Tesla's Model Y became the world's best-selling vehicle in Q1, surpassing the Toyota Corolla, marking a milestone for electric vehicles. Ford will adopt Tesla's North American Charging Standard, granting its EVs access to Tesla's extensive supercharger network starting in 2025. Brazil is implementing tax breaks to make cars more affordable amid high loan rates, while Chinese automakers expand in the region. The EPA reports significant improvements in US air quality, partly due to vehicle emission controls. Other highlights include strong US auto sales forecasts, Bentley's new design chief, and growth in electric school bus production fueled by government incentives.
Topics:tesla model y salesford tesla supercharger accessbrazil car affordabilityus air quality improvementselectric vehicle infrastructureauto sales forecastsbentley design leadershipelectric school busesev startup challengesautomotive history
- Tesla Model Y #1 In the World - Ford Gets Tesla Superchargers - Brazil’s Lula Makes Cars More Affordable - U.S. Slashes Air Pollution - U.S. May Sales Looking Good - Bentley Steals Volvo’s Head Designer - Nikola Faces Delisting - Blue Bird Building EV School Bus Plant - NSU Celebrates 150th Birthday
"well, with the high Lux, Rav four and Camray and in that order. Speaking of Tesla, it's giving Ford access to its supercharger network, and not only that. In twenty twenty five, Ford will start equipping its vs with testless style of charging port, which it now calls the North American Charging Standard. This gives Ford owners access to more than twelve thousand supercharger locations across"
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
It's a historic day for electric vehicles. For the first time ever,
in ev was the best selling vehicle worldwide. Tesla sold a little more than
two hundred and sixty seven thousand model wise in the first quarter of the year.
According to an auto industry specialist with market research company Jado Dynamics, the y beat out all body types of the Toyota Corolla, which were more than ten thousand units behind the Tesla, but Toyota will likely retain its spot as the top automaker for the full year. It holds the next three spots as
well, with the high Lux, Rav four and Camray and in that order.
Speaking of Tesla, it's giving Ford access to its supercharger network, and not only that. In twenty twenty five, Ford will start equipping its vs
with testless style of charging port, which it now calls the North American Charging Standard. This gives Ford owners access to more than twelve thousand supercharger locations across
the US and Canada, and builds on the ten thousand plus fast chargers that Ford already operates in its own Blue oval charge network. Ford claims that its
owners now have access to the largest charging network in the US and Canada.
It's no secret that Teslas superchargers provide the most consistent and reliable experience, and Ford CEO Jim Farley says quote widespread access to fast charging is absolutely vital to our growth as an ev brand. Brazil's president a Nacio da Silva, better
known as Lula, wants to make cars more affordable for middle class people.
Bloomberg reports that the interest rate on a car loan for most Brazilians is twenty nine, so Lula is handing out tax breaks of about eleven percent on cars that cost less than twenty four thousand dollars. That will drop the cost of
the cheapest cars to about twelve grand. Brazil is a tough place for legacy
automakers to make a profit. Ford closed its assembly operations there in twenty nineteen.
Mercedes sold its plant to great Wall last year, and Toyota will pull out this year. But Chinese automakers see big opportunities in Brazil. In addition
to great Wall, nine other Chinese automakers are making vehicles, including chang Gan and byd Do. All these emission controls we're putting in vehicles really make any
kind of difference, You bet they do. The EPA published its annual air
quality report for the US, and the improvements are significant. Compared to nineteen
seventy, the six key air lutants that the EPA tracks are down seventy eight percent since nineteen ninety. Carbon dioxide is down eighty one percent since the year
two thousand, two point five, micron particulate matter what they call PM two point five is down forty two percent, and since twenty ten let in the air is down eighty eight percent. NOx sulfur dioxide and ozone are also down
dramatically. Not all that improvement came from emission controls on cars, but they
did play a big role, and the economy kept on growing even as air quality regulations were tightened up. Good news for automakers in the US, May
sales are expected to be strong. JD Power and LMC Automotive are forecasting that
sales this month will hit one point three to four million units, up more than fifteen percent from a year ago. That includes both retail and fleet sales.
Retail sales were just over a million units, which is nearly a ten percent gain, and with inventory improving, automakers are allocating more vehicles to fleet customers, which are expected to increase fifty percent and may compared to a year ago. Fleet sales account for about twenty percent of the total market. But
despite more vehicles going to fleets, which can drag down value, transaction prices continue to rise and will reach an average just below forty six thousand dollars, or point seven percent more than last year. That means car buyers are on
track to spend forty seven billion dollars on new cars this month. Bentley went
on a head hunting trip and ended up with Volvo's head a global design, Robin Page, and this is actually a reunion for Bentley and Page. Before
joining Volvo, he was head of interior design at Bentley from two thousand and one to two thousand and thirteen and was involved with the continental GT Mulsan and the state limousine for the Royal Monarch. Page will report directly to Bentley chairman
and CEO Adrian Hallmark, and he's replacing Tobias Sulman who's leaving the company to pursue other opportunities. As they say, then nazdec is threatening to delist another
ev startup. This time it's Nicola. The company shares are trading at seventy
three cents, which is below the one dollar minimum requirement to stay on the exchange. Last month, the NASDEC warned Lordstown that it too could be delisted
for falling below the requirement. But as we reported yesterday, Lordstown did a
one to fifteen reverse stock split to boost its shares to over a dollar and a quick correction from yesterday. I mistakingly said for every fifteen shares a stock
you owned, you'll get another one. I should have said for every fifteen
Lordstown shares that you owned, you'll now just have one. You can expect
to see a lot more electric school buses picking up and dropping off kids.
Bluebird, one of the biggest school bus makers in the US, opened a new multimillion dollar facility in Georgia that features a dedicated assembly line for making electric school buses. Its production volume will increase from four buses a day up to
twenty and give Bluebird a yearly output of up to five thousand. The electric
school buses it makes are the ones that look like big ruck tangles and feature a Paphian system developed by Commons, as well as a one hundred and fifty five kilowatt hour lithium ion battery pack which provides up to one hundred and twenty miles of range. Bluebird made the move to meet rising demand because there's more
incentive to go electric. The new infrastructure bill in the US will give out
five billion dollars over the next five years for clean school bus transportation, and as we recently learned, a single electric school bus with bidirectional charging can earn as much as ten thousand dollars selling electricity back to public utilities. Some car
companies didn't start out as car companies. Pougeot traces its roots back to eighteen
ten as a steel foundry making hand tools. In nineteen twenty six, Toyota
started making weaving looms, and now Audi is celebrating the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of NSU. It started making Nitti machine in eighteen seventy three, then
started making motorcycles in nineteen oh one and then cars in nineteen oh five.
NSU is not well known outside of Europe, but it was a pioneering company.
It was the first automaker to use Wonkel engines when it's Row eighty Sedan came out in nineteen sixty seven. In fact, Mazda licensed the right to
use wonkles from NSU, but the Wonkle almost bankrupted NSU, and in nineteen sixty nine Volkswagen bought it and later merged it with Audi, and that's why Audi is celebrating the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of NSU. I hope you
enjoyed that little history lesson and I hope you have a great weekend, and because of the Memorial Day holiday on Monday in the US, will actually see you back here next Tuesday. 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. At Scheffler We Pioneer Motion, electrifying mobility,
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