This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.

NORTH AMERICA IS SAVING NISSAN
Toyota and Nissan have two very different stories to tell in the American market. Toyota is losing money in North America, while Nissan North America is saving the company. As we reported earlier this month, Toyota lost $558 million in North America last year, after regularly posting profits of about $4 billion a year. Meanwhile, North America is where Nissan makes 85% of its profits. It’s also the company’s biggest sales region, even bigger than what it sells in Japan and China combined. We can’t explain why Nissan is doing so well in the American market while Toyota is losing money. But it sure is interesting to see the difference. 

NEW YORK CABBIES GET SCREWED
New York taxi drivers really got screwed. A New York Court of Appeals says they can’t sue the city because it let Uber and Lyft destroy their business. Taxi drivers have to buy a license to operate a cab in New York. They call them medallions. Before Ubver and Lyft showed up, a medallion cost an average of $1.3 million. But since the ride sharing services, the value of the medallions fell to about $325,000. So the cab companies sued the city, claiming the City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission, which hands out the medallions and regulates taxis, breached its contracts because it did not limit the number of ride-hailing cars. But the Appeals court ruled that the cabbies can’t sue the City because the Commission never guaranteed it would protect the value of the medallions. Cab drivers would take out bank loans to buy the medallions, which they thought would keep going up in value because they always had…until Uber and Lyft showed up, that is.

HERTZ BUYING 340,000 EVs
Rental car companies buy a lot of cars, nearly 2 million a year in the US market. And they could represent a significant percentage of EV sales. Hertz now has 50,000 EVs in its fleet or about 10% of its vehicles. The company expects to do 2 million EV rentals this year, which is five times more than last year. And Hertz has a lot more EVs coming its way. It ordered 100,000 from Tesla, 65,000 from Polestar and another 175,000 from General Motors. But it will be several years before all those EVs enter its fleet.

DAIMLER LAUNCHES NEW EV TRUCK BRAND…
Daimler is launching a new brand for medium-duty electric trucks in the U.S., called RIZON. This is really just a rebadged version of the Fuso eCanter and will be sold in Class 4 & 5 configurations. The batteries are LFP or lithium iron phosphate and it revealed two pack sizes; 83 kWh and 124 kWh. Depending on the configuration the small pack provides 75-110 miles of range, while the big pack is rated at 110-160 miles. The RIZON trucks will be distributed by the Velocity Group, a company that sells trucks and truck parts and boasts 80 outlets worldwide. Velocity will act as a one-stop-shop for customers, who will start taking delivery in the 4th quarter of this year.

…AND BUILDS EV CHARGING NETWORK
And obviously, all these electric trucks are going to need a place to charge, so Daimler also announced it’s teaming up to build an EV charging infrastructure for large commercial vehicles. The joint venture is called Greenlane and they’re investing $650 million to install stations along busy freight routes, the first one going into Southern California. The plan also includes hydrogen refueling stations and possibly light-duty vehicles in the future.

TESLA SUES TO GET AUTOBAHN CHARGERS
Speaking of EV charging, Tesla and Fastned, a Netherlands-based charging company, are suing for the right to install their chargers along the Autobahn in Germany. Right now a company, called Tank & Rast holds the rights to nearly all the rest stops and gas stations along the Autobahn, which allows it to pick who gets in and where they go. Tank & Rast also claims this authority extends to EV charging and has only allowed a select number of charging operators to install stations. As you can probably guess Tesla and Fastned weren’t one of them, so now they’re suing to break up the near monopoly. 

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS DESIGN NEXT-GEN RAM EV
This is not our usual story, but I was really impressed with the winners of a recent Stellantis design competition where 10th-12th grade students were asked to sketch a next-gen Ram EV truck. Much like today, utility is key, with add-ons for lights, tie-downs for ATVs and the top prize went to a 12th grader who designed a reconfigurable bed that turns into stadium seating. It’s always cool to see what designers come up with when there’s not many limitations.

ONLY 3 TOYOTA SUPRA GT4 100 EDITION TO BE BUILT
Here’s a car you may never see. To celebrate selling its 100th version of the Supra GT4 for customer racers, Toyota is going to offer a commemorative Supra GT4 100 Edition, which comes in an exclusive color and features unique front bodywork and special badging. But it’s only going to build 3 and we would not be surprised if one of those is for Akio Toyoda.

CITROEN LAUNCHES C3 FOR DEVELOPING MARKETS
Citroen wants 30% of its global sales to be outside of Europe by 2025. And it’s got its sights set on several developing markets. It’s launching a version of the C3 Aircross, a B-size crossover, in India, South-East Asia and South America that comes with exclusive styling. It was developed with input from each of those markets and it’s going to make it in India and Brazil. Available as a five or seven seat model, it will be offered with features and packages tailored for each market. Citroen didn’t reveal what engine options are available but the European model is offered with both gasoline and diesel engines that can be mated to manual or automatic transmissions. The new C3 Aircross goes on sale in India and Brazil later this year and Indonesia next year.

GM OFFERS OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE TO ENTIRE INDUSTRY
Automakers around the world are racing to develop software defined cars. That’s where every operation and function in a vehicle is controlled by software. It’s a technology that Tesla pioneered and now everyone else is trying to catch up. And in a fascinating move, General Motors is trying to set the standard for the software that the industry will use to develop software defined vehicles. GM introduced an open-source code called uProtocol that can be used with any operating system, as well as with any vehicle, smartphone and cloud service. Amazingly, GM is not patenting or even trademarking uProtocol. It wants to offer this to the industry to speed up software development. Otherwise, it says, the industry will be stuck in an ecosystem where apps and software for each automaker require custom code, that will slow down everything. It’s going to be interesting to see if others adopt it.

MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC JABIRU SPOTS ICY ROADS
Some of the best innovation in the auto industry comes from suppliers, and this new system from Mitsubishi Electric caught our eye. They call it Jabiru, and it takes navigation and ADAs to a new level. Take a look.

“In addition to its in-cabin capabilities, this next gen cockpit also integrates with road-facing cameras and lasers to display road information valuable to the driver. The system can detect slippery roads, black ice and other weather related issues, and show slip and grip levels using augmented overlays up to 25 meters ahead. Augmented reality is also used to show drivers potential hazards on the road. Road hazard detection can highlight traffic cones, potholes, stop signs, pedestrians and other objects in or near the path of the vehicle, giving the driver another level of awareness.”  

We really like that nav system that shows you when a road is covered in black ice. We had not seen that before. And we’re just showing you a fraction of what the Mitsubishi Electric Jabiru prototype is all about. We’ll try to show you more of that next week.  

But that’s a wrap. Thanks for joining us and I hope you have a great weekend.