AD #3469 – Tesla Loses Half a Trillion in Market Cap; Ford Back to F1?; Toyota Teases Electric Pickup

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

TESLA LOSES HALF TRILLION IN MARKET CAP
Tesla stunned the auto industry when its market cap hit one trillion dollars last year. Some analysts predicted it would hit two trillion this year. Instead, Tesla stock is down 60% and its market cap has dropped to under half a trillion dollars. That’s a half a trillion dollar drop just this year. One reason is that Elon Musk has been selling off big chunks of the stock, likely to help pay for his acquisition of Twitter. So far, he’s sold about $23 billion of Tesla stock. Cathie Wood, from Ark Investment, who’s been one of Tesla’s biggest bulls, says investors should take advantage of the drop and buy. But others are alarmed at how much and how fast the stock price has fallen. Who knows which way it’s going to go, but one thing’s for sure, the company is coming under increasing criticism.

TESLA FANS SAY FSD GETTING WORSE
According to data compiled from a group of FSD Beta testers, Tesla’s driver assistance system has actually gotten worse this year. This data only covers 72,000 of a total 60 million miles driven by FSD Beta, but Tesla doesn’t post its own results. And based on the data we do have, the overall miles per disengagement rate is down 54% compared to last year. A disengagement is either when the system has to shut itself off or the driver has to take over. Right now Tesla’s FSD system only drives a few miles between disengagements, while Waymo and Cruise are reporting tens of thousands of miles between disengagements.

FORD BACK IN FORMULA ONE?
Could Ford be getting back into Formula One? At a media event on Tuesday, Doug Field, who runs the EV operations at Ford called Model E, dropped an interesting comment. He said car companies should be involved in Formula One because you can find really good engineers in the racing community. He also said Ford is working on a top secret project that he couldn’t talk about. That doesn’t mean it’s a racing program, but today, Motorsport magazine in the UK reports that Ford is exploring options of working with the Red Bull racing team which just won this year’s drivers and constructors championships. If Ford does get back into F1 it would happen in 2026 when new regulations mandate much more electrification of the powertrain.

    

COUNTING UP MUSTANG’S PONIES
We finally got official performance numbers for the all-new Mustang’s powertrain lineup. Currently at the top of the heap is the Dark Horse edition. Its naturally aspirated 5.0L Coyote V8 makes 500 horsepower and 418 lb-ft of torque. The Mustang GT, which also features a 5.0L V8, has 480 horsepower and a similar torque rating. The reason the Dark Horse has more power is because its engine has been upgraded with a uniquely balanced crankshaft, strengthened camshaft and forged connecting rods, which allows for higher cylinder pressure and piston speeds. The new GT for its part is still the most powerful Mustang GT ever and features a segment-first dual intake and throttle body system as well as an active exhaust. The EcoBoost Mustang comes with an all-new 2.3L turbocharged 4-cylinder engine that makes 315 horsepower and 350 lb-ft of torque. That horsepower figure is only slightly more than the 310 that the previous EcoBoost Mustang made and it’s also expected to raise fuel economy slightly from 32 MPG highway and 25 combined up to 34 highway and 26 combined. It’s important to note that all these performance figures were achieved with premium fuel in the tank. The all-new Mustang goes on sale in the U.S. in the summer of 2023.

TOYOTA TEASES ELECTRIC PICKUP
Toyota showed off a couple of concepts in Thailand and one of them is a battery electric version of the Hilux pickup truck. And while there’s no info to provide about this truck, which is called the Hilux Revo BEV concept, it does just look like the current version of the Hilux with most of its grille closed off. The other vehicle is the IMV 0 concept. IMV stands for International Multi-Purpose Vehicle. Toyota says it will be truly affordable and innovative and it sounds like it will come with a number of powertrain options. A version of this vehicle is supposed to launch over a year from now. Toyota dominates Thailand with a roughly 33% market share and the region, which is where the Hilux is made, ranks only behind China, Japan and the U.S. in total production for the company.

  

FORD & CATL EYE U.S. BATTERY PLANT
Ford and Chinese battery company CATL could build a battery plant in Michigan or Virginia. Bloomberg reports that Ford would own the plant and all the equipment so it could qualify for tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act. But CATL would run the plant and own the technology to make the battery cells. By teaming up with Ford, CATL could probably avoid political tensions between the U.S. and China. The plant would make LFP batteries for Ford which could help lower the manufacturing cost of EVs.

    

LUCID IS RECRUITING IN CHINA
EV startup Lucid Motors is recruiting people in China. It posted a job listing on its Linkedin account with 14 openings including digital information, hardware engineering, supply chain and logistics. Lucid is burning through cash and desperately needs to boost sales. So it looks like it’s turning to China to get the talent and sales volume it needs.

POLESTAR MAKES DRIVER MONITORING STANDARD EQUIPMENT
Polestar is making driver monitoring a standard feature on its Polestar 3 crossover. It uses cameras and software to track the driver’s head, eye and eyelid movements and if it detects the driver is drowsy or distracted, it triggers audio and visual warnings and if those are ignored it can even bring the vehicle to a stop. The technology was developed by a company called Smart Eye, whose driver monitoring software is already in more than 1 million vehicles. Polestar will demonstrate the system at CES next month.

TOYOTA DEVELOPING V2G TECH FOR EVs
Toyota is partnering with a company called Oncor to test V2G or vehicle-to-grid charging. If you haven’t heard of this before, the technology allows an EV to send energy back to the grid from its battery. Initially, the two companies will test V2G at Oncor’s research and testing microgrid near Dallas, Texas. The site includes a V2G charger, solar panels and battery storage for testing and evaluation. Then next year, the project will expand to include testing at homes and businesses. The National Resources Defense Council released a study recently that said the 14 million EVs expected to be on California’s roads by 2035 would be able to power all homes in the state for three days using vehicle-to-grid technology.

TOYOTA’S ICE EXPERT JORDAN CHOBY ON AAH
Speaking of Toyota, is it crazy or can hybrids save the internal combustion engine? We’ll dive into that on Autoline After Hours today when Jordan Choby, the vice president of powertrain control at Toyota North America, will be on the show. So will Tom Murphy from Autoweek. So join John and Gary when they go live right here at 3 pm eastern time.

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