AD #3616 - We Crawl Around GM’s Brightdrop EV; Lamborghini Catching Up To Ferrari; Toyota Ramps Up China R and D

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

AD #3616 - We Crawl Around GM’s Brightdrop EV; Lamborghini Catching Up To Ferrari; Toyota Ramps Up China R and D

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