Volkswagen's surprise $5 billion investment in Rivian follows successful testing of Rivian's zonal compute architecture in Audis, highlighting VW's shift away from its struggling Cariad software unit. Rivian is cutting costs on upcoming EV models with in-house components and advanced battery tech. Fuel savings from EVs can reach $10,000 per 100,000 miles, while Honda offers a fuel cell CR-V lease with a $30,000 hydrogen credit to boost adoption. JD Power's quality study reveals higher repair rates for EVs and PHEVs, with Ram and Chevrolet leading in quality. Toyota aims to regain ground in China with new EVs and advanced driver assistance. Audi prepares for F1 entry in 2026, and Chinese automakers are poised to dominate global sales by 2030.
Topics:vw and rivian partnershipzonal compute architecturecariad software strugglesev cost savingshonda fuel cell leasejd power quality studytoyota china strategyaudi formula one entrychinese automakers growthrivian cost reduction
- VW Tested Rivian Zonal Compute in Audis - Does VW Need Cariad Anymore? - Rivian Designs Out Tons of Cost - EVs Save $10,000 Per 100,000 Miles - Buy A Honda FCEV, Get A $30,000 Check - J.D. Power IQS Rates Ram Best - Toyota To Debut AV System in China - Audi Started F1 Development Two Years Ago - By 2030, 1 Of Every 3 Vehicles Will Be Chinese - Genesis Updates Electrified G80 Sedan
"... only going to offer the fuel cell version of the CRV in California, whereas there's the most stations ..."
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This is out Aligned Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Rivian and Volkswagen caught the industry by surprise when they announced their joint
venture this week. The most amazing part is that the story never leaked,
even though both companies have been working on a deal since early this year, and Reuters has the fascinating story on how the deal got together. It says
the Volkswagen Group secretly ship some camouflaged Audis to Rivian's operations in California earlier this year, where they were stripped of their existing domain architecture and outfitted with Rivian Zono electronic architecture, just to see how the cars would perform. And apparently
they must have passed with flying colors, because VW announced it will invest as much as five billion dollars into Rivian. And this makes us wonder what's gonna
happen with VW's Carriad software business unit. DW created Cariad in twenty twenty to
develop software stacks for all of the company's brands, but it quickly ran into delays and problems, and VW was pouring money into the division. Those failures
were a key reason why VW CEO Herbert Diese was let go in twenty twenty two. Then last year, the CEO, CFO and CTO of Cariad were
fired and two thousand of the unit six thousand software engineers were laid off as the software unit posted a loss of two point four billion euros. As Cariad
continued to flounder, it caused critical new car launches to be delayed. That's
when Porsia decided it couldn't afford to wait around anymore and invested in a Silicon Valley software company called Applied Intuition. Volkswagen also decided it couldn't wait around either
and invested two point four billion euros and Horizon Robotics in China for help and software and for autonomous technology, as well as two point four billion dollars into Chapung for help in software and EVS. That was okay for the Chinese market,
but VW also needed an architecture and software stack that it could use outside of China, which is why it turned to Rivian. And so, with
its software bases covered in China and the rest of the world, why the heck does VWNI Cariad? Speaking of Rivian. It can't believe it's good luck
that potential five billion dollars from VW ensures it will be able to launch its R two vehicle with no fear of running out of cash before job one.
Yesterday's CEO RJ. Scarringe and his executive team showed industry analysts the progress they're
making, especially when it comes to cutting costs. Rivian's second generation RT truck
and suv are twenty percent cheaper to make than the first generation. It's R
two vehicles, which come out next year will be forty five percent cheaper to make than the Gen two, and it also teased and next generation are three vehicle. The cost savings will come from a variety of changes, including that
zonal architecture that VW is so impressed with, as well as the propulsion system, the body and the chassis. All the motors and inverters will now be
built in house, and it's going to a larger format forty six to ninety five cylindrical battery cell, which will be bigger and more energy dense than the forty six eighty cells that Tesla uses. And just to think all of this
will be much more possible to pull off because Cariad couldn't get its act together.
Eves cost more when they need to be fixed, but they save thousands of dollars in fuel costs. Argon National Lab estimated the fuel savings potential replacing
a gas powered vehicle with the same sized electric vehicle, and not surprisingly, pickups have the greatest potential for fuel cost savings when switching to an EV at fourteen cents per mile, followed by vans and SUVs which are at eleven cents per mile, and if you assume at least a ten cent per mile savings average for most vehicles, that would translate to one hundred dollars per one thousand miles or ten grand after one hundred thousand miles just in fuel savings by switching
to an EV. Intrepid's Neovipie 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 neovipie is designed for automotive environments, allowing use with
re relative power ranges and applications. In addition, the neovipi enables you to
use the Raspberry Pi for 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. The biggest drawback to fuel cell vehicles
right now is there aren't many places to fill up. That's why Honda is
only going to offer the fuel cell version of the CRV in California, whereas there's the most stations and it's going to pay for most of your hydrogen.
Honda is also only going to lease the vehicle, and there's three options two, three, or six years with mileage ranges between thirty six thousand and seventy two thousand miles. With about three thousand dollars down, you can lease the
vehicle for as little as three hundred and eighty nine dollars a month, which means it would cost you almost thirty one thousand dollars just for the vehicle over the six year lease, but hydrogen costs would be really low. Because that
six year lease also includes a thirty thousand dollars fuel credit. From what I
could find, hydrogen costs are roughly thirty dollars a kilogram right now, which means that thirty thousand dollars credit would cover about seventy percent of your lease.
The fuel cell CRV also has a nearly eighteen kilowade hour battery pack that provides twenty nine miles of range, so that credit could last even longer. GM
did a similar lease only option with the EV one because it just saw it as a test vehicle to learn from. But let's hope if customers like the
fuel sell CRV two that Honda doesn't just send most of them to the crusher.
JD Power released its annual Initial Quality Study, which surveys new car buyers after ninety days of ownership. For the first time, the study incorporates franchise
dealer repair visits, and here's some of the highlights. Ram is the highest
rank brand in the study, followed by Chevrolet and Hundai's in third place.
Portie is the highest ranked premium brand, and it's followed by Lexus and Genesis respectively. At the other end of the spectrum, Audi and Volvo were second
and third from the bottom, and Dodge was ranked dead last. JD Power
also found that beevs and pehs require more repairs than gas powered vehicles, and that owners are taking them to the dealership at three times the rate as ICEE vehicles. Some other things owners complained about include warnings for things like seat belts,
rear seat reminders, and inaccurate or annoying A alerts from driver assistant systems.
Owners are also frustrated with Apple CarPlay in Android Auto and said they had trouble connecting their phones. And lastly, more owners say their vehicles literally stink.
All brands except for Kia Nissan saw higher complaints of unpleasant interior smells compared to last year. Toyota and its Chinese joint venture partner GAC announced several new
products to help it regain its competitiveness in China. Next year, they plan
to introduce the first electric vehicle with an advanced driver assistant system that can park itself and autonomously drive on highways and roads. The JV is developing the system
with Momenta, a startup that's collaborating with Mercedes on autonomous driving as well.
GAC Toyota also said they planned to introduce a new LFP battery in twenty twenty six or twenty twenty seven that could cut production costs of the BZ four X by forty percent. Toyota is losing ground in China. While it's fifth overall
in sales, its sales are down twenty two percent in the first four months of the year. All Formula one power units, meaning the engine, electric
motor, battery and control electronics, come from manufacturers based in the UK, France, Italy and Japan, but in twenty twenty six, Germany will be added to that list when Audi joins F one as a factory racing team.
While that's still almost two years away, Audi says it started development of its power unit in the spring of twenty twenty two and is now testing under race conditions. Audi is taking over for the Sober team, which consistently runs at
the back of the pack, so it's not going to be easy to be competitive right out of the gate, but AUDI is clearly trying to get the best head start that it can, and there's big rules changes coming in twenty twenty six no, notably a three x increase in electrical power, which could help level out the playing field. The Chinese auto industry is a juggernaut that
will capture one third of all new car sales globally by the end of this decade. That's according to an analysis from Alex Partners. It predicts that by
twenty thirty, Chinese automakers will be selling nine million vehicles outside of China, including X boards and vehicles made locally in various markets. That's because China is
faster to market with vehicles that are cheaper to build, cheaper to buy, and have newer technology. The product cycle for some cars in China is now
just one point six years compared to five point four years for non Chinese legacy automakers. That shorter product cycle means new tech can be introduced far faster versus
OEMs who only redesign a place platform every five years or more. Genesis isn't
changing the styling of the new electrified G eighty Sadan that much, but it did add over five inches or one hundred and thirty millimeters to the wheelbase.
We do notice some design tweaks around the rear pillar, but that extra length is really about adding interior space. Genesis also gave rear seat passengers a couple
of giant screens to look at. While its name says Electrified, this is
a full battery electric car that was launched about three years ago. But no
word on when the new version will go on sale yet. But that's a
wrap for this show and this week. Don't forget we'll be on break all
next week, so no dailies are after hours. However, we will post
several videos that we think will interest you, so keep an eye out for that. I hope you have a good weekend and fourth of July if you'll
be celebrating, see you again. I'MI. Auto Line Daily is brought to
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