AD #3578 – Toyota Creates Hydrogen Division; Fiat Revives The Topolino; Freightliner Investigated Over ‘Phantom Braking’

  

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

GM DEFENSE ADDS ANOTHER PARTNER
GM Defense, which is a subsidiary of General Motors, has slowly been building up its business over the last year with a number of partnerships. And now the latest is with Black Sage Technologies. The two companies announced they will research and develop a Counter Unmanned Aerial System or what looks like it’s essentially a control center for a drone. But if there’s anyone out there that has more knowledge on this we’d love to hear it. Called a C-UAS for short, it will be designed for use on GM Defense’s military vehicles. The two companies are showing off a prototype at the Canadian Association of Defense and Security Industries show, which is going on right now. GM Defense is aiming to generate $1 billion a year in revenue by the end of the decade.

FREIGHTLINER INVESTIGATED OVER ‘PHANTOM BRAKING’
Tesla and Honda have been investigated recently over owner complaints about phantom braking in their cars. But it’s not just limited to passenger vehicles. NHTSA has opened an investigation into Freightliner over trucks that are said to stop for no reason. 18 Cascadia truck owners have filed complaints that the truck’s automatic emergency braking system brought the truck to a halt when there was no obstacle in the road. The investigation involves nearly a quarter-million trucks made between 2017 and 2022 but so far no crashes have been linked to the issue. Last year, NHTSA launched investigations into Tesla and Honda over similar complaints.

 

TOYOTA CREATES DEDICATED HYDROGEN DIVISION
Earlier this month Toyota revealed the name of its new dedicated EV division, called BEV Factory and now we’re learning that it’s also going to have another division completely dedicated to hydrogen and fuel cell development, called Hydrogen Factory. Like BEV Factory, one guy will be in charge. His name is Mitsumasa Yamagata and previous job titles include president of Toyota’s Powertrain Company, head of hybrid development at GAZOO Racing and more. The main goal of Hydrogen Factory is to speed up development and one of the ways it identified it will do that is by strengthening alliances with partners in Europe and China. Toyota says those are the places where hydrogen mobility is expanding the fastest.

SCOUT HIRES STELLANTIS DESIGNER
Scout Motors, the new North American EV truck and SUV brand from Volkswagen, just hired its head of design, Chris Benjamin. Benjamin joins Scout from Stellantis, where he was the head of interior design for its North American operations. But we suspect he had experience designing Jeeps, which is why Scout wanted him. Prior to joining Stellantis, Benjamin worked for Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Volvo. Scout is aiming to launch its first vehicles in 2026.

FIAT REVIVES TOPOLINO NAME
Fiat is getting its own version of the Citroen Ami and it’s reviving an iconic name to do it. It’s called the Topolino, which means ‘little mouse’ in Italian and the name given to the original Fiat 500 made from 1936 until 1955. The new Topolino gets its own unique styling compared to the Ami and in place of the doors are the kind of rope partitions you might expect to see at a movie theater or a bouncer holding to get into a club. However, no word on an exact launch yet.

VOLVO TEASES NEW EX30
Volvo is giving us our best look yet at its all-new small electric crossover, the EX30. And it clearly carries over very distinctive Volvo design features, highlighted by the front and rear lighting. The EX30 is likely to ride on parent company Geely’s SEA platform, which would mean it can accommodate a number of motor, battery size and battery chemistry combinations. Volvo also revealed it will come with a clever multi-function center console and a first-of-its-kind soundbar that stretches across the entire dash.

 

EV STARTUP AEHRA PICKS BATTERY SUPPLIER
You may have heard us report on an EV startup in the past, called AEHRA, that’s hoping to come out with a pretty slick looking electric sedan and SUV. Now its picked Miba Battery Systems as its battery supplier. Miba makes cylindrical cells that come in a number of dimensions and in NMC and LFP chemistries. AEHRA says its battery pack could be up to 120 kWh and estimates range at up to 800 kilometers or about 500 miles. It’s also targeting peak voltage of 925 volts, which would allow charging rates of up to 350 kW. AEHRA’s sedan will make its public debut in the middle of June. And while we think its vehicles have some very interesting design features, it’s still way too early to tell if they’ll ever make it to the market.

FARADAY FUTURE LAUNCH MODEL COSTS OVER $300,000
Just look at another EV startup, like Faraday Future, which has been an absolute roller coaster. It is making cars. It’s not making cars. It does have enough money. It doesn’t have enough money. But even so Faraday is still hanging on by a thread. It’s taking orders for a limited edition of its FF91 model in the U.S. and China. But it’s quite pricey. It costs $309,000 and only 300 will be produced. The company is also taking pre-orders for the regular FF91 but it did not reveal pricing. This is a hard company to trust. It was founded in 2014 and it still hasn’t delivered any vehicles.

That brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for making Autoline a part of your day.