General Motors posted strong first-quarter results with increased sales and cost cuts, raising its profit forecast. A survey reveals 73% of Americans would consider Chinese EVs if priced competitively, despite US government concerns. Tesla is rolling out a new mapping system in China with improved navigation features. Consumer Reports ranks Tesla as having the lowest maintenance costs, while Land Rover tops repair expenses. Kia plans to launch its first pickup, the Tassman, next year. The episode also covers winter testing of the Range Rover Electric, Opel's new Granland SUV, Smart's larger EV concept, and Chinese automaker Cherry's expansion in Europe with new joint ventures and EV models.
Topics:gm financial resultschinese ev acceptancetesla mapping systemvehicle maintenance costskia pickup launchrange rover electric testingopel granland evsmart ev conceptchinese ev expansion europe
- GM Had a Good 1st Quarter - Most Americans Open to Chinese EVs - Tesla Gets New Nav System in China - Tesla Has Lowest Repair Costs - Kia Reveals All-New Global Pickup - Our Best Look Yet at 1st Range Rover BEV - All-New Opel Grandland Migrates to STLA Medium Platform - smart Shows Biggest Model Yet - Chery Forms New EV Van JV in EU
"...'s and we'll start with winter testing of the new range Rover Electric in the Arctic Circle at temps as low as ..."
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This is Outdoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
Thanks to a boost in sales and cost cutting measures, General Motors had an impressive first quarter. The automaker sold eight hundred and ninety five thousand vehicles
globally in the first three months of the year, which is a three and a half percent increase That helped boost revenue to forty three billion dollars, a gain of more than seven percent. Its adjusted earnings before interest and taxes hit
three point nine billion, up two percent, and it posted a net profit of two point nine billion dollars, which was a twenty four percent increase.
GM said it cut fixed cost by three hundred million dollars in the first quarter, mainly in marketing and engineering, but it wants to cut those costs by a total of two billion dollars by the end of the year, and thanks to its strong results, GM raised its profit forecast for the full year.
There's a lot of concern from the US government about Chinese evs entering the market.
American car buyers are open to purchasing one. According to a new consumer
survey from alex Partners, fifty eight percent of buyers in the US are aware of Chinese brands, and seventy three percent would consider purchasing a Chinese BEEV if it was priced twenty percent below a non Chinese brand. The survey also found
that the percentage of buyers that are varied or moderately likely to buy an EV in both the US and Europe remain flat compared to three years ago, thirty five percent for the US and forty three percent for Europe. Meanwhile, in
China that number jump to ninety seven percent. Alex Partner says the long term
outlook for EV's remains favorable, but in the short term, buyers in the US are pivoting to plug in hybrids as a substitute. Tesla is getting a
new mapping system in China. While the evmaker pretty famously builds many of its
own components in house, it's always outsourced its maps and navigation system. In
most parts of the world, Tesla uses Google Maps for some of the visuals on its screen and another company called map Box for its navigation, but in China it has a partnership with tech company by Do, and it's about to start rolling out its new version twenty of Byduo Maps. The system offers better
in car navigation three D graphics and is compatible with autonomous vehicles as well as a number of different operating systems. New and existing Tesla owners will be the
first to get by Doo Maps V twenty This may but by Do says four other automakers will also use the system. Tesla has the lowest maintenance costs of
any car brand in the US, and that's according to a new survey from Consumer Reports, which asked its members how much they pay paid out of pocket for maintenance and repairs during the previous twelve months, and when comparing costs by brand over a ten year period, Tesla had the lowest maintenance costs at just over four thousand dollars. It was followed by Buick and Toyota at forty nine
hundred bucks. But meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, land
Rover owners paid out a whopping nineteen thousand, two hundred and fifty dollars in repair costs over a ten year period, which is easily the most of any brand. It's even five thousand dollars more than Porsche owners, which is the
next highest. The Tajin automotive technologies. We combine world class composite materials expertise
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coming out with its first pickup truck, called the Tassman next year, and like we thought, it's a more traditional looking truck. It's hard to tell
if it's a body on frame truck like the Ford Ranger or Toyota Tacoma, or if it's unibody like the Honda Ridgeline or Hundai Santa Cruz. I would
note that it doesn't have the normal separation between the cab and the bed like a traditional truck, but Kia also says it will easily fill the role of both a work truck as well as a personal truck. The Taskman will be
fully revealed next year and will be sold in Korea, Australia, Africa and the Middle East. Now let's shift our focus over to Eve's and we'll start
with winter testing of the new range Rover Electric in the Arctic Circle at temps as low as negative forty degrees. This is the best look yet we've had
at range Rover's first electric vehicle, and the design stays mostly the same with a bit of EV specific styling thrown in. The model will feature at these
two electric drive units, and because it can distribute power to each one individually, Range Rover says its traction control system can react even faster and will improve its capabilities in all situations. Next, the range Rover Electric is off to
the searing heat of deserts in the Middle East. Our next new EV is
the all new opal GRANLN SUV. It now sits on Stalantis's Stella Medium platform,
which offers a number of powertrain options. As a BEEV, it will
be available with a ninety eight kilowat hour battery pack that will return an estimated seven hundred kilometers or four hundred and thirty five miles of range. There's a
plug in version as well, and while there's no info on that setup right now, Opel did say it offers up to eighty five kilometers or fifty two miles of all electric range. And lastly, there will also be a forty
eight volt mild hybrid setup, but again no details on that power train.
All three versions will roll down the same assembly line in Germany, but that plant required a one hundred and thirty million euro investment that includes a new area for battery pack assembly. But no word on when the new Granlin will launch
yet. It looks like Smart wants to come out with bigger models because it
just pulled the wraps off the massive concept Number five. While at least massive
for the brand, which is known for its tiny cars, it's actually a mid size suv that sits on parent company Gil's Sea platform, which is used for various g Lely, Smart, Volvo and Zeker vehicles of all different sizes.
Smart says it's been adapted to an eight hundred volt architecture and features its biggest battery yet at over one hundred kilowad hours, which will allow for faster charging in over five hundred and fifty kilometers or three hundred and forty one miles of range. No word on market launch, but the reduction version of the
Number five will be shown off in the second half of this year. Chinese
automaker Cherry continues to expand in Europe. Last week, it formed a joint
venture with Evmotors to build vehicles in Spain, and now it's formed another joint venture with commercial electric van startup Beyond, which is based in Europe. Cherry
is an investor in bey On and will provide capital to fund the JV as well as offer engineering support. Earlier today, the two companies unveiled their first
model, called the Pelkan. Two Battery sizes are available forty three or fifty
four kilowatt hours, which will provide ranges between two hundred and twenty six to two hundred and seventy nine kilometers or one hundred and forty to one hundred and seventy three miles. The company's plan to start delivering the Palkan to customers in
Europe in the middle of the year. That brings us to the end of
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