AD #3670 - UAW A Threat to D3 EV Investments; Hongqi’s $680,000 Limousine; Toyota Unveils Electric Concepts

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

Day thirty two of the UAW strike, and it looks like the automakers are in no mood to concede anything more to the union. JP Morgan estimates

that Ford is losing forty four million dollars a day while GM is losing twenty one million dollars, and the automakers worry that the union is trying to force them into a bad deal that will leave them uncompetitive in the marketplace. Morgan

Stanley says a new contract could force the automakers to cut back on their capital spending and delay their EV programs. In contrast to the uaw's approach, the

Canadian union Uniform is getting the results it wants without all the bitterness. Even

though it took a brief strike that only lasted hours, GM workers in Canada overwhelmingly approved a new contract that includes twenty percent raises, a transition to top pay in four years instead of eight years for new employees, plus fully defined pensions. In Coola, Unifour has settled with GM and Ford and it will

now negotiate with Stalantis and the Canadians will likely have a contract with all three automakers before the union even gets one. Meanwhile, Sean Fain is generating solidarity

with other unions from Europe. Here's what he said in his latest video.

I want to acknowledge our international union family who've made the long trip to the United States to stand in solidarity and stand up with our members. Leaders from

FIOME, the largest industrial union in Italy, came here. I'm wearing their

hoodie today. They were joined by our union family from Unite the Powerhouse UK

union also attending. We're leaders from industry, all the global elite labor federation

that we all belong to. Our fights not just about us, It's about

the working class. Our companies exploit workers across borders. It's our job to

unite and organize across the borders as well. While Faine is talking about working

with European unions, we wonder if he'll reach out to unions in Mexico as well. Okay, let's move past our union coverage. GM's autonomous division,

Cruise, is expanding its business. It's now offering rights to the public in

Houston for its driverless service, and the company says it updated its vehicles to improve interactions with emergency vehicles and first responders after several incidents. By working with

the police, ems and fire officials, Cruise's vehicles can better recognize an emergency situation, exit a scene more quickly, and have improved emergency vehicle prediction behavior.

Cruise has also made it so far first responders can move a vehicle manually if they need to. At Scheffler 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. Toyota has started putting a lot more effort into its

evs and will use the Japan Mobility Show at the end of the month to reveal a couple of concepts that hint at its electric future. The FT three

E is an suv that looks like it could have a similar shape to the Jaguar Ipace and will display the charge level and interior temp and air quality on a long band that stretches across the lower part of the front doors. And

the ftse is a sports car that is meant to have a more immersive driving experience with several display screens mounted around the rectangular steering wheel. Toyota recently showed

how it's going to take a more modular approach to vehicle manufacturing, and despite the big differences in these concepts, they'll share major components with each other.

It also says it wants these cars to continue to grow with the driver through software updates, as well as offer convenience functions that sound like different levels of eight ass and hands free driving. We'll learn more when the Japan Mobility Show

kicks off on October twenty sixth. California has already mandated that all new car

sales must be electric by twenty thirty five, and now it's mandating that all new school buses must also be electric by the same time. The state estimates

that it will cost five billion dollars to make the transition, but school districts will save money in the long term from not having to spend money on fuel, and they could also earn money with bidirectional charging. California is the fifth

state to mandate electric school buses, joining Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, and New York. Chinese automaker hon Kei, which is the high end luxury brand

of state owned FAW just got approval for the newest version of its L five sedan. Not much has changed from the all new model that came out in

twenty fourteen, other than a bigger grill and a two tone paint job, but with an intended target of high ranking Chinese officials and the ultra wealthy, the L five has some impressive stats that are hard to pass up. It's

over nineteen and a half feet or nearly six meters long, which is more than sixteen inches longer than a my box. It weighs three thousand, one

hundred and fifty kilograms or about seven thousand pounds, and features are roughly three hundred and ninety horse power four liter V eight engine. A price tag of

five million yuan or six hundred and eighty thousand dollars is just as impressive as its size. Thanks to the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Car

News China, we're getting our first look at fall those first minivan, the EM ninety. It's an all electric model that's based on the same platform as

the Zeker Double nine, which comes from parent company gl It's nearly the exact same size as the current Chrysler pacifica minivan. A single two hundred and seventy

two horsepower electric motor will drive the rear wheels, and it will feature an NMC or nickel manganese cobalt battery pack from CTL, but its capacity is unknown at this time spec There will also be several other variants of the EM ninety, including with all wheel drive, but that's all the details we have for now. You can now buy a Ferrari with crypto. The automaker's head of

marketing told Reuters that it's now accepting crypto currency as payment for its cars in the US, and it will start doing the same in Europe in the first quarter of next year. It will eventually extend to other markets where it's legally

accepted as well. Ferrari says it made this decision because of requests from customers

and dealers, and that makes a lot of sense because there's a lot of crypto millionaires out there. As you may remember, Tesla began to accept payments

in bitcoin in twenty twenty one, but Elon Musk put a stop to it over environmental concerns because of all the electric energy that's needed for mining the currency.

But that brings us to the end of today's show. Thanks for tuning

in. Altoline Daily is brought to you by Bridgestone Solutions for your journey,

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AD #3670 - UAW A Threat to D3 EV Investments; Hongqi’s $680,000 Limousine; Toyota Unveils Electric Concepts

Jaguar Ipace

Chrysler Pacifica

Chevrolet Cobalt

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