European automakers like Volkswagen, Stellantis, and Aston Martin face significant financial setbacks, impacting stock values and cash flow. A looming East and Gulf coast dock strike threatens U.S. auto supply chains, especially for European exports. In China, next-gen plug-in hybrids with impressive range and efficiency are emerging, while Cadillac unveils a redesigned XT5 with advanced chassis options. California explores bi-directional EV charging to support grid stability. Despite a global slowdown in EV growth, internal combustion engines may persist in developing markets well into the century. The episode also highlights innovative electric motor technology and recent developments in Chinese EV startups.
Topics:european automaker financial strugglesus dock strike impactchina plug-in hybridscadillac xt5 redesignbi-directional ev charginginternal combustion engine futureelectric motor innovationchinese ev startupsauto industry market trends
- VW Slashes Outlook - Stellantis Loses €6 Billion In Market Cap - Aston Martin Stock Plunges 28% - Dock Strike Could Hurt U.S. Auto Industry - Geely Readies Next-Gen PHEV - New Cadillac XT5 Debuts in China First - Wuling MPV EV Under $10,000 - Nio Gets Big Cash Infusion - California Could Mandate Bi-Directional Charging - ICE Could Be Around for Rest Of 21st Century
"... the IC engine will be around for the rest of the century, maybe not in major markets like the US, the EU, ..."
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Speaker 1: This is underlying daily the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. We start out this week with
our eyes on the European auto industry, which is reeling from one bad blow to another. For the second time
in three months, Volkswagen cut its outlook for sales, revenue, profit, profit margin and cash flow. Investors took that as a
signal to dump their automotive stocks, and the sector fell four percent today, wiping out almost ten billion dollars of valuation.
VW says its cash flow will be cut in half, partly because of payouts it has to make derivian for its software to find vehicle architecture and technology. Stillantis also
cut its guidance, saying that its profit margins will be cut in half and that instead of enjoying positive cash flow, it expects negative cash flow of between five and ten billion euros. Wanless say that puts Stalantis's stock buyback planned
in dividends at risk and that gave shareholders a strong cell signal. It stock plummeted fourteen percent today, wiping out
six billion dollars in market cap. For the year, it's
down forty percent, the worst of any major European automaker, and the problems go well beyond the big full line manufacturers.
Aston Martin said its sales will be seventeen percent lower than expected, earnings will be below last year's results, and it no longer expects to be cash flow positive for the rest of twenty twenty four. Investors didn't like hearing that,
and Aston stock fell twenty eight percent. Aston had been
counting on the Chinese market to boot sales, but there's something of an anti wealth sentiment going on in China right now, with a lot of social media posts bashing flashy displays of wealth, which is hurting all luxury brands, not just the automotive sector. While the news isn't as
bad in the US as it is in Europe.
Speaker 2: Things could be about to take a downturn.
Speaker 1: Dock workers along the East and Gulf coast of the US are threatening to go on strike tomorrow. If that happens,
it will have a big impact on the auto industry, especially for European automakers that export vehicles to the US, and it will also impact parts and component shipments coming in.
The Dock workers want higher wages and less automation that they see as a threat to their jobs. Negotiations have
broken off and the Biden administration has said it won't interfere in the talks, so it looks like a strike is likely. Oxford Economics estimates that a strike will cost
the US economy four and a half to seven and a half billion dollars a week.
Speaker 3: There's nothing wrong with heavy metal, hey light enough, but with world class composit material taging automotive technologies makes vehicles lighter, safer, and more eco friendly.
Speaker 1: Extended range electrics or erevs are the hottest segment in China right now, but new, better plug and hybrids are coming out, and we wonder if they could start eating into some of the success that e revs are having.
G Le's CEO says that it will launch the next gen version of its plug and hybrid system, called four before the end of the year that offers over two thousand kilometers or twelve hundred and forty two miles of range in some applications. It's likely to make its debut
in the Starship seven suv with a one and a half liter engine that boast an impressive forty six percent thermal efficiency in eighty two kilowatts or about one hundred and ten horsepower, and it will also have an LFP battery pack. BYD also launched its own new GENP have
system earlier this year, called DM five point zero, which has similar specs to GEL. Cadillac is launching an all
new version of the XT five in China that will also likely spread to wherever the model is sold. It
rides on an upgraded architecture with three different chassis setups it calls Hummingbird. The standard Hummingbird chassis setup features a
wheel track that is forty two millimeters or over one point six inches wider than before and ground clearance that is increased by twenty two millimeters or about nearly an inch.
The Hummingbird Air chassis comes with more rigid springs and a self sensing variable suspension, and the last setup is called the Hummingbird Max chassis, which features a twin clutch all wheel drive system and electronic adjustable suspension and Brembos six piston front brake calipers. Powertrain appear to be the
same as the outgoing model, a two liter turbo four cylinder engine paired with a forty eight volt mild hybrid system in a nine feet automatic transmission but the styling is all new. The headlamps appear to be led only
fixtures that are now mounted horizontal and separated from Cadillacs signature vertical durls.
Speaker 2: Designers also gave the new XT.
Speaker 1: Five a floating roof effect with a sharp fin rear pillar, and showed how the roofline and rear side silhouette were inspired by a nineteen fifty nine Cadillac. The interior was
completely reworked as well, with a few of the highlights being a thirty three inch display screen and the elimination of a gear shift lever on the center console. Starting
prices in China range from about thirty eight thousand to forty eight thousand dollars. Speaking of g ON brands in China,
Wooling is launching the all electric version of the Hong Gwang PV that debuted last month. It's built on a
new NEV platform that supports ice, REV and b EV setups.
It didn't say how big the EV battery pack is, but revealed that it has a seventy five kilowatt or one hundred horsepower electric motor and can go three hundred kilometers or one hundred and eighty six miles on the Chinese test cycle.
Speaker 2: Pricing starts just under.
Speaker 1: Ten thousand dollars, which is about thirty five hundred dollars more than the starting price of the E REV version.
Chinese EV maaker Neo announced that it received a nearly two billion dollar cash infusion from its parent company and strategic investors, partly.
Speaker 2: Because of the price war in China.
Speaker 1: The automaker has never been profitable, but thanks to that cash and fusion, its stock jumped sixteen percent, the highest increase that Neo has seen in nearly five months.
Speaker 2: In fact, all the Chinese EV.
Speaker 1: Startups saw their stock prices shoot up. Okay, over to
California now, which is considering a mandate that would require bidirectional charging in all evs. Governor Gavin Newsom signed to
build a study bi directional charging that could eventually lead to a mandate, but there's no timeline, so we don't know if or when the mandate will kick in. But
the benefit is that bi directional charging allows power to be sent from an EV back to the grid when demand on the electrical system is higher.
Speaker 2: California's giant utility PG.
Speaker 1: And E says bi directional charging could help save the state's grid by potentially eliminating blackouts and brownouts. The global
slowdown in the growth of electric vehicles is breathing a bit of life into the internal combustion engine. That's one
of the findings at last week's North American International Propulsion Conference, organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers. Sales are declining
three to four percent a year worldwide, but they were expected to decline six to eight percent a year, so it's not happening as fast as everyone thought that it would.
And one major supplier predicts that the IC engine will be around for the rest of the century, maybe not in major markets like the US, the EU, and China, but certainly in some segments in developing markets. Just a
few years ago, no one expected that to happen. And
before I sign off, we posted a video over the weekend about a new wheel motor that uses an innovative design to fit a set of gears into the same space as the rotor and stator of the electric motor.
I think you might find it pretty interesting if you already haven't checked it out. But that's it for this show.
Thanks for making autoline a part of your day.
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