Tesla's factory worker wages have increased to $22-$39 per hour across different regions, following UAW's contract wins, with unionization efforts ongoing. The U.S. discovers massive rare earth and lithium deposits, potentially boosting domestic EV material supply. GM hires former Tesla battery expert Kurt Kelty to lead battery strategy amid a shift toward hybrids, as JLR delays EV launches due to strong plug-in hybrid sales. Nissan faces a major stock drop while Toyota hits record market value. JD Power ranks Lexus highest and Chrysler lowest in vehicle dependability. Electrify America opens its first indoor fast-charging lounge in San Francisco, enhancing EV charging comfort. Volkswagen rebounds as China's top-selling brand last month.
- How Much Tesla Pays Factory Workers - U.S. Finds Massive Amounts of Lithium, Rare Earths - GM Hires from Silicon Valley - JLR Surprised by PHEV Demand - Kia Adds Another Hybrid to Its U.S. Lineup - Nissan's Stock Sinks, While Toyota's Soars - J.D. Power Ranks Lexus Best, Chrysler Worst - Electrify America Opens 1st Indoor Public Charger - VW Turning Sales Around in China?
"with food and beverage vending machines, complementary Wi Fi, and bathrooms, and the station is open twenty four to seven with round the clock monitoring and security. Electrify America says it plans to open similar stations in large metro areas across the US. Volkswagen sales in China have tumbled by about a million units over the last four years, but it put a bigger focus on the market, turning more to local development, and it even hired a new CTO for China recently, and it looks like those efforts could be starting to pay off."
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Like most non union auto brands building vehicles in the US, Tesla raised its wages for workers after the UAW secured record contracts with the Detroit Three, and now we know how much Testless factory workers are making. According to internal
documents viewed by Business Insider, they now earned between twenty two and thirty nine dollars an hour. Testless splits its pay tiers into three regions based on cost
of living expenses, so workers in Texas and Nevada earn a lower wage than employees in California. Workers are divided into seven levels, and leads are divided
into two levels. The higher the level, the more you make. Workers
can move between levels every six months depending on their performance and the company's results, and their eligible for a bonus every six months as well. UAW president
Sean fains that it wants to organize Tesseless workers, so it's going to be interesting to see if this pay raise is enough to keep them from joining the union. Some people said that evs would never catch on in a big way
because there aren't enough raw materials to make the motors or batteries. But two
days ago, a company called American Rare Earth announced that it found a mother load of rare earth minerals in Wyoming. It says the site has two point
three billion metric tons of rare earth and that it could become the largest mining site in the world for them. And today The Wall Street Journal reports that
the Salton Sea in California contains enough lithium for the US to become self sufficient in the mineral and could even account for fifty percent of all the lithium mind in the world. Production is scheduled to begin in twenty twenty seven. This
kind of reminds us of all the talk twenty years ago that the US was running out of gas and oil until a fracking revolution turned the US into the world's largest producer of those energy sources, and it looks like the same thing could happen with rare erth and lithium. The Detroit automakers are turning more and
more to non automotive people to lead their EV and software development, and now General Motors is the latest. The automaker announced it hired Kurt Kelty, a
battery expert and former Tesla executive to the newly created role of Vice President of Batteries. Keelty will report directly to GM President Mark Rice, and he'll be
in charge of the company's battery cell strategy, including the use of raw materials, research, developing and investing in new technology, commercialization of cells and packs, and end of life solutions. It should be becoming more clear that the
auto industry is in a mad scramble to pivot to hybrids as a way to offset slowing demand for evs, and here's a few more examples. JLR has
been so surprised by the success of plug in hybrids that it's comfortable in delaying the development of its upcoming evs. Last year in Europe, it sold over
forty five thousand peas, an increase of nearly seventy percent, and so the company is working to make more plugins available, which could push back its evs.
CEO Adrian Mardell says, quote, we are taking our time to make sure that we put the best vehicles we've ever developed into the marketplace, and he adds he will allow quote a few more months to get to that point.
For its first EV, which is an all electric version of the range Rover SUV that's currently scheduled to launch later this year. The company calls it
quote the most refined range rover ever created, and says it has over sixteen thousand pre orders for the model and In other hybrid news, the Kia Carnival minivan is getting a hybrid power train for the first time ever in the US.
The setup, which is the same in the Sportage hybrid, consists of a turbocharge one point six liter four cylinder engine made it to a fifty four kilowatt electric motor and a six feed automatic transmission. Combined, they produce two
hundred and forty two horse power and two hundred and seventy one pound feet of torque. It's going to be interesting to see how this new setup sells compared
to the two hundred and eighty seven horse power three and a half liter V six, which is a carryover from before. Also new for the twenty twenty
five mins are a few styling tweaks, most notably the headlight design, as well as several tech and safety upgrades. Sales of the new Carnival are expected
to start this summer. Toyota and Nissan are headed in completely opposite directions at
least on the nick A Stock Exchange. Yesterday, Nissan stock posted its biggest
drop in twenty years. The stock fell nearly twelve percent, wiping out one
point eight billion dollars in market value. Investors were spooked by Nissan missing its
earnings guidance and by sinking sales in China, which only two years ago was Nissan's largest market. Meanwhile, Toyota just seems to be going from strength to
strength. Yesterday, it set a record for the Tokyo Stock Exchange when its
market cap hit fifty trillion yen that's three hundred and fifty four billion dollars.
Investors love the fact that Toyota's on track to post an all time record profit when its fiscal year wraps up. At the end of March, JD Power
released its vehicle Dependability study, which we like to follow because it tracks quality problems after three years of ownership. Lexis and Toyota topped the list, followed
by Buick, Chevrolet and Mini at the bottom of the list in descending order, where Lincoln, Volkswagen, land Rover, Audi and Chrysler in dead last place. JD Power ranks Tesla separately from the rest because it doesn't get the
same amount of data on them as it does the others, but based on what it does get, it puts Tesla close to the bottom between Lincoln and Volkswagen EV charging network. Electrify America is trying to make the charging experience more
convenient and comfortable. The company just opened its first public indoor charging station in
San Francisco, OH. It features twenty fast chargers that provide up to three
hundred and fifty kilowatts of power. The station has a temperature controlled lounge area
with food and beverage vending machines, complementary Wi Fi, and bathrooms, and the station is open twenty four to seven with round the clock monitoring and security.
Electrify America says it plans to open similar stations in large metro areas across the US. Volkswagen sales in China have tumbled by about a million units over
the last four years, but it put a bigger focus on the market, turning more to local development, and it even hired a new CTO for China recently, and it looks like those efforts could be starting to pay off.
According to figures released by the China Passenger Car Association, Volkswagen was the number one selling brand in China last month, even topping BYD. It's sold just
under two hundred and ten thousand and vehicles, an increase of forty one and a half percent compared to last year, and I had a second place BYD who sold a little over one hundred and ninety one thousand vehicles, but it still has to play catch up in the EV segment. VW rank number six
on that list in January. And that brings us to the end of today's
show. Thanks for making Autoline a party your day, and I hope that
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