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Runtime: 9:26
0:00 Tesla Builds FSD Team in China
1:26 Ford Raids Apple Again for More Talent
1:55 Ford Installs BlueCruise on More Vehicles
2:41 Biden Wants to Avoid UAW Strike
4:07 Tesla Creates New Base Model S & X
5:00 LFP Mach-E Gets Same Range
5:52 Wuling Adds Another NEV to Lineup
6:35 Top OEMs by Revenue/Car
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TESLA BUILDS FSD TEAM IN CHINA
Tesla is building an FSD R&D team in China that could unlock massive amounts of revenue for the company. Today, its Full Self Driving has yet to be approved for use in China, partly over concerns that the data generated by its vehicles is not stored in China. Tesla vehicles have been banned from military bases, and an airport in eastern China just banned the EVs from its parking lots because it’s worried about Tesla’s Sentry Mode, which records video when the car is parked. Tesla responded by saying the data is saved on a USB inside the car and no one can view it online. Now, Gasgoo reports that Tesla has built its own data center in China and all data generated by its vehicles sold in the country will be stored there. This could pave the way for FSD, which would be huge for the company because it isn’t offered in China yet. Tesla is reportedly building a team that will start to train the system for Chinese roads. And if Tesla is able to bring FSD to China it would cause a massive revenue spike. Right now owners in the U.S. are paying $15,000 to unlock the self-driving technology.
FORD RAIDS APPLE FOR MORE TALENT
Ford CEO Jim Farley once again raided Apple for the tech talent he needs. The former VP of Apple services, Peter Stern will lead a completely new division, called Ford Integrated Services. He will be in charge of building a team that creates and markets experiences for ICE, EV and commercial vehicle customers that integrate hardware, software and services together.
FORD INSTALLS BLUE CRUISE ON MORE CARS
And right on cue, Ford announced it’s installing Blue Cruise hardware in more vehicles. For the 2024 model year it expects to build half a million Ford and Lincoln vehicles with BlueCruise capability. It’s also offering a free trial for the tech as well as a three year, yearly or monthly payment plan. The three year plan has to be activated at purchase and costs $2,100 or it can be unlocked later for $800 a year, or customers can pay $75 a month. And if a customer decides they don’t want BlueCruise at all, they’ve still got Adaptive Cruise Control. But this is clearly a money-making move for Ford.
BIDEN WANTS UAW TO AVOID A STRIKE
The UAW labor negotiations with the Detroit Three keeps getting more politicized. In May, UAW president Shawn Fain said the union would not endorse President Biden for re-election unless he gave the union more support. That was a shock because historically the UAW always endorsed the Democratic nominee for president. Last month, 28 Democratic senators sent letters to the CEOs of the Detroit Three saying they backed the union’s push for higher wages. And yesterday President Biden urged both the union and the automakers to come to a fair agreement before the current contract expires on September 14. However, this is a tricky situation for Biden. Politically, he has to show support for the union. But if a costly strike starts to hurt the US economy it could damage his reelection campaign and he might have to step in. So these contract negotiations are already getting a lot more attention than they normally do.
TESLA’S $10,000 S&X PRICE CUTS
Just a day after it cut the price of the Model Y in China, Tesla in a way is slashing the starting price of the Model S and X in the U.S. by $10,000. It came out with new base models that have less range and are slower. The Model S now starts just over $80,000 and has a range of 320 miles, compared to 405 miles for the regular version. And the Model X now starts just over $90,000 with 269 miles of range, compared to 348 miles for the regular model. While sales of the Model Y and 3 are going strong in the U.S.,the S and X have struggled this year. According to Experian, Model S registrations fell 55% in the first half and Model X registrations were down nearly 6%.
LFP MACH-E GETS SAME RANGE
Looks like Ford made a smart move by switching to LFP or lithium iron phosphate batteries for the standard range version of the Mach-E. According to the EPA a rear-drive Mach-E with the old NMC or nickel manganese cobalt pack has an estimated 247 miles of range and the LFP battery is nearly the same at 250 miles. The LFP pack is bigger; 72 kWh vs. 70 kWh, but that also means there’s some packaging efficiencies. Plus, LFP batteries are about 20% cheaper and last longer on average, so Ford is saving money and customers are getting a more reliable product, which is something it hasn’t been doing a great job of recently.
WULING ADDS ANOTHER NEV TO LINEUP
Chinese automaker Wuling revealed a new sedan called the Starlight. The model features its new design language and it will be offered as both a BEV and PHEV. The BEV features a 100-kW motor and an LFP battery but its capacity wasn’t revealed. And the PHEV is powered by a 1.5L engine but no details on the electric part of the powertrain were shared. The Startlight will be produced by GM’s Chinese joint venture in China and it will go on sale in the fourth quarter of this year. While pricing wasn’t revealed, Car News China speculates it could start a little over $20,000.
TOP OEM’S BY REVENUE/CAR
Yesterday we showed you how the world’s biggest automakers rank in terms of how many cars they sell. And Toyota topped the list. Another fascinating way to rank them is by how much revenue they generate for each vehicle they sell. And this is something of an eye opener. Mercedes tops the list, earning over $81,000 in revenue for every car it sold. That’s substantially better than BMW in second place at about $57,000. Tesla is in 3rd place just behind BMW at $54,000. And then there’s a big drop down to Ford, the Volkswagen Group, Stellantis and Toyota in the $30,000 segment. GM is in 8th place and one thing that hurts it are all those cheap $5,000ish Wuling Mini EVs that it sells in China. Nissan is right behind GM, with another drop to Honda, and it’s very surprising that the Hyundai Group was in last place with an average of only $19,000 in revenue for each vehicle it sold. But we have to remember that Hyundai and Kia sell a lot of cheap cars in developing markets around the world.
And that brings us to the end of today’s report. Thanks for tuning in.
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Seamus and Sean McElroy cover the latest news in the automotive industry for Autoline Daily.