AD #3798 - CATL Improves LFP Batteries; BYD Going After Europe's Hot Hatches?; Hyundai Boosts Production in India

This is out Aline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. The Beijing Auto Show is roaring strong, but we'll get to that

a little bit later, because there's some dark storm clouds gathering over the Chinese auto industry, at least when it comes to electric cars. The Wall Street

Journal reports that only three EV makers in China are profitable, byd, Tesla, and Liatto, and it says that price war there is only just getting started and could go on for the rest of the year, and the current level of competition could go on for another two to three years, and potentially only a handful of companies will survive. Even so, China still leads the

world in EV development. CTL just introduced a new, more efficient LFP or

lithium iron phosphate battery that has a similar energy density to nickel, cobalt manganese batteries. New battery offers one thousand kilometers or six hundred and twenty one miles

of range and can add six hundred kilometers or three hundred and seventy two miles of range in just ten minutes. And CTL, which is already the largest

EV battery manufacturer in the world is expanding beyond batteries. It's introducing its own

EV chassis. The platform integrates the battery, electric drive, and thermal management

system directly into the platform. It also features break by wire, steer by

wire, rear wheel steering, electronically controlled suspension, and all wheel drive.

The chassis can support multiple battery chemistries and can be adapted to multiple vehicle sizes.

This platform sounds very competitive, and it's going to be fascinating to see which automakers run to CTL to get to it. But the problem with evs

isn't just in China. Hyundai says global EV sales fell by several thousand units

in the first quarter, while sales of hybrids shot up seventeen percent to almost ninety eight thousand vehicles. So it's going to invest more in hybrids, including

making them at its new Georgia assembly plant in the US, which originally was only going to make evs. Mercedes Benz is also going to rely more heavily

on IC and hybrid models in the US. Automotive News reports that Mercedes does

not expect to sell more evs and is going to get rid of the current jelly being design language and drop the EQ branding for electrics. Future platforms will

accommodate a variety of powertrains, just like BMW is doing. And Vinfaest,

the Vietnamese automaker, just saw sales of its evs dropped twenty eight percent quarter over quarter, and the founder of the company is investing another billion dollars of his own personal wealth into VinFast because it's burning through so much cash. Stilantis

was just dealt a blow by a judge in the US which could threaten its production. The automaker is suing the supplier McLain Fogg, which makes gears and

pinions for its transmissions, because it's refusing to ship components to the automaker over a pricing dispute. But a judge just rejected Stalantis's attempt to force that supplier

to resume shipping parts, and it must continue paying the supplier if it wants to get those parts. Stillantis argued that this could cause other suppliers that want

price increases to withhold shipments, but the judge ruled that this was just quote speculation and conjecture. Earlier this year, Stalantis told suppliers it would not accept

any more claims from them seeking inflationary cost relief to other suppliers. Camex and

Young Fung also stopped shipping parts to the automaker this year, which led to to Lantis to sue them, but on like McLean Fogg, a judge ruled that Camex and Young Fun had to continue shipping parts. When the elements are

working against you, being confident in your grip on the road is what really matters. Breach through in the lens of tires, improved acceleration in wet conditions.

As I said at the beginning of the show, the Beijing Auto Show is going full bore, and here are some of the highlights so far.

Volkswagon's evs are adopting a new styling language and it's previewing the look on the ID code concept. One of the differences includes a new lighting signature which still

stretches across the front and rear of the car, but the light bars are much thicker. The panels also look more tightly pulled over the body, which

when combined with the fastback roofline of the ID code, gives the vehicle a very sporty appearance. VW says this concept is a preview of a future large

SUV that's designed to have up to Level four autonomous capabilities, but it also plans to launch thirty new models in China by the end of the decade.

That includes new ices hybrids plugin hybrids with over one hundred kilometers or sixty two miles of range b evs, as well as five EV models from a brand new sub brand called Idux. Its first model is the idun y X,

which we think is pronounced uniques and we first showed you back in March.

It's basically just a VW version of the Cooper Taviascan, which itself is in MEB based all wheel drive EV. But it's hard to know exactly what platform

will be used for each vehicle that's coming out within the future because it has so many platforms. MQB covers everything IC based, but for EV it has

its current electric vehicle platform, as well as a new version of MEB called China Main Platform that instead uses local suppliers for parts and components. At least

four entry level vehicles will launch on this platform starting in twenty twenty six.

In twenty twenty seven is when the IDUX vehicles start launching. It will eventually

have five models and they will use MEB, but could also tap into its EV partnership with Xpunk or its first China specific EV platform that is being developed by the Volkswagen China Technology Company. This adds a lot of cost and complexity

to Volkswagen's operations, so it's going to need these vehicles to sell well for its strategy to pay off. Toyota might be considering dropping its BEZ naming structure

for evs, but it's not giving up on it just yet. It revealed

production versions of the Bezsport crossover concept and the BZ Flex space concept that it first showed off at last year's Beijing Auto Show, but now they're called the BZ three C in BZ three X. Toyota says both models will go on

sale within a year from now and include the latest driver assistance technology. The

BZ three C was jointly developed with BYD and FAW and is geared towards younger customers, while the BZ three X is more family oriented and was developed with GAC. That's about all the details we have for now, but on a

wishful thinking note, I feel like there's a new age version of the Scion X B hiding in there in that BZ three X if you just gave it a more van like body with upright side panels. Some Europeans are worried about

Chinese cars flooding the market, and BYD could go after one of Europe's most coveted vehicle segments, the hot hatch. It revealed the Ocean m our rear

drive all Ala electric four door hatchback that's supposed to go on sale in China in the third quarter of this year. Details are few for now, but

pricing is expected to be around twenty five thousand dollars. Now that it has

the largest population in the world, India could be the next huge growth market.

That's why the Hondai Group is making plans to expand production there. The

automaker's chairman says it will have the capacity to produce one and a half million vehicles in India next year. The Hondai brand will account for more than a

million of those units, and it wants to be a leader in evs.

The Hondai brand will begin mass producing its first locally built EV in India by the end of the year, and it plans to produce five EV models by twenty thirty. Kia will start EV production in India next year. In the

first quarter of this year, the Hondai Group sold more than two hundred and twenty five thousand vehicles in India, up one and a half percent compared to a year ago, and it's aiming to sell eight hundred and ninety thousand this year, which would be a four percent gain. The UAW scored a major

victory last week when over seventy percent of the workers at Volkswagen's plant in Tennessee voted to join the union. Next up is Mercedes Benz, and the union

promises to go after all the foreign automakers building cars in the US, all of which are not unionized. This is a historic development that's going to have

a dramatic impact on the American auto industry. So what's going to happen,

Well, that's what we'll be talking about on Autoline After Hours today. We've

got Merrick Masters coming on the show. He's a labor expert from Wayne State

University who has a deep understanding and great insight into all of this. And

we've got Mike Martinez, who covers the UAW for Automotive News and who recently interviewed UAW President Sean fain So joined John and Gary when the action gets going on Autoline after Hours today at three pm Eastern Time. That's a wrap for

this show. Thanks for tuning in. Auto Line Daily is brought to you

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AD #3798 - CATL Improves LFP Batteries; BYD Going After Europe's Hot Hatches?; Hyundai Boosts Production in India

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