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Runtime: 10:04
0:08 JLR Reveals Push to Electric
1:27 Alpha Motors Shows Cool Buggy Concept
2:15 Fisker & Quantumscape See Nice Stock Gains
4:18 Ford Sells Its Stake in Velodyne
5:00 BorgWarner Buying Battery Maker AKASOL
5:28 BorgWarner Launches New CV Electric Motor
5:54 PPG Creates Digital Speed Forms
7:05 Investors Favor Used Car Sellers
8:38 Mazda6 Driving Impressions
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JLR REVEALS PUSH TO ELECTRIC
Jaguar Land Rover announced a bold and ambitious initiative to completely restructure the company. It plans to spend nearly $3.5 billion a year to convert its models to electric power. JLR’s new CEO, Thierry Bolloré, says 100% of Jaguar sales will be purely electric in 2030, with Land Rover at 60%. He also wants to integrate JLR more closely with its parent company Tata, especially for expertise in software, technology and data.
Bolloré says he is going to simplify and rightsize the company, so we expect to see major cuts. He already axed the replacement for the Jaguar XJ and announced that JLR will drop its diesel engine by 2026. That will help pay for two new architectures at Land Rover that will support both BEVs and ICE powertrains. Jaguar gets a separate all-electric architecture.
Bolloré set a goal of achieving positive cash flow, not including debt payments, and wants to see the company hit double digit EBIT. JLR clearly needs a new direction. It’s revenue is dropping and it lost money for the last two years.
ALPHA MOTORS SHOWS COOL BUGGY CONCEPT
Hey, do you remember the retro-styled ACE from California EV startup Alpha Motors? We first reported about the company back in December and now it’s showing off a jacked-up, dune buggy-looking version of the ACE, called the JAX. JAX stands for Junior All-Terrain Crossover and it features front- or 4-wheel drive with the capability to tow up to 1,850 pounds. Alpha speculates a range of 250 miles from its 75 kWh battery and that the JAX will do 0-60 in 6.5 seconds. Like we said the first time, we don’t know if the company will ever produce a customer car, but it’s got some really intriguing designs.
FISKER & QUANTUMSCAPE SEE NICE STOCK GAINS
And who knows? Maybe Alpha Motors can get Adam Jonas to say something nice about it. The analyst from Goldman Sachs put out a glowing report for Fisker and Quantumscape, and their stock prices jumped on the news. Fisker is the EV startup named after its founder Henrik Fisker, who was recently on Autoline After Hours. And Quantumscape is the battery company backed by the Volkswagen Group that is developing solid state batteries for electric cars. Yesterday Fisker stock jumped $3.55 a share, or 23%, while Quantumscape shot up over $9, or more than 21%.
| Current Price | $ Change | % Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fisker | $18.99 | +$3.55 | +23.0% |
| Quantumscape | $54.64 | +$9.67 | +21.5% |
FORD SELLS ITS STAKE IN VELODYNE
Ford just sold its stake in the LIDAR company Velodyne. Back in 2016 Ford invested $75 million in Velodyne. Last September Velodyne went public through a reverse merger and Ford bought over 7% of Velodyne’s stock. But Ford now decided to sell its 13.1 million shares and pocket the money. Ford’s partner in autonomous technology, Argo, developed its own LIDAR. So, it looks like Ford is putting its eggs in the Argo AI basket. Don’t be sad for Velodyne though. It says it has nearly a billion dollars in orders for LIDAR units through 2024.
BORGWARNER BUYING BATTERY MAKER AKASOL
The supplier BorgWarner is bolstering its electric commercial vehicle capabilities. It’s acquiring the German company AKASOL, which makes battery packs for buses, commercial vehicles, rail vehicles, industrial vehicles as well as ships and boats. Borg is offering 120 euros per share, which values AKASOL at around 730 million euros. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.
BORGWARNER LAUNCHES NEW CV ELECTRIC MOTOR
And in related news, BorgWarner launched an 800-volt electric motor for commercial vehicles. The motor is capable of 97% peak efficiency, over 400 kW of power and it’s available in four variants. Production of the motor kicks off in 2024, Borg says a large European OEM will use it but it did not reveal which company.
PPG CREATES DIGITAL SPEED FORMS
Paint company PPG created a digital version of speed styles. Those are the little models of cars that designers use to evaluate paint colors. They like physical models because they show highlights, reflections and shadows. But PPG came up with the software that allows designers to create realistic 3D modeling of colors and effects on virtual cars and surfaces. The program incorporates all the shapes, edges, curves and flat surfaces of any type of vehicle.The program also gives OEMs complete access to PPG’s library of digital color files. And it’s compatible with industry-standard color rendering software, which means OEMs can work with PPG directly, remotely and in real time during the color design process. PPG says this is the first step in digitizing the entire color styling process for customers.
INVESTORS FAVOR USED CAR SELLERS
With the average price of a new car in the U.S. market nearly $40,000, millions of households have been priced out of the new car market. So car dealers and even car companies are putting more effort into selling used cars. Even more telling: investors are more interested in retailers that sell used cars than those that sell new ones. For example, Autonation, the largest new car retailer in the US, has a market cap of $6.8 billion, while Carvana, which only sells used cars, is valued at $50 billion. Auto analyst and retail expert Maryann Keller was recently on Autoline This Week and she explained why the used car market is so attractive.
“The beauty of the used car market in a retail setting is that you can sell anything–any brand, any make or model. Because, as used cars, there’s a complete disconnect with your franchise dealership brand, except in the case of CPO cars. So there’s a lot of flexibility in that business.”
We have Jim Taylor, the CEO of ELMS, or Electric Last Mile Solutions, coming on Autoline After Hours this week. Jim has a tremendous automotive background, including time at Hummer, Cadillac, Workhorse and Karma. So join John and Gary to learn about one of the newest EV startups in the industry.
MAZDA 6 MAKES US WONDER WHY SEDAN SALES ARE FALLING
The Mazda 6 paid a visit to the Autoline Garage and it’s cars like this make us wonder why sales of passenger sedans are spiraling downward. This is a very well engineered car, nicely equipped, reasonably priced, and fun to drive. It’s 2.5 liter turbo produces 227 horsepower and 310 pound feet of torque, which come on effortlessly. The cabin is tastefully appointed and noticeably quiet. The seats are comfortable, the controls are easy to figure out, and the car has great road manners for a family sedan. Better still, the Carbon Edition trim line we drove, with a power moonroof, 11-speaker Bose sound system, heated seats and steering wheel, all the latest safety equipment, and a whole bunch of other features, is priced around $34,200. That’s a lot of car for the money. And yet, sales of the 6 fell 24% last year in the American market. It just doesn’t seem fair because a car like this deserves better than that.
And that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for watching.
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John McElroy is an influential thought leader in the automotive industry. He is a journalist, lecturer, commentator and entrepreneur. He created “Autoline Daily,” the first industry webcast of industry news and analysis.
