AD #3326 – Lyriq Deliveries & Pricing Revealed; Stellantis Caves to Supplier Pressure; Russia to Revive Old Brand

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

RUSSIA TURNS THE CLOCK BACK 20 YEARS
Looks like Russia is turning back the clock. It’s going to revive the Moskvich, a car that went out of production 20 years ago, because Renault pulled out of Russia over the war in Ukraine, leaving a huge assembly plant behind. And Russia is desperately trying to preserve thousands of jobs at the plant. Let’s see what Russia tries to do. It nationalized all of Renault’s assets so it’s got the tooling to keep on making what it was already making and just rebadge those vehicles under the Moskvich brand. That plant made the Duster, the Kaptur and the Arkana from Renault and the Terrano from Nissan. But that also means it would be violating Renault’s intellectual property. The Russians could decide to develop a new car instead, but that would take years and a huge investment. So the announcement it’s reviving the Moskvich sounds more like PR spin than a real solution.

 

TESLA STOPS TAKING CYBERTRUCK ORDERS OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA
Tesla is no longer taking orders for the Cybertruck outside of North America. Tesla didn’t comment on the decision but last week CEO Elon Musk said “We have more orders of the first Cybertruck than we possibly could fulfill for three years after the start of production.” So, it’s not that surprising it will now only accept orders from the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Production of the Cybertruck is scheduled to start next year.

 

  

WULING EV MOVES MORE UPSCALE
Wuling grabbed the top spot for electric cars in China when it launched the HongGuang MINI EV with a starting price of only $4,500. The little EV was an instant success and Chinese consumers have gobbled up more than 700,000 of them. Now that it’s firmly established at the top of the sales charts, Wuling is taking the brand upscale. There’s a new model, called Gameboy, that offers 4 trim levels priced from about $8,200 to $10,200. The Gameboy is also slightly longer, wider and taller than the Mini EV. And while the Mini EV has been very popular with young women, the Gameboy is being targeted at young men.

 

CADILLAC’S LATEST INFO ON LYRIQ EV
Cadillac’s first BEV, the Lyriq, will start hitting customer hands this summer. That’s for people who put in a reservation for the Debut Edition model, which features a 255 kW or 340 horsepower electric motor that drives the rear wheels and a 100 kWh battery pack that provides an EPA-estimated 312 miles or 502 kilometers of range. Official ordering for non-Debut Edition models with either rear- or all-wheel drive starts on Thursday the 19th. Delivery of those RWD versions will start this fall, while AWD Lyriqs won’t arrive until early next year. They feature a second electric motor on the front axle, an estimated 500 horsepower and a 3,500 pound towing capacity. Pricing for the Lyriq with RWD starts just under $63,000, while AWD is about $65,000. Both of those prices don’t include destination charges or any incentives. But it will include 2 years of free charging at EVgo stations or $1,500 towards the purchase of an at-home charger.

 

CHEVY PREVIEWS EQUINOX EV INTERIOR
Thanks to a new, short video put out by Chevy, we’re getting a better idea of what the interior of the Equinox EV will look like. It’s mostly dominated by two large, digital display screens. One for the instrument cluster, the other for infotainment. But we also see it’s going for a little more stylized shape to its side air vents, that it will have lots of storage in the center console and lighting could play a bigger role on the dash and the doors.

CHEVY BOLT EUV ADDS REDLINE EDITION
Chevy is adding a Redline Edition to the Bolt EUV lineup. The appearance package is available in black, silver and white exterior colors. It also features a black and red Bolt EUV badge in the back, red accents on the mirrors, 17-inch gloss-black aluminum wheels with red accents and a black leather interior with red stitching. Chevy hasn’t announced if the Redline Edition will be available for the regular Bolt EV and it also hasn’t revealed pricing yet either. But the current Bolt EUV starts around $34,500 including destination charges.

LAMBORGHINI TO RACE LMDh PROTOTYPE
Due to a recent rule change, prototype hybrid cars will be allowed to race in both the IMSA WeatherTech and the FIA WEC series next year. And it’s a move that’s paying off with a lot of participation in the LMDh category. Automakers like Cadillac, Peugeot and Porsche have already announced their plans to enter the series. And now Lamborghini is the latest. It teased this race car, its first LMDh prototype, which will debut on the track in 2024. The lowercase h in the name indicates these prototypes are all hybrid race cars.

STELLANTIS SURRENDERS TO SUPPLIER REVOLT
Automotive suppliers just won a major victory at Stellantis. They were furious with changes that the automaker made to their contracts, which are officially referred to as terms and conditions. Stellantis wanted them to cut their prices, and it demanded that any manufacturing or engineering improvements they made to the parts and components they supply to the automaker would automatically become its intellectual property. Suppliers revolted over these changes and Stellantis finally got the message. Last week it let go its head of Purchasing, Michele Wen, and replaced her with a guy named Maxime Picat. Yesterday it announced it was dumping its new terms and conditions and going back to the old contract. Here’s our Autoline Insight. It’s extremely rare to see automakers back down in the face of suppliers complaining. But Stellantis had to. Many suppliers simply stopped bidding on new business with the company, and since Stellantis buys 85% of its parts and components from suppliers, it had to give in.

ANDROID AUTO GETS A FACE LIFT
Google is rolling out Android Auto updates, which includes a new interface. A split-screen mode is standard across all screen types and sizes, where you keep your most used features and don’t have to return to a home screen or scroll through a list of apps. The new interface is built to adapt to any screen size in a vehicle. Google Assistant is more proactive and suggests replies to messages, or even shares arrival time with friends, as well as playing recommended music. You can also message or call a contact with just one button tap and reply to messages by selecting a suggested response. And while the car is parked, you can now watch video on the display screen. And in the future, you’ll be able to browse the web on the screen and cast content from your phone to the vehicle’s screen. The updates will be available in the coming months.

AFTER HOURS STARS NISSAN Z
Nissan is formally launching the new Z car this week and that’s the topic on Autoline After Hours. We’ve got Christian Spencer from Nissan joining John and Gary, and they’ll be getting into all the details on this 400 horsepower sports car.

But that’s a wrap for today’s show. Please like, comment or subscribe.