Volkswagen workers in Germany plan extended strikes over job and wage cuts, escalating production disruptions. Tesla aims to boost sales with aggressive leasing incentives despite recent declines. Autonomous vehicle services expand globally with Uber and Weimo launching new robotaxi operations. Stellantis invests in advanced lithium sulfur battery tech for future EVs. Lotus revises its sales targets downward and abandons its agency sales model to expand dealer presence in Europe. Chinese EV makers aggressively pursue the European market despite government restrictions, seeking early advantages. The episode also highlights a design leader's inspiring career story and a revealing industry report on automotive efficiency challenges.
Topics:volkswagen strikestesla sales strategyautonomous vehiclesstellantis battery investmentlotus sales strategychinese ev expansionelectric vehicle leasingrobotaxi servicesautomotive industry reportautomotive design career
- VW Workers to Hold More Walkouts - Tesla Gets More Aggressive with Leases - Uber Launches Robotaxi Service in Abu Dhabi - Waymo Expands to Miami - Stellantis Signs Another Lithium-Sulfur Battery Deal - Lotus Shakes Up Sales Strategy - EU A “Must Win” For China EV Makers - Wuling Refreshes Hong Guang MiniEV - He Was a Designer at Mercedes and Worked at Taco Bell - Greenbrier White Paper a Must Read
"...ce to Miami. It will first test autonomous Jaguar ipaces in the city early next year before launching the ..."
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Speaker 1: This is out Aligned Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Volkswagen workers are planning another
round of walkouts in Germany next week. The union ig
Mattal said workers will go on strike for four hours on Monday at nine plants across the country. The workers
are protesting the automaker's plan to slash jobs and wages.
The two sides are trying to negotiate a deal and will resume talks on Monday, but the union is holding the strike as a warning to management. Earlier this week,
one hundred thousand workers walked off the job for two hours at nine plans in Germany, so next week's walkout will be twice as long and disrupt production even more.
Tesla is making a push to beat last year's sales of one point eight million vehicles, but in the first three quarters of the year, Tesla's global sales are down two point three percent, So to meet the goal, the company is going more aggressive with leasing. In the US,
it's offering three months of free charging, a free trial of full self driving, and it's now allowing lease buyouts for all its vehicles.
Speaker 2: According to S and P Global, Mobility.
Speaker 1: Tesla's lease penetration was eight percent in January of twenty twenty three. It rose to twenty percent last December, and
hit a peak of thirty one percent in April of this year, before falling to fifteen percent in September, which is the most recent month data that's available. Some automakers
have an EV lease penetration as high as ninety percent, and that's because there aren't any restrictions on the seventy five hundred dollars tax credit when leasing an EV. Autonomous
vehicles are making more progress. Uber launched its first robotaxi
service outside of the US in Abu Dhabi along with Chinese avy company we Ride. The service, which will use
we Ride's vehicles, will cover tourist areas around the city and will initially have a safety driver on board, but it will become fully driverless sometime next year. And Weimo
is expanding its robotaxi service to Miami. It will first
test autonomous Jaguar ipaces in the city early next year before launching the right haling service to the public in twenty twenty six. Weimo also announced that it partnered with Move,
a fleet management service that will maintain its vehicles. Weimo
says it's now providing more than one hundred and fifty thousand driverless trips a week in Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Austin. Stillantis is investing in another company that makes
lithium sulfur batteries, which are lighter, cheaper, and less affected by temperature as regular lithium ion batteries. In twenty twenty three,
it invested in Lighten, a US based materials company that's using graphene to improve the durability of lithium sulfur batteries.
In May, Stalantis and other automakers got some cells to test, and the CTO of Lton's battery division told us in October that they could be ready for production as early as twenty twenty seven. And now Stilantis is investing in
Zeta Energy, another US based company making lithium saltfur batteries.
The two will collaborate on pre production development as well as future production of Zeta's technology, which can be made in existing battery plants. They'll set up domestic supply chains
in Europe and North America, and the batteries are scheduled to go into Stalantis evs by twenty thirty.
Speaker 3: Knowing that a little rain won't slow down your day.
That's what really matters. Breachedone toronts of hyattract tires confident
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Speaker 1: Lotus expected massive sales gains from its electric vehicles, but as we know EV demand hasn't stayed where automakers thought it would. In twenty twenty three, Lotus sold just under
seven thousand vehicles worldwide, which was a record for the company, but it set a target of twenty four thousand sales for this year. It has already topped last year's total
with over seven six hundred sales through October, but obviously that's wall short of its goal, so it cut its target in half to twelve thousand units, and to help ensure it hits that new number, Lotus is trying to add more stores. Even with two hundred and fifteen dealers
around the world, it has stores in less than half of the European market. But in order to attract new retailers,
Lotus has had to drop the agency model that had adopted a couple of years ago. Instead of dealers wholesaling
vehicles from an automaker and selling them to customers. The
automaker sets the price, handles the transactions, and manages the inventory, while the dealer acts as a go between and can get a fixed fee for any sale. However, Lotus says
this ended up putting too much pressure on the company, so that's why it's going back to the old way of doing things. But we may find ourselves revisiting this
story again at some point. Lotus also set a goal
of selling one hundred and fifty thousand vehicles in twenty twenty eight. There's an interesting report from Bloomberg that the
European market is a must win for Chinese evy car companies, especially with them getting closed out of the US market.
Even though the Chinese government doesn't want them making deals while it tries to negotiate lower tariffs and is discouraging them from building cars in Europe, automakers are doing it anyway, and they're moving fast because they want that first mover advantage. BYD,
for example, is a major sponsor of the European Football Championship, it's head hunting execs from Stalantis, and it's launching pop up stores to display its cars and highly populated areas.
Bloomberg says the Chinese won't take over the European market quickly, but they're not going to retreat the ruling.
Speaker 2: Hong Wong Mini EV was.
Speaker 1: The first really popular cheap Chinese EV, and since its introduction in twenty twenty, more than one point four.
Speaker 2: Million units have been sold.
Speaker 1: Over the years, it's added convertible versions as well as ones called game Boy in Macaron and it recently introduced the third gen model with more bubbly styling, which seems to be doing quite well. In November, over thirty eight
thousand examples were sold. We had a great auto line
after hours yesterday with Chris Benjamin, the head of design at Scout.
Speaker 2: Early in the show, he talked about.
Speaker 1: How he got started in automotive design at the Mercedes Benz Advanced Studio in California, but he was so burdened by his college debt that he had to take a full time job at Taco Bell at the same time he was working full time at Mercedes. Chris also talks
a lot about Scout, but the first half of the show is an incredible story of his work, ethic and determination.
And then if you're looking for some good reading material over the weekend. Let me recommend the Greenbrier White Paper,
which we think is an eye popping report of the dangers the autowindustry faces, as well as some of the hard nosed advice of what the automakers need to do to become more efficient. The report comes out of the
Global Leadership Conference that's organized by the SAE Detroit section at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia. Even though the
conference has been around for seventy four years, it's not well known and this is the first time they've ever published anything about what was said.
Speaker 2: We've got the Lincoln Today's.
Speaker 1: Transcript and description box if you'd like to check it out.
That brings us to the end of today's show. Thanks
for tuning in, and I hope that you have a great weekend.
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