Speaker 1: This is underlined daily the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. EV fires are harder to put
out than gascar fires, requiring a lot more water thousands of gallons more in some cases. But LGCM just published
a scientific paper about a new material that it's developed to prevent thermal runaway in batteries. It's a thin composite
material only one micrometer or one to one hundredth the thickness of a human hair, that's placed between the cathode layer and the current collector of a battery. It starts
altering its molecular structure when the battery's temperature goes beyond its normal operating range, which drastically increases the material's resistance and cuts off the flow of current. ALG says there's
been other fire suppressing materials put inside of batteries before, but it claims those had issues with slow reaction times and reduced energy dense. It says this new material can
increase its electrical resistance by five thousand ohms for every degree celsius that the batteries temp goes over its normal range.
In TAK batteries, with the material either didn't catch fire, or if they did, they went out quickly or would have likely prevented a full blown thermal runaway event. LGAs
already completed safety test for mobile devices, but says that EV safety tests will continue through next year. We're getting
more sales reports from automakers in the US market, and while we're still waiting for Ford and Tesla to report their numbers. September sales were pretty weak, but we did
find some interesting tidbits in the numbers, especially when it comes to EV sales. At General Motors, it sold over
thirty two thousand evs for the third quarter, up sixty percent from a year ago and up forty six percent from the second quarter. All of GM's evs sold well,
with the Chevrolet Equinox topping the list with nine thousand, seven hundred and seventy two sold. But guess what, Honda's Prologue,
which is built by GM, did even better than that.
Honda sold twelve thousand, six hundred and forty four Prologus in Q three. When you add up both of GM's
and Honda's EV sales, GM built forty four thousand, eight hundred and thirty nine evs, which is getting close to the run rate that it promised that it would hit by the end of the year. Gm said it would
hit a run rate of two hundred thousand evs a year by the end of December, and these numbers suggest that it's on its way to hitting that goal. But
don't forget those numbers are down significantly from its original EV projections. Global car sales are also pretty weak. Kia
says it sold just under two hundred and fifty thousand vehicles in September, down four and a half percent from last year. Volvo bucked the trend, but not by much.
It sold sixty two thousand, four four one hundred and fifty eight cars last month, up only one percent, in a possible sign of how weak the market is, especially in Europe. Tesla will be exhibiting at the Paris Auto
Show at the end of the month for the first time in six years. It really doesn't have anything new
to show off, but needs to attract more buyers. In August,
its sales dropped thirty six percent, and in July BMW actually sold more evs in Europe than Tesla did. Until
it gets new models in the pipeline, Tesla may need to rely on old fashioned auto shows to get more people, they'll look at its cars. Bloomberg reports that the warning
lights are flashing when it comes to subprime borrowers for auto loans. People with low credit scores are defaulting on
car loans at a rate not seen since the end of the Great Recession, and that's causing stock prices to drop for loan companies like Ally and the Credit Acceptance Corporation.
But that's because they dove into the subprime market while traditional lenders like banks did not, And when interest rates and car prices soared in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three, that made it a lot harder for any subprime borrower to make their car payment. Hopefully, now that
interest rates are on the way down, we'll start to see fewer delinquencies. German automakers continue to voice their opposition
to Europe's tariffs on Chinese made evs. EU countries are
expected to vote on the tariffs this Friday, and BMW CEO Oliver Zipza is calling on the German government to vote against them. BMW, along with Volkswagen and Mercedes, rely
on China for sales and revenue, and their concern China could retaliate if the EU imposes the tariffs, and it looks like the automaker's lobbying has paid off because Germany has signaled it will abstain instead of voting against the tariffs, and in order to stop the tariffs, a majority of EU members fifteen countries representing sixty five percent of the EU's population need to vote against it. But if the
tariffs do pass, Chinese automaker Japung is making plans to avoid them. A company executive told Bloomberg that it's considering
several options to build vehicles in Europe, including contract manufacturing, working with existing plants, or opening a new one.
Speaker 2: Knowing that a little rain won't slow down your day, that's what really matters. Breach doone tornsi Qui attract tires
confident control in wet conditions.
Speaker 1: Ford is dropping the price for Blue Crews, its hands free driving system, as well as giving the option to buy it outright for the first time with a one time fee. Previously, you could pay twenty one hundred dollars
for a three year subscription or eight hundred bucks for a year, or spend seventy five bucks a month. But
with eligible twenty twenty five model year vehicles. Buyers can
get Blue Crews with a one time purchase of about twenty five hundred dollars, or subscribe to it for five hundred dollars a year instead of eight hundred bucks, or fifty bucks a month instead of seventy five dollars. Ford
is also going to offer the one year Blue Crew subscription standard on some trims and optional on others, and even if you don't opt in, it will give you a free ninety day trial. The hands free driving system
is currently offered on the Explorer, Expedition F one, fifty, F one fifty Lightning and Mustang Mochee. But why do
you think Ford is making this move? It thought the
price was too high, the take rate was too low.
With more scale it could lower the price, or maybe some combination of those. Let us know what you think
in the comments. And speaking of Ford, we have an
update on its plan to return to the Indian market.
It stopped selling vehicles there in twenty twenty one and ended production in twenty twenty two, but last month reports came out that Ford held talks to fire one of its plants in India back up to export cars to other markets, and now an industry minister of the region where that plant is located hinted that the automaker could build electric cars in India. We wouldn't be surprised to
see Ford's twenty five thousand dollars skunk works EV getting built there and use that plant as a low cost source to export EV's to other markets. And with the
world's largest population of one point four billion people, India is likely to emerge as a massive car market, and that could be another reason why Ford wants to get back in Renault is bringing video streaming into its vehicles.
The automaker signed a deal with French TV provider Canal Plus to make its app available in connected vehicles from or no so users can watch movies, TV shows, documentary, sports and more, either live or on demand. It will
come installed on new models or owners can download the app starting on Friday. The feature will first be available
in France, Switzerland and Poland, but for safety reasons, the app will only work while the vehicle is parked. Volkswagen's
Scota brand is launching a new somewhat more affordable MEB based EV that's called the l Rock, fitting into the compact SUV class. It will be offered in rear or
all wheel drive, with three battery sizes and a starting price around thirty three thousand euros. The smallest battery pack
is fifty two kilowatt hours and is paired with a one hundred and twenty five kilowat or one hundred and sixty seven horsepower electric motor, which combines to provide a range of over three hundred and seventy kilometers or two hundred and thirty miles. There's also a fifty nine kilowa
hour battery paired with a one hundred and fifty kilowat or two hundred horse power motor that combines for four hundred kilometers or about two hundred and fifty miles of range.
The biggest battery is seventy seven kilowatt hours and can be paired with a two hundred and ten kilowat or two hundred and eighty horse power electric motor, or with that same motor and an additional motor on the front axle for all wheel drive. The rear drive version will
have over five hundred and sixty kilometers or roughly three hundred and fifty miles of range. Scota says the l
Rock will go on sale in Europe in the first quarter of next year. At the top of the show,
we talked a lot about how the US car market, in even the global car market is weaker than expected, and we want to dig deeper into the details of that, and that's what we're going to do on tomorrow's Auto Line after Hours. Our guests will be the analyst in
forecaster Warren Brown, who has some of the best insights into the hows and whys and where furs of what's going on in the wholesale and retail side of the business.
If that's it for today's show, Thanks for tuning in.
Speaker 3: Auto Line Daily is brought to you by Bridgestone Solutions for your Journey, Intrepid Control Systems, Over the Air Engineering Boost your Game, Tajan Automotive Technologies the formula for better Mobility, and by z F.
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About this episode
The discussion covers GM's progress toward producing 200,000 EVs annually, boosted by strong sales of the Chevrolet Equinox and Honda's Prologue. LG Chem introduces a new battery material that prevents thermal runaway, enhancing EV safety. Ford reduces prices and offers new purchase options for its BlueCruise hands-free driving system while exploring EV production in India. European automakers oppose tariffs on Chinese EVs, with potential manufacturing shifts to avoid them. Renault adds video streaming to cars, and Volkswagen's Skoda launches a new affordable electric SUV. The global car market shows signs of weakness, with upcoming analysis planned.
- New Material Prevents Thermal Runaway in Batteries - GM on Pace to Hit 200,000 EV Production Run Rate - Global Car Sales Weak - Subprime Auto Loan Defaults Rising - BMW Wants Germany To Vote No on China EV Tariffs - Xpeng Looking for EU Production Sites - Ford Cuts BlueCruise Price - Ford in Talks to Build EVs In India - Renault Adds In-Car Video Streaming - Skoda Launches New Elroq EV
