This is out Aligning Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. While it's official, UAW workers at GM, Ford and Stilantis voted
in favor of their new labor contracts. But here's the interesting thing. One
third of UAW workers did not even vote on the contract. In fact,
nearly half of all UAW workers at four did not bother to vote. At
Stilantis, nearly thirty nine percent of workers set out the vote, and at GM is about twenty six percent. That says to us the support for the
contract could be stronger than the final votes even suggest, because we only imagine that if people didn't bother to vote, they're happy enough with the contract that the union negotiated. Even though the voting is over, we're still seeing the
ripple effect of the union's new labor contracts. Subaru told Reuters it will raise
wages for workers at its plant in Lafayette, Indiana, but it hasn't decided by how much yet. So far, Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai have
announced they will raise their wages. UAW president Sean Fain says he's now going
to try and organize the transplants and Evy startups, so then non union automakers will want to raise wages to try and keep the union out. Another development
that could be strike related is that General Motors is going to bring bright Drop into the corporate fold and will no longer let it operate as a separate subsidiary.
Travis Katz, the CEO who was running bright Drop, is going to leave the company and all of bright Drop software and service development will also be integrated into existing GM operations. Maybe General Motors was already contemplating this move,
but it needs to find ways to cut cost to offset the higher price of its new labor contract, and bringing Drop in house is definitely a cost cutting move. Of course, you can't cost cut your way to prosperity. You
have to grow the top line. Two and GM announced it's going to start
selling Cadillac Lyrics in Australia and New Zealand as twenty twenty five models, which suggest they could go on sale their next year. It will also start selling
the Lyric in Sweden, Switzerland and France in the first half of next year.
The Lyric was designed from the outset to accommodate right hand steering, so it should not be an expensive conversion, and that opens up other right hand steering markets like the UK, Japan, in India, but GM did not say if the Lyrics for those markets will be built in the US or in China. Earlier this morning, it unveiled a new rear drive version of the
Lyric for the Chinese market. Up until now, it had only sold all
wheel drive versions there. The rear drive one starts at forty one seventy five
dollars, which is about ten grand less than the all wheel drive version.
Cadillac also teased the Optic, a smaller crossover that will be priced even lower, and it showed two other evs under wraps that will be launched in China by the end of this year, which means we'll see a couple of other reveals in just a few weeks. EV startup Lucid Motors revealed its first SUV,
the Gravity. It shares similar front end styling to the Air Sedan,
and the rear clamshell liftgate mirrors the Air's trunk lid, but it also offers three rows of seating. The Gravity will feature a newer version of Lucid's nine
hundred volt electrical architecture, which will allow it to add up to two hundred miles of range in about fifteen minutes of charging. Overall, it will have
more than four hundred and forty miles or seven hundred and eight kilometers of range.
Lucid was already known for having a compact but powerful electric motor, and it says the suv will get an even newer version of it, which will help it go from zero to sixty and under three and a half seconds and toe up to six thousand pounds. The interior is similar to the air as
well, but there's some different treatments on the dash and doors, and the center's screen is set higher and floating rather than more integrated into the center console.
Lucid hints that the Gravity might have a different battery pack the one in the air ranges from eighty eight to one hundred and eighteen kilowa hours, but it says the Gravity will set new standards for SUVs with a smaller, lighter, more sustainable back repack that is a little more than half the size of some of our battery hungry competitors. Pricing will start at under eighty thousand dollars,
but sales won't kick off until the end of next year. Lucid sales
have been tapering off, so a new model is going to inject some excitement into the company, but it will also be under more pressure to scale up production. The big thing Lucid has going for it that not too many evy
startups have is billion dollar backers in the Saudi Investment Fund. Automakers keep making
steps that are getting us closer to autonomous driving. Honda will offer hands free
driving next year. It's coming out with a new version of its safety technology
called Honda Sensing three sixty plus that adds a driver monitoring system and high definition maps. These new features make it so the system now supports hands free driving
on the highway and lane changes as long as the driver uses the turn signal.
The new Accord is the first model to get Honda Sensing three sixty plus, and China will be the first market where it's available, which will be sometime next year. After that, it goes global. Hondai dealers can sell
vehicles online through Amazon's US stores starting next year. Buyers can search for vehicles,
pick the model, trim, color, and features they want, and choose payment and finance options through Amazon's online checkout. They can then pick it
up or have it delivered to their local dealer. Hondai will use Amazon's Aws
as its cloud provider to help with the automaker's digital transformation for operations, production, and customer service, and Hondai will also integrate Amazon's Alexa voice assistant into vehicles starting in twenty twenty five. Solid state batteries could be a game changer
for electric vehicles, and Chinese automaker GAC announced that it plans to equip its evs with fully solid state batteries in twenty twenty six. The batteries have an
energy density of four hundred watt hours per kilogram, which compares to about three hundred for most of today's batteries, and the company says it will meet safety in reliability standards. That's about all the details we have, but it looks
like GAC could be the first automaker to sell evs with full solid state batteries.
Toyota, Honda, and Nissan are also developing them and are aiming to bring them to market by the end of the decade. You know, I
never realized how tight you have to torque down centerlock wheels. BMW is offering
quick change centerlock wheels for versions of the M two, M three, and M four, which replaces the wheel studs and or lugs with one central screw, but it says that screw has to be bolted down to nine hundred and thirty newton or six hundred and eighty five pound feet of torque. I came
from a world of working on cars and trucks, but most vehicle lugnuts are torud down to about one hundred pound feet and while some full sized trucks would be around one hundred and fifty pound feet or a little more. I was
just very shocked to see that number, and like any good set of aftermarket wheels, these are not that cheap, with a price tag of over twelve thousand euros. But that brings us to the end of today's show. Thanks
for tuning in, and I hope that you have a great weekend. Auto
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About this episode
The discussion covers recent UAW labor contract votes with notable voter apathy, and the ripple effects on wage increases at various automakers. GM's integration of BrightDrop signals cost-cutting moves post-contract. Cadillac expands Lyric EV sales globally with new variants, while Lucid unveils its Gravity SUV featuring advanced battery tech and impressive range. Honda introduces hands-free driving tech and partners with Amazon for online vehicle sales. Chinese automaker GAC aims to launch solid-state battery EVs by 2026, potentially leading the market. BMW's centerlock wheels require an unexpectedly high torque, highlighting unique engineering details.
- One Of Three UAW Workers Didn’t Bother to Vote - Subaru Raises Wages to Fend Off UAW - Brightdrop No Longer Independent from GM - Cadillac Going to Australia and New Zealand - Cadillac Unveils New EVs For China - Lucid Launches Its 1st SUV - Honda Offers Hands-Free Driving - Amazon to Sell Hyundai’s - GAC Going to Solid-State Batteries - BMW’s Centerlock Wheels Need 685-lb/ft Torque
