Ford's BlueCruise subscription price hike sparks customer backlash amid automakers' push for lucrative subscription services. Tesla's charging plug may become the US standard, influencing competitors and subsidy policies. Tesla and Panasonic stand to gain billions in tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act, potentially lowering Tesla prices, while GM and Ford's battery production credits vary. GM invests heavily in next-gen pickups and is developing a new EV architecture, showcased by Buick's Proxima concept. Stellantis expands into refurbishing end-of-life vehicles, and automakers debate the future of AM radio amid legislative pressure. Peugeot unveils a bold new interior design for its electric 3008 crossover.
- Ford Quadruples BlueCruise Price - Tesla NACS Could Become U.S. Charging Standard - Tesla Earns IRA Windfall - EV Lease Rates Are Soaring - GM Invests $1 Billion in HD Trucks - No Profit for $30K EVs - GM Developing New EV Architecture - Stellantis Refurbishes Cars with Old Parts - War Over AM Radio Rages On - Peugeot's Wild New Interior Design
"...ow and sporty. Could GM be designing the electric corvette. STILLANTIS is getting into car flipping. It's go..."
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Ford significantly raised the price of its Blue Cruise hands free driving technology, and customers are not happy about it. It costs twenty one hundred dollars for a
three year subscription on the Mustang Machee, but Ford is now charging an annual rate of eight hundred bucks to renew it. Previously, it costs two hundred
dollars annually, and there are plenty of comments on moche forums from owners upset with the price increase. Automakers are hoping to generate billions in subscription services in
the future, but as we've reported, customers aren't completely on board paying fees for extra features. Could testless charging system become the national standard in the US,
That's what some people think. Ford's deal to use Tesla's chargers starting next
year could force other charging companies like charge Point, EVgo Blink, and Electrify America to start offering Tesla's NACS or North American Charging standard as well as the current CCS or combined charging system, but it does go both ways. In
Europe, Tesla was forced by regulators to offer CCS plugs and to qualify for IRA subsidies in the US, Tesla agreed to put CCS plugs at some of its stations. So far, US subsidies for chargers are only for ccs,
but if enough charging stations include n acs, maybe that'll change. And Tesla
is going to be one of the biggest benefactors of the Inflation Reduction Act.
According to estimates from researcher Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, Tesla and its battery partner Panasonic will at one point eight billion dollars in tax credits this year for producing batteries in the US, and thanks to that, an analyst at Piper Sandler says, the average price of a Tesla could fall by one hundred and twenty five dollars every quarter for the next two years and still not impact the company's margins.
GM and LG Energy are expected to get four hundred and eighty million dollars in battery production credits this year, while Ford won't receive any credits until twenty twenty five, which is when it will start battery production. The IRA hands
out ninety dollars per kilowatt hour in total for building battery packs, cells and modules in the US. And that would be about forty five hundred dollars in
credits for a vehicle with a one hundred kilowatt hour battery pack. As expected,
EV leasing is taking off in the US, and that's because lease evs are classified as commercial sales and the vehicles don't have to meet domestic content requirements under the Inflation Reduction Act to qualify for the full seventy five hundred dollar credit.
Back in December, before this loophole went into effect, the percentage of least b evs was about ten percent, but according to JD Power, that soared to forty one percent in April. And despite all our reporting on evs,
it's no secret that legacy automakers will use profits generated from selling gas burning vehicles to fund their electric futures. And GM is spending over a billion dollars
to make improvements for the next gen version of its full size pickups, some of the biggest money producers in its portfolio. It's investing in its Flint assembly
plant, where it makes the Silverado and Sierra HD to expand and buy new tools and equipment. Last year, sales of those pickups were up almost forty
percent year over year. It doesn't sound like GM is gonna make much money
on the all new Equinox EV that's coming out this fall. CEO Mary Barras
said battery costs are still too high to make profitable mass market vehicles that sell for thirty to forty thousand dollars, and GM has promised that the base Equinox EV will have a starting price right around thirty K, although the base Equinox EV is not the one that will hit the market this fall. Barra also
said the same thing as Ford CEO Jim Farley, that evs will not reach cosparity with ice vehicles until twenty thirty or later. That's when Farley expects Ford's
third gen evs to be hitting the market, and GM will probably be right along the same timetable. We originally thought GM's Altium platform would underpin its evs
for many, many years to come, and I feel that's the way it was presented to us. But Altium must not have been good enough, because
GM is already working on a new EV architecture, and its design studio in China just revealed a new Buick sedan concept called the Proxima that's made on this new architecture. And will be used for internal research. Also take note of
how the Proxima's design language has been changed from the Wildcat and Electra acts that were shown off not all that long ago. The large gallwing doors are a
nice touch as well. Presumable Legm is making improvements to its new EV architecture,
and it's probably why Bara doesn't see cost parity coming until twenty thirty or later. And one last thing, what do you think this could be on
the background monitor? In this picture it looks like it has a Chevy bow
tie and it looks low and sporty. Could GM be designing the electric corvette.
STILLANTIS is getting into car flipping. It's going to take end of life
vehicles, recover parts that it can reuse or remanufacture, and then recycle the rest. It will then take those old parts along with new ones, fix
up used vehicles at refurbishing centers, which in some cases will be old manufacturing sites, and then it will resell those vehicles. STILLANTIS is like the wheeler
dealers of automakers, and now it's expanding those activities. Stillantis is forming a
joint venture with a company called Galou to do the first part of that process.
Get end of life vehicles to tear apart. They'll start by the end
of this year in France, Belgium and Luxembourg before expanding across Europe, and they say they're open to working with other automakers. As we've reported, there's
a growing battle over AM radio in the US. Lawmakers introduced a bill last
month to prevent automakers from getting rid of AM radio and vehicles because they say it's more reliable in an emergency than cellular networks. But the Alliance for Automotive
Innovation, a lobbying group for the industry, will speak at a House panel later today to argue against the bill. Automakers say AM radio isn't necessary since
emergency alerts are sent out over several platforms. Seven automakers have gotten rid of
AM radio in their evs because they say electromagnetic interference disrupts AM signals. Ford
had planned on dropping AM but decided not to after pushback from lawmakers. Pougeot's
new interiors are gonna be wild. It calls its interior design I Cockpit and
this is the newest generation that will debut in the all new All Electric three thousand and eight cross over. This September. Overall, it's a Wedgie look
with angular and somewhat blocky components which seem imbedded into surfaces, yet contrasting materials and well defined lines helps create separation. There's also a large scallop section out
of the upper dashing doors that's highlighted with a bright mesh pattern. Rounding out
the highlights is a large floating twenty one inch display screen that combines the instrument cluster and infotainment together, and that brings us to the end of today's show.
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