AD #3926 – Ford Idles Lightning Until Next Year; UAW Locals Back Off Stellantis Strikes; Hyundai Shows Next-Gen Passenger FCEV

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

STELLANTIS HAD A BAD Q3
We’ve got more Q3 earnings to report. Some did good, some did bad. We start with the bad. Stellantis said it sold 1.1 million vehicles worldwide, an alarming 20% drop. At Maserati it was a bloodbath. Sales fell 60%. Stellantis’ total revenue dropped by €12 billion, with €9 billion of that drop in North America alone.

UAW LOCALS BACK OFF STELLANTIS STRIKES
But Stellantis did get some very good news on a totally different front. Several UAW locals are withdrawing their strike authorization votes against the company. And Local 1166 in Kokomo Indiana actually voted against authorizing a strike. That could be particularly painful for UAW president Shawn Fain because that’s his home local, where he first started working for the company. The union says it’s going to keep trying to educate those workers about holding the company accountable to its labor contract.

LI AUTO HAS BLOWOUT QUARTER
OK, back to earnings for a moment and now the good. Li Auto had a blowout quarter. You’ll remember that along with BYD, it’s the only other NEV automaker in China that’s turning a profit right now. Sales jumped more than 45% to almost 153,000 units. Revenue was over $6 billion, up nearly 24%. Its operating profit shot up 46% to almost $490 million, but its net profit barely budged, coming in at $402 million. One thing to keep an eye on is that Li Auto’s gross margin was 21.5% which is the kind of margin that Tesla used to brag about.

FORD IDLES LIGHTNING UNTIL NEXT YEAR
Ford is going to idle production of the F-150 Lightning for seven-weeks due to weaker than expected demand. Ford will halt production at its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Michigan starting in mid-November and won’t resume again until early January. This isn’t the first time Ford has scaled back Lightning production. At the beginning of the year, it cut its production target in half and reduced it to one shift. But sales of the Lightning are actually fairly strong this year, up 86% to nearly 23,000 units through September in the U.S. So that suggests the company is sitting on a lot of inventory and that’s why it’s idling production.

CATL WORKING ON HEAVY-DUTY BATTERY SWAPPING
Chinese battery maker CATL just opened a battery swapping station in China for heavy-duty vehicles, which will be used by electric truck maker DeepWay. Its trucks typically transport gravel and can travel 400-500 kilometers or about 250-310 miles daily. But with a full load they have a range of 190-kilometers or 118 miles. So, the swaps allow them to make multiple trips a day.

MCLAREN AUTO COULD CHANGE OWNERSHIP HANDS
CYVN Holdings, an investment company based in Abu-Dhabi, has offered to buy all of McLaren’s automotive division, which is currently owned by the sovereign wealth fund of Bahrain. CYVN says it would give McLaren access to more money, advanced engineering and technology, mostly centered around electric vehicles. It’s possible that EV tech could come from China because last year CYVN announced it’s investing $2.2 billion into NIO. But it’s only entered into a non-binding purchase agreement, so nothing is final yet. However, it’s hard to see how McLaren can pass up that kind of money.

 

TOYOTA PARTNERS TO BRING AI TO AVs
Toyota is forming a partnership with Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation or NTT. They’re going to develop AI software for self-driving vehicles with the goal of improving safety. The two companies will invest a total of about $3.3 billion by 2030 to create what they call a “Mobility AI Platform” which will use AI to anticipate and respond to crashes. Toyota and NTT will make the technology available to other automakers and companies as well as government and academic partners. They say they’ll start developing the software next year with the goal of introducing it in 2028.

HYUNDAI’S NEXT-GEN PASSENGER FCEV
Hyundai is not giving up on fuel cell passenger vehicles and will launch an all-new model in the first half of next year. But it’s going away from the styling of the Nexo and more towards the look of its new EVs with the INITIUM concept. We bet the production version is not too far off this either since its launch is just around the corner. Hyundai says its made a number of updates to its fuel cell system and will offer up to 650 kilometers or just over 400 miles of range as well as a 150 kW or 200 horsepower electric motor and bi-directional charging capability. Bi-directional charging with a fuel cell vehicle is a little more interesting too because you could use both the energy already in the battery pack, plus generate more electricity with the fuel cell stack. So, it offers a little more flexibility. There’s no pictures of the interior yet, but we should learn more when the INITIUM concept makes its auto show debut in November.

A KIA OFF-ROAD VAN?
Speaking of the Hyundai Group and concepts, Kia teased a couple of models that it’s going to show off at SEMA. And very fitting for SEMA, one looks like an off-road capable truck or SUV. But the other is more interesting to me because it also looks off-roady, but it has the same lighting signature as the PV van lineup that Kia revealed at CES this year. And I hope that’s what it is because that would be a fun setup.

TOYOTA IMAGINES CONVERTIBLE 2-DOOR 4RUNNER
Toyota is also getting in the SEMA spirit with this one-off version of the 4Runner, called the TRD Surf Concept. Not only did designers hack off two doors from a current 4Runner TRD Limited, they also sliced the roof. Toyota says it used traditional fabrication with CAD and 3D printing to make it so the top can be removed by just one person. And on top of the custom body and interior work, the Surf Concept also comes with a long-travel suspension system with billet aluminum front upper and lower control arms, steering upgrades, custom front axles, and a Toyota Tundra rear-end housing.

And a quick note before we wrap up, to remember that Autoline After Hours kicks off at 3PM EST today. We’ve got noted car nut and head of all design at Stellantis, Ralph Gilles joining us today, so don’t miss out. But that’s all for this show. I hope to see you later.