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Runtime: 11:04
0:07 Trevor Milton Charged by Prosecutors
0:32 Ford & VW Earnings Beat Expectations
1:29 CATL Reveals New Sodium-Ion Battery
2:30 QuantumScape Testing New Solid State Battery
2:52 GM Frees Up Chips for Big Trucks
4:16 New Outlander PHEV Has More Power & Range
5:03 VW Introduces New Taigo for Europe
5:37 VW Needs to Change Its EV Strategy in China
7:12 Genesis Has BMW in Its Sights
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
TREVOR MILTON CHARGED BY PROSECUTORS
A bit of breaking news hit us right before we were getting ready to record the show, so we’ll keep this short. Former Nikola chairman, Trevor Milton has been charged by federal prosecutors for misleading investors. He’s in federal custody after voluntarily surrendering to the authorities and also faces complaints filed against him by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
FORD & VW EARNINGS BEAT EXPECTATIONS
Despite the chip shortage, automakers are posting better than expected earnings. Volkswagen Group and Ford reported their second quarter earnings and did better than Wall Street expected. VW sold 2.4 million vehicles worldwide, bringing in €67 billion euros in revenue, and posting an impressive €5 billion net profit. Ford only sold 764,000 vehicles, but said it lost over 700,000 vehicles due to production cuts caused by the chip shortage. Ford earned over $26 billion in revenue and posted a net profit of only $550 million. Even so, that beat Wall Street expectations. Ford also raised its guidance for the second half of the year as it expects the chip shortage to start to ease.
| VW Group Q2 Earnings 2021 | |
|---|---|
| Sales | 2.4 Million |
| Revenue | €67.2 Billion |
| Net Profit | €5.0 Billion |
| Ford Q2 Earnings 2021 | |
| Sales | 764,000 |
| Revenue | $26.7 Billion |
| Net Profit | $553 million |
CATL REVEALS NEW SODIUM-ION BATTERY
This could be a huge development for electric cars. CATL, the Chinese company that’s the world’s largest manufacturer of EV batteries, announced it developed a new sodium-ion battery. It works similar to a lithium-ion battery but doesn’t use any lithium, cobalt or nickel. That results in a lower energy density compared to lithium iron phosphate batteries, but the company says it performs well during fast charging and at low temperatures, and would be a lot cheaper. Because of that lower energy density, the battery is ideal for low-speed EVs, not long-range passenger models. CATL says it plans to set up a supply chain for the sodium-ion batteries in 2023. And for the best of both worlds, CATL also developed a battery that integrates sodium-ion cells and lithium-ion cells in the same pack.
QUANTUMSCAPE TESTING 10-LAYER SOLID STATE BATTERY
And speaking of battery breakthroughs, Quantumscape says it’s now testing a 10-layer solid state battery. Earlier in the year, the company produced a 4-layer cell but the challenge now is to be able to produce the new cell at scale. Quantumscape will reveal more testing data for its 10-layer cell later in the year.
GM FREES UP CHIPS FOR ITS BIG TRUCKS
GM is getting a little relief from the chip shortage. Last week it cut production of heavy-duty trucks at its Flint Assembly plant and stopped production at its two plants that make the Silverado and Sierra. But GM announced those plants will resume full production on Monday. It’s a good thing too. Those are some of GM’s most profitable models. But it’s not out of the woods yet. In order to free up chips for the big trucks, it had to extend downtime in a number of its plants across North America, which impacts the Chevy Malibu, Equinox, Blazer and Traverse; GMC Terrain and Acadia; Buick Enclave; as well as the Cadillac CT4, XT4, CT5, XT5 and XT6.
NEW OUTLANDER PHEV WILL HAVE MORE POWER & RANGE
Mitsubishi has continued to sell the plug-in hybrid version of the Outlander with the old body style alongside the all-new Outlander, which shares a platform with the new Nissan Rogue. But it’s getting ready to launch the all-new Outlander PHEV that it says will have more output from the motor and a bigger battery. The current setup pairs a 2.4L engine, 70 kW rear mounted motor and a 13.8 kWh battery pack, which combines for 221 horsepower and 24 miles of EV range. So, expect to see those figures topped. The new Outlander PHEV will first go on sale in Japan and is expected to arrive in the U.S. in the second half of next year.
VW INTRODUCES TAIGO FOR EUROPE
Volkswagen introduced a new crossover for the European market, called the Taigo. As you can see it’s one of those fastback utility vehicles or what VW calls an SUV coupe. It’s based on the automaker’s MQB architecture, which underpins a number of vehicles in the group’s portfolio and means it will likely come with a range of 4-cylinder engines. The interior features an all-digital cockpit and the latest generation of infotainment systems. No word yet on when the Taigo is scheduled to launch.
VW NEEDS TO CHANGE EV STRATEGY IN CHINA
Speaking of Volkswagen, it wants to become the number one EV maker in the world. But if it’s going to achieve that goal, CEO Herbert Diess says it needs to change how it’s selling EVs in China. VW thought it was going to sell between 80,000 and 100,000 EVs this year in China. But through the first half of the year, it only sold a little over 18,000. Diess says EV customers in China are younger and different from its traditional customer base. So VW needs to change its sales approach to attract those customers, especially through social media.
GENESIS HAS BMW IN ITS SIGHTS
Even though sales of sedans continue to go down every month, the Genesis G70 sure makes a compelling reason to get a sedan. It looks good, drives really well and delivers a lot of value for the money. Our test drive shows that Genesis clearly has BMW in mind as it tries to claw its way into the luxury segment. The G70’s driving dynamics are very similar to BMW’s, but the whole package is wrapped in a more expressive design, both inside and out. Our test car was fitted with the powerful 3.3 liter turbo that generates 365 horsepower and 376 pound feet of torque. Better still it generates a thrilling exhaust note when you really step into the throttle. As the auto industry transitions to electric cars the one thing we’ll miss are great sounding engines like this one. The G70, as with so many performance cars with different driving modes, has a Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde kind of personality. If you leave it in Eco mode it drives like a car meant for grandma and grandpa to go grocery shopping. But put it in Sport or Sport Plus, and the change is electric. The side bolsters on the driver’s seat automatically close in to hug your ribcage. The revs jump by 500 rpm, the shift points come quicker and snappier, and the exhaust note brightens up. Genesis claims that with Launch Control, it will hit 60 miles an hour in 4.5 seconds. The car has great balance. You can cruise comfortably on the highway, or confidently flick it through a slalom course of S-turns. Inside, the G70 is beautifully crafted. There sure are a lot of buttons and switches as well as an 8-inch touch screen. But after a couple of days of driving you seem to automatically know where to find what you need. A base G70 starts at $38,570 and walks all the way up to over $55,000 for the all-wheel-drive Launch Edition. So it’s several thousand dollars cheaper than a BMW 3-series. Will that be enough to pry customers out of their 3-series? Maybe not. But Genesis is clearly going to give BMW a run for its money.
We mentioned the transition to electric vehicles. The auto industry is well on its way towards doing that. But it will take years. And until that happens automakers will have to sell millions of vehicles with internal combustion engines. But they have to make those engines better–better emissions and better fuel economy. That’s what the topic is about on Autoline After Hours this afternoon. How to make the ICE more efficient. We’ll have Sujit Jain from Bosch on the show talking about the technology they’re working on. Kelsey Mayes from Cas.com will also be joining us. Some of the other topics we’ll get into include: Is Magna becoming more powerful than an OEM? Why is VW developing another new platform? And was Tesla bitten by its investment in Bitcoin. Join John and Gary when they go live at 3 pm eastern time.
But that wraps up today’s show, thanks for watching.
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Seamus and Sean McElroy cover the latest news in the automotive industry for Autoline Daily.
