Autoline Daily May 26, 2026

AD #4304 - 1st Peek at Chrysler's New Models; Ford Escape Going on UEV Platform; Xiaomi Loses $5,600 Per Car

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Brand

Chrysler

Chrysler is a car brand. Here they’re talking about Chrysler adding new crossover SUVs to go along with its minivan, the Pacific.

Term

A platform is the shared foundation underneath a car. Using the “Stella small” platform means different models can be built on the same basic structure, which can help reduce cost and speed up development.

Term

rebadged versions

“Rebadged” means the same car is sold under a different brand. The hosts say Stellantis may use the same vehicles across several brands, changing badges and some styling instead of designing everything from scratch.

Car

Ferrari Luce

The Ferrari Luce is Ferrari’s first electric car, and it’s also their first practical four-door, five-seat model. The hosts say it uses a high-voltage electrical system and has motors at each wheel.

Term

bespoke eight hundred volt platform

“800 volt” is the electrical system voltage in the car. Higher voltage can help the car charge faster and move more power around efficiently.

Term

four in house developed electric motors, one at each wheel

This means the car has a motor for each wheel, instead of one motor driving everything. That can help the car control grip better and feel more responsive.

Term

fake engine noises

Because EVs are so quiet, some cars add artificial sound. Ferrari is saying the Luce will play different “engine-like” noises depending on how you’re driving.

Term

active suspension system

Active suspension is a system that actively adjusts how the car’s shocks behave. It helps the car stay controlled over bumps and during cornering.

Term

rear wheel steering

Rear wheel steering means the back wheels can also turn. That can make the car easier to maneuver at low speeds and more stable when driving fast.

Company

Samsung

Samsung is a big electronics company. Here it’s mentioned because it helped develop the screens used in the Ferrari Luce.

Car

Ford Escape

The Ford Escape is a popular crossover SUV. The hosts say it’s coming back as an all-electric vehicle built on a new electric-focused platform.

Term

UEV play

A UEV platform is Ford’s plan for building electric cars. The hosts say the Escape will be built on that new electric platform, not just converted from a gas-car design.

Place

Louisville assembly plant

The Louisville assembly plant is where the car would be built. Where a car is manufactured can affect availability and production planning.

Term

CE one

“CE one” is a code name for the project behind the electric Escape. It’s basically an internal label used during development.

Term

body on frame

Body-on-frame means the car has a separate “truck-like” frame underneath, and the body mounts on top. It’s often used for trucks because it’s strong for hauling and towing.

Term

hybrid and EREV powertrains

Hybrid means the truck can use both a gas engine and an electric motor. EREV means it mainly drives like an electric vehicle, and a small engine helps generate electricity to extend how far it can go.

Term

IMA

“IMA” is an internal name for the platform the pickups will use. It’s basically the development label for the shared truck foundation.

Car

Hyundai Santa Cruz

The Hyundai Santa Cruz is a small crossover that also has a pickup-style bed in the back. It’s meant for everyday driving but can carry items like tools, groceries, or gear. Automakers sometimes use internal code names during development, which is why you may hear different names for the same underlying platform.

Term

FSD

FSD is Tesla’s software that tries to handle more of the driving for you. Even though the name sounds like it drives by itself, it still needs supervision and isn’t truly fully autonomous everywhere.

Company

Tesla

Tesla is the car company behind the software that helps with driving. They changed the name of their self-driving feature because regulators didn’t like the implication that it’s fully autonomous.

Company

Mercedes

Mercedes is the car company rolling out a new driver-assist feature. It can help with steering and route guidance, but it’s still not the same as fully autonomous driving.

Term

level two plus plus

“Level 2+” is a way to describe advanced driver-assist features that can steer and control speed, but you still have to watch and be ready to take over. It’s not the same as the car fully handling driving on its own.

Term

point to point driving

Point-to-point driving refers to an assisted-driving mode where the system can guide the vehicle along a route from one location to another, rather than only handling short segments like lane centering. It typically relies on navigation, mapping, and sensor inputs to manage the route while the driver remains responsible.

Company

BMW

BMW is also planning to bring out a similar driving-assist system. The episode is basically saying many brands are competing to offer advanced help while staying within regulatory limits.

Term

level three

Level 3 is closer to “the car can drive” for certain situations, and you don’t have to watch every second. But it’s harder to approve legally, which is why companies are cautious about claiming Level 3.

Term

level four

Level 4 is when the car is designed to drive itself without you taking over, but only in certain areas or conditions. Even then, companies may pause service to update software and improve safety around tricky roads.

Company

Waimo

Waimo is a company that operates self-driving taxi services. They paused service and updated their software to handle construction areas and flooded roads more safely.

Company

Shaomi

Shaomi is mentioned as a company making electric cars. The host is about to talk about how much money they lose for each car they sell.

LIVE

Speaker 1: This is Autoligned Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Stillantis sure showed us a lot

last week about where it's headed in the future. In fact,

it showed us too much to cover an Autoligned Daily, so we'll be putting out a separate video with a lot more detail. But on today's show, let's look at

what's happening with the Chrysler brand. Of course, it's keeping

the Pacific a minivan, but it's adding three crossovers, one mid size which will be called the Airflow, and two compacts called the Arrow an Arrow Cross. The Arrow has

a box y or rear end, while the Aero Cross has a slight fastback design. Except for the grill, the

two of them are identical to the new Fiat Grizzly.

They'll be based on an optimized version of the Stella small platform, and we believe the Aero Cross will be priced under thirty thousand dollars. Meanwhile, the mid size crossover

called the Airflow will be based on the new Stella one platform, which we're pretty sure was mostly developed by Leap Motor. And there's the key to house Delantis plans

to feed all the brands in its lineup. The lesser

brands will just get rebadged versions of the products from its key retail brands, which are Jeep, Ram, Fiat and Pougeot.

Ferrari revealed its first electric vehicle, the Luce, which is also the company's first four door five seater. It's built

on a bespoke eight hundred volt platform and weighs two two hundred and sixty kilograms or just under five thousand pounds, but the Lucha features four in house developed electric motors, one at each wheel, which combine for up to seven hundred and twenty five kilowatts or about nine hundred and seventy horse power, so it will do zero to one hundred kilometers an hour in two and a half seconds.

Like some other performance evs, it will pump out fake engine noises as well, which get more or less than ten depending on the driving mode. Ferrari also developed the

one hundred and twenty two kilowat hour battery pack in house, and it provides up to five hundred and thirty kilometers or three hundred and twenty nine miles of range, probably based on the WLTP test cycle. Other highlights include an

active suspension system, rear wheel steering, and displays that were co developed with Samsung. The company says it approached the

Luce's design in an unconventional way in trusting the project to a designer from outside the Ferrari design studio, which was meant to underline its uniqueness, but investors didn't like what they saw. Ferrari stock fell over six percent after

the EV's reveal. Looks like Ford is not getting rid

of the Escape crossover altogether. Auto four Cast Solutions reports

the Escape will go back into production in twenty twenty nine, but this time it will be fully electric, made off the company's new UEV play and built at the Louisville assembly plant. The program's code name is CE one. The

model is referred to as the U eight three three, and production will go all the way to March at twenty thirty seven. Auto Forecast also reports that Hondai and

Kia will build their mid sized pickups for the US market at Honda's assembly plant outside of Savannah, Georgia. They'll

be body on frame trucks that will offer hybrid and EREV powertrains. The platform is code named IMA. Hondai will

keep the Santa Cruz name, but internally it's called the TE, while Kia's version is the TV. The Santa Cruz will

go into production in October of twenty twenty nine, while Kia's TV will start going down the line in March at twenty thirty. Moore's Laws says that the number of

transistors on a microchip doubles roughly every two years, while the cost of computers is cut in half. However, Gordon Moore,

the co founder of Intel, hell made that observation in nineteen sixty five. So Huawei has come up with the

Taos Scaling Law. While Moore's Law is about making the

components smaller to pack more of them in, the Tao Scaling Law is about rearranging those components to make data move faster. Huawei says it's already started producing chips based

on these principles, but that more collaboration is needed to expand it further.

Speaker 2: We act, we grow, we transform, we protect, we rescue in moments that define the future. We are the partner

you can trust. Alex partners when it really matters.

Speaker 1: The war and Iran continues to disrupt the global auto industry.

Car production in Thailand fell to its lowest level in five years. In April, automakers produced nearly one hundred and

three eight hundred vehicles, a decline of zero point four percent from a year ago, and exports out of Thailand, which is the largest car manufacturer in Southeast Asia, fell more than eight percent to sixty thousand units. Meanwhile, exports

from Japan to the Middle East plummeted ninety percent last month because of disruptions caused by the war. Tesla changed

the name of its FSD or full self driving system in China. Now it's called Tesla Assisted Driving, but this

isn't the first time it changed the name. It was

originally called Tesla FSD Intelligent Driving, and later the FSD was dropped. Tesla is obviously changing the name to satisfy

regulators who thought full self driving implies it's a fully autonomous system, which it's not. Even so, with Tesla getting

the ok to start selling FSD in parts of Europe as well, the premium German automakers are rushing to make sure they don't get left by. Mercedes announced it will

launch its MB drive assist pro system in Germany by the end of the year. It's a level two plus

plus system that features point to point driving. The technology

has been available in China since the end of last year, and it will roll out in the US sometime this year.

BMW is also planning to roll out a similar system by the end of the year in Germany as well.

And by the way, do you know why these automakers keep adding plus signs to their eight ass levels? Because

once you go to level three you face a lot more regulatory and legal scrutiny. And in one last bit

of autonomous news, this time at level four, Waimo has suspended its robotaxi service on highways, and it also halted its operations in Atlanta. It did this in order to

update software to improve performance around construction zones and flooded roads.

Earlier this month, the company recalled around thirty eight hundred vehicles over concerns they could enter flooded roads with high speed limits. Chinese evemaker Shaomi has become one of the

most popular brands in China. In the first quarter, it

sold nearly eighty one thousand vehicles, up over six percent from a year ago. But despite that success, it's losing

thousands of dollars on every car that it sells. Shaomi's

car business generated about three billion dollars in revenue and posted an operating loss of four hundred and fifty seven million dollars in Q one. That means it's losing fifty

six hundred dollars for every car that it sells, and that's up from nine hundred dollars it lost per car in Q one of last year. Shall me blame the

loss on vehicle purchase tax subsidies, lower deliveries of its sous seven Ultra and rising costs for components, And that brings us to the end of today's show. Thanks for

tuning in and making autoline a part of your day.

Speaker 3: Auto Line Daily is brought to you by alex Partners.

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Speaker 2: Making the life full of memories, one road trip at a time, that's what really matters.

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10:00

AD #4304 - 1st Peek at Chrysler's New Models; Ford Escape Going on UEV Platform; Xiaomi Loses $5,600 Per Car

Chrysler

Stella small platform

rebadged versions

Ferrari Luce

bespoke eight hundred volt platform

four in house developed electric motors, one at each wheel

fake engine noises

active suspension system

rear wheel steering

Samsung

Ford Escape

UEV play

Louisville assembly plant

CE one

body on frame

hybrid and EREV powertrains

IMA

Hyundai Santa Cruz

FSD

Tesla

Mercedes

level two plus plus

point to point driving

BMW

level three

level four

Waimo

Shaomi

About this episode

Original notes