AD #4126 – GM Scales Back Full-Size EV Production; UAW Victory at Ford Battery Plant Challenged; BYD Likely to Miss 2025 Sales Target

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

UAW VICTORY AT FORD BATTERY PLANT CHALLENGED
Looks like the UAW could organize workers at Ford and SK On’s BlueOval battery plant in Kentucky. Or maybe not. The UAW claims it won the vote but there’s a bunch of ballots being challenged which could change the outcome. The union claims the challenged ballots are “illegitimate” and this is a tactic by the company to “undermine the election.” But the UAW is probably worried because it only won by a slim margin, with 50.5% of the vote. A representative for the joint-venture says it will leave the results of the vote up to the National Labor Relations Board. If the UAW ends up losing, it would be another slap in the face to union president Shawn Fain, who already has a number of UAW locals that want him tossed out.

GM SCALES BACK FULL-SIZE EV PRODUCTION
This is a tough industry and our next couple of stories really drive that home. Let’s start out in the United States where General Motors is tapping the brakes at its Factory Zero assembly plant in Detroit. That’s the plant that makes its full-size electric pickup trucks and SUVs, including the Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC Sierra and Hummer, and the Cadillac Escalade IQ. Sales of those trucks are far below what the plant can make. For the first 6 months of the year GM sold less than 20,000 of them, so GM will shut down production of one shift for a month.

    

FORD CUTS JOBS IN SOUTH AFRICA
Now let’s jump down to South Africa. Ford is cutting production at two plants where it makes the Ranger pickup truck and engines, which are exported to 100 different markets. South Africa has quite a few automakers making cars in the country, including BMW, Mercedes, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Toyota and Nissan. Collectively they make about 600,000 vehicles a year, but they’re all under threat as cheap imports from China and India are flooding into the market. Those imports give consumers more choice and more affordable prices, but they will likely wipe out the domestic industry, just like we saw happen in Australia.

FIAT EXTENDS PLANT CLOSURE FOR 5 MONTHS
Next, we go to Italy where the massive Mirafiori plant will pretty much stay closed for another 5 months. That plant makes the electric Fiat 500, and the Maserati Gran Turismo and Gran Cabrio. The 500e is barely selling and Maserati looks like it’s on its death bed. In the first half of the year it only sold 4,300 cars globally. Antonio Filosa, the new CEO of Stellantis, could be looking for a way to sell or spin off Maserati. But he’ll also come under enormous political pressure in Italy to keep investing in the company.

LOTUS SLASHES 40% OF UK WORKFORCE
And finally, in the UK, Lotus is going to ax 40% of its workforce, mostly at the plant that builds the Emira. It’s the same old story: slumping sales and U.S. tariffs. Lotus’ sales dropped 42% to only 1,274 vehicles in the first quarter and it posted a net loss of $183 million.

CHARGEPOINT & EATON IMPROVE EV CHARGING
ChargePoint and power company Eaton have partnered up to improve EV charging. Since the electrical grid pumps out AC voltage and EV batteries only accept DC voltage, EV charging units need to have AC to DC converters and then DC to DC converters to step up the voltage for fast charging. But now Eaton will build little micro-grids that only kick out DC voltage and ChargePoint is making new charging units that can accept the DC to DC connection. It’s a much more efficient way for EV chargers to operate and allows for higher charging rates too. It’s up to 600 kW for passenger cars and can provide megawatt charging for heavy-duty applications. However, the charging units still come with DC to DC converters in case whoever operates the site wants to add in solar, wind or battery storage. ChargePoint and Eaton claim that the new system requires 30% less investment, takes up 30% less space and reduces the cost to operate the station by 30%. 

 

And there could be another benefit too. When charging units convert power from AC to DC and then ramp up that DC voltage, energy is wasted in the form of heat. So, the chargers have cooling fans installed on them. But as we reported the other day, the amount of fine particulate matter in the air around charging stations is higher than gas stations and experts believe it’s those cooling fans that are kicking up those fine particulates. So, if these new charging units don’t need cooling fans or they don’t need to run as often, the amount of air pollution around charging stations could go down too. 

BYD LIKELY TO MISS 2025 SALES TARGET
BYD reported its first half earnings and while the numbers look good, it could have trouble hitting its full year targets. The automaker sold 2.15 million vehicles in the first half, up 33% from a year ago. However, that’s less than half of its 5.5 million target for the full-year. Revenue was up 23% and its net profit of $2.2 billion was up 14% in the first six months. But its net profit in the second quarter took a big hit and dropped nearly 30%, the first time its quarterly profit fell in 3 years. And the second half of the year looks like it will be tough for BYD. Its sales in China fell for the third straight month in July and it made production cuts and delayed expansion at plants in China.

MERCEDES TESTS ROBOT DOGS AT GERMAN PLANT
Mercedes is testing out a couple of high-tech solutions in the hopes of making its plants more efficient. One is a robotic-like dog, called Aris, which looks just like Spot the dog from BostonDynamics, but there’s no mention of either in the press release. Aris is already performing a wide range of tasks on the inside of one of Mercedes’ plants in Germany, while on the outside it’s testing a drone to monitor containers located at the site. In the future, the company plans to use autonomous robotic systems for spotting maintenance issues or possible constraints in logistics. 

MERCEDES F1 TRANSPORTS RACECARS WITH ELECTRIC TRUCK
Speaking of Mercedes, it claims it’s the first F1 team to transport its cars to a European race with a fully electric truck. The company’s eActros 600 truck, which has a 600-kWh battery pack and 500 kilometers or 310 miles of range, made the trek from its home base in England to the Netherlands for the Dutch Grand Prix, which kicks off this weekend.

HONDA CONSIDERED MOVING HQ TO U.S.
Honda is going to move its headquarters in Tokyo to a new building in 2029. We know this is not headline worthy, but it does give us the excuse to bring up an old story that would have been. Did you know that back in the 1990s Honda seriously considered moving its headquarters to the United States? That’s because the U.S. is by far its biggest market, accounting for nearly half its sales and profits. Obviously, in the end, Honda decided not to make that move. But there’s a quick historical tidbit you might not have heard before.

AUTOLINE ROBOTAXI POLL
It’s poll question time again for our YouTube and Patreon members. We want to know who you think is taking the right approach to robotaxi deployment, Tesla or Waymo or neither? As we reported in yesterday’s show, they’re both going at it in completely different ways. So, will one turn out to be the clear winner? Let us know what you think. And if you’d like to participate in our polls, plus get access to a lot more exclusive content, but aren’t a member yet, please consider signing up. It’s easy to do and only a few dollars a month. But don’t worry, every once and awhile we’ll open these polls up to everyone.

And that’s a wrap for this show and this week. We’ll be off on Monday for the Labor Day holiday, so I’ll see you back here again on Tuesday.