AD #3941 - Ford Making Big Cuts in Europe; EV Sales Could Drop 27% Without Credits; VW Strike Looks More Likely

Speaker 1: This is Outline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Sales of electric cars could drop

dramatically if Trump gets rid of consumer subsidies to buy them.

Bloomberg cites scholars at the University of California, Berkeley and Duke University who say sales could drop by twenty seven percent, or three hundred and seventeen thousand units a year. If

that happened, it would severely damage automaker's push into evs because, with the exception of Tesla, they're all currently losing money.

But others say that EV demand will continue to grow over time as automakers figure out how to.

Speaker 2: Bring costs down. So what do you think.

Speaker 1: The European auto industry is going through a rough time and it sure looks like Volkswagen's union in Germany is getting ready to make moves next month that would essentially shut the company down. VW wants pay cuts and plant closings.

The union wants to forego future raises with no pay cuts or plant closings. But both sides are so far

apart that a strike looks more likely. And it's not

just VW that has problems in Europe. Ford is going

to cut four thousand workers there, mostly in Germany and England.

That's about fourteen percent of its employees in Europe. The

layoffs will stretch out over a two year period, suggesting that a chunk of them can be handled through normal attrition and retirements. Even so, it comes on top of

the thirty eight hundred layoffs the company announced last year.

Ford is also going to throttle back production of its electric vehicles, the Capri and Explore, because of weak demand and unless sales of those evs pick up quickly, it sounds crazy to say.

Speaker 2: We've got to.

Speaker 1: Wonder if Ford will just drop out of the European market.

I don't think it would with commercial vehicles because it does well with them. But before the pandemic, Ford sold

almost a million vehicles a year in Europe. Now it's

selling half as many. The new car market in Europe

is stuck in a rut. The ACEA, which is the

Automotive manufacturers Association in Europe, reports that sales were up only one tenth of one percent in October, with automakers selling just over one million vehicles. One bright spot was

with hybrids, which were up nearly nineteen percent, and the big beneficiary there was Toyota, whose sales were up seventeen percent.

EV's had a good month too, with sales just under one hundred and seventy thousand units up nearly seven percent, but almost all of the increase came from the UK, where b EV sales were up fourteen percent. Even so,

Tesla had a terrible month in Europe with registrations down twe twenty one percent. We're guessing that Chinese Electrics had

something to do with that, but the ACEA does not publish their numbers. Solid state batteries for evs continue to

make progress. Earlier this week, we reported that Chinese automaker

Cherry said that it's the first automaker to build the production line for fully solid state batteries at the gigawatt hour level, and now Honda has revealed a demonstration production line for all solid state batteries at the company's R and D center in Japan. The pilot project kicks off

in January and replicates the process required for mass production, which it's doing to determine the basic specifications for the battery cells. Honda plans to introduce evs with all solid

state batteries in the second half of the decade, including motorcycles.

Speaker 2: In aircraft, and in other battery news.

Speaker 1: Ford is backing away from an eight hundred and sixty million day dollar battery materials plant in Quebec. In August

of last year, the automaker formed a joint venture with skon in Eco PROBM to build the cathode active materials plant, but Ford is dropping out of the JV because it's scaling back on its EV plans. But despite that, construction

of the plant will not be halted. It has a

planned capacity of forty five thousand metric tons of cathode material per year for NMC batteries, which is enough for two hundred and twenty five thousand evs.

Speaker 3: Knowing that a little rain won't slow down your day, that's what really matters. Breachedone torontso quiattract tires confident control

in wet conditions.

Speaker 1: There's been a number of new production vehicles, concepts and teasers revealed since yesterday's show, and I think a good place to start is with Hyundai. It revealed the all

new Ionic nine, its first all electric three row suv, which will go on sale in South Korea and the US in the first half of next year. This is

like Hyundai's version of the Kia EV nine, and while I think the exterior design is pretty different, the.

Speaker 2: Interiors look pretty similar.

Speaker 1: They both feature a simple layered dash, a thin display, controls that hang from the bottom of the dashboard, and even the open section between the dash and the center console and the second row swiveling seats. The Ionic nine

is available in rear or two all wheel drive versions that produce roughly two hundred and fifteen, three hundred and ten and four hundred and thirty horse power, respectively. All

of them feature a one hundred and ten kilowat hour battery pack that's expected to reach a WLTP range of three hundred and eighty five miles or six hundred and twenty kilometers, and they feature a standard new charging port.

Sticking with the Hyundai Group, Genesis refreshed the GV seventy, which comes with slightly revised front and styling. The big

change is to the screen on the interior. Before, the

instrument cluster was under its own hood on the dash, separate from the infotainment screen, which was mounted up high, but now those screens have been combined into one display and it doesn't sit quite as.

Speaker 2: High on the dash.

Speaker 1: There's a few other tech and material upgrades, and like the Ionic nine, the all electric version called the Electrified GV seventy comes exclusively with the next charging port and it launches in the first half of next year.

Speaker 2: Now let's go over to Jaguar.

Speaker 1: I saw a number of view wondering in the comments why we didn't go over the complete remake of the brand in yesterday show. In all honesty, there were just

other things we wanted to cover. However, we can't ignore

it any longer. With a teaser that it just showed off,

JAG says this is an image of its dramatic new creative philosophy that will inspire future vehicles. We'll leave it

to you to let us know what you think, but I think one of the descriptor words it used for the concept is quite appropriate and that's bold. Also on

the concept side, DS Automobiles, which is part of Stilantis, revealed an all new Beev.

Speaker 2: I'd tell you its name, but I can't.

Speaker 1: The brand is having a little fun and put out a press release that looks more like a redacted government file.

It does say it will have up to seven hundred and fifty kilometers or about four hundred and sixty five miles of range on the WLTP cycle, and it uses some fancy ways to describe the way it looks, but it's basically a high riding sedan. DS says it will

release more details before the end of the year. Volkswagen's

best selling model in the US is getting a major update.

The all new Tigwan has been shifted to the newest version of VW'SIC platform, called MQB EVO, which also underpins the new Pasad. The exterior styling has been pulled ahead

to blend in with the rest of the new lineup, and the interior looks like a big upgrade with modern styling and digital display screens. Level two driver assistance is

also standard, and the new Tigwan will launch with a turbocharged two liter four cylinder engine that makes two hundred and one horse power. While Tigwan's sales are up fifteen

percent in the US to nearly sixty four thousand units through the third quarter, but like Nissan VW, sales have been held back by a lack of hybrids, so a single powertrain option is a little surprising. However, the MQB

EVO platform can support gas, diesel, mild hybrid, and plugin setups.

There's no way it's bringing a diesel back to the US, but we think the mild and plugin hybrid will follow at some point. Tesla has introduced a number of non

automotive accessories over the years, and the latest is a toy version of its Optimus robot. It's one tenth scale

and features more than forty parts, a mini cyber hammer which is inspired by the Cyber Truck, and it has its own charging base. But like all that other stuff,

the toy robot sold out quickly. They retailed for forty

bucks and were completely gone in less than twenty four hours, and like a lot of other things, greedy people are selling them on eBay for three to five hundred dollars now.

Speaker 2: But that brings us to the end of today's show.

Speaker 1: Don't forget to tune into Autuline after hours at three pm Eastern Time.

Speaker 2: Today.

Speaker 1: We've got someone from Plus coming on to talk about autonomy and we'll get into this week's time stories.

Speaker 2: I hope to see you there.

Speaker 4: Auto Line Daily is brought to you by Bridgetone Solutions for your journey, intrepid control systems over the air engineering boost your game and by Tajan Automotive Technologies the formula for better mobility.

Speaker 5: There's nothing wrong with heavy metal, hey right enough, but with world class composite material Tajing Automotive Technologies makes vehicles lighter, safer, and more eco friendly.

Speaker 6: Developing today's vehicles, issues can happen in an instant. When's

the best time to solve a problem? The minute you

know you have one wireless neovi Cloud, you're secure off the shelf solution, empowering real time collaboration for quick resolution.

With wireless neov Cloud, your team can prevent issues before they can escalate. Driver communication, data and remote diagnostics to

analyze and resolve your problems using OTA, allowing your executives oversight throughout the process. Wireless neov Cloud your vehicle update

solution in production and on the road. Intrepid control systems

driven by your data

AD #3941 - Ford Making Big Cuts in Europe; EV Sales Could Drop 27% Without Credits; VW Strike Looks More Likely

Hyundai Genesis

About this episode

Original notes