The Cadillac Escalade is a large, fancy SUV that's popular among celebrities and important people. It's known for being very comfortable and having a lot of features.
A heavy-duty truck frame is a strong structure that can handle a lot of weight. Trucks built on these frames are made for tough jobs, like carrying heavy loads or towing.
Lug wheels are the bolts that hold the wheels on a car. The number of these bolts can tell you how strong the vehicle is, with more bolts usually meaning it's built for heavy loads.
The Chevrolet Suburban is a big SUV that can carry a lot of people and their stuff. It's popular because it's strong and can be used for many purposes, like family trips or even by the government for special vehicles.
A next-gen limo is a new type of fancy car made for important people. It usually has the latest technology and safety features to keep passengers safe and comfortable.
Drunk driving prevention technology helps keep people safe by stopping someone from driving if they've been drinking too much. It can use special devices to check if a driver is sober.
A bipartisan bill is a law that both major political parties agree on. It usually means that many people think it's a good idea, so it has a better chance of becoming a law.
The Nissan Navara is a tough pickup truck that can handle rough roads and is often used for both work and recreation. It's known for being reliable and strong.
The Nissan X-Trail is a family-friendly SUV that is good for both city driving and adventures. It has plenty of space and features to keep passengers comfortable.
Gili is a car company from China that makes various types of vehicles, including electric ones. They are working with other countries to grow their business.
A plug-in hybrid is a type of car that can use electricity from a plug to drive for a while, and then it can also use gasoline when the battery runs out.
The Toyota RAV4 Prime is a type of car that can run on electricity and gasoline. It can drive a certain distance using just electricity before it needs to use gas.
The Lexus NX 450h+ is a luxury SUV that can use both electricity and gasoline to drive. It's designed to be more efficient and environmentally friendly.
Telematics data is information that cars collect about how they are used, like how much battery they have left or where they are driving.
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Speaker 1: This is Underligne Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. President Trump just got a new
set of wheels. The US Secret Service revealed that it
added a couple of heavily armored Cadillac Escalades to its fleet. However,
we think these are escalades in appearance only we spot what looks like eight lug wheels, while a standard escalade has six lugs, So these presidential rides are probably based on a heavy duty truck frame. GMS signed a new
contract with Homeland Security and the Secret Service last March to develop a next gen limo for the President, and it looks like these escalades are that The vehicles would also expand GM's partnership with the White House, having provided armored Cadillac limos and Chevy suburbans in the past. And
speaking of GM and full size SUVs, when you add up all its models from Chevrolet, GMC, and Cadillac, it controls nearly sixty percent of the full size suv market.
Speaker 2: In the US.
Speaker 1: But the chairman of BMW's National Dealer Forum wishes the automaker would come out with something to compete with the American full size SUVs. He wants BMW to offer a
big three to row X nine and use the LPNA brand to come out with the top of the line version.
He says, quote, I think we do really well with it in the US. So what do you think could
BMW get the volume that it needs to justify developing a model like this? And the President is also going
to chalk up this next item as a victory for his tariffs. General Motors is shifting production of the Buick
Envision from China to the US. The automaker says the
next gen version of the SUV will be built at its Fairfax assembly plant in Kansas starting in twenty twenty eight.
Buick sold forty two thousand Envisions last year, down eleven percent, partly due to trade tensions between the US and China.
GM so revealed that it plans to end production of the Chevy Bolt EV, which is also built in the Fairfax plant, right before the Envision comes in. Gm says
it might continue production if the Bolt sells well, but as of now, the plan is to keep it a limited run model. On average, more than twelve thousand people
are killed every year in drunk driving accidents in the US.
That's why in twenty twenty one, Congress passed a bipartisan bill to require technology in new cars to prevent drunk driving.
It didn't mandate a specific technology, to give automakers and regulators flexibility to find the best solution, but there is opposition to the bill over privacy concerns, and an amendment was introduced into the House of Representatives to block its funding.
Even so, yesterday, Congress voted to reject that effort. However,
the loss still needs Nitze to take regulatory action to put the requirement in place, and while several auto supply are working on solutions to prevent trunk driving, they're also concerned about false positives and about liability. Nissan is desperate
to raise cash and get rid of excess capacity, so it's selling its assembly plant in South Africa to Chinese automaker Cherry. Nissan made five models in the plant, including
the Navara pickup and the X trailsuv. Nissan says it
will still offer services to customers in South Africa and we'll sell new models there, but those models will be made in India. We think that legacy automakers selling overseas
plants to Chinese automakers could become a trend. There are
a lot of underutilized plants, and Chinese automakers are eager to expand globally.
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Speaker 1: You know, Chinese automakers are pretty impressive.
Speaker 4: Except for one thing.
Speaker 1: Almost all of them lose money. The Auto was one
of the three or four Chinese automakers that was profitable, but last year it fell victim to China's relentless price war and it started posting red ink. That's when investors
smelled blood and began shorting.
Speaker 4: The stock.
Speaker 1: Shares fell twenty five percent last year, meaning the shorts were really raking in the profits. In fact, Leauta was
the second most profitable short last year amongst all the shares traded in China. Bloomberg says that short selling now
accounts for nine percent of all the automaker's trades, up from one percent a year ago. And this has got
us thinking, if and when that massive consolidation in the Chinese auto industry starts to happen, there's going to be a whole lot of shortened going on. And that price
war in China has scared off Reno from trying to sell cars in the country. It dropped out of the
market five years ago. But the French automaker is interested
in diving deep into China's impressive automotive supply chain. It
wants access to China's leading age technology and best in class prices, and it's co developing cars with Gili in South Korea and Brazil. Francois Provos, the CEO of Vern
says working with Gili and Chinese suppliers will allow it to grow its global footprint. General Motors and Ford are
getting into banking. The two automakers just received approval from
the US government to create their own industrial banks. The
banks are governed and regulated like any other bank, but they are more limited. However, industrial banks allow the companies
to accept deposits ensured by the FDIC into savings accounts, which the automakers can do before. Those deposits can then
generate earnings and greater savings opportunities for consumers. And if
those people do their banking with an automaker, they're probably a lot more likely to buy their cars. Say, do
p HAVE owners plug in their cars or not? Research
in Europe shows low rates of plugging in, especially with company cars, and two weeks ago, GM CEO Mary Barr said, quote, what we also know today with plug in hybrids is that most people don't plug them in, and that seems to summarize the popular thought on plugin hybrids they don't get plugged in. But a research paper published by Toyota's
North American R and D arms suggests that p HAVE owners actually do run their cars, mostly on battery power.
In a paper titled an Analysis of the Real World Performance of Toyota Vehicles, the researchers found that over seventy nine percent of RAV four prime owners consistently plugged in their cars, while nine percent never bothered to charge at all.
In Canada, the consistent charging rate is much higher at almost ninety six percent, and for the Lexus NX four fifty h plus they found only four percent of US owners are non chargers, with almost eighty six percent identified as consistent chargers, and in Canada it was ninety five percent.
The research was based on Telematox data that measured changes in the battery state of charge between trips. Interestingly, this
paper was published in July of twenty twenty five, but we never heard about it before and can't find any reference to it on the Internet or on Toyota's North American or global websites. So we want to thank Dave Tuttle,
a research fellow at the University of Texas, for sending it to us. Dave says the conclusions of the paper
are reasonable, but points out they're based on inference, not on actual measurement, and that brings us to the end of today's show. Thanks for making autoline a part of
your day, and I hope that you have a great weekend.
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Speaker 4: 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
President Trump's new armored Cadillac Escalades are likely based on a heavy-duty truck frame, reflecting GM's ongoing partnership with the Secret Service. Meanwhile, GM is shifting Buick Envision production from China to the U.S. due to tariffs, while also planning to end Chevy Bolt EV production. The episode discusses the implications of drunk driving prevention technology in new cars, Nissan's sale of its South African plant to a Chinese automaker, and the growing trend of automakers entering banking. Insights on plug-in hybrid usage reveal higher charging rates than previously thought.
- Trump’s New “Escalade” Is Likely a Heavy-Duty GM Truck in Disguise - Can BMW Crack America’s Full-Size SUV Market with An X9? - Tariffs Bite: GM Brings Buick Envision Manufacturing to The U.S. - Congress Keeps Drunk-Driving Tech Mandate Alive - Chinese Automakers Go Shopping as Nissan Dumps Overseas Capacity - China’s Price War Turns Li Auto into A Short Seller’s Dream - Renault Skips Selling Cars in China—But Wants Its Tech and Suppliers - Why GM and Ford Want You Banking Where You Buy Your Car - Toyota Study Challenges the Myth That PHEVs Don’t Get Charged
