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Runtime: 10:23
0:00 GM & Hyundai Edge Closer Together
1:22 Cadillac Adds 1st V-Series EV
2:24 Honda Goes With Cheaper Trim Levels
3:00 Tesla Ramps Up Prices in Canada
4:25 BYD Outsells Toyota in Singapore
5:02 VinFast Losing Billions
5:50 VW Faces €1.5 Billion in CO2 Fines
6:30 Formula E Launching Mid-Race Charging
7:28 Jack Hollis Retires from Toyota
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GM & HYUNDAI EDGE CLOSER TOGETHER
We’re getting more details of how GM and Hyundai are going to work together. Hyundai says the first step involves supplying GM with electric commercial vehicles. GM will simply rebadge the Hyundai vehicles and sell them in North America. Now the question is, which vehicles will Hyundai sell to GM? Currently, Hyundai’s commercial lineup of electric vehicles includes fuel cell powered Class 6 and 7 trucks and a city bus, as well as a battery version of the city bus. Hyundai is also working with Iveco in Europe, which will use Hyundai’s eLCV, or electric light commercial vehicle platform, for a vehicle called the eMoovy. Also, Kia has designed a modular family of electric commercial vehicles called PBV that are supposed to go on sale this year. Those vehicles would seem to compete directly with GM’s Brightdrop vans, but we don’t know if they’re part of the deal. We think that GM and Hyundai could end up co-operating on fuel cells since it looks like GM’s joint effort with Honda could evaporate as Honda pivots to merge with Nissan.
CADILLAC ADDS V-SERIES TO LYRIQ
Cadillac is coming out with its first V-Series EV, a version of the Lyriq. And the specs look pretty good. 615 horsepower, 650 pound feet of torque, or 880 Newton-meters. Standard all wheel drive. 0 to 60 miles an hour in 3.3 seconds using what Caddy calls Velocity Max mode. It comes standard with a 102 kWh battery pack and 285 miles of range. And it’s priced at just under eighty grand. Additional standard equipment includes Brembo brakes on the front, continuous damping control, Super Cruise, an augmented reality HUD, and a 23 speaker sound system. To set it apart from other Lyriqs its gets unique fascias, badging and wheels as well as a specific EV sound signature. The Lyriq V will be sold globally and goes on sale in a matter of months.
HONDA GOES WITH CHEAPER TRIM LEVELS
The cost of a new car is just too high for many buyers. So, Honda is going to start making more of its lower trim models. It says those vehicles will be a small portion of the overall sales pie, but it will help with the affordability of a new car. Dealers are also calling on Honda to add more hybrids to its lineup, especially some of its larger models. They feel it’s a way to bring affordability to electrified vehicles. While hybrids typically cost more than ICE-only vehicles, they’re cheaper than pure electrics.
TESLA RAMPS UP PRICES IN CANADA
Canadians that are considering a Tesla better act fast. Without giving a reason, the EV maker said it’s raising prices on all its models, except the Cybertruck, at the start of February in Canada. And it’s raising them a lot. The Model S, X and Y will see prices go up by $4,000 Canadian, while the Model 3 sees the biggest bump of $9,000 Canadian. And that’s on top of a $1,000 price increase that Model Y saw in Canada earlier this month. The timing is especially impactful because Canada ended its federal EV incentive program, which offered $5,000 Canadian off the purchase of an EV, ahead of schedule last week due to a surge in EV demand. Although, there are still several provinces that offer their own EV purchase incentives. To us, this sounds crazy, so why do you think Tesla is raising prices at the same time that Canada is slashing EV subsidies?
BYD OUTSELLS TOYOTA IN SINGAPORE
Toyota has to be becoming more and more concerned with BYD. As we reported earlier this month, BYD outsold Toyota with EVs in Japan last year for the first time ever. And now BYD has taken the sales crown from Toyota in Singapore. Last year, BYD sold nearly 6,200 vehicles in Singapore compared to 5,700 for Toyota, which makes BYD the number 1 brand in the country. And while those numbers are small, we think BYD’s surging growth has got to be concerning to Toyota.
VINFAST LOSING BILLIONS
Investors are worried that Vietnamese EV maker VinFast’s financial troubles are going to start to harm parent company Vingroup. The company has invested $13.5 billion into VinFast as of October and in November it pledged another $3.5 billion. But through the first nine months of last year VinFast lost $2 billion and since the EV maker went public in August 2023 Vingroup’s market share has been cut in half to around $6 billion. As a result, the value in Vingroup’s foreign investment has dropped by nearly 60%. But despite the concern from investors, Vingroup says it’s going to continue to support VinFast.
VW FACES €1.5 B FINES FOR CO2
Volkswagen says Europe’s emission standards will cost it 1.5 billion this year. The automaker’s head of investor relations said the costs include penalties for missing stricter CO2 targets as well as having to sell fewer profitable ICE models in favor of EVs. And that could be made all the more difficult since the VW brand isn’t launching any new EVs this year. The ACEA, which represents the European auto industry, has previously estimated that the EU’s emission rules this year will cost automakers €15 billion.
FORMULA E LAUNCHING MID-RACE CHARGING
It’s about 2 years behind schedule, but Formula E is finally introducing mid-race ultra-fast charging. Teams will be supplied with chargers that are capable of charging at 600 kW, which is nearly double the fastest public EV chargers. They’ll be able to add about 10% charge or just under 4 kWh in 30 seconds. And it’s that last part that’s going to make things interesting. Every team has to do one of these mid-race charges, which are called Pit Boost, but team cars can’t charge at the same time. Pit Boost lasts 34 seconds, so significantly longer than a car just changing tires, and only two crew members can work on the car during that time. So, there will be a lot of new pit strategies and Formula E thinks it will be more entertaining to watch.
JACK HOLLIS RETIRES FROM TOYOTA
Jack Hollis, the Chief Operating Officer of Toyota North America, has decided to retire. He’s only 58 years old, which is somewhat young for retirement, and in a written statement Hollis said he’s ready to take on other challenges. Automotive News reports that Toyota dealers were shocked by the announcement, since Hollis was one of their favorite executives. He’ll be replaced by Mark Templin, who’s 64 years old, and who has extensive experience at Toyota, Lexus and Scion.
A NEW WAY TO MAKE EV BATTERIES
You’re not going to want to miss Autoline After Hours today, especially if you’re involved in making EV batteries or have anything to do with manufacturing. We have MJ Hashem, the head of R&D from a company called Vivet, coming on the show. He’s come up with a concept called RLP or repeated layering process that does away with the linear assembly process that’s been around over a century. It’s modular, it’s low cost and it can be easily scaled. Even more interesting, it uses a slower cycle time than today’s battery assembly processes, but is still more efficient. There’s a lot to unpack on how it all works, so join John and Gary as well as Brett Smith, when the show goes live at 3 pm eastern time.
And that brings us to the end of this show. I hope to see you later today.
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“Volkswagen says Europe’s emission standards will cost it 1.5 billion this year.”
So let’s summarize: VW is already laying off 35k employees and looking to close plants, primarily at home in Germany, because they are not profitable. Not profitable because they invested so much $$ into EVs that they can’t sell. As such their ICE/EV sales ratio results in a 1.5 Billion fine from the EU. And per the story yesterday. they’re also buying a billion in climate credits, an imaginary box of thin air, from China or Tesla or Volvo. Their Works Council union loudly protested this for a few days then fell silent, resigned to their fate, as all those years of union dues and promises add up to exactly squat, not even a strike threat. Classic. These clowns deserve everything that is happening to them.
Regarding the Lyriq type V, sometime back I regaled the tale of a standard Lyriq that had languished unsold at our only Cadillac dealership for a couple years. I’m happy to report it finally sold! I parked beside it at Target the other day for a mini reunion. I hope the dealer is so excited on the sale that they order up a Type V so I can look it over during oil changes on the wife’s Escalade for the next couple years. Wonder if it’ll get the cool wide body look like the ATS-V and CTS-V did.
@Daily Driver on buying credits: “they’re also buying a billion in climate credits, an imaginary box of thin air, from China or Tesla or Volvo”. sadly Volvo is Chinese-owned, so China or TESLA.
@Wim van Acker. Thank you, I had no idea that China owned Volvo – that’s very sad to hear
Volvo’s car division has been owned by Geely since about 2010. The heavy truck part is completely separate.
As great to see and hear about the Lyriq-V is, I can’t help but to be somewhat disappointed. I mean, the Gravity is coming out with three rows of seating and similar power and speed, but with offer 450 miles of range?! Add to that, a sizable frunk on a midsize footprint, but Tahoe size interior accommodation. Yes, the first additions will cost more than the Lyriq-V and the V will come from a trusted legacy OEM, but with less than 300 miles of range verses the 450 miles of the upstart, it’s hard to get past that for me.
I know of the talk of solid-state batteries is supposed to double the range of current battery types, housed in the same configuration as today. As great as that is, the truth of the matter will be that automakers like Tesla and Lucid will still have the leg up, for they are getting that type of range NOW with today’s tech! So, legacy OEMs that are scraping by, barely achieving 270-300 mile of ranges, might be able to double that with solid-state batteries. Yet, Lucid’s Air and Gravity, at 400 and 450 miles, could potentially be looking at close to 800 and 900 mile between charges! As great as the Lyriq-V sounds, it should offer at least 350 miles between charges (the same with the Charger Daytona EV)!
To think that Ford once owned Volvo, and a part of Mazda. Best not to talk about Jaguar.
The Lyriq was Cadillac’s third-best selling nameplate in ‘Q4, with 8,084 (Escalade 13K). Many drivers seem to be very happy with their purchase.
Incidentally, the Financial Times ran an article that’s of interest:
Mexico tariffs would shift plants to Asia, warns car parts maker
Sumitomo Electric head says president’s proposed 25% duty would amount to the US ‘strangling’ itself
..
The labour-intensive production of wire harnesses is not likely to move to the US either, added Inoue, given the high minimum wages and difficulty in retaining workers.
..
Japan’s Sumitomo Electric vies with Yazaki as the world’s largest maker of wire harnesses, which hold together the nearly three miles of electrical cables in every car that carry instructions to steer wheels, slam brakes and open the boot. One in every four cars globally contain its wire harnesses.
..
Source:
https://www.ft.com/content/e10058e3-ffbb-4a24-9201-63e1c239ac7a
Who pays for tariffs? The importer / buyer usually. And a lot of low-value added parts are imported. Nurturing a prosperous, high applied-science market economy in the 21st century takes investment in education and R&D.
When even Boeing has fallen foul of the substance abuse stalking American corporations, the answers are not simply to pump more money through their husks into the pockets of shareholders.
Sean Wagner, does Sumitomo Electric make wiring harnesses in Japan, or in lower wage countries?
I hope Lucid survives. They have some good vehicles, but aren’t they still being kept afloat by Saudi money?
Kit, he’s talking about their Mexican plant(s).
Addendum, quote: “Even paying tariffs, it’s still cheaper to make them in Vietnam and the Philippines currently,” said Inoue.
And just one more thing.
The US trade deficit is massive, but being mesmerized by that alone is farcical, and completely ignores say the host of globally successful domestic enterprises created, as well as their enormous value. The sums currently being invested by Amazon, Microsoft, et al. in building out AI hardware are absolutely mind-boggling, but being second-rate means leaving the scene.
It’s notable those investing massively are the ones that thrive internationally. It’s not that I dislike shareholders reaping benefits from their ownership – it’s that the damage done by hollowing out companies for unsustainable redistribution, while keeping Wall Street happy very briefly, and showering top management with downright perverse incentives has spelled destruction.
Successful companies should pay a fair share of taxes, and one achievement of the previous administration that’s been dismantled was the global 15% minimum tax rate for corporations. That was a lot of work. Already flushed down the drain.
I not saying that the Lyriq- V is not the better choice over the Gravity. It’s just that, even though the V version offers more power the the standard model, even you tap into that power, you only pull on the limited range verse the Gravity! So, at a time when customers are said to be having concerns over range, GM/Cadillac offers a EV model with power power, with so/so range, that gets worst when you use the power?! While the Gravity may or may not have the luxury SUV dynamics as the Cadillac, how do you not take a second look at it, when you get better range, close to same power, more volume in a similar sized package? Lucid may be out of business and therefore there could be no support of the vehicle, like with Fisker products, so there is that possibility. All-in-all, it just seems like a missed opportunity for Cadillac (and the new Charger), fir with that kind of power and 350+ miles of real time driving range, the Lyriq-V would be clearly the new EV SUV to beat!
Lucid Air performs well and has good range, but has terrible reliability in CR’s surveys. How do yet get it fixed, when it breaks, which appears to be often?
EV range is highly over-rated. Most EVs are used as commuter cars with home charging, and if a normal day’s driving is within the vehicle’s range, that range should be enough.
Tesla price hike in Canada
My guess is that Tesla is testing price elasticity, that’s all. They value data and this is exactly that – an experiment. They changed pricing based on costs before quite successfully, but at a time of low market inventory. Then they lowered their prices so much which some say impacted brand value by changing the market segment they compete (cross-shop to Toyota now instead of Lexus before). I suspect they will find sharp decline in demand with this, meaning pricing changes tend to be a one way street for almost all cases.