AD #4129 - U.S. Tariffs to Eliminate 18K Auto Jobs; BYD Shaves Its Sales Forecast; Dacia Hybrid Uses 2-Speed EV Gearbox

Speaker 1: This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. We're trying to figure out how

new car sales did in August in the US market.

Speaker 2: But the problem is that quite a few.

Speaker 1: Automakers no longer report monthly sales, so we can't get a clear view of the big picture. Based on the

companies that do report monthly, their sales were up five percent over last year. Hondai, Kiya, Toyota, and Ford all

had healthy gains, but Mazda, subru and Volvo were all down, so it's hard to tell what's going on even with the companies that do report. Here's another example. Sales of

some evs were strong. Fords Machi was up thirty five percent,

out selling the IC Mustang by more than two to one.

Honda's Prolog was up nearly eighty percent, out selling the Pilot Ridgeline in Odyssey.

Speaker 2: Hondai's Ionic lineup of EV's had a blowout month.

Speaker 1: So this fits the narrative that car buyers are rushing out to buy evs before federal subsidies disappear at the end of the month. But on the other hand, sales

of the Kia EV six were down by double digits, so were all of all those evs.

Speaker 2: Toyota's BZ took a.

Speaker 1: Nose dive, ACCURAZDX fell almost in half, and Ford's Electric Transit dropped by a whopping seventy six percent. So, like

I said, it's kind of hard to tell what's really going on in the US market right now. Meanwhile, Warren Brown,

a well known forecaster, says that US sales will end up around fifteen point eight million units this year. That's

about four hundred and seventy six thousand vehicles below where analysts thought sales would end up before President Trump's tariffs hit.

He also sees US auto employment losing about eighteen thousand jobs, even though some manufacturers are moving more production to the US.

He says the drop off in sales due to the tariffs result in a net loss of jobs. Looks like

BYD's explosive growth has hit a wall. Writers reports that

the automaker cut its sales target for.

Speaker 2: The year by sixteen percent.

Speaker 1: BYD was originally targeting five and a half million sales.

Now it expects to sell about four point six million vehicles.

And while that is a seven percent increase over last year's four point three million sales, it would be BYD's lowest annual growth since twenty twenty. The company is dealing

with stiff competition and the price war in China, which accounts for eighty percent of its sales, so its cut production and a layed expansion at plants in China in response to the slowdown in sales, and speaking of evy startups that are struggling, VinFast reported that its net loss widened in the second quarter, but not all of its numbers were bad. The company delivered just under thirty six

thousand vehicles in Q two, up a whopping one hundred and seventy two percent compared to a year ago, and that helped boost its revenue ninety two percent to six hundred and sixty three million dollars. However, it posted a

net loss of eight hundred and twelve million in the quarter, compared to a seven hundred and forty nine million dollar loss in the previous year. That's because the startup is

spending heavily on marketing and a global expansion, so even though it's losing money, it expects to break even by the end of twenty twenty six. Really understanding your customer

is key to selling more cars, and Hyundai came up with a very simple but clever feature on the new Palisade that will appeal to customers with small children.

Speaker 2: Who hate to hassle with child seats.

Speaker 1: Rex Takashi Torres from Hyundai explains how it works.

Speaker 3: So one of the things we were talking about was we wanted to provide in things that are convenient for families. Right,

one of the things was this rear seat adjustment. So

we all know that when you push that button, you know it gives you access to the third row. But

how about for families who have a car seat, who have like that base plate and you don't want to like unbelt everything. Well, so you push that button, you

can also access to that here. But you'll notice that

the rare backrest doesn't collapse, so you can keep the car seat installed base plate or even just a front facing seat and access that third row. So there's a

convenient grab handle here where I can just kind of loose myself in and again, see child's in the seat, I'm in the seat. Everyone's unky Dori.

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Speaker 1: Dashi is coming out with a pretty innovative hybrid power train for its.

Speaker 2: Duster in bigster models.

Speaker 1: The setup combines a turbocharge one point two liters three cylinder engine, a forty eight volt mild hybrid system, and a six speed dual clutch transmission up front with an electric motor on the rear axle. I know that doesn't

sound all that innovative, but the rear electric motor is a forty eight volt unit.

Speaker 2: And is paired to a two speed gearbox.

Speaker 1: So in first gear the motor can provide high torque at low speeds. In second gear, it offers additional power

at higher speeds and there's the ability to drive an EVY only mode. Dashia says it's possible to operate on

electric power for up to sixty percent of the time on.

Speaker 2: An urban drive.

Speaker 1: Plus there's a rear disconnect so the vehicles go to two wheel drive and prove efficiency. On top of that,

the models are equipped with two fuel tanks, one for gas and the other for LPG with both filled up.

Dashia guarantees a range of up to fifteen hundred kilometers or about nine hundred and thirty miles on the WLTP test cycle, and the company claims that the combination of hybridtech.

Speaker 2: LPG, buy fuel and all wheel drive is a world premiere.

Speaker 1: Scota is going to fully reveal an all new concept on Monday, but it's.

Speaker 2: Providing a look into what it's going to debut.

Speaker 1: And the Vision OH is not only an all new station wagon, but it's also a preview of a new design direction for the brand, which is part of the VW Group. I see long lines on the body to

help accentuate the car's length, lighting set to the edges to help accentuate the cars width, and a large glass roof that provides a well lit interior.

Speaker 2: One design element that I find unique.

Speaker 1: Is how the coach doors form a wide shark fin like b pillar.

Speaker 2: Scuto will live stream the premiere of.

Speaker 1: The Vision Zero on its YouTube channel if you're interested in watching. We have an idea of what the new

Honda Preylude.

Speaker 2: Is going to cost.

Speaker 1: The model is going on sale tomorrow in Japan for roughly forty one five hundred dollars including a ten percent consumption tax. While Honda hasn't revealed where it's building the

Preylude yet, it shares a powertrain with the Civic Hybrid, which is built in North America, so it's possible it won't face any import terrace when it goes on sale in the US later this year. Horsepower Train, the IC

joint venture between Renaul and JIL, has developed a kit that, with little to no modification, converts a fully electric vehicle.

Speaker 2: Into an extended range.

Speaker 1: Electric The system combines a one and a half liter four cylinder engine with a generator, exhaust and cooling, and is Euro seven compliant. The entire package is about the

size of a briefcase. It's designed to work in both

front and rear drive vehicles, and it can be installed horizontally.

Speaker 2: Or vertically.

Speaker 1: For B and C segment vehicles, the engine is naturally aspirated and can make up to seventy kilowatts or about ninety four horse power. For D segment and like commercial vehicles,

the system adds a turbocharger which boosts its power to one hundred and twenty kilowatts or one hundred and sixty one horses And on top of all of that, the unit can run on multiple fuels, including gasoline, diesel, ethanol, methanol, and synthetic fuels. Let us know if we've got our

history right here. Back in the nineteen eighties, Ford created

a performance unit called SVO or Special Vehicle Operations. Then

they changed the name to SVT or Special Vehicle Team.

Then they changed that name to Ford Performance, and now it's getting another name change, Ford Racing.

Speaker 2: But there is a good reason for it.

Speaker 1: Ford is going to merge its race and performance operations together.

The idea is to more quickly transfer technology that it develops in racing into its production vehicles, and just to put a stamp on how important it sees this business unit.

A Ford family member, thirty two year old Will Ford and the son of CEO Bill Ford, was appointed General Manager of Ford Racing. He reports to Mark Rushbrook, the

Global director of Ford Racing. And speaking of racing and performance,

that's what today's Auto Line after Hours is all about, but not about professional racing. We're going to get into

the kind of racing and performance driving that you can do with your car and how you can become a much better performance driver. This will be a fun show,

especially for all you gearheads out there. And that's a

rap for today's report as we do our best to try and bring you the latest updates from the global automotive industry.

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