This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts up the global automotive industry.
BMW just be Tesla to the punch. While Elon Musk has made a
big deal about Tesla's human like robot called Optimis, BMW is going to start using human like robots at its manufacturing plant in South Carolina before Tesla does.
They're built by a Silicon Valley AI robotics company called Figure. BMW will train
a small number of its robots called one to perform specific tasks in the body shop, sheet metal area, and warehouse over the next twelve to twenty four months. If that goes well, they'll expand even more robots. While there's
comparisons to Tesla's robot, we also wonder if UAW president Sean Fain is paying attention. He's currently publicly attacking all the non union car companies operating in the
US for paying workers poverty wages and wants to hold old rallies to get workers to sign union cards. But, as we've wondered, all along to Sean
Fain really see the big picture. Two days ago, Stalantis put out a
press release announcing that Mark Stewart, the COO of Stalantis North America would leave the company and be replaced by Carlos Arlenga, the COO of Stalantis Mexico.
The release came out at two o'clock in the morning US Eastern Time, contained a Kurt statement thanking Mark Stewart for his contribution and a long paragraph praising his replacement. It had all the markings of an executive who got fired, and
that's what we reported. But Mark Stuart contacted Auduline saying he actually resigned a
month ago, was working with Stillantis on a transition plan and would announce a big move very soon. Well very soon, he's right now. Today Goodyear
announced that Mark Stewart is the new CEO of the company, replacing Rich Kramer, who had previous announced his retirement. Auduline understands that Stilantis is going to
issue a new press release praising Mark Stuart for his service to clear up the mess that it made to look like he had been dropkicked from the company.
Stuart delivered sixty percent of Stilantis's total operating profits for the three years he served as COO of North America. Nissan is playing hardball with its suppliers in the
US it's demanding an average price cut of twenty percent for parts used in the Rogue, and if they don't need its demands, Nissan is threatening to move Rogue production out of the US to Japan. Some suppliers were even asked to
cut prices by as much as thirty percent. Nissan says it's twenty percent cheaper
to build the Rogue in Japan than the US. A decision is expected sometime
next month, and it would be a big blow for Nissan's US manufacturing operations if Rogue production is moved. The model accounts for forty percent of production at
Nissan's plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, and that plant and its other US factory in Kenton, Mississippi need more products to build. They're only running at fifty
two percent capacity currently. The next gen Rogue is scheduled to start production in
Smyrna in twenty twenty six, but now that's up in the air. The
Tajin Automotive Technologies we combine world class composite materials expertise with cutting edge designs because frankly, there are better ways to lightweight vehicles, So lighten up. With
Tajing Automotive technologies, the formula curve better mobility. It looks like Tesla is
testing the waters to see if Chinese consumers will go for the cyber truck.
It announced on the social media platform we Chat that it will launch a tour in China to show off the new electric truck. However, in the year
two thousand, China started banning trucks from cities as a way to curb pollution and cut traffic congestion, which has impacted the growth of the segment, and even though many cities have lifted those bands, China only sells about five hundred thousand pickup trucks a year. Elon Musk also said it would be very difficult
to get the cyber truck road legal in China. It's unclear if he's referring
to those truck bands or if there's some other reason it might not qualify for road use. And even if it does get certification, it will immediately get
slapped with a twenty five percent import tariff since it's made in the US, but it's possible that won't be much of a hindrance. Ford has been exporting
the F one to fifty raptor to China for years. And despite a price
tag of over one hundred and two thousand dollars, it seems to be pretty popular. A similar Raptor would sell for about seventy eight thousand dollars in the
US, and speaking of the F one to fifty Raptor, Ford looks like it's getting awfully close to offering an all electric version of that off road pickup.
It revealed a demonstrator vehicle called the F one to fifty Lightning switch Gear.
Upgrades include a custom independent double wishbone front suspension, multi link, independent rear suspension, coil over fox shocks, stabilizer bar, custom control arms, and a wider track. It even features unique bumpers that improve the approach and
departure angles. Four doesn't say what powers the switch gear, but previous all
electric demonstrator vehicles had upwards of fourteen hundred horse power. Legacy auto makers are
ignoring developing markets because they don't think consumers will buy evs, but BYD doesn't see it that way. The automaker just introduced three new evs in Indonesia,
the Dolphin, add O three and Seal. BYD also announced plans to invest
one point three billion dollars to open a plant in Indonesia with a capacity of one hundred and fifty thousand vehicles a year, which would be the company's plant outside of China, and it will open a network of fifty sales outlets across the country by the end of the year. Byd is making these moves because
it's aiming to become the market leader in electrics in the country. Currently,
the Wouling Air EV and Hondai Ayanic five are the top selling evs in Indonesia.
Honda says demand for its hybrids is outstripping supply. Viaccord Hybrid was the
best selling hybrid in the US market last year, and so Honda is going to push hybrid sales even more this year. It's adding a two motor hybrid
to the Civic lineup and expects that to account for forty percent of Civic sales.
But it's not just hybrids. Honda is just months away from launching the
electric prolog in Accura ZDX, which will be sold in the ZEV States plus Texas and Florida, which it says are hot EV markets. The Prologue and
ZDX are based on General Motors ALTI and platform will actually be built in GM assembly plants. Even though GM has struggled with production issues with its al Tam
based evs, Honda says it's confident it will meet its sales targets next week.
Hanna is also going to launch a low volume hydrogen powered CRV using a fuel cell built by GM in Michigan. Interestingly, it's a plug in FCV,
so it can run on battery power when hydrogen is not available. Honda
has not decided if it will make these crvs available for retail customers or will only sell the fleets. We should have a lot more details next week.
How far behind our legacy automakers compared to Tesla or BYD They're far, really far. And we've got Matthew Vachaparampill And again sorry if I'm mispronouncing that the
CEO of Caresoft coming on Autoline after hours this afternoon to show us the results of their vehicle teardowns and benchmarking. Their results are going to open your eye.
Matthew will get into specifics of mass and cost comparisons of various components and systems, and his information is pure gold. You're not gonna want to miss
this one. Joe White from Reuters will also be on the show, and
we invite you to watch when it all goes live at three pm Eastern Time today. But that's all that we've got. Thanks for tuning in. Auto
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About this episode
BMW is pioneering the use of human-like robots in its South Carolina plant, aiming to automate tasks in body shops and warehouses, potentially outpacing Tesla's Optimus robot. Nissan is pressuring suppliers for steep price cuts or threatening to move Rogue production to Japan, risking US manufacturing jobs. Tesla is gauging Chinese interest in the Cybertruck despite regulatory and tariff challenges. Ford is advancing its electric F-150 Lightning with an off-road Switch Gear variant. Meanwhile, BYD is aggressively expanding EV production in Indonesia, and Honda is boosting hybrid and EV offerings, including a fuel cell CR-V. Industry insights from Caresoft's CEO and Reuters' Joe White promise revealing benchmarking data.
- BMW Beats Tesla with Human-Like Robots Making Cars - Mark Stewart Jumps from Stellantis to CEO of Goodyear - Nissan Demands U.S. Suppliers Cut Prices or Lose Rogue Business - Tesla Takes Cybertruck on Tour in China - Ford Shows Hard Core Off-Road Version of F-150 Lightning - BYD Plunges Into Indonesian Market - Honda to Launch Fuel Cell CR-V Next Week
