Global automakers face challenges as China’s ICE vehicle plants risk idling due to rising EV market share, prompting calls for faster EV plant conversions. GM consolidates commercial vehicle sales and plans a European EV return, targeting Nordic markets. Honda and Nissan report mixed financial results amid shifting sales. McLaren doubles down on combustion engines with new V8s, while Maserati phases out V8s for electrification. Lpene teases a rally-inspired EV hot hatch, and Volkswagen’s ID.7 GTX hints at sporty EV potential. Meanwhile, GM Cruise expands autonomous testing in Texas, and Wuling slashes prices on its popular Mini EV with a battery subscription model.
Topics:china ev marketgm european returncommercial vehicle consolidationhonda financial resultsnissan sales outlookmclaren enginesmaserati electrificationelectric hot hatchesautonomous vehicle testingwuling mini ev pricing
- Greenpeace Warns of Idle ICE Plants - GM Forms New Commercial Vehicle Business Unit - GM Going Back to EU with EVs - Honda Expenses Rising Faster Than Sales - Nissan Earnings Looking Better - Lexus Teases New GX - McLaren Embraces IC Engines - Maserati Dumping V8s - Alpine Tweaks the R5 - VW ID.7 GTX Gets In-House Motors - GM Cruise Heads for Houston, Dallas - Wuling Mini EV Now Only $2,850
"...y have a truly sporty electric car. It touted its GTX models as such, but with a max of two hundred and..."
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
The ten largest automakers in China could see one third of their ice assembly plants sitting idle by the end of the decade. That's according to Greenpiece,
which assumes that new energy vehicles or any vs, will have forty percent market share in twenty thirty. But anyvs already have a thirty percent share, so
that idle capacity could hit a lot sooner. Green Pieces now urging those automakers
to convert ICE plants to evs as fast as possible, but China already has a massive problem with overcapacity. Automakers have the capability to make over forty million
vehicles a year. However, sales are currently running around twenty five million,
and this is a key reason why Chinese automakers are really ramping up exports.
General Motors is taking a page out of Ford's book and is consolidating all of its commercial vehicle operations into one business unit, just like Ford did with Ford Pro, called GM and VOLVE. The goal is to make it easier for
customers to purchase vehicles and sign up for services. Fleet buyers will only have
to deal with a single sales representative who will help them pick out a tailored set of services for both ICE and electric commercial vehicles. GM's fleet business is
going strong right now, with sales increasing for five straight quarters, and it just posted its best sales for the first quarter since two thousand and six.
Speaking of GM, it's getting back into the European market with electric cars.
At the moment, GM only sells high end ICE models in Europe like Cadillacs and the Chevy Corvette. It pulled out of the mass market in two thousand.
In seventeen, but that will soon change. Automotive News reports that GM
will first return to Nordic countries, which makes sense because of Norway's strong EV market. GM hasn't confirmed which vehicles it will sell, but it will include
evs across all of its brands. Honda posted its financial earnings for its fiscal
year, and the results are really mixed. It brought in one hundred and
twenty six billion dollars in revenue, which was up a solid sixteen percent, but its expenses shot up twenty three percent, which led to a three point six percent drop and operating profit of six point two billion. Fortunately, four
Honda. Its net profit of five point six billion dollars was virtually unchanged from
last year thanks to a big drop of income taxes. Nissan also posted its
results for its end of the fiscal year, and though its sales of three point three million vehicles was down fifteen percent, revenue shot up twenty six percent to seventy nine billion dollars. It's operating profit of two point eight billion was
up fifty two percent, but its net profit of one point six billion was only up three percent. Nissan expects to sell a lot more vehicles this year
and is especially counting on the North American market to lead the way. How
long can legacy automakers afford to lose money on evs? That's going to be
one of the topics for Autoline after Hours This afternoon, John and Gary have Joe White from Reuters and David Welch from Bloomberg coming on the show, and they're going to bring a treasure trove of info and insight, and you can join the action when the show goes live at three pm Eastern Time. The
Lexus GX is getting some much needed upgrades. It's been a while since it's
had truly significant changes but Lexus is teasing the all new model that it says is coming soon. The suv is likely to retain its body on frame architecture,
and the design looks to be playing up its off road ability with large bulges at the edges of the hood and fenders. And Toyota throw a little
mud on the back end just for good measure. And next comes a tale
of two sports car makers. One is embracing internal combustion while the other is
saying Arrivaderchi. McLaren announced that it's expanding its partnership with engine manufacturer Ricardo,
a company that is built close to thirty four thousand McLaren powertrain since twenty eleven its home in England. Ricardo is now going to make McLaren's next gen V
eights that will power future hybrid supercars, and along with the V sixes and vates that Ricardo already supplies. McLaren says the agreement ensures it will have engines
for both hybrid and non hybrid applications. And now we switch to Maserati,
who is getting rid of V eights from its lineup. It will stop making
the Trophao versions of the Lavante, Ghibli and Quattroporte at the end of this year. Those models featured a five hundred and seventy two horsepower twin turbo V
eight, and the engine killoff is only going to continue at Maserati. All
models will have an electric version by twenty twenty five, and it will be fully electric by twenty thirty. Speaking of sporty electrics, lpen will keep hot
hatches alive in the ev Era. It revealed it will get its own version
of the new and No. Five, what it calls the A two ninety
Beta. Unfortunately, it doesn't give any specs, but it has plenty of
pictures that show rally car styling and a three seat layout like a McLaren F one. One central seat for the driver up front that is flanked by two
seats for the passengers behind it. Lpene says it will launch the production version
of the A two ninety next year and as Volkswagen going to finally have a truly sporty electric car. It touted its GTX models as such, but with
a max of two hundred and twenty kilowatts or two hundred and ninety five horsepower, they're really just all wheel drive variants with black cladding, But the new ID seven GTX has the potential to be something more. VW says it's equipped
with its latest drive generation and the new in house developed electric motor in the rear drive. ID seven has two hundred and ten kilowatts or two hundred and
eighty one horsepower, so it's nearly getting the same power out of one motor that the previous gtxes we're getting out of two. Now, imagine if the
eighty seven GTX gets two of those new motors. Not saying that it will,
but like we said, it's got potential. Plenty of people are skeptical
that will ever see automas vehicles become a reality, but Weymot recently expanded itself driving ride hailing service, and now GM Cruise is launching in more cities in Texas. It will start testing vehicles in Houston next week with a safety driver
on board, then it will expand to Dallas. Cruise currently operates in Austin,
as well as San Francisco and Phoenix. One of the most affordable models
in China is about to become even cheaper. Ruling is going to offer a
battery subscription for its Hongwang EV and cut its price by nearly two grand, and that's a huge price cut because a base model currently costs about forty seven hundred dollars, but if you opt for the battery subscription, its price drops to two thousand, eight hundred and fifty bucks. Customers will pay a monthly
fee of thirty dollars for sixty months for the battery, which means they can save nearly three hundred dollars after five years with a subscription. The Hangwang Mini
EV is one of the best selling evs in China, but sales has started to taper off with more competition coming into the market, so Wouling had to do something to try and boost sales, and that brings us to the end of today's show. Thank you for tuning in. Altoline Daily is brought to
you by Bridgestone Solutions for your Journey, Intrepid Control Systems over the Year Engineering boost your game, and by Scheffler We Pioneer Motion. At Scheffler We pioneer
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