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Runtime: 11:36
0:00 Toyota Cuts EV Production by One-Third
0:39 Japan Invests $2.4 Billion In EV Battery Production
1:39 VW Slashes EV Battery Production
2:12 Waymo Makes Safety Data Public
3:44 Renault Gives Free Stock to Employees
4:14 Renault Restomods 1970’s Classic
5:00 China Car Sales Dip For 5th Straight Month
5:47 BYD 3rd Best-Selling Brand Globally in July
6:31 BYD Introduces New PHEV with 2,000KM Range
7:39 Hyundai Updates Ioniq 5
8:36 Genesis G80 Refreshed
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TOYOTA CUTS EV PRODUCTION BY ONE-THIRD
Toyota took longer than the other major automakers of the world to start its EV transition and made a smart decision to stick with a multi powertrain lineup. But like everyone else it looks like Toyota overestimated its EV plans. The Nikkei reports the company now plans to build 1 million EVs in 2026, which is a third less than its previous goal. And even reaching that could be a stretch. Last year Toyota sold just over 100,000 fully electric vehicles around the world.
JAPAN INVESTS $2.4 BILLION IN EV BATTERY PRODUCTION
But Japanese automakers have to do something because with so few EVs to offer, they’re probably the most threatened from Chinese EV expansion. So, the Japanese government is going to invest up to $2.4 billion in battery production, including their parts and materials. Toyota revealed that it’s getting support to make square performance and all-solid-state batteries. Initial production will be small at 9GWh, but they’ll start launching in vehicles in 2026. Nissan announced it’s getting investment to make 5GWh of LFP batteries that will go into electric mini-vehicles in 2028. And Automotive News reports that Mazda and Subaru are getting money to make cylindrical lithium ion batteries. With all this investment, Japan expects to increase its production capacity by 50% to 120-GWh a year.
VW SLASHES EV BATTERY PRODUCTION
And speaking of battery production, there’s more bad news for the German auto industry. Volkswagen’s battery subsidiary PowerCo is only going to build one of two planned production lines at a plant in Germany, according to the company’s works council. That means it will only be able to produce 20GWh of batteries instead of 40GWh. And the second line is on hold as demand for VW’s EV has dropped. But, even so, production is still scheduled to start next year.
WAYMO MAKES SAFETY DATA PUBLIC
There’s still skepticism about autonomous vehicles becoming reality and concerns over safety. So, Waymo is revealing records to the public through a data hub, so its claims can be verified by third party researchers. The data compares crash rates to humans where it operates in San Francisco and Phoenix. Waymo says in over 22-million rider-only miles driven, its vehicles have been involved in 84% fewer crashes with airbag deployments, 73% fewer injury causing crashes and 48% fewer police reported crashes compared to humans driving the same distance in those two cities. Waymo is planning to expand its operations to Los Angeles and Austin in the coming months, so it’s hoping this info will help build public trust with self-driving technology. We think AVs and driver assistance technology will be important to improving traffic safety, but it’s also important to remember these are comparisons only to the geo-fenced areas where Waymo operates and does not include all driving scenarios and weather conditions a human will face.
RENAULT GIVES FREE STOCK TO EMPLOYEES
Renault thinks its employees should benefit directly from its performance, so for the last few years it’s been offering free stock in the company with the option to buy more at a discount. This year it’s giving out 7 free shares and offering more at 30% off. It expects to have nearly 100,000 employee shareholders. They currently control just over 5% of shares in the company and Renault wants to grow that to 10% by 2030.
RENAULT RESTOMODS 1970’S CLASSIC
Speaking of Renault, it restomodded an R17 from the 1970’s. It says it’s based on the same structure as the original; same cabin, doors, windows, seals and underbody. But it remade the chassis out of carbon fiber and widened the body by 17 cm or over 6.6 inches. And unlike some other restomods, the interior and exterior styling has been changed a lot. It’s still inspired by the original but with much more modern flare. It has the word ‘electric’ in its name, but Renault didn’t reveal any details about the powertrain. Hopefully we learn more when it’s on display at the Paris auto show next month.
CHINA CAR SALES DIP FOR 5TH STRAIGHT MONTH
Car sales in China were down for the fifth month in a row. According to estimates from the China Passenger Car Association, automakers sold 1.9 million vehicles in August, down 1% from a year ago. While the overall market was down, sales of New Energy Vehicles, which includes BEVs, PHEVs and extended range electrics, continue to surge. More than 1 million NEVs were sold in August, which is a 42% gain from last year and they now account for 53% of the new car market. While overall sales have declined for five straight months in China, through August sales are up 2% to a total of 13.5 million vehicles.
BYD 3RD BEST-SELLING BRAND GLOBALLY IN JULY
And speaking of sales, BYD was the third best-selling brand globally in July. It sold 315,600 vehicles that month. Toyota was number one with more than 651,000 sales and Volkswagen was in second with more than 346,000, only about 30,000 units ahead of BYD. And through the first seven months of the year, BYD is the eighth best-selling brand globally with more than 1.7 million vehicles sold. It’s now closing the gap with seventh place Nissan, only 7,600 units behind the Japanese automaker.
BYD INTRODUCES NEW PHEV WITH 2,000KM RANGE
And this should help boost BYD’s sales. It just introduced a new plug-in hybrid SUV called the Sealion 05 DM-i, which is based on BYD’s Song Pro crossover. The Sealion shares similar proportions with the Song Pro but it is shorter. Its powertrain consists of a 1.5L engine with 99-horsepower, a 120-kW or 160-horsepower electric motor and an 18.3-kWh LFP battery. Its all-electric range is 93 kilometers or 57 miles and its fuel economy is rated at 4.9L/100 km or 48 MPG, which gives it an impressive range of 2,000 kilometers or 1,240 miles based on the Chinese test cycle. The Sealion 05 goes on sale later this year and while official pricing hasn’t been revealed, it’s expected to be in the $14,000-$21,000 range.
HYUNDAI UPDATES IONIQ 5
Hyundai is about to grab access to more of the EV tax credit in the U.S. The updated 2025 version of the IONIQ 5 is the first EV to be produced at its new plant in Georgia and will go on sale this fall. That means it will be eligible for $3,750 off a purchase or the full $7,500 for a lease. Vehicle updates include new front and rear bumpers, new rear spoiler, redesigned HVAC controls and steering wheel and a brand-new, off-road-looking XRT trim. It’s a good time for the refreshed model to hit the market. The IONIQ 5 had a record sales month in the U.S. in August, selling nearly 5,000 units. The company also says all new or refreshed Hyundai EVs will come exclusively with Tesla’s NACS port in the 4th quarter of this year.
GENESIS G80 REFRESHED
And in one last bit of Hyundai Group EV news, Genesis is launching the new Electrified G80. Styling is not all that different even though it extended the wheelbase by 130 mm or over 5 inches, giving rear seat passengers a lot more leg room. Genesis also made improvements to the suspension and added RWS so it’s easier to maneuver despite being longer. The new Electrified G80 just went on sale in Korea and Europe and the U.S. should follow soon.
But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for making Autoline a part of your day and I hope that you have a great weekend.
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Not sure that Waymo’s shared data is very encouraging. In a world where autonomous vehicles drive empty at least some of the time, and drive many more miles than the average vehicle, it seems like these vehicles would be in accidents more often than the average vehicle on a time basis. Particularly when they compare against the average driver, which includes experienced and inexperienced humans. For their argument that it’s safer to hold, I would imagine tens of times safer would be a better answer.
You can look at it a very specific way, comparing miles driven and safety stats against Uber driver miles. The numbers they shared would mean marginal improvement, question is if that is good enough or not.
I’ve said this before here, but autonomy is always going to struggle with failures no matter how much better than human driving it is. Statistically they can show it to be safer, but we have higher expectations for computers. We can accept human error because we all have made mistakes driving but we expect a computer to be flawless. Any accident where AV is involved garners lots of attention while 1000 more human created accidents go unnoticed.
Human nature is to accept human error but we just are not so forgiving placing our trust in a computer. We fully expect 100% perfection.
Lambo,
The more interesting topic is liability. If you buy some robotaxis to start a fleet business. Those robotaxis crash into someone. Not who is at fault. Who pays? The company who did not design the faulty system that caused the crash or Waymo that did design the system that caused the crash? Right now fault is clear because it is Waymo and/or cruise operating the fleets. In the future it will get muddy. Insurance will get very muddy as they will be concerned about liability in at fault collisions. So do they bake in waymo paying for at fault collisions or the taxi company? If it is the taxi company, then insurance will be through the roof and fare prices will be high. If they assume waymo to be the at fault party, then their insurance will go through the roof and the cost of the robotaxi will be very high. Both ways the consumer is going to get hit with high fare prices and you might as well just drive your personal car.
The other thing I hear about these is the opportunity to watch movies or sleep while going to work. That will never happen. Once everyone knows you are captured in a robotaxi for any length of time, you will be taking conference calls and working while on your way to/from work. The other thing I hear is the possibility to place ads on a video screen that you are using to watch said movies and such on. That is going to be infinitely annoying trying to sleep on your way to work and an ad for McDonalds starts playing. Or taking conference calls and ads just start randomly popping up and blasting into your conference. What a fun future we have ahead of us.
Can someone explain to me why buying a car vs leasing equates to a different vehicle credit?
Happy to see VW continue to circle the drain thanks to their big post-emissions scandal EV plans. I remember thinking at the time when they talked about going to an all electric line up that they had basically decided on a bold strategy of slow motion bankruptcy. Can’t pay creditors with your ESG score.
Al,
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a44131850/leasing-an-ev-tax-credit/
MERKUR,
If robotaxis ever become a real thing, I think everyone will quickly learn the intricacies of the rulers-of-the-road. In your statement, you mention an robotaxi hitting a person where the taxi was found at fault. What if the robotaxi hits and injures someone, who had entered the street, but was not at a crosswalk? I some states, any time a vehicle hits a pedestrian, the driver/vehicle is said to be at fault, but not in every state. So what if, in one of those states, an adult or child should step out into the roadway from between two parked vehicles and is hit by a robotaxi? While the taxi may not be at fault in the eyes of the law, what will the perception be for those impacted by the accident? With perception being reality, in the eyes of the public, especially if it’s a child, will it matter that the robotaxi is in the right? Just as in the case of the Cruise vehicle that hit the pedestrian and then dragged him several feet, little is said about the original vehicle that hit the pedestrian first, knocking him into the driverless vehicle! I can see parents outraged (and maybe rightly so) because a driverless robotaxi hitting a child, even if the taxi had the right-of-way when it happen! Then comes the blame game between the two companies you mentioned, the public and law makers! Should robotaxis hit the road in big numbers, maybe universal laws/rules that cover both driver and driverless vehicles should become a national standard?!
National standaeds are needed regarding unlicensed, uninsured ATVs being driven on public roads, sometimes by kids too young to be licensed to drive. If this is legal in Indiana, it’s not being enforced.
Also, it should be a federal crime with prison sentences to put black things over tail lights/brake lights and headlights, so you can’t be seen and can’t see where you are going. Actually, it should be a federal crime to sell the stuff.
Lambo, do we really expect computers and software to be flawless? I think that’s disproven by reality. But as to how much better autonomous driving has to be for it to become ubiquitous, we’ll find out in the 2030s, I’d say.
Tesla is showing that getting very close is possible with its current hardware, so costwise, the hurdle doesn’t seem so substantial. But it’s not there yet, and regulatory hurdles may be quite vexing.
Unless ‘China’ comes up with a viable solution first.
Sean- Yes! we do expect computers to be flawless especially when it comes to our safety. Every time we get on an elevator, we expect it to operate properly. When we ride a roller coaster we expect a safe return. Even your cell phone calculator you always expect the right answer. If your calculator was only as reliable as a human, would you trust it to plan for enough fuel in your next flight? We are aware accidents still happen and have a certain amount of tolerance for failure. But that tolerance is far less than what we have for human error.
Wmb- As for the insurance part I really don’t think that will be a problem and I don’t think it will raise costs for the manufacturer or vendor much if at all. Think of it from the insurance companies’ point of view. You already have a premium established and absorbed by human driven taxis and now have a robo-taxi that is 80 or 90% safer it should be easy to insure. Yea you don’t have an actual person to tie to the premium, however I suspect the program might actually get a rating like a driver does. So, insurance companies will say if your running “Blue Cruise 3.0) this is the premium rate. If you run “Waymo 6.2” the premium is this and if these robo-taxis are actually safer statistically insurance shouldn’t have a problem. As long as the lawyers don’t somehow get damages beyond what is normally already awarded. However, since it will likely be seeking damages from a company, they will likely seek higher settlements. That could be a problem and maybe legislation will need to be passed to establish caps on such things. But from the taxicab standpoint you’re already paying for a human to be insured to transport you fixed into the fare. So with a statistically much safer driver getting insurance should actually be cheaper.
We can expect computers to be flawless, but they aren’t. Yeah, a simple calculator app will either work, or it won’t work. It will not give wrong answers. Autonomous driving is much more complex, though.
I’d say it will be past the ’30s before autonomous driving will work everywhere, and under all weather conditions. I probably won’t be around to see it.