The episode covers several key automotive industry developments, including shareholder pressure on Toyota to fully commit to EVs, Neo's financial struggles despite strong design, and Tesla's innovative retail approach in China. GM hints at evolving the Chevy Bolt with Ultium technology, while VW teases an electric Beetle concept tied to a superhero movie. The discussion also touches on charging standards, with GM and Ford adopting Tesla's system amid industry debates, and Volkswagen's cost-cutting plans. Hyundai and Kia are collaborating on EV tech through a new joint organization, highlighting shifts in automaker strategies.
Topics:toyota ev strategyneo financial troublestesla retail experiencechevy bolt futurevw electric beetleev charging standardsgm ford tesla chargingautomaker cost cuttinghyundai kia collaborationelectric vehicle development
- Pension Funds Want Akio Out of Toyota - Nio Is Running into Trouble - Tesla Displays Manufacturing to Attract Customers - GM, Ford, VW All Want to Cut $3 Billion - Hyundai-Kia To Merge R and D Ops - Chevy Bolt Likely Going to Ultium Platform - VW Teases Electric Beetle - CharIn Disses Tesla’s NACS - Tesla to Earn Billions in Charging Revenue from Non-Tesla Brands
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This is Auto Ligne Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Big pension funds in the US, an asset managers in the EU
want Akio Toyota thrown out as chairman of Toyota. They're angry that the company
will not set a date to stop making vehicles with internal combustion engines and make only evs instead. Toyota has a shareholder's meeting on Wednesday, and the pension
funds, which own large chunks of Toyota stock, planned to vote to get rid of Akio, who has spoken out against completely getting rid of ice vehicles right now, instead using hybrids as a bridge to be evs. In any
case, there's not a snowball's chance in hell that shareholders will vote to remove Akio. Last year, he was renominated chairman with a ninety six percent approval.
Chinese automaker Neo has earned the respect of many legacy automakers for its design, technology and innovation. Some even say its electric cars are as good as
anything from Mercedes Benz. But Neo is running into problems in China. Its
monthly sales are down almost fifty percent from their peak in February. It's cutting
the price of its cars by over four thousand dollars and it will eliminate free battery swapping. It posted a net loss in the first quarter that was two
and a half times worse than the year before, which will probably hurt profitability even more, and its stock price is down twenty percent this year. E
These startups all over the world are struggling to gain traction, but it sure is surprising to see Neo running into so many problems. If you're an automaker,
how do you break out of the clutter and get people to look at your cars and your company? Well, if you're Tesla, you create an
immersive retail experience that highlights all of your manufacturing technology. And Chengdu, China,
Tesla has a new store that displays cutaways of the body in white so people can see where the giga castings are located. It also features industrial robots
painted Tesla red and display cases with components that look like trophy displays. Chinese
car buyers are keenly interested in technology, and we're guessing that Tesla is hoping to convince them that its cars are superior. There's something special about the number
three billion. That's how much GM and Ford have said they need to cut
and costs, and now Reuters reports that Volkswagen Supervisory Board is meeting tomorrow to discuss cutting three billion euros across its brands. CEO Oliver Bluma reportedly wants to
curb development work and make better use of its German plants, particularly at VW and Audie. Automakers are seeing their profit margins stagnating and want to cut costs
to get them higher. Despite being part of the same group, there's always
been a clear delineation between the Hyundai and Kia brands, even a little healthy competition, but that competition is turning into collaboration. They're creating a new independent
business called the Allianced Tech Organization that will be in charge of all vehicle research and development, including EV's software and technology. Vehicles from Hyundai, Kia,
and Genesis will now be grouped together into classes to help speed up development.
The Hyundai Group's current president, Joan Hua Kim, will be in charge of the Alliance Tech Organization. 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. So maybe
the Chevy Bolt isn't dead. After saying she absolutely loves the Bolt EUV,
Mary Barra was asked, then, why is GM killing off the EV.
The CEO's response quote, because it's our second generation technology. She then goes
on to say how there's a forty percent reduction in battery costs between Altium and the current Bolt platform, and how GM is leveraging vehicle names that are well understood, and how Bolt has built up a lot of loyalty. Bara continues,
which she can't say more because she doesn't talk about future vehicle programs, but then says it was primarily a move from the second generation to the third generation and calls the Bolt an important part of GM's portfolio. That seems like
a lot of hinting at a new Bolt to me. Last year, Bolt
sales top thirty eight thousand units, which is only a few thousand more than the Corvette, but with increased production, GM expects to make about seventy thousand Bolts in twenty twenty three. VW could be coming out with an electric Beatle.
It's sponsoring a kid's superhero movie where the main characters will drive cars from VW's idy family of evs, and one of those is an electric Beatle concept.
It's also fitting that the superhero's name is Ladybug. But if I'm not
mistaken, I think this is the first time VW is shown an ID Beetle.
Have you ever heard of an organization called Charin? Neither had we until
ford In General Motors announced they're going to adopt Tesla's and ACS charging standard.
That's when Charin, which established the CCS charging standard, protested that teslas system is not really a standard. Charin is a global association focused on all forms
of electric transportation and has over three hundred and twenty members, and it wants Tesla to submit its system to organizations that set standards like the ISO, the SAE, or the I Triple E to ensure that Tesla's system offers reliability, safety, and adaptability. But maybe Charin was not aware that Tesla was part
of the saees efforts to establish the j seventeen seventy two two thousand and nine charging standard for North America. That was over a decade ago, and the
way we hear it, no one on the SAE committee was interested in Tesla's suggestions. So while they went off and eventually developed the CCS plug that are
widely used today, Tesla went off and developed its own system. And now
it looks like Tesla's system is going to become the North American standard, whether Charin wants to call it a standard or not. And by the way,
Tesla is going to earn billions by opening up it's supercharger network to other brands.
According to Piper Sandler, the company will make three billion dollars in charging revenue from non Tesla brands by twenty thirty and five point four billion by twenty thirty two. GM and Ford recently announced plans to adopt Tesla's North American charging
standard, and we think other automakers will do the same. And that brings
us to the end of today's show. Thanks for tuning in. Autoline Daily
is brought to you by bridgtone 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 smart, reducing CO two emissions, making energy production clean. Scheffler Pioneer's motion to advance how the world moves
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