Nissan plans to close its historic Opama plant by 2028, shifting production within Japan and possibly expanding in the US amid tariff challenges. Dodge and Alfa Romeo face production delays due to US import tariffs affecting the Hornet and Tonale models. Toyota offers attractive leasing deals on the bZ4X EV before federal tax credits expire. GM unveils the futuristic Gen Z Explorer concept in China, while Kia launches an affordable all-electric SUV in India. GM also plans to produce cost-effective LFP batteries domestically. The episode highlights the economic impact of motorsports, fluctuating global EV sales, and innovative massaging car seats with OTA updates.
Topics:nissan plant closureus tariffs impactdodge hornet productiontoyota bz4x lease dealgm gen z conceptkia electric suv indiagm lfp battery productionmotorsports economic impactglobal ev sales trendsmassaging car seats
- Nissan to Close Historic Plant - Nissan Could Move Japan Production to the U.S. - Tariffs Could Kill the Hornet and Tonale - Toyota bZ4X Only $199 a Month - GM's GEN-Z Concept Car for China - Kia Intros 1st Made-in-India EV - GM to Make LFP Batteries in the U.S. - U.S. Motorsports Generate $69 Billion - Global EV Sales Up 24% - Lithium Prices Down on Slower China EV Sales - Adient Develops New Massaging Seat System
"... just revealed a new concept car called the gen Z Explorer. It's a compact hatchback that has two thousand m..."
Select text to request an explanation
Speaker 1: This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Nissan dropped a bombshell earlier today,
announcing plans to close its flagship facility in Japan. The
automaker says in early twenty twenty eight, it will end production at its Opama plant, which is the company's oldest, opening in nineteen sixty one and now employing twenty four hundred workers. We think this would be like Ford announcing
that it's closing the historic Rouge plant. No doubt the
news is causing a lot of anguish in Japan. Nissan
says it will stop making the Envy two hundred van in Japan by early twenty twenty seven and transfer vehicle production to a different plant in the country. Globally, the
automaker is closing seven plants in an effort to cut car production from three and a half million to two and a half million units. And while Nissan is cutting
production in Japan, it's considering expanse production in the US.
Three years ago, the automaker announced plans to invest five hundred million dollars at its plant in Canton, Mississippi, to build five evs, but with the slowdown in EV demand the Trump administration eliminating EV subsidies and slapping tariffs on car imports, Nissan is working on a backup plan. Automotive
News reports that the automaker is considering shifting production of the Armada and Infinity QX eighty from Japan to Canton, and also building two new SUVs at the plant. The
Canton plant currently produces the Frontier and Ultima. Last year,
two hundred and eleven thousand models were built at the factory, and the new products are expected to add another two hundred thousand units of production. And it looks like those
US tariffs could take some of the sting out of the Dodge Hornet. It's made in Italy and Stilantis announced
that its postponing production of the twenty twenty six model to assess the effects of US tariff policies, and it's doing that because the Hornet faces a twenty five percent import tariff. Last year, more than twenty thousand, five hundred
Hornets were sold in the US, but sales have plunged this year. In the second quarter, Dodge only sold one thousand,
five hundred and forty nine of them, and this could be real trouble for the Alfa Romeo Tanale as well.
It's made in the same plant on the same platform, and Alpha needs the manufacturing volume that the Dodge Hornet provides to make the Tanale viable. While we don't have
sales for the Tanale in Europe, last quarter, Alpha only sold seventy six of them in the American market. If
you're interested in a Toyota BEZ four X, now is the time to get one. In the US. The model
can be leased in some states for as low as one hundred and ninety nine dollars per month for thirty six months, which is cheaper than a Corolla. It's also
including a free year of charging at EVgo stations. The
deal is available until the end of September, which is when the federal ev tax credit is being eliminated. Through
the first six months of the year, Toyota has sold around nine two hundred BZ four x's in the US, which is down two percent compared to last year.
Speaker 2: Developing today's vehicles, issues can happen in an instant. What
good is knowing your problems without the data to solve them?
Meet Wireless Neova Cloud your secure off the shelf solution, empowering real time collaboration for quick resolution. With wireless Neova Cloud,
your team can prevent issues before they can escalate. Driver communication,
data and remote diagnostics to ice and resolve your problems using OTA, allowing your executive to oversight throughout the process.
Wireless Nearvy Cloud your vehicle update solution in production and on the road intrepid control systems driven by your data.
Speaker 1: Looks like GM is trying to attract younger buyers in China.
Its design studio in the country, which was established with its joint ventre partner SEIC, just revealed a new concept car called the gen Z Explorer. It's a compact hatchback
that has two thousand micro LEDs in the front grill and a contrasting white, black, yellow, and blue paint scheme over the body in wheels. Each of those twenty two
inch wheels are powered by their own electric motor, which combine for four hundred and eighty kilwatts or nearly six hundred in forty five horse power, and launched the gen Z from zero to one hundred kilometers an hour in three point eight seconds. No word on how or when
a vehicle like this might fit into GM and SIC's lineup in China, but we think it's a design that would even have global appeal. Kia is introducing its first
made in India EV, which is actually an all electric version of a three row suv that it already builds and cells in the market, called the Karens Clavis, but instead of a gas or diesel engine, the Karens Clavis EV has a few different battery and motor setups. The
base pack is forty two kilowad hours with a certified range of just over four hundred kilometers or about two hundred and fifty miles, while the larger fifty one point four kilowad hour battery provides up to four hundred and ninety kilometers or roughly three hundred miles of range. The
single electric motor is available in outputs of either one hundred and thirty or one hundred and seventy horse power, and acceleration from zero to one hundred kilometers an hour is as little as eight point four seconds. Kia says
the Karens Clavis EV is purpose built to meet the needs of emerging EV markets, and it will have a roughly twenty one thousand dollars starting price in India. Like Ford,
GM is going to start building LFP batteries in the US, but instead of building an all new plant, GM is going to convert the lines at its existing battery plant with LG that's located in Tennessee. That conversion will start
later this year, and GM expects commercial production by the end of twenty twenty seven. The move to LFP or
lithium iron phosphate batteries is all about cost. GM is
targeting significant battery pack cost savings compared to its NMC or nickel manganese cobalt cells, which it currently produces in Ohio.
The company's EV platform was designed from the beginning to accept multiple battery types, so it's possible that the next gen versions of its current evs could get LFP batteries, which should also help bring starting prices down. The joke
in the motorsports community is that if you want to make a small fortune by going racing, you should start with a big fortune. But it turns out that motorsports
is a huge industry. The association that represents the motorsports
industry in the US, called pri Or Performance Racing Industry says racing in all its forms generates sixty nine billion dollars for the economy and three hundred and eighteen thousand jobs.
That includes the race teams and their personnel, but even the people who work in the hospitality suites and the companies that provide parts and services like the tires and lubricants.
All of racing also pays twenty two billion dollars in wages and eight billion dollars in taxes. The PRI created
an interactive map of the US where you can see the economic impact of motor racing on each individual state, and we've got a link to that map in the transcript or description box if you'd like to see it.
Our research company called row Motion says that global EV sales, including b EV's and phebs, shot up twenty four percent last month. Automakers sold one point eight million evs in June,
with one point one million of them sold in China.
While EV sales are falling in the US, they're growing everywhere else in the world. But there's signs that China
could be hitting a plateau. Prices of lithium are crashing
because EV sales in China are lower than expected, and it's true sales of pure evs in China so far this year are down compared to where they were in October, November and December of last year, and to of China's top three lithium producers are losing money because of that.
While EV sales are up for the year, they fell off significantly at the end of the fourth quarter. Have
you ever been in a car with massaging seats? They're fantastic,
especially when you're spending hours behind the wheel on a long trip. The seat supplier developed a new kind of
massaging seat that's different from the pneumatically operated ones in cars today. It uses cylindrical modules built into the seatback
that rotate and telescope in and out to hit pressure points, which simulates professional massages. It also has over the air
update capabilities, meaning that different massage programs could be uploaded in the future. The seat debuted in trump cheesemap Haven, China.
An addian says that it's also getting attention in the US and the EU, But that brings us to the end of today's show. Thanks for tuning in. Otto Line
Daily is brought to you by Intrepid Control Systems, over the Air Engineering Boost your game and by
Request an explanation for:
3 cars
3 cars featured
Request an Explanation
Heard something you'd like explained? We'll add it to this episode.
Sign in to request explanations for terms you heard.
Want to learn more?
Browse our glossary for plain-English explanations of automotive terms, jargon, and concepts.
See something that's not quite right? Our annotations are AI-generated and can sometimes miss the mark.
Click the flag icon on any annotation to suggest a correction.
