AD #3445 – Lucid Losing Customers; Tesla Drops on Twitter News; Las Vegas F1 Race Is Most Expensive Ever

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

OEM EARNINGS DISAPPOINTING
As you know, it’s the earnings season and we got the latest financial results from Honda, Nissan and Jaguar Land Rover. Honda didn’t do too bad. Its sales were up dramatically as it shook off some of those chip problems. Revenue jumped 25% to about $29 billion, and its profit jumped 20% to $1.4 billion. Nissan also saw a big jump in revenue, up 18% to nearly $32 billion. But you’ve got to remember that the Japanese yen has plummeted in value, down 30% compared to pre-pandemic levels. That’s a key reason why Honda and Nissan are seeing big jumps in revenue. When they sell their vehicles in dollars and euros and exchange that into yen, they see big increases. Even with a big jump in revenue, Nissan still lost money. But so far this year it’s only lost $64 million compared to over a billion last year. Jaguar Land Rover is also struggling. Its sales have fallen 23% this year, and even though its revenue jumped up 36% thanks to higher prices, it’s still losing money. It lost 98 million pounds versus losing 381 million last year.   

LUCID LOSING CUSTOMERS
And it’s not just the legacy automakers who are struggling. Lucid said it’s losing customers who held reservations because it’s taking too long to deliver cars to them. It had 34,000 reservations at the end of the quarter, but 3,000 customers canceled their orders because Lucid has only delivered 1,700 cars. Right now it only has enough cash on hand to last until the end of next year and its stock is down nearly 70% from last year. Lucid says it hopes to raise another $1.5 billion soon. 

 

TESLA DROPS ON TWITTER NEWS
Even Tesla is feeling the pain. It revealed that CEO Elon Musk sold $3.95 billion worth of Tesla shares after he purchased Twitter. And he’s sold more than $19 billion in stock since April to help finance the Twitter deal. Investors don’t seem to like the idea of Elon selling big chunks of stock and spending so much time on Twitter. Tesla’s stock fell nearly 3% yesterday to just over $190 a share and it has lost 52% of its value since the beginning of the year.

AUDI RENAMES THE E-TRON
Say goodbye to the all-electric Audi e-tron. No, it’s not going away. Audi is showing off the new, updated version, which gets a new name. It’s now called the Q8 e-tron. Still available as an SUV and Sportback model this is the top electric utility vehicle in its lineup. The Q8 e-tron is slightly wider and lower than the outgoing model and the styling has been refreshed front and rear. There’s now three drivetrain variants and all come with AWD. The base model generates up to 250 kW or 335 horsepower and provides up to 505 kilometers or 313 miles of range on the WLTP cycle. It achieves that with a battery pack that has 95 kWh of total space, which is the same as the outgoing model. But thanks to a new Battery Management System, Audi increased usable space from 86 kWh to 89 kWh. It’s also now offering a bigger battery that has 106 kWh of usable space and is featured in the more powerful versions of the Q8 e-tron. Those include a version with 300 kW or 402 horsepower and up to 600 kilometers or 372 miles of range as well as a tri-motor version with 600 kW or nearly 500 horsepower and up to 513 kilometers or about 320 miles of range. The new Q8 e-tron goes on sale worldwide early next year and it carries a starting price of 74,400 euros in Germany.

YET ANOTHER EV STARTUP
Speaking of electric SUVs, there’s a new EV startup in town, an Italian company named AEHRA that unveiled its first model. Right now it’s only calling it the SUV. It features a 3-meter-long or nearly 10 foot wheelbase, and has a fast sloping roof and short overhangs, which give the vehicle an interesting silhouette. Maybe more interesting are the butterfly and gullwing doors leading to a cabin that the company says “effortlessly accommodates four NBA-size players in complete comfort.” AEHRA is aiming for the SUV to have 800 kilometers or nearly 500 miles of range, 550-600 kW or 737-804 horsepower, do up to 265 km/h or about 165 MPH and cost between $160,000-$180,000. It also plans to introduce a sedan in February and both vehicles are scheduled to go on sale in 2025.

PORSCHE READIES 911 FOR OFF-ROADING
Porsche is going to have an interesting vehicle at the LA Auto Show, which opens to the public on November 18th. It’s an off-road version of the 911 sports car, called the Dakar, which is named after the famous rally. The car has been undergoing tests in the mud, snow and sand. And while there’s not a lot of details to go on, Porsche hints at things like increased ground clearance, all-terrain tires and a robust chassis that makes sure “jumps were no problem” for the 911 Dakar. And it sounds like customers might actually be able to buy it with the company saying “it will be the first two-door sports car to offer outstanding off-road capabilities.”

LAS VEGAS F1 RACE IS MOST EXPENSIVE EVER
It wasn’t that long ago when Formula 1 wondered if racing in the U.S. was even a good idea. But thanks to the success of the Drive to Survive series on Netflix, F1 is more popular than it’s ever been. Now the U.S. race schedule has expanded to include three U.S. cities. And F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, says that next year’s Las Vegas Grand Prix will be the most expensive race for fans on its entire schedule. Seats in the grandstands started at $2,500 and hospitality packages start at $10-grand. But after fans complained F1 added a new three-day admission pass that starts at “only” $500. 

EURO NCAP TO DO VIRTUAL TESTING
The Euro NCAP, the organization that crash tests new vehicles sold in the EU, is coming out with new procedures for its ratings system. Starting in 2026, it will test assisted and automated driving and driver monitoring systems. It’s going to test these active safety systems so they reflect real-world driving. But we don’t know how it’s doing that yet. It’s also adding connected vehicle technology like V2V and V2X, as well as passive safety tests that take gender and age into account. They’ll even be testing EVs for fire risks. And it’s adding safety ratings for motorcycles, scooters and commercial vehicles. To help speed up all this testing Euro NCAP is going to start using virtual testing as well. 

 

TESLA OPENING MORE REPAIR CENTERS
One of the biggest complaints Tesla customers have is the long wait times to get their vehicles repaired. So Tesla started opening more of its own repair shops in the U.S. It currently has 17 of them across the country and it looks like its next one will be in Michigan. According to a report from Crain’s Detroit Business, Tesla got approval to open a repair and maintenance facility in Southfield, a suburb of Detroit. And it will be able to handle 60 to 80 customers a week.

CLEAR MOTION RETHINKS CAR SUSPENSIONS
What if the suspension on cars acted like noise cancellation technology and smoothed out all the bumps in the road? That’s what a company called Clear Motion developed. It uses a software-driven, electro-hydraulic core that it calls Activalve. And it says it can revolutionize the ways that vehicles ride and handle. Want to learn more about it? Then join us for Autoline After Hours tomorrow when Christian Steinmann, the CEO of Clear Motion joins John and Gary to talk about an impressively innovative suspension system.

But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for tuning in.