AD #3333 – GM Customer Accounts Hacked; Laid Off Coal Workers to Make Batteries; OEMs Going Vegan

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

GM GOT HACKED
General Motors got hacked. Hackers broke into its list of customer accounts. GM filed a disclosure with the California Attorney General’s Office about the data breach. It said it noticed malicious activity between April 11 and April 29 with a number of its online account users. The hackers stole customer reward points which they used to redeem gift cards and the hackers also got personal information from those people. GM says it suspended gift card redemptions and notified customers of the breach. It’s not known exactly how many customers were affected but California requires companies to disclose hacks when it involves 500 or more residents.

WEST VIRGINIA COAL WORKERS TO MAKE BATTERIES
Going green is great, but it shouldn’t cost people their jobs. So an EV battery startup named SPARKZ is partnering with the United Mine Workers of America to recruit and train laid off coal miners to work at a new battery plant that it will open in West Virginia. The factory will employ 350 people, who will produce cobalt-free batteries for forklifts, agricultural equipment and energy storage. And that has got us thinking. The senior senator from West Virginia, Democrat Joe Manchin, has opposed providing extra incentives for EVs and batteries that are made with union labor. But now that union-made batteries will be made in his state, will the senator have a change of heart?

AUTOMAKERS GOING VEGAN
Automakers are telling their interior suppliers they want to go vegan. They’re going to start offering leather-delete options for customers who don’t want animals slaughtered just to trim out their car. So automakers are looking for alternative materials that can replace leather wrapped seats, arm rests, shift knobs and steering wheels. In fact, they don’t even want substitute materials that use graining that mimic an animal’s hide. Instead, they want cloth and high tech vinyls that look and feel good. So Continental refitted an old Volkswagen bus to show how its polyurethane and PVC materials can be used throughout the interior. It even has a fake wood that looks and feels like real oak. These materials are more durable and easier to clean than leather, and they even breathe without any perforations. Conti says designers can go with white seats and steering wheels and not worry about them looking dirty. And it’s also working on a way to repair these materials with a heat gun if they get scratched, scraped or cut. You just heat it up and it seals itself. There’s another factor at work here. High tech vinyls are lower cost than leather. Tesla was the first automaker to go full vegan with its cars, and it sure sounds like the rest of the industry is going to go that way, too.

MASERATI RIPS THE ROOF OFF THE MC20
There’s a bit of news for our piston-powered friends today. And we start off with the convertible version of Maserati’s supercar, which is called the MC20 Cielo. Officially, Maserati calls this a spyder with a “y” and it features a smart glass retractable roof that can change its opacity from light to dark at the push of a button. But when ready for that open air feeling, it folds into the body in just 12 seconds. Like many retractable top cars, the MC20 Cielo weighs more than its coupe counterpart. It’s 65 kilograms or 143 pounds more. But with over 620 horsepower on tap from its twin-turbo V6, I don’t think performance is going to be affected too much. The coupe will do 0-60 in under 2.9 seconds. The coupe also starts at $212,000, so we’d expect the Cielo to go for more. An electric version of the MC20 will be revealed at some point in the future as well.

FIRST PEEK AT THAT 8-PASSENGER LAND ROVER
But back to the piston power again. Land Rover showed this picture of the new long wheelbase version of the Defender. To go along with the 90 and 110, the Defender 130 features 3-rows of seating for up to 8 passengers in a 2-3-3 configuration. Land Rover also says it will come with the latest digital and chassis technologies. More information to come during the full reveal on May 31st.

DODGE DURANGO HEMI ORANGE
Now we jump over to Dodge, who is offering a new appearance package for the Durango, called HEMI Orange. It was actually first offered on the Charger and Challenger, but it proved popular enough that it’s making its way to the Durango. Inspired by the original orange color of the HEMI engine, the package comes with unique orange and Gunmetal hood stripes, grey and orange exterior badging, satin black taillamps, 20-inch wheels and orange stitching throughout the interior. And special-edition packages like these are all about extra profit. Available in three options, the HEMI Orange package retails from about $2,000 up to $5,000.

STELLANTIS FINED FOR FCA’S DIESEL CHEATING
The Justice Department is hammering FCA, now part of Stellantis, with a huge fine for installing defeat devices for diesel engines. Stellantis agreed to plead guilty to criminal conduct and will pay a $300 million fine for cheating on the diesel emission regulations. The investigation involved more than 100,000 Jeeps and Ram pickups built between 2014 and 2016.

FORD, TESLA LEAD THE RECALL PARADE
Lucid has to recall all its cars. There’s a problem with the wiring of its big center screen. But it’s not alone. The entire auto industry has a big problem with recalls. The Wall Street Journal reports that Ford has recalled the most vehicles this year. Tesla is in second place, which is surprising, because it has built so many fewer cars. Even so, Tesla can fix most of its problems with over the air updates. Other automakers that have had big recalls this year include General Motors, Hyundai and Kia, BMW, Nissan and Toyota. Recalls are very disruptive for automakers, and when they come in the middle of a chip shortage and soaring prices for raw materials, it’s even worse.

FORD PAIRS CO-BOT WITH DISABLED WORKER
Working in a factory can be hard on your body. There’s lots of repetitive motions and twisting and turning and over time that can take a toll. So Ford of Europe installed a co-bot to work with one of its long-time employees who developed shoulder and wrist issues, to see if that could help. That employee, Dietmar Brauner, who works at Ford’s engine plant in Cologne, Germany, had to press two camshaft caps into the cylinder head and bolt them into place. But pressing the caps into the head caused him pain. So now the co-bot presses the caps in place and Dietmar only has to use a nut runner to tighten them up. Co-bots are robots that are designed to work with humans and will instantly stop if the worker gets in the robot’s path. Ford declared the 18-month trial a success and says this shows that people with disabilities or reduced mobility can take manufacturing jobs without the need for protective devices.

A programming note before we go. There will not be an Autoline After Hours show this afternoon, and Autoline Daily will also be off the air on Monday as we all celebrate Memorial Day.

But that the end of today’s show. Thanks for joining us.