Tesla faces challenges as its stock becomes the worst performer on the S&P 500, impacted by price cuts, competition, and Elon Musk's social media activity. The company plans to build a $25,000 EV in Berlin, raising questions about its Mexico plant. Fisker struggles financially, possibly heading toward bankruptcy, while new startups like Til aim to innovate with compact electric pickups. Mercedes pioneers high-speed X-ray crash testing to improve safety, and Volkswagen expands its sporty GTX EV lineup. Industry executives express job security concerns amid rapid disruption, and EV battery recycling capacity is poised to outpace supply. Cadillac and Kia tease upcoming electric models.
Topics:tesla stock performanceelectric vehicle startupsfisker financial troublestesla berlin plantmercedes crash test technologyvolkswagen ev lineupauto industry disruptionev battery recyclingcadillac electric conceptkia new electric model
- Tesla Has Worst Stock on S and P 500 - What's Happening with Tesla Mexico? - Fisker Hires Bankruptcy Experts - Telo EV Pickup: Size of a MINI, Cute As a Button - Mercedes Uses X-Rays for Crash Analysis - VW Unleashes More Performance EVs - VW-Branded Curpa Tavascan Launching in China - Legacy Auto Execs Worried About Losing Their Jobs - Not Enough EV Batteries to Recycle - Caddy's 1st V-Series EV and Kia Replaces Small Cars with K4
"...rket you're in, the K four will take over for the Forte, Seed or Serrato. Styling is more in line with it..."
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
You've heard of the Magnificent Seven, right, Not the movie. I'm
talking about the top tech stocks that are powering the stock markets to all time records, including Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Tesla, except that Tesla is in danger of getting dropped from the Magnificent seven list. Bloomberg reports that Tesla is the worst performing stock this year on
the S and P five hundred, down thirty two percent. And that's even
worse than Boeing, which is going through a tailspin right now due to critical quality problems on its planes. Tesla's market cap is still bigger than Toyota,
Mercedes, and BMW put together, but it's stock trades at nearly sixty times earnings. Meanwhile, in Nvidia the current market Darling only trades around forty times
earnings, which suggests that Tesla's stock is still overpriced. Bloomberg says that Tesla's
problem is slashing prices, stiffer competition, and Elon Musk quote outrageous posts on X. That's Bloomberg's description, not ours Tesla. Bullsay, don't worry this
is just a temporary setback and the company will resume its strong growth rate, But it sure looks like the days of fifty percent growth a year could be over. But one thing that could re energize Tesla's growth is that twenty five
thousand dollars car that some call the Model too, and we're surprised to hear that Tesla will build it at its plant in Berlin. According to the German
newspaper Hondelsplot. During his visit to the plant yesterday, Elon Musk told employees
that the cheap ev will quote definitely come to Berlin in the long term.
He also said the plant could build the semitruck too, but back in January must set the twenty five thousand dollars car would be built at Tesla's plant in Texas. Could it be built at both? And that makes us wonder what's
going on with the plant in Mexico. We thought that plant would pioneer the
new unboxed assembly process to slash costs, and it still could, but right now Tesla seems to be dragging its feet on building the plant because Elon is worried about high interest rates and their impact on car sales. And while Tesla
may have some problems to deal with, they pale in comparison to what's happening at Fisker. Henrik already warned investors that the company could run out of cash
this year, and now The Wall Street Journal reports that he's hired a team of bankruptcy experts FTI Consulting, which is a financial advisor, and Davis Polk, which is a law firm. That generally means two things, a slash
and burn approach to everyone budgets and a desperate search for someone to buy the company. Even though Henrik says he's in talks with a major manufacturer in North
America and other media reports say that it's Nissan, we think it's highly unlikely to happen. Fisker really doesn't have any assets to sell except for the design
of its cars, and most car companies are typically too proud to buy a design from one of their competitors. Even though the bloom is off the rows
for some evy startups, there are plenty more willing to jump into the market, and we really like the look of this compact pickup truck from a startup company called Til. It's a four door five passenger truck with the same footprint
as a Mini Cooper that can still fit a four by eight sheet of plywood flat in the bed. The company is claiming five hundred horse power, a
three hundred and fifty mile range, and a fifty thousand dollars price tag not including any incentiveives. T Low actually has a running chassis, but it clearly
has a long way to go. So far, it's raised a bit over
seven million dollars, which is a good start, but as you all know, in the automotive industry, EVI startups with over a billion dollars in cash are running out of money. Even so, it would be pretty cool to
see this truck actually out on the road. Intrepid's NEOVIPI allowing automotive engineers to
interface, capture, and monitor vehicle data using Raspberry Pie. As a matter
of fact, it's the automotive industry's first robust platform for Raspberry Pie, featuring Intrepid canefting technology and Raspberry Pie compute module. The NEOVIPI is designed for automotive
environments, allowing use with relative power ranges and applications. In addition, the
NEOVIPI enables you to use the Raspberry Pie for compute while avoiding additional development to adapt to network environments. Makes the NEOVIPI powerful enough to solve your vehicle network
problems, yet small enough to fit in your backpack. One of many intrepid
tools used for developing zonal architecture and software divine vehicles. Mercedes is looking at
crash tests in a whole new way, or should I say a whole new x ray. It says it was the first automaker to successfully X ray a
crash test while it was happening. A special X ray device that can take
up to one thousand images a second, which is about a thousand times faster than a conventional X ray machine, is what made the test possible. Those
images are then stitched together into a video, and in this short clip here you get an overhead view of the crash test dummy during a side impact.
It's a little hard to tell what you're looking at at first, but you're looking down at the head, the ribcage, and the legs of a seated dummy before it's swept away. Mercedes says it's been developing the technology for the
last several years with a technical institute because being able to see inside of components and how they deform in a crash could help it make safer cars. Volkswagon
is expanding its lineup of sportier evs, or what it calls its GTX trim line. The first GTX model came out in twenty twenty one, and now
it's adding versions of the ID three an ID seven station wagon. The ID
three GTX only comes in rear wheel drive, but it offers two power outputs for the motor. The base version has just over two hundred and eighty horse
power, the same as the ID four, while the performance version has three hundred and twenty two horse power and will do zero to one hundred kilometers an hour in five point six seconds. It also features a slightly larger seventy nine
kilowat hour battery pack that provides up to six hundred kilometers or three hundred and seventy three miles of range. The ID seven GTX Tour, on the other
hand, is all wheel drive with up to three hundred and thirty five horse power, has an eighty eight kilowat hour battery pack and up to six hundred and twenty two kilometers or three hundred and eighty seven miles of range, and like all GTX models, both feature unique lighting and facia treatments, as well as a few sporty touches to the interior. No word on official launch yet,
but VW says it will be soon, and in other VWEV news, it's coming out with a new electric crossover for the Chinese market called the id U n y X, which we think is pronounced uniques. Some of you
may recognize the styling because this is just a rebadged version of the Koupra Taviascan, and both models will roll down the same assembly line in China, which it operates with its joint venture partner JAC. So that report we had the
other day of VW and JAC investing nearly a billion dollars more into their JV, I think we now know where some of that money is going to.
The id Uniques is based on the MEB platform and is offered as a one hundred and seventy kilowatt or two hundred and twenty seven horse power rear drive model or with all wheel drive and a combined two hundred and fifty kilwatts or three hundred and thirty five horse power schedule to launch in China later this year.
The auto industry is going through its biggest transition in history, and a lot of executives are afraid of losing their jobs. According to alex Partner's twenty twenty
four Disruption Index, auto execs are more worried than those in other industries.
One in four think they could lose their job. The survey and included three
hundred CEOs and senior executives across the global industry, including automakers, suppliers, dealers, aftermarket and mobility companies. A third of auto execs, forty percent
of suppliers, and half of dealers are predicting quote significant disruption this year.
A majority also say it's becoming increasingly more difficult to know which disruptive forces need to be prioritized, and a third of them say they're concerned their company isn't adapting fast enough. While many execs see software to find vehicles as an opportunity,
a large number also see it as a threat, especially the cost of implementing them. Not long ago, some people were shouting that there wasn't enough
capacity to recycle EV batteries, but ABI Research says the problem is exactly the opposite. The US alone will have the capacity to recycle the equivalent of one
point three million evs a year by twenty thirty. But the problem is that
only three hundred and forty one thousand evs will be ready for recycling by then.
ABI believes recycling projects will be delayed or scaled back until there's enough batteries to make the recycling business profitable. And before we sign off today, there's
a couple of vehicle teasers will quickly go over. Cadillac says it's going to
unveil its first B series electric car later this year, a concept it's calling Opulent Velocity. And Kia tase the replacement for its small cars what it now
calls the K four. Depending on the market you're in, the K four
will take over for the Forte, Seed or Serrato. Styling is more in
line with its other new models, which is a little more aggressive than the current cars. The new K four debuts at the New York Auto Show on
the twenty seventh of this month, and that brings us to the end of today's show. Thanks for tuning in. Auto Line Daily is brought to you
by Bridgestone Solutions for your Journey and by intrepid control systems over the air.
Engineering boost your game when the elements are working against you. Being confident in
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