AD #3636 - Ford to Ax 5 ICE Models; Renault’s Ampere to Do an IPO; Want A $20,000 Used Car? Good Luck

This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.

Ford is taking an axe to five of its ICE models as part of its transition to electric. Automotive News reports that the Escape will get dropped in

twenty twenty five, as will the Edge and the Lincoln Corsair and Aviator.

The Transit Connect will get shot from Ford's US lineup, but it will continue in Europe. We suspect that these are also vehicles with low are next to

no profit margins. Ev transition or not, automakers don't get rid of models

that are highly profitable. HiT's up, bits down, HiT's up again.

VinFast Stock has been on a wild roller coaster ride ever since it's IPO two weeks ago, and right now it's rocketing upwards again. Share shot up thirty

percent this morning and early trading, adding fifty billion dollars of market capitalization to the Vietnamese car company. That early morning surge alone was more than GM or

Ford are worth. In fact, vin fast now has a one hundred and

sixty billion dollar market cap, making it the third most valuable automaker in the world, only behind Tesla and Toyota. And ahead of Mercedes, Benz and

Volkswagen. We think that speculators are driving the stock surge because it sure wasn't

coming from car sales. Vin Fast says it will sell fifty thousand evs this

year, but so far in the US at least, it only sold one hundred and thirty seven. There's a big problem in pickup land. Both GM

and Ford are cutting pickup truck production this week because of a part shortage, but neither company will say what those parts are. Ford's Kansas City plant,

which normally runs on three shifts, is only running on one, and GM's Fort Wayne plant has shut down completely. Production is expected to resume next week.

But it seems like more than a coincidence that both companies were affected at the same time with the same kind of product, So it sounds to us like the problem was with a supplier that they both use. Guerrilla Performance,

a tuning shop located in Idaho, is being fined a million bucks by the EPA for selling diesel emission defeat devices for trucks. The agency set it sold

tens of thousands of devices, which allow owners to bypass emission control components.

The EPA also find another company sinister diesel a million bucks earlier this month for the same thing. The Agency estimates that fifteen percent of diesel trucks in the

US have illegal devices installed to bypass emissions the emissions that they spew, sometimes doing it. Massive plumes of black smoke called rolling coal or coal rolling feature

unburned hydrocarbons that are extremely carcinogenic and can embed in your lungs. At Schiffler,

we pioneer Motion Electrifying mobility, manufacturing smarter, reducing CO two emissions, making energy production clean. Scheffler Pioneer's Motion to advance how the world moves.

It's getting harder and harder to find an affordable use car in the US.

According to a study from iccars dot com, use cars priced under twenty thousand dollars that are one to five years old made up nearly half the market four years ago, but today they only account for twelve percent, and the cost for a used car has gone up significantly as well. In twenty nineteen,

the average price was just over twenty three thousand dollars. Today it's well over

thirty four grand. Used cars also have more mileage on them. On average,

they now have around sixty three thousand, five hundred miles, which is forty six percent higher than in twenty nineteen. Ic Car says that's because consumers

are hanging onto their vehicles longer because they can't afford to or don't want to pay higher prices for new or used vehicles. Renault is treating its Ampeer ev

unit as a truly standalone business. It will separate it from the ICE part

of the company in November, and CEO Luca DeMeo says RENAULTA is targeting an IPO for Amper in the spring of twenty twenty four. Ward in Toyota have

also separated the ev in icet sides of the companies, and this makes us wonder if either of them will list it on the stock market like Renault.

Last week we looked at a couple of new Camper vans, and here's another one, but with a lot more style. Satroan is recreating its iconic h

van, which was sold from nineteen forty seven until nineteen eighty one, and here's a good example that we spotted on a recent trip to New York.

The new type Holiday is based on a current Satroan van, the Space Tour, but it features a completely cost of body kit to make it look like the Classic, which was originally called the Type H that includes its squared off nose with giant chevrons in the grill, bugeye headlights, luvered body panels, and simple steel wheels. Satro And actually built this van years ago, but

it's keeping it up to date with this new caravanning theme. Plus it gives

us an excuse to show you some cool pictures. Chinese vehicle maker x Pung

says it's the first of flying an ev TALL, or electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, across a river in China. Carnews China reports that it took

its latest generation EV TALL, called the x Pung X two, four minutes to make the one point five kilometer or roughly one mile journey. That means

it only went fifteen miles an hour or about twenty four kilometers an hour.

We're unsure of the top speed, but the X two is capable of flying for about twenty five minutes, so it's going to be limited to short distances and small loads. The aircraft weighs six hundred and eighty kilograms or about fifteen

hundred pounds, and can carry up to one hundred and sixty kilograms or three hundred and fifty two pounds. X Pung says deliveries will start in twenty twenty

five, with an expected starting price in the one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand dollars range, and while that's clearly for a wealthier customer, lower priced nevs seem to still be resonating with Chinese buyers as long as they're new.

Even models that are only a few years old, like the Wooling Mini EV, are seeing their sales plateau. That's one of the reasons we think brands

like Geelie keep introducing more versions of their affordable cars, like the new night version of its Panda EV, which starts around ten grand. It features design

elements that give it a more rugged look. In fact, we're seeing a

lot of American suv styling influence in a number of new Chinese evs. That

includes Cherries I car O three, which is expected to launch next month with a starting price around twenty thousand dollars. It's a front wheel drive suv with

a one hundred and thirty five kilowatt or one hundred and eighty four horsepower electric motor and an estimated five hundred kilometers or three hundred and ten miles of range.

A four wheel drive version is said to be coming later as well.

I Car is Cherry's new brand aimed at younger buyers, and it wants to eventually have a seven car lineup That brings us to the end of today show thanks for making Auto line a part of your day. Autoline Daily is brought

to you by Bridgetone Solutions for your journey Intrepid Control Systems. Over the year

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AD #3636 - Ford to Ax 5 ICE Models; Renault’s Ampere to Do an IPO; Want A $20,000 Used Car? Good Luck

Ford Escape

Ford Edge

Lincoln Corsair

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