Exploring GM's Brightdrop EV van reveals impressive fit and finish with unique features like all-wheel drive and composite leaf springs. Michigan Supreme Court ruling boosts supplier leverage in contracts. Lamborghini narrows the sales gap with Ferrari while maintaining exclusivity. Mazda plans to drop its MX-30 EV in the US, focusing on hybrids instead. Renault and Nissan mend alliance rifts with new investments and shared ownership. Toyota accelerates EV R&D in China amid market challenges. Mercedes previews the new CLA with versatile powertrain options launching next year.
Topics:brightdrop ev vanmichigan supreme court rulinglamborghini vs ferrari salesmazda ev discontinuationrenault nissan alliancetoyota ev research chinamercedes new claelectric vehicle developmentautomotive supplier contractschina car exports
- Crawling Around GM’s BrightDrop EV - Auto Suppliers Get Big Legal Win - Lamborghini Catching Up to Ferrari - Mazda To Axe MX-30 EV - Renault and Nissan Kiss and Make Up - Nissan May Need to Export Cars from China - Toyota Ramps Up China R and D - Mercedes CLA Can Go BEV Or ICE
"...sed on GM's al Team platform, like the Hummer and Silverado EV, I was interested in taking a look around the van..."
Select text to request an explanation
This is Autolyging Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
I'm going to bring you into my weekend a little bit. I was
out with a buddy of mine yesterday running some errands when we drove past a bright drop van just sitting in a parking lot. I yelled at him to
stop because I was excited to see it. No one was around to talk
to, but since this is based on GM's al Team platform, like the Hummer and Silverado EV, I was interested in taking a look around the van, and one of the first things that I wanted to look at was fit and finish. The large body panels looked like they're made of some sort of
fiber composite and it's hard to tell if they're painted, but the surface was very uniform. Overall, I felt like it was very good for a commercial
vehicle, but not all the exterior panels lined up perfectly. I'm not sure
if this is final production read quality for how the body is bonded together, and there was a large gap at the base of the a pillar that looked like it could use some weather stripping. I was surprised by how well the
interior was put together, the fit and finish is better than I thought it would be, and there's two digital displays for the driver. Most interesting to
me, though, was the fact that this van was all wheel drive and you can clearly see the axle going to the front wheels in this picture.
And I was really interested in the rear leaf spring setup. I've never seen
a leaf spring shape like this before, with an almost s curve at the top. I think it was a composite not steel spring, but I foolishly
forgot to tap on it to see. Anyways, those were the highlights,
and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. And I've got
to say I'd love to drive one of the bright Drop vans one day.
Automotive suppliers just got a big win in the Michigan Supreme Court. Judges ruled
that automakers have to clearly stipulate how many components or commodities that they're going to buy from a supplier, and the same applies to contracts that suppliers have with their suppliers. Up until now, the language in those contracts was not explicit.
So if production of a certain model dropped for whatever reason, suppliers could get stuck with excess capacity and have little leverage to negotiate for an increase in prices. But Automotive News reports that the Michigan Supreme Court ruling is going to
give suppliers more leverage in their negotiations, and that could be a real help since the supplier industry is under enormous financial pressure right now. Slowly but surely,
Lamborghini is catching up to Ferrari. It's on track to sell over ten
thousand vehicles this year. Last year, Ferrari sold thirteen thousand, two hundred
cars. Three years ago, Lambo was selling about seven thousand, four hundred
a year, so it's closing the gap. But there is a danger here.
When you get into the rarefied atmosphere of exotic sports cars, it's critically important to make sure you keep production just below demand. You need to keep
a few customers waiting in line so that pricing and residual value stay high.
So far, neither Lambo or Ferrari have crossed that line. Lamborghini just reported
its first half earnings and its revenue jumped to one point four billion euros, up a healthy six point seven percent. It's operating profit came in at four
hundred and fifty six million euros, which gave it an operating return on sales of a jaw dropping thirty two point one percent. We want to know what
drives your 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. If Mazda didn't have to comply with zero emission mandates in places like
California, there's no doubt in my mind that it wouldn't have a single electric vehicle in its lineup, and soon it won't. In the US. Mazda
announced it will discontinue the MX thirty EV after the twenty twenty three model year, but it was only ever available in California. Mazda sold about sixty six
units so far this year and about six hundred over its lifetime in the US.
It pulled the model off the market once before and then brought it back again, but it didn't put out a press release about taking it away at that time, so who knows if it will come back. Mazda instead says
it's going to focus hybrids and plug in hybrids in the US market. Renault
and Nissan are finally patching up their disagreements. Nissan was unhappy that Renault had
more power in their alliance even though Nissan is a bigger company, but that's changing and now Nissan will invest six hundred and sixty million dollars into Renault's new EV and software division called Ampier. As part of their new agreement, each
automaker will own fifteen percent of the other. Renault will transfer about thirty percent
of Nissan shares worth about four point two billion dollars into a French trust, and Nissan will get full voting rights in the alliance for the first time.
The two companies will also collaborate to develop vehicles and technologies for Latin America, Europe and India. Meanwhile, Nissan is really struggling in China. Sales plunged
nearly fifty percent last quarter, so to try and maintain some semblance of production, Nissan CEO says the company is considering exporting vehicles from China, but they haven't decided where they'll export them to yet. And as we've reported, China
car exports are soaring because there's so much overcapacity in the country. In the
first half of the year, China exported two point one million vehicles, up seventy five percent from a year ago. Toyota is facing two threats. It's
been slow to get serious about developing electric cars, and it too is losing sales and market share in China, so now it wants to make up for lost time. Not only did Toyota create an all new business unit called the
BEV Factory, it's ramping up it's R and D efforts in China. Part
of that includes embedding EV engineers from Denso and Asin at its R and D lab in China, and Reuters reports that engineers from Chinese automakers Faw, Guangzho and by D will also be located there. The new R and D effort
is being called i EM by Toyota. I EM stands for Intelligent Electromobility.
It will concentrate on developing electric cars and smart cockpits. Mercedes teas the all
new CLA that's gonna debut at the Munich Auto Show in September, and this is going to be the first model that's going to be based on the modular Mercedes architecture, which can support any combination of gas and electric as well as front or all wheel drive. Reports say electric versions will feature either lithium ion
or lithium iron phosphate batteries. The new CLA will be made in China,
Germany and Hungary, and sales kickoff late next year and into twenty five.
But that's a rap for today's show. Thanks for joining us. Autoline Daily
is brought to you by Bridgetone Solutions for your Journey, Intrepid Control Systems over the year, Engineering boost your Game, and by Scheffler We Pioneer Motion.
At Schiffler We Pioneer Emotion, electrifying mobility, manufacturing SMARTA, reducing CO two emissions, making energy production clean. Sheffler Pioneer's Motion to advance how the world moves
Request an explanation for:
2 cars
2 cars featured
Request an Explanation
Heard something you'd like explained? We'll add it to this episode.
Sign in to request explanations for terms you heard.
Want to learn more?
Browse our glossary for plain-English explanations of automotive terms, jargon, and concepts.
See something that's not quite right? Our annotations are AI-generated and can sometimes miss the mark.
Click the flag icon on any annotation to suggest a correction.
