AD #3683 - Toyota 1st with Non-Union Pay Raises; BMW Thinks New Batteries As Good As Tesla; VinFast Considering $20K EV for the U.S.

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

We knew this would happen, but we didn't know it would be so quick. Just a few days after the UAW reached a record deal with the

Detroit Automakers, Toyota is boosting the wages of its non union production workers in the US. Top wage hourly workers will see a pay boost of a little

over nine percent to nearly thirty five dollars an hour, while skilled trade workers get a three dollars and seventy cent increase to just over forty three dollars an hour. Toyota also cut the time it takes to reach a top wage from

eight years to four years, and it boosted paid time off. This move

was clearly in response to the uaw's new pending contracts. Automotive News reports that

Toyota typically gives raises twice a year, and it had already given it second one, a twenty five cent increase in September, so this third wage hike is unusual, and it's a much bigger increase than the last raise. The

UAW has failed spectacularly at trying to organize the plans of foreign automakers and Tesla, But with record contracts likely to be signed and new more aggressive leadership, the UAW may have its best chance ever. That's why we're seeing this move

from Toyota, and other non union automakers will do the same. BMW is

really bullish on its new battery cells that it just started making samples of at the end of last month. The automaker's head of production no longer thinks it

has to catch up to EV leader Tesla, saying quote, Tesla needs to close the gap with us. In fact, we don't see a gap to

Tesla. That might be a premature statement since BMW won't launch its new batteries

until twenty five, which gives Tesla time to improve. But BMW claims its

new forty six series cells are twenty percent more energy dense than its current batteries and will help its next generation of evs called the New Class, get about thirty percent more driving range. But until those models start hitting the market,

BMW keeps expanding its current BV lineup, like the new IX two that just started rolling off the assembly line. It comes standard with all wheel drive,

over three hundred and ten horse power, and a nearly sixty five kilowat hour battery pack that provides up to four hundred and forty nine kilometers or two hundred and seventy nine miles of range. And actually it's not just the all electric

version BMW's building at the plant. It's also making the IC and plug in

Hybrid X two, which required a third shift to be added to the plant.

Volvo is forming a new business unit within the company called Volvo Cars Energy Solutions. It will handle all charging related services and technologies that includes helping have

solar panels installed, designing, building and selling energy storage systems that can feed your house or car, developing bi directional chargers, and then making it all work together. The new Energy Solutions division is starting its first bi directional charging

test now, but around twenty twenty five, the total battery capacity of Volvo's evy fleet will be around fifty gigawatt hours, and it wants to be able to tap into that like a mini power grid. Ev batteries startup our next

energy or One announced that it kicked off pilot production of LFP or lithium iyan phosphate battery cells at its plant in Michigan. The pilot line will be used

to validate the batteries, trained workers and provide test samples to customers. Next

year, a larger LFP line is scheduled to go into production, and by twenty twenty seven the plant will have a capacity of twenty gigawatt hours a year, which is enough to build the equivalent of two hundred thousand evs. Tesla's

sales in China dipped slightly in October. According to the China Passenger Car Association,

sales of the ev maker's China made vehicles fell two point six percent to just over seventy two thousand units compared to September, but they were up slightly zero point six percent compared to a year ago. Tesla only started delivering the

updated version of the Model three at the end of October in China, so it wouldn't be surprising to see its sales improve this month. Meanwhile, its

main rival, BYD had a great month, delivering more than three hundred and one thousand BEVs and pehebs, up five percent from September and thirty eight percent compared to a year ago. Toyota revealed the next variant of its Crown models.

As we reported recently. Toyota will have four versions of the Crown.

The one it sells now it calls the Crossover type. It's also taking orders

for the Crown Sport in Japan, but I believe it will sell this model in North America as well. It just revealed the Crown Sedan and a version

called the Crown Estate will come sometime before the end of March of next year.

The Crown Sedan sits lower to the ground and features a fastback rear end.

A horizontal lighting theme is picked up on the front and rear, and to me the vertical bars in the grill give it a more premium look.

Power will come from either a hybrid or fuel cell set up. The hybrid

is a two motor system paired with a two and a half liter engine.

The fuel cell is the same three tanks set up as the Marai and provides about eight hundred and twenty kilometers or nearly five hundred and ten miles of driving range. Toyota is taking orders for the Crown Sedan in Japan right now,

but no word on availability for other markets. The luxury side of the autow

industry is going strong. Ferrari posted impressive third quarter earnings. The automaker sold

three thousand, four hundred and fifty nine vehicles, up nine percent compared to last year. That brought in one point five billion euros of revenue, again

a twenty four percent. It posted an adjusted ebit of four hundred and twenty

three million euros, up forty two percent, and an adjusted net profit of three hundred and thirty two million euros, up forty six percent from a year ago. Thanks to those strong numbers, Ferrari raised its forecast for its full

year earnings and the company should continue to see success for the foreseeable future.

CEO Benedetto Vigna says its orders are at their highest levels ever and that it's books solid through twenty twenty five. No, this isn't an April fool's joke.

Honda is launching a compact electric scooter that folds up into what it calls briefcase size. But I'd say that's a pretty darn big briefcase anyway. It's

called the Motocompacto and was inspired by the Honda Moto Compo scooter from the early nineteen eighties. The new model has a top speed of fifteen miles an hour

a range of twelve miles, and it comes standard with a charger that can be stowed on board. The Motocompacto is available to order online right now through

participating Honda an Accurate Dear dealerships, and it has a starting price just under one thousand bucks. If dealers get their way, a much more affordable EV

will be coming to the US. EV startup VinFast showed its mini suv called

the VF three to dealerships in the US and it said that the response was positive, so it's now considering adding the model to its lineup in the US with a starting price around twenty thousand dollars. Vin Fast says quote further details

will be announced in due course. Hey, now that the UAW strikes are

coming to an end, is it the right time to buy a car?

That's going to be the topic on today's Auto Line After Hours, which goes live at three pm Eastern Time. That brings us to the end of today's

show. Thanks for tuning in. Auto Line Daily is brought to you by

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AD #3683 - Toyota 1st with Non-Union Pay Raises; BMW Thinks New Batteries As Good As Tesla; VinFast Considering $20K EV for the U.S.

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