AD #3490 – Honda Creates New BEV Division; Ford Backs Away from EVs with VW; Nissan Eyes Electric Mid-Size Pickup

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

FORD BACKS AWAY FROM EVs WITH VW
The high cost of manufacturing EVs, Tesla’s price war, and weakening economic conditions are forcing legacy automakers to start taking drastic actions. Let’s start with Ford. It’s backing away from its EV partnership with Volkswagen. In fact, it looks like Ford is going to shrink its footprint in Europe altogether. In 2020 Ford and VW announced a partnership to make several electric models using VW’s MEB platform, as well as develop autonomous vehicles with Argo AI. But last October they both gave up on Argo. And now Ford says that its next generation of EVs will switch from VW’s MEB platform to its own. We’ve seen this happen before. In 2019 Ford and Rivian were going to jointly develop an electric truck, but Ford backed out when it believed it could develop a better platform on its own. Another factor in Ford’s thinking may be that electric cars wearing the VW logo haven’t exactly set the market on fire, especially in China. And over the weekend VW removed its head of design, Jozef Kaban, and replaced him with Andreas Mindt, the chief designer from Bentley.

FORD SHRINKS FOOTPRINT IN EUROPE
And since Ford’s EV platforms are developed in the U.S., it’s going to slash its product development work in Europe, mainly in Cologne, Germany. Reuters reports it will cut 3,200 jobs, mostly in product development, which will probably save the company anywhere from $400 million to $500 million a year. But Germany’s powerful union IG Metal promises it will take actions that will seriously impact Ford throughout Europe if it actually axes those jobs.

HONDA CREATES NEW DIVISION TO MAKE BEVs
But union threats or not, legacy automakers still have to figure out how to slash costs if they hope to be profitable with electric vehicles. Honda is creating a whole new division to only develop BEVs including cars, motorcycles and power products. Honda is also consolidating its operations from 6 regions in the world to only 3: North America, China and everything else including Japan. It’s also carving its strategy group out of its administrative operations to move faster on its strategic plans. Just like Ford split off its EV operations called Model E and Renault split off its EV ops under Ampere, legacy automakers are starting to face up to the fact that the old way of doing business isn’t going to work anymore.

APTERA SURRENDERS, AGREES TO DCFC
A lot of you complained in the comments section yesterday that Aptera did not offer DC charging. Well, it looks like Aptera heard your complaints. Due to overwhelming criticism that its 3-wheeled solar EV would not have DC fast charging capability, Aptera quickly reversed course and said, yes, it will have it. For a refresher on the timeline. It said no DCFC on Friday the 20th and yes to DCFC a few days later. Aptera says it had been working on the capability for over a year, but paused the program because it didn’t have approval for the Tesla plug yet. So, with all the feedback, it’s starting the program back up again. However, its fast charging capability is on the low end. Aptera says it will for sure be able to charge at 40kW and hopes to go as high as 60kW. It’s also working on a future 100 kW version, but says that requires an upgrade to the power electronics, which adds weight and cost. Aptera does not give any charge times using a DC fast charger.

RENAULT TO SELL USED CARS GLOBALLY
Remember how we told you Renault was going to refurbish used cars and sell them? Well, now it’s taking that effort global. This year it will start selling second-hand vehicles from a range of brands around the world under the name Renew. Not only does this include gas and diesel vehicles but also refurbished and certified hybrids and electrics. Renew says it wants to become the leader in used EV sales. Demand for used vehicles is up and so are prices, so it could be a good source of revenue.

NISSAN EYES ELECTRIC MID-SIZE PICKUP
We think Nissan is probably working on a mid-size electric pickup. Its chairman of the company’s advisory board, Tyler Slade, told Automotive News “it’s logical to bring an electric version… ” of the Frontier. He added that dealers are asking for one and that EV pickups offer lower cost of ownership compared to ICE. You don’t typically hear an executive make comments like that unless something is already in the works. And you better bet Nissan is not the only one. GM, Ford, Stellantis are all likely eyeing the mid-size EV truck segment and company’s like Radar, which is part of Geely, could have early mover success with its RD6 that has roughly 250-400 miles of range on the Chinese cycle and starts at under $25,000.

RUSSIA REVIVES 1963 V8
Chinese brands will probably grab 70% of the Russian car market unless things change, says Russia’s auto dealer association. It hopes to turn that around with a strategy that includes updating an old V8 engine, and onshoring materials and components that were cut off after Russia invaded Ukraine. And when we say old, we mean old. That V8 engine came out in 1963 and only developed a maximum of 138 horsepower. Today, we have four cylinder engines with half the displacement that produce more power. That Russian V8 will likely be used in a local car with up to 80% domestic content, but it won’t be out until 2025 at the earliest.

LIGHTYEAR GOES WITH AFFORDABLE MODEL
Affordability is a big issue with electric vehicles, so Lightyear, the startup developing solar powered electric vehicles, is suspending production of the 250,000 euro Lightyear 0 to shift its focus to the more affordable 40,000 euro Lightyear 2. Production of the 0 kicked off last year but only at a rate of one per week. Lightyear says it received more than 40,000 orders for the Lightyear 2 from individual customers, in addition to the 20,000 orders it had from fleet owners.

CALIFORNIA DOMINATES U.S. EV MARKET
California is a huge market for electric vehicles and last year the state accounted for 40% of all zero-emission vehicle sales in the U.S. According to California’s Energy Commission, 346,000 ZEVs were sold in the state in 2022, which is about 19% of all vehicles. The Tesla Model 3 and Y were the best selling zero emission models, with 95,000 and 94,000 sold respectively.

DEVELOPING CAR WITH ZERO PROTOTYPES
Automakers spend a fortune building prototypes when they develop new cars and trucks. They have to smash, bash and crash them to make sure they meet their design specs. But what if you could get rid of prototypes through simulation? That’s the topic on Autoline After Hours Thursday with Michael Hoffmann from VI-grade, which has some of the coolest driving simulators in the world. Their goal is zero prototypes. So, can it be done? Tune in Thursday when the show gets going live at 3 pm eastern time.

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