AD #3997 - Tesla Warranty Costs Higher Than GM; Stella To Launch L3 Driving; Rivian Cuts COGs $31,000/Vehicle

Speaker 1: This Zutolne Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. The bad news keeps piling up for Nissan.

The automaker's debt rating was just cut to junk status by Moody's Ratings, which is its lowest investment grade. Moody's

downgraded Nissan because of weak profits and sales, as well as the risks associated with its restructuring plan, which includes nine thousand job cuts and slashing global production by twenty percent.

But despite Moody's downgrading, Nissan stocks shot up more than nine percent today after a Financial Times report said that a high level Japanese group, including a former prime minister and a former Tesla board member, is encouraging Tesla to invest in Nissan. That might sound shocking, but the report

says the group believes that Tesla would be interested in Nissan's US plants. However, it wasn't long before old water

was thrown on the whole scheme. The former Prime minister

said he didn't know anything about it, and the former Tesla board member said he had absolutely no involvement and he has doubts that Tesla would even be interested in Nissan or its plans to us. This has all the

markings of a pump and dump scheme. Somebody floats a

juicy rumor, the stock shoots up, they dump their holdings, then the stock crashes when the truth comes out, and the rumormongers walk off with a boatload of money. Rivian

reported its full results for last year.

Speaker 2: And it's showing improvements.

Speaker 1: It sold over fifty one thousand vehicles, up fourteen hundred vehicles from the year before. Its revenue rows twelve percent

to four point nine billion dollars. It also posted an

operating loss of four point seven billion, which was a billion dollars better than in twenty twenty three, and its net loss of four point seven billion dollars was six hundred and eight eighty six million dollars better. And keep

in mind Rivian still hasn't received any of that money from Volkswagging yet, so these improvements are a direct result of Rivian doing a better job of running its business.

The company says it reduced the cost of goods sold by thirty one thousand dollars per.

Speaker 2: Vehicle in the fourth quarter.

Speaker 1: Even so, it doesn't think it will sell more vehicles this year and still expects to post an operating loss of up to one point nine billion dollars.

Speaker 2: Tesla is recalling.

Speaker 1: Three hundred and eighty thousand cars in the US because the power steering can go out and it's already sent out and over the air update to fix the issue.

But despite its OTA fixes, this helps highlight the fact that Tesla actually has quite high warranty costs. In its

ten K earnings report last year, Tesla listed warranty costs of over one point four billion dollars. That works out

to eight hundred and twelve dollars per car, which is higher than General Motors, which had seven hundred and fifty nine dollars of warranty costs per car. The things that

do need to be repaired on Tasklas are quite costly.

Reuters reports that Tasla's had tens of thousands of cars suffer from suspension and steering parts that have failed, and also had problems with computers that short circuit.

Speaker 3: There's nothing wrong but heavy metal high light enough, But with world class composit material, Taging Automotive Technologies makes vehicles lighter, safer, and more eco friendly.

Speaker 1: Looks like BMW's all new generation of EVS will probably hit the market late in the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter of this year. That's because series

production of key components, like its new central control unit for the high voltage battery, kicks off in August. BMW

calls the un Energy Master since it controls the interface between the low and high voltage systems, the power supplied to the motors, and the vehicle's electrical system, as well as the operation of the battery pack. That pack is

now part of the vehicle structure and will be filled with new cylindrical cells instead of prismatic like BMWUS before.

Those cells are also mounted directly into the pack without first being bunched up into modules, which helps clear up more space. BMW's new evs will get new electric motors

as well. Part of that is because the electrical system

is now based on an eight hundred volt architecture. The

rear axle will feature an electrically excited synchronous motor, while an asynchronous motor will be fitted on the front for all wheel drive models. It says the new E drive

system will improve overall EV efficiency by twenty percent. Stillantis

revealed its first in house developed hands free driving S system called Stella Auto Drive. It's capable of everything between

Level two and Level three, but while the Level two and two plus system will operate at highway speeds, the Level three system only works up to thirty seven miles an hour or sixty kilometers an hour. However, Stillanta says

that could one day go to fifty nine miles an hour or ninety five kilometers an hour, and that it's also looking to adapt the system for off roading. The

company calls Stella Auto Drive a global technology, but it didn't say exactly where it will be offered yet. Level

three and even Level four are approved for use in China, and the only other places we know where it's allowed is in Germany and in the US in California and Nevada.

Germany recently approved Level three up to the ninety five kilometer in hour limit, while we think the US is still at forty miles an hour but is looking to go up to sixty. Automakers in Europe have been pressing

the EU for months to roll back or e CO two emission rules because they claim they could face fines of fifteen billion euros this year for missing the targets.

But two groups representing EV makers, charging networks, supply chain companies, and fleet owners in Europe sent letters to the EU urging it not to ease the CO two regulations. The

EV groups say that rolling back the rules will make automakers less competitive with Chinese evs and it will hurt EV investment in Europe. They also dispute the fifteen billion

euro find that automakers claim they face and say it's more likely between four and six billion euros, and that figure could be caught in half through pooling emissions with other automakers. Stillantis is reevaluating its plans for the next

gen Jeep Compass, and as a result, it's halting all activities at its plant in Brampton, Ontario, where it's scheduled to be built. The company is currently retooling the plant

to build gas and electric versions of the Compass, and it's scheduled to go into production early next year. But

Stilantis released a statement saying it's temporarily pausing work on the Compass and it needs to reassess its product strategy for North America. It didn't say how long the pause

will last or if it will lead to layoffs. While

Stealanta says its decision doesn't affect previously announced investment plans in Brampton. Canadian Union uniform says the work stoppage is

of grave concern. The union says Trump's tariff threats are

at least partially to blame for the decision. About two

years ago, Renault spun off its IC powertrain operations into a new business unit called Horse. Then it got gly

in Volvo to join, and then a Ramco, the giant oil company, invested in it too. Renault says other automakers

and suppliers are interested in joining, and then it now has five R and D centers and supplies IC powertrains to fifteen customers in one hundred and thirty countries. Last year,

Horse contributed ninety seven million euros to Renault's operating margin.

It will save Renault more than two billion euros over the rest of this decade, and Horse is worth a reported seven point four billion euros. This sounds like things

are working well, and we think other automakers could study whether or not they should spin off their ice operations.

We're posting a new poll looking for your input on the future of fuel cells. Are they really the answer

for transportation? Will they only be good for certain applications

like long haul trucking, or are they just a pipe dream that will never come to fruition.

Speaker 2: You could find the poll and the.

Speaker 1: Post tab on the Audoline Channel YouTube homepage, and for those of you who watch on the Autoline website, we have the poll posted in the transcript and you can vote in the comments section. Of course, we welcome any

in all comments that you want to add and we'll report on the results on my But that brings us to the end of the day's show. Thanks for joining us,

and I hope that you have a great weekend.

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Speaker 3: Wards is the industry leader for news data and analysis.

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Maybe even your own lugain for subscriber access. Now check

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AD #3997 - Tesla Warranty Costs Higher Than GM; Stella To Launch L3 Driving; Rivian Cuts COGs $31,000/Vehicle

Jeep Compass

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