Listen to “AD #3191 – Chevy Unveils New Corvette Z06; General Motors Struggles in Q3; New Range Rover Revealed” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 9:49
0:08 Hertz Forms Partnership with Uber To Rent Teslas
0:57 GM Struggles in Q3
1:57 Car Sales Expected to Improve in October
2:57 Chevy Unveils New Corvette Z06
4:47 New Z06 Engine Much More Powerful Than Previous Engine
6:25 Stellantis To Get Great Scale from New EV Platforms
7:23 New Range Rover Revealed
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HERTZ FORMS PARTNERSHIP WITH UBER TO RENT TESLAS
On Monday, Hertz announced its ordering 100,000 Teslas to add to its rental fleet. And now Hertz is forming a partnership with Uber to rent out Teslas to the ride-hailing company’s drivers. Starting on Monday, drivers in LA, San Francisco, San Diego and Washington DC can rent Teslas through the program. A nationwide expansion will soon follow. By 2023, 50,000 Teslas will be available to Uber drivers and it could expand to 150,000 if the program is successful. Participating Uber drivers receive a preferred weekly rate for Hertz rentals, which includes insurance, maintenance and unlimited miles.
GM STRUGGLES IN Q3
General Motors struggled financially through the third quarter. It sold nearly half a million fewer vehicles due to the chip shortage. That caused revenue to drop by $8.7 billion. Its net profits dropped by $1.6 billion. And it burned through $4.3 billion in cash. But at least it did post a profit. Maybe this is the beginning of the end of the chip shortage for GM. It says all its plants will be up and running by November 1. Some other tidbits we found in the numbers: GM paid $178 million to Cadillac dealers who don’t want to make the transition to electric cars. Remember, Cadillac will only sell electrics by the end of the decade. And in China, Wuling is outselling Buick and Chevrolet combined. The credit goes to that Hong Guang Mini EV, which is taking the Chinese market by storm.
| GM Q3, 2021 Financial Results | ||
|---|---|---|
| Sales | 1.3 million | -479,000 |
| Revenue | $26.7 billion | -$8.7 billion |
| EBIT | $2.5 billion | -$2.3 billion |
| Net Profit | $2.4 billion | -$1.6 billion |
| Source: GM | ||
CAR SALES EXPECTED TO IMPROVE IN OCTOBER
Car sales in the U.S. have been hammered by the chip shortage but now there’s a glimmer of hope. Wards Intelligence says the SAAR or seasonally adjusted annual rate will hit 12.6 million vehicles this month, up from 12.2 million in September. That would be the first month-to-month increase since April. Sales are also expected to increase in November and December, which could be the start of long-term growth. But it’s still too early to celebrate. It’s going to take a long time to build back decent inventory levels.
CHEVY UNVEILS NEW CORVETTE Z06
I don’t know about you but I was excited for this next reveal, which happened yesterday right after our show went up. The new Corvette Z06. And let’s dive right in because we can now confirm the car’s 5.5L flat-plane crank V8, dubbed the LT6. The naturally aspirated engine peaks out at 670 horsepower at 8,400 RPM, while developing 460 lb-ft of torque at 6,300 RPM. All of it is fed through an 8-speed DCT, Chevy engineers say they’ve seen 0-60 MPH as low as 2.6 seconds with the optional Z07 package. But before we dive into that, let’s look at what makes every Z06 unique:
• Wider fenders to accommodate bigger wheels and tires; 20-inch up front and 21 in the rear.
• Unique front and rear fascias with larger openings for more cooling power.
• A reconfigurable rear spoiler.
• Larger front and rear brake rotors as well as 6-piston front calipers.
• Specific suspension tuning, including Magnetic Ride Control.
• And three increasing levels of aerodynamic components.
As for the Z07 package, its highlights include a carbon fiber aero setup with a larger front splitter, front-corner dive planes, bigger rear wing and underbody strakes as well as unique suspension with specific calibrations, performance tires, larger Brembo carbon ceramic brakes and available carbon fiber wheels that reduce weight by 41 pounds. The new Z06 will be made in both left- and right-hand drive variants at GM’s Bowling Green Assembly plant starting next summer.
NEW Z06 ENGINE MUCH MORE POWERFUL THAN PREVIOUS ENGINE
And what GM Global Propulsion Systems did with that engine is astounding. The hand built 5.5 liter V8 delivers 121 horsepower per liter. In the previous gen C7 Z06, the 6.2 liter supercharged V8 delivered about 105 horses per liter. So with a smaller displacement and no supercharger, the new engine delivers more power. And the secret is that flat plane crank, which allows the engine to rev faster and higher. Redline is 8,600 rpm. The more air and fuel you can pump through an engine, the more power it makes. And the faster it spins, the more air and fuel you can pump through it. By the way, for all you ‘Vette-heads or anyone that wants to learn about the development of the Z06, there’s an excellent video Chevy put together that’s a little over 40-minutes long and goes into some great detail. We’ve got the link to it in today’s transcript and description box.
STELLANTIS TO GET GREAT SCALE FROM NEW EV PLATFORMS
Stellantis is spending 30 billion euros through 2025 to electrify its line-up and is developing four platforms to build the vehicles on. That we already knew. But now Reuters reports that those four platforms will each support production of up to 2 million vehicles a year. The automaker is aiming to have electrified vehicles account for 70% of sales in Europe by 2030. But at the same time Stellantis is moving forward with EV plans, Fiat Chrysler, which is now part of Stellantis, is nearing a deal to settle its diesel emission cheating investigation in the U.S., which dates back to 2015. The company is getting set to plead guilty over diesel powered Ram pickups and Jeeps that evaded emission requirements. The deal is expected to be announced in the coming weeks and will result in a fine between $250 million and $300 million.
NEW RANGE ROVER REVEALED
Hey, did you also see the new Range Rover debuted? It’s entirely possible you did but didn’t even notice it was the new model. While its competitors are offering blinged-out machines that really catch your eye, the new Range Rover is rather plane-jane. It’s almost like it’s going for the understated sophistication of the original iPhone. Same goes for the interior. It looks clean and simple. It’s highlighted by a floating 13.1-inch center display screen that features the automaker’s latest Pivi Pro infotainment system. Also note how the 13.7-inch instrument cluster has a floating effect as well, sitting just in front of the dashboard without any hard shell around it. Functionality increases in the new Range Rover with the option for a third row of seats. To achieve that, it’s now offering two wheelbases and for ultimate functionality, the long wheelbase can be had with two-rows of seats as well. At launch either a V6 or V8, which is sourced from BMW, will be available, while plug-in hybrid versions with nearly 32 kWh of usable capacity that return up to 62 miles of electric range are coming in 2023 and an EV is coming in 2024. Another very useful feature of the Range Rover, which starts out at a little over $105,000, is 4-wheel steering, which is going to greatly reduce this large SUVs turning radius. Order books for the new model are open now.
We’ll have to ask Jim Morrison what he thinks about the new Range Rover. He heads up Jeep, and the new Grand Wagoneer is aimed right at the Range Rover’s throat. He’s also our guest on Autoline After Hours tomorrow afternoon. And if you’ve got questions you’d like us to ask him, post them below, tweet them to us, or shoot an email to viewermail@autoline.tv.
But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for tuning in.
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Seamus and Sean McElroy cover the latest news in the automotive industry for Autoline Daily.
