bentayga is more Q7 than Cayenne, 118 inch wheelbase and 202 inch length, while the Cayenne is 114/194. Yeah, the Rolls is bigger, 210 length and 130 WB. The bargain of those type vehicles is the Touareg, but they no longer sell it in the US.
November 6th, 2020 at 1:47 pm
20) The Touareg and it’s repair costs makes me shudder LOL
The Bentayga is exactly a Q7 in fancy clothing.
November 6th, 2020 at 3:23 pm
Sean, do you have any breakout on those hybrids? I’m guessing that a lot of the increase is RAV4 and Highlander, both of which seem to be showing up at a dealer I drive through to see what’s new.
November 7th, 2020 at 3:00 am
19 go away, clueless fool. WHERE THE HELL DID I SAY ANYTHING ABOUT OPERATING COST, YOU MORON????
go hold hands with Lambo.
November 7th, 2020 at 9:38 am
No surprise that hybrid sales have shot up, in many cases certain car models are now hybrid only. Whats worrying is that the no-risk plugin hybrids are not selling well and as you note its mostly all just ONE car maker selling all the BEVs (then again GM and Ford have been comatose over any good BEV until now). Whens the last time the Bolt got an significant upgrade. Even BMWs quirky i3 has been left to gather dust while they launch plugins to avoid city access charges.
As for Electric upper luxobarges, the same superrich put solar on their mcMansions so a BEV luxury car fits in with their attempts at looking green (now that taking the private jet/1st class long haul flight is not looking politically correct for a while). And I think the high end V12/V8 turbo BMW-VW built engines are almost all hand built (in Germany) considering their small sales volume and to maintain quality control
November 7th, 2020 at 10:21 am
24 Plug-in hybrids would be a good thing for people with short commutes, and who have a place to charge them. They wouldn’t work for me during most of the year, because of no place to charge. Regular hybrids are great for me, though, with at least 50% better mpg than a non-hybrid for much of the driving I do.
I just read that the i3 would remain in production until 2024. I thought it had already been discontinued.
I don’t know if the new Venza is being sold yet, but if so, it could be a major contributor to the hybrid increase.
November 8th, 2020 at 12:11 pm
Choice 911 vs Roadster?
Roadster all the way.
November 9th, 2020 at 8:07 am
23 Hey Don’t drag me into your incoherent rants with other people. BTW I would gladly hold hands with Wim van Acker (whom makes logical, sensical comments) than read another narcissistic blog about your daily walk and the, who cars what cars you saw.
November 9th, 2020 at 11:30 am
I just read a Road & Track article about a 3000 mile road trip from NY to CA in a Porsche Taycan. The used Electrify America charging. The bottom line is that they were able to make the trip ok, and some of the chargers are higher power than the Tesla chargers, but most of the Electrify America charger were in Walmart parking lots, not the most interesting place to spend 30-40 minutes. Worse, most Walmarts are not the greatest place to get a ready-to-eat snack or meal, or even freshly brewed coffee, and many, or most Walmarts are not conveniently located for walking to a restaurant, fast food or otherwise.
November 11th, 2020 at 9:11 am
HYBRID SALES UP: YTD sales of HV are only 2.93% of US sales. The reason they are up is mainly because we have 9-year low inventories of popular trucks, CUV’s, and SUV’s while at the same time automakers had super high inventories of HYBRIDS which most Americans do not want. So they discounted HV’s to help recover some sales. This caused HV sales to rise and of course profit to go down. HV’s are are simply a poor economic case….at about $3,000 premium for HV at $2.00/gallon fuel and say 15,000 miles per year it takes about 10 years to pay off the fuel savings from HV purchase. Also for highway trips HV’s add no value as no savings on fuel. Most people finance new car purchases, so the $3,000 premium also has a finance cost. That makes HV business case even worse. That is why only 3% take rate of hybrids in the USA despite they have been in market for decades. American consumers are rational! The irrational hype for electrification is mind boggling! Why are so many people pushing it?