General Motors is folding its Bright Drop electric van brand into Chevrolet dealerships to boost sales, despite low production utilization. JD Power's China survey ranks Neo and Leatto highest in new energy vehicle customer satisfaction, outpacing Mercedes and Tesla. GM faces a class action lawsuit over faulty transmissions in 800,000 vehicles. BYD is rapidly expanding in Europe, hiring former Fiat Chrysler exec Alfredo Altavilla, and entering the minivan market with a plug-in hybrid. Lexus plans radical design changes inspired by concept cars for 2026 models. Meanwhile, a Daimler apprentice team converted a semi-truck into a mobile pool. Frank Rhodes, Chrysler’s great-grandson, aims to revive the brand amid CEO Carlos Tavares' threat to cut unprofitable marques.
Topics:bright drop electric vansjd power china nev surveygm transmission lawsuitbyd europe expansionlexus future designbyd minivan launchmobile pool conversionchrysler brand revivalautomotive executive moves
- GM Puts Brightdrop Inside Chevrolet - Chinese NEVs Rated Better Than Foreign Ones - GM Faces Class Action Over Faulty Transmissions - BYD Hires Former FCA Exec - Audi Hires New Head of Sales from Porsche - GM Adds Another Apple Exec to Software Unit - Lexus Design Goes Radical - BYD Jumps into Minivan Segment - Like to Swim? Why Not Tow Your Pool? - Walter P.’S Grandson Wants to Buy Chrysler
"get rid of any brand that doesn't make money. So the great grandson of Walter P. Chrysler says he'll take the Chrysler brand, Thank you very much."
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Speaker 1: This is aut Aligning Daily, The show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. General motors through in the
towel trying to operate Bright Drop as a standalone electric van company, it's being integrated into Chevrolet. The vans are
based on the GM ull Team platform and have up to two hundred and seventy two miles of range. The
smaller four hundred version costs right around sixty three thousand dollars, while the six hundred costs about sixty four thousand, five hundred bucks including cash discounts. For comparison purposes, a ford
E transit, which has one hundred and fifty nine miles of range, cost fifty one thousand dollars. Last year, GM
put Bright Drop under its commercial fleet business called Involve, but it must have decided that allowing any Chevrolet dealership to get certified to sell the vans could help track a lot more customers. On its website, Involve lists seven
dealerships across the US that are certified to sell the vans.
Through the first half of the year, they sold seven hundred and forty six examples, But the Cami plant in Ontario, Canada that makes them has the capacity to build fifty thousand a year. Jdpower came out with the survey in
China that rates automakers who make new energy vehicles based on who does the best job of selling and servicing them.
It's called the China New Energy Vehicle Customer Experience Value Index h that's a big mouthful, but the customers and the survey rated Neo the best of all, closely followed by Leatto. Rounding out the top five are Japung, Zeker
and Gacai On Jdpower rated NEV four and brands separately, and the top five on that list are Mercedes, followed closely by Tesla, then FAWVW Audi, and then Smart. It's
interesting to note that overall Neo and Liauto did better than Mercedes in Tesla. General Motors must face a class
action lawsuit that claims it violated laws in twenty six states by knowingly selling vehicles with faulty transmissions. Owners say
the vehicles shutter and shake at high speeds and lurch in lower gears even after repairs, and they claim that GM told dealers to tell customers that the shifts were normal.
The suit covers eight hundred thousand Cadillacs, Chevrolet and GMC vehicles equipped with eight speed automatic transmissions from model years twenty fifteen to twenty nineteen. GM argued that many of
the claims should be resolved in arbitration and not under a class action lawsuit because many owners didn't experience the issue and that there are too many difference is to justify a group lawsuit, but an appeals court rejected the automaker's argument and says it must face the suit. To
help with its expansion into Europe, BYD hired Fiat Chrysler's former had a Europe Alfredo Altavilla as a special advisor.
BYD has more models come into the market and is planning to open plants in Hungary and Turkey. The company's
sales in Europe are up three hundred and thirty one percent so far this year to more than twenty one thousand vehicles, and BYD says it's aiming to get to five percent market share before its plant in Hungary opens, which would translate to about seventy thousand sales. The automaker's
vice president says Altavilla will play a big role in helping with that growth. When he starts next week. Altavilla
began his career at Fiat and he also worked at Iveco.
In twenty twelve, he became COO of Europe, Africa and the Middle East at Fiat Chrysler, but he left the group in twenty eighteen after former CEO Sergio Marcione's death.
Speaking of new hires, Audi's head of sales is leaving the company and will be replaced by Marco Schubert, who is currently Porsche's head of European sales. Previously, he was
head of sales for Audi in China while he started his career at Mercedes. Schubert will be tasked with helping
to turn around Audi sales. It sold about eight hundred
and thirty three thousand cars globally in the first half of the year, which is down eight percent from a year ago, and General Motors also bolstered its management ranks.
It hired another former Apple executive, Tim Twirtle, to its software division. He'll come in as vice president of product Management.
While at Apple, Twirtle worked on its AirPod and Apple TV products, but most recently he was the chief product officer of Juno, a sustainable design company. Twirtle will report
to Bear Settinak, who is another former Apple exec that GM hired. The head of engineering at GM software unit,
Dave Richardson, is also a former Apple executive.
Speaker 2: Keeping your heart racing in and out of the gym, that's what really matters. Bridge don't pretends to sport as
tires with a fifty thousand mile limited warranty.
Speaker 1: Lexis says the design of its next generation vehicles is so different it will be as dramatic as when it introduced the spindle grill in twenty eleven. Automotive News reports
the styling will be inspired by the LFZC and the LFZL concepts, which should show up in production models around twenty twenty six. The brand's head of Global Design and
Chief Branding officer says it's okay to ask if it goes too far, and added quote the whole point of the Lexus brand from the very beginning has always been to challenge what was considered the de facto standard of the time. These vehicles will also take advantage of Lexus's
goal to increase body rigidity, which we talked about on Wednesday Show.
Speaker 3: One way it.
Speaker 1: Will do that is with Giga Castings, parent company Toyota previously revealed it would start using large rear castings, which also combine many body panels into one in clear up additional space. BYD has passed up Honda and Nissan in
sales this year, and now it's expanding into another vehicle segment, Mini vans. The automaker revealed the Shah Spelled Xia, which
is expected to hit the market later this year. It
will come with a plug in hybrid powertrain, BYD's intelligences sspension system, advanced driver assistance features, and a smart cockpit.
Pricing should start around forty two thousand dollars, and by getting into a new segment, BYD should grow at sales even more. Have you ever heard of someone lining their
truck bed with plastic and filling it up with water as a makeshift pool? While a bunch of apprentices from
Daimler Truck and YouTuber group The Real Life Guys put that idea on steroids, They took three weeks converting a semi truck tipper into a giant bathtub that can seed up to twenty people and is still mobile. It's also
tricked out with a huge shower head and a wood burning stove. Carlos Tavares, the CEO of Stalanta, says he'll
get rid of any brand that doesn't make money. So
the great grandson of Walter P. Chrysler says he'll take
the Chrysler brand, Thank you very much.
Speaker 3: My vision is to save Chrysler, the brand that my great grandfather founded in nineteen twenty five. It's very important.
This is American history right here, and we cannot let it go away.
Speaker 1: Frank Rhodes is that great grandson, and he doesn't just want the rights to the Chrysler brand. He also wants Dodge,
Plymouth and mopar Io. In fact, he wants the factories
and employees that go along with them. He says he'll
put together an investment group along with suppliers, dealers and the UAW to make it happen. So will Tavares sell
and can Frank Rhodes really put this all together? We
think it's probably going to go nowhere, but what do you think? And that brings us to the end of
today's show. Thanks for making Autoline a part of your day,
and due to the Labor Day holiday here in the US, there won't be a show on Monday.
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