AD #3323 – VW EVs Almost As Profitable as ICEs; Lordstown Finalizes Deal with Foxconn; Hyundai Launching Robotaxis

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

VW: EVs SOON AS PROFITABLE AS ICEs
Volkswagen is bragging it’s going to knock off Tesla as the number one EV maker in the world by 2025. We’ll see about that. But CEO Herbert Diess says VW’s BEV business will be as profitable as its ICE vehicles sooner than expected. But he didn’t say when. VW previously said it expected BEVs to match ICEs in profit in two to three years. But here’s what we’d like to know. No doubt Porsche Taycans and Audi e-trons that sell for high transaction prices are profitable. But what about the BEVs from the Volkswagen brand, Skoda and SEAT? We’d love to see that broken out and compared to ICEs.

LORDSTOWN FINALIZES FOXCONN DEAL
Lordstown Motors just got a major lifeline. It finally sold its assembly plant in Ohio to Foxconn. That means it does not have to repay Foxconn the $230 million that Foxconn already gave it. Investors loved the news. Lordstown shot up in after hours trading. Even so, Lordstown still needs to raise another $150 million before it can get its electric pickup truck into production. Originally, that truck, called the Endurance, was supposed to be in production last fall. If Lordstown had been able to keep to that schedule it would have beaten the Ford F-150 Lightning and Rivian R1T to the market.

FISKER CONFIRMS FOXCONN WILL MAKE PEAR
Right on the heels of that Lordstown and Foxconn announcement, Fisker confirmed that Foxconn will make its entry-level model, the Pear, at that assembly plant. Fisker expects to make 250,000 of them a year once production ramps up. The Pear will start at just under $30,000, not including any incentives. Henrik Fisker says one way the Pear will appeal to customers is that it’s going to have, and I quote, “a wraparound front windscreen inspired by a glider plane glass canopy, enhancing frontal vision.”

BMW SLASHES PAINT EMISSIONS
The emissions given off while painting a vehicle is pretty nasty stuff, which is why the BMW Group is working to make the entire process more sustainable. It’s incorporating a couple of new solutions from paint supplier BASF. The first is a matte paint that uses waste from sewage treatment plants as its starting material. This allows it to replace things like naphtha in the paint, which is a highly flammable oil that contains hydrocarbons. In addition to that, two of BMW’s plants are also using sustainably-produced corrosion protection. That’s what’s in those big baths cars are dipped into to help protect their bare metal. BMW says these two things reduce the CO2 emissions from paint production by more than 40 percent.

CADILLAC SWEET TALKS CHINESE LYRIQ CUSTOMERS
Cadillac is offering some pretty sweet benefits for anyone who orders a Lyriq in China. They’ll get a lifetime warranty on the vehicle and its EV propulsion system. Not impressed? There’s more. They’ll also get free charging for three years and up to 1,200 kilometers per month. Impressed yet? No! Ok, Cadillac will also throw in a free home charger and if they don’t want that it will give them another 8,000 kilometers of free charging over the three years. What do you think now? Want more? Geeze you people are hard to please. But Ok. Cadillac will also give them $2,200 for a trade-in, their choice of three exterior colors at no additional charge, 50Gs of free 5G connectivity, OTAs for life and a bunch of other little things too. I think you should be impressed by now. And these are not separate from each other, they’re included together.

MERCEDES AMG TURNS 55
We didn’t realize it is that old. Mercedes is celebrating the 55th anniversary of the AMG brand. And to mark the occasion, its releasing a special edition version of the AMG CLA 45 coupe and will only make 55 available in the U.S. While it is exclusive, the main differences is its black metallic paint, special AMG badging and 19-inch wheels.

HYUNDAI TARGETS 2023 FOR U.S. ROBOTAXIS
Hyundai and its AV partner Motional say they’re going to launch an autonomous robotaxi service in the U.S. in 2023. And they’re going to do it using these decked out IONIQ 5s with SAE Level 4 capabilities. They plan to work with ride-hailing providers to deploy the vehicles in major U.S. cities. The first rides to the public will be in Las Vegas with more to follow after that and then it plans to expand globally.

SUBARU TO BUILD EV PLANT
Subaru announced plans to build its first dedicated EV plant. It will be located in Japan and initially build gasoline and electric vehicles starting in 2025 and then in 2027 it will be EV only. It will export the EVs to the U.S. On top of that, Subaru will invest $1.9 billion over the next five years to bolster its EV lineup. We find it curious that the EV plant will be located in Japan and not the U.S. Subaru sells more vehicles in the U.S. than in any other market, including Japan, and we know that Subaru USA has begging for another plant in the U.S. for years.

GLOBAL AUTO SALES PLUMMET
Boy does the auto industry today look a lot different that it did in 2019. Just three years ago the global industry was knocking on the door of making 100 million vehicles a year. Then the pandemic hit, followed by the chip shortage, followed by soaring inflation and a war in Ukraine. LMC Automotive reports that the global annualized sales rate in April was only 67 million vehicles. Let’s put some perspective on those numbers. That’s a drop of 33 million vehicles, about the equivalent of the US and EU market put together. It’s the equivalent of shutting down 132 assembly plants, around 132 engine and transmission plants, at least 50 stamping plants, and countless supplier companies. We think it’s safe to say that it’s affected at least 1 million jobs around the world.

LINCOLN RIPS UP ITS DESIGN BOOK
We already showed you Lincoln’s concept car called the Star. It’s got all kinds of really cool features. But do you realize how significant it could be? Lincoln is literally ripping up its design book and going off in a new direction as it transitions to electrics. And the Star is signaling what that new look will be. So how far will Lincoln take its new look? That’s what we’ll be talking about on Autoline After Hours today. Kemal Curic, the new head of design at Lincoln is our guest, so join John and Gary, as well as Keith Naughton from Bloomberg for a deep dive into how Lincoln plans to transform the way its vehicles look.

But that’s a wrap for today. Thanks for tuning in.