Follow us on social media:
Runtime: 11:31
0:00 UAW’s Shawn Fain Is “Election Denier”
1:04 Biden To Appoint Fain To Export Council
1:16 China EV Sales Soar in May
2:03 U.S. & EU OEMs Run to China for Help
2:45 More Opposition to Elon’s $56 Billion Payday
3:52 Jeep Wagoneer To Get Ram EREV
5:08 Ford to Offer Eyes-Off In 2026
5:59 EV Vans Can Save €8,700/Yr In Fuel
7:09 F-150 Lightning Supertruck To Race at Pike’s Peak
7:47 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N to Race at Pike’s Peak
8:36 Dongfeng Using Robot Workers
Visit our sponsor to thank them for their support of Autoline Daily: Bridgestone, Intrepid Control Systems, MEDC, Teijin Automotive and ZF.
This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
UAW’S SHAWN FAIN IS “ELECTION DENIER”
UAW President Shawn Fain is an “election denier.” That’s what the Center for Union Facts says. The anti-union organization ran an ad in the New York Times calling him an election denier and accused him of “trying to undermine workplace democracy.” The UAW wants the National Labor Relations Board to void the results of the recent election at Mercedes’ Alabama plant and hold another vote. 56% of workers at the plant voted against the union but the UAW claims the vote was unfair because the company ran a “relentless anti-union campaign” and fired pro-union workers. We think it’s unlikely the NLRB will overturn the vote, but if the union didn’t fight the results, some members would accuse Fain of not trying hard enough.
BIDEN TO APPOINT FAIN TO EXPORT COUNCIL
Meanwhile President Biden will name Shawn Fain to the Administration’s Export Council. The council’s job is to advise the president on policies and programs that affect U.S. trade.
CHINA EV SALES SOAR IN MAY
There are signs that China’s economy is slowing down, but you wouldn’t know it based on sales of new electric cars last month. While we don’t have the official numbers yet for the total market, preliminary data shows that sales of EVs and plug-in hybrids grew 33% to 770,000 units, while ICE vehicles dropped more than 5%. BYD reported sales were up almost 25%. Zeekr said its sales doubled. Nio was up 234%. Xpeng was up 35%, and Li Auto up 24%. With EVs selling so well, we wonder if automakers will call a ceasefire in their price war, or if they’ll just keep on cutting prices.
U.S. & EU OEMS RUN TO CHINA FOR HELP
Even though the United States and Europe are doing their best to keep Chinese cars out of their markets, American and European automakers are running to China for help to slash the cost of their electric cars. Stellantis will use technology from Leap Motors. Bloomberg reports that one reason Stellantis went with Leap is that the Chinese automaker is very vertically integrated, which gives it a big cost advantage. VW is getting tech from XPeng. Audi is going to SAIC. Toyota is getting it BYD. Ford is using Changan to develop its skunkworks car. And it’s very likely that we’ll see other foreign automakers working with Chinese companies.
MORE OPPOSITION TO ELON’S $56 BILLION PAYDAY
Elon Musk is pushing Tesla to make good on his $56 billion pay package. But he’s up against growing opposition. Shareholder advisory firm Glass Lewis recommended voting against it. Some of the U.S.’s largest pension funds have done the same. And last week, proxy advisory firm ISS urged shareholders to vote against the proposal. The $56 billion pay package was approved by shareholders in 2018 but in January a Delaware judge voided it because of misleading statements from the company and Elon’s close personal relationships with the Tesla board. That’s what the experts think. But we think Tesla shareholders will overwhelmingly approve the massive payout.
JEEP WAGONEER TO GET RAM EREV
When the Jeep Wagoneer was revealed about 4 years ago, we reported that there would eventually be a plug-in hybrid version of the big SUV. The 4xe version of the Wrangler was revealed at about the same time, so we wondered if it might have a similar setup. But Jeep CEO Antonio Filosa says it will be based on the propulsion system of the Ramcharger pickup, which is an extended range EV. That’s where the vehicle still has a gas engine, but it’s only used as a generator to charge the battery. The setup in the Ramcharger consists of a 3.6L V6 to charge a 92-kWh battery pack, which feeds front and rear electric motors that produce about 660 horsepower when combined. That provides pretty impressive performance, with 0-60 MPH estimated at 4.4 seconds. But the real advantage to a setup like this is range and towing. The Ramcharger is estimated to get up to 690 miles or over 1,100 kilometers of range and the ability to tow up to 14,000 pounds. While the pickup is expected to come out in the 4th quarter of this year, there’s no official word yet for the Wagoneer 4xe.
FORD TO OFFER EYES-OFF IN 2026
Two more years. That’s what Ford’s Jim Farley says. In two more years, they’ll offer hands-free AND eyes-free driving. He says it’s already technically possible, they just have to get the cost down. Farley tells Bloomberg it will work at speeds up to 80 miles an hour, but only in good weather. And it should be ready for mass production in 2026. Farley says it will turn your car into an office where you can safely do conference calls while your car takes you where you’re going. Ford currently charges $2,100 for a 3-year subscription to its hands-free Blue Cruise system. Or owners can pay $75 a month. No word yet if eyes-free will cost more. But Ford clearly sees subscription services as a key way to boost its growth and profitability.
FORD E-TRANSIT SAVES €8,700/YR IN FUEL
Speaking of Ford, it says an electric van in Europe will make up for its higher initial cost compared to a similar gas or diesel van in just three years. According to a report commissioned by Ford’s commercial division, the biggest reason for that is the cost of filling up. Average cost to charge an electric van is 3,700 euros for a full year compared to 12,400 euros for a gas or diesel van. Reduced operating expenses was the top reason for switching to EVs according to people that responded to the survey. Access to low-emissions zones, which limit gas and diesel cars, is another reason for switching. That’s because small and medium businesses, which make up almost 99% of businesses in Europe, are more and more adopting electric vans because they need to be able to travel into these low-emission zones. In total, it says van related businesses in Europe contributed about 1 trillion euros across the EU and the UK last year. But the biggest thing holding back even more expansion is a lack of charging.
F-150 LIGHTNING SUPERTRUCK TO RACE AT PIKE’S PEAK
In one last bit of Ford news, here’s the F-150 Lightning Supertruck that will race up Pikes Peak on June 23rd. To me it looks more like a modified version of last year’s Supervan, but it will still be very impressive. That massive rear wing looks to be nearly a third the size of the whole truck and Ford says all of its aero features combined have been designed to generate 6,000 pounds of downforce at 150 MPH. Just for a little reference, that’s about 3.5 times more downforce than an F1 car generates.
HYUNDAI IONIQ 5 N TO RACE AT PIKE’S PEAK
And electric vehicles participating in the iconic hill climb have really gained in popularity over the years and Hyundai will also have a couple of electrics at the race. Not only will it have two production IONIQ 5 Ns but it will also run two modified versions of that car. Upgrades include new shock absorbers, brakes, wheels and tires and a new aero package. The powertrain is carried over from the production car but a software tune squeezes out an extra 37 horsepower, which brings total output to roughly 685 horsepower. It will even use modified driving sounds pumped through speakers at up to 120 decibels to replace sirens that EVs typically have to use during the race.
DONGFENG USING ROBOT WORKERS
More and more automakers are testing humanoid robots on the production line. BMW, Nio, Tesla and Magna are all doing so. And now Chinese automaker Dongfeng will deploy robots at one of its plants. The automaker signed a deal with Ubtech to use its Walker S humanoid robot for a number of tasks including safety belt inspection, door lock testing, body quality checks, oil filing and label application. The robots will also work with regular automated machinery to handle complex tasks in unmanned production. This is the exact same company and tasks that NIO is doing its test with.
But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for making Autoline a part of your day.
Thanks to our partner for embedding Autoline Daily on its website: WardsAuto.com
Looks like the Pikes Peak Ford Lightning super truck has about as many similarities with the production version as it does with a Ford Fiesta. It’s one thing to throw a production body over a racecar chassis and add some fender flares and ground affects. But that body doesn’t even look like a truck. I guess, just like NASCAR the Manufacturer doesn’t really mean much anymore as everyone knows it’s a pure racecar inside and out with stickers placed on it to look like it’s Ford, GM, Toyota. So will having a good run mean anything to potential Ford Lightning buyers?
Looks like the robot walks too slow and might benefit if it were on wheels
Just to put things into perspective. Tesla could pay Elon 1 Billion dollars and give every Tesla worker in the US a $391,542.00 bonus for the same amount of money. Thats an extra $32,628 a month or $7529 a week.
Or better yet he could give every US Tesla worker a $100,000 bonus this year and still get paid 41,953,000,000 Almost 42 B.
The UAW also has a Gaza Policy that might have affected the Mercedes vote: https://www.wsj.com/articles/shawn-fain-uaw-hamas-gaza-israel-campus-protests-39d68e2f?mod=Searchresults_pos7&page=1
@Lambo your last option seems fair to me
Some may recall the Ford commercial that said “Ford has a better idea.”
Hahaha … what joke.
I enjoy driving my car,not really looking for self driving etc
Lambo2015 — I believe you are correct, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the hard and and software under the “top hat” that Ford is really demonstrating for the production vehicle. I mean , Ford shows the racer body with little info on the platform, battery size/chemistry or power levels. Just the body work to get you hooked!
What can you tell us about Stellantis’ struggles with the Dodge Hornet. Many dealers have only sold a few since its debut in early 2023, and reports are that there are some 600+ days on hand at dealerships. Orders placed in March ’24 haven’t even shown as having completed production yet.
If real full self driving ever exists during my lifetime, that would be useful at times. Autonomy, as it now exists, is of little use. If you still have to hold the wheel every few seconds what’s the point?
Lambo2015 — I believe the “top hat” on the Lightn8ng Supertruck, with all its wings, spoilers and air ducts, is just all smoke and mirrors. Not that the equipment does not work as described, but that the hard and software is what will be on display. The suggestion is that Ford has updated the motors, battery chemistry and the software that is efficiently running the system. If that is the case, perhaps this is the system that the Lightning will be getting for its midcycle refresh, or something similar?
Yeah, the Ford “truck” would be a very specialized racing vehicle, like the electric VW ID-something that holds the overall record for the Pikes Peak event.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAJaGAMWjHM
EVs seem to be pretty good for going fast for 12 miles in thin air.
Yeah, the Ford “truck” would be a very specialized racing vehicle, like the electric VW ID-something that holds the overall record for the Pikes Peak event.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAJaGAMWjHM
EVs seem to be pretty good for going fast for 12 miles in thin air.
IMHO, the only time that self driving REALLY makes since is during congested, stop and go traffic. In those instances, traffic is slow and moving at a snail’s pace, so being able to focus on something else could prove helpful, especially with disarming frustration that can lead to road rage and aggressive driving! I can see having a self driving system that can take over and move a vehicle to a shoulder or curb, when a driver is having a medical emergency. I could get behind having a subscription system that serves as a watch dog and safety net for teens and other new drivers, or even some seniors. After our daughter had gotten her drivers license, while she was a good driver, I could see paying for a subscription for 6 months to serve as a safety net of protection, especially during the winter months! That said, what I don’t get and don’t necessarily agree with, but others may see it another way, is the thought that: While an individual can’t do their job from home, they don’t want to drive to their work location. They don’t/can’t take the bus and a cab/Uber/Lift or other ride share service is too expensive. So they buy/lease a vehicle that has a self driving subscription, so that it can do the driving for them?! Maybe there might be applications where that makes since, but it seems that even if it gets to the point that it works flawlessly as intended, there may be opportunities for its abuse. Having a self driving vehicle pick up and drop of children at school?! While that at one point be legal, but is it ethical? It’s just that once the tooth paste is out of the tube, it’s hard to get it back in.
Would the 500 fired people of Tesla’s now defunct SuperCharger team also get a retroactive ‘appreciation’ payment? I think they’ve done excellent work on a global scale. While it’s no surprise that the buildout will be slowed down from the downright manic pace of recent years, I’m not astonished either that some people are being rehired already. They actually knew what they were doing.
I’m coming round to Tesla’s fully reimplemented, vision-based autonomy. It’s also a safety measure with 360 degree, constant awareness. What I don’t believe in are the massive revenue streams some are talking about. And I really don’t want one person to have so much power.
An electric Ford Transit (DHL) made a delivery in my street yesterday, and never disturbed the quiet. Many more electric buses in the city fleet too. Just like we can’t imagine horseshit all over our roads anymore, the level of noise that seemed unavoidable ten years ago will be largely absent in the future.
@wmb
Good one: It’s just that once the tooth paste is out of the tube, it’s hard to get it back in.
wmb,
Uber is heavily advertising a new feature that allows a parent to order an Uber for their child to go to school or other appointments without the parent being present. When I saw that I thought, who is letting their child go somewhere with a complete stranger? I understand Uber does vet their drivers, but with people sharing accounts you never know if the actual account holder is the driver or not. In that instance I would prefer a driverless car to an Uber driver.
With that said, the promise of AVs is that there will be zero private ownership. Everyone will effectively be using a taxi service. The promise for the OEMs is that in so doing there will be a need to have a much bigger fleet of vehicles on the road running 24/7 and that fleet will be replaced very often. The OEMs can make them dirt cheap because things like handling and driver feel are unimportant and even the basic overall design of the exterior/interior is not that important. You also do not need all the safety features as the cars will be theoretically safer than a human driver and thus you don’t need the added expense of all the crash protection. All you have to do is install a giant TV screen in the car with ad capability so that your captive audience becomes an additional revenue generator while they are on the trip that they paid for. The ultimate in subscription servicing. Hopefully I will not be alive to live this future as it sounds horrific. It will be more “Johny cab” than iRobot.
Merkur- I’m not sure who is pushing a non-private auto ownership model. But it has to be environmentalists. From their perspective it would make sense that everyone just uses shared vehicles which if you consider how much time your vehicle sits idle at home or at work while it could be transporting other people the idea makes sense. A world of fewer vehicles running almost 24/7 which also means they would need replaced more often so very few old vehicles on the road. That all sounds great except for the fluctuation in demand. That would also have to change as most people arrive at work between 7-9 am and go home between 3-6pm. As you can imagine a manufacturing plant with 2000 workers all trying to get rides into work while thousands of other people are also trying to get to work would be a huge bottleneck. Same for the ride home. Then during the middle of the day and evenings you have an access of vehicles with no demand. So, I’m not sure how well that model would work in reality. A sporting event or concert lets out 80,000 people that all need rides home. No one wants to wait two hours for an available ride. As a supplement to city busses and subways it will likely make sense. But I’d say we are at least 50 years away from AV’s replacing private ownership in any large scale. Great idea though.
At some point, maybe residential-only neighborhoods in the US will be replaced with mixed use neighborhoods, so people can meet many of their needs without driving.