AD #3014 – Stellantis CEO Voices Support for Chrysler; ITC Rules Against SK Innovation; Ultimate Off-Road Machine?
February 11th, 2021 at 11:52am
Listen to “AD #3014 – Stellantis CEO Voices Support for Chrysler; ITC Rules Against SK Innovation; Ultimate Off-Road Machine?” on Spreaker.
Follow us on social media:
Runtime: 11:39
0:07 Detroit Diesel Making EV System for Daimler Trucks
0:59 Stellantis CEO Voices Support for Chrysler Brand
1:51 U.S. ITC Rules Against SK Innovation
4:06 Is Tesla’s Sales Model That Different from a Dealer?
5:18 Rivian Plans European Plant
5:46 Auto Group Says EU Needs 1 Million Charging Stations
6:35 Are These the Ultimate Off-Roaders?
7:58 Toyota Announces New BEVs for the U.S.
8:52 Ram Adds HFE EcoDiesel to Pickup Lineup
9:46 Ford Launches Online Used Car Platform
Visit our sponsors to thank them for their support of Autoline Daily: BorgWarner, Bridgestone, Intrepid Control Systems, Magna and SAP.
This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
DETROIT DIESEL TO MAKE EV SYSTEM FOR DAIMLER TRUCKS
Detroit Diesel, which is famous for making diesels for commercial trucks, is turning its attention to electric powertrain components. It will make the parts at its plant in Detroit. That plant will serve as the North American hub for ePowertrain components for Daimler Trucks, which owns Detroit Diesel. The ePowertrain is scheduled to go into production this year and will be equipped in the Freightliner eCascadia and eM2 trucks. Daimler Trucks also owns Freightliner. The ePowertrain will provide the eM2 with 230 miles of range and 250 miles for the eCascadia. By the way, Daimler calls this division Detroit. But we still call it Detroit Diesel, because if we just called it Detroit no one would know what we’re talking about.
CARLOS TAVARES VOICES SUPPORT FOR CHRYSLER BRAND
Looks like there is a future for the Chrysler brand after all. Yesterday, Carlos Tavares and John Elkann, respectively the CEO and Chairman of Stellantis, toured several assembly plants in the Detroit area. In talking with the media, Tavares gave full-throated support for reviving the Chrysler brand and said they will soon name a CEO to lead it. But first Stellantis needs to figure out what the brand stands for. The other American brands are pretty straight forward. Ram makes pickups, Dodge makes performance vehicles and Jeep makes off-road SUVs. We think Tavares will likely rebuild the Chrysler brand with cars from Peugeot. But how would you rebuild the Chrysler brand? Make it all electric, or what?
ITC RULES AGAINST SK INNOVATION
Bad news for battery maker SK Innovation. The U.S. ITC ruled in favor of LG Chem, who accused SK of stealing trade secrets. It banned SK from importing some lithium-ion batteries in the U.S. for 10 years with some exceptions. The ITC will allow SK to bring in components to its battery factories in Georgia to make packs for the electric Ford F-150 and Volkswagen ID.4. But the ruling only allows SK to supply Ford for four years and VW for two. We’re not sure why there’s a difference in how many years SK can supply each automaker. Maybe it has something to do with the original contract or even expected volume of each vehicle? But you can be sure VW and Ford are scrambling to find replacements.
IS TESLA’S SALES MODEL THAT DIFFERENT FROM A DEALER?
Remember all that talk about how Tesla would turn the retail business on its head by selling directly to consumers instead of using franchised dealers? Now, every other EV startup wants to do the same thing. But Wall Street analyst and retail expert Maryann Keller doesn’t believe it’s going to work. She doesn’t see how the Tesla model differs that much from having a dealer network. Take a look.
“He has people. He has lots of employees. He has lots of physical locations. He has to service his cars. So as there are more of them on the road, you’re going to have to have more physical locations to service those cars. He owns all of those employees and he owns all of these locations. How is that different from what a dealer would do?”
Keller says Tesla was supposed to save a ton of money by avoiding the dealer markup. But she wants to know where the savings are, because she doesn’t see it in the company’s financial earnings. Maryann Keller is our guest on Autoline This Week, and you can watch that entire show on our website or YouTube channel.
RIVIAN PLANS EUROPEAN FACTORY
EV startup Rivian plans to build a factory in Europe. Bloomberg reports it hired a real estate firm to scout locations. A site hasn’t been selected yet but several countries, including the UK, Germany and Hungary are being considered. The plant will likely produce vans for Amazon at first and then build Rivian vehicles for consumers. Rivian wants to open the facility next year.
AUTO GROUP SAYS EU NEEDS 1 MILLION CHARGING STATIONS
The European Association of Automobile Manufacturers says the EU needs more EV charging stations. A lot more, like a million. It says one million are needed by 2024 and 3 million by 2029, to give consumers the confidence to make the switch to electrics. As of 2020, there were about a quarter of a million public charging points in Europe. The group says the targets will also help automakers and grid operators plan ahead. It’s also calling for 1,000 hydrogen stations by 2029. If you’re wondering, as of last July, there were only 26,000 public charging stations in the U.S. And as of 2019, there were over half a million stations in China.
ARE THESE THE ULTIMATE OFF-ROAD MACHINES?
We almost never click on pop-up ads, but we saw one today that just looked too cool to pass up. It was for this wicked, go-anywhere off-road machine called the Fat Truck made by the Zeal Motor company. We know this is not breaking news, the Fat Truck was launched in 2019, but we had never seen it and thought you might get a kick out of it, too. The Fat Truck is powered by a 67 horsepower Caterpillar diesel engine and features massive tires that help this thing tackle practically any terrain. It can even go through deep water. While it would seem this would only attract a select number of buyers, there’s another vehicle that’s very similar to the Fat Truck. And it comes from a Russian company, named SHERP. We had already heard of SHERP because Kanye West owns a few of them and even gave one to one of his rapper buddies. Both the Fat Truck and SHERP start out at about $120,000.
TOYOTA ANNOUNCES NEW BEVs FOR THE U.S.
The EV community is pretty critical of Toyota, accusing the company of dragging its feet when it comes to selling battery electric cars. So the world’s largest automaker just announced it has two BEVs coming to the U.S. this year, though it didn’t offer any details. And it reiterated its wholehearted support of plug-in hybrids. In fact, Toyota says PHEVs have about the same carbon footprint as BEVs when you count everything including the green-house-gasses created during manufacturing. It says PHEVs are cheaper to buy and have a significantly lower cost of ownership for the first 5 years, if you don’t include incentives. And even if you do include incentives, it says a PHEV has a lower cost of ownership compared to a long range BEV.
RAM ADDS HFE ECODIESEL TO TRUCK LINEUP
Ram already has a gas-powered HFE or High Fuel Efficiency version of the 1500 pickup and now it’s adding an HFE EcoDiesel version too. The setup is paired to Ram’s Tradesman model and features 2-wheel drive, a crew cab, 5-foot 7-inch bed and 20-inch wheels. Ram doesn’t say what the differences are between the standard EcoDiesel and the HFE version, but it’s rated at 23 MPG in the city, 33 on the highway and 26 combined, which is 1 MPG better all the way around. The truck will be available in the second quarter of this year and has a starting price of just under $44,000, including destination charges, which is about $7,800 more than the gas-powered HFE Ram.
FORD LAUNCHES ONLINE USED CAR PLATFORM
The Ford Motor Company makes millions of new vehicles every year, but it wants to help its dealers to sell more used cars. So it launched a digital platform called Ford Blue Advantage so dealers can list their used cars online. And customers can watch a video walkaround of any car, arrange for a test drive, or buy it and have it delivered to their home. Each vehicle is certified, with two ratings: Gold Certified vehicles are six years old or newer with less than 80,000 miles. Blue Certified vehicles are 10 years old or newer and have less than 120,000 miles. And both types of certification come with warranties and free roadside assistance. Ford says there are 3 million used Fords sold in the American market every year, but Ford dealers only handle 1 million of them, and the company wants its dealers to get a lot more of that business.
Speaking of Ford, we’re going to take a deep dive into the all-new Raptor on Autoline After Hours this afternoon with the program manager, Tony Greco. If you’ve got a question you’re dying to ask him about it, send an email to viewermail@autoline.tv, or tweet it to @Autoline. Mark Williams, a free lance journalist and consultant on all things about trucks will also be on the show, so join John and Gary for some of the best insights into what’s going on in the automotive industry.
But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for watching.
Thanks to our partner for embedding Autoline Daily on its website: WardsAuto.com
Share
Permalink
Comments (41)
February 11th, 2021 at 12:04 pm
i’m thinking by the time 4 year battery supply for ford is done solid state batteries will be available.
February 11th, 2021 at 12:18 pm
I think Chrysler could rebadge the DS line and compete with Lincoln/Cadillac…like they used to in the old days before going down market.
February 11th, 2021 at 12:28 pm
Those charger numbers are very different. I recall reading that locations vs actual chargers can really skew what is going on. Does a location have 1 charger or 10? Something like this going on here?
I get you said public so presumable numbers exclude Tesla’s network.
February 11th, 2021 at 12:29 pm
Are the only plants making Chrysler now all the Unifor plants in Ontario? Pacifica and 300? (WAP and BAP)
February 11th, 2021 at 12:29 pm
I’d say making the Chrysler division the all electric brand makes probably the most sense at this point. They should keep it higher end EVs and also bring back Plymouth as a hybrid and lower end entry level vehicles. This way when gas prices spike Plymouth would at least have some cars and hybrids for folks not ready to go full EV.
February 11th, 2021 at 12:31 pm
Chrysler: Bring out a convertible. With a decent back seat.
February 11th, 2021 at 12:35 pm
Sean has there been a study that would identify where EV owners charge their vehicles? My guess is 80-90% is done at home at least in the US. So adding public chargers is going to do little to make EVs attractive. As long as charging times are in the 20+ minutes who wants to sit at a charging station for that long?
Restaurants need to get on board as that is one place people will stop for at least 20 min and getting a free or reduced price charge will draw in customers. You have to give people something to do while their car is charging and eating is a logical choice to me.
February 11th, 2021 at 12:37 pm
Switching from ICE to EV is mostly about profits to the automakers, while looking greener.
February 11th, 2021 at 12:37 pm
@Marshy – You’re right. While there’s 26,000 charging stations in the U.S., there’s roughly 84,000 charging points at those stations. I also wonder if the number of Americans charging at home is a reason we have so many fewer stations.
February 11th, 2021 at 12:41 pm
How is Tesla’s model different from a dealer network? Tesla does not have middlemen(dealer) between them and the customer. Tesla does not have to share any profit with a dealer. Customers never get screwed by unscrupulous dealers and Tesla never has its brand name hurt by those dealers. With Tesla there is no haggle pricing for the vehicle and service costs the same.
February 11th, 2021 at 12:44 pm
@Lambo – There’s apps that owners can use to find charging stations. I think most EVs also offer something through the navigation as well.
There’s already charging locations like this. There’s a Tesla Supercharger near my house that has all kinds of shops and restaurants around. I think we’ll see more as EV adoption keeps spreading.
February 11th, 2021 at 12:50 pm
I just was wondering, 26,000 public charging stations, wonder how many home units are out there. Also the big question, how many gas stations are there in the USA? In my area, eastern Pa., most people here with an bev have a home charger, but this area is all single homes where you can put in a charger. Ever think that when the Model T came out, people would think, where do I buy this Gasoline stuff!
February 11th, 2021 at 12:50 pm
The Tesla model is so much simpler. Naturally there can still be issues when still dealing with one company.
If you dont know what Chrysler stands for then obviously you do not need it.
February 11th, 2021 at 12:51 pm
the stated range of battery powered HD trucks is that fully loaded to the max of 80,000 pounds ??
February 11th, 2021 at 12:55 pm
#10 Agreed! I’d like to see ALL dealers disappear and become used car and service only outlets. As more and more people buy online, through AutoTrader.com etc, the dealer markup on new cars is eroding anyway. Many people are willing to drive a couple hundred miles to save $1000 or more and most dealers will give you a good discount for doing it. It’s only political clout of the existing dealers that keeps Detroit from following Tesla. Sooner or later, as everyone goes electric, either Tesla will have to get dealers or all dealers will have to disappear.
February 11th, 2021 at 12:57 pm
Interesting to know what Detroit Diesel is doing. What about Cummins and Caterpillar? What are their plans for the EV future?
February 11th, 2021 at 12:59 pm
Sean, George Ricci has a good point. As every one goes electric, how can the Tesla solution not be offered to everyone, even the Detroit three?
February 11th, 2021 at 1:00 pm
That SK plant is important for US production of EVs. I’d like to see SK and LG settle it by the plant becoming a joint venture run by LG to get around this ruling.
February 11th, 2021 at 1:03 pm
While rebadging Peugeot, Citroen and DS vehicles might make since to sell as Chrysler vehicles, I would think that Opel/Vauxhall may be better. With the Chevy Malibu and Cruse already being sold here, in might be easier to certify them for sale in the US. Then they would also have a parts network as well. That is if GM doesn’t have a claws in the contract when they sold Opel to PSA, that they couldn’t sell them in the United States for X number of years.
With the number of plants closing across Europe, why could Rivian retrofit one of those assemble plants to build their vehicles? Wouldn’t it cost less and allow them to bring their vehicles to market sooner in that part of the world?
February 11th, 2021 at 1:22 pm
I believe about half of all households in the UK require parking on the street or in a remote lot. I think that’s one reason there is so many more public chargers. Probably similar in much of Europe.
February 11th, 2021 at 1:41 pm
Public charging stations, or stations at restaurants, grocery stores, “big box” stores, etc. would get me more interested in an EV since I can’t charge at home. The closest charging station to my condo is a Tesla “destination charger,” locating in a tourist trap beach side parking lot where you have to pay $15-20 to access the chargers.
February 11th, 2021 at 1:46 pm
The battery problems of Ford and VW highlights Teslas vertical integration advantage over legacy auto, would you leave the manufacturing of the ICE engine to OEM suppliers?
GIGA 1 factory IS run by Tesla , who is the Kitchen owner, Panasonic the chef,supplies the pots and pans, Tesla supplies the ingredients and recipe, out comes the steak, the best in the business, cheapest too.
February 11th, 2021 at 1:49 pm
15 Cummins is getting into plug-in hybrid and electric stuff.
https://www.cummins.com/electrification/powerdrive-for-electric-trucks
February 11th, 2021 at 1:51 pm
13 Chrysler stands for near-luxury cars, and they have one model, the 300. They also have the vans, but they should be either Dodge Caravan, or Plymouth Voyager.
February 11th, 2021 at 1:54 pm
12 At one time, didn’t you buy gasoline at drug stores? There were probably gas stations by the time the Model T came along in about 1909.
February 11th, 2021 at 1:57 pm
4 Vans in Windsor, and 300, Charger, and Challenger in Brampton.
February 11th, 2021 at 2:10 pm
Looking at the DS products, I don’t see much that would make sense for the US market. There are some various size crossovers, which would probably get lost in the US market with zillion other crossovers in the US market.
The biggest DS sedan is a plug-in hybrid, about the size of Camry and Accord. It’s FWD/4WD. I don’t know how “luxurious” it is, but I’d think it would have a hard time competing with Camry/Accord on price, or with E-Class and ES on status and perceived luxury. It’s assembled in China, which would help on price, but clearly would hurt for other reasons, even if it is a good car.
February 11th, 2021 at 2:27 pm
Maryann Keller has no clue about Tesla and its way of doing bznz , They sell the cars without any high pressure tactics, they do have Service Rangers that come to do simple repairs where the car is and have shops as well very little advertising budget unlike legacy auto and dealers. EVA should name Chrysler Airflow like in the 30s and make it very Aerodynamic and their “Future brand”.
February 11th, 2021 at 2:57 pm
11 Interestingly, a supercharger about 10 miles away that had been listed as “coming soon” for a year or more on the Tesla web site has not arrived, and is no longer shown as “coming soon.” They must have changed their mind about it.
February 11th, 2021 at 3:22 pm
The Fat Truck is a truly amazing vehicle for when you need to go off-road, not much stops it, even in water it can swim if the current isn’t too great. If you want additional information on it go to fattruck.com to see why it is a step up from everything else out there, including the Sherp. Tell them Ziggy sent you….
February 11th, 2021 at 4:00 pm
The used car market is so competitive these days with so many options, but Ford offering a warranty may give them an edge.
February 11th, 2021 at 4:06 pm
Regarding Tesla’s sales model, according to Elon Musk they had to establish their own network so that sales would push the EVs instead of treating them as a decorative sideshow to the ICE lineup.
One of those sink-or-swim decisions that made Tesla.
18 Kevin – “That SK plant is important for US production of EVs.” Just so. Vital, actually.
This is still early days for US EV production, and it’s crucial not to lag behind, rev up as fast as possible, while keeping the business among allied nations.
A window of only 2 and 4 years’ production doesn’t incentivize investments at all. Yes, the two Korean companies should mend their ways, but competition between Chaebols [conglomerates] can be cutthroat.
February 11th, 2021 at 4:50 pm
If production of EVs is going to increase 20 fold in the next 15 years, where are those batteries, and the materials to make them going to come from?
February 11th, 2021 at 5:13 pm
@22: I like that explanation a lot.
February 11th, 2021 at 6:10 pm
I expect the decision against SK is more serious than one may think. What happens to SK after 4 years and Bidens desire to quickly move towards carbon-neutrality? How fast can another supplier be found to keep Bidens plan moving forward?
Making matters worse, cobalt, a critical element of the Li_Ion battery, is mined in only a few countries and China is buying up all the supply as it can get.
Maybe we should focus more solid-state batteries. The move to solid-electrolites have many advantages, yet remain costly and many years away to become fruitful.
I think this is the direction best for the U.S. to follow enabling us to take away China’s advantage and contol of critical materials.
Now is the perfect time for the U.S. to make this the goal, while EV sales are small.
February 12th, 2021 at 4:06 am
33 Kit – The size of the challenge is immense. I’m not sure the entire market will simply change over – the composition of vehicles is mutable.
However, the raw materials are available. It’s manufacturing throughput that will be interesting to watch – while it already seems perfectly normal that Tesla can build 1’000 EVs a day, not long ago most (and I) would have seen that as fanciful.
Who would have thought we’d build giant floating platforms anchored in stormy seas to pipe crude from the ocean floor? Demand drives investment.
About DS, maybe we should concentrate on platforms to speculate what cars a reinvigorated Chrysler might offer? In fact, Chrysler as a brand strikes me as a great luxury marque for China.
February 12th, 2021 at 8:41 am
28 I agree that Maryann truly missed the point of a non-dealership network. It wasn’t about saving money for Tesla and not sure it was really even about saving money for the consumer. It was the horrible interaction that people have with when dealing with salesman. Any product where one person can go in and buy it at one price, and someone else can get the same vehicle a thousand dollars more or less can create distain. Everyone wants to leave feeling they got a good deal and when buying a new car you just don’t know and if your not confident in your negotiating skills you probably didn’t.
Take all that away and sell cars like almost any other product with set pricing and the question about if you got a good deal or not goes away.
I’m sure at first it was a way to sell cars without having to establish an entire dealer network and with the internet these days many other products launch without a sales distribution network. People can use Ebay or Amazon and let them handle distribution logistics.
Sure Elon maybe overlooked the need for service centers and the need to have personnel to run that aspect but that’s very different than a dealership in my opinion. I think many other people see it that way too.
February 12th, 2021 at 10:17 am
Doing away with independant dealerships is a real head scratcher in my view. The concept sound appears reasonable yet the end result would most likely put them out of buisiness.
What kind of economy would we have if every producer, from nuts to clothes and everything in-between established set sale prices of their wares? The concept of buying in bulk would go out the window. So should fleet sales be included? The end result would be that each and every employee would literally be working for only the largest of corporations who will then have the ability to set wages or simply make them all the same.
This type of way of doing business looks like something found in North Korea, eh?
I think I’ll remain content with free enterprise, thank you.
February 12th, 2021 at 11:44 am
38 I don’t think selling via internet or without dealerships eliminated free enterprise. Manufacturers still compete with each other as Tesla will soon learn. Taking out a middle man isn’t anything new.. Factory direct sales have been around for ever. Fleet sales would also still happen as those prices are negotiated with the manufacturer which is separate from direct sales.
February 12th, 2021 at 11:50 am
The Fat Truck with a 67 HP diesel engine must be a wimp when it comes to performance. Something that big, heavy, with massive tires. A wild guess of performance specs – top speed 25 mph, 0-45 mph of 30 seconds, and zero grunt tackling the off-road.
February 12th, 2021 at 12:08 pm
Meant to type 0-25 mph of 30 seconds.