AD #3135 – RAV4 TRD Off Road Impressions; Tesla Worries Tool & Die Industry; Renault Partners with Geely

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

RENAULT PARTNERS WITH GEELY ON HYBRIDS
Renault is teaming up with Chinese automaker Geely after it ended its joint venture with Dongfeng in China a year ago. Under the deal, the two will develop hybrids using Geely technology and sell them in China branded as Renaults. Renault will focus on sales and marketing. The automakers will also look to introduce Geely’s Lynk & Co brand to South Korea where Renault has been selling and manufacturing cars for more than two decades. The partnership will expand to other Asian markets in the future.

OPEL HEADS TO CHINA AS UPSCALE EV BRAND
And speaking of automakers trying to revive sales in China, Stellantis plans to bring Opel to the market for the first time as an upscale electric brand. Stellantis sees this as a “fresh start” for the automaker because Opel doesn’t have a bad reputation in the country plus Chinese consumers have a good perception of German vehicles. Stellantis hasn’t announced when or what models it plans to introduce in China. But it will likely enter the market next year when China ends its rule of forcing foreign automakers to form joint ventures with local Chinese automakers. Stellantis currently sells Citroen, Peugeot, Fiat and Jeep vehicles in China but it’s really struggling with those brands. Through the first half of the year, it only sold 72,000 vehicles in the country and its market share is only half of one percent.

TESLA DELAYS CYBERTRUCK PRODUCTION
Tesla is delaying production of the Cybertruck. The company was originally planning to kick off production of the electric pickup at the end of the year. But Tesla now says it will go into production sometime next year. It will be built at the company’s new plant in Texas after it starts producing the Model Y at the same location.

TESLA’S CASTING MACHINES WORRY TOOL & DIE INDUSTRY
Tesla’s giga casting machines are deeply worrying to the tool and die industry. Tesla started using one-piece aluminum castings for the front and rear structure of the Model Y. That eliminated the need to stamp and weld a bunch of steel panels together. Each casting eliminates the need for dozens of stamping dies, and greatly reduces the size of the body shop on an assembly plant. The idea is to slash tooling costs and speed up the time it takes to make a car. Laurie Harbour, an expert on the US tool and die industry says that tool and die companies are deeply concerned about this development. It could lead to the elimination of thousands of die sets. If these giant castings work out well for Tesla you’ve got to believe other automakers are going to do it too. And that could eliminate a nice chunk of the business for the tool and die industry.

KIA LAUNCHES ON-DEMAND AT HOME SHOPPING
Kia is letting customers in the U.S. test out two of its newest vehicles from the comfort of their own driveway. Kia Home is a new on-demand shopping experience where either the Carnival minivan or Niro EV is dropped off right to you for a test drive. Anyone in a number of major U.S. cities can book an appointment at Kia.com. The test lasts about an hour and includes a walk around from a Kia specialist. Anyone that’s interested in buying will then be hooked up with a local Kia dealer.

GM SHOWS OFF HUMMER DESIGN SKETCHES
When it comes to the new GMC Hummer EV people seem to be OK with its styling. I haven’t seen any comments saying it’s the best-looking truck ever or that it’s the ugliest thing they’ve laid eyes on. But the Hummer could have looked a lot different, which is highlighted by a number of design sketches released by the design team. Included is one that almost has a luxurious vibe to it, another that’s super boxy and even one that has angles on practically every surface. But to our eye the cab seems to be styled differently from the rest of the body on all of the concepts, which makes the cab area stick out. The final design looks to have many elements plucked from each of these sketches.

CHIP SHORTAGE DENTS PRODUCTION AND SALES
We ran across some numbers that really drive home how much this chip shortage is impacting automakers. According to IHS Markit, total inventory on dealer lots in the U.S. was just over a million units at the end of last month. That’s a drop of 59% or 1.5 million vehicles compared to a year ago. And that 1.5 million figure is also the same number of vehicles in lost production LMC Automotive is predicting for automakers this year. Over 450,000 of that is expected to come in the second quarter. LMC dropped its sales outlook for the full year from about 17 million down to 16.5, while Wells Fargo dropped its to 16.2 million. And sales would actually be worse if consumer demand wasn’t so high right now. But that’s also playing a role in used car prices going through the roof.

TOYOTA RAV-4 TRD OFF ROAD IMPRESSIONS
The RAV4 is one of Toyota’s best-selling vehicles in the US market. It’s perfect for buying groceries or taking the kids to school. So we were a little bit skeptical when we got the TRD Off Road model to test drive. It’s got some off-road design cues, like black matte wheels, a front skid plate, rocker panel protectors, and a lot more black cladding. But design cues are not enough to convince us that this is a real off-roader. We ran into this problem before when we test drove the Camry TRD. It’s not a real performance car. It’s just a Camry with some design cues, a louder exhaust note and a higher price. Same goes with the RAV4 TRD, other than a few tweaks to the suspension. It’s really just a lamb in sheep’s clothing. Make that expensive sheep’s clothing. Our test model cost over $42,600 and it didn’t deliver the goods. It’s 2.4-liter engine is loud and buzzy when you push it to go and the 8-speed automatic feels more like a CVT. If you use it for your daily commute, you’ll find that the tires squeal when making quick turns. If you want a real off-road vehicle from Toyota then go get the excellent Tacoma TRD package. That’s the real McCoy. Otherwise, Toyota is running the risk of diluting the cache of the TRD brand by slapping the name on cars like the Camry and RAV4.

The Biden Administration wants to see electric vehicles account for 50% of sales by the end of the decade. But if the charging infrastructure isn’t in place, people are not going to buy EVs. That’s why the Change Wind Corporation thinks it has the answer: a combination of solar and wind towers that can be located almost anywhere that can recharge multiple EVs at the same time. So you get green power without ever hooking up to the grid. Want to learn more? So do we. We’ve got Jim Baird, the CEO of the company coming on Autoline After Hours this Thursday. So join John and Gary as they try to figure out if this could be the breakthrough we’ve been looking for. 

But that’s it for today, thanks for watching.