Tesla's German plant is ramping up production amid strong sales, while Elon Musk boosts confidence by buying $1 billion in shares. BYD faces a sharp market cap drop due to missed sales targets and profit declines, highlighting challenges in China's auto industry. RAM cancels its full-size electric pickup but continues with a range extender model and revives the HEMI V8 due to customer demand. GM's BrightDrop vans get a boost from Amazon's fleet expansion. Meanwhile, Toyota launches its versatile e-Palette EV in Japan, and WeRide introduces autonomous shuttles in Belgium. The episode also covers industry shifts, labor negotiations, and user opinions on drive modes.
- Tesla Boosts Production at German Plant - Musk Buys $1 Billion Worth of Tesla Stock - BYD’s Market Cap Plummets By $45 Billion - China Auto Industry Expected to Shrink Fast - UAW Seeks Full Pensions and Healthcare for Retirees - Magna to Build EVs For Xpeng In Austria - Amazon Testing GM BrightDrop Vans - Ram Cancels Electric Pickup Truck - Chrysler Scales Back EV Plans - WeRide Launches Robobus In Belgium - Toyota E-Palette Shuttle on Sale in Japan - Autoline Drive Modes Poll Results
"...de on the Stella large platform, same as the Jeep wagoneer s and it will come out in twenty twenty seven. We..."
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Speaker 1: This is Outderline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Good news for Tesla. Its plant
in Germany is going to increase production for the rest of the year because of strong sales orders. That plant
ships the Model three and Model wide to thirty different markets, and it says it's seeing increases across the board. We
know that sales are strong in Denmark and Turkey, but they've shot down this year in all the major countries in Europe. However, maybe this is a sign that things
are turning around. In other Tesla news, Elon Musk bought
a billion dollars worth of Tesla shares as both a sign of his confidence in the company as well as a response to the board's offer to pay him a trillion dollars, which includes him staying on board and boosting the company's market capitalization to eight and a half trillion dollars.
Tesla stock jumps seven percent on the news, sending its market cap to one point two four trillion dollars. We're
starting to see more cracks appear in China's auto industry.
You may remember that a couple of weeks ago we reported that byd said it would miss this year's sales target by nearly a million units and its net profit drop thirty percent in the last quarter. So shareholders are
running for the exits. They're dumping the stock, which is
down thirty percent from its high this summer, wiping out forty five billion dollars of market cap. The Chinese government
is warning its auto industry is about involution. We had
to run to the dictionary for that one. It means
a shrinkage of body parts in old age. What it
means for the Chinese auto industry is that it better get ready to shrink fast. A couple of weeks ago,
we reported that the CEO of Japung warned that only about five Chinese auto makers would be left standing by twenty thirty. Now the central Chinese government is taking dong
Fung private and will sell off its ev operations. Now
over to the US, where UAW President Sean Fein warned the Detroit Three that he's going to demand full pensions in full healthcare for retire reason the next contract that would add a lot of tension to those negotiations. Pensions
and healthcare were the two main reasons why GM and Chrysler went bankrupt in two thousand and nine when the credit markets froze. In March, Magne Sigon contracts with a
couple of Chinese automakers to build evs at the supplier's plant in Austria. While the automakers are importing semi knockdown
kits to be assembled, there will be enough local content for them to avoid the EU's tariffs on imported Chinese evs.
Magna is also benefiting from the partnership. That plant in
Austria has the capacity to make about one hundred and fifty thousand vehicles a year, but Magna lost contracts with Fisker, Jaguar, BMW and Toyota which only they left the Mercedes G class, and even before all those models were gone in twenty twenty three, the plant may just under seventy two thousand vehicles.
But last week Aion, a brand of GAC, kicked off production of a couple of models there, and now Jipung will send kits for its G six and G nine models to be made by Magne in Austria. Volume will
likely be low at first, but more models are expected to follow.
Speaker 2: The automotive and industrial sectors are undergoing a historic transformation electrification, digitalization, supply chain reinvention, regulatory shifts. The pace is accelerating and
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Speaker 1: General Motors is struggling to sell its bright Drop electric vans, but this could give it a boost. Amazon is testing
a small fleet of twelve bright Drop vans as part of its effort to reduce its carbon emissions. But there's
more to it than that. Amazon can likely negotiate a
good deal on the vans, since we saw that GM had piles of inventory and it could be desperate to sell them off. Amazon currently has thirty one thousand electric
delivery vans in its fleet, mostly from Rivian, and it wants one hundred thousand by the end of the decade.
After several delays and a scaling back of the program, we wondered if RAM would cancel its full size electric pickup truck. Well, that's exactly what happened. The brand announced
it will discontinue development of the model, which was supposed to be called the Ram fifteen hundred RIV, because of slow demand for full size electric pickups in North America.
RAM is still moving ahead with the version of the truck that uses a range extender. However, it's dropping the
name Ram Charger and it will be called the fifteen hundred RIV instead. You may remember back in June that
Ram also announced it's bringing back the HEMYV eight, and then Jeep revealed that it would get Vights two. The
CEO of RAM said the brand quote screwed up when it dropped the HEMI and went solely with its turbocharged six cylinder engine called Hurricane. Exhaust note was part of
the problem, he said. Even customers of the Racho, which
has its own special intake and exhaust tuning, told them they want more attitude from the truck. So Ram teamed
up with Magna Flow to offer a couple of performance exhaust systems for the Rho that provide better sound and flow.
One is a bolt up SYSM that costs about twenty one hundred bucks, and the other is a customizable system the cost just under thirty one hundred dollars and going back to Stilantis and cutting back on EV plans. This
has been a bigger trend at the company under new CEO Antonio Filosa, Alfa Romeo and Maserati have both canceled plans to go all electric, and Chris Fuell, the CEO of Chrysler, told us recently that it too was not going electric only. She said a planned electric crossover will
now have a multi energy lineup, including some form of hybrid.
It's a DCI CUV made on the Stella large platform, same as the Jeep wagoneer s and it will come out in twenty twenty seven. We Ride is rolling into Belgium.
The Chinese autonomous driving company just launched its robobus or shuttle in the country, making Belgium its eleventh global market and the fourth in Europe. Testing starts this month with
a safety operator on board, and if regulators give the green light, public service kicks off in November and runs through January of twenty twenty six. That makes it the
first commercial deployment of avs and mixed traffic in Belgium.
Passengers will be able to book a ride using an app or subscription, and if the trial proves successful, the shuttles will move into regular service as part of the city's public transport network, with the ultimate goal of going fully driver lists. Toyota just kicked off sales of its
e Palette electric vehicle in Japan. The boxybev is designed
as a multi use mobility platform, serving as a shuttle, mobile store, or even an entertainment space. The model features
a nearly seventy three kilowa hour battery pack that delivers two hundred and fifty kilometers or one hundred and fifty five miles of range. It features a roomy interior, large windows,
low floor with wide sliding doors, and full wheelchair accessibility.
The Epalelette supports Level two automated driving today, but it will be used for demos with partners as Toyota works towards a Level four launch in twenty twenty seven. Other
features include steer by wire and bidirectional charging so it can be used as a power source in emergencies. Toyota
will deploy the e Palette first in Tokyo's Arena District and Woven City, where it will support transport and retail services. Okay,
It's time to go over the results of our latest poll.
Many vehicles feature different drive modes to change the driving dynamics of the car, like normal, Eco, and sport, and we wanted to know what your experience with drive modes are.
Only sixteen percent said you love them and switch modes on a regular basis. Fifty seven percent said you sometimes switch,
but mostly keep it in one mode, and the remaining twenty seven percent said you never switch and the option should be dumped. Here's some of the comments that we liked.
Nah really likes the option and says all the time, but only in cars where it makes a big difference in character or performance. Otherwise, I just picked the most
comfortable setting. Evan Bauer says the traction modes are an
important safety function when one needs to drive in bad conditions.
Others Sport and Eco, for example, provide fun or a little extra range on the highway. Keep them even though
most of us change them infrequently. Pinky Mixed Sunset says,
I never switch, but my wife and I use different settings.
It's nice that it drives the way each of us prefer.
Ac Held had this to say, quote, I like having the option, but the truth is I rarely change modes.
Once I figured out the best combo for me and my merk, I leave alone for the most part. And
last WT ninety six fifty three says, if dumping the features lowers prices, dump them asap. And thanks for all
of your comments. We really enjoy your feedback. But that's
it for today's show. Thanks for watching, and have a
great day.
Speaker 3: Auto Line Daily is brought to you by alex Partners.
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