Volkswagen warns of potential factory closures in Germany amid ongoing struggles in the European auto market, with overcapacity and pandemic impacts cited. The trial of former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn for Dieselgate fraud begins, highlighting the scandal's lasting effects. The UAW's aggressive wage demands at suppliers risk job losses due to automation. Chinese EV sales surge thanks to subsidies, yet stock prices falter. Volvo joins Tesla, Rivian, and BYD in adopting centralized zonal computing, showcased in its new EX90 electric SUV. Audi launches new combustion and electric platforms, while Aston Martin revives the Vanquish with a powerful V12, signaling diverse industry directions.
Topics:vw factory closuresdieselgate trialuaw wage demandschinese ev salescentralized computingvolvo ex90audi new platformsaston martin vanquishauto industry challengesev market trends
- VW Shocks Germany with Plant Closing Warning - Ex-VW CEO Faces Diesel Fraud Trial - UAW Raises Threaten Supplier Jobs - Cash-for-Clunkers Boosts China's NEV Sales - BYD Charges $13K More for PHEV SUV in China - STLA Says Thanks But No Thanks to Chrysler's Grandson - Volvo Joins the Central Compute Club - EX90 is Volvo's Flagship EV - Audi Q5 Adopts New PPC Platform - Aston Reveals All-New V12 Vanquish
"Speaker 1: Stilantis says it's not splitting off any of its brands. That's the company's response to Frank Rhodes, the grandson of Walter P. Chrysler, who last week revealed he wants to put together an investment group to buy Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth, Mopar and pretty much everything else that goes along with them."
"...c name. At the same time, it revealed the all new Vanquish, which rocks a twin turbo five point two liter V ..."
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Speaker 1: This is Outoling Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Volkswagen is sending shockwaves through the
auto industry. It says it will likely have to close
factories in Germany, which has never happened in the history of the company, and VW probably won't be the only one.
Speaker 2: To close plants in Europe.
Speaker 1: Bloomberg reports that thirty automotive factories in Europe, including those from Stalantis, Renou and others, are operating below their break even points, with little hope of recovering anytime soon. The
main problems are too much over capacity and the car market in Europe never fully recovered from the pandemic. It
typically ran at a fifteen million unit SAR pre COVID, but this year it will be lucky to hit thirteen million.
Closing plants in Europe will likely take several years and cost a billion dollars per plan, which will go to covering buyouts and other social costs. So the massive disruption
that we've been expecting in the auto industry looks like it's starting to get underway, and we think it's also going to hit the US, Japan, in South Korea before it's all over and VW's problems really started with Dieselgate and former CEO Martin Winterkorn, who ran the company when the scandal broke, is going on trial today in Germany for fraud. He isn't accused of hatching the plan to cheat. Rather,
prosecutors claim he didn't do anything to stop it once he learned about the defeat devices. Those devices tricked regulators
into thinking the diesel's met emissions during tests, but they shut off in the real world and polluted more than they should have. Winter Corn, along with four other VW managers,
were originally charged in twenty nineteen, but that trial was delayed due to winter Corn health issues.
Speaker 2: The trial is expected.
Speaker 1: To last twelve months, and Wintercorn denies all allegations that he knew about the scam, which costs VW thirty three billion dollars in fines and penalties. Is the UAW pushing
too hard for wage and benefit increases at suppliers. Suppliers
think so, and even some UAW negotiators believe it's going too far. Automotive News reports that the union is pushing
for significantly higher wages, in one case thirty percent higher for workers at a seat plant run by Lear. But
Lear's answer was to bring in more robots and automation, meaning those payhikes are a risk to jobs in the long run. Higher wages would also probably result in more
work being sourced to low cost countries like Mexico. But
this is a real dilemma for auto suppliers how to balance wages and benefits at the same time they face a stagnant market and shrinking profit margins. Thanks to boosting
subsidies for its Cash for Clunkers like program sales of evs and hybrids were upstrong in China last month. BYD
sold more than three hundred and seventy three thousand vehicles in August, a thirty six percent gain from a year ago.
Leato's sales were up thirty eight percent to more than forty eight thousand units. Huaweiback series sold more than thirty
six thousand evs, five times more than a year ago, and Leap Motors set a monthly sales record with more than thirty thousand deliveries.
Speaker 2: But despite boosting.
Speaker 1: Sales, Neo, Liato, BYD, and Japunk all saw their stock prices drop. Only Leap Motors saw it stock improve after
reporting sales BYD just launched its song Pro plug in hybrid suv in Mexico, and it has a much halftier price tag.
Speaker 2: Than it does in China.
Speaker 1: In China it costs seventeen thousand, two hundred dollars, but in Mexico it starts at thirty thousand, two hundred dollars or thirteen grand more. The version available in Mexico features
a one and a half liter engine, a one hundred and forty five kilowat electric motor, and a thirteen point eight kilowad hour LFP battery. It has an all electric
range of seventy one kilometers or forty four miles, with a price war raging in China. Chinese automakers are eager
to export because they can make much higher profits in overseas markets.
Speaker 3: Intrepid's neovi Pi 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 my 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 used for developing zonal architecture and software divined vehicles.
Speaker 1: Stilantis says it's not splitting off any of its brands.
That's the company's response to Frank Rhodes, the grandson of Walter P. Chrysler, who last week revealed he wants to
put together an investment group to buy Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth, Mopar and pretty much everything else that goes along with them.
Speaker 2: Officially, to landis.
Speaker 1: Acknowledge the interest in its North American brands, but reaffirmed its commitment to those fourteen brands and says they have until roughly twenty thirty to quote build a profitable and sustainable business. Volvo is joining a small group of automakers.
It's just the fourth that we're aware of that's using a zonal centralized computing system. The only others are Tesla,
Rivian and BYD. Volvo like BYD, is using in videas
or in platform. A zonal centralized platform allows automakers to
eliminate dozens and dozens of CPUs.
Speaker 2: And miles of wiring.
Speaker 1: It also makes it much easier to improve all aspects of a vehicle's performance with over the year updates. Virtually
every automaker in the world is developing a zonal centralized platform, and virtually every one of them is struggling to make it work. This is a key reason why Volkswagen is
paying Rivian up to five billion dollars to use its platform.
Valvo also had to delay the launch of the EX ninety electric suv for a year until it got the bugs worked out, but it seems to have worked most of them out. Now let's dig a little bit deeper
into that Ex ninety, which we just had the chance to drive. It's a three row suv, though getting into
that third row is a tight squeeze. Prices start around
eighty grand and go up from there. It's one hundred
and eleven kilowa hour ctl NMC battery provides about three hundred and ten miles of range.
Speaker 2: Volvo is shipping the vehicles.
Speaker 1: With a luminar lighter mounted on the roof just above the windshield, though for now it doesn't do much. Volvo
hopes to provide a degree of hands free driving to customers with an over the air update, but it did not say when, and it's not going to charge customers a fee or subscription when it becomes available. But this
is one of those bugs Volvo was still working on.
The EX ninety was supposed to launch with these capabilities.
In addition to the light ar, the EX ninety has multiple radars, cameras, and ultrasonic sensors mounted around the vehicle. Inside,
the Ex ninety boasts an extremely quiet cabin with almost no wind noise, even at highway speeds. The windows are
not framed, but they do have at least triple ceiling to keep things quiet. The UX screen is divided into
three segments. At the top is the navigation map, the
middle segment displays frequently used apps, and the bottom segment is reserved for highly used controls. It's a good layout
and relatively easy to learn. Though the EX ninety weighs
almost six thousand pounds, it's powerful and quick, with four hundred and two horsepower on tap from Electric Motors on Jacksel, a five thousand dollars software option will bump that up to five hundred and ten horse power. And make no mistake,
this is a critically important vehicle for Volvo. The company
has put a lot of time and money into developing it, and it's launching just as global EV sales are growing far slower than expected compared to when this program got going.
The EX ninety will be built at Volvos assembly plant in South Carolina since it's mainly targeted at the US market, but it will also be exported all around the world.
And by the way, we're going to be posting a number of videos with interviews of people who develop the EX ninety, so keep an eye out on our website.
Speaker 2: And YouTube channel for those.
Speaker 1: Audi recently had its first model's launch on the all new electric platform that it shares with Portia called PPE or Premium Platform Electric, and now it's launching its first model on the the new PPC or Premium Platform Combustion.
The all new Audi Q five in Europe will be available with both a gas and diesel two liter turbocharge four cylinder engine and a three liter turbov six that offers over three hundred and sixty horse power. Forty eight
volt mild hybrid technology is standard on all setups, and a plugin hybrid version will be added later. The interior
is based on a new electronics architecture, with the infotainment running off an Android operating system. It offers expanded eight
as capabilities, OTA updates apps like YouTube and even at display screen just.
Speaker 2: For the passenger.
Speaker 1: The new Q five will be built in Mexico and will start at over fifty two thousand euros in Germany when it goes on sale at the beginning of next year.
At a time when most automakers are turning to evs, Aston Martin is going in the oppositit direction and is bringing back an iconic name. At the same time, it
revealed the all new Vanquish, which rocks a twin turbo five point two liter V twelve under its long luvered hood.
The roughly eight hundred and thirty horse power it produces is fed through a ZF eight speed automatic gearbox and an electronic limited slip differential. Aston says it will only
make one thousand a year and deliveries should kickoff in the fourth quarter, but that brings us to the end of today's show.
Speaker 2: Thanks for tuning in.
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