AD #2653 – Porsche Unveils Cayenne Plug-In, New Challenger to Arrive In 2023, Chinese Startup NIO In Big Trouble

This is Autoline Daily reporting on the global automotive industry.

GLOBAL PLUG-IN HYBRID SALES STALL
Uh-oh. Not only are sales of new cars falling in China, so are sales of new energy vehicles. While sales of battery electrics were up a little over 1%, Merrill Lynch reports that plug-in hybrids plummeted 21% in July. That follows a global pattern where plug-in hybrid sales are falling in the U.S. and Europe as well. Here’s our Autoline Insight. Electric car enthusiasts sneer at the limited EV range of plug-ins. And customers who buy conventional cars are leery about having to plug in. Unless automakers can turn those attitudes around, the plug-in hybrid market could be headed for disaster.

CHINESE STARTUP NIO IN BIG TROUBLE
NIO is an electric car company that was promoted as China’s Tesla killer. But business is going from bad to worse for the EV startup. Merrill Lynch reports It only sold 837 cars in China last month, and that was down 38% from the month before. Unless this gets turned around, it could be the first Chinese BEV startup to go belly up.

PSA & DONGFENG SLASH WORKFORCE
Just to show you how tough business is getting to be in China, Reuters reports that PSA and its partner Dongfeng will close two assembly plants and lay off thousands of workers. And there are rumors that PSA will try to get out of its partnership with Dongfeng or even get out of the Chinese market altogether.

PORSCHE UNVEILS CAYENNE PLUG-IN
Despite what we said about sales of plug-ins going nowhere, the Porsche Cayenne is getting a new top model and it’s a plug-in hybrid. The Turbo S E-Hybrid package is available on both the standard-roof Cayenne as well as the Coupe. It’s the same powertrain that’s available in the Panamera plug-in: a twin-turbo 4.0L V8 engine with an electric motor sandwiched between it and an 8-speed automatic transmission. Total output is 670-horsepower and over 660 lb-ft of torque, which accelerates the utility vehicles from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.8-seconds. It also gets the same 14.1 kWh battery pack as the Panamera and while Porsche doesn’t say what EV range is for the Cayenne, the EPA rates the Panamera at 16-miles. The Cayenne plug-in features a number of other sporty upgrades, like adaptive air suspension, torque vectoring rear-differential lock, high-performance brakes, body-color wheel arch flares and the option for 4-wheel steering. The standard-roof starts at $193,600 and the Coupe starts at nearly $198,000.

PLATINUM SUPPLIERS WANT TO DEVELOP NEW EV BATTERY
Analysts are forecasting big growth for electric vehicles over the coming decades, which means fewer catalytic converters will be needed for vehicles. And that’s starting to scare platinum and palladium suppliers, because demand for those metals, which are used in catalytic converters, will drop significantly. So to offset that, suppliers Anglo American Platinum and Platinum Group Metals want to develop a lithium-ion battery that uses platinum instead of cobalt and nickel. They’re investing up to $4 million to create the new battery. But Bloomberg reports this has been studied since the 90’s and so far, researchers haven’t figured out a way to mass produce the batteries with platinum. Even worse, it’s more expensive and doesn’t deliver the same performance as batteries with nickel and cobalt.

As promised, Autoline After Hours will be back this week. We’ve got John Waraniak the VP of Vehicle Technology at SEMA who will have something to say about the industry’s push into mobility services, EVs and autonomy. Henry Payne from the Detroit News will also be on that show. He came out with an article today wondering if we’ll ever see a Corvette SUV. So tune in Thursday afternoon at 3PM eastern time on our website or YouTube channel.

CSP SUPPLIES FORD WITH COMPOSITE DASHBOARD
Continental Structural Plastics, which specializes in automotive composites, is supplying Ford with the industry’s first composite dashboard for the 2020 Explorer. Weighing just 12 pounds, the 4-piece assembly is lighter than a similar component stamped from steel. CSP says it also significantly reduces engine noise, vibration and harshness inside the SUV. It’s being manufactured at CSP’s plant in Ohio.

ROADKILL NIGHTS ATTRACTS HUGE CROWD
We may be well into the age of electrification, but piston horsepower still packs ‘em in. Roadkill Nights is a drag racing event on Woodward Avenue in metro Detroit. Apparently, people love to see street racing because 47,000 spectators showed up for the spectacle. Dodge, which sponsors the event, offered $5,000 in prize money to the two fastest Dodges.

NEW CHALLENGER TO ARRIVE IN 2023
Speaking of Dodge performance cars, Autoforecast Solutions reports that the next generation Dodge Challenger will go into production in April of 2023. We were wondering where that car is since sources in the supplier industry told us the new version was already designed and developed. Obviously FCA believes it can milk the current design for another four years, but it has to have something else up its sleeve to keep the car selling. So what would it take to keep the current Challenger and Charger selling strong for another four years? We’d love to hear your suggestions.

And with that thought we wrap up today’s show, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.