The discussion covers the mixed reactions to the new UAW contract, with several locals rejecting it despite most approvals. U.S. EV sales hit record quarterly numbers but show signs of slowing, prompting cautious automaker plans. Key developments include new EV repair standards by CARB, Continental's job cuts amid EV transition, and Renault's electric retrofit kits for classic cars. China’s car market remains strong, and Volvo is launching a high-end electric minivan with advanced tech. Tesla introduces resale restrictions on the Cybertruck to curb flipping. The episode also highlights ongoing investments in EV supply chains and manufacturing.
Topics:uaw contract rejectionev sales trendsev repair standardscontinental job cutselectric car retrofitschina car marketvolvo electric minivantesla cybertruck resale restrictionsev supply chain investmentsautomaker ev production plans
- More UAW Locals Rejecting New Contract - U.S. EV Sales Up Strong, But Slowing - Exxon To Mine Lithium in Arkansas - EVs To Get Standard Diagnostic Port - Continental Axes Thousands of Jobs - Renault Offers EV Retrofit Kit for Renault 5 - Car Sales Recovering in China - Volvo’s $100,000 Electric Minivan - Tesla Threatens to Sue for Flipping Cybertruck
"...ly would like to do this with a seventh gen Chevy Suburban, which was sold between nineteen seventy three an..."
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This was Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
Oh looks like UAW President Sean Fain may have raised expectations too high for some of his membership. Remember when negotiations got going, Fane demanded a forty
percent raise, a four day workweek, and a return to full pensions.
None of that is in the final contract, and now some UAW locals are rejecting it. Workers at GM's Flint Assembly, Pontiac Stamping, Marion Stamping,
and Romulus Engine rejected it. At Ford, workers at Kentucky Assembly and Lakeland
Parts voted it down, and so did workers at Stalantis's Milwaukee Auto parts facility.
Most workers have actually approved the contract by fairly healthy margins, but more plants have yet to vote, and there seems to be growing backlash. Some
militant workers want Sean Fain to go back to the bar targeting tables and get them more of what he said he was going to get them. So are
sales of evs really slowing down or not? While the numbers tell a mixed
story, Wards reports that in the US over three hundred and thirteen thousand evs were sold in the third quarter, the first time they've ever exceeded three hundred thousand units for a quarter, and they were up fifty percent from a year ago. And for the year, ev sales will top one million units,
probably before Thanksgiving. Even so, sales slowed dramatically from the second quarter to
the third. They rose less than one percent, and that's why you're hearing
about automakers delaying plans to build more evs. Those sales are still strong.
They're worried about that slow down. Even so, there is still a lot
of investment pouring into making evs and getting the raw materials needed to make them.
For example, the US is in talks with Indonesia to secure supplies of nickel for batteries. In a surprise development exon set it will start mining lithium
in Arkansas in twenty twenty seven. And in South Korea, Honday announced it's
building a new one point five billion dollar assembly plant that will open in twenty twenty six. It will have a capacity to make two hundred thousand evs a
year, and the first model off the line will be an electric suv from Genesis. Speaking of evs, they should be a lot easier to repair in
twenty twenty six. The California Air Resources Board or CARB, adopted a new
set of regulations last year that says, by twenty twenty six, all zero emission vehicles, including plug in hybrids and b evs, must have a standard set of data that can be read by a scan tool and a standard diagnostic port to plug it into. Basically, it will be easier to figure out
what's actually going wrong with an electric vehicle because it allows users to access things like battery health and charging ability, as well as giving into and repair shops access to the same info and tools that franchise dealers use. Carbon is still
waiting on a grant from the EPA to make it official, but seven other states have adopted the same regulations, so it has the potential to become a national standard. 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. The German supplier Continental announced it's slashing thousands of jobs
at its automotive division worldwide in order to cut costs. While the company didn't
reveal how many jobs it's cutting. Germany's Manager magazine reports it will be fifty
five hundred. Continental says it's making the cuts to reduce annual costs by four
hundred million euros or about four hundred and thirty million bucks. While Conti expects
a strong fourth quarter for its automotive unit, it's forecasting a more conservative outlook next year because of the transition to electric vehicles. In fact, the company
is considering selling its autonomous business or looking for partners to join it, and it may even spin off its entire automotive business and just concentrate on selling tires.
Renault is making it so you can convert some of its classic cars to electric. Earlier this year, in ev retrofit kit for the old Renault four
was introduced, and now it's doing the same for the Renault five. The
kit includes a ten point seven kilowatt hour lithium iron phosphate or LFP battery which provides about eighty kilometers or forty nine miles of range, and a twenty two kilowat synchronous brushless motor. The vehicle keeps its original transmission. The kit,
which is offered by a company called ur Fit, sells for a little under sixteen thousand euros, and Renault says a kit for the Twingle will be coming soon too. I find the price to be a little high, but I
love the idea of converting a classic car to electric. I personally would like
to do this with a seventh gen Chevy Suburban, which was sold between nineteen seventy three and nineteen ninety one. And let us know what you would like
to convert in the comments. Car sales in China were strong last month.
According to the China Passenger Car Association. Automakers sold just over two million vehicles
in October, up ten percent from a year ago, but it was just a point seven percent increase from September. New energy vehicles, which include beevs
and PEVs, accounted for thirty seven percent of saleales last month, with around four hundred and sixty seven thousand sold byd LED all automakers with more than two hundred and forty six thousand sales, with nearly one hundred and thirty four thousand of those being pure electric, its market shares now at twelve percent. Volkswagen
was in second in sales last month, falling just shy of two hundred thousand units. And Toyota rounds out the top three with just over one hundred and
fifty thousand vehicles sold. Volvo is getting ready to launch its first minivan,
the EM ninety. The model will feature a one hundred and sixteen kilowad hour
battery pack that provides up to seven hundred and thirty eight kilometers or nearly four hundred and sixty miles of range on the Chinese test cycle. Power comes from
a two hundred kilowat electric motor that drives the rear wheels and allows the van to go from zero to one hundred kilometers an hour in eight point three seconds.
Volvo also says an all wheel drive version will come at a later date.
In the technology department, the EM ninety will come with a number of cameras and sensors that reportedly allow for Level two plus automated driving. It will
also have bi directional charging, a Qualcomm snap Dragon platform to run the digital experience in its luxurious interior, and Ota capability like the ability to add road noise cancelation. But here's what we find most interesting. The EM ninety will
start at one hundred and twelve thousand dollars in China. Volvo is owned by
Chinese automaker Gili. Gili also runs another EV brand called Zeker, and the
Volvo EM ninety is actually based on the Zeker Double O nine, but the Double O nine has a starting price under seventy thousand dollars in China, even though it too is pretty luxurious, so we will be interested to see how the EM ninety is priced for other markets. Tesla is doing what it can
to prevent early cyber truck buyers from immediately flipping it. The company added a
clause to its purchase agreement that says owners can't sell the model for a year, and if they do need to sell it within the first year, the owner must first give Tesla first dibbs before going to the public. But if
an owner sells a cyber truck without telling Tesla, the company can sue them for fifty thousand dollars or more and it may refuse to sell them any vehicles in the future. Tesla isn't the only automaker that's done this. Ford had
a similar clause with the GT and GM did the same with the Hummer Eve.
And if you haven't done it yet, check out the new autoline website.
We've got a far cleaner design that is especially mobile friendly, so you can catch our latest news and reports wherever you're on the go. But that
brings us to the end of today's show. Thanks for tuning in. Auto
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