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AD #3785 - BYD Targets Premium Segment in Europe; Tesla Robotaxi To Be Revealed in August; GM Part of Group Developing Lunar Rover

AD #3785 - BYD Targets Premium Segment in Europe; Tesla Robotaxi To Be Revealed in August; GM Part of Group Developing Lunar Rover

Autoline Daily Apr 08, 2024 9 min
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About this episode

Tesla faces uncertainty over its $25,000 Model 2 with conflicting reports about its cancellation, while Elon Musk teases an August reveal for the Robotaxi. Chinese companies Didi and GAC's joint venture received approval to mass produce level 4 autonomous EVs. BYD targets the premium EV segment with its new Z9 GT fastback sedan. Volkswagen struggles in China as its market share declines amid fierce competition. Hyundai and Kia plan to produce EV batteries in India. Toyota restructures Daihatsu after a safety scandal and shifts focus to mini EVs. NASA selects GM-led team to develop lunar rovers for Artemis missions. EV marketing strategies and industry consolidation also discussed.

Topics: tesla model 2 uncertainty robotaxi reveal chinese autonomous evs byd premium ev volkswagen china market ev battery production india toyota daihatsu restructuring lunar rover development ev marketing strategies automotive industry consolidation
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The zod Aligne Daily. The show, dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive
industry, is Tesla's twenty five thousand dollars car, what most people call the Model to in trouble of not getting built. In January, CEO Elon Muss
said the Affordable EV would be made at its US factory in Texas in the second half of twenty twenty five. But shortly before we posted Friday show,
Reuters reported that Tesla had canceled the project. It cited two company sources who
attended an employee meeting about the plans and reviewed internal messages that talked about the program's cancelation. However, not long after that report came out, Elon tweeted,
quote Reuters is lying, and then in parentheses put again, but he provided no specifics to what he was talking about. Even so, there is
one thing that the two sides can't agree on. That Tesla's pushing to development
of a Robotaxi, which would be built on the same platform as the Model too. Reuter says, Musk is all in on the Robotaxi, and that's
one reason why the Model two has been scrapped. And not long after his
Reuter's Line tweet. Elon also posted that the Robotaxi unveil is coming on eight
Dash eight. While there was not a year attached to it, we took
him to mean this August, and we've read there's some concern that this push into robotaxis will mean a pivot away from achieving self driving on its existing vehicle fleet. The only real way to know that will be when the Robotaxi is
detailed, but let us know what you think now in the comments. And
speaking of robotaxis, Chinese ride hanling company d D and eviemaker gacai on announced that they've received a license to mass produce level four self driving vehicles in China.
The two companies launched a joint venture last year called Andy to develop autonomous vehicles, and they'll build the first model and electric suv starting next year.
While the European auto industry is mainly worried about affordable Chinese EV swamping the market, BYD is also attacking the upper end its premium NIV brand. Denza showed
pictures of its new fastback sedan, the Z nine GT, which has a similar shape to a poor Chapanamera testing in Europe. The production model is expected
to be shown off at the Beijing Auto Show later this month, before launching in China later this year and then followed by other global markets after that.
It's possible that the Z nine could offer both plug and hybrid and pure battery electric power trains, and Carnu's China reports there will also be a sedan version.
Volkswagen's market share in China keeps falling and its CEO says it's evs can't keep up there. Oliver Bluma made the comments to a German newspaper and added
that the company shouldn't have utopian expectations when it comes to the Chinese market.
He said, anything above ten percent market share was very respectable, but it's even in danger of missing that mark. In twenty eighteen, VW controlled about
eighteen percent of the market in China, but last year it's market share dipped under ten and a half percent and it lost its number one sales crown to BYD. But Bluma thinks new models that are being launched in the future will
help improve its sales in the region, and like Stalantis, the VW Group is teaming up with Chinese automakers to develop some of its upcoming electric models.
And one of the reasons competition is so fierce in China is because there's so many brand selling cars. But really there's too many, and we've said before
there will certainly be companies that fail or get bought up by larger automakers, and it looks like that's starting to happen. We recently reported that evi startup
High Fi was showing clear signs that it's running out of cash, and now Car News China reports that Avatar, which is a subsidiary of Changan, has reached an agreement on a merger with High Fi, and as I said, we expect to see more of this. 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 Pi for compute while avoiding additional development to adapt to network environments. That 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. Hyundai and Kia just
signed a deal to produce EV batteries in India. The companies signed a deal
with Indian battery company xIDE Energy to make lithium iron phosphate or LFP batteries in the country. The batteries will be equipped in future Hyundai and Kia evs that
are sold in the market. They didn't reveal how much they're investing or when
production will start, but they did say that India is a highly promising market and that they're aiming to establish themselves as front runners in the country's EV market.
Toyota is reshaping the structure of its Daihatsu subsidiary after a safety scandal tarnished the image of the company. Toyota announced that Daihatsu will hand over some development
of compact cars for international markets to Toyota. Daihatsu's management was also restructured to
improve communication and cooperation between different development groups, and employees will also be encouraged to speak up if they spot problems. And lastly, Toyota is shifting Daihatsu
to focus on developing low cost mini evs starting with commercial vehicles. Toyota is
falling behind competitors Nissan and Honda in the mini car market in Japan, and that's a very popular segment in the country. The auto industry doesn't just make
cars to drive on Earth. It's also heavily involved in developing vehicles for the
Moon. Toyota and Hyundai are working on lunar vehicles, and Bridgestone is developing
the tires and now. NASA has selected three teams to continue development of a
lunar vehicle for its Artemis missions. One of those teams in includes General Motors,
Lockheed Martin, Goodyear, and MDA Space. Its vehicles will be powered
by GM's Altim batteries and will also be able to operate autonomously with or without astronauts. It can run as long as a two week span of lunar nights
at temperatures as cold as minus two hundred and eighty degrees fahrenheit. Each of
the three teams will develop the lunar vehicles over the next year to meet NASA's requirements. Then the vehicles will be demonstrated to NASA and it will pick one
for validation ahead of the Artemis missions, which kick off next year. Evs
have become highly politicized, and consultant Mike Murphy has the data to back that up. He's a conservative Republican who is pro EV and he thinks that automakers
are marketing them all wrong. If I ran a Ford store somewhere you know,
or DW store or anything, I keep a couple lead dser on.
I let people take them for four days for one hundred bucks and something and play with them, because boy, oh boy, that works better. And
you asked me spend fifty million on straight up advertising for an EV or fan them out to two hundred dealers and let them have play inventory that you burn up with miles, but people taste. I'd spend a fifty on the demo
cars in a nanosecond, because that's the most effective thing. If you have
friend or if you played with one, you're much more likely to like it.
Mike Murphy goes on to say that automakers need to get off the environmental aspect of EVS. Stop talking about saving the polar bears and start talking about
their benefits and if you'd like to watch more, we'll post a link to that interview on our website and YouTube channel. That brings us to the end
of today's show. Thanks for tuning in. Out o Line Daily is brought
to you. You buy Bridgestone solutions for your journey and by intrepid control systems
over the air engineering boost your game. When the peace and quiet of your
morning commute is as comforting as your morning machiato, that's what really matters.
Bridgestone Tronzo Evy tires less noise for more quiet comfort

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