Strong Q1 sales highlight Toyota's surge in hybrid and PHEV vehicles, while GM shows mixed results with promising EV deliveries. Rivian impresses with high delivery rates and safety awards, but Tesla faces challenges with production oversupply and a critical stock price test. Renault explores innovative 3D-printed seats and solidifies an electric van partnership with Volvo and CMA CGM. Labor union efforts grow at Volkswagen and Mercedes plants in the US. Meanwhile, new tech shines with IM Motors' autonomous sedan and WeRide's driverless street sweeper. Environmental protests target Ford's F-150 Lightning, sparking debate on EVs and climate solutions.
Topics:toyota hybrid salesgm ev deliveriesrivian safety and deliveriestesla production and stockrenault 3d printed seatselectric van partnershipuaw union drivesautonomous vehicle techenvironmental protestsev market trends
- U.S. Q1 Sales Up 8%--So Far - Toyota’s Hybrids Drive Sales Surge - Cadillac Lyriq Outsells European Lux EVs - Rivian Sales Small, But Up 71% - Tesla Stock Faces Critical Price Test - Renault Explores 3D Seat Printing - Renault, Volvo EV Van Project Gets New Partner - UAW Targets Mercedes Alabama - Chinese AV Passes Moose Test - World’s First AV Street Sweeper - Eco-Protestors Dump Oil on EV Pickup at NY Show
"electrified vans growing forty percent every year until twenty thirty. The UAW is making progress to organize non union plants in the US. Volkswagen workers in Tennessee will vote this month on whether or not they want to join the UAW, and Mercedes workers in Alabama will file a petition with the National Labor Relations Board this week to hold a union vote at the plant. While the UAW didn't say"
"...in orders on its launch day. The Ford F one fifty Lightning was the target of environmental protests at the N..."
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This is out Aligned Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. We're starting to see more Q one sales figures come in for the
US market, and while the numbers so far look good throughout nearly eight percent, several automakers like Ford, Mercedes, Benz, jail Lron Stilantis still haven't reported yet, so we can't make a final determination of how the quarter ended, but here are some of the highlights so far. Toyota is enjoying extremely
strong sales of hybrids and phebs. Sales of its electrified vehicles hit nearly two
hundred and seven thousand units, up seventy four percent, and they accounted for thirty six point six percent of the five hundred and sixty five thousand vehicles it sold during Q one. Those numbers also include Lexus, which was up fifteen
percent. In total, General Motors sold five hundred and ninety four thousand cars,
trucks and SUVs down one and a half percent. GM blamed lower fleet
sales and pointed out that its retail sales were up six percent. But one
big bright spot for GM is that sales of the electric Cadillac Lyric came in at five eight hundred units, which was better than any of the European luxury evs. GM also delivered over six hundred Chevrolet Blazer evs, over one thousand
Silverado evs, and sixteen hundred and sixty eight GMC Hummer evs. Those are
small numbers, but GM says it should be running at a three hundred thousand run rate for its evs by the end of the year, even with the Chevrolet bolt out of production now over to EV makers where Rivians sold about thirteen thousand, five hundred vehicles, which is not a lot, but that was seventy one percent better than a year ago, and it just got another boost with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety giving the R one T its top Safety Pick Plus award. What is more notable is that Rivian delivered ninety seven percent
of the vehicles it built, meaning it was building exactly to customer demand and it did a great job of getting those trucks to its customers. Meanwhile,
it's a different story at Tesla. It delivered nearly three hundred and eighty seven
thousand vehicles to customers, which was down eight and a half percent compared to the first quarter of last year, Tesla had extenuating circumstances that potentially hurt its sales. It had to stop production in China in February as it upgraded its
factory and rolled out a newer version of the Model three, and it suffered a nearly two week shutdown after an ECO attack on its plant in Berlin.
But here's the number that should worry Tesla fans. It built forty six thousand,
five hundred more vehicles than it sold in the quarter. That's a considerable
oversupply and suggests that Tesla is no longer building cars to order, but building them to a production schedule. Bloomberg warns that Tesla's stock is coming close to
a critical price. Shares are trading at one hundred and sixty six dollars a
piece, and Bloomberg says if it hits one hundred and fifty dollars a share, it will be a big test for where the stock is headed. Analysts
seem to be torn as what's to come. Some think the low price represents
a good buy on the dip opportunity, while others say that falling sales, falling revenue, and falling profits mean that Tesla's current valuation will have to be downgraded. When the piece and quiet of your morning commute is as comforting as
your morning machiato, that's what really matters. Bridge Downe Taranza Evy tires less
noise for more quiet comfort. Renault is just starting to talk about a new
three D printing process that it's been working on for the last two years, which me think it's really interesting. It's three D printing parts out a thermoplastic
polyurethane or TPU that have an internal mesh like or lattice structure which can be varied in such a way that it has some give to it, like you're squeezing foam. So it might possibly one day replace things like seat backs and
seat bottoms, armress center, consoles, and war plus. It's a single
material taking care of the comfort, cushioning and support, which eliminates the needs for fabrics, reinforcements, phones, some of the manufacturing, and it would make a seat about thirty percent lighter. Renault, who teamed up with the
French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission or the CEA for short, which is a government funded research organization, says it could also one day, three D print a seat tailored to an individual driver, and I know my back loves the sound of that. Speaking of Renault, it's solidifying an electric vanpartartnership that
had originally announced with Volvo last year. They've also added shipping in logistics companies
CMA CGM as a ten percent stakeholder in the new joint venture they're calling Flexus.
The vans will be built on a fully electric skateboard platform for light commercial vehicles that's connected and features an eight hundred volt architecture. We don't know if
the platform is coming from Renault Volvo or if it's been developed by both, but the vans will be built at an updated Renault plant in France. Sounds
like the models will start running down the line sometime in twenty twenty six, and if sales take off the way they're expecting them to, this is going to be a smart partnership. They're relying on forecasts of the European market for
electrified vans growing forty percent every year until twenty thirty. The UAW is making
progress to organize non union plants in the US. Volkswagen workers in Tennessee will
vote this month on whether or not they want to join the UAW, and Mercedes workers in Alabama will file a petition with the National Labor Relations Board this week to hold a union vote at the plant. While the UAW didn't say
how many workers have signed cards to join the union back in February, it said the majority of the six thousand employees at Mercedes Alabama have done so.
The union has promised to push for union votes once they get seventy percent of the workers to sign a card, so that suggests it's close to that number in Alabama. Boosting membership is critical for the UAW, As we reported last
week, it dropped to just over three hundred and seventy thousand members in twenty twenty three, down three point three percent from the year before, in the lowest levels since two thousand and nine. Chinese automaker IM Motors is putting the
capabilities of its upcoming L six sedan on display before it's launch in May.
Car News China has video of the card doing the evasive maneuver or moose test without a driver on board. It looks pretty impressive, but we'll let you
be the judge. The test normally requires people in the front seats wait in
the trunk and an entrance speed of at least seventy two kilometers an hour or forty five miles an hour, but the L six enters at seventy one kilometers an hour and exits at forty nine or thirty miles an hour. Plus.
It doesn't say if this was accomplished relying on the car sensors or if it learned the route from a human driver. First meet the world's first level four
autonomous street sweeper, no driver required, called the Robosweeper S one. It's
made by we Ride, and it's available in three configurations and features a four hundred liters water tank and a two hundred and forty liter garbage bin. In
addition to automatically sweeping up debris from the streets, it can dump garbage and park all by its It can be used in multiple situations, including parks, sidewalks, and non motorized lanes. The vehicle already is attracting a lot of
attention. We Ride says it received nearly ten million dollars in orders on its
launch day. The Ford F one fifty Lightning was the target of environmental protests
at the New York Auto Show over the weekend, protesters poured oil onto the showroom floor near the truck and onto its hood. They also shouted about a
climate emergency and that electric vehicles will not save us. Video of the incident
shows that the four protesters were booed by other attendees and that they were eventually removed by security and police. They were part of a group called Extinction Rebellion,
which claims that evs don't help solve the problems caused by ice vehicles, partly due to mining needed to make batteries. They don't want electric cars,
they don't want internal combustion cars. In fact, they don't want cars at
all, 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
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