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Runtime: 9:11
0:00 GM to Write Off $1.6B in EVs
0:42 Toyota Century Becomes Brand Above Lexus
1:11 Can Ram Mid-Size Pickup Get Enough Volume?
1:51 Duracell Launches EV Charging Stations
2:23 Oh No! Another Chinese Car Brand
3:33 Next Jeep to Use Dongfeng Tech
4:29 Grand Wagoneer Gets EREV Option
5:57 Mercedes Concept Evokes 1930s
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
GM TO WRITE OFF $1.6 B IN EVs
GM is going to write off $1.6 billion of its investments in EVs. The money covers stranded manufacturing capacity and fees to cancel contracts with suppliers. The charge will apply to the last quarter, and we believe just about every automaker will have to write off a portion of its EV investments, which CEOs hate to do. Those write-offs lower the assets on their balance sheets, which in turn reduces shareholder equity. And one of the trigger points for a CEO’s bonus is typically boosting shareholder equity.
TOYOTA CENTURY BECOMES BRAND ABOVE LEXUS
Yesterday we showed you that new Toyota Century concept. Now we’ve learned that Toyota is using it to launch an all-new luxury brand positioned above Lexus, targeting the likes of Rolls-Royce and Bentley. Toyota has almost always used the Century as a premium sedan, but now it will become its own, stand-alone brand, with at least a sedan and SUV as part of the line-up. And it sure sounds like Toyota will take the brand worldwide.
CAN RAM MID-SIZE PICKUP GET ENOUGH VOLUME?
We’ve got some new product intel from Autoforecast Solutions about that new mid-size pickup coming from Ram. It’ll be built on the Stella Large platform under the program code R7P/NN. Production will start at the Belvedere plant in February, 2028. But we wonder if that truck will sell well enough to keep that plant open. The mid-size pickup segment is really crowded. Will the new Ram expand the segment or just slice it thinner? We think that unless Stellantis adds another vehicle to that plant, it will operate well under capacity. And that threatens its long-term viability.
| U.S. MID-SIZE PICKUP SALES, YTD 2025 | |
|---|---|
| Toyota Tacoma | 204,464 |
| Chevrolet Colorado | 77,390 |
| Ford Ranger | 48,278 |
| Nissan Frontier | 47,630 |
| Honda Ridgeline | 37,385 |
| GMC Canyon | 27,878 |
DURACELL LAUNCHES EV CHARGING STATIONS
Iconic battery maker Duracell is jumping into EV charging. The company is launching its first EV charging network in the UK with the first six sites opening by the end of the year. The plan is to have 100 sites by 2030 that each have at least 500 fast chargers capable of putting out 400 kW. The network will be built by The EV Network, which has also developed charging points for BP, while the sites themselves will be operated by Elektra Charge.
OH NO! ANOTHER CHINESE CAR BRAND
The Chinese car market is about to become even more saturated. JD.com, which is like the Amazon of China, has partnered with a subsidiary of battery maker CATL and Chinese automaker GAC Group to launch a new car. The oddly named “National Good Car,” is a rebadged version of the GAC Aion UT and will be sold exclusively on JD.com’s website. The Aion UT debuted earlier this year and has a range up to 420 kilometers or 260 miles with a starting price just under $10,000.
NEXT JEEP TO USE DONGFENG TECH
Stellantis is partnering with Chinese automaker Dongfeng to develop a new Jeep SUV. Stellantis will be responsible for the styling while Dongfeng will provide the powertrain, infotainment and autonomous driving. It’s possible that the model could adopt technology from Dongfeng’s recently launched M-Hero 817 SUV. It’s a plug-in hybrid that features a 1.5L engine with two electric motors that combine for 505-kW or 677 horsepower. The setup offers a pure electric range of 215 kilometers or 133 miles and a total range of 1,365 kilometers or nearly 850 miles. The new Jeep vehicle with Dongfeng tech is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2027 in China but we think it’s unlikely that it would be sold in North America.
GRAND WAGONEER GETS EREV OPTION
Last week we reported that Jeep is dropping the Wagoneer from its lineup and will only use the name Grand Wagoneer for its big SUV. The model will now be offered in 6 trim lines with the base version, now simply called Grand Wagoneer, starting just below $65,000, including destination charges. That’s about $2,000 – $3,000 more than the old base version of the Wagoneer. But there’s actually bigger news for the Grand Wagoneer lineup. It, not Ram, will be the first to get Stellantis’ extended range EV powertrain. The system uses the company’s 3.6L Pentastar V6 with a generator in place of the transmission, which can either send electricity to the battery or the electric motors. The Grand Wagoneer version will feature a 92-kWh battery pack and 20-gallon gas tank, which will provide over 500 miles of range. Total system output comes to nearly 650 horsepower and the big SUV will be able to sprint from 0-60 MPH in about 5 seconds. However, Jeep still doesn’t know when it will come out with this setup. It says it will re-evaluate the market in the first quarter of next year and then decide what it’s going to do. That’s also the plan for its high-output version of the Hurricane engine, which will not be an option when production of the new 2026 models start later this year.
MERCEDES CONCEPT EVOKES 1930s
Mercedes revealed what I think is a beautiful concept car, called the Vision Iconic, which kind of looks like a new-age version of a huge 2-door coupe from the 1930’s. But beyond its good looks, this car has some cool tech. The company is researching a solar coating that can be applied to the paint and provide up to 12,000 kilometers or about 7,500 miles of additional range a year. It’s also working on some innovations for Level 4 autonomous driving, but the most interesting to us is neuromorphic computing. This tries to mimic how the human brain operates to speed up the computing system, while also increasing efficiency. Mercedes claims neuromorphic computing can cut the energy required for processing the data during autonomous driving by 90%.
And that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for making Autoline a part of your day.
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Even though choice is good, I don’t think that we need another mid-sized pickup truck. I would have much more preferred another compact sized pickup. Since Stellantis isn’t in the mid-sized field they may do okay, but as the article alludes, it’s getting pretty crowded in this genre of vehicle. Still hoping GM fields, a compact sized pickup, but as I’m getting a little “long in the tooth” I may not be in the market before one arrives (if ever we get one).
I’m surprised that Taco so thoroughly dominates the mid-size pickup market. The current one is mostly a downgrade from the previous one, replacing the V6 with a noisy turbo 4 that doesn’t get much better gas mileage. I guess it’s just “inertia,” probably also a major factor in GM continuing to dominate the large SUV market.
Would have been nice to see one CEO stand up to the board and hold the reins on EV investments. Everyone was afraid they would be left behind and I for one been saying that this whole scramble to buy up the small EV companies was a fools errand. Toyota was the only one that basically sat back with minimal investment in pure EVs and caught all kinds of flack that they would be left in the dust. Guess who isn’t writing off a billion dollars? Same goes for AV. That is nothing more than a huge liability until you achieve level 5. Development should continue but releasing it to the public I for one believe it’s a mistake. GM stock holders should be mad that the company is being so mismanaged that they need to write off such a large chuck of investment. I would be.
The Century luxury brand will likely do quite well for Toyota. There seems to be an ever-increasing pool of well-heeled buyers with enough money to afford these types of cars.
I fully expect Stellantis to announce a midsize SUV based on the Ram midsize pickup, to also be built in the Belvidere plant. Perhaps a new SUV model for Ram? Or Dodge could slot one in under the Durango. It could become the sales success that the Hornet is not.
I think, properly positioned and priced, that the EREV Grand Wagoneer could sell fairly well. I have been amazed for many years that GM did not scale up the Volt powertrain technology for use in their large SUVs. A Suburban that can get 30+ mpg would help maintain their market dominance in this category. And, they could still use that help as their market share has been eroding in the large SUV category over the last 5 years.
The EREV Wagoneer will be interesting. I would expect it to get awful mpg on the highway when running on gas, but I could be proven wrong. Are there any actual prototypes?
Toyota needs to use the same approach with Century that they did with Lexus early on. The first Lexus model, LS 400, was widely considered a better Mercedes S-Class in ride and quietness, at a 30-40% discount. With Century, they need to sell a better Rolls-Royce at a big discount.
The nose of that Benz concept needs to be a coupla feet longer.
What all the midsize pickups lack is a single cab long bed, so if RAM came out with that as an option it could satisfy all the workmen that really just need that utility for their businesses, I would buy one because that is all I need and I don’t even have a business but like the simplicity that it could offer, especially in work truck configuration. I also understand the need for a compact pickup, but it seems like kryptonite to all the OEMs these days. A compact would suit me even more.
Ziggy, exactly on the single cab long bed. You’d think there’d be enough market for someone to sell one.
I, too, would have thought that Dodge/Ram/Stellantis would gone the compact pickup, before the midsize! They have such a vehicle in South America, that some thought they would/could retrofit for the US. With the midsize pickup being so crowded, but the compact only having the Maverick and Santa Cruz, it makes no sense to me that GM hasn’t jumped into this market as well. It’s not like they don’t have a platform to work with, since the have both the Traxx and ICE Equinox to architectures to choose from!
A midsize SUV on that platform is a vehicle the Chrysler side of Stellantis has been begging for! They could have an SUV that could support both Chrysler and Dodge/Ram, competing with vehicles like the Aviator/Explorer, while still not treading on Jeep Grand Cherokee territory.
GM did have a hybrid for its full-size pickups and SUVS, supposedly built based on the technology from the Volt, during the 2000s. It didn’t sell as they hoped, but I don’t know why. Maybe it was too expensive for its time?
Sean, is GM’s EV write off meaning that they are giving up on the sell and manufacturing of Electric vehicles? For, in the US, outside of Tesla, GM has one of the widest assortment of EVs right now, and they appear to be selling fairly well! So, why they give up on them, if that is what the write off is indicating?
I don’t think a value proposition might be the right move for an upper echelon luxury car or SUV, necessarily. If Toyota were to build luxury vehicles priced to compete with the Rolls Royce Ghost, but with appointment, customizable and sized to compete with the Phantom, there might be interest, I would think.
While on the subject of uber vehicles, other outlets have said that the front of this Mercedes concept in today’s report introduces the new face of the next S Class. Yet, a toned down, four door version of this concept, might work as a Maybach to compete with the Rolls Royce Ghost, I would think. It has a regal, imposing shape, much like the Ghost and Phantom, but goes its own way that seems to work to my eye. I don’t know if it is the brightness of the grill, or the dark paint, but it is difficult to make out the features of the front end! If this is to be the new “face” of the S-Class, they make it easy to see.
Isn’t the GM “write off” just some sort of tax avoidance or stock price enhancement thing? I’m sure there are no plans to drop all of the GM EVs, some of which are selling pretty well.