The episode covers major developments in the automotive and steel industries, including lawsuits challenging the US government's block of Nippon Steel's acquisition of US Steel. European automakers face production declines, while UK EV sales surge due to price cuts. GM unveils a novel battery packaging method for better performance. BYD impresses with a suspension system that can handle large potholes and reports a 327% sales increase in Brazil. VW and Japanese partners combine EV charging networks in China, and Mazda begins producing its own EV batteries. Notably, the electric Mustang Mach-E outsold its gas-powered counterpart in the US for the first time.
Topics:us steel merger lawsuiteuropean auto production declineuk ev sales growthgm battery packaging innovationbyd suspension technologybyd brazil ev sales surgevw japan ev charging networkhonda huawei smart driving techmazda ev battery productionmustang mach-e sales
- U.S. Steel and Nippon File Lawsuits Over Blocked Deal - Stellantis’ Italy Production Drops 37% - UK EV Sales Up 60% Last Month - GM Patents New Way to Package Battery Cells - BYD Shows Off New Suspension Technology - BYD Sales in Brazil Surge 327% In 2024 - SAIC-GM-Wuling Build 30M Vehicles - Volkswagen and Xpeng Form EV Charging Partnership - Honda To Use Huawei Smart Driving Tech in China - Mazda To Open Battery Module Plant - Ford Mustang Mach-E Outsells Gas-Powered Mustang
"...on a dedicated EV platform. The all electric Ford Mustang mach E easily outsold the gas powered Mustang in ..."
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Speaker 1: This is out Aligned Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. US Steel and Japan's Nippon
Steele aren't giving up on their merger. Last week, President
Biden blocked Nippon's fourteen point one billion dollar deal to acquire US Steel because he says US Steel should remain American owned and operated. But now the companies have filed
a lawsuit in the US Court of Appeals challenging the decision, and they filed a separate lawsuit against US steel producer Cleveland Cliffs It's CEO, as well as the president of the US steel Workers Union over their opposition to the deal.
National security concerns are being raised over Nippon's acquisition of US Steel, but the companies say their deal will enhance, not threaten, national security. The auto industry is in favor
of the merger, but President elect Trump has said he's against it, so this could drag on for some time.
As we've reported, the European auto industry is struggling. Last week,
VW announced its cutting thirty five thousand jobs in slashing production by seven hundred and thirty four thousand units in Germany and now over in Italy, Stilantis' union says the automaker only produced four hundred and seventy five thousand vehicles in the country last year, down thirty seven percent from the more than seven hundred and fifty thousand vehicles it produced in twenty twenty three. The automaker's passenger car production
was down forty six percent to its lowest level since nineteen fifty six. In Production at its historic near Fiori
plant slumped seventy percent last year, but last month the automaker pledged to invest two billion euros at its six plants in Italy this year to prepare for the launch of new models in twenty twenty six, but it remains to be seen if that will offset at the drop in production. In staying in Europe for the moment, EV
sales in the UK were up sixty percent last month to about forty four thousand units. EV's accounted for thirty
one percent of sales, the highest monthly share in two years, but the boost in EV sales was fueled by automakers slashing prices in order to avoid fines. Despite the increase
last month, the industry fell short of the UK's mandate for EV's to account for twenty two percent of sales.
Automakers face fines of eighteen thousand, six hundred dollars per vehicle for failing to comply, though they may use a credit trading system to avoid penalties. The UK's EV mandate
increases to twenty eight percent this year, but automakers say it will be difficult to hit that target, so the government is now reviewing the rules to potentially ease them up.
General Motors has patented a new way to package batteries.
Instead of using a jelly roll style where the anode and cathode are wound together, they're packed in an inverted you or like an upside down taco. By packaging cells
this way, GM claims it leads to better heat dissipation, which improves longevity and charging performance, and could also help prevent thermal runaway.
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Speaker 1: Its pothole season across large parts of the US right now, and it's never fun finding one, but BYD can make it so you never have to worry about a pothole again.
It developed a new suspension family called Dissuss, which ranges from your basic damping system all the way up to an active hydraulic setup that's able to apply over one ton of force to the road. When it debuted the
system and the Yangwang U nine, it had the car dancing on stage, but now it's showing more practical uses, like jumping over a pothole that's two and a half meters or over eight feet long. The folks at Car
News China posted a video from Yangwing of the U nine racing up to one hundred and twenty kilometers an hour or about seventy five miles an hour, and jumping over obstacles like the pothole in a patch of giant tax and it does it all without a driver behind the wheel. Check out the link in the transcript or
description box if you want to see more. And speaking
of BYD, traditional automakers said Brazil wasn't ready for electric vehicles, but BYD is proving them wrong. Last month that sold
over ten thousand nevs in Brazil. It has the best
selling EV in the country and for the whole year it registered nearly seventy seven thousand vehicles and increase of three hundred and twenty seven percent compared to twenty twenty three.
And speaking of record sales, Seicga and Wooling say it's the first Chinese vehicle manufacturer to build thirty million vehicles.
The joint venture was officially established in two thousand and two and the record vehicle was a Wooling SUV and let's stick in China. And speaking of legacy auto makers
teaming up with Chinese companies, VW and Japung are not only coming together to develop electric vehicles, but now they're combining they're EV charging networks. The two operate roughly twenty
thousand charges in China and now vehicles from both companies will have access to the combined network. There's also plans
to create a new joint brand of fast chargers in the future, and then Carnu's China reports that Handa is teaming up with Huawei on smart driving technology. Honda has
developed its own system that it planned to launch and models under its Chinese EV brand called YE, but it says that tech hasn't lived up to expectations, which is why it's turning to WAWE, So those E models have been postponed until they get that Huawei Tech and Q one of this year, and it sounds like Honda will use the knowledge to further develop its own system for China.
Mazda is going to start making its own battery modules and packs for evs. The automaker is building a new
module plant in Japan which will get cylindrical lithium ion cells from Panasonic. It will be able to make ten
gigawatt hours a year, and the batteries will go into Mazda's first EV built on a dedicated EV platform. The
all electric Ford Mustang mach E easily outsold the gas powered Mustang in the US last year. Machi sales were
up nearly twenty seven percent to just under fifty two thousand units in twenty twenty four, while gas powered Mustang sales totaled forty four thousand vehicles on nine and a half percent decline. When the MAKI was unveiled back in
twenty nineteen, Mustang and enthusiasts weren't happy about it using the Mustang name, so it's interesting to see it become the most popular Mustang in a relatively short amount of time.
And as a reminder, John is already out in Las Vegas getting ready to attend CES so look for our coverage of that soon. But that's a wrap for this show.
Thanks for tuning in.
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