AD #3640 – Tesla Highland Makes Official Debut; UAW’s Shawn Fain Accuses D3 Of Bulls**t; Kia Outsells Hyundai In U.S.

  

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

UAW’S SHAWN FAIN ACCUSES D3 OF BULLS**T
Better fasten your seatbelts, there’s a lot of labor turbulence ahead. Last night, UAW President Shawn Fain accused the Detroit Three of not bargaining in good faith. In fact, the union filed unfair labor charges against GM and Stellantis with the NLRB, the National Labor Relations Board. Fain is using videos on Facebook and YouTube to vent his anger and to use his own words, he’s getting “pissed off.” This clip will give you an idea of the kinds of things the UAW president is saying, but watch out. Some of the language in not-safe-for-work

“UAW families, I know this update is infuriating and believe me when I say I’m fed up. And one thing I want to tell you is, this trash can is overflowing with the bullshit that the Big Three continue to peddle.”

Stellantis said it was shocked by the charges. General Motors said it was surprised. And both of them said they would vigorously defend themselves against the filing. Ford issued a detailed rebuttal to Fain’s accusations, saying its proposal would raise wages and bonuses from the $78,000 that workers earn now, including all benefits, to $92,000 in the first year of the contract. One thing’s for sure, this is all going to get a lot uglier the closer we get to September 14, which is when the current contract expires. And that’s only two weeks away.

BIDEN ADMIN DELIVERS VICTORY TO UAW
Meanwhile, Shawn Fain’s saber rattling is getting results in Washington DC. The UAW has withheld its endorsement of President Joe Biden’s bid for re-election, saying the administration needed to do more to protect union workers in the transition to electric vehicles. So yesterday, DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced it was making $12 billion available to automakers to convert existing plants to make EVs as long as they had collective bargaining agreements, or pay high wages. Another $3.5 billion will be available to make EV batteries as long as it’s done in communities with a long history of making cars with high wages. In other words, it will be a lot easier to get that money for automakers with unionized workforces, which only includes GM, Ford and Stellantis.    

HYUNDAI/KIA ADD $2B TO U.S. EV INVESTMENT
Even so, no doubt the non-union automakers are going to try and get some of that money anyway. Hyundai/Kia announced that they’re investing another $2 billion in their EV battery plant in Georgia. That brings H/K’s total EV investment in Georgia to $7.5 billion and will create an estimated 8,500 jobs.  

TESLA HIGHLAND MAKES OFFICIAL DEBUT
Well, Tesla’s Highland finally made its official debut. That’s the refreshed version of the Model 3. But so far, it’s only available in Europe and China. Styling-wise it’s a mild refresh, with a nose job and some minor changes to the rear lighting. Those new looks help improve aerodynamics, which is part of the reason the range increased by 10-12%. According to CarNewsChina, the new rear-drive Model 3 features a 194 kW or 264 horsepower electric motor and has a range of 606 kilometers or 376 miles on the Chinese test cycle. The AWD car is said to have 331 kW or 450 horsepower and 713 kilometers or 443 miles of range. As for the interior. The stalks were removed from the steering wheel, like we previously reported, the seats are nicer, it’s quieter, rear seat passengers get a display screen and the front screen is said to be able to tilt. Previous reports suggested the refreshed Model 3 would start around $27,500 in China, but pre-sales kicked off with a starting price of roughly $36,000 for the rear-drive model and about $41,000 for AWD.

TESLA CUTS FSD BY $3,000
But that wasn’t the only big Tesla news. It’s slashing the price of FSD in North America. It’s now listed at $12,000 in the U.S. which is $3,000 cheaper. Almost exactly a year ago Tesla raised the price of FSD to $15,000. In Canada, the price was cut by $3,500 Canadian dollars. Even so, the subscription cost for FSD still remains $199/month.

TESLA CUTS S & X PRICES 15-20%
Tesla also cut the price of the Model S & X by roughly 15-20% in most of the world. The big news here is that it drops the price of the Model X below $80,000 in the U.S., which allows it to qualify for the full federal tax credit. 

KIA OUTSELLS HYUNDAI IN U.S.
Well, it finally happened. Kia outsold Hyundai in the U.S. market in August and not just by a little. Hyundai’s sales were up 1.1% last month to over 65,000 units while Kia’s sales shot up 9.2% to more than 72,000 vehicles. Kia once sold half of what Hyundai did in the U.S., but it’s been closing the gap every year with a good-looking lineup of cars. The people at Kia have earned the right to pop the champagne corks.

JLR TO USE GREEN FREIGHT TRUCKS
Automakers aren’t just focused on making their vehicles more environmentally friendly, they’re also working to make their entire operations more sustainable. Jaguar Land Rover announced it will significantly cut emissions from its freight trucks in the UK by replacing them with 220 trucks that run on battery power or biogas. It’s collaborating with DHL to make the transition and the new fleet will be fully operational by April of next year. JLR will also use larger trailers to transport goods to reduce weekly travel and CO2 emissions. It says this will reduce its overall road freight vehicle emissions in the UK by 84%, saving more than 8,400 metric tons of carbon annually.

MINI UNVEILS NEW EVs
MINI had a couple of big reveals. It showed off the all-new Cooper and Countryman, which are available as all-electric models. Let’s start with the Cooper, whose styling is not a far departure from the previous model, but overall, we think the edges are a little more rounded and the grille is more closed off because it’s electric. The interior is somewhat minimal, retaining the theme of a round center screen as well as a few buttons and toggle switches, but the display can be changed to a number of different looks and MINI really stepped up the amount of ambient lighting. There will be two EV power outputs available at first. The Cooper E has 135 kW or 184 horsepower and will do 0-100 km/h in 7.3 seconds, while the Cooper SE gets a 160 kW or 218 horsepower electric motor and will do 0-100 in 6.7 seconds. A nearly 41 kWh battery pack in the E provides 305 kilometers or 189 miles on the WLTP cycle and the SE has 402 kilometers or 249 miles of range with a 54-kWh battery. Gas engines will also be available. Now let’s shift to the Countryman, which is growing in size. MINI went with a more rugged design than the Cooper. The lines are crisp and fenders become more defined. But the interior theme is very much the same as the Cooper. The Countryman also gets a range of gas engines, but it’s available as a BEV as well. The base E model has 150 kW or 204 horsepower while the AWD version has 230 kW or 313 horsepower. It will come with a roughly 66.5 kWh battery pack that will return 462 kilometers or 287 miles of range in the single-motor and 433 kilometers or 269 miles of range in the dual motor. Production of both should start later this year, the Countryman in Germany and the Cooper in China.

But that brings us to the end of today’s show and this week. And a quick note, we’ll be off on Monday for the Labor Day holiday, and I hope you have a great weekend.