AD #3468 – Manchin Squashes IRA Loopholes; Ford Hiring Laid Off Software Engineers; Honda Designs Cars With VR

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

MANCHIN SQUASHES IRA LOOPHOLE IDEAS
The Biden Administration is under heavy pressure from the EU, South Korea and Japan to come up with loopholes so their electric vehicles can qualify for subsidies in the American market. One idea is to count vehicles that are used for leasing, ride sharing, and daily rentals as commercial vehicles. That’s because the IRA doesn’t have the kind of domestic-sourcing requirements for commercial vehicles that it does for retail ones. But Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia came out against that idea. He said that this loophole would just allow for business as usual and that foreign automakers would not invest in North America, which is what the Inflation Reduction Act was designed to do. And if Joe Manchin is against it, it probably isn’t going to happen.

FORD HIRING TECH’S LAID OFF SOFTWARE ENGINEERS
What’s bad for the tech industry is turning out to be good for the auto industry. Companies like Meta, Twitter, Amazon and Microsoft have laid off tens of thousands of people this year as the tech sector goes through a major correction. Meanwhile the auto industry has been struggling to hire software engineers, but not anymore. At a media event yesterday with Ford’s Model E team–the people who are developing all of Ford’s electric vehicles–said they’re suddenly able to get all the software engineers that they need. Alex Purdy, the head of digital product at Ford Model E, said there’s a fatigue with software engineers in cloud computing, and that Ford is able to convince those engineers that working on future mobility is a whole lot more rewarding than trying to get people to click on an ad.

    

MERCEDES GROUPS PLANTS UNDER EV UMBRELLA
Mercedes expects half of its sales to be plug-in hybrids or fully electric vehicles by 2025 and it’s aiming to go fully electric “where market conditions allow” by the end of the decade. And to make that transition possible, the automaker is retooling a number of its plants around the globe to build EV components. It will spend over a billion euros to start producing batteries, electric drive units and axles at several factories in 2024. Several of them will produce batteries for its upcoming MMA and MB.EA platforms. Mercedes’ powertrain production network consists of 14 plants on three continents, North America, Europe and China. We expect to hear other automakers making moves like this, as the auto industry reorganizes its operations for the transition to electric vehicles.

OLIVER BLUME PUTS HIS STAMP ON VW GROUP
Volkswagen’s new CEO, Oliver Blume, is putting his stamp on the company. He’s reorganizing the company structure, which includes assigning key functions to each of the Group’s major brands. For example, Production and procurement for the group will be overseen by the Volkswagen brand. Audi gets sales and quality. And design and development will be run by Porsche. Each group will be in charge of coordinating these functions and to look for synergies with the other brands wherever possible. To this end, VW announced a shake up with its quality and design teams. Michael Neumayer will take over as head of the Quality Management division, while still retaining his role as Head of Quality at Audi. And current Head of Porsche design, Michael Mauer, who will keep that role, will also add Head of all Group Design to his resume. With these moves the VW Group hopes to clear up which vehicles get priority first and to speed up development and production.

OPEL MOKKA EV GETS MORE POWER & RANGE
The electric version of the Opel Mokka is getting more upgrades. Last year it got an improved heat pump, which improved range. And now it’s getting a more powerful electric motor, a bigger battery and a new name. Instead of Mokka-e it’s known as the Mokka Electric. And features a 115-kW electric motor, up from 100 kW, and a 54-kWh battery pack, up from 50 kWh. That takes range from 338 kilometers up to 406 kilometers, or 210 miles up to 252 miles. By 2024 Opel will offer an electrified version of all of its models, as Stellantis is turning the German company into an all-electric brand.

JAGUAR F-PACE PHEV GETS MORE RANGE
Along the same lines, Jaguar is giving the plug-in hybrid version of the F-PACE a bigger battery. It’s going from 8 to 9 modules in the pack, which increases size to 19.2 kWh, and range from 53 kilometers to 65 kilometers, or 33 miles to 40 miles. In other words, an increase of a little more than 20%. The updated Jaguar P400e will go on sale as a 2024 model year vehicle.

MAZDA ADDS PHEV TO LINEUP
And speaking of plug-ins, Mazda announced it’s coming out with an all-new PHEV for the U.S. In January, it’s going to debut the CX-90 and while there’s not a lot of details, Mazda says it will be available with a performance-oriented plug-in hybrid system. So, it sounds like there will be other ICE setups as well. Let’s also focus on the new model. Will it replace the CX-9? That’s not known yet, but if it’s like the CX-5 and CX-50, the CX-90 will be a little bigger than the CX-9 and have more ground clearance and a more rugged design.

HONDA DESIGNS CARS WITH VR GOGGLES
VR goggles are good for more than just gaming. Honda is using virtual reality headsets in its design department. It says the pandemic accelerated the use of VR, since designers and engineers couldn’t meet in person to collaborate they had to work remotely. While the exterior of the upcoming Prologue EV was mostly created using clay models, the interior was mainly carried out with VR and augmented reality. Even product evaluation for the new Pilot was done using VR. Honda says this improved collaboration and provided quicker feedback between its design teams in the U.S. and Japan. While Honda plans to integrate more VR into its design process, it won’t go fully digital because it says the human touch is still too important.

HELLA’S SMART HEADLAMPS
And now we cast a light onto smart headlamps. German lighting supplier Hella is making Solid State/High Definition headlamps with up to 25,000 pixels. Each LED can be controlled individually, which allows things like highlighting lane markings, brightening up the lane you’re driving in, and projecting symbols on the pavement. And the headlamp is more compact, making it easier for automakers to integrate. Hella says it has 1.5 billion euros in orders for the headlamps from two German automakers and another international premium car manufacturer. It’s now building the headlamp in Germany and in the future, it’s going to make them in China, Mexico, the Czech Republic and Slovakia and will make them available globally by 2025.

    

So is Toyota right that hybrids and plug-ins are a better solution to carbon neutrality than BEVs? As you know, that’s a highly controversial topic. And where better to argue it out than on Autoline After Hours? That’s why we have Jordan Choby, the vice president of powertrain control at Toyota North America coming on the show tomorrow afternoon. Toyota says that its approach will produce faster results at a lower cost. The critics say that Toyota is dragging its heels and greenwashing the whole situation. So tune in tomorrow to hear Toyota make its case when we go live at 3 pm eastern time.

And that’s a wrap for today’s show. Thanks for tuning in.