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Runtime: 10:43
0:00 Ghosn Sues Nissan for $1 Billion
1:02 Luca de Meo to Run Renault & Ampere
2:13 BMW M Declares DCTs Are Dead
3:04 Buick EV Starts at $26,500 in China
4:46 Rivian Holds Parking Lot Sale
5:32 Hyundai Dramatically Ups EV Investment
6:43 GM Pours Nearly $1 Billion Into HD Diesels
7:30 Stellantis & Foxconn to Make Chips
8:13 BorgWarner Pivots to EV Portfolio
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GHOSN SUES NISSAN FOR $1 BILLION
The story of former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn still has a few chapters left in it. He’s now suing the automaker for more than $1 billion, accusing Nissan, two other companies and 12 individuals of defamation, slander, libel, and fabrication of evidence. The lawsuit was filed in Lebanon and a court date is set for September. Nissan will not say anything about it. But here’s how it all started. Ghosn was arrested in Japan in 2018 after he was accused by Nissan of under-reporting his earnings and misappropriating company money. Ghosn denied any wrongdoing and famously escaped from Japan in 2019 by hiding in a big box and flying to Lebanon, which has no extradition treaty with Japan.
LUCA DE MEO TO RUN RENAULT & AMPERE
Renault is getting ready to spin off Ampere, its dedicated EV and software subsidiary, in the second half of this year. And it just picked the guy that’s going to be in charge of the 10,000 people who will work there. And it didn’t have to go far to find him. Renault’s CEO, Luca De Meo, will lead the new division, and will still stay on as the CEO of Renault at the same time. That’s different than Ford’s approach of bringing in Silicon Valley types to run its Model E division. Renault says it already has 80% of the investments it needs for Ampere, and expects to breakeven on its operating profit and generate free cash flow by 2025. It’s targeting double digit profit margins by the end of the decade. It’s also targeting a 40% cost reduction with its next generation of vehicles around 2027. It wants to be able to kick out a vehicle from one of its factories in under 10 hours. For comparison, Tesla can make a Model Y in China right now in about 2 and a half hours.
BMW M DECLARES DCT IS DEAD
The DCT is dead. And that’s according to BMW. The head of development at BMW’s M division says the new 8-speed torque converter units it buys from ZF are “better performing than the double clutch” transmissions, and no new performance BMW’s will have a DCT. They will only get manual or a traditional automatic. And, unfortunately, the days of shifting your own gears in a BMW are dying, too. The same M exec says he’s not sure if BMW will keep offering manual transmissions in the future and that future could only be 6 or 7 years away. And to me, a BMW without a manual feels like the end of an era.
BUICK EV STARTS AT $26,500 IN CHINA
Buick’s second Ultium-based EV is going on sale in China. The Electra E4 is basically a fast-back version of the Electra E5 SUV and we’ve shown both on this channel before. The base E4 is FWD and features a 180 kW or 241 horsepower electric motor and a 65 kWh battery pack that provides up to 530 kilometers or 329 miles of range. Interestingly, the base pack in the E5 is 68 kWh and there’s no mention of the E4 using an Ultium battery in the press release, which makes us wonder if it could come from another supplier, like CATL. There will also be an AWD version that has 211 kW or 282 horsepower and will have up to 620 kilometers or 385 miles of range. Buick didn’t provide a size for the bigger battery in the E4, but the one in the E5 is nearly 80 kWh. Other highlights include a large digital display and Super Cruise hands-free driving technology. Starting prices for the Electra E4 range between roughly $26,500 and $36,000.
RIVIAN HOLDS PARKING LOT SALE
Demand for Rivian’s R1T electric pickup is cooling off, so it took a unique approach to try and get rid of excess inventory. It’s a direct sales model, but in a completely different way. It held a one-day event last weekend in the parking lot of its assembly plant in Normal, Illinois, to sell trucks directly to customers. It sold four-motor versions of the pickup with the largest battery pack, which start at $87,000. If they decided to purchase one, customers drove them home that day. While sales of the R1T have dropped, demand for its R1S SUV is strong with customers having to wait a year and a half for delivery.
HYUNDAI DRAMATICALLY UPS EV INVESTMENT
Hyundai is really ramping up its investment in EVs. It’s going to spend about $85 billion over the next decade to develop EVs, including almost $7.4 billion to develop LFP, NMC and solid state batteries. It’s coming out with an all-new clean-sheet EV platform to build 13 different models for Hyundai, Kia and Genesis. ranging from small and large SUVs to pickup trucks, and flagship models for Genesis.. That platform, called Integrated Modular Architecture or IMA, will use common modules to achieve a higher economy of scale, which kind of sounds like GM’s Ultium platform approach. Hyundai will make some of those EVs in existing plants alongside ICE vehicles, and will also build dedicated EV assembly plants. It plans to sell 2 million Hyundai EVs a year globally by 2030, which would account for 34% of its sales. And it’s targeting a 10% profit margin on those vehicles.
GM POURS NEARLY $1 BILLION INTO HD DIESELS
Meanwhile, while Hyundai is ramping up its EV efforts, General Motors is pouring 920 million dollars into adding heavy duty diesel production. GM will add over a million square feet to its DMAX engine component plant in Brookville, Ohio. DMAX was a joint venture between GM and Isuzu to make diesels parts, but now it’s fully owned by GM. And with this expansion the plant is likely to start making diesels, not just components, though GM did not announce any details on that. While the light duty part of the automotive market will likely go electric, the heavy duty segment will likely rely on diesels for many years to come.
STELLANTIS & FOXCONN TO MAKE CHIPS
Two years ago, Stellantis and Foxconn formed a joint venture to develop next-gen infotainment, telematics and cloud service platforms. And now they’re forming another joint venture, this time to develop and make semiconductors. Called SiliconAuto, the JV will supply chips to Stellantis and other automakers starting in 2026, and will be headquartered in the Netherlands. Stellantis will use the chips for its new electronic and software architecture called STLA Brain. Stellantis is officially headquartered in the Netherlands and the Dutch dominate the global market for the machines that make chips.
BORG WARNER PIVOTS TO EV PORTFOLIO
What do you do about the EV revolution if you’re a legacy supplier with deep roots in internal combustion technology? Well, if you’re Borg Warner you get with the program. It’s spinning off its business unit called Phinia, which makes things like fuel injectors and fuel pumps. And it’s buying the business unit from an Italian company called Eldor, that makes components for EVs including on-board chargers, DC-to-DC converters, and integrated high voltage boxes. Last year it bought Rhombus, which makes DC fast chargers, and Borg also makes battery systems. This legacy supplier, which was founded in 1928 and can trace its roots back to 1901, still makes ICE components like turbos and electric superchargers. But it seems to be doing a good job of getting ready for the transition to electric vehicles.
Wow! Do we have a great Autoline After Hours coming up on Thursday. We’ll have the CEO of Caresoft on the show. They tear down vehicles for benchmarking and the insights they have on how Tesla does things compared to legacy automakers will shock you.
But that’s the end of this show. Thanks for joining us.
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Seamus and Sean McElroy cover the latest news in the automotive industry for Autoline Daily.