AD #3574 - Musk Takes Political Risk; Aston Martin to Use Honda F1 Engines; EVs Get Driven Fewer Miles

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

Elon Musk is venturing into risky waters. He's going to host a live

presentation tonight on Twitter with Florida's Republican Governor Ron de Santis as to Santis officially announces has run to become president of the United States. Automotive executives in the

US have never become publicly involved with any political party or candidate. They know

that if they do, it will instantly turn the other side against them and their company. But Elon Musk is unlike any other automotive executive, and he's

obviously aware of the risks. And while Musk will probably not endorse to Santas

on tonight's program, last year he said he would support to Santist if he ran for president. Ford is going to keep AM radios and cars after all.

Back in April, it said it would get rid of AM from both its evs and ice vehicles. Ford said owners could stream AM with apps instead,

But yesterday on social media, CEO Jim Farley said the company will include AM radio and new models going forward, and that Ford will offer software updated owners who currently don't have it. Farley said the company changed its mind after

speaking with government officials who are concerned about getting broadcast warnings out during an emergency.

They say AM is more reliable than streaming during an emergency. Last week,

a group of bipartisan lawmakers introduced to build a force automakers to include AM radio after Ford and several other automakers said they will or have gotten rid of it. Legacy automakers are in a mad scramble to come up with their own

software to find car, a concept that was first pioneered by Tesla over a day ago, and that's where almost every single function of a car is defined by software. Most of their sdvs, or software defined vehicles will not be

out till around twenty twenty five, and different automakers are taking different paths to get there. Some, like Ford, want to do it all in house,

but others like Renault, are relying on a consortium of partners. Renault

will have Google develop its operating system and digital twins, Qualcom will develop its digital chassis and SoC or system on a chip, and Valeo is going to supply the high performance computer that will be the brains of the system. No

doubt. We're going to see different approaches from different OEMs to come up with

their own sdvs. Aston Martin is really on a roll. Last week,

Geely announced it was investing another two hundred and ninety million dollars into the company, and Aston also announced it's coming out with eight new models over the next two years, and today it announced that it will have Honda be its engine supplier in Formula One starting with the twenty twenty sixth season. Aston currently uses

engines from Mercedes and the announcement came as a surprise because everyone thought that Honda was dropping out of F one when the current regulations expire at the end of the twenty twenty five season. But Formula One's efforts at sustainability fit in line

with Honda's corporate mission and so that's why it's returning in full force. Aston

has surprised everyone in F one this year, emerging as the second best team in the series. First is Red Bull, which uses Honda engines. So

with Honda coming on board, Aston has its site sent on winning championships, not just scoring points. We want to know what drives you're testing, Ota,

Connected Car Diagnostics, remote testing, intrepid control, systems is here to help you work from anywhere intrepid control systems driven by your data. EV owners

drive less than ICE owners. A new study from ic car says the average

three year old EV is driven a little over nine thousand miles a year, compared to about thirteen thousand miles for an ICE vehicle. That's about a third

less. Not surprisingly, Tesla's are driven the most, probably because they have

longer range and a reliable supercharger network that reduces range anxiety. If you take

Tesla out, the average drops to just six thousand, seven hundred and nineteen miles. The Porsche Taikon is the least driven EV at less than five thousand

miles a year. Ic car says evs with higher range are used more,

but adding that range will significantly increase prices at today's battery costs. BMW revealed

the all new five series Sedan this morning. It's longer, wider, and

taller than the outgoing model. The lines on this car are very crisp,

meaning the edges of the styling elements are well defined and end at sharp corners.

Depending on the market, there will be a number of powertrains to choose from, including gas and diesel, which all come with forty eight volt mild hybrid tech and are paired to an eight speed auto as well as plug in hybrid and for the first time pure battery electric. Right now, the EV

called the I five, will be offered in two versions. There's a rear

drive model that makes three hundred and forty horse power and an all wheel drive m performance model that makes six hundred and one horse power and will do zero to one hundred kilometers an hour in three point eight seconds, but there will also be a non performance all wheel drive I five that comes out sometime next year. All of those models feature an eighty one point two kilowatt hour battery

pack that provides roughly five hundred to five hundred and eighty kilometers or three hundred and ten to three hundred and sixty miles of range for the rear drive I five and four hundred and fifty five to five hundred and sixteen kilometers or two hundred and eighty to three hundred and twenty miles of range for the performance version.

They can handle a charge rate of up to two hundred and five kilowatts and can charge from ten to eighty percent and thirty minutes. All versions of

the new five series get model specific chassis tuning, but the Performance I five steps that up a notch with optional sports suspension and breaks, as well as an active chassis control system. The interior of the new five series plends a

lot of different materials and textures together, and BMW says it focused on reducing the number of buttons and controls by baking more features into the latest generation of its Eye Drive operating system. Information is displayed on two large digital screens on

the dash that are combined under one piece of curved glass. This new electronic

architecture also allows for expanded Level two autonomous driving. It will launch Highway Assistant

in the US, Canada and Germany, which allows drivers to take their hands off the wheel at speeds up to one hundred and thirty kilometers an hour or eighty five miles an hour, as well as change lanes, but it will only operate on barrier divided highways. BMW says the market launch of the new

five series starts this October. STILLANTIS is expanding its v to X or VIA

called to Everything communication in North America. Currently, more than one point eight

million Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Ram vehicles from twenty eighteen and newer can warn drivers about active emergency vehicles or other road hazards nearby through the Vehicles U Connect system, but it's now expanding that to include warnings about disabled vehicles which don't have to come from a Stalantis vehicle necessarily, and alert from the disabled vehicle, either activated manually by the driver or automatically by the vehicle, is transmitted to

the U connect system to warn drivers. They get fifteen to twenty seconds of

advanced warning, which is about a quarter mile at highway speeds. According to

research published in the Public Health journal Accident Analysis and Prevention, disabled vehicles contribute to a crash every seven minutes on average in the US and killer injure more than forty people a day. The Opal Corsa is getting a refresh styling has

been updated to fall more in line with the rest of the Opal family, including a new front end design which includes a fresh lower facia. A new

fully digital cockpit will be available, which combines two ten inch displays that now run off a Qualcom technology. The Corsa will be the first Opal to offer

forty eight volt mild hybrid technology and Like most new Stellantis vehicles, range in performance improvements are being made to the all electric version. It will have two

drive options, either one hundred kilowatts or one hundred and thirty six horse power or one hundred and fifteen kilowatts or one hundred and fifty six horse power.

The less powerful version hasn't estimated three hundred and fifty seven kilometers or two hundred and twenty one miles of range, while the other has four hundred and two kilometers or roughly two hundred and fift miles of range. And speaking of refreshes,

VW has a few updates for the Touregg. There's small tweaks the front

rear facias, as well as a new matrix led lighting option. The suspension

has been updated and now includes a sensor that can detect weight on the roof and make adjustments to improve driving stability. Lastly, VW's Innovasion cockpit now comes

standard on the Tourregg. Goes on sale tomorrow with a starting price of just

over sixty nine thousand euros, and that brings us to the end of today's show. Thanks for making autoline a part of your day. Autoline 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 Motion electrifying mobility, manufacturing smarter, reducing CO two emissions, making energy production clean. Scheffler Pioneer's Motion to advance how the world moves

AD #3574 - Musk Takes Political Risk; Aston Martin to Use Honda F1 Engines; EVs Get Driven Fewer Miles

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