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Runtime: 11:44
0:00 Tesla Cuts UK Leases ~50%
1:12 Lucid to Pay Its Own $7,500 Rebate
1:37 L4 Startup Emerges from Stealth Mode
3:46 Top Battery Makers in China
4:34 Study Says EV Chargers Cause Pollution
5:34 Corvette Unveils 2,000 HP Concept
6:35 Ford GT Mk IV 1,300 Lbs. Lighter Than ZR1X ‘Vette
7:58 Lexus Sport Concept
8:54 Autoline Poll on Ford EV Truck
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
If you’re a car company, what do you do when sales slowdown? If you’re like most automakers, you’re probably going to cut prices. Maybe you offer more incentives, or lower the cost of destination charges, or make optional equipment standard, or offer lower interest rates on loans, or offer a better price on the customer’s trade-in. Whatever you do there are a lot of different ways to lower prices to get customers buying again.
TESLA CUTS UK LEASES ~50%
And Tesla definitely needs to get sales growing again in the United Kingdom. Last month sales there plummeted 40% to less than 1,000 cars. And the Financial Times reports that Tesla is running out of room to store the cars it has in inventory. So it’s having a fire sale. It cut the cost of leasing almost in half. We estimate that you can lease a Model Y for a little over $300 a month, or about £230. But better get them while they’re hot. That deal will probably evaporate as soon as inventory hits a more manageable level.
LUCID TO PAY ITS OWN $7,500 REBATE
Lucid is another automaker that wants to get more customers interested in its SUV, the Gravity. Even though the Trump Administration is getting rid of the $7,500 federal rebate for buying or leasing an EV at the end of September, Lucid is going to offer a $7,500 credit for anyone who leases a Gravity until the end of the year. That means that money is going to come out of its own pocket.
L4 STARTUP EMERGES FROM STEALTH MODE
We keep saying that 2025 is the year of the autonomous car, and last week a Silicon Valley startup emerged out of stealth mode to announce it’s going to start selling Level 4 autonomous cars to retail customers. The company is called Tensor and it claims to have the most powerful supercomputer in a car, with 10 GPUs and 144 CPUs from NVIDIA, Texas Instruments, NXP and Renesas, and is capable of 8,000 TOPS or tera-operations per second. The cars, which will reportedly be built by Vinfast, are equipped with lidar, radar, sonar and cameras. Tensor calls itself an agentic AI company, which basically refers to groups of AI bots, or agents, working together. Tensor says the car will go on sale this year, but it has not announced a price yet. And a special shoutout to Autoline Viewer George Ricci who brought this to our attention.
TOP BATTERY MAKERS IN CHINA
You’ve probably heard of the Chinese battery maker CATL by now. It’s the biggest in the world. But have you heard of CALB? Or how about FinDreams? They’re actually the next two biggest battery makers. Our colleagues at Gasgoo put together a list of the top EV battery makers in China and since we like to track what’s going on with EVs, we really appreciate this list. Gasgoo says the top 5 battery makers control 84% of the Chinese market and notes that more automakers are vertically integrating battery pack assembly into their operations. More than half of all pack production is now done in-house. Oh, by the way, FinDreams? That’s the name BYD uses for its battery company.
STUDY SAYS EV CHARGERS CAUSE POLLUTION
A new study found there’s a surprising downside to EV fast chargers…they stir up air pollution. Researchers at the University of California found that the average concentration of fine particulate matter at EV charging sites was slightly higher than at gas stations and half had daily fine particulate matter emissions that exceeded the World Health Organization’s guidelines. The researchers speculate that the fans used to keep the charging units cool are kicking up the particles, which come from tires, brakes and dust. The study’s authors say charging companies can reduce the pollution by using filters and should avoid placing chargers near places like schools and residential areas. Here’s the thing, though. Those fine particulates are everywhere. When the wind blows, when cars drive down the road, they stir it up too. So, it’s not just EV charging stations.
CORVETTE UNVEILS 2,000 HP CONCEPT
GM’s design centers turned out a couple more of those Corvette hypercar concepts. These are called the CX and CX.R Vision Gran Turismo and are the work of the Chevrolet Performance Studio in Warren, Michigan. The CX is a road-legal, all-electric hypercar with four electric motors, one at each wheel, that combine for over 2,000 horsepower. And instead of doors, the entire hood and canopy lift up and to the front of the vehicle. The CX.R on the other hand is a track car with a 900 horsepower 2.0L V8 that revs to 15,000 RPM, which is paired to an 8-speed DCT and three electric motors. The entire setup also produces an estimated 2,000 horsepower. And while Chevy has no intention to produce any of these Corvette hypercar concepts, they will be inspiration for the sports car’s future design language.
FORD GT MK IV 1,300 LBS LIGHTER THAN ZR1X ‘VETTE
Speaking of hypercars, Ford is coming out with the final version of this generation Ford GT and it looks like it’s aimed at the father of that CX.R concept, the Corvette ZR1X. The Ford GT Mk IV has a completely new body, powertrain and suspension compared to the previous versions. It’s almost identical to the GT3 race car that won Le Mans in 2016, but the 3.8L twin turbo V6 makes more power at 820+ horsepower and it has a more advanced clutch and paddle shifter. With the Corvette ZR1X stealing the Nurburgring lap record from the Mustang GTD, we can only assume the GT Mk IV is going to be trying to steal that record right back. While the Corvette is AWD and has 1,250 horsepower, the GT Mk IV is 1,300 pounds lighter and actually has a very similar power to weight ratio as the Corvette. So, it could be close. The only real major difference is the price. The Corvette that set the Nurburgring record probably cost about $220,000. The Ford GT Mk IV has a price tag of $1.7 million.
LEXUS SPORT CONCEPT
It wasn’t long ago we reported that Lexus won’t produce any new V8 powered vehicles after the end of next year. But along with that news we also reported that Lexus was developing an all-new all-electric supercar concept that’s inspired by the LFA. And we think we’re getting our first look at that car. The brand debuted the Lexus Sport Concept at the Quail this weekend, which is an iconic motorsport gathering in California. However, it didn’t reveal any details about the concept, only to say that it’s a vision for a next-gen sports car. But from the previous reports we know that Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda, who’s a big sports car fan, is overseeing development, that it’s targeting a low 2-second 0-60 MPH time and over 400-miles of range, possibly from solid-state batteries.
AUTOLINE POLL ON FORD EV TRUCK
Ok, it’s time to go over the results from our latest poll. We wanted to know what you think of Ford’s new EV platform and the new production process to build those EVs. 41% of you said this is a bold new effort that will work. 7% of you think Ford is crazy to put so much effort into EVs. 47% believe it won’t fail but it won’t be a roaring success either. And 6% said none of the above.
We got a lot of great feedback. OutsiderReviews had this to say “Ford needs to keep innovating if they want to stay relevant 10 years from now. This is a good move!”
Craig2Web had this comment “Hopefully for them, this will be quite successful. They need breakthroughs to remain competitive worldwide. EVs are definitely the future, and at the moment, China has a huge lead.”
James Stephenson said “It’s a bold new effort that will fail and Ford is crazy to put this much money into it. Just copy Tesla’s proven EV design approach instead!”
And a lot of you are skeptical Ford can deliver on the $30,000 price tag for its small EV pickup. Brcc8208 says “Didn’t Ford originally announce that the small Maverick pickup would be under $20K? Where did that idea go? It went out the window!”
Thanks for participating and for sharing your feedback, we enjoy your comments.
And that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for making Autoline a part of your day.
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Did GM pay Ford to make the GT a $1.7 mill car that has no better performance than its $0.2 mill ZR whatever?
I thought production of the Ford GT was finished a few years ago. Guess not.
@Kit, I just think it’s their next iteration. (I think they have stopped production of the last GT produced).
Even if the new GT takes the Nürburgring time, it will seem worthless with such a limited production (that they usually do). Oh, and the cost difference!
For $1.7M, you can get a car with a much cooler engine than a turbo V6.
The Biden administration deemed that the Lucid Air and Gravity were ineligible for the credit due to their price being well above the $80,000 limit. Lucid was using what was called the “leasing loophole” which allowed unqualified vehicles to be given the credit if it was leased instead of being bought. That was a ridiculous loophole and I am glad to see it go away. People who can afford a $95K car do not need tax payers funding their leases.
@Ford GT Mark IV: I noticed the red hook on the front to connect a tow strap to. Lack of confidence?
Maybe when you hop up that ecoboost truck engine to 820+ hp, it soses some reliability.
Wim van Acker. Some tracks require you to have a tow hook on your car.
I see, George, I did not know that. Thanks!
I see from Autoweek that a total of 67 Ford GT Mk IVs will be built. Most Koenigseggs are high volume in comparison.
Even if Ford can out perform the vette big deal. With a price difference where I could buy 7 Corvettes for the price of that GT it’s not even a competition. Cause at the price point I’m sure many could buy the Vette have a speed shop make a few more modifications and still beat the GT and have money left over. Ford you need to realize beating GM doesn’t mean anything if the vehicle you do it with is unattainable to 99.9% of the population.
The lighter weight of the Ford GT does have advantages. Particularly at a race track. A lap around Nurburgring is one thing, but not the only measure of what constitutes a good performance car at a track. Weight matters a lot in sustained racing events where you have to toil away lap after lap. A Hefty car will be more challenging to drive with a higher rate of driver fatigue when doing multiple laps. The brakes, suspension and tires wear faster on the heavier car. To add robustness to the heavier car you would need even heavier components. The Ford can brake much later going into a turn and with track traffic, leave the Corvette behind. Nurburgring is all theoretical as to which is the better car at a track. Lemans is where you would see one or the other shine. Is the cost worth it? Hard to say what winning a race is worth to a person. If you are going to the mall, using it as garage art, drifting, or drag racing….then neither car is worth their MSRP.
A heavier car needs bigger tires and brakes to handle and slow as well as a lighter car. Presumably the Corvette will get what’s needed. In any case, I don’t really care what road car is fastest around the Nurburgring. It doesn’t have much relevance to normal driving, or even “fun factor” of a road car.