Toyota is doubling down on engine development despite electrification trends, unveiling a boosted GR Yaris and several performance concepts at the Tokyo Auto Show. Tesla’s Berlin plant faces a two-week production halt due to supply chain disruptions caused by Red Sea shipping attacks, yet it’s expected to drive Germany’s auto production growth. European regulators are probing Chinese EV subsidies amid rising market share concerns. Ford experiments with sustainable olive tree waste parts, while Stellantis invests in diverse battery technologies. Meanwhile, Hertz plans to sell a third of its EV fleet due to high costs and market softness. The Detroit Auto Show returns to January, sparking timing confusion.
Topics:toyota engine developmenttokyo auto showtesla berlin production haltred sea shipping disruptionseuropean ev subsidy probeford sustainability effortsstellantis battery investmentshertz ev fleet selloffdetroit auto show timing
- Toyota Tokyo Auto Show Reveals - Red Sea Ship Attacks Disrupt Auto Production - Tesla Berlin Will Boost Germany’s Car Production - EU Launches Investigation into Chinese EVs - Ford Testing Parts Made from Olive Trees - Stellantis Invests in Sodium-Ion Battery Maker - NIO Signs More Battery Swapping Deals - REE First to Receive Full-By-Wire U.S. Certification - Hertz to Sell Off Part of Its EV Fleet - Detroit Auto Show Moves Back to January
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Toyota's former president and CEO and current chairman, Akio Toyota, loves gas burning engines, but with the shift to electrification, there's cases where engine related suppliers can't borrow money from a bank. He says that shouldn't happen, and
he wants to do something about it. So Akio made a proposal to current
president and CEO COG Sato and other members of management to start a project to promote engine development and refine technology. They agreed. In much of what we're
seeing from Toyota at the Tokyo Auto Show, which just kicked off, is a reflection of its desire to offer a wide range of powertrains. The most
exciting example is the new gr Yaris. The car's turbo charged one point six
liter three cylinder engine already made an impress of two hundred and sixty eight horse power, but that's been boost it even more to three hundred horse power.
It also has more torque and gets a newly developed eight speed automatic transmission.
The last highlight of the Gryaris is a new interior that's much more driver focused, and the dash looks like something you'd find in a race car. Other
vehicles on display include a performance concept version of the Lexus LBX, which has a toned down version of the gr Yarises engine, an f sport performance Lexus RZ four P fifty E which will be limited to one hundred examples in Japan and features a cornocopia of wings, spoilers and diffusers. It showed an off
road concept version of the new Lexus GX that's just about to go on sale, and lastly is a GR version of the new Toyota Century, which almost looks like a Bentley or Rolls Royce suv to US. A tax on ships
containing auto parts in the Red Sea by militant groups is disrupt production for several automakers. Tesla announced its suspending most production at its Berlin plant for about two
weeks at the end of the month because of a shortage of components. Volvo
announced it's halting production for three days next week at its plant in Belgium due to the situation, and while Volkswagen says it doesn't expect significant production delays, it says it's monitoring the situation closely. The automakers are being forced to re
route the ships to avoid being attacked, which is causing delays in a shortage of parts, and we won't be surprised to see more automakers impacted by the situation. But circling back to Tesla's Berlin plant, it's going to drive most
of the growth in production capacity in Germany this decade. According to a study
by consultant and market research firm Burials, production in Germany will hit five point two million units by twenty thirty, up from four point three million last year.
Tesla is expected that help German capacity increase two and a half percent per year by the end of the decade, and the reason Tesla will account for much of the growth is because German automakers aren't making plans to boost production in their home country. France has already started its own probe into Chinese EV's to
see if they benefit too much from EU subsidies, and now Reuter's reports that investigators at the European Commission are doing the same. They're going to visit with
byd GLEE and SAIC in the coming weeks, but the probe could last until the fourth quarter of this year. However, if they find the Chinese automakers
are getting too much of an advantage since their evs cost about twenty percent less than EU made models, the Commission could slap tariffs on Chinese evs. In
the case of France, it's using total production emissions to go after Chinese automakers, and we could see the European Commission using that same criteria. Ultimately,
they're worried about Chinese evs having a negative impact on the European automakers, and right now, Chinese ev market share is expected to nearly double in the next two years, from about eight percent today to fifteen percent by the end of twenty twenty five. Sustainability is a big focus of the auto industry, and
Ford is expanding its efforts in that area. Every year, seven million tons
of waste is created from pruning olive trees, so Ford engineers in Germany are testing parts made from that waste in vehicles. It's producing prototype parts that consist
of forty percent olive tree waste like twigs and branches and sixty percent recycled polypropylene plastic. The mixture is heated and injected molded into different components. Ford says
that early tests show the parts are durable and capable of being used in its cars, but no word yet on if these parts will make their way into Ford's production vehicles. Stillantis is placing its bets on several different battery technologies to
help meet its EV sales goals. The automaker has already partnered with Factorial Energy
on solid state batteries en Lightened to develop lithium sulfur ones. Now, the
automaker is investing in a French based company called Tamet that's developing sodium ion batteries.
Sodium ion batteries are lower costs due to the abundance of sodium, and they offer better performance in low temperatures and faster charging capability. However, they're
not nearly as energy dense as a lithium ion battery. There's going to be
a lot more standardization in batteries, meaning one battery will fit into a number of different vehicles. Neo just signed up two more automakers to help build out
its swapping business, which brings its total to four. On top of recent
announcements with g L and Changan, it also has deals with Cherry and jac to build models and stations as well as set battery swapping standards. Neo says
it plans to build a thousand more swapping stations this year in China, which would bring its total to over three thousand. Israeli's startup Oree Automotive, is
the first company to receive US certification for a fully buy wire vehicle platform.
Orees architecture combines the motors, steering, suspension, and breaks into one unit that's placed at the corners, which allows it to be used with a number of different body styles. By wire means there's no mechanical connection between control mechanisms.
It's all electronic and it has started delivering one one of those vehicles, the P seven C commercial Van, to customers in the US for testing purposes, and it will deliver more over the next few weeks. The vehicle qualifies
for a federal tax credit of up to forty thousand dollars and with state incentives that could push the total to one hundred grand. Car rental company Hurts made
all kinds of headlines when it announced it was going to buy a huge lineup of electric vehicles, but it's been a bit of a disaster and now Hurts is going to sell off a third of its EV fleet and buy ice vehicles instead. The company began selling EV's last month in hopes to offload twenty thousand
by the end of the year. Hertz has previously said it lost a lot
of value in its EV fleet when automakers, mainly Tesla, began slashing prices, and it said its EV maintenance and repair costs are much higher than ice vehicles. Throw in a softening market for evs and you can see why Hertz
wants to unload some of its electric Is the Detroit Auto Show trying to make itself irrelevant? It sure feels that way. After the twenty nineteen show,
organizers decided to move the show to the summer, mostly due to competition with CES, but the twenty twenty Detroit show was canceled because of the pandemic.
The following year, it was kind of canceled again, but a makeshift show called Motor Bella was held in its place in September. Organizers stuck with the
month of September for the last two years, but now they're going back to January again. The twenty twenty five Detroit Auto Show will take place on January
tenth to twentieth, which is right on the heels of CES. And if
you're a bit confused, don't worry, so are we. If that's a
wrap for this show and this week, thanks for tuning in. I hope
that you have a great weekend. Daily is brought to you by Bridge Stone
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