AD #3913 - Baidu Robotaxi Beats Tesla Cybercab; Mexico Develops Own EV; Kia Recycles Ocean Plastic

Speaker 1: This is underlined daily the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry, all that investment in electric vehicles isn't paying off. There are probably only three EV makers

in the world that are profitable right now, and yet Mexico is developing its own EV. The president of the country,

Claudia Shinbaum, says Mexico has prototypes for a compact electric car that can be produced domestically. She didn't say which

companies could make it, but she said Mexican manufacturers will work with researchers on developing multiple models. The goal of

the project is to become less reliant on imports and strength in Mexico's own supply chain. The vehicles would be

alternatives to Chinese made mopeds and Indian mini cars that have become popular in parts of the country, and Mexico better move fast because China has a huge head start in its own picking up speed. We finally got car

sales for last month in China, and while it took a while for the numbers to get reported, it was a pretty good month. Automakers sold almost two point three

million vehicles. That was actually down six percent from last year,

but it was up five point four percent from the month before, showing that the car market is starting to recover.

Most impressively, new energy vehicles or nyvs accounted for nearly one point three million of those total sales, up a whopping forty two point three percent. Evs accounted for seven

hundred and seventy five thousand units, up almost twenty four percent compared to last year, But the real segment to keep an eye on is with plug in hybrids, which includes extended range evs. Consumers bought over half a million phebs,

up a staggering eighty four percent compared to last year, and exports shot up more than twenty one percent to five hundred and thirty nine thousand vehicles. At that rate,

China is on track to export nearly as many vehicles as GM Ford and Stlantis will build in North America.

And let's stick with China for a moment. While Tesla

cybercab got all the headlines last week, by DE showed off its Robotaxi, and it offers compelling competition to Tesla.

The y E CH six, which is actually manufactured by JMC, is priced around twenty nine thousand dollars. It's a four

seat minivan that can carry more people and cargo than the two seat Tesla cybercab, and it has an LFP swappable battery pack. But the autonomous tech inside all comes

from by Dew, which is kind of like the Google of China. The system features forty censors, including five light oars,

and the complete hardware and software stack. And while the

Cybercab will not be available until two twenty six at the earliest, by Deuced Robotaxi is available right now, and it even plans to offer Robotaxi rides outside of China before the cyber cab is out. Last week, we reported

that anyone who bought a Fisker could be stranded, but a last minute deal looks like it's going to solve the situation. Here's the background. Fisker did a forty six

million dollar deal to sell some of its remaining fleet of three thousand Ocean SUVs to a company called American Lease, but that deal hit a speed bump when American Lease realized that Fisker wouldn't be able to transfer data and support services to a new server. That meant the vehicles

would no longer receive Ota software updates and remote access and diagnostics wouldn't be available, but the two sides came to an agreement. American Lease will pay an additional two

and a half million dollars over five years for future tax support services, which will also apply to Ocean's purchased by private owners. And now that Fisker has resolved that issue,

a US bankruptcy judge has approved its bankruptcy plan, allowing the company to use the money to pay off creditors.

Toyota is getting back into Formula one in a limited way.

It's going to provide design, manufacturing, and technical services to the HAS Formula one team. This does not include engines,

as HAS has a partnership with Ferrari that lasts until twenty twenty eight. Toyota also wants to groom Japanese drivers

to compete in F one, though HAS currently has other drivers under contract for the next several years. HAS is

one of the smallest teams in the sport, but this year it's been punching above its weight, with a lot of credit going to team principle Iyo Kamatsu, who's Japanese.

Sorry if I grossly mispronounced that name. But with Toyota

lending a hand, we expect to se more progress at has you know all that yucky, disgusting plastic floating around in the ocean, while Kia is helping to do something about it. It developed a trunk liner made from recycled

plastic from the Great Pacific garbage patch. The limited edition

liner is available in the EV three and select markets.

Kia says the liner, which contains forty percent ocean plastic, is just as durable and protective as a conventional liner.

It partnered with a group called the Ocean Cleanup to help sort, recycle, and process the plastic. Kia says it's

aiming for its vehicles to contain more than twenty percent recycled plastic by twenty thirty, and it's not the only automotive company involved. The supplier Magna developed seat covers that

use recycled plastic that was fished out of the ocean.

The Paris Auto Show has started to kick off, and we think there's a number of interesting reveals, plus a few that weren't even at the show. Renault moved from

giving us teasers of the Renault four a few weeks back to pulling the wraps off the all new model, which is based on the same platform as the Renault five.

No word when it will be out yet, but the four will be available with an all electric powertrain that provides up to four hundred kilometers or roughly two hundred and fifty miles of range. Now over to Renault's performance brand, Alpine.

Its transition to electric started with A two ninety, which is also based on the Renault five, but Alpine's next EV will be a low slung suv and it showed a concept version called the A three ninety. It says

you'll see some styling elements of the beta make it over to the production model, but again no word when that version will launch. However, it is supposed to come

out before the electric version of the A one ten, which we think would be based on a different platform from the current car. But until then, an even more

extreme version of the A one ten is going on sale for two hundred and sixty five thousand euros, and it showed off a seven hundred and forty horsepower hydrogen powered three and a half liter V six in the app and Glow concept, which first debuted two years ago.

Sticking to the sporty theme, Scota, which is part of VW wanted to see what would happen if it gave the rally treatment to the NYAC EV, and this is what it came up with. The rework model is lower,

wider and clearly has a number of aerodynamic parts added on, but composite parts and other weight savings measures trimmed three hundred and sixteen kilograms or nearly seven hundred pounds of mass.

Speaking of platform sharing, evs Linking Co, which is part of g LE, revealed a new small electric crossover that's like its own version of the Volvo EX thirty. It's

called the O two in Europe and the Z two to oh in China, and it will offer up to four hundred and forty kilometers or two hundred and seventy three miles of range. Starting price in Europe will be

roughly thirty five thousand, five hundred euros, which is almost exactly the same as the EX thirty. Now let's move

down a couple of rungs on the EV ladder to the satro and a ME. The model is getting a

slight refresh and designers showed off a new buggy concept with fat tires, flared wheel arches, two doors, and a two tone roof Satroan also pulled the wraps off a reframe C four and C four X, which get new front rear styling, and then you kind of see an evolution of that front end styling in the all new C five air Cross concept. It's based on the Stella

Medium platform and will inspire a production model that's supposed to come out sometime next year and will end with BMW.

For the first time, it displayed two electric many John Cooper Works models at the same time. Both the John

Cooper Works Electric and the JCW Aceman feature the same fifty four kilowat hour battery pack and nearly two hundred and sixty horse power drive system, but it doesn't say if they're front rear or all wheel drive. The three

door will do zero to one hundred kilometers an hour in five point nine seconds, while the JCW Aceman does it in six point four. With more size and weight,

the Aceman also has less range at three hundred and fifty five kilometer versus three hundred and seventy one for the John Cooper Works Electric. On top of these models,

BMW revealed some of its hydrogen plans for passenger cars as well, it will come out with the IX five Hydrogen in twenty twenty eight, which will likely use a fuel cell system from Toyota. The two formed a partnership

in twenty thirteen, then showed the IX five Hydrogen in twenty nineteen, then prototypes came in twenty twenty one, and finally a test fleet hit the road last year. So

it's ben a slow rollout. But that brings us to

the end of today's show. Thanks for tuning in.

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AD #3913 - Baidu Robotaxi Beats Tesla Cybercab; Mexico Develops Own EV; Kia Recycles Ocean Plastic

Tesla Cybercab

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