AD #4009 – Nissan Promotes Product Guy to CEO; XPeng Investing Billions Into Humanoid Robots; McLaren Merger Expected Soon

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

NISSAN PROMOTES PRODUCT GUY TO CEO
Nissan has a new CEO. The company announced that its current chief planning officer, 46-year-old Ivan Espinosa, will take over for Makoto Uchida on April 1st. Uchida will remain on the board at least until the company’s shareholder meeting in June. According to reports only internal candidates were seriously considered for the CEO position and Espinosa has been with Nissan since 2003, the same year Uchida joined the company. Espinosa is also a Mexican-national who has spent time in that market as well as Southeast Asia. In 2010 he moved into global product planning and then started leading that entire division last year. But he’s taking over as CEO at a time when the company is losing money, sales are falling, its stock price is down and it recently broke off merger talks with Honda. Apparently the board was split on whether to let Espinosa take over right away or keep Uchida on until things smoothed over. Even Nissan’s chairperson said it will “be a very challenging start for Ivan.” But this wasn’t the only executive shakeup at Nissan. It’s also getting new heads of its technology and manufacturing divisions as well as customer experience.

XPENG TO POUR BILLIONS INTO ‘IRON MAN’
Chinese automaker XPeng could invest a boat-load of money into humanoid robots. The company’s CEO said it could shell out another $13.8 billion on the tech. Xpeng has been working on robots for the last five years and in November unveiled its first humanoid, called Iron. You know, like Iron Man. Most major automakers are involved in some sort of project with humanoid robots and Elon Musk thinks they’ll be the reason Tesla is worth $25 trillion someday.

TESLA’S STOCK DOWN MOST IN 4 YEARS
Tesla’s stock continued its slide yesterday, seeing its biggest drop in four years. It fell 15% after UBS Group cut the company’s sales forecast for the first-quarter and the full-year. UBS expects Tesla to sell 367,000 vehicles in the first quarter, 16% below its original estimate. UBS also no longer expects Tesla’s sales to increase for the full year and is forecasting a 5% drop. Tesla’s market cap peaked at $1.5 trillion in December but it has since declined by $700 billion.

MCLAREN MERGER EXPECTED SOON
In an effort to turn around McLaren, Abu Dhabi’s CYVN Holdings, which took control of the automaker in December, is planning to merge McLaren with its UK-based EV startup Forseven Holdings. Bloomberg reports that an official announcement is expected in the coming weeks. Former Jaguar Land Rover executive, Nick Collins, is expected to lead the group, while current McLaren CEO, Michael Leiters, will remain head of the car company. Part of the turnaround plan includes adding SUVs to its line-up, which McLaren has resisted for years. But little is known about the company it’s merging with. Forseven hasn’t revealed any plans for models or when it will start selling them. But last year it signed a technology deal with Chinese automaker Nio and CYVN is also an investor in Nio.

 

FORD’S GERMAN UNION STILL WORRIED ABOUT BANKRUPTCY
As we reported yesterday, Ford is pouring $4.8 billion into its German operations to help turn it around. But union leaders are still concerned Ford’s European operations could go bankrupt. The funding agreement replaces a policy that had been in place since 2006, which said Ford would cover any losses at its German subsidiary. But by doing this, Ford’s European operations no longer have insolvency protection, which the union says puts it at higher risk for bankruptcy. Ford’s European business is estimated to have €9 billion in debt and if it can’t boost sales that’s likely to increase. Ford’s market share in Europe was 3.3% last year, down from 4% in 2023. To help cut costs, Ford eliminated 4,000 jobs last year, in addition to 3,800 cuts in 2023.

BRIDGESTONE TRACKS TIRE PARTICLES
A study from Yale University found that on a global basis, cars shed 6 million pounds of rubber every year. So, Bridgestone, a sponsor of Autoline, developed a new process to study the environmental impact of its tires. It calls the rubber particles that get worn off tires when they’re driven on the road Tire and Road Wear Particles, or TRWP. To find out how they’re created, Bridgestone covered the wheel wells of what looks like a Nissan Leaf to prevent the particles from scattering everywhere and then collected them with a suction hose. By using an electric vehicle with autonomous driving and regenerative braking, Bridgestone says it can collect the TRWP without the influence of exhaust emissions or brake dust. It can then study the physical and chemical characteristics of particles to learn about their environmental impact.

BMW ABOUT TO LAUNCH NEW ZONAL ARCHITECTURE
BMW claims it’s the first automaker to launch a new zonal architecture for any type of vehicle or powertrain. A few weeks ago we reported on a control unit the automaker developed to manage the high-voltage battery system on its all-new EVs that start launching later this year. It calls the unit Energy Master. But it’s not just for EVs and it’s actually one of four new computers or what BMW calls ‘Superbrains,’ which have more than 20 times the computing power compared to its current system. As we said, it’s using a setup called a zonal architecture, which divides the wiring into different zones, in this case a front, middle, roof and rear zone. These Superbrains are centrally located and control all the main functions of the vehicle, including infotainment, automated driving, driving dynamics and HVAC controls by managing smaller control units in each zone. Here’s the big advantage, BMW says it took out 600 meters or nearly 2,000 feet of wiring from its system, which cut the weight of its harness by 30%.

VW’S AFFORDABLE EV WILL BE BUILT IN PORTUGAL
Last week, Volkswagen revealed the ID. Every1 concept, a low-cost electric car. Reports said the production version might be built in Germany but the head of the VW brand, Thomas Schaefer says it will make the ID.1 in Portugal, where it currently builds its T-Roc crossover. VW picked Portugal because it has low labor and energy costs. VW also said that it is considering using Chinese suppliers to help lower costs as well. Production of the ID.1 starts in 2027 and the model will have a starting price around €20,000.

But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for tuning in.