AD #2787 – GM Lays Out Its EV Strategy; All-New Fiat 500 Goes All-Electric; Genesis Reveals Sleek New G80 Sedan

This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.

CORONAVIRUS WILL COST JAPANESE AUTOMAKERS BILLIONS
The coronavirus will have a big impact on the Japanese auto industry. According to Goldman Sachs, it will cost Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi and Mazda $1.6 billion. Analysts at the bank say those automakers will build 580,000 fewer vehicles from January to April, compared with its previous estimate. It also says global sales for all automakers will drop 3.5% in 2020, rather than the 0.3% it previously forecast. Goldman says even if plants get back online soon, it will take some time to get back in the full swing of things due to labor and parts shortages.

FCA & REID BIGLAND RESOLVE LEGAL DISPUTES, PART WAYS
In a fairly unsurprising development, Reid Bigland, the head of the Ram brand as well as the head of U.S. Sales at FCA and FCA Canada, is leaving the company to “pursue interests outside of FCA.” This seemed like a foregone conclusion after he filed a federal whistleblower complaint against the company over its sales reporting. Bigland then sued FCA after he claimed the automaker cut his pay which cost him $1.8 million. FCA said it withheld his pay because he was implicated in the federal investigation. All the legal actions have been resolved but it was probably best for both sides to go their separate ways. FCA will split his duties between three people instead of promoting one person. Jeff Kommor is now Head of U.S. Sales. David Buckingham was named head of FCA Canada and Mike Koval will take over the Ram Brand on an interim basis.

ALL-NEW FIAT 500 IS NOW ALL-ELECTRIC
And speaking of FCA, it unveiled the all-new Fiat 500, which is now all-electric. While it’s still instantly recognizable as a 500, the new model is wider and longer than before. A 42-kWh battery provides 320 kilometers of range on the WLTP test, which converts to 177 EPA miles. It offers Level 2 autonomous driving, which includes intelligent adaptive cruise control and lane centering. It’s the first vehicle in FCA’s lineup to get the new UConnect 5 infotainment system and is offered with a 10.2-inch high-def touchscreen. The new 500 is on sale in several countries in Europe but FCA says it hasn’t decided if it will bring it to the U.S. Our guess is probably not after the first electric 500 was a sales disaster.

General Motors presented a comprehensive review of its electric car strategy yesterday, and it’s impressive. GM says all of its brands will offer EVs so it can compete in every market segment at every price point. It’s goal is to sell 1 million EVs a year in the U.S. and China by the middle of the decade. There is so much to cover we’ll just hit some of the highlights right now, but later this afternoon, we’re going to get into all of the details on Autoline After Hours. Joining us for the show are Christie Schweinsberg from WardsIntelligence and Joe White from Reuters. They were at GM’s presentation and so were John and Gary. If you’re into electric cars you don’t want to miss this show, which gets going live at 3 pm eastern time on our website or YouTube channel.

GM LAYS OUT ITS EV STRATEGY
OK, now to some of the highlights of the presentation. GM is going to make the cells, battery packs and electric motors in-house. It will be vertically integrated with its EV effort. It’s even branding its EV batteries, calling them Ultium. GM is going with pouch cells, which have a long rectangular shape. To cut the cost of these lithium batteries, GM got rid of 70% of the cobalt by giong with NMCA cathodes, or nickel manganese cobalt aluminum. It says it can make these cells for $100 per kilowatt hour, down from about $145 for the batteries used in the Chevrolet Bolt. Each pouch has the energy equivalent of 20 cylindrical battery cells like Tesla uses, but the pouches can be packaged more efficiently. The pouches are installed in a series of modules, or boxes, that fit into the battery tray. The pouches can be mounted vertically or horizontally, depending on the application. And the tray itself is a structural member of the vehicle, with a perimeter frame and crossmembers. GM says it will make packs ranging from 50 up to 200 kilowatt hours. The packs will be mounted in a skateboard-like chassis that is made with various stampings, not extrusions. This will allow GM to mount any kind of body style on it, including SUVs, sedans, pickup trucks, crossovers, and even the GM Cruise autonomous shuttle bus. This is a gutsy strategy, and puts GM on a par with Volkswagen, as two traditional automakers who decided to make all the major EV components in-house. And don’t forget, we’ll go into a lot more details on Autoline After Hours.

WORLD’S MOST POWER DENSE PERMANENT MAGNET ELECTRIC MOTOR
The electrification company, Equipmake and additive manufacturing company HiETA, which are both located in the UK, are creating the world’s most power dense permanent magnet electric motor. Codenamed AMPERE, it will use 3D metal printing to make it lighter, smaller and more thermally efficient than conventional permanent magnet motors. They’re targeting peak power of 220kW at 30,000 RPM and a weight of less than 10 kilograms or about 22 pounds. The companies are developing the motor for several industries including automotive, aerospace and marine. And prototypes are expected to be up and running in about a year’s time.

GENESIS REVEALS ALL-NEW G80 SEDAN
Genesis revealed the all-new G80 sedan. It looks lower and sleeker than before and features a unique lighting element that extends from the headlamps to behind the front fenders and is mirrored in the rear taillights. Genesis designers say this will make the car recognizable in seconds. The grille design is copied over from the new GV80 SUV and note how the oval section at the rear has been scalloped out. The interior is minimal and less cluttered and is highlighted by a 14.5 inch center display screen. The new G80 will have all-new powertrains and driver assistance systems, which I’m sure we’ll learn more about before its debut in the Korean market later this month.

OWNERS TURNING OFF SAFETY FUNCTIONS
Today’s cars are loaded with new technology but even though they pay for it, a number of owners turn those functions off. According to a survey from Insurance.com, 10% of respondents admitted to disabling safety features and the most frequent are Lane-keeping assist, smart headlights, lane-departure warning and automatic parking. Men are a bit more likely to turn off safety features compared to women but they disable different features. Men tend to turn off automatic parking, blind-spot warning and reverse monitoring, while women disable smart headlights and drowsy driver alerts.

GOODYEAR CONCEPT REGENERATES ITS OWN TREAD
Goodyear showed an interesting concept for a non-pneumatic or airless tire. At its core is a reloadable pod that’s filled with a biodegradable tread compound. As the tread wears the compound is squeezed up through vents, almost like when you made Play-Doh spaghetti as a kid. The tread compound is reinforced with spider silk to ensure its durability. And depending on the conditions or terrain you might be driving on you just load in another pod with a different compound. While ideas like this are far fetched, we are seeing more interest for airless tires, especially from commercial and ride-hailing fleets, because the longer you can keep a vehicle on the road and out of the shop, the more money they can generate.

But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.