Audi is reportedly dropping its iconic four-ring badge on new electric vehicles in China, signaling brand challenges amid rising domestic competition. Magna faces financial hits after losing contracts with Fisker and Jaguar, while Volvo's sales show regional disparities with strong Europe growth but declines in China and the US. Toyota introduces an eight-speed automatic for the GR Corolla and launches its first full-size electric van in Europe, rebadged from Stellantis. GM plans to increase bonuses for top employees to compete with EV startups. Price cuts at Chinese premium brand Feng Chen Bao spark customer backlash, highlighting risks to vehicle resale values.
Topics:audi brand challenges in chinamagna financial impactvolvo sales performancetoyota gr corolla updatestoyota electric van europegm employee bonusesprice cuts impactchinese ev marketadvanced driver assistance systemsautomotive industry sales trends
- Audi Is a Damaged Brand in China - U.S. July Sales Inch Up - Fisker, Jaguar Hurt Magna Earnings - Volvo Up in Europe, Down in China - Nio and Li Auto See Sales Skyrocket in China - Mobileye Drops on Softening ADAS Market - Toyota GR Corolla Gets Automatic - Toyota Gets Stella CV for EU - Top GM Employees Can Make More Money - BYD Customers Mad About Price Cuts
"...or Pougo Partner. The mid size pro Ace is like an Opel Vivaro, and now the pro Ace Max is like a rebadge Fiat T..."
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Speaker 1: This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the.
Speaker 2: Global automotive industry.
Speaker 1: For any automaker, but especially a luxury car company, their brand is everything. It's the identity of the company, and
in the luxury realm, a prestigious brand is what entices buyers to pay more for your car.
Speaker 2: Than someone else's.
Speaker 1: So it's stunning to see that Audi is not going to put its famous four ring badge on its new generation of electric cars in China. According to a report
from Reuters, Audi will not confirm that it will drop the badges, but says the new evs will have quote authentic Audi DNA. But let's face it, you probably don't
pull your logo off your cars unless that logo is no longer respected in the marketplace. Foreign automakers are in
a freefall in the Chinese market as buyers increasingly turn to domestic brands sense Audi developed its new evs in China with Saic. We think they're likely to be branded
in a way that makes car buyers believe they're Chinese.
The numbers for car sales in the US and July are starting to trickle in.
Speaker 2: Honda, Hondi, Mazda.
Speaker 1: And Subaru all posted gains last month, while sales at Toyota, Volvo, and kiafel of the brands that have reported sales are up about one percent, and that's right in line with analysts who are forecasting a one to three percent increase in sales.
Speaker 2: The TSAR is forecasted to.
Speaker 1: Be between sixteen and sixteen point seven million units. Will
get a clearer picture when more automakers report their sales.
Ford will report their sales numbers later today. But remember
some automakers like GM and Stalantis only report sales on a quarterly basis. As we reported a few weeks back,
Magna took a huge blow in and Fisker filed for bankruptcy and Jaguar announced it's dropping the Ipace and the Epace from its lineup. That's because Magna manufactured those vehicles
at its plant in Austria, and now Magna is blaming that lost business for lower than expected second quarter results.
Magnus Steyer, the unit that produces the vehicles, saw its revenue drop eighteen percent to one point two billion dollars.
Magnus said lower vehicle assembly volumes also hurt its sales.
Magna currently builds the Mercedes G class BMW Z four and the Toyota Supra at its plant in Austria, and Automotive News reports that it's in talks with Chinese automakers to build vehicles for them to help make up for that loss business. In speaking of sales, vol those global
sales were up six percent in July to more than fifty seven thousand vehicles. That growth was thanks to Europe,
were sales rose forty percent, but in China, Volve struggled with sales plunging thirty one percent and in the US, where they were down eleven percent in July. B evs
and p haves now account for forty nine percent of all those global sales, with BEVs at a twenty five percent share.
Speaker 3: 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 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 use for developing Zono architecture and software divine vehicles.
Speaker 1: The Chinese car market has cooled off a bit, but some brands are growing. Neo sold around twenty thousand, five
hundred vehicles in July, which is the third month in a row that has exceeded twenty thousand sales. For the
full year, the evmaker has sold nearly one hundred and eight thousand vehicles, which is up about forty four percent compared to a year ago. And Liato posted a monthly
record in July with fifty one thousand sales, which is a nearly fifty percent gain compared to last year, and so far this year, the company has sold nearly two hundred and forty thousand vehicles. Advanced driver assistance systems or
eight ASS were supposed to be a growth technology, but MOBILEI, one of the leaders in the field, just lashed its forecast for sales and earnings because several automakers are backing off their volume projections for using.
Speaker 2: The technology, especially in China.
Speaker 1: Wall Street took the news hard and the stock dropped twenty percent in after hours trading, and its stock was already down nearly forty percent. This year, Toyota is trying
to expand the appeal of its hot little hatch, the GR Corolla, by offering a new eight speed automatic transmission, different from the auto trans is found in the Supra in eighty six. This unit was developed by Gazoo Racing
and relies on inputs from the break and accelerator to anticipate shifts rather than vehicle behavior like speed in G forces.
It helps the driver get the most out of the cars turbocharged one point six liter three cylinder engine, which generates an impressive three hundred horsepower. The GR Corolla's manual
will still be available for the new model year, and you may notice some mild design changes to the front facia as well. Engineers were also able to squeeze a
little more torque out of the engine. It now makes
two hundred and ninety five pound feet of torque, and they tweak the suspension to improve cornering. Toyota says the
new gr Corolla will start arriving at dealerships at this winner.
Speaking of Toyota, It's very first all electric full size van is about to go on sale in Europe, but it's not actually made by Toyota.
Speaker 2: Like the rest of Toyota's.
Speaker 1: Van lineup in Europe, the pro Ace Max is a rebadge Stalanta's van. Toyota's small pro A City is actually
like a cetro In Berlingo or Pougo Partner. The mid
size pro Ace is like an Opel Vivaro, and now the pro Ace Max is like a rebadge Fiat Tocado or Rampro Master. And just like those vans, the pro
Ace Max will be offered as a pure electric and with a diesel engine. The ev will have a one
hundred and ten kilowad hour battery pack that offers about four hundred and twenty kilometers or two hundred and sixty miles of range and is powered by a two hundred kilowad electric motor. Pricing starts just over seventy thousand, five
hundred euros or about seventy seven thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: White collar workers at car companies, especially in the US, can.
Speaker 1: Make a good income when an automaker turns in solid profits.
At General Motors, the top five percent employees can get a bonus up to one hundred and twenty percent of their base salary, and now GM is going to raise that to one hundred and fifty percent as long as the employee hits certain targets. GM says it needs to
do this to attract and retain top talent so it can compete with evy startups like Tesla and Rivian, who offers stock options. GM is going from a three point
to a five point scale that rates employees from exceeds expectations to does not exceed expectations. And while the people
rated the best can make more money, the ones at the bottom of the list will likely be given a chance to improve or invited to leave the company byd Customers in China are not the least bit happy about a significant price cut at its premium off road brand.
Earlier in the week, feng cheng Bao trim nearly seven thousand dollars from the starting price.
Speaker 2: Of its Bow five suv.
Speaker 1: Imagine you just bought a model only to see its price cut, so much shortly after, and some customers did protest.
Carnu's China reports that one group even showed up at a feg cheng Bao dealership with a sign wishing they had bought a competitor's vehicle instead. Price cuts like these
will really hurt a vehicle's value, so they'll be worth a lot less in the used market. Hertz Rental Car
learned that the hard way after buying a bunch of Teslas only to see the automaker slash prices now hurts us trying to unload those vehicles as fast as possible, which will only hurt tesla's residual value even more. 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.
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