Listen to “AD #3284 – Agency Says No More Sunday Drives; Maserati Lays Out Its EV Plan; Top OEMs Ranked by Profit” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 9:43
0:07 IEA’s 10 Pronged Plan to Reduce Oil & Gas Use
0:59 Maserati Lays Out Its EV Plan
1:38 Porsche Ramps Up Its EV Efforts
2:15 Hino Admits to Diesel Cheating
3:01 BMW Sticking With Ridiculous EV Claim
4:08 Kia Offers Free Mobile Charging
4:40 Manual Trans Dominates Integra Pre-Orders
5:03 Jeep Teases Blended Wrangler & Gladiator
6:08 NASCAR Going to Le Mans with a Camaro
6:57 RC Car Demonstrates Nissan’s e-4ORCE Technology
7:48 Top OEMs Ranked by Profit
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
AGENCY SAYS NO MORE SUNDAY DRIVES
Get ready for a global energy crisis unless we take action now. That’s the warning from the IEA, the International Energy Agency, which tracks global energy production and consumption. It says oil and gas production cannot ramp up fast enough and renewable energy can’t get installed fast enough, and so it lays out 10 steps people should take to reduce how much oil and gas they use. That includes things like driving slower, working from home, using public transportation, and not driving on Sunday. The IEA says that sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine is taking 2.5 million barrels a day out of the market. But if everybody followed its recommendations oil consumption would go down by 2.7 million barrels a day.
MASERATI LAYS OUT ITS EV PLANS
The EV train is leaving the station and more and more automakers are scrambling to jump on board. Now Maserati says it’s going all electric by 2030. It’s going to call its electric range of vehicles Folgore. The new GranTurismo, which launches next year, will be its first all-electric model and then comes an all-electric version of the Grecale SUV next year as well. By 2025, it will have an all-electric version of every model in its lineup and by 2030 Maserati will become 100% electric. It will develop, engineer and produce all of its EVs in Italy.
PORSCHE RAMPS UP ITS EV EFFORTS
Porsche was already on the EV bandwagon, but it’s ramping up its efforts. CEO Oliver Blume says that by 2030, 80% of Porsche sales will be all-electric. He says the mid-engine Boxster and Cayman will become electric only by mid decade. Last year, Porsche topped 300,000 sales for the first time in company history. It doubled sales of the Taycan, which also passed the 911 in sales. But remember there’s also 3 versions of the Taycan available, the sedan, the Cross Turismo and the Sport Turismo.
HINO ADMITS TO DIESEL CHEATING
Just when you thought that cheating on diesel emissions was over, Japanese authorities jumped all over Hino, which is Toyota’s truck company. The transport ministry is revoking certifications of four engines because Hino gave them false emissions and fuel economy data, and Hino admitted it did it. This ruling also affects Toyota and Isuzu, who also use the engines.
BMW STILL MAKING RIDICULOUS CLAIM
We chalked it up to marketing babble-talk 4 months ago, but BMW is sticking with its ridiculous claim that the EV version of the 7 Series, called the i7, is “the first all-electric luxury sedan in the world.” Hey BMW, what do you call the Mercedes EQS, the Lucid Air and Tesla Model S? It’s like BMW is operating with horse blinders on. And as you can see from these teaser pictures, it’s also sticking with that giant twin kidney grille. But we are getting some more details on the electric sedan before its official debut in a few weeks. BMW says it’s the most powerful 7 Series and will have a WLTP range of 580 to 610 kilometers and an EPA estimated range of up to 305 miles. The interior will feature an optional 31-inch display screen that rotates out of the headliner for rear seat passengers and LED lighting that can be individually adjusted.
KIA OFFERS FREE MOBILE CHARGING
And sticking with EVs for a moment, Kia is kicking off a pilot program in parts of California that will offer free mobile charging to customers. BEV owners in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Jose will first have to download the app of Kia’s partner for the trail, Currently, which will allow them to book the on-demand service. They’ll be able to do this up to 3 times a week every week for 2 months. Kia says if customers like it they could expand to other cities around the U.S.
INTEGRA PRE-ORDERS OVERWHELMINGLY MANUAL
But now let’s shift away from EVs. Acura says that pre-orders for the all-new Integra are overwhelmingly with the manual transmission. The vehicle comes standard with a custom tuned CVT, but over 70% of initial buyers want to shift their own gears. But that number will almost assuredly go down as sales go on.
WHAT IF YOU COMBINED A JEEP WRANGLER & GLADIATOR?
Jeep designers have another trick up their sleeves for this year’s Easter Jeep Safari in Moab, Utah and are being rather coy with the details. Rather than providing info, it’s asking questions like, ever wonder what it would be like to blend the Wrangler and Gladiator and what if a truck dared to be more SUV-like to increase its departure angle? Whatever it shows off, Jeep says it “reinvents what the ultimate terrain tackler dares to be…”
NASCAR GOING TO LE MANS WITH CHEVY CAMARO
NASCAR is going to race at the 24 Hours of LeMans next year. Yeah, you heard that right, NASCAR. And it’s putting together an impressive list of companies that will be part of the effort: IMSA, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear. They’re going to race a Camaro ZL1, highly modified of course. And they’re going to enter it in Garage 56. That’s the slot that LeMans holds open for innovative race cars. So while the Camaro will be in the race, it’s not going to be classified in any of the racing categories. Chevrolet already races Corvettes at LeMans so we find it fascinating that it’s entering a Camaro. And we’re intrigued that NASCAR is leading this effort. Who knows what this will lead to in the future?
RC CAR DEMONSTRATES NISSAN’S e-4ORCE TECHNOLOGY
Nissan is coming up with unique ways to show-off its e-4ORCE all-wheel-drive technology. Last week, it put out a video of an electric food tray with the tech delivering bowls of ramen to customers in a restaurant. And now it has a new video showing off e-4ORCE in an RC car driving on a figure-eight course with different surfaces to showcase how it maintains its driving line and steerability. The RC car is controlled with an arcade-like setup that includes a racing seat, steering wheel and pedals. A camera equipped on the RC car is linked to a monitor to give the engineer a first-hand look at what is happening on the course. The Ariya will be the first model equipped with e-4ORCE, which manages power output and braking performance of the two electric motors to provide a smooth and stable ride.
TOP AUTOMAKERS RANKED BY PROFIT
Yesterday we gave you the ranking of global automakers by revenue. But then several of you in the comments section, including David Blatt, Mike Young, one nation under god, and Michael Allen suggested that we rank them by profits. We thought that was a pretty good idea, so we ran the numbers and here’s what we found. Mercedes-Benz was the most profitable car company last year putting nearly $26 billion on the bottom line. Then came Toyota, Ford and Volkswagen. One thing to keep in mind with that Ford number is that about $8 billion of that came from booking the value of the stock it has in Rivian. Then Stellantis and BMW came in around $14 billion in net profits, followed by GM at nearly $10 billion. Tesla made more money last year than either Honda or Hyundai even though they sold millions of more vehicles. We love providing you information like this because you’re not going to see it anywhere else. In fact, we’re going to run the numbers over the weekend, and next week we’ll rank the car companies by how much they spend on R&D.
| Top 10 OEMs by 2021 Net Profit | |
|---|---|
| 1. Mercedes | $25.7 Billion |
| 2. Toyota | $19.3 Billion |
| 3. Ford | $17.9 Billion |
| 4. VW Group | $17.0 Billion |
| 5. Stellantis | $14.5 Billion |
| 6. BMW | $13.7 Billion |
| 7. GM | $9.9 Billion |
| 8. Tesla | $5.5 Billion |
| 9. Honda | $4.9 Billion |
| 10. Hyundai | $4.6 Billion |
And that wraps up today’s show, and the whole week. Have a great weekend and we’ll see you on Monday.
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Seamus and Sean McElroy cover the latest news in the automotive industry for Autoline Daily.
