AD #3572 - BMW Revives Clown Shoe Design; Cadillac Names Escalade EV; Ford Will No Longer Be ‘All Things to All People’

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

Ford held its capital markets event earlier this morning, where it reiterated its full year guidance of nine to eleven billion dollars in adjusted earnings before interest and taxes and six billion dollars in adjusted free cash flow. The company also said

it expects to hit an EBIT margin of ten percent in twenty twenty six.

And here's how it expects each of its business divisions to do this year.

It expects Ford Blue, its ICE unit, to reach an EBIT of seven billion dollars, its commercial division, Ford Pro, is estimated to hit six billion dollars, and its EV business, Ford Model E, will lose three billion dollars this year. Ford also announced that it signed three lithium supply deals

to help it meet its target of producing two million EVA by the end of twenty twenty six. And here's a couple of interesting quotes from the CEO,

Jim Farley. He said that quote the days of being all things to all

people are over at Ford, and that the automaker will focus on connected digital products that are tailored for owners instead of competing over quote complex hardware and overserved vehicle categories. Sounds like big changes could be coming at Ford. Suppliers can

account for up to seventy percent of the content in a vehicle, so having good relations with them is critical for carmakers, and once again, supplier companies said that Toyota is the top OEM to work with the North America. According

to Plant Moran's annual study, the survey of supplier companies looks at supplier trust and return on investment. Honda is ranked second and General was rated at number

three. Ford saw the largest drop among OEMs, and that's because suppliers found

it more difficult to work with because of its decision to separate its ICE and EV businesses. Suppliers say the biggest challenges they face working with automakers include supply

chain disruptions, new joint ventures for battery plants, and goals relating to environmental, social, and governance. The US wants to lessen its reliance on China

for raw materials needed to produce electric vehicles, and it just struck a deal with Australia to help it develop its critical minerals industry. Australian mineral suppliers will

now be treated as domestic suppliers under the US Defense Production Act, and that means battery materials sourced from Australia will qualify for EV tax credits provided by the Inflation Reduction Act. Australia supplies around half of the world's lithium and other rare

earth minerals, and speaking of EV battery minerals, we could see more mining in the Great Lakes region. According to the US Geological Survey, the state's

bordering Lake Superior, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan could have as much nickel as Russia and Canada, which are some of the largest producers in the world.

Mining companies and federal researchers are now conducting surveys to try and determine the feasibility of mining for that nickel. Indonesia is the top nickel producer in the

world, providing forty two percent of global supplies. China is next at sixteen

percent, followed by Canada at six percent and Russia at five percent. God

Schiffler we pioneer motion Electrifying Mobility, Manufacturing Smarter, reducing CO two emissions, making energy production clean. Scheffler pioneer's motion to advance how the world moves.

My honest reaction to seeing this next concept was, oh my gosh, the BMW clown shoe is back. For the uninitiated, The clown shoe or bread

van or sports shoe refers to the shape of the BMW Z three coup that first came out in nineteen ninety eight and ran until two thousand and two.

It's always been a polarizing design, but personally I love it, and that's why it was so excited to see the all new concept touring coup. It's

like a new age version of the Z three coup and it could make its way into very low volume production of BMW. Feels there's enough demand and it

wouldn't be that difficult to pull off because it's based on the Z four and that means it also doesn't have a massive version of the twin kidney grill, which was an initial worry of mine having first seen the car only in silhouette.

Let us know what you think in the comments, but I will tell you lack it a lot. Lexus ts that it's going to reveal an all

new model called the LBX on the fifth of June. It doesn't give any

details, but reports are It's a small crossover that's based on the Toyota Yaris Cross, so the lb X would slot below the UX and would give Lexus seven utility vehicles in its lineup, including the UX, NX, RZ, RX, GX, and LX. I don't know about you, but that

sounds like too many. Bridgestone, which is one of our sponsors, introduced

a new replacement tire for evs in North America. That's going to be something

that's important going forward. The Ronza EV tire was designed specifically for electric vehicles

and it features fifty percent renewable and recycled materials, including recycled black carbon from end of life tires, synthetic rubber from recycled plastic bags and bottles, renewable soybean oil, and rice hosilica from rice husks. The tire was developed at

Bridgestones Tech Center in Ohio, and it will make the tire at its plants in North Carolina and Mexico. It will initially be available for all of Tesla's

models and the Ford Mustang Maquie, and next year it will be available in thirteen more sizes. Fiat is calling its future design direction Lingato inspired Lingato is

the name of Fiat's iconic manufacturing facility built in nineteen twenty three that for many years had a functioning test track on its roof. The brand CEO Olivier Francois

says highlights of its new design theme will include less material and more space, which is applied to a very futuristic looking seat and an interior concept. He

also says the windows on the dome like structure on top of Lingato, called Lapista five hundred, will inspire distinctive features, which looks like it could lead to a new lighting signature. Fiat says its new design language will start showing

up next year. The name of the all electric Cadillac Escalade might just have

you saying ick as you probably know all of Cadillac's new evs and an IQ, which is supposed to be pronounced ick lyric celestic, but the Escalade doesn't seem to be following that naming structure and is called the Escalade IQ, So in order to keep things cohesive, I've come to enjoy calling it the Escalade.

Catalacs says the model will be revealed later this year, 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 in trepid control Systems over the year Engineering Boost your Game and by Scheffler We pioneer motion. We want

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