In China, “new energy vehicles” is a broad label for cleaner cars. It usually includes fully electric cars and plug-in hybrid cars, grouped together for sales tracking.
EVs are electric cars that run mainly on electricity from a battery. They’re different from plug-in hybrids, which use both electricity and a gasoline engine.
“E revs” sounds like another electrified-car category being tracked separately from EVs and plug-in hybrids. The exact meaning depends on how the sales data provider defines that label.
Car
VW
VW is Volkswagen, one of the biggest car brands in Germany. The hosts are talking about VW’s financial and sales troubles and the company’s plan to reorganize its factories and workforce.
Electrification means moving away from gas engines and toward electric motors. It includes fully electric cars and hybrids, and it also affects how cars are powered and charged.
Digitalization is when cars and factories rely more on software and data. That can mean connected features in the car and smarter, more automated production processes.
Supply chain reinvention means reworking how car parts get sourced and delivered. As cars shift toward electric drivetrains, the parts needed—and where they come from—often change too.
LMR battery technology is a type of EV battery design. Different battery types can change how much energy the battery holds and how expensive it is to make.
The Dacia Duster is a small SUV, which means it’s a taller car meant for everyday driving and rougher roads. The podcast is saying that a version of it was brought to India and is based on the newer Duster design. That’s why the car’s shape and layout are similar, even though it may be adjusted for that market.
LIVE
Speaker 1: This is out of line Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Well, hello everyone, it's
great to be back from our summer break. We're recharged
and ready to go. Now let's get to the news.
New car sales in China continue to plummet. They were
down twenty three percent in June to one point six million vehicles. Even sales of new energy vehicles were down
nine percent, though sales of evs were up three point six percent, but pehabs were down twenty seven percent and e revs dropped thirty two percent. For the first half
of the year, new car sales were down twenty percent, which is a significant drop. When sales started dropping at
the beginning of the year, analysts predicted that things would turn around by the middle of the year. That hasn't happened,
and it shows that Chinese consumers are holding back from making big ticket purchases even with all the new models and technology coming into the market. What's keeping the auto
windistry alive right now is the massive amounts of exports to other countries. Even so, it looks like the Chinese
auto windustry is headed for a full blown crisis. That
could trigger the big consolidation that analysts have been predicting for several years. And the big drop in China sales
is especially hurting German automakers. Their sales are falling much
faster than the overall market, with VW, Mercedes and BMW all down more than thirty percent in the last quarter, and sales are falling even though they're adding new evs to their lineups. Of course, it's really hard to increase
sales when the whole market is falling. But VW, Mercedes
and BMW aren't even treading water, they're sinking. And VW
CEO Oliver blumenos his company needs radical restructuring if it's gonna survive, but he can't convince his board to take the drastic action he feels as necessary to save the company.
Bluma wants to close four assembly plants and cut one hundred thousand jobs in Germany. He also wants to chop
the number of models the group sells in half, but Reuter's reports the supervisory board voted his plan down. The
majority of the supervisory board represent labor and they want a plan that preserves jobs. VW cut its factory cost
by twenty percent this year, which is pretty impressive, but that was the low hanging fruit. Now comes the hard part,
and while the board wants to kick the can down the road, it's pretty clear that VW will have to take drastic action at some point.
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Speaker 1: Hyundai wants to lead the world in robotics, but it's workers in South Korea don't want their job sacrifice to more automation. The union there wants a performance bonus tied
to thirty percent of the company's net profit and income protection from AI and robots. Even more, the union wants
a base pay increase and to boost the retirement age from sixty to sixty five. Hyundai has a rich history
of labor problems in South Korea, and these negotiations could get really contentious. The US Department of Justice opened a
grand jury investigation into UAW President Sean Fain last month.
The union's court appointed monitor, Neil Barofsky, accused Fane of stripping UAW Vice president Rich Boyer of his duties as chief negotiator with Stilantis after he refused to approve a bonus for Faine's fiancee, as well as workers' comp benefits for her sister. A federal grand jury has now subpoena
Borrowsky to investigate the allegations. Fain says the claims are
quote false, and also accused rich Boyer of trying to influence the uaw's upcoming election this fall. While the European
Commission backed off its full ban of new ice vehicles, one area of China is moving forward with its own ban.
The Heinan province and island off the south of China announced it will no longer allow new IC only vehicles to be sold by twenty thirty.
Speaker 3: The EU backed.
Speaker 1: Off its ban because buyers in the u Auto windustry weren't ready for the transition, but that doesn't seem like it will be the case in Heinan According to Carnu's China, it ranks first in China for EV market penetration and second in total EV ownership. The province will also expand
its charging infrastructure to help support its growing EV market.
Chinese automakers continue to collaborate in ways you don't see in the rest of the auto windustry. We've talked about
how they share common parts like wiper and window motors, and thanks to new engineering awards that were given out recently, we're learning even more byd Chang gan Jli and Great Wall Motors are cross developing things like battery management technology, chassis systems, and new manufacturing techniques, and this is one of the biggest ways Chinese automakers are able to slash costs and bring products to the market faster. Compare that
to GM and Ford, who are both developing LM R battery technology, yet we haven't heard anything about the two collaborating or sharing common components. With a population of nearly
one point five billion people, India could become a massive market for new cars, and we keep seeing automakers test the waters there. Nissan unveiled the all new Techtan Suv.
The model was developed in India with Renault and is based on the New Duster. We think the designers did
a good job of making the front rear ends look different from each other, but the interiors are pretty similar.
The Tectin will be available with two gas engines, a one Leader or one point three liter Turbo. It will
be manufactured in India and exported to fifty markets in the Middle East and Africa. But that's a wrap for
today's show. Thanks for making Audoline a part of your day.
Speaker 3: Auto Line Daily is brought to you by alex Partners.
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About this episode
New car sales in China keep falling, with June down twenty three percent to one point six million vehicles, and electrified categories also slipping. The show also looks at VW’s internal fight: the supervisory board voted his plan down, rejecting CEO Oliver Blume’s proposal to close four assembly plants and cut one hundred thousand jobs in Germany. Labor and legal pressure enters the mix too, as the US Department of Justice opened a grand jury investigation into UAW President Sean Fain.
- China Car Sales Continue to Plummet - German Automakers Face Sharp China Sales Slump - VW Board Rejects CEO's Radical Restructuring Plan - Hyundai Workers Strike Over AI Job Security - DOJ Investigates UAW President Shawn Fain - Hainan Island Set to Ban Gas Cars - Chinese Automakers Share Tech to Slash Costs - Nissan Unveils New India-Built Tekton SUV
