AD #3450 – Toyota Reveals More Stylish Prius; Genesis Concept Hints at Future EV Design; Aston Martin in Financial Trouble

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

EV PRICE WAR BREAKS OUT IN CHINA
Uh-oh, this could get ugly. We might be seeing an EV price war break out in China as sales of electrics start to slow. Last month, Tesla cut the prices of its vehicles in China while EV startups Nio, Xpeng, and Li Auto all reported that their sales fell. Today, Mercedes Benz announced it’s cutting the price of its EQE by 9% and its EQS by anywhere from 11% to 22%. That’s a bad sign when a luxury maker has to slash prices to get sales going. Worse still, EVs cost more to manufacture than ICE vehicles so a price war could cripple profit margins. Another part of the problem is that there are so many EV manufacturers in China, over 100 of them. And that just slices up the pie into even smaller pieces. 

ASTON MARTIN IN FINANCIAL TROUBLE
When Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll took over Aston Martin it looked like the company would finally get the funding it needed to grow and thrive. He invested heavily in new models and in the company’s Formula One team. But so far, it’s not working. Aston lost three-quarters of its stock value this year as investors wonder whether the company has a viable business plan. Aston is suffering from supply chain problems, so sales and revenue are down and it can’t generate enough cash flow to fund its own operations. Analysts say it will probably need to raise more money which could add debt and dilute its stock shares. Or, they say, some other automaker will have to step in. Mercedes already owns 20% of Aston and provides it with engine technology, so we need to ask CEO Ola Kallenius what his thoughts are about taking more control at Aston Martin. 

AUTO-BRAKE SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCES CAR CRASHES
Automatic emergency braking can significantly reduce car crashes, that’s the findings of two different studies released yesterday. The first, from The Partnership for Analytics Research in Traffic Safety, found that front-to-rear accidents dropped by 49% when the striking vehicle is equipped with auto-brake and forward collision warning, compared to vehicles that aren’t equipped with either. And injuries in rear crashes dropped 53% with the technology. The study also found that automatic emergency braking works well in poor weather, road and lighting conditions. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety also released a study that found that AEB can reduce accidents for pickup trucks by 43% and injuries in rear-end crashes by 42%. Pickups are less likely to be equipped with the technology but that’s likely to improve. A group of 20 automakers have made the commitment to equip 95% of their new models with AEB by next August.

 

SUBARU WON’T USE LIDAR FOR AUTONOMOUS DRIVING
Subaru released a new goal of having zero road fatalities in any of its vehicles by 2030. It’s already seeing good success with its driver assistance system, called EyeSight, which has been equipped in 5 million vehicles. Compared to vehicles without EyeSight, accidents resulting in injury or death were 61% lower and rear end collisions were down by 84%. The system currently uses two cameras mounted high behind the windshield and 4 radar in the front and rear bumpers. But Subaru wants to expand the capability of EyeSight. By 2025, it plans to launch what it calls cooperative driving. I suspect this would mean a Level 2 to 2+ AV system, like Autopilot, Blue Cruise or SuperCruise. It will then move to full autonomous driving. To do that Subaru is taking an interesting path. Like Tesla, it will not use lidar and will instead rely on vision with cameras with AI added on top to improve accuracy. Specifically, it says it will use AI for driving-route judgment, even making it possible for a vehicle to operate on a snow-covered road. To handle all the computing Subaru is creating its own neural network, what it calls Subaru Asura Net. I find it interesting that this is now the second automaker, Honda being the other and another Japanese automaker at that, that has recently said it will attack autonomy without lidar. 

TOYOTA REVEALS ALL-NEW, MORE STYLISH PRIUS
Toyota revealed the all-new Prius and I wish this was the vehicle that debuted in 2015, instead of the funky design of the 4th-gen model. It’s built on an updated version of the platform that the current Prius rides on and features a more purposeful and angular design. I think this is highlighted in the front and rear lighting as well as the overall silhouette of the car. We also think the front end looks more like an EV, so it should blend well with its future lineup. And it’s already blending the interior with its EVs. The dual separated display screens with the instrument cluster mounted high and forward on the dash is very similar to the bZ4x. Under the hood will be either a 1.8L or 2.0L engine, depending on the market, which will be paired to Toyota’s latest Series Parallel Hybrid System. The 2.0L will make roughly 190 horsepower. There’s also a plug-in hybrid version that combines the 2.0L engine with an electric motor and lithium-ion battery for close to 220 horsepower. Toyota doesn’t say how much range the PHEV will have, but it says it’s about 50% more than the current model. Since it gets 25 miles of EV range, the new Prius should be somewhere in the high 30’s to low 40’s. This version won’t be on the market until the spring of the next year, but the Hybrid launches before the end of this year.

GENESIS CONCEPT HINTS AT FUTURE EV DESIGN
I think Genesis’ new X Convertible Concept is sexy. It’s low. It’s long. And there’s just the right amount of detail in the design to suit my tastes. Along with its other X Concepts, Genesis says it gives a glimpse at the look of future electric models. Also note how the interior is very driver-centric with a cockpit that wraps around the driver’s seat. Genesis says it wants to create vehicles with even greater emotional resonance.

GM SIGNS HYDROGEN PRODUCTION DEAL
One of the big criticisms of fuel cells is the lack of a hydrogen refueling infrastructure to power the vehicles. That’s why General Motors is partnering with Norwegian based hydrogen production company, Nel ASA, to jointly develop cost competitive renewable hydrogen. Nel has developed electrolyzer technology that can create clean hydrogen and GM will help Nel industrialize it.

 

DAIMLER TRUCK FUEL CELL SEMI COMPLETES HIGH-ALTITUDE TESTS
And in other fuel cell news, Daimler Truck says it successfully completed its first high-altitude test of its hydrogen powered semi-truck. During the week-long test, the prototype made multiple trips between Austria and Italy along the Brenner Pass, one of the main roads for freight traffic in Europe. The route is located at an altitude of 1,370 meters or nearly 4,500 feet. The prototype traveled 120 kilometers a day with the trailer carrying a “typical load” but Daimler did not say how much the cargo weighed. The company is aiming for a range of more than 1,000 kilometers or 620 miles with the fuel cell truck and plans to put it into series production in the second half of this decade.

UKRAINIAN WAR VEHICLE IDENTIFIED
Yesterday we asked for your help identifying this Ukrainian war vehicle and with that distinctive roofline there was little doubt in my mind that your collective wisdom wouldn’t nail this down. And you didn’t disappoint. The vehicle is a Peugeot 307 CC, which was sold in the early 2000’s. Somewhat surprisingly the CC stands for Coupe Cabrio or Cabriolet, or in other words a hard-top convertible. You can’t really tell that from the picture. 

But that’s it for today, thanks for tuning in.