Volkswagen workers in Tennessee voted overwhelmingly to join the UAW, marking a historic union win and shifting focus to upcoming votes at Mercedes and potentially BMW. Tesla faces declining US sales and has cut prices on Model 3, Y, and its full self-driving package, stirring market concerns. Meanwhile, BMW’s US battery partner is expanding, Nissan updated its European Qashqai with new tech, and dealer groups push back against direct sales plans from Honda-Sony’s AFEELA and VW’s Scout. BYD unveils its new Shark pickup, and Range Rover debuts massive carbon ceramic brakes on its Sport SV model.
- VW Workers Vote to Join UAW - Tesla U.S. Sales Drop 25% In February - Tesla Slashes Model 3, Y and FSD Prices - Wall Street Braces for Tesla Earnings Drop - Four Legacy Stocks Outperform Tesla - BMW’s Battery Partner Expands U.S. Production - Nissan Reveals New Qashqai SUV In Europe - Honda and VW Dealers Worried About New Brands - Range Rover Sport SV Gets Biggest Brakes in Company History - EVs Boosting Demand for Copper - BYD Names New Pickup the Shark
"...nnounced that its first pickup will be called the Shark. We know it's a plug in hybrid with up to four hu..."
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This is out of line Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. They did it. The UAW organized Volkswagen's plant in Tennessee.
It's a historic moment and I wasn't sure if they'd be able to pull it off, but workers strongly voted in favor of the union. Two thousand,
six hundred and twenty eight out of the three thousand, six hundred and thirteen that voted, or seventy three percent, said they want UAW representation passed.
Attempts to organize the non union plants in the US would sometimes seem promising at first, only to see workers vote know at the ballot box. But this
time around, the UAW also had freshly minted contracts with the Detroit Three in its back pocket that included historic pay raises for their workers, and no doubt the folks at VW will want the same. Now, all the attention will
shift to Mercedes to see if the UAW can convince the majority of it's sixty one hundred workers in Alabama to vote in favor of the union. That vote
takes place on May thirteenth to the seventeenth, and if successful there, it might make sense to go after another German automaker, BMW's plant in South Carolina, where it makes a lot of its expensive SUVs. But that makes us
wonder will the UAW have a harder time organizing the Japanese automakers. Will we
see more pay raises for line workers at other non union plants in an effort to keep the UAW out, And when will it start working on those new contracts for VW workers. These are some of the reasons we have Wayne State
University business professor Merrick Masters coming on Autuline after hours this Thursday, so don't miss out on that. Tesla is facing some tough times in the marketplace.
SA Global says US registrations of new Tesla's fell twenty five percent in February, which is a significant drop in sales. SMP says total EV sales in the
US fell two point eight percent in February, meaning the Tesla loss market share, But if you don't count Tesla, EV sales in the US were up a strong thirty two percent, led by Ford, Rivian and Hyundai. Also
over the weekend, Tesla cut prices by up to two thousand dollars for the Model three and y in the US, China, and Germany, and in a shocking move, Tesla slashed the price of its full self driving option to eight thousand dollars, which is four thousand dollars cheaper than it was recently and seven thousand dollars lower than its peak price. That will likely lead to more
customers adopting FSD, but we've got to think it's going to upset buyers who paid a lot more for it. And all these price cuts have Wall Street
braze for a drop in earnings at Tesla. The stock price was down four
percent early this morning, and Reuter's quotes one Wall Street analyst Dan Ives of web Bush Securities is saying Tesla's Q one earnings report will be a moment of truth and quote one of the most important moments in the company's history. And
as you know, Tesla was once the most amazing automotive stock to invest in, but over the last year, four legacy automakers perform much better. Toyota
stock is up in astonishing seventy percent, Stalantis is up thirty eight percent, Honda's up thirty one and General Motors is up twenty one percent. So how
did the other legacy automakers do check out the Lincoln Today's transcript or description box to find out that answer. When the elements are working against being confident in
your grip on the road is what really breach through the lens of tires.
Improved acceleration in wet conditions. At a time when many companies are pulling back
on EV investments, BMW's battery partner in the US is expanding. Battery maker
AESC announced that it's investing one point five billion dollars to build a second battery plant near its first facility in South Carolina. The new plant is expected to
start operations in twenty twenty seven and will supply lithium ion batteries for BMW's evs produced in Mexico. ASC's other plant provides batteries for BMW's evs built in South
Carolina. The new investment is expected to create over one thousand new jobs,
and in total, AESSE has invested three point one billion dollars into its South Carolina operations. Nissan revealed the updated version of its COSHCAI crossover in Europe.
It gets a new front end design and the rear styling has also been massaged.
The interior features new materials and design patterns depending on the grade, and it's the first vehicle in Nissan's lineup in Europe with Google built in. Other
new features include an updated version of its round view monitor, which gives a bird's eye view of the vehicle to help with parking, and its suite of driver assistance features have been upgraded as well. Two power trains are offered.
The first is a mild hybrid, but Nissan didn't provide any details about it.
The second is what Nissan calls ePower, but this e Power operates differently than some other ePower vehicles. It uses a three cylinder turbo engine to generate
electricity for the one hundred and forty kilowat electric motor, or it sends it to the one point eight kilowatt hour battery pack. There is no transmission.
The electric mode powers the wheels. The new Koshkai is now in production at
Nissan's plant in the UK, and the model is also sold in Canada, so it will likely see the updated Kashkai. Some of you may remember that
the Kashkai had a US version called the Rogue Sport, but that model went out of production in twenty twenty two. Automotive News reports that Honda and Volkswagen
dealers in the US are getting mighty nervous about a FELA and Scout. A
FILA is the name of the joint venture that Honda formed with Sony to sell electric cars, while Scout is the new brand that Volkswagen created to sell electric pickups and SUVs. Both a Fila and Scout want to sell directly to customers,
and dealers feel like they're getting cut out of the picture. So a
group of different dealer associations at the state level have banded together to threaten legal action if a FELA and Scout adopt a direct sales model. The group called
the Automotive Trade Association. Executives took out a full page added Automotive News,
but they say so far that they haven't had any response from the automakers.
The new range Rovers Sport SV will have the biggest brakes the company has ever used. It's available with massive eight pissed and Brembo front calipers and four hundred
and forty milimeter or over seventeen inch carbon ceramic brake roaders and that's bigger than the wheels on some cars and actually ties it with the Lamborghini ars as the biggest brakes in the entire automotive industry. They're also thirty four kilograms or seventy
five pounds lighter than the standard cast iron brakes and thankfully shouldn't wear out too fast. Range Rovers said that four models at a track event did one thousand
miles of on road driving and six hundred and fifteen miles of track driving, and the brake pad still had around thirty percent of their life left. For
someone spending money on a vehicle that starts at one hundred and eighty thousand bucks, the cost of breaks is probably not top of mind, but there's still thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars to replace and will probably add at least fifteen thousand dollars to the price tag. And I'm pretty sure that's
on the low end. And the price of some raw materials needed for electric
vehicles, like lithium, is plunging, but others are soaring. According to
commodity trading company Trafigura, copper demand is expected to surge over the next decade, due in large parts to the growth in electric vehicles. It says that
one third of the ten million tons of new demand will come from the EV sector. The price of copper on the London Metal Exchange has soared to ten
thousand dollars a ton, and that's because supplies are tight and demand is outstripping the supply. Analysts estimate that the copper market will face shortages of twenty six
million metric tons this year. Maybe BYD feels like it's circling all the other
global truck makers in the water because it just announced that its first pickup will be called the Shark. We know it's a plug in hybrid with up to
four hundred and eighty horse power and will feature an active suspension system, but we should get even more details when it debuts at the Beijing Auto Show later this week. And that brings us to the end of today's show. Thanks
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