AD #4147 – Ford Says New Truck Not Really a Pickup; Tesla Cybercab Production Moved Up; GM & Ford Creatively Extend EV Credit

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

GM & FORD EXTEND $7,500 EV CREDIT. SORT OF.
Today is the day that the U.S. tax credits to buy an EV expire. Lucid Motors already announced it will continue to offer customers the full $7,500 rebate, and now GM and Ford are going to do the same thing. Well, sort of. And wait until you hear how they’re doing it. Reuters reports that GM Financial and Ford Credit, which are the captive finance arms of the automakers, are making the down payment today on EVs that their dealers already have in inventory. By making that payment now, before the credit expires, it qualifies those vehicles for the $7,500. Then dealers can offer leases that already have the $7,500 credit baked into them. GM and Ford say they’ve already cleared this with the Internal Revenue Service, and that this will soften the blow of the credits going away, or at least for those EVs that are already in inventory.

CYBERCAB PRODUCTION MOVED UP A MONTH
We’ve got some future product intel on Tesla. Autoforecast Solutions says the Cybercab will go into production in April, 2026 at the Gigafactory in Austin, Texas. That’s about a month and a half earlier than previously reported. And the production run will last until May 31, 2031. The 2-seat autonomous Cybercab is being built on what Tesla calls its Gen III platform, under the program code W68.

    

HONDA BUILDING ROCKETS-LIKE TESLA
SpaceX is not the only company building rockets that can blast off, then return to base, landing standing up. Honda is doing it too. It successfully landed one of its own rockets back in June. The rocket only went up 300 meters, or almost 1,000 feet, but Honda is still in the test stage. It says the next step is to power its reusable rocket with reusable fuel.

FARLEY SAYS NEW EV PICKUP IS NOT A PICKUP
Ford CEO Jim Farley has said that the digital experience that will kick off in its new $30,000 electric pickup truck is unlike anything that has been offered in the U.S. or China to date. Google and CarPlay sound like they will be part of its digital experience and on a recent podcast with The Verge, Farley said that Ford is even considering using Apple as an all-in-one software solution. He said he doesn’t think the company “can design an experience that’s going to displace your phone.” However, Farley didn’t like the execution of the next-gen version of CarPlay, called CarPlay Ultra. Ford wants to offer services, like automated driving or trip planning, on top of the Apple experience. But, as of right now, it sounds like Apple wants to control all of those features too, and Farley says if that’s the case, that the company would have a “tough time” because the digital experience gets too messy. On top of those comments, the Ford CEO also had some interesting things to say about how that truck will look. “Our first body style will be a pickup, but it’s really not a pickup. I would say it’s a new silhouette.” Farley goes on to talk about having more room than a Toyota RAV4, not including the bed or frunk. That has us wondering if this could be like a crossover with a pickup bed on the back? But let us know what you think in the comments.

TOYOTA MAKING INROADS IN CHINA
Foreign automakers have been getting clobbered in China in recent years but things are starting to turn around for two automakers. Through the first eight months of the year, Toyota’s sales in China are up 6%, putting it on track to post its first increase in China in four years. The automaker is winning customers back with its hybrids and new low-cost, locally produced EVs. But while sales have improved, the price war in China is eating into Toyota’s profits. Its average profit per car declined from about $1,800 in 2021 to just over $1,000 last year.

  

TOYOTA EXPORTS RHD bZ3x TO HONG KONG, MACAU
One of the models that has been a hit with Chinese customers is its bZ3x compact crossover which starts at $15,000. Toyota just launched right-hand drive versions in Hong Kong and Macau but it’s getting a hefty price increase. The model will start at $33,100 in Macau while pricing for Hong Kong isn’t confirmed yet. However, the right-hand drive models come with a bigger battery than the base versions sold in mainland China. They’re also more expensive because of import taxation and the limited scale of right-hand drive production.

BUICK ELECTRA L7 EV STARTS AT $24,000 IN CHINA
The other automaker turning things around in China is General Motors. Its second quarter sales were up 20%, which is its biggest increase in quarterly sales in four years. And now it’s launching its first vehicle on an all-new platform that it developed with its joint-venture partner SAIC, the Buick Electra L7. It’s a mid-size, range extended sedan that’s powered by a 1.5L turbo-charged engine, 252-kW electric motor and a 40.2-kWh lithium-ion battery. The model has an all-electric range of 302 kilometers or 188 miles and a total range of 1,420-km or 882 miles. The Electra L7 starts around $24,000.

PORSCHE ENGINEERING & DIGITAL TO MERGE
Porsche says that it’s considering merging its Digital and Engineering divisions together. It claims the move is to advance the development of technology and customer experiences. But you should also know from watching our reports that Porsche is struggling financially, and a consolidation of Digital and Engineering will help cut costs and allow the single division to operate more efficiently. No doubt expertise from both parts of the company were involved in the new display tech that was just revealed today for the new Cayenne Electric. We’ll provide a link if you’d like to check out more of that interior.

CHINA’S ROBOTAXIS GOING WITH DIGITAL LIDAR
Digital LiDAR is emerging as the critical technology behind the global rollout of Robotaxis. As 2025 marks the first year of large-scale Robotaxi commercialization, nearly every major operator in China — from Pony.ai, to WeRide, to Baidu’s Apollo Go and Uber — is adopting solid-state LiDAR systems for mass production. Another company at the center of this is RoboSense, who says about 90% of Robotaxi fleets worldwide now use solid-state LiDAR, and nearly all are planning upgrades to high-line-count digital systems. Unlike older mechanical sensors, RoboSense’s digital LiDAR delivers faster processing, higher precision, and full 360-degree coverage. Executives say success now hinges on the ability to mass-produce the LiDAR at automotive scale.

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And that wraps up today’s show, thanks for watching Autoline Daily.