AD #3814 - 80% Of U.S. New Car Buyers Interested in an EV; Great Wall Motor Reveals V8 Motorcycle; Tesla Shifts FSD Data Strategy in China

This is Outline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.

We've got a lot of news to report on, but we won't know the details of the biggest story of the day until later tonight. That's because

the National Labor Relations Board will count the votes at the Mercedes Benz plant in Alabama to see if workers there decided to join the union. Everyone in the

industry is wondering if the UAW can score another victory after it won at VW's plant in Chattanooga. So what do you think will happen? And we'll be

sure to report the full results on Monday. Say, did you know that

the United States is importing oil from China? But it's not crude oil,

it's cooking oil, and it's got American farmers really mad. That's because biofuel

companies that make biodiesel from soybean oil and green jet fuel are turning to cheaper Chinese cooking oil instead. Farmers and eggs culture groups are calling for terrace,

but the biofuel industry says there's a shortage of low carbon feedstocks and it needs that cooking oil right now. One of the arguments against electric cars is that

nobody wants them. But according to a survey by Cox Automotive, nearly eighty

percent of Americans who buy new cars say they want an EV. But the

only thing is they don't want one right now. They say they won't be

ready to buy one in another three to five years. That means EV sales

could really take off at the end of the decade. Two key things from

that Cox Automotive survey. Most car buyers aren't very aware of the incentives that

are available to buy eves, so automakers should really hammer home in their advertising the incentives that are available. The other tidbit is that people are far more

likely to be interested in buying an EV if they already know someone who owns one. While the numbers are still small, used EV sales are rising in

the US. Last year, used EV's only accounted for one percent of all

used vehicles sold, but Carvana says used EV's accounted for four point three percent of its sales in the first quarter of this year, and while the gap is still big, the difference between used EV and IC average vehicle prices is narrowing. In the first quarter of twenty twenty three, the gap was thirteen

thousand dollars, but in Q one of this year it dropped to seven thousand.

Toyota has been forced to idle production in Mexico several times this year due to workers' shortages at suppliers. Writers reports the automakers shutdown production at its plant

in Tijuana for a total of nineteen days in February in March because it can't get the parts that it needs. That plant builds the Tacoma, which accounted

for about ten percent of Toyota sales in the US last year and is its third best seller in its lineup. Suppliers in Mexico are facing high employee turnover

because workers are frequently changing jobs for better paying ones. As a result,

production of parts is being impacted due to declining worker skills. Toyota says it's

working with its suppliers to help with the challenges and to see what kind of support that they need. Don't expect to buy a self driving Renault anytime soon.

The company says it's developing Level two and two plus, which will provide some hands free driving in certain areas, but it thinks going to level three will make vehicles cost so much that people won't want to buy them, and it claims complete autonomy is quote unquote unlikely. However, Renault feels completely different

about autonomous public transportation and is going to kick off a Level four self driving shuttle at the French Open tennis tournament on Monday. It's partnering with we Ride

for the trial, and the shuttles features several rows of seating and display screens, but no onboard safety driver. They are, on the other hand,

supervised remotely. Renault sees a market for these electric and autonomous minibuses in Europe.

Just in terms of the need for self driving public transportation, it estimates there's demand for several thousand minibuses a year for the next few years. Plus.

More cities in Europe are implementing low emission zones where gas burning vehicles have limited access and Sticking with Renault, it also revealed details about a new Sportier plug and hybrid version of the Rafallae, which is a brand new suv that had debuted last year called the rafale Etech four x four to three one hundred hp. I think you can pretty easily guess how much horse power it has.

The setup combines a turbocharge one point two liter three cylinder engine with two electric motors, one on the front axle and the other on the rear.

Compared to the standard plugin Rafale, which has two hundred horse power, the four x four three hundred hp will do zero to one hundred kilometers an hour over two seconds faster at six point four seconds. It also features a twenty

two kilo hour battery pack that provides up to one hundred kilometers or sixty two miles of all electric range on the WLTP test cycle. No word on pricing,

but sales kickoff in autumn. Speaking of PEVs VW is launching the new

plug and hybrid versions of the Golf in Europe, and kind of like Renault, it has a standard and sport y version. Both feature a turbocharged one

and a half liter engine and an electric motor that drive the front wheels, but the standard E hybrid makes about two hundred horse power, while the Gulf GTE makes roughly two hundred and seventy at nineteen point seven kilowat hours. The

battery is about double the size of the previous version and provides up to one hundred and forty three kilometers or eighty eight miles of range. Orders for both

models are open now in Europe, the E hybrid starts at a little over forty four thousand euros and the GTE tax on another twenty five hundred euros.

And while I'm talking about pricing, Opal's newest electrified suv, the Fronterra, will start at twenty four thousand euros in Germany including taxes. That's for the

mild hybrid version with forty eight volt technology. But the Fronterra shares a platform

with the Citro and C three and like that model, it also comes as a pure battery electric and that version starts at twenty nine thousand euros. And

now it's time to get off electrification for the moment and let piston heads rejoice.

There's a brand new eight cylinder engine hitting the market, but in this case it's in a motorcycle. Great Wall Motor is coming out with a touring

bike called the sou Oh, which means Soul. It has a two liter

flat eight boxer engine, a shaft drive, a cast frame and dual wishbone front suspension. The first eight cylinder motorcycle came from a company called Curtis all

the way back in nineteen oh six and it only had about thirty or forty horsepower. But who would have ever guessed that Great Wall, which is known

for making off road SUVs, when make a V eight motorcycle. Tesla is

shifting its strategy to collect data in China for its full self driving system.

Reuter's reports that the company is planning to power the global development of FSD with data from China that would be processed in the country to help it achieve that.

Tesla is working on plans to open a data center to train algorithms needed for self driving cars, but Tesla will have to work with a local Chinese partner to open the data center. Up until now, Tesla was focused on

getting approval from Chinese regulators to transfer data created by its vehicles out of the country for its FSD system. But that brings us to the end of today's

show. Thanks for making autoline a part of your day and I hope that

you have a great weekend. Autoline Daily is brought to you by Bridgestone Solutions

for your journey, Intrepid Control Systems, over the Air, Engineering boost your game, Tajent Automotive Technologies, the Formula for Better Mobility and by ZF keeping your heart racing in and out of the gym. That's what really matters.

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AD #3814 - 80% Of U.S. New Car Buyers Interested in an EV; Great Wall Motor Reveals V8 Motorcycle; Tesla Shifts FSD Data Strategy in China

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