AD #3509 – Ferrari Purosangue Pricing; Germany Needs More EV Chargers; China Car Imports Plummeting

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

GERMANY NEEDS MORE EV CHARGERS
If EVs are ever going to replace ICE vehicles there needs to be a strong nationwide network of charging stations. The shortfall of stations is well known in the US, but it’s also a problem in Germany. Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz are urging the German government to do a lot more. The government already pledged to spend $6.7 billion on new chargers, but apparently, automakers like Mercedes don’t consider that enough to get to 100% EVs by 2030.  

CHINA CAR IMPORTS PLUMMETING
China is exporting record numbers of cars at the same time that imports are plummeting. It only imported 768,000 vehicles in 2022, down 18% from the year before. The top 10 importing companies are all European and Japanese, led by Lexus, Mercedes, Porsche and BMW. However, ultra-luxury brands like Ferrari and Rolls-Royce saw a healthy 7% increase in sales. Domestic Chinese automakers continue to come out with well-designed cars that are challenging the established Western and Japanese players, which is a key reason why imports are falling.

 

HONGQI E202 IS GOOD LOOKING EV
A good example of the kind of product China is turning out these days is the Hongqi E202. It’s only a concept, but it’s a harbinger of things to come. It has an 800-volt architecture with swappable batteries and will use CATL’s newest Qilin batteries. Hongqi claims that with 5 minutes of charging you can get 300 kilometers of range, or about 186 miles. It also offers 22 kilowatt wireless charging. Other notable features are a roof-mounted lidar for autonomous driving and cameras mounted on the doors instead of side view mirrors. It will go on sale in China next year and also get exported to Europe. 

VW PUTS CHINESE NATIONAL IN CHARGE IN CHINA
Volkswagen is putting a Chinese executive in charge of its joint venture operations in China with SAIC. Jia Jianxu is a 20-year industry veteran, who most recently was running Yanfeng, the interiors supplier. This is a smart move for VW to hire a Chinese exec to run its Chinese operations. VW is still the largest car company in China, but it’s losing ground fast. A Chinese exec should help keep the company more in tune with what Chinese consumers want. And as tensions between China and the West keep heating up, having a Chinese national in charge gives VW some political cover.

FERRARI PUROSANGUE PRICING
We now have a price tag for Ferrari’s first SUV, the Purosangue. The company confirmed to Road and Track that it will cost just under $400,000, including a $5,000 destination charge. Owners may have to shell out even more, because we don’t know if the Purosangue will be hit with a gas guzzler tax yet. However, I bet that will be of little concern to customers when they’re ripping the 715 horsepower 6.5L V12 from 0-100 km/h in 3.3 seconds.

VW BRINGING EV IN-HOUSE
Due to that dang chip shortage Volkswagen and Audi had to stop making certain EVs with heat pumps and instead equip them with resistive heaters, which eat up more battery range. So, we’re not at all surprised to hear that Volkswagen is bringing development of thermal management systems in-house. It’s working on an all-in-one module that is more compact, lighter and will control the entire HVAC system as well as the battery, which VW expects to have a big impact on range and charging. It also says it’s bringing development in-house of what it calls “the brain of the electric drivetrain” or the pulse inverter. It’s redesigning the hardware and software from the ground up and will see the new inverter first used on its MEB+ platform. It claims it will be applied to everything from entry-level models to sports cars with over 500 kW or 670 horsepower.

RENAULT WANTS AUTONATION FOR U.S. SALES
Renault is planning to bring Alpine, its sports car brand, to North America, but how will they sell them? Automotive News reports that the company is in talks with AutoNation to sell Alpines at its dealerships. The talks are still preliminary and nothing is official yet but it makes sense from Renault’s perspective as it would give them a national distribution network overnight. Alpine currently only has one model in its lineup, the A110 sports coupe but it plans to add two crossovers. The smaller one will be about the same size as a Porsche Macan and the larger one will be around the size of a Cayenne. But those crossovers won’t launch in North America until 2028, so Alpine has time to figure out where and when it wants to sell them.

 

TESLA CHOPS CCS ADAPTER PRICE
As soon as Tesla announced it would open up its Supercharger network to non-Tesla owners, we started seeing reports of worried Tesla owners, concerned that their charging experience is going to be impacted. Well, maybe to help soothe some of those concerts, Tesla dropped the price of its CCS adapter from $250 down to $175. And I bet this becomes a popular item among Tesla owners. They can still charge at Supercharger stations or use the adaptor anywhere else.

ASTON MARTIN WANTS TO WORK WITH LUCID
Aston Martin is struggling financially and so is Lucid Motors. One thing they have in common is that the Saudi Public Investment Fund has invested heavily in both companies. And it may want to get both companies to work together. Aston Martin plans to roll out all-electric models around 2027. But it needs a partner to develop them. And Lucid needs more production scale for its EV components. Chinese automaker Geely is reportedly interested in acquiring Aston, and already owns a 7.6% stake. But it’s said Aston prefers working with Lucid and the Saudis, to keep its independence.

SCHAEFFLER E-BIKE GETS RID OF CHAIN
Cargo bikes with electric assist are becoming more popular around the world for last mile delivery. The supplier Schaeffler saw so much promise in them that it designed a system that gets rid of the chain drive, and connects the pedals to a generator that feeds electricity into batteries and a rear hub motor. On top of the chain drive, this design gets rid of the gear rings, sprockets, or other mechanical drive components. And those are the components that generally need more maintenance. And it can apply to more than just cargo bikes. Schaeffler calls it Free Drive and it’s going into production right now. 

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