AD #3816 - Tesla Model 2 Coming in 20 Months; Toyota Planning PHEV Tundra and Sequoia?; China Increases Dominance of EV Raw Materials

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

Is Tesla still really working on a Model two? Sure looks like it

is. In fact, it's working on two versions, one for the US

and a slightly different version for Europe. Auto Forecast Solutions reports that Tesla will

launch the Model two at its gigafactories in Austin in Berlin, but the one for the US is designated two X, which auto Forecast describes as a slightly more rugged off road version. The Model two that will be built at Berlin

is a compact, inexpensive car. It goes into production in July of twenty

twenty seven. The rugged two X goes into production in Austin in January of

twenty twenty six, but it will only be built until December of twenty thirty, at which time it gets replaced in January of two thirty one with the next generation two X. In a sign that automakers are not sure how the

EV segment is progressing, two automakers, one in the US and one in China, are delaying the introduction of new beev's. Automotive News reports that Nissan

told suppliers to stop all development on an electric sedan it was going to start building at its plant in Canton, Mississippi, in June of twenty twenty six.

And in China, Liato is postponing plans to launch more pure electric models after its first BEV, called the Mega, didn't sell very well. Leato

is blaming a shortage of fast chargers in China and not enough showroom space at its dealerships for the delay. The company has been very successful selling extended range

EV's in China, but its profits fell thirty seven percent in the first quarter, and it expects them to go down even more next year. Despite moves

in the US, Europe, Japan, and South Korea to reduce their dependence on China for the raw materials needed to make EV batteries, China has actually increased its dominance in nickel, cobalt, and lithium production. The Wall Street

Journal reports that Chinese mining and processing companies are expanding their operations, flooding global markets and dropping prices. The result is that Western competitors are suspending operations or

cutting back on investments. Canada's Deputy Prime Minister says the Canadian government believes this

is a deliberate policy to drive competitors out of the business. We always hear

complaints about the lack of public chargers holding back EV sales, but there's another issue with these stations. Many evy owners don't feel safe ad them. According

to a survey from the Transportation Energy in to T, EV drivers say they want public charging stations in visible areas that are open twenty four to seven have multiple charging ports, bright lighting, and security cameras, but only half of the current charging stations have some of those features, and around two thirds are visible with security cameras. The report also says that EV drivers spend an average

of thirty minutes at a public charger, so it's important for the locations to have things for owners to do while they wait. 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 Pie four 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. Fleet customers

in Europe are getting another option to go all electric. Ford Pro is launching

the E Transit Custom commercial Van this summer. It features a sixty four kilowat

hour battery pack that provides up to three hundred and thirty seven kilometers or two hundred and nine miles of range, as well as two motor outputs one hundred and one hundred and sixty kilowatts or one hundred and thirty four and two hundred and fourteen horse power. There's also a sportier MSR Team model that comes with

a two hundred and ten kilowatt or two hundred and eighty one horsepower electric motor.

The van is available in two lengths and four body styles, which offer a max payload of just over one thousand kilograms or twenty two hundred pounds and a towing capacity of up to twenty three hundred kilograms or a bit over five thousand pounds. The e transit custom is made in Turkey and orders are open

right now, but it will only arrive in select markets, and four didn't reveal those markets in the press release. However, it will spread across all

of Europe next year. In speaking of electric vans that will be sold in

the region, the company that makes London's famous black cabs is launching a fairly luxurious van called the L three eighty. The London Electric Vehicle Company or LVC,

was bought out by GLI in twenty twelve and makes a few different versions of its electric taxi, the TX, but now it's expanding that lineup to include the new van. Sales kickoff in China this year, followed by the

UK market in the next two years. It rides on a new platform called

Space Oriented Architecture, and Car News China reports it will have two hundred and four hundred kilowatts or two hundred and sixty eight and five hundred and thirty six horse power and up to seven hundred and eighty five kilometers or four hundred and eighty seven miles of range. The interior looks pretty nice and will offer seating

for three to eight passengers with captain's chairs in the second and third rows.

LVC has a strong footing in the UK. Over fifty percent of all licensed

taxis in London come from the company, so it might be easier to get customers in the showroom kind of like MG, even though it's owned by SAIC.

BMW imported at least eight th Mini Coopers into the US market with electronic parts from a ban Chinese supplier, according to a US Senate report. It

says the company continued importing the vehicles until at least April. BMW says it

has taken steps to halt the imports and that it will replace the affected parts.

The components are banned by a twenty twenty one law that prevents the import of goods from a region in China that's believed to be using forced labor.

They are also used by Jaguar, Land Rover, the Volkswagen Group and Volvo.

All of them were sent a letter in January warning of about the banned parts. JLRA immediately stop shipments. Valvo says they were for a vehicle not

in production yet, and back in February, the Volkswagen Group revealed that several thousand Porschas, Bentley's and Audi's were held up at US ports because they were equipped with the banned components. If these companies don't replace those parts, the

a Mare government could stop the cars from being sold in the country. Toyota

is planning to invest more than five hundred and thirty million dollars to upgrade its plant in Texas, where it builds the Tundra and Sequoya. Automotive News reports

that it wants a tax abatement for the expansion, but Toyota isn't saying anything about it. We think maybe two things are going on here. Toyota may

want to boost the plant's capacity, but it could also be retooling the plant to build plug in hybrid versions of the Tundra and Sequoya. General Motor says

it will have PA versions of its full sized trucks in twenty twenty seven, and that could be about the same time that Toyota completes its expansion. Tesla

is releasing an update for FSD that it says will improve its miles per intervention by five to ten times or In other words, you won't have to put your hands on the steering wheel as much. The system now more heavily relies

on the in cabin camera to monitor the driver to make sure that they're paying attention. In some cases, a message will still come up to put your

hands on the steering wheel, but not as often. In speaking of Tesla,

if you saw our latest video with Terry Wachowski, the president of Vehicle Benchmarking Experts Caresoft, the evmaker continues to hide little Easter eggs all around its vehicles. This includes a stamping of the Cyber Truck silhouette on the inner fender

of the truck, as well as a hammer that was from the original reveal demonstration showing how tough the doors are. We were back at caresoft again yesterday

and they found another hidden gem. This time it's a modified Superman logo located

on a circuit board for one of the computers. And don't worry, that

whole video will be coming out soon. And that brings us to the end

of today's show. Thanks for making autoline a part of your day. Auto

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AD #3816 - Tesla Model 2 Coming in 20 Months; Toyota Planning PHEV Tundra and Sequoia?; China Increases Dominance of EV Raw Materials

Ford Transit Custom

E-Transit E Transit Custom

Volkswagen Gli

Mini Coopers

Toyota Tundra

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