Tesla unveiled a refreshed Model Y featuring updated lighting, interior tweaks, and improved performance, with deliveries starting in China. Hyundai plans to launch a low-cost EV in Japan, aiming to boost its sales despite the country's slow EV adoption. GM is using AI to optimize EV charger locations and launching a new company for its Formula One engines. Chevrolet revealed pricing for the high-performance ZR1 Corvette, while Ford announced special Mustang editions including the RTR co-developed with Von Gitten Jr. Other highlights include SAIC partnering on battery swapping tech and Renault previewing its upcoming TwinGo EV interior.
Topics:tesla model y refreshhyundai low cost ev japangm ev charging aicorvette zr1 pricingford mustang special editionsbattery swapping networksformula one engine companyrenault twingo evev market japanautomotive technology innovations
- Tesla Unveils Refreshed Model Y - Hyundai Launches Low-Cost EV In Japan - Bill Ford Has “Long” Talk with Trump - SAIC Adopts CATL Battery Swap Tech - GM Using AI to Find Ideal Charging Locations - GM Sets Up Company to Build F1 Engines - Corvette ZR1 Starts At $175,000 - Ford Reveals Special Edition Mustang GTD - Ford Partners with Vaughn Gittin Jr. To Launch Mustang RTR - Honda Could Use Nissan’s Body-On-Frame Trucks - Renault Shows Off New Twingo Interior
"...teboard wheels. Renault says it developed the new TwinGo in just two years, and it expects to have have a ..."
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Speaker 1: This is aut Aligned Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Tesla officially revealed the refreshed
model why. Its front lighting is now more in line
with the cyber cabin cyber truck.
Speaker 2: The rear lighting has also.
Speaker 1: Been turned into a long light bar and the front rear bumper see some tweaks as well. The interior remains
mostly the same, but there's now a turn signal, stock new ambient lighting, a screen for rear seat passengers, and changes that add more space and contribute to a quieter cabin.
There's also improvements under the skin. It adopts Tesla's latest
automated driving hardware, and since the refreshed Y was revealed on Tesla's website in China and the Asia Pacific region, it could be an indication that FSD will be available in those areas soon. The upgraded model Y sees about
twenty more miles of ranges well on the Chinese test cycle, and it's faster. All wheel drive versions will do zero
to one hundred kilometers an hour in four point three seconds, which is over half a second faster than before. However,
a new performance version hasn't been announced yet. Deliveries of
the new model y are first expected to start in China this March. Foreign brands have never really had success
selling vehicles in Japan, but now they're trying their luck with electric cars. Tesla started selling its vehicles in the
country a decade ago, BYD followed in twenty twenty three, and now Hyundai has announced it will launch its low cost Inster EV in Japan this May. It will have
a starting price of eighteen thousand dollars, which is slightly below the BYD Dolphin and slightly more expensive than the Nissan Sakura ke car, the best selling EV in the country.
Speaker 2: But evs aren't that popular in Japan.
Speaker 1: Only twenty three thousand Sakuras were sold last year, which was down forty percent. BYD only sold just over twenty
two hundred vehicles, and Tesla doesn't disclose it's Japan sales.
Hyundai only sold six hundred and seven vehicles in Japan last year, but it's aiming to increase its sales tenfold over the next five years, and it believes the Inster will be able to help it achieve that goal. In
his first term, President Trump had a pretty rocky relationship with automakers. He especially went after Ford and GM's Mary
Barr when he didn't think they were doing what he wanted.
But maybe Trump's second term will be different. Trump personally
called Bill Ford last week to talk about the industry.
Ford tells Bloomberg that he actually didn't pick up the call the first two times because his phone showed it with someone calling from Boca Raton, Florida. But when the
call came in a third time, he decided he'd better answer, and the voice on the other end of the line said, Hey, Bill, it's Donald Trump. Bill Ford said he talked to Trump
for a long long time. He says they especially talked
about EV sales credits, and though Trump has promised to get rid of them, maybe there's something else brewing here.
Chinese auto maker SEIC is giving up on operating its own EV battery swapping network in China. It announced that
it's partnering with battery makers CTL to use its swapping network instead. SEIC launched its network in twenty twenty two
for its Rising brand, but it's giving up on it due to poor sales.
Speaker 2: SEIC will produce.
Speaker 1: Ten models across its brands that will be compatible with cotl's Choco SEB batteries. CTL says it takes one hundred
seconds to swap a battery at its stations, which can handle eight hundred and twenty two swaps a day, more than NEO stations, which can swap four hundred and eighty batteries daily. In addition to SAIC, Changan, GAC, BAIC, FAW,
and GM have all signed up for CTL swapping technology.
Speaker 3: There's nothing wrong with heavy metal hey light enough, but with world class composite material taging, Automotive Technologies makes vehicles lighter, safer, and more eco friendly.
Speaker 1: General Motors is using artificial intelligence to help it find the optimal spot to open EV charging stations. The automaker
has partnered with Evygo and Pilot Travel Centers to install thousands of fast chargers across the US. So the company
is using AI tools to analyze traffic patterns driving behavior in proximity to the chargers in order to find the best location to install an EV station. There are many
consumers who are reluctant to switch to an EV because of charging concerns, so GM hopes this approach will help make stations more visible and give people the confidence to buy an Eve. Speaking of GM, it's not just getting
into Formula One with its own team and engine.
Speaker 2: It's setting up a separate company to build those engines.
Speaker 1: It's called GM Performance Power Units, and it will be run by Russell Blennez, who has thirty years of motorsports experience and has been running GM's motorsports propulsion and performance team.
The new company will be based near GM's racing technical center in Charlotte, North Carolina, and it opens next year.
By creating a standalone engine company, sure sounds like GM wants to lease engines to other F one teams as well.
And in one less last bit of GM news, Chevrolet announced pricing for the new ZR one Corvette. The coup
starts at roughly one hundred and seventy five thousand dollars, while the hard top convertible is ten thousand dollars more.
The three LZ trim line adds another ten grand on top of those prices, and the carbon fiber Arrow and ZTK performance packages are another ten thousand dollars. That is
a lot of money, but compared to other cars that perform about the same as the ZR one, it's practically a steal. Speaking of, it would be fun to pit
the ZR one against the heavily modified and tracked focused Mustang GTD, which should cost around three hundred and twenty five thousand dollars. And to honor some of the Mustang's
iconic past, Ford is launching a special edition of the Mustang GTD called Spirit of America. Highlights include red and
blue racing stripes, unique graphics, exposure, carbon fiber arrow elements.
Speaker 2: And matching seats.
Speaker 1: But that's not the only special Mustang that Ford has for us. Today, it announced a partnership with Von Gitten
Junior to launch the Mustang RTR, which it says is quote the most exciting, enthusiast focused eco boost Mustang.
Speaker 2: Ever.
Speaker 1: Ford isn't talking specifics yet, but says it will get a lot of enhancements and is ready for drifting, drag racing, back road cruising, or ripping around an autocross track. The
Mustang RTR will mark only the second time in the pony car's history that Ford has sold a performance model co created with an outside partner and offered it from the factory. It looks like Honda could end up with
some of Nissan's body on frame trucks as part of the merger between the two companies. The Nissan Frontier mid
size pickup truck and the Armada Suv are both body on frame vehicles and are bigger than anything that Honda sells.
And we think that Honda's North American dealers would love to have an entirely new class of vehicles on their showroom floors, and likely high profit vehicles at that, and no doubt Nissan would love to get Honda's hybrid power trains into its vehicles as fast as it can.
Speaker 2: The all new.
Speaker 1: Electric Renault TwinGo will go on sale in twenty twenty six, but now we're getting a chance to see its interior.
The upper part of the dash is kind of like a wide, elongated oval that also incorporates two digital screens and the air vents. Below that is four round dials
for the HVAC controls. The rear seats also slide and
have a fifty to fifty split fold and a little nod to design. The seat back adjustment knob is inspired
by skateboard wheels. Renault says it developed the new TwinGo
in just two years, and it expects to have have a starting price under twenty thousand euros when it launches.
If you want to see some of the wild new tech that debuted at CES this week, check out the videos we've been posting from the show.
Speaker 2: But that brings us.
Speaker 1: To the end of this week's worth of Autoline Daily.
Speaker 2: Have a great weekend.
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