General Motors is a big car company in the U.S. that makes cars and trucks. They also have a special part of the company that builds vehicles for the military.
Renault is a car company from France that makes different types of vehicles. They are working with the French government to help create military technology.
The BMW i8 is a hybrid sports car that uses both a gas engine and an electric motor. It looks very modern and is designed for both speed and fuel efficiency.
The BMW i3 is a small electric car made by BMW. It's known for its unusual look and use of eco-friendly materials, and it was one of the first electric cars made by a big car company.
A hybrid car uses both a gas engine and an electric motor to run. This helps save fuel and reduce pollution compared to regular cars that only use gas.
EVs stands for electric vehicles, which are cars that run on electricity instead of gas. They are better for the environment because they don't produce harmful emissions.
The Renault 5 is a small car made by the French company Renault. It was popular in Europe for being easy to drive and park.
Car
Lamborghini Revuelto
The Lamborghini Revuelto is a new supercar from Lamborghini that uses both a traditional engine and electric power. It's part of their effort to make faster cars while being more environmentally friendly.
Car
Jaguar Type OO
The Jaguar Type OO is a concept car that Jaguar is planning to make as part of their new line of electric vehicles. It's a part of their move to focus on luxury electric cars.
The Chevrolet Bolt is an electric car made by Chevrolet. It's designed to be affordable and has a good range, which means it can drive a long distance on a single charge.
Hyundai is a car company from South Korea that makes many types of vehicles, including electric cars. They are also looking into new technologies like robots.
LIVE
Speaker 1: This is Online Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Everyone was going crazy two weeks
ago when an unknown startup from Finland called Donut Lab announced that ces that it had achieved a stunning solid state battery breakthrough. It claims to have hit four hundred
watt hours per kilogram, a five minute charging time, and one hundred thousand charging cycles. Even more, Donuts that it
can quickly scale up for mass production. But the chairman
of s Fold, a battery maker in China, says donut is a scam. He said quote any technician with basic
knowledge would recognize it's a scam.
Speaker 2: And he may be right.
Speaker 1: But to be fair, as Fold is working on its own semi solid state batteries, so Donuts Tech could be a threat to its business. Moreover, as Fholt's chairman also
led a bit of his bias show through, he told the media quote, China's technology is the most advanced globally.
If China can't produce or perfect it, companies from other countries certainly can't either. As the world becomes a more
contentious place and as governments ramp up their defense spending, a number of automakers are starting to make military hardware.
General Motors develops military vehicles with its GM defence unit.
Volkswagen is looking into building military vehicles in Europe, and Renault says it's been approached by France's defence ministry to help it develop a French drone industry. The automaker will
work in partnership with the French aeronaututs and defence contractor called Turgis Gaillard. There aren't many other details, but Renault
says it's participating because of its capabilities and designing, industrializing and mass producing high tech products. Chinese automaker GAC revealed
design sketches of.
Speaker 2: Its upcoming AI on N sixty EV.
Speaker 1: The model will offer two electric motor configurations with outputs of one hundred and ten and one hundred and sixty five kilowatts or one hundred and forty eight and two hundred and twenty one horse power, respectively. The motors are
paired with LFP batteries, which achieve a range between four hundred and ten and six hundred and thirty kilometers or two hundred and fifty four to three hundred and ninety one miles of range.
Speaker 2: But what caught our attention.
Speaker 1: With this model is that it was styled by former BMW designer Ben wa Jacob. Jacob created the first gen
BMWi three and I eight, as well as the four series Grand coup In five series GT.
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Speaker 1: The Renault group, including Dashia and Lpin, saw a double digit drop in its commercial vehicle sales last year, but growth and passenger cars at all the brands push global sales up three point two percent to a little over two point five three million units, and expanding electrified lineup also helped hybrid sales hit about four hundred thousand units, up over thirty five percent, and evs were up nearly seventy seven percent to one hundred and ninety four thousand units sold. Thanks to new models like the A two
ninety Elpenes version of the Renault five and the A three ninety Elpenes first suv, the brand turned in a record year, selling nearly eleven thousand vehicles in twenty twenty five, an increase of almost one hundred and forty percent compared to twenty twenty four, and the A three ninety only launched at the end of last year, so there's a good chance that momentum carries into this year. And speaking
of record sales, Lamborghini sold more cars in twenty twenty five than it ever has before. Like Lpine, it also
delivered nearly eleven thousand vehicles driven by models like the Ears suv and the revuelto the company's first hybrid V twelve.
Speaker 2: However, Lambeau only sold sixty more.
Speaker 1: Vehicles than it did in twenty twenty four, so its growth was just over half a percent. It was only
a couple of years ago that Jaguar sold sixty four thousand vehicles in twenty twenty three, but that was nearly halved in twenty twenty four to thirty three thousand units with the automaker's decision to stop making all its models and transition into a high end luxury brand, and according to dealer sources, Jaguar is only targeting annual sales of roughly ten thousand vehicles with its new lineup of evs based on the Type Oo concept. While dealers will make
a lot more money on each vehicle they sell with starting prices at one hundred and twelve thousand euros or one hundred and thirty thousand dollars, they're still concerned about shifting EV policy and demand for the types of evs that Jaguar is coming out with. Camo test vehicles appear
to be a big four door sedan even though the concept is a two door, and we noticed some productionization efforts like longer overhangs and a less fast back roof design.
As we reported yesterday, Chinese automakers exported seven point one million vehicles last year, up twenty one percent from twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2: Chapung was part of that growth.
Speaker 1: The automaker's overseas deliveries were up ninety six percent to more than forty five thousand units, and it expanded into thirty new markets last year, now operating in sixty countries.
To help support that expansion, Chapung now has more than one thousand sales outlets worldwide. While the majority are in China,
close to a third of the outlets are in Europe, and it also has some in the Middle East in Africa.
GM CEO Mary Baris says she's still committed to selling evs, but based on its EV sales numbers, the company still has its work cut out for it. GM sold almost
one hundred and seventy thousand evs in the US last year, accounting for almost six percent of its sales, but that's lower than the US market overall, where evs.
Speaker 2: Accounted for almost eight percent of sales.
Speaker 1: Even so, GM did have one brand that outperformed that Cadillacs sold over forty nine thousand evs, accounting for more than twenty eight percent of its sales, and with the Chevrolet Bolt now hitting showroom floors, GM has the opportunity to boost its EV sales, assuming it doesn't see a fall off with its other electric models. Yesterday, we did
a story on humanoid robots pointing out they could pay for themselves in less than a year, even if they cost two hundred and fifty thousand bucks apiece. But then
we came across some sales and revenue projections from Hyundai and Morgan Stanley, and it looks like those robots will be a lot cheaper than we thought once Hyundai hits its production target of thirty thousand humanoids a year. Morgan
Stanley says the cost about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars each.
Speaker 2: Keep in mind find that the total labor cost for.
Speaker 1: A UAW worker is about one hundred and forty thousand dollars, and since each robot could be able to work two shifts a day, it would pay for itself in a little over six months. We're not saying that robots are
about to replace all the workers in a car plant, but it's pretty clear we're going to see humanoids and factories before the decade is over. And that brings us
to the end of today's show. Thanks for making autoline
a part.
Speaker 2: Of your day.
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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.
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About this episode
The episode dives into the controversial claims of Finnish startup Donut Lab regarding its solid-state battery technology, which some experts label as a scam. The discussion also covers GM's struggles in the EV market, where its share is lower than the overall market average, and Jaguar's drastic shift to target only 10,000 luxury EV sales per year. Additionally, the episode highlights the growing trend of automakers venturing into military vehicle production and the expansion of Chinese automakers in global markets.
- China Calls Donut Battery a Scam - Renault to Build Drones for France - Former BMW Designer Pens New Chinese EV - Renault's 2025 Global Sales Results - Lamborghini Sets Sales Record... Barely - Jaguar Targets Only 10K Sales/Year - XPeng Expanding Around the World - GM EV Share Lower Than Overall Market - Humanoid Cost Less Than Expected
