The discussion covers Tesla's UK sales slump and aggressive leasing discounts, Lucid's decision to fund its own $7,500 EV rebate amid federal changes, and a Silicon Valley startup launching level 4 autonomous cars with powerful AI tech. Highlights include GM's Corvette hypercar concepts, Ford's new GT Mk IV aiming to rival the Corvette ZR1X with a lighter, powerful design, and Lexus unveiling an electric supercar concept inspired by the LFA. The episode also touches on Chinese EV battery market dynamics, pollution concerns at EV fast chargers, and mixed public opinions on Ford's bold new EV platform.
Topics:tesla sales and incentiveslucid ev rebatelevel 4 autonomous vehiclescorvette hypercar conceptsford gt mk ivlexus electric supercarchinese ev battery makersev fast charger pollutionford ev platform feedback
- Tesla Cuts UK Leases About 50% - Lucid to Pay Its Own $7,500 Rebate - L4 Startup Emerges from Stealth Mode - Top Battery Makers in China - Study Says EV Chargers Cause Pollution - Corvette Unveils 2,000 HP Concept - Ford GT Mk IV 1,300 Lbs. Lighter Than ZR1X ‘Vette - Lexus Sport Concept - Autoline Poll on Ford EV Truck
"...s didn't Ford originally announced that the small Maverick pickup would be under twenty k. Speaker 2: Where ..."
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Speaker 1: This is Outoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. If you're a car company, what
do you do when sales slow down? If you're like
most automakers, you're probably going to cut prices. Maybe you
offer more incentives, or lower the cost of destination charges, or make optional equipment standard, or offer lower interest rates on loans, or offer a better price on the customer's trade in. Whatever you do, there's a lot of different
ways to lower prices to get customers buying again, and Tesla definitely needs to get sales growing again. In the
United Kingdom. Last month, sales there plummeted forty percent to
less than a thousand cars. In The Financial Times reports
that Tesla is running out of room to store the cars that it has an inventory, so it's having a fire sale. It cut the cost of leasing almost in half,
and we estimate that you can lease a Model Y for a little over three hundred dollars a month or about two hundred and thirty pounds, But better get them.
Speaker 2: While they're hot.
Speaker 1: That deal will probably evaporate as soon as inventory hits a more manageable level and loose it as another automaker that wants to get more customers interested.
Speaker 2: In its SUV, the Gravity.
Speaker 1: Even though the Trump administration is getting rid of the seventy five hundred dollars federal rebate for buying or leasing an EV at the end of September, Lose It is going to offer a seventy five hundred dollars credit for anyone who leases a Gravity until the end of the year.
That means that money is going to come out of its own pocket. You know, we keep saying that twenty
twenty five is the year of the autonomous car, and last week a Silicon Valley startup emerged out of stealth mode to announce that it's going to start selling level four autonomous cars to retail customers. The company is called
ten Sore, and it claims to have the most powerful supercomputer in a car, with ten GPUs and one hundred and four forty four CPUs from Nvidia, Texas Instruments, NXP and Renaissance, and is capable of eight thousand tops or terror operations per second.
Speaker 2: The cars, which will reportedly be built.
Speaker 1: By Vinfest, are equipped with light ar, radar, sonar, and cameras.
Tensor calls itself an agentic AI company, which basically refers to groups of AI bots or agents working together. Tensor
says the cars will go on sale this year, but it has not announced a price yet. And a special
shout out to autoline viewer George Ricci who brought this to our attention.
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Speaker 1: You've probably heard of the Chinese battery maker CTL by now it's the biggest in the world. But have you
heard of Calb or how about finn Dreams. They're actually
the next two biggest battery makers. Our colleagues at gascou
put together a list of the top EV battery makers in China, and since we like to track what's going on with evs, we really appreciate this list. And Gascu
says the top five battery makers control eighty four percent of the Chinese market, and it notes that more automakers are vertically integrating battery pack assembly into their operations. More
than half of all pack production is now done in house.
And oh, by the way, finn Dreams, that's the name that BYD uses for its battery company. A new study
found that there's a surprising downside to EV fast chargers.
Speaker 2: They stir up air pollution.
Speaker 1: Researchers at the University of California found that the average concentration of fine particulate matter at EV charging sites was slightly higher than at gas stations, and half had daily find particulate matter emissions that exceeded the World Health Organization's guidelines.
The research speculate that the fans used to keep the charging units cool are kicking up the particles which come from tires, brakes, and dust. The studies authors say that
charging companies can reduce the pollution by using filters and should avoid placing chargers in your places like schools, in residential areas. But here's the thing, though, those fine particulates
are everywhere. When the wind blows when cars drive down
the road, they stir it up too, so it's not just evy charging stations. GM's design centers turned out a
couple more of those Corvette hypercar concepts. These are called
the CX and CX are Vision Grand Turismo and are the work of the Corvette Performance Studio in Warren, Michigan.
The CX is a road legal all electric hypercar with four electric motors, one at each wheel, that combine for over two thousand horsepower, and instead of the entire hooding canopy lift.
Speaker 2: Up into the front of the vehicle.
Speaker 1: The CXR, on the other hand, is a track car with a nine hundred horse power two liter V eight that revs to fifteen thousand rpm, which is then paired to an eight speed DCT and.
Speaker 2: Three electric motors.
Speaker 1: The entire setup also produces an estimated two thousand horse power, and while Chevy has no intention to produce any of these Corvette hypercar concepts, they will be inspiration for the sportscar's.
Speaker 2: Future design language.
Speaker 1: And speaking of hypercars, Ford is coming out with the final version of this generation of four GT and it looks like it's aimed right at the father of that CXR concept, the Corvette ZR one X. The four GT
Mark four has a completely new body, powertrain, and suspension compared to the previous versions.
Speaker 2: It's almost identical.
Speaker 1: To the GT three race car that won the Mine twenty sixteen, but the three point eight liter twin turbov six makes more power at eight hundred and twenty plus horse power, and it has a more advanced clutch and paddle shifter. With the Corvette ZR one X stealing the
nurburg Ring lap record from the Mustang GTD, we can only assume the GT Mark four is going to be trying to steal that record right back. While the Corvette
is all wheel drive and has twelve hundred and fifty horse power, the GT Mark four is thirteen hundred pounds lighter and actually has a very similar power to weight ratio as the Corvette, so it could be a very close race. The only real major difference is the price.
The Corvette that set that nurburg Ring record probably costs about two hundred and twenty thousand dollars. The four GT
Mark four has a price tag of one point seven million.
Speaker 2: It wasn't long ago we were reported that.
Speaker 1: Lexus won't produce any new V eight powered vehicles after the end of next year.
Speaker 2: But along with that news, we.
Speaker 1: Also reported that Lexus was developing an all new, all electric supercar concept that's inspired by the LFA, and we think we're getting our first look at that car. The
brand debuted the Lexus Sport concept at the Quail this weekend, which is an iconic motorsport gathering in California. However, it
didn't reveal any details about the concept, only to say that it's a vision for a next gen sports car.
But from the previous reports, we know that Toyota chairman Akio Toyota, who's a big sports car fan, is overseeing development, that it's targeting a low two second zero to sixty time and over four hundred miles of range, possibly from solid state batteries. Okay, it's time to go over the
results from our latest poll. We wanted to know what
you think of four it's new EV platform and the new production process to build those evs. Forty one percent
of you said it's a bold new effort that will work.
Seven percent of you think Ford is crazy to put so much effort into EV's forty seven percent belief it won't fail, but it won't be a roaring success either, and six percent said none of the above, and we got a lot of great feedback. Outsider Reviews had this
to say. Ford needs to keep innovating if they want
to stay relevant ten years from now. This is a
good move. Craig to Web had this comment. Hopefully for
them this will be quite successful. They need breakthroughs to
remain competitive worldwide. Evs are definitely the future, and at
the moment China has a huge lead. James Stevenson said
quote it's a bold new effort that will fail and Ford is crazy to put this much.
Speaker 2: Money into it.
Speaker 1: Just copy testless p prove an evy design approach instead.
And a lot of you are skeptical that Ford can deliver on that thirty thousand dollars price tag.
Speaker 2: BRCC eighty two.
Speaker 1: Eight says didn't Ford originally announced that the small Maverick pickup would be under twenty k.
Speaker 2: Where did that idea go? It went out the window.
Speaker 1: And thanks for participating and for sharing your feedback. We
really enjoy your comments and that brings us to the end of today's show. Thanks for making autoline a part
of your day.
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