AD #4147 - Ford Says New Truck Not Really a Pickup; Tesla Cybercab Production Moved Up; GM and Ford Creatively Extend EV Credit
Autoline Daily
AD #4147 - Ford Says New Truck Not Really a Pickup; Tesla Cybercab Production Moved Up; GM and Ford Creatively Extend EV Credit
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Speaker 1: This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Today is the day when the
US tax credits to buy an EV expires. Loocid already
announced it will continue to offer customers the full seventy five hundred dollars rebate. And now GM and Ford are
doing the same thing, well sort of, and wait until you hear how they're doing it. Reuter's reports that GM
Financial and Ford Credit, which are the captive finance arms of the automakers, are making the down payments today on evs that their dealers.
Speaker 2: Already have an inventory.
Speaker 1: By making that payment now before the credit expires, it qualifies those vehicles for the seventy five hundred dollars. Then
dealers can offer leases that already have the seventy five hundred dollars credit baked into them. GM and Ford say
that they've already cleared this with the internal revenue service and that this will soften the blow of the credits going away, or at least for those evs that are already inventory. We've got some future product intel on Tesla
Auto Forecast Solution says that the Cybercab will go into production in April of twenty twenty six at the company's gigafactory in Austin, Texas. That's about a month and a
half earlier than previously reported, and the production run will last until May thirty first of twenty thirty one. The
two seed autonomous cybercab is being built on what Tesla calls its Gen three platform under the program code W sixty eight. Speaking of Tesla, it's not the only automaker
building rockets that can blast off then return to.
Speaker 2: Base landing standing up. Honda is doing it too.
Speaker 1: It successfully landed one of its own rockets back in June.
The rocket only went up three hundred meters or almost one thousand feet, but Honda is still in the test stage.
It says the next step is to power its reusable rocket with reusable fuel. Ford's CEO Jim Farley has said
that the dish digital experience that will kick off in its new thirty thousand dollars electric pickup truck is unlike anything that's been offered in the US or China to date.
Google and carplays sound like they'll be part of its digital experience, and on a recent podcast with The Verge, Farley said that Ford is even considering using Apple as an all in one software solution. He said he doesn't
think the company can quote design an experience that's going to displace your phone. However, Farley didn't like the execution
of the next gen version of CarPlay, called CarPlay Ultra.
Ford wants to offer services like automated driving or trip planning on top of the Apple experience, but as of right now, it sounds like Apple wants to control all of those features too, and Farley says if that's the case, that the company would have a quote rough time because the digital experience gets too messy.
Speaker 2: On top of those comments, the Ford CEO.
Speaker 1: Also had some interesting things to say about how that truck will look. Quote, our first body style will be
a pickup, but it's not really a pickup.
Speaker 2: I would say it's a new silhouette.
Speaker 1: Farley goes on to talk about having more room than a Toyota Rev four, not including the better front. That
has us wondering if this could be like a crossover with a pickup.
Speaker 2: Truck bet on the back. But let us know what
you think in the comments.
Speaker 3: Hi, I'm Don Hatfield from Treppicing Control Systems, and I'm presenting the wireless be Ams solution from Intrepid Control Systems.
Come and see us in this demo at Booth forty six hundred at the Battery Show, and also analog devices will either as well. Be happy to talk to you
and help you with your solution.
Speaker 1: Foreign automakers have been getting clobbered in China in recent but things are starting to turn around for two automakers.
Through the first eight months of the year, Toyota's sales in China are up six percent, putting it on track to post its first increase in China.
Speaker 2: In four years.
Speaker 1: The automaker is winning customers back with its hybrids and new low cost, locally produced evs, but while its sales have improved, the price war in China.
Speaker 2: Is eating into Toyota's profits.
Speaker 1: Its average profit per car declined from about eighteen hundred bucks in twenty twenty one to just over one thousand dollars last year. But one of the models that has
been a hit with Chinese customers is its BZ three X compact crossover, which starts at fifteen grand. Toyota just
launched the right hand drive version in Hong Kong and Macau, but it's getting a hefty price increase. The model will
start at thirty three one hundred dollars in Macau, while pricing for Hong Kong isn't confirmed yet. However, the right
hand drive models with a bigger battery than the base version sold in mainland China. They're also more expensive because
of import taxation and the limited scale of right hand drive production. The other automaker that's turning things around in
China is General Motors.
Speaker 2: Its second quarter sales were up twenty percent, which is its biggest.
Speaker 1: Increase in quarterly sales in four years, and now it's launching its first vehicle on an all new platform that it developed with its joint venture partner SEIC, the Buick Electra L seven. It's a mid size range extended sedan
that's powered by a one and a half liter turbocharged engine, a two hundred and fifty two kilowat electric motor, and a forty kilowad hour lithium ion battery pack. The model
has an all electric range of three hundred and two kilometers or one hundred and eighty eight miles and a total range of fourteen hundred and twenty kilometers or eight hundred and eighty two miles. The Electra L seven starts
around twenty four thousand dollars. Portia says that it's considering
merging its digital and engineering divisions together. Claims the move
is to advance the development of technology and customer experiences.
But you should also know from watching our reports that Portia is struggling financially and a consolidation of digital and engineering will help cut costs and allow the single division to operate more efficiently. No doubt, expertise from both parts
of the company were involved in the new display tech that was just revealed today for the new Kyen Electric.
We'll provide a link if you'd like to check out more of that. Interior digital lidar is emerging as the
critical technology behind the global rollout of robotaxis. As twenty
twenty five marks the first year of large scale robotaxi commercialization.
Speaker 2: Nearly every major operator.
Speaker 1: In China, from pony Ai to we Ride, to Buyduse, Apollo, Goo and Uber is adopting solid state light our systems for mass production. Another company at the center of this
is robo Sense, who says about ninety percent of robotaxi fleets worldwide now use solid state lighter and nearly all our planning upgrades to highline count digital systems. Unlike older
mechanical sensors, Robosensus digital LIGHTAR delivers faster processing, higher precision, and full three hundred and sixty degree coverage. Executives say
success now hinges on the ability to mass produce the light R at automotive scale, and attention to.
Speaker 2: All our Patreon and YouTube members.
Speaker 1: At two thirty pm Eastern Time this afternoon, John and I will be going live to answer your questions. You
can ask them directly during the Q and A, or you can send them in early. Just go to the
post tab on YouTube or on Patreon and submit them that way. We really like hearing directly from you, and
it's a lot of fun for us to scramble to get the answers. So we hope to see you then.
And that wraps up today's show. Thanks for watching Auto
Line Data.
Speaker 4: Auto Line Daily is brought to you by Alex Partners.
When it really matters, CSP, the Composites Solution partner Intrepid Control Systems over the Air Engineering boost your game and thanks to the following YouTube and Patreon members.
Speaker 5: At CSP, we work with OEM engineers across the country on their journeys to lighter, safer, and more eco friendly vehicles.
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About this episode
GM and Ford are creatively extending the US EV tax credit by having their finance arms make down payments on existing EV inventory, allowing dealers to offer leases with the credit baked in. Tesla’s Cybercab production is moving up to April 2026, with a new Gen 3 platform. Ford’s upcoming $30,000 electric pickup promises a unique digital experience and a new body style that blurs traditional pickup lines. Meanwhile, Toyota and GM are seeing sales rebounds in China with new EV models, and solid-state lidar technology is becoming key for robotaxi deployments worldwide.
Original notes
- GM and Ford Creatively Extend EV Credit - Tesla Cybercab Production Moved Up - Honda Building Tesla-Like Rockets - Ford Says New Truck Not Really a Pickup - Toyota Improving in China - Toyota Exports RHD EVs from China - Buick Launches L7 Sedan in China - Porsche Engineering and Digital to Merge - Digital Lidar Critical for Robotaxis
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