The discussion covers key automotive industry updates including US and European tariff debates on Chinese vehicles, with executives from Stellantis and Mercedes Benz cautioning against protectionism. Mercedes reports modest growth but slows EV targets due to demand concerns. Rivian and Lucid reveal financial struggles, highlighting cash burn and sales challenges. GM accelerates plug-in hybrid pickup development while canceling some EV van and small truck projects. Ram updates its 1500 pickup, dropping the V8 for a new inline-six and introducing advanced driver assistance. Lastly, Lotus plans a SPAC merger to go public, and upcoming car critic debates promise lively opinions.
Topics:us and european tariffsstellantis and mercedes benz strategiesev demand slowdownrivian financials and cost cuttinglucid sales challengesgm plug-in hybrid pickupsgm ev van and small truck cancellationsram 1500 updates and new enginesadvanced driver assistance systemslotus spac merger
- Auto CEO's Not Ready to Throw the Book at China - Mercedes Just Keeps Its Head Above Water - Mercedes is Cutting EV Targets and Updating ICEs - Rivian Could Run Out of Cash in 2 Years - Lucid Needs 5X Sales to Break Even - GM Rushing to Make PHEV Pickups - Ram 1500 Drops V8, Adds Automated Driving - Lotus Going Public Through a SPAC
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
Politicians in the US and Europe are talking tough about increasing import tariffs on Chinese vehicles, but some auto execs are saying, hold your horses. They're
not completely on board with blocking the Chinese. Stillanti's CEO, Carlos Taveraz says
he doesn't want to see the US raise the tariffs on Chinese cars because he's concerned about a potential backlash. He says Stilantis is a global company, so
even if the US raises protectionist barriers, Stillantis is not going to be protected everywhere else. Instead, Tavares says everyone else needs to learn how to compete
with the Chinese automaker's head on. And Ola Collenius, the CEO of Mercedes
ben says any increase in protectionism against China would be destructive for Europe. Of
course, they both have a vested interest in not upsetting Chinese officials. Stillantis
is investing in Chinese auto maker Leap Motor for EV technology, and one out of three Mercedes Benzes sold around the world is sold in China. Speaking of
Mercedes Benz, it reported its twenty twenty three earnings this morning, and while the numbers are solid, the company is kind of treading water. Let me
explain. It sold over two point four million vehicles last year, about thirty
five thousand more than it did in twenty twenty two. That brought in three
point two billion euros more in revenue, for a total of one hundred and fifty three billion, But that's up only two percent, which doesn't even cover the rate of inflation. Costs also went up, so the company's nineteen point
six billion euro operating profit was down nearly four percent, and its net profit of fourteen point five billion was down almost two percent. Mercedes is also rolling
back its EV plans. Ola Callenius says EV demand is slowing and that it
will be many years before beev's reach cost parity with icevehicles. Mercedes had set
a goal of having EV's account for fifty percent of its global sales by twenty twenty five, but now it expects to hit that target later in the decade.
Because of that, the automaker will continue updating its IC line up into the next decade. Last year, it sold two hundred and forty thousand BEVs,
which accounted for about twelve percent of Mercedes Benz's car sales. Rivian and
Lucid also reported their financial earnings for last year, and while there's a lot we could talk about, let's focus on the most important numbers, how much cash they have and how fast they're burning through it. Rivian has seven point
eight billion dollars in the bank, which is a significant war chest. However,
last year it burned through three point seven billion of it, and at that rate it has a little over two years of cash to keep it going.
But the company is making progress thanks to cutting its fixed and variable costs and earning more revenue for every vehicle it sold. It managed to cut the
cost of making its vehicles by eighty thousand dollars per unit. However, it's
still losing over forty three thousand dollars on every truck and van it sells.
It's really a matter of scale. Rivian just needs to sell a lot more
vehicles. Meanwhile, Lucid burned through three hundred and sixty five million dollars in
cash and has just under one point four billion dollars left over, so it has almost four years of cash to keep it going. But it's not making
progress in the sense that its total revenue went down last year as cost keep going up. It posted an operating loss of three billion dollars, which was
nineteen percent worse than what it lost in twenty twenty two, and it doesn't look like the situation will improve anytime soon. Lucid only sold eighty four hundred
and twenty eight cars last year. This year, it expects to make about
nine thousand, but just to break even at its current cost structure, we estimate it needs to sell about forty five thousand vehicles a year, so it has a long way to go. We want to know what drives your testing.
OTA Connected Car Diagnostics, remote testing, Intrepid Control Systems is here to help you work from anywhere Intrepid control systems driven by your data. This slowdown
in ev demand has automakers scrambling. Autoweek reports that GM started a crash program
to bring out plug in hybrid versions of the Chevy Silverado in GMCCI era that will put it in a race with Ram to introduce the first full size p have pickup in the US. RAM tells us that its plugin RAM charger will
be out after the full battery electric version of the fifteen hundred pickup, which is coming out in the fourth quarter of this year, so the RAM Charger won't come out until the end of this year at the earliest, and is more likely to launch in early twenty twenty five. Going back to GM,
it's also canceling plans to develop all new versions of the Chevy Express and GMC Savannah vans. They were supposed to be based on the bright Drop delivery van,
which is built on the Altium platform, and it's unclear if GM will keep the current vans around longer, whose basic design goes all the way back to the early nineteen seventies, although GM's not bringing the vans into its Altium platform. Automotive News reports that production of its bright Drop vans will resume on
April first in Canada after being offline since October of last year due to lack of batteries. But it's not just plans for EV vans that GM is dropping.
It's canceling a small electric pickup as well that would have been about the same size of a Ford Maverick. And speaking of a Maverick EV, Autoweek
says it and the Bronco EV program have been put off until at least early in the twenty thirties, and it looks like most automakers are backing off the idea of a small electric pickup. Nissan is also putting off development of an
electric truck that would have slotted below the frontier, and that makes me wonder if Stalantis is taking the right approach with its four core platforms that can support multiple powertrain types. While there's no doubt it will be less efficient than if
it had developed dedicated platforms, it might have hit on the right strategy at the right time in the market to get the scale that it needs to make a profit. We just talked about how the all electric RAM fifteen hundred called
the R EV will launch later this year, followed by the plug Ram Charger, but before either of those models hit the showroom floor, Ram is launching the updated pure IC version. The two biggest pieces of news, in my
opinion, are that it's dropping the V eight completely and will be available with a Level two and two plus automated driving system. The base engine is still
the company's three point six liter Pennastar V six. It's now paired with a
forty eight volt mild hybrid system and produces up to three hundred and five horse power and two hundred and seventy one pound feet of torque. But for customers
that want to step up in power, the V eight has been replaced by Stalants's new twin turbo three liter inline six cylinder engine called Hurricane. It comes
in two outputs. Standard output is four hundred and twenty horse power, while
the high output version makes five hundred and forty horse power. That compares to
the outgoing five point seven liters V eight, which made three hundred and ninety five horse power. Six cylinder is also ninety pounds lighter, but it can't
tow as much, even though it makes more torque than the V eight and both outputs. Max towing is now eleven five hundred and fifty pounds, down
from twelve thousand, seven hundred and fifty. A new electrical architecture called Atlantis
not only allows for more over the air update capabilities, but also the automated driving system I was just talking about. RAM doesn't have any clever name for
it. It's just called Active Driving Assist. The level two system requires the
driver to have a hand on the wheel at all times, but RAM puts sensors all over the surface, so a light touch anywhere should keep the system engaged. The Level two plus version is a hands free system and will currently
work on one hundred and twenty five thousand miles of road in the US and Canada. Both versions are bundled into other packages and owners will be able to
use this service for three years before having to renew it. Styling wise,
there's not a whole lot that's different, but you may notice the bigger grill and RAM logo which was moved up higher in the grill, and the interior gets a third screen for the passenger like the Jeep wagoneer, as well as a new center display and materials with more standard features. Starting prices up to
about forty thousand dollars for the base tradesman and eighty seven thousand dollars for the new top of the line Tungsten. We also had a chance to experience this
truck in Austin, Texas, and we'll be posting a video about our thoughts on the new Ram fifteen hundred soon. With all the ev startups having seen
their stock prices crash, we thought that Spacks had fallen out of favor, but apparently not completely Jeelie is taking Lotus public through a special purpose Acquisition company, or SPEC. The sports car maker is expected to complete a merger with
l Caterin Asia Acquisition Corp. Today and start trading on the NASDAK tomorrow under
the ticker symbol lot Lotus will even ring the opening bell, which will be live stream if you want to watch it. Auto Line after Hours is going
to be something of a free for all this afternoon. We've got two car
critics coming on the show, Henry Payne from the Detroit News and Mark Feelin from the Detroit Free Press. And they probably drive more cars every year than
anyone that we know, and they've got something to say about what's good, what's bad, and what's downright ugly. So join John and Gary when the
opinions start flying at three pm Eastern Time today on the Audolne website or on our YouTube channel. But that brings us to the end of this show.
Thanks for tuning in. Autoline Daily is brought to you by Bridgetone Solutions for
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