AD #3149 – GMC Reveals Canyon Off-Road Concept; Ford Electric Crate Motor Specs; Hyundai Santa Cruz Impressions

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

GM TO REQUIRE SALARIED EMPLOYEES REPORT VACCINE STATUS
General Motors is telling its salaried employees in the U.S. they have to tell the company whether they got a COVID vaccination or not. Employees will have to show a photograph of their vaccination card through a “confidential online reporting tool.” GM didn’t say what will happen to employees who don’t reveal their status, or who haven’t been vaccinated. It will use the results to determine COVID safety protocols. At the same time, the UAW says it’s going to encourage its members to get the vaccine but it won’t mandate it. But with GM requiring proof for its salaried workers, it looks like it’s heading towards a mandate for union members. Some UAW workers are threatening a wildcat strike if GM mandates vaccines, which could turn into a big controversy.

GENEVA ORGANIZERS & QATAR PARTNER FOR SPIN-OFF AUTO SHOW
Well here’s one of the most bizarre partnerships we’ve seen. The organizers of the Geneva auto show have teamed up with Qatar Tourism to create a spin-off auto show in the Middle East country. Called the Qatar Geneva International Motor Show, the first event will be held in 2023 in Doha, the capital of Qatar, and the show will be held every two years. That’s about all we know for now but the full details will be revealed at the regular Geneva show next February.

U.S. AUGUST CAR SALES EXPECTED TO DROP
New car sales in the U.S. continue to be held back by the chip shortage. J.D. Power and LMC Automotive are forecasting that August sales will drop 14% compared to a year ago. The good news is demand is high but automakers can’t build enough vehicles to meet that demand because of the chip shortage. There are only 942,000 vehicles on dealer lots, well below the 3 million vehicles dealers had two years ago. That’s also driving up the price of cars, the average transaction price is expected to hit nearly $41,400, a 16% increase.

FORD SHARES SPECS FOR NEW ELECTRIC CRATE MOTOR
We have details for the electric crate motor Ford is going to offer, called the Eluminator. It’s actually right from the Mach-E GT. It makes 281 horsepower or 210 kW, 317 lb-ft of torque or 430 Nm and weighs 205 lbs or 93 kg. It also includes the low voltage harness and connector, but does not come with an inverter, control system or battery. We suspect those things will eventually be available in a kit. But the motor itself will retail for $3,900.

GMC REVEALS CANYON AT4 OVERLANDX CONCEPT
GMC doesn’t want to miss out on the growing market for off-roading and overlanding. It revealed the Canyon AT4 OVERLANDX Concept to show off how the truck can be customized to potential customers. We say think of this like the GMC version of the Colorado ZR2 that it never got. It shares many of the same parts as the ZR2, like the cast-iron control arms, front and rear electronic locking differentials and even the Multimatic DSSV dampers. But it didn’t stop there. It also features heavy duty bumpers with a winch in the front, air snorkel, stainless steel bed cap, roof mounted tent as well as a solar panel. GMC says this concept shows how it envisions the future of the Canyon.

JEEP INTRODUCES PINK PAINT COLOR FOR ALL WRANGLERS
Speaking of off-roading, back wood trails are about to brighten up a bit. Jeep is now offering a pink paint color, called Tuscadero on every single Wrangler model. It’s only available for a limited time and will cost an additional $395. We’ve been reporting for years that brighter colors are starting to gain popularity around the world and this sure does highlight that. And it’s pretty amazing, along with the earlier Porsche announcement, I doubt we’ve ever talked about two pink cars in the same week before. 

KIA DEVELOPS SPORTAGE VARIANT SPECIFICALLY FOR EUROPE
You may remember Kia showed off the all-new Sportage at the beginning of June, but it just revealed that for the first time it will also have a dedicated model, designed and developed specifically for the European market. It’s similar to the one shown in June, however it’s a little more compact and you’ll notice some tweaks to the design language, called Opposites United. The ride and handling characteristics have also been tuned for European roads and Kia says it will come with responsive and efficient powertrains. It doesn’t look like there will be much different with the interior. It’s modern and clean with a large, connected display screen that’s bookended by the air vents. The European Sportage will make its official debut during a virtual event on September 1st and is scheduled to launch later this year. 

HYUNDAI SANTA CRUZ IMPRESSIONS
We got a chance to drive the new Hyundai Santa Cruz yesterday. And while most of us will call it a pickup truck, Hyundai adamantly calls it a Sport Adventure Vehicle. That’s because it doesn’t want the public to think this is a pickup. Instead, Hyundai is aiming this thing at young men who drive a crossover, but want a bed where they can stow their gear, or dump dirty clothes and equipment. The Santa Cruz is built off the Tucson, giving it similar driving manners to a CUV. The styling is crisp and expressive, the interior is laid out to look like a car, the steering is relatively quick, it corners and rides like a sporty CUV, and you get brisk acceleration with the optional turbo 2.5 liter. While it only has a 4-foot bed, Hyundai says it will hold a 4×8 sheet of plywood if you create a shelf over the wheel wells with 2×6 boards that fit into molded-in slots on the side of the bed. The tailgate can be set to open only halfway so it supports the back half of the plywood. With the standard, naturally aspirated 2.5-liter engine it can tow 3,500 pounds, while the all-wheel-drive turbo can tow 5,000 pounds. Base price is just over $25,000 but the loaded Premium model we drove comes with a price tag of nearly $41,000. Here’s our Autoline Insight. The Santa Cruz and Ford Maverick are going after different customers. Hyundai is targeting men who are 35 to 45 years old, who live in urban areas who venture outdoors on the weekend. The Maverick is aimed more at a broader audience that will use it as a truck, but for activities like antiquing and gardening. We can’t wait to see which company has the better strategy and we should have a good idea before the year is out.

GM WARNS LG CHEM IT COULD TURN TO OTHER BATTERY SUPPLIERS
Business is booming for manufacturers that make EV batteries. But it’s a risky business. LG Chem, which makes the batteries for the Chevrolet Bolt EV, is about to lose a lot of money. General Motors is publicly blaming LG for battery fires in the Bolt due to manufacturing defects. The recall is going to cost $1.8 billion, and GM wants LG to pay for it all. And that caused LG’s stock price to plummet. GM is building two battery plants in the U.S. in partnership with LG, but CEO Mary Barra says GM has other ways to get the batteries it needs–a clear threat to LG that it could turn to other battery suppliers.

NEW TECH PROTECTS OCCUPANTS IN EV ACCIDENTS
On Autoline After Hours yesterday we learned about a neat little device that can protect occupants and first responders if an EV gets in an accident. Jason Lisseman, a vice president from Joyson Safety Systems, talked about a pyrotechnic device they make to instantly cut battery power if an EV gets in an accident. Here’s how it works.

Jason Lisseman: “A little known technology that we’ve just pivoted with is a little pyrotechnic battery disconnect device that sits in the battery management system, that in the event of an accident we sever power to all vehicle systems. And that keeps our first responders and occupants safe from electrification. Because in the event of an accident you have to make sure that the 450 or 500 volts or up to 1000 volts and 20,000 amps doesn’t short to the body-in-white and electrocute people.”

Gary Vasilash: “So how does this work? Basically, it detects the collision and then it cuts the wires?”

Jason Lisseman: No, it’s an active system. The vehicle crash system (detects) the accident. But there’s also other sensors within the battery management system that look at the temperature of the battery and other such things. So from a signal, when the OEM makes the determination that this is a risk or a particular threshold of an accident, they can fire this device and we effectively break the coupler bus that passes the electricity from the battery system to all the vehicle systems in under, or just over one millisecond. And in doing so we generate a huge plasma arc that we have to manage and mitigate. And the higher the voltage or amperage the more challenging it gets.”
 
Tesla started using the first generation of this device in 2017 and Volkswagen is using the next generation in its EVs. And Joyson says it’s getting a lot of interest from a lot of automakers.

But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for joining us and I hope you have a great weekend.