AD #4134 - Tesla Loyalty Drops Below Ford; Joby VTOLs Fly 50K Passengers; Nissan Tech Boosts Fuel Economy 42%
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Speaker 1: This is out Aline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. We've been reporting on vtalls
for a number of years because we think they're going to play a significant role in transportation. But here's a
stat that we completely missed. Last year, Joby Aviation flew
fifty thousand passengers. That includes the New York area, including
to and from JFK and Newark Airports, and into Manhattan and the Hamptons. It's also providing rides in Southern Europe,
though the company declines to identify which country. That is
fifty thousand passengers kind of blows our mind, and that passenger traffic is likely to grow quickly because joby just announced that users will now be able to call for a vtall using the Uber app. And by the way,
Toyota is the largest investor in Joby Aviation. Car sales
and China were up for the seven straight month. In August,
Automakers sold just under two million passenger vehicles, up four point six percent compared to a year ago. Any V sales,
which includes battery electrics, plug in hybrids, and extended range electrics, increased seven and a half percent to one point one million last month, accounting for fifty five percent of the overall market. Through the first eight months of the year,
automakers have sold fourteen point seven million vehicles in China, up nine and a half percent from a year ago.
But if sales remain at that pace, automakers will sell about twenty two million passenger cars this year, which is about what they've averaged over the last decade. And with
China's home market stagnating, it needs exports to grow, and Mexico is the number one destination for China's automotive exports.
Speaker 2: But Mexico is worried about.
Speaker 1: All those Chinese cars flooding into its market and hurting its auto industry, which employs three hundred and twenty thousand workers.
So far this year, China shifted over two hundred and eighty thousand cars to Mexico, up twenty four percent, and they now account for twenty percent of sales there. So
Mexico is now going to hit those imports with fifty percent tariffs. It's also putting terraffs on cars from Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, India,
Turkey and Russia. But make no mistake, we think this
is really about all those Chinese cars. Even so, Michael Dunn,
an independent consultant and expert on the Chinese auto industry.
Speaker 2: Says the tariffs will slow the Chinese down, but it won't stop them.
Speaker 1: Tesla used to have some of the most loyal customers, but not anymore. According to S and P Global Mobility,
Tesla dropped nine percentage points compared to a year ago, falling to number two in US brand loyalty in the second quarter behind Ford. S and P analysts say that
Tesla's aging lineup, along with CEO Elon musk controversial political activity, turn customers away from the branded big numbers. Perhaps more surprisingly,
a lot of people that leave Tesla aren't choosing another electric vehicle. About thirty percent of them are going to
gasoline and hybrid vehicles. And worrying for Tesla is that
its slide shows no signs of turning around. In the US,
through July, sales declined eight percent to just under three hundred and twenty one thousand vehicles.
Speaker 3: At CSP, we work with OEM engineers across the country on their journeys to lighter, safer, and more eco friendly vehicles.
Learn more at VCSP dot com.
Speaker 1: According to scientists in the UK, the dust that comes off modern brakes is more toxic than diesel emissions. That's
part of the reason Euro seven standards, which kick into effect for light duty vehicles towards the end of next year, are going to force automakers to account for break particulate emissions.
So companies are looking for possible solutions, and Stillants filed a patent that puts a new twist.
Speaker 2: On old technology.
Speaker 1: It wants to go back to drum brakes and apply some sort of magnetic film or coding inside the brakes to pick up any metal. While the friction material from
brake shoes is not magnetic, anyone that's ever taken off a drum brake before knows that a big pile of brake dust usually comes along with it, So there should be less particulates in the air. Plus, as more vehicles
with regenerative braking hit the road, there's less need for disc brakes. Japan is really slow at adopting electric cars.
Last year they only accounted for less than two percent of sales, but maybe this Honda ev called the N one will start to change that around. It was unveiled
in July but went on sale this morning. It's a
K car, those dinky little models that usually have six hundred and sixty cc engines and account for about thirty to forty percent of the market in Japan, But this one is electric. It has a range of two hundred
and ninety five kilometers or one hundred and eighty three miles, but K cars usually don't drive long distances, making the K car segment perfect for eves and saying goes for the price, the N one costs eighteen thousand, three hundred dollars.
Every year, Americans spend about a week stuck in traffic, according to CNBC, so Nissan wants to help. It tested
a new system in some of its cars called Cooperative Congestion Management, or CCM. Data from a lead vehicle is
sent to vehicles following behind so they can adjust their speed according to what's coming up ahead. Over a six
hundred mile test on freeways in San Francisco, the following vehicles with CCM, which were separated in thirty to sixty second intervals, recorded eighty five percent fewer hardbreaking incidents and seventy percent less time stopped in traffic, and in simulation, CCM also reduced travel time by eighteen percent and fuel economy shot up by forty two percent.
Speaker 2: But there's still more phases to this test.
Speaker 1: Like an interface that better communicates to the driver why the vehicle is slowing down, Because Nissan says the hardest part is changing driver behavior to not fill up the gap that's ahead of them. It seems like we're saying
this just about every day now, but twenty twenty five feels like the year of the robotaxi lift. In May,
Mobility announced that they've launched an autonomous ride hailing service in Atlanta. It will initially be limited to midtown Atlanta
and only be available to lift riders before it expands in the coming months. The service will use modified Toyota
sienam in Evans, which will have a human safety driver on board. And In related news, Zekes has opened its
autonomous service to the public in Las Vegas. Riders can
book a ride through the zukes app and select several destinations along the Las Vegas Strip, and more destinations will be added in the coming months.
Speaker 2: The service will initially be.
Speaker 1: Free so riders can become familiar with its robotaxis and so Zekes can get feedback before it expands, but the company will eventually start charging for rides once it gets regulatory approval. Zekes also plans to expand its service in
San Francisco, but it hasn't announced a launch date yet. However,
a wait list is open for riders that.
Speaker 2: Want to join.
Speaker 1: If you like old school design but don't want to put eluding old school engine, then the reborn Austin Motor Company might have the vehicle for you. Looking like something
right out of the early nineteen hundreds, the Austin Arrow is now making its way to customers. Fitting under Europe's
L seven E quadricycle regulations, which limits weight, power and speed.
The Arrow has a twenty horse power electric motor that moves the vehicle from zero to one hundred kilometers an hour in seven point eight seconds. However, the regulations in
the UK limit top speed to ninety kilometers an hour.
A range of one hundred and sixty kilometers or one hundred miles is achieved with a twenty.
Speaker 2: Kilowat hour battery pack.
Speaker 1: Pricing starts at just under thirty seven thousand pounds or about fifty thousand bucks ken Detroit, which relies so heavily on legacy automakers survived the massive changes that the industry is going through. In fact, can any region that relies
on legacy automakers survive? That will be one of the
topics we dive into on today's Autoline After Hours. We'll
have Joe White from High Speed Rodeo, Sandy Barua from the Detroit Regional Chamber in another Sandy none other than Sandy Monroe. So be sure to tune in when the
action gets going at three pm Eastern Time, and that wraps up today's show.
Speaker 2: Thanks for watching.
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