AD #4165 - UAW To Hold VW Strike Authorization Vote; Ford’s Q3 Net Profit Soars 174%; U.S. Mines Enough Critical Minerals to End Imports

Speaker 1: This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Ford reported its Q three numbers

and the company posted some positive results. It sold one

point one million vehicles, up six percent from the year before, revenue top fifty billion dollars for the first time, up nine percent. Its operating profit of one and a half

billion dollars was up seventy seven percent over last year's lackluster performance, and Ford put two point four billion dollars on the bottom line, up one hundred and seventy four percent for the same reasons. But the most interesting news

about Ford came from its earnings call with Wall Street analysts.

Here are some of the highlights. First, the chip shortage

caused by China blocking exports of dios and transistors made by NECKSPIIA is threatening to shut down automotive production in Europe and the US. Ford CEO Jim Farley said he

was in Washington, DC this week and that it was top of mind with every official he met within the government.

He said a resolution could come just as they're about to run out of chips, but they need a quick breakthrough to prevent production losses. With the Trump administration getting

rid of regulatory fines for missing zero mission vehicle mandates.

Ford will see a big financial benefit. Prior to that change,

Ford was going to have to buy two and a half billion dollars of ZEB credits this year, but now it expects most of that to go away. Thanks to

the administration easing up on a mission regulations, Ford will no longer have to constrain production of vehicles like the Tremor and Raptor, which are in high demand. Ford says

it's making big progress on improving its quality. It cut

warranty costs by four hundred and fifty million dollars in the third quarter, and Ford Pro, which sells commercial vehicles, is the most profitable unit of the company. It may

most two billion dollars in EBIT, and close to twenty percent of that came from providing software services to fleets.

We'll see how the market takes in all this news.

When GM reported its numbers this week, the stock jump fifteen percent, adding eight billion dollars in marketcap. Meanwhile, Ford

stock was up four percent in pre market trading. A

year and a half ago, the hourly workers at Volkswagen's US assembly plant voted to join the UAW. Since then,

management and labor keep rejecting the other's proposals and counter proposals, so that plant still doesn't have a contract. But to

put more pressure on VW the UAW is going to hold a vote to authorize a strike. That doesn't mean

there will be a strike. It just gives the local

union the authority to call one if it thinks it needs to. That plant makes the Atlas, the Atlas Sport

Cross and the ID four, and with Tarris adding a lot of cost to the other vehicles that VW imports to the US, it really doesn't want to see that plant go on strike. Carlos Tavares, the former CEO of Stilantis,

is back making headlines again. Earlier this week, he said

Stilantis would probably break up. Now he says that Elon

Musk could walk away from the auto industry to concentrate on SpaceX, robots and AI. Tavares says Musk made a

big mistake by not focusing enough on Tesla, which let BYD surpass it in sales and efficiency. He even says

he's not sure that Tesla will even exist in ten years. Obviously,

that would be a massively shocking turn of events. But

we got into the possibility of Elon Musk leaving Tesla and yesterday's auto line after hours. So if you'd like

to dive into that topic a little further, i'd recommend checking out that show. Just zip forward to about twenty

six minutes and thirty seconds.

Speaker 2: Making the Life full of memories one road trip at a time.

Speaker 1: That's what really matters.

Speaker 2: Rich don't weather peak tires.

Speaker 3: With the seventy thousand mile womened warranty.

Speaker 1: There's an intriguing new study that found the US currently mines enough critical minerals and rare earths to end imports.

The problem is those materials are just waste that miners discard.

Mining companies only focus on their main product, and everything else they dig up is crushed, washed and dumped as waste.

A study by the Colorado School of Mines found that recovering even just one percent of that waste could substantially reduce reliance on imports, and if ninety percent could be recovered, the US could end nearly all imports of the materials.

For example, one year, mind Ways contains enough lithium to power ten million evs and enough magnesium for ninety nine million evs. The only issue is coming up with a

new refining process to extract those materials, which could be costly, and incentives will likely be needed for mining companies to do the extra processing. Rivian is cutting six hundred jobs,

or four and a half percent of its workforce as part of a restructuring move. CEO RJ. Scrin said the

company will move multiple functions into a single marketing organization and will streamline its service, delivery and sales teams as it ramps up to launch its new R two model next year. Scrin says he will also serve as interim

chief marketing Officer while it looks for a permanent person for the job. Rivian posted a net loss of nearly

one point seven billion dollars in the first half of the year, and it also lowered its full year sales forecast by up to several thousand units. But that's not

all the trouble Rivian it's facing. Yesterday, the automaker agreed

to pay two hundred and fifty million dollars to settle a lawsuit over its initial public offering in twenty twenty one.

Some shareholders filed a class action lawsuit against the company alleging it to frauded investors because it didn't disclose plans to increase prices of vehicles until after its IPO. While

Rivian agreed to pay the settlement, it denies all of the allegations and says the settlement is not an emission of fault or wrongdoing. Rivian says it made the settlement

so it can focus on launching that new R II model next year. There's been several announcements recently of new

solid state batteries with impressive ranges, and now Chinese battery makers sun Woto, which is backed by Liatto, unveiled its next gen solid state battery, which can provide more than one thousand kilometers or six hundred and twenty miles range.

The battery has an energy density of more than four hundred watt hours per kilogram, compared to a typical lithium ion battery which offers two hundred and fifty to three hundred and fifty watt hours per kilogram, and it can handle more than twelve hundred charging cycles in its lifetime.

Sun Woda is planning to start pilot production by the end of the year and is aiming for high volume production in twenty twenty seven, is Porscha going to be the first automaker to offer a wireless charging solution from the factory. It says from twenty twenty six, the new

Kayen Electric will be available with an eleven kilowatt inductive charging system for the high voltage battery, which includes a charging plate integrated under the vehicle and a charging plate on the ground. The vehicle detects when it's parked over

the ground plate and automatically lowers itself to start charging.

I'm sure that will be convenient for many Porsche customers, but if they're looking to juice up a little bit faster, the Cayenne Electric offers impressive charging performance. When plugged in,

it's capable of taking up to four hundred kilowatts at a time, which can add more than three hundred kilometers or about one hundred and eighty five miles of range in ten minutes a charging. An eight hundred volt architecture

and a predictive thermal management system are key enablers of that performance. Porsche links all of the circuits for the

battery's thermal system together so it can adjust temperature in real time depending on what the vehicle is doing and what the demand on the system is. Along with massive

separate heating and cooling circuits on the top and bottom of the pack, it's able to keep the battery at its optimal operating temperature. In fact, Porsche says it has

about the same cooling capacity as one hundred large household refrigerators.

And that wraps up this week's news. A shout out

to all our Patreon and YouTube members who support the show, and we invite every one to join us right back here again on Monday.

Speaker 3: Auto Line Daily is brought to you by Bridgetone Solutions for your Journey 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 2: Developing today's vehicles. Issues can happen in an instant. When's

the best time to solve a problem? The minute you

know you have one me wireless neo VI Cloud, You're secure off the shelf solution empowering real time collaboration for quick resolution. With wireless Neovii Cloud, your team can prevent

issues before they can escalate. Driver communication data and remote

diagnostics to analyze and resolve your problems using OTA, allowing your executives oversight throughout the process, Wireless neo VI cloud your vehicle updates, solution and production, and on the road intrepid control systems driven by your data.

Speaker 4: 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 3: Wards is the industry leader for news data and analysis.

That's why companies across the globe subscribe to our premium service.

Maybe even your own log in for subscriber access. Now

check your company's intranet for details and rely on Ward's auto dot com to keep you informed.

AD #4165 - UAW To Hold VW Strike Authorization Vote; Ford’s Q3 Net Profit Soars 174%; U.S. Mines Enough Critical Minerals to End Imports

F-150 Raptor

Porsche Cayenne

About this episode

Original notes