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Runtime: 9:42
0:00 U.S. Q1 Sales Up 8%–So Far
0:29 Toyota’s Hybrids Drive Sales Surge
0:53 Cadillac Lyriq Outsells European Lux EVs
1:42 Rivian Sales Small, But Up 71%
2:14 Tesla Stock Faces Critical Price Test
3:53 Renault Explores 3D Seat Printing
4:56 Renault, Volvo EV Van Project Gets New Partner
5:52 UAW Targets Mercedes Alabama
6:49 Chinese AV Passes Moose Test
7:34 World’s First AV Street Sweeper
8:16 Eco-Protestors Dump Oil on EV Pickup at NY Show
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
U.S. Q1 SALES UP 8%–SO FAR
We’re starting to see more Q1 sales figures come in for the U.S. market, and while the numbers so far look good–they’re up nearly 8%–several automakers like Ford, Mercedes-Benz, JLR, and Stellantis still haven’t reported yet. So we can’t make a final determination of how the quarter ended, but here are some of the highlights so far.
TOYOTA’S HYBRIDS DRIVE SALES SURGE
Toyota is enjoying extremely strong sales of hybrids and PHEVs. Sales of its electrified vehicles hit nearly 207,000 units, up 74% and they accounted for 36.6% of the 565,000 vehicles it sold during Q1. Those numbers include Lexus, which was up 15% in total.
CADILLAC LYRIQ OUTSELLS EUROPEAN LUX EVs
General Motors sold 594,000 cars, trucks and SUVs, down 1.5%. GM blamed lower fleet sales, and pointed out that its retail sales were up 6%. But one big bright spot for GM is that sales of the electric Cadillac Lyriq came in at 5,800 units, which was better than any of the European luxury EVs. GM also delivered over 600 Chevrolet Blazer EVs, over 1,000 Chevrolet Silverado EVs and 1,668 Hummer EVs. Those are small numbers but GM says it should be running at a 300,000-run rate for its EVs by the end of the year, even with the Chevrolet Bolt out of production.
RIVIAN SALES SMALL, BUT UP 71%
Now over to EV makers where Rivian sold about 13,500 vehicles, which is not a lot, but that was 71% better than a year ago. And it just got another boost with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety giving the R1T its top safety pick plus rating. What is more notable is that Rivian delivered 97% of the vehicles it built, meaning it was building exactly to customer demand and did a great job of getting those trucks to its customers.
TESLA STOCK FACES CRITICAL PRICE TEST
Meanwhile, it was a different story at Tesla. It delivered nearly 387,000 vehicles to customers which was down 8.5% compared to the first quarter last year. Tesla had extenuating circumstances that potentially hurt its sales. It had to stop production in China in February as it upgraded its factory and rolled out a newer version of the Model 3. And it suffered a nearly two-week shutdown after an eco-attack on its plant in Berlin. But here’s the number that should worry Tesla fans. It built 46,500 more vehicles than it sold in the quarter. That’s a considerable oversupply and suggests Tesla is no longer building cars to order, but is building them to a production schedule. Bloomberg warns that Tesla stock is coming close to a critical price. Shares are trading at $166 apiece and Bloomberg says if it hits $150 a share it will be a big test for where the stock is headed. Analysts seem to be torn as to what’s to come. Some think the low price presents a good “buy on the dip” opportunity, while others say that falling sales, falling revenue and falling profits mean that Tesla’s current valuation will have to be downgraded.
RENAULT EXPLORES 3D SEAT PRINTING
Renault is just starting to talk about a new 3D printing process that it’s been working on for the last 2 years, which we think is really interesting. It’s 3D printing parts out of Thermoplastic Polyurethane or TPU that have an internal mesh-like or lattice structure, which can be varied in such a way that it has some give to it, like you’re squeezing foam. So it might possibly one day replace things like seat backs and seat bottoms, armrests, center consoles and more. Plus, it’s a single material taking care of the comfort, cushioning and support, which eliminates the need for fabrics, reinforcements, foams, some of the manufacturing and it would make a seat about 30% lighter. Renault, who teamed up with the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, or the CEA for short, which is a government-funded research organization, says it could also one day 3D print a seat tailored to an individual driver and I know my back loves the sound of that.
RENAULT, VOLVO EV VAN PROJECT GETS NEW PARTNER
Speaking of Renault, it’s solidifying an electric van partnership that it originally announced with Volvo last year. They’ve also added shipping and logistics company CMA CGM as a 10% stakeholder in the new joint venture they’re calling Flexis. The vans will be built on a fully electric skateboard platform for light commercial vehicles that’s connected and features an 800-volt architecture. We don’t know if the platform is coming from Renault, Volvo or if it’s been developed by both, but the vans will be built at an updated Renault plant in France. It sounds like models will start running down the line sometime in 2026. And if sales take off the way they’re expecting them to, this is going to be a smart partnership. They’re relying on forecasts of the European market for electrified vans growing 40% every year until 2030.
UAW TARGETS MERCEDES ALABAMA
The UAW is making progress to organize non-union plants in the U.S. Volkswagen workers in Tennessee will vote this month on whether they want to join the UAW. And Mercedes workers in Alabama will file a petition with the National Labor Relations Board this week to hold a union vote at the plant. While the UAW didn’t say how many workers have signed cards to join the union, back in February it said the majority of the 6,000 employees at Mercedes’ Alabama have done so. The union has promised to push for union votes once they get 70% of workers to sign a card, so that suggests it’s close to that number in Alabama. Boosting membership is critical for the UAW. As we reported last week, it dropped to just over 370,000 members in 2023, down 3.3% from the year before and the lowest level since 2009.
CHINESE AV PASSES MOOSE TEST
Chinese automaker IM Motors is putting the capabilities of its upcoming L6 sedan on display before its launch in May. CarNewsChina has video of the car doing the evasive maneuver or Moose Test without a driver on board. It looks pretty impressive, but we’ll let you be the judge. The test normally requires people in the front seats, weight in the trunk and an entrance speed of at least 72 km/h or 45 MPH. But the L6 enters at 71 km/h and exits at 49 km/h or 30 MPH. Plus, it doesn’t say if this was accomplished relying on the car’s sensors or if it “learned” the route from a human driver first.
WORLD’S FIRST AV STREET SWEEPER
Meet the world’s first Level 4 autonomous street sweeper, no driver required. Called the Robosweeper S1, it’s made by WeRide and is available in three configurations and features a 400L water tank and 240L garbage bin. In addition to automatically sweeping up debris from the streets, it can dump garbage and park all by itself. It can be used in multiple situations including parks, sidewalks and non-motorized lanes. The vehicle already is attracting a lot of attention. WeRide says it received nearly $10 million in orders on its launch day.
ECO-PROTESTORS DUMP OIL ON EV PICKUP AT NY SHOW
The Ford F-150 Lightning was the target of environmental protests at the New York Auto Show over the weekend. Protestors poured oil onto the showroom floor near the truck and onto its hood. They also shouted about a “climate emergency” and that “electric vehicles will not save us.” Video of the incident shows that the four protestors were booed by other attendees and they were eventually removed by security and police. They were part of a group called Extinction Rebellion, which claims that EVs don’t help solve the problems caused by ICE vehicles, partly due to mining needed to make batteries. They don’t want electric cars, they don’t want internal combustion cars, in fact, they don’t want cars at all.
But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for tuning in.
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Sean, Is it Volvo Truck or Volvo car (Geely) that is teaming up with Renault. Two separate companies, but I could see either of them going into the van business.
Sean; You didn’t mention that the robosweeper was also EV, but I did notice a quick blip on the screen saying it was electric. I wonder how far it can clean on a charge. This seems like a perfect use for AV and EV tech. Now if they can design one to do leaf pick-up.
I assume the sales numbers for the 4 GM models the Lyriq, Blazer, Silverado and Hummer was 1/4 sales so even multiplying by 4 that’s only 14,072 in sales and they think theyll be at 300,000 by next year? Aggressive goals to say the least.
Ah, destructive protesters, those that have no lives so they must intrude on everyone else’s. Would love to know how they got to the auto show, I’m sure they didn’t take any kind of transportation device like a taxi or subway. With any luck they will get community service as a punishment and have to pick up trash next to a highway.
Ziggy, the protesters probably took the subway, taxi, or uber. That’s the easiest way to get to that venue.
If GM wants to sell 300,000 EVs next year, they need to ramp up production of Blazer, and get Equinox EV going. Lyriq is doing better, but they need the Chevys. Lyriq’a current rate of 23,200 a year isn’t going to do it, and we already know that the market for big EV pickups is limited.
Also, maybe they need to quickly restart production of Bolt. If it weren’t an “orphan,” that’s an EV I might have bought, at the greatly reduced price, even to use only 5 months a year when I’m up north and have a garage with power.
Hey Kevin, good point. It’s Volvo Group, as in, the maker of trucks, buses and construction equipment.
Even though its been discontinued, Chevy delivered just over 7,000 Bolts in the first quarter. That figure will continue to dwindle, of course. With the Blazer and Equinox EV models both selling in quantity starting in the 2nd quarter, and the Sierra EV also launching this summer, I would say GM has a shot at a 300,000 sales rate by the end of the year but its a tall order.
I saw several mentions of the Cadillac Lyriq being Cadillac’s second best seller in the first quarter, but they must have forgotten to look at the XT5 sales. By their own sales stats the Escalade was #1 with 9,135 deliveries, XT5 was #2 with 6,275 and Lyriq #3 with 5,800. Well, it’s a great showing for Lyriq when you consider how painful the launch of that vehicle has been.
That’s crazy the Escalade is Cadillac’s top seller, but it has max bling, which separates it from the competition.
I hope the quality of Lyriq is ok. It could cause long term harm, if it is not.
Today’s EV propaganda courtesy of GM.
Does anyone really believe these numbers GM is trying to put forward? Here is a little tidbit from an article about when they closed their Orion plant where the Bolt was built and laid of all 940+ of those union workers:
“GM, which has vowed to stop selling gas-powered vehicles by 2035, in October said it was abandoning a goal of building 400,000 EVs from 2022 through mid-2024.”
I’m sure this new 300,000 number will soon be memory holed as well. And as GM Veteran noted in his comment, they even lied about the Lyriq being the second best selling Cadillac in Q1 2024. Anecdotally, I’ve mentioned before that the same Lyriq has sat unsold my local the dealership for 4 years. I like to walk around it and chuckle whenever I get my Escalade serviced.
Even Mercedes has walked back the whole “ no more ICE cars” mandate and said they will continue ICE development.
Only Toyota has shown any sort of viable planning and all the rest look like fools, touting the party line while furloughing EV production, such as delaying the EV Silverado by an entire year at least (2025), and laying off employees. I guess we’re not supposed to notice.
DailyDriver, WTF are you talking about with a Lyriq at a dealer for four years? The first ones were delivered to dealers in July, 2022. That’s less than two years ago.
I agree that the 300K GM EVs next year is highly unlikely, and everyone will probably back off from their “EVs only by X year” decisions.
Kit, the Lyriq has been very well received, judging by the comments I read. As for the longer-term build (and software) quality, it’s sad to say that after two years, we still can’t really know.
But gm has to get Ultium right, and they’ve finally hired some real outside experts who have done this before.
While the Lyriq (and Blazer when it gets cheaper) are ideally positioned in the market. Tesla has shown being profitable with EVs is doable. We’ll see if gm can focus on mass production of attractive cars, while driving down costs smartly.
As an aside, I don’t like the new cheaper Cadillac EV at all. It looks tacky. Not good.
Kit – let’s see, we ordered the Escalade in 2021 but by the time it was built, because of the chip backlog, it was a 2022 model and the Lyriq was there . Ok, 3 years then. 22,23,24 – Same Lyriq.
Less than two years. Still not good for the same one to never sell.
https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/general-motors/2022/07/09/michigan-dealer-says-hes-got-first-cadillac-lyriq-world/10009066002/
What I’m waiting for is the admission that automakers will start developing new engines again. I believe it was about 3-4 years ago that ALD reported that GM, Ford and a few others came out and said they had no more gas engines in development. I suspect with the increasing popularity of hybrids they may want to rethink that direction and get working on some Atkinson cycle engines. Either way I didn’t buy it then and saw GM announced plans in Jan 23 for a 6th generation V8 to be used in the trucks and large SUVs. No word on Corvette as that might still be offered with V8 and lots of rumors around the combination that could be used in the E-Ray.
No matter what the announcement was probably a bit premature and hopefully was more about saying the politically right thing while hopefully doing what they need to in order to be prepared for the future.
Maybe the owner of the dealership bought it so he could just keep it on the showroom floor. They do that sometimes.
Lambo, I was thinking that, re. keeping their first Lyriq in the showroom. I wonder if they charge it, or check the state of charge occasionally. If there’s even a small parasitic load, the battery could be “bricked” after sitting all that time.
I was surprised that GM did the new V8. Can it be significantly better than the previous one? The 1st generation Chevy small block went for almost 40 years, but there have been 5 more generations in less time, Aren’t some of the “crate” engines still gen 1?
Well the Small block remained pretty much unchanged from 1954 thru 2003 minor modifications were made throughout the years like in 1970 when they made the 400ci and went to large journals and in 1986 when the rear main went from a two piece to a single seal. They used the LS and LT designations over the years but in 1992 they launched the 2nd gen small block with the designation LT1 to draw upon the heritage of the 1970 Chevrolet LT-1. Weirdly they launched the HO version of the LT-1 as the LT-4 in 1996 in the Corvette and 1997 the Camaro and Firebird. To be honest the designations can be confusing as the LS and LT can be in the same years with different compression ratios. LT typically being the higher output engine.
The 3rd gen LS engine launched in 1997 thru 2007 and was the end of the big block. Designated the LS1 it also had a higher output version LS6.
4th gen LS ran from 2005-2020 which I believe had the LS2, LS4 and LS7 and LS3 in 2008 and LS9 in 2009 in the corvette ZR1.
Gen 5 LS engines started in 2013 using aluminum blocks and heads except for the L8T they got direct injection and CCVT. I believe these are all called LT engines.
The LT2 engine debuted in the 2020 Corvette Stingray as the successor to the LT1. It was designed specifically with mid-engine placement and dry-sump lubrication in mind.
And as I said GM announced last year plans for a Gen 6 small block. Which will likely be called the LT3 maybe.
I’m wondering the reason for the Gen 6 small block. Can it be almost a billion dollars worth better than the Gen 5? Maybe it will somehow separate the variable valve timing for intake and exhaust, which would give some benefit.