AD #4197 - Audi Sells Italdesign; Dongfeng Hits +48% Efficiency with Turbo-Four; Ford Suppliers Get China Rare Earths
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Speaker 1: This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Etyl Design is one of the
most famous independent design studios in the automotive industry. Founded
by the legendary Giorgietto Jiugiaro, it created breakthrough designs for Volkswagen, Alfa, Romeo de Tomaso, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, American Motors via Hyundi, and a bunch of others. Gigaro was also selected as
the Designer of the Century, meaning the twentieth Century, back in nineteen ninety nine. AUDI was so enthralled with Etyl
Design that it bought the company in twenty ten, but now it's selling it to a technology consulting company in California called ust Lamborghini, which is also part of AUDI, will still own part of Etyl Design. Here's our autoline
Insight is just the first step of more to come.
AUDI and its parent company Volkswagen are going to have to start selling off other assets to raise money and to cut cost. There's a big battle brewing in Europe
over plans on the books to ban the internal combustion engine in new cars starting in twenty thirty five. Most
automakers are dead set against the plan, and it looks like the EU is going to push that back to twenty forty as long as automakers fill in the gap with hybrids, extended range evs, fuel cells, and e fuels.
Europe's goal was to have electric cars account for twenty five percent of all sales right now, but they're only at sixteen percent and regulators are kind of bowing to reality.
Hot on the heels of that announcement, Volkswagen is talking about adding e revs to its lineup in the US and Europe. We already knew that Scout was pivoting from
pure EV to EV, but it sounds like VW is thinking about offering erevs across its lineup because they eliminate range and charging time anxiety. Erevs are popular in China,
but there's still questions whether American and European car buyers will go for them. Some Chinese automakers have a huge
head start when it comes to e revs. Bydjli and
Dong Pong have developed EREV engines that have the highest thermodynamic efficiency in the world. In fact, don Peg just
at a new record, hitting over forty eight percent efficiency at converting gasoline into power. Toyota used to have the
record with the Prius engine at forty one percent. Dongfong's
engine is a one point five leader variable vein turbo four with a fifteen point five to one compression ratio and a fuel injection system that runs at five hundred bar that's seven thousand, two hundred and fifty one psi, which is more than twice as much as most gasoline engines.
It also uses electronic variable valve timing and a valve seat free design. Other details include an electric oil pump
and thermal spray coating of the cylinder bores. You know,
do you remember when we all thought the Chinese would never catch up to everyone else in combustion technology? Yeah,
I remember too.
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Speaker 1: Good news for Ford, China just issued licenses to the automaker's suppliers to get shipments of rare earth magnets. Ford
had to halt production at several plants earlier this year after China restricted shipments as part of the trade war with the US. Companies had to apply for licenses for
every shipment, which created shortages, and so China and the US recently agreed to streamline the process. Even so, not
all automakers have been as lucky as Ford. Germany's foreign
minister says its automakers are still waiting for approval. Hot
stamp high strength steel is used in all kinds of structural applications for the body in white, like the A and B pillars, door rings, cross beams, and the front shotguns.
They call it hot stamp steel because the steel is so hard it has to be heated up until it's red hot before it's soft enough to be stamped. The
harder you can make steel, the thinner the gauge you can use and that saves weight. And this is yet
another area where China is taking the lead. While most
of the steel used in the US, Europe and elsewhere is rated at less than two thousand MPa or megapascals, the shami U seven is rated at two thousand, two hundred MPa, and Cherry says it's going to start using high strength steel with two thousand, five hundred megapascals, and so we can add high strength steel to the list of technologies where China is leaving the rest of the industry behind. Tesla's latest full self driving system is mighty impressive,
but it's an eight thousand dollars option. Nissan wants to
come out with a similar system that only costs four thousand dollars. It's expanding a partnership with the British startup Wave,
which is a company that develops AI systems for autonomous vehicles.
They've already developed a prototype and just signed a deal to integrate Waves software into Nissan's next gen Pro pilot driver assists. It'll debut in Japan in the twenty twenty
seven fiscal year, but Nissan didn't say which model it will be on. Nissan also plans to offer it in
North America. The technology will support both eight ass and
point to point driving and will be offered in a broad range of Nissans lineup. JLR has come up with
a clever way to significantly reduce CO two emissions. The
automaker re engineered the instrument panel crossbar beam for future vehicles using fiber reinforce, plastic and steel. The cross beam
is located behind the dashboard of a vehicle and it plays a key role in safety, protecting passengers and mounting air bags and reducing noise and vibration. Traditional cross beams
are made from aluminum, magnesium or steel, and by eliminating magnesium, which is highly carbon intensive to produce, JLR says the new structure can save fifty thousand metric tons of CO two every year. Hey, before we go, be sure to
tune into Autoline After Hours when it goes live at three pm Eastern Time this afternoon. We're going to look
at how legacy automakers got the whole ev thing so wrong.
We'll have Patrick Anderson from the Anderson Economic Group and Jackie Charniga from the Detroit Free Press on the show.
So join me and Gary when the show gets going, and that wraps up today's report. We'll be right back
here again tomorrow bringing you the latest development of the automotive industry.
Speaker 4: Auto Line Daily is brought to you by Bridgestone Solutions for Your Journey CSP, the Composites Solution partner Intrepid Control Systems.
Over the year 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.
Learn more at VCSP dot com.
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