Fuel economy and emissions hit record improvements in the US, driven by electrified vehicles. Tesla faces production challenges with its 4680 battery cells, limiting Cybertruck output far below Elon Musk's ambitious targets. Chinese EVs flood Europe with high markups, while VW struggles to sell its ID7 in China. Waymo claims its autonomous vehicles are six times safer than human drivers, despite Cruise's safety criticisms. Chevy's new off-road Colorado ZR2 Bison trim is pricey, and Hyundai plans to close forging plants due to EV shifts. A Chevy dealership’s AI chatbot oddly recommends a Ford F-150 as the best pickup, sparking intrigue.
Topics:fuel economy improvementstesla battery production issuescybertruck sales outlookchinese evs in europevw struggles in chinawaymo av safety datachevy colorado zr2 bisonev impact on suppliersai chatbot automotiveelectric van competition
- U.S. Autos Boost MPG, Slash CO2 - Tesla Hitting Battery Production Hell - Can Tesla Sell 250,000 Cybertrucks a Year? - Chinese EVs Command 2X Pricing in Europe - VW ID.7 Falls Flat in China - Waymo Says Its AVs 6X Safer Than Humans - Chevy Colorado Bison Kind of Pricey - Hyundai Closes 2 Forging Plants - Suppliers Wary of Bidding on EV Programs - Haima's Futuristic Looking EX-00 Minivan - Chevy ChatBot Recommends Ford F-150
"...is struggling in China, but there's hope that the ID Buzz, is more retro designed, will be a hit with Chine..."
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This is Autolying Daily. The show's dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
The US auto industry is setting records for improving fuel economy and slashing emissions, mostly because of electrified vehicles. The EPA says light vehicles set a record
high in twenty twenty two for fuel economy at an average of twenty six mpg.
It said BEEVS and P has alone improved the average by one point two mpg, and that's a big deal. Previously, boosting fuel efficiency over the
whole fleet by even just a few tents was good news, and the average fuel economy is expected to jump to twenty six point nine mpg when the next report comes out. And better still, emissions fell to record lows. CO
two emissions dropped by ten grams per mile to three hundred and thirty seven grams per mile on average. That's a twenty seven percent drop since two thousand and
four. Looks like the cyber truck launch is getting off to a slower start
than expected. Reuter's reports that Tesla is struggling to produce forty six eighty battery
cells with its new dry coding technology. Right now, it can only make
enough batteries for twenty four thousand cyber trucks a year, far short of the two hundred to two hundred and fifty thousand annual sales target that Elon Musk has talked about. Nine different sources told Reuters that Tesla can't hit mass production levels
with the dry coating of the cathode. But even so, Tesla runs two
forty six eighty production lines right now in Austin, and it's about to add eight more over the next two years. So once it gets through production hell,
it should have plenty of capacity. The question will pee does it need
that much capacity? Can Tesla really sell a quarter of a million cyber trucks
year? That's going to be one of the topics on Auto Line after Hours
later today, we'll have Sandy Monroe on the show, along with two Lea from Sino Auto Insights and Joe White from Reuters. The truck styling sure as
controversial. Most people can't stand it, but yet two of the auto industry's
greatest designers he prays on it. The late Sid Mead, futurist and designer
Extraordinaiy said the cyber truck changed the form language of pickup trucks forever and giorgetto Gijarro, the famous Italian designer, calls the cyber truck a masterpiece. He
says it's the Picasso of automobiles. So tune in later today to hear what
our guests have to say about the styling on autoline after hours. Chinese evs
are pouring into Europe for one really big reason. They can charge twice as
much for their vehicles. For example, the BYD Dolphin cost fifteen five hundred
dollars in China, but it's thirty nine grand in Europe. Tesla's China made
Model three sells for thirteen thousand euros more in Europe than it does in China.
Even though Chinese automakers double the price, they're still selling evs cheaper than what European automakers charge. Aside from shipping costs and a ten percent import tariff,
those higher prices are pure profit and that's why Chinese evs are flooding into Europe. Meanwhile, Volkswagen is in deep trouble in China. Its ID family
of electric vehicles just aren't resonating with Chinese consumers. The ID seven sedan launched
last week and only received three hundred orders in three days. That's even though
it costs nearly half as much in China than it does in Europe. Meanwhile,
the BYD song L, which launched on the same day as the ID seven, received more than eight thousand orders in three days. Car News China
reports that VW is having trouble selling the ID seven because it's offering configurations that customers don't want, so they're waiting until the one they do want is available.
So VW may have to cut the price like it had to do with the ID three because of poor sales. At CS January ninth through twelve,
twenty twenty four, Intrepid's looking forward to seeing you at our booth three six sixty six, Las Vegas Convention Center in the West Hall. We'll be demonstrating
the latest and greatest in the software defined vehicles and journal architectures, automotive Ethernet technologies like ten based T one S and multi gigibbit CUS CS twenty twenty four, Las Vegas Convention Center in West Hall, Booth three six sixty six, or visit intrepidcs dot com slash sales. Even though GM's AV unit Cruise is
under attack, in San Francisco for being a safety hazard way most It says autonomous vehicles are far safer than human beings. It released new research that shows
its vehicles had zero point four to one incidents that resulted in an injury for every one million miles driven, compared to two point seven eight incidents for human drivers. That's over six times safer. Weimo only compared its data to accident
information from the areas where its vehicles operate, so it's attempting to give a more apples to Apple's comparison. It says there would have been about seventeen more
accidents resulting in injury if a human had driven the same amount of miles as its vehicles. Chevy posted the price of the new top off road trim line
of the Colorado, the ZR two Bison, and it's kind of pricey.
The package, which includes unique suspension, steel bumpers, skid plates, and wheels and tires, costs an additional twelve thousand dollars on top of the ZR two, bringing the total price to just over sixty five hundred dollars including the destination charges. Surprisingly, that's also about thirty five hundred dollars more than the
Bison package costs for the bigger Silverado pickup. Slowly, but surely, we're
seeing the impact of the transition to electric vehicles. Hyundai says it's going to
close two forging factories in South Korea, which is something we expected to see about four years ago. On Auto Line, after Hours, consultant Paul Eichenberg
predicted that forging operations were under the most threat from evs because the average ICEE vehicle has about one hundred and twelve forgings, while the average EV only has about five. Just a year ago, the transition to evs looked like it
was going to happen quickly. Today, sales of electrics in the US have
slowed considerably, and that's making automotive suppliers very of committing to EV programs.
For example, suppliers invested heavily to make GMS electric pickups, only to see most of that program delayed for over a year. Suppliers don't get paid until
they ship parts, so that investment is a real drag on their finances.
And Ford convinced suppliers to triple their component production for the F one to fifty Lightning, only to see sales stumble now Ford is cutting production in half and most suppliers aren't getting any price adjustments for the lower volume. And this should
be a warning sign to the industry. Is suppliers drag their feet on bidding
for new EV programs. That's going to make the transition to evs go even
slower and cost more. As we said earlier in the show, VW is
struggling in China, but there's hope that the ID Buzz, is more retro designed, will be a hit with Chinese consumers. Even so, that model
looks like it will be facing some competition. A company called Hama, which
used to count Mazda as a partner, is coming out with an all electric van in China next year called the EX zero zero that has a similar shape and style to the ID Buzz. It's actually a little bit shorter than the
VW van and will offer an estimated four hundred and eighty kilometers or just under three hundred miles of range. The interior looks a little bit cheap to me,
and the layout is a little wonky, especially the two different style seats in the third row. So it might seem like the success of the Ex
zero zero will come down to pricing, but unfortunately we don't have that yet.
Generative AI like chat GPT is the next big thing, but we still have a learning curve on how to use it. A Chevrolet dealership in California,
Chevrolet of Watsonville started using a chatbot for its customer service on its website.
So someone asked the bot to write a recipe for the best pickup truck in the world, and the bot spit out a bunch of features that a truck needs to have. Then the person asked the bot to provide a list
of trucks that met that list, and it spit out the Chevrolet Silverado, GMC, Sierra RAM fifteen hundred and Toyota Tandra. Then the person asked the
bot which truck it would buy, and it recommended the Ford F one fifty as a top choice. The Detroit Free Press broke this story and reached out
to the dealership for a comment, but nobody is saying nothing. And remember
this is Auto Line's last day of the year. We'll be back on January
third, and until then, we wish you all happy holidays and a fantastic new year. Auto Line Daily is brought to you by Bridgetone solutions for your
journey, and by intrepid control systems over the air, engineering boost your game
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