This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
The UAW is really cranking up the heat on the Detroit automakers and is going after the company's most profitable plants. Yesterday, it ordered five thousand workers
at GM's plant in Arlington, Texas, to go on strike. That plant
builds the Chevy Tahoe in suburban GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade. Many automotive analysts
believe it is the most profitable assembly plant in the world. The strike at
Arlington was announced shortly after GM reported a three point one billion dollar net profit for the third quarter. UAW president Sean Fain immediately issued a statement saying record
profits equal record contracts. GM said it was disappointed by the expansion of the
strike and called it unnecessary and irresponsible. After forty one days, which is
longer than the forty days strike against GM in twenty nineteen, the UAW is now hitting the Detroit three where it really hurts. In addition to GM's Arlington
plant, it shut down Stallantis's Ram truck plant in Michigan and Ford's Kentucky truck plant, and those closures will start to cause immediate financial pain for the car companies. And it's been a really bad week for GM CEO Mary Barra.
First, the union shut down her most profitable plant. Then, despite Sean
Fain saying GM made record profits, that's not actually the case. GM's Q
three profit was actually down six percent. And now GM's autonomous unit, Cruise,
was shut down in California. The California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Cruise's
deployment and testing permits because it says the robotaxis quote are not safe for the public's operations. Cruise will pause its operations in San Francisco, but the company
can still operate vehicles as long as there's a human safety driver on board.
The California DMV's decision comes after Cruise vehicles recently interfered with emergency responders and has been involved in two pedestrian collisions, one of which is under federal investigation.
Even so, Waimo is still running robotaxis in California. This morning, Honda
announced it's not going to collaborate with General Motors to develop low cost electric cars.
Bloomberg reports it's due to GM delaying some of its evs for up to a year, partly because of the UAW strike. That strike is now costing
GM two hundred million dollars a week in lost profits on top of the eight hundred million dollars it's already lost. GM and Honda were going to jointly develop
a low cost EV platform with a twenty twenty seven launch date that would get them enormous economies of scale. But now they're going to develop low cost evs
on their own. And speaking of evs, the battery maker LG Energy Solutions
warns that EV growth could be lower next year, especially because of economic slowdowns in Europe and China. The chief financial officer of LGES also said that higher
wages at the battery joint ventures with GM, Stilantis, and Ford could have a significant impact on the car company's profits and operations. But even though the
growth in EV demand may be slowing, it's still growing. LG is building
eight battery factories in North America that will have a combined three hundred gigawatt hours of annual production. It's also going to start making forty six series cylindrical batteries
and lower cost LFP batteries. We want to know what drives you are testing
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you work from anywhere. Intrepid Control Systems driven by your data. The Japan
Mobility Show officially kicked off, and we've got a number of things to show you, so let's dive into it. Toyota revealed the physical versions of several
of the concepts that's been teasing recently, including the FT THREEE, the FTSE, and the IMV zero, which is a modular pickup that it says it will launch an Asian market soon. No word if the other two will make
it into production, but Toyota talks about how it wants to develop smaller and lighter components for its evs, which will result in smaller, lower and lighter models, as well as offer the benefits of a software to find vehicle through its new software system called Auren. Toyota CEO Coch Sato says Lexus will be
the first brand to get models with these new core values, and as luck would have it, Lexis revealed two models that take advantage of the company's next GENBEV platform. The lf ZC is a wild looking sedan that slated to come
out in twenty twenty six and will feature large castings, the ability to drive itself down certain sections of the assembly line, and next gen prismatic battery cells that it hopes will nearly double the range of its current evs. Then there's
the lf ZL an suv that it calls its flagship luxury model but doesn't say when it will be out, just that it offers a glimpse into the brand's future. Mitsubishi revealed this futuristic looking van concept called the DX that hints at
what its Deleka van could look like in the future. The concept as a
plug in hybrid, but Mitsubishi didn't share any details about the powertrain other than it features electric four wheel drive. It has a spacious interior that can seed
up to six passengers, and the seats can rotate and move up and down to help optimize space. Another unique feature is that the windshield extends further down
into the hood to help expand the driver's field of vision. There was also
a Godzilla sighting in Tokyo. Nissan pulled the wraps off another one of its
hyper concepts, This one called the hyper Force, that clearly has gtr vibes.
Not only the overall shape, but also those tail lights. Oh in
the fact that there's a GTR logo in the grill that's also a giveaway as well. Nissan says a car like the Hyperforce would have solid state batteries,
all wheel drive, and up to one thousand kilowatts or thirteen hundred and forty horse power. And Nissan's sister company, Infinity, debuted in all new electric
sedan concept called the Vision QE. While the styling is much bolder than its
current lineup, the Vision QI is not nearly as wild as Nissans concepts as you would expect from a premium brand. Styling is more sophisticated, and we
should expect to see elements of this concept and upcoming models, because Infinity says it's a preview of its electric future. And up next is this sleek compact
sportscar concept from Mazda called the Iconic sp It's powered by the company's to Rotary EV system, which uses a rotary engine that runs on carbon neutral fuel as a range extender. Mazda says the car has a low center of gravity and
a near fifty to fifty weight distribution to help improve driving performance. As we
mentioned, earlier in the show, GM and Honda are going to make their own low cost evs, and Honda is giving us an idea of what those could look like with the sustain a C and the CIMEV concepts. The sustain
as C is made of acrylic resin, which makes many of its components more recyclable and easier to reuse. The CIMEV is meant to be accessible to anyone
and to be used for short trips. But the thing that's got everyone's hearts
thumping in Honda's booth is a new prelude concept. It may call this a
concept, but that doesn't look like concept styling to me. It's refined and
I wouldn't be surprised to hear about a production version within the next year.
You know, it is good to see Japanese automakers showing off so many new electric vehicles for their home market in the world, because they've been lagging behind.
But they still need to move fast because Chinese automakers have already swooped in to fill that hole, and they continue to expand byd displayed mass market evs at the show like the Seal Sedan, but also a premium van called the Denza D nine and the ultra luxury yang wang U eight which starts at one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. So now it looks like Chinese automakers want to
start attacking other ed segments in Japan. That brings us to the end of
today's show. Thanks for tuning in. Autoline Daily is brought to you by
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About this episode
The episode covers major developments in the automotive industry, focusing on the UAW strike hitting GM's most profitable plant and its financial impact. GM CEO Mary Barra faces challenges including a suspension of Cruise's autonomous operations in California and a split with Honda on low-cost EV development. The Japan Mobility Show highlights innovative concept vehicles from Toyota, Lexus, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Infiniti, Mazda, and Honda, showcasing advances in EV technology and design. The episode also discusses LG Energy Solutions' warning about slowing EV growth due to economic factors and rising labor costs, while Chinese automakers expand aggressively into the Japanese market.
- UAW Hits D3 Where It Hurts - It’s Been a Bad Week for Mary Barra - GM, Honda Drop Low-Cost EV Project - LG Warns of Slowing EV Growth - Toyota Reveals Concepts at Japan Mobility Show - Mitsu’s Futuristic Delica - Godzilla Sighted in Tokyo - Infiniti Concept Is Bold, But Not Crazy Bold - Mazda Still Fixated on Rotary EREV - Honda’s Low-Cost EV Concepts - BYD Takes on The Japanese Market
