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Runtime: 11:16
0:00 UAW Contracts Will Likely Be Approved
1:13 ChargePoint Launching 500 kW Chargers
2:10 Only EVs on Track for Net-Zero
3:44 Hyundai Gives the IONIQ 5 the “N” Treatment
4:56 Genesis Adds Another SUV to Its U.S. Lineup
5:48 Ford Gives Owners Fast Feedback Tech
6:49 Toyota & Redwood Expand Partnership to Material Supply
7:22 Chinese EV Goes with Gullwing Doors
8:33 Domino’s Creates Pizza Delivery E-Bike
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
UAW CONTRACT LIKELY APPROVED
Yesterday we wondered if UAW president Shawn Fain had raised member’s expectations too high, but it looks like some of the angst over the UAW contract is finally coming to an end. Yesterday, workers at GM’s Arlington, Texas plant approved the contract by nearly 61%. And that boosted the overall “yes” votes at GM to nearly 54%. 66% of Ford and Stellantis workers have also voted yes so far. While there are still a couple of dozen locals at the Detroit Three who have yet to vote, it looks like the new contracts are going to get approved. As if to put an exclamation point on it, workers at Mack Truck ended their 39 day strike and approved their UAW contract. And all of this is now going to free up Shawn Fain to go after the transplants and EV startups to try and organize them. So we’re curious what you all think about it. Which non-union automaker do you think the union will go after first?
CHARGEPOINT LAUNCHES 500 KW EV CHARGERS
They say that charging anxiety is the new range anxiety for EVs. So Mercedes and ChargePoint are installing new fast chargers that will at least get EVs back on the road faster. Earlier this year, Mercedes announced it’s following in Tesla’s footsteps and will open its own charging network. It just opened its first hub in the U.S. located at its North American headquarters in Georgia. The automaker partnered with ChargePoint to install 400-kW fast chargers. Mercedes will open more locations in Texas, Florida, Alabama and Georgia by the end of the year and by the end of the decade it plans to have 2,500 chargers at 400 charging hubs across North America. And they’re open to any brand. While Mercedes says the chargers deliver 400 kilowatts, ChargePoint it will have versions capable of 500 kilowatts.
EV’S THE ONLY CLIMATE SAVING TECH THAT’S ON TRACK
Of all the global efforts to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, only electric vehicles are on track to reach that goal. That’s according to a joint study from the Bezos Earth Fund and other non-profit groups, which looked at several areas including electricity, industry, transport and land. It found that measures to curb government subsidies of fossil fuels and the need for increased green steel production are lagging. The study says reforestation and cutting beef output are heading the right way but are too slow. The only area that was on track to hit net-zero carbon emissions is electric vehicle sales, which have been growing at 65% since 2018.
NACTOY JURORS JUDGE THE 2024’S
What are the best new cars, trucks and utilities that came out this year? That’s what we’ll be talking about on Autoline After Hours today. We’ll have three jurors from the North American Car Of The Year awards on the show to go through the best and worst of the model year. So join John and Gary, who are also on the NACTOY jury, when the show goes live on the new Autoline website and our YouTube channel at 3PM EST.
HYUNDAI GIVES IONIQ 5 THE “N” TREATMENT
Hyundai doesn’t think that sporty driving in an electric car is all that engaging, so its first performance EV, the IONIQ 5 N will pump an artificial mixture into the cabin of electric motor and IC engine that reacts to the drivers inputs, while also simulating the feeling of shifting gears. Some people will look down on that as being fake, but there are also a lot of real performance parts thrown at this car. It ticks the boxes for all the usual suspects, like brakes, suspension, steering, wheels and tires. But Hyundai put a lot of effort into ensuring that the IONIQ 5 N wouldn’t crap out after a few laps on the track as well. It comes with a larger 84 kWh battery pack. That pack and the motors have their own independent radiators. And the thermal management system has increased cooling area and volume, better motor oil cooling and a battery chiller. Combined its motors make nearly 480 kW or just over 600 horsepower and it will do 0-60 in about 3.5 seconds. Examples start hitting dealer showrooms in March of next year.
GENESIS ADDS ANOTHER SUV TO LINE-UP
Speaking of the Hyundai Group, Genesis announced that its first ever GV80 Coupe will be available in North America. Revealed at the New York auto show in April, the fastback SUV joins the redesigned version of the standard roof model. The exterior styling is pretty much the same as the current model, but the interior sees a new 27-inch screen that blends the infotainment screen and instrument cluster together, which also resulted in some tweaks to the dash and center console. Power will come from either a 300 horsepower turbo 4-cylinder or 3.5L twin turbo V6 that in top form pairs an additional 48V electric supercharger for 409 horsepower. Genesis says it will provide more details on the new GV80 models sometime next year.
FORD GIVES OWNERS FAST FEEDBACK TECH
Do you drive a Ford? And if you do, have you ever wanted to complain directly to the company about a problem in your car? Or even maybe give it a suggestion on how it can make its cars better? Well, Ford wants to hear from you. It now allows drivers to tap on an icon in the center screen that pulls up an app that allows you to record a 45 second message. The message is sent immediately to Ford engineers so they can get customer feedback in real time. The feedback technology also collects data logs from the car so the engineers can get a better understanding of what was going when the customers recorded their message. So far, 300,000 Ford vehicles are equipped with this feature and more will get software updates to add it. The company is also working on ways to provide instant assistance when someone has a problem. Ford has a higher level of recalls and warranty problems than other automakers and this clearly is a way to try and fix that.
REDWOOD TO RECYCLE TOYOTA’S EV BATTERIES
Toyota and EV battery recycler Redwood Materials are expanding their partnership. Redwood will supply Toyota with recycled cathode active material and anode copper that the automaker will use in EV batteries produced at its new battery plant in North Carolina. The previous deal signed last year was just to recycle batteries from Toyota’s hybrids and EVs. The partnership is part of Toyota’s plan to create a closed-loop battery ecosystem to reach its goal of carbon neutrality by 2035.
CHINESE EV GOES WITH GULLWING DOORS
Hyper, a newly independent brand of Chinese automaker GAC, is taking a page out of Tesla’s book and is coming out with an all-electric SUV with rear gullwing doors. The Hyper HT is a mid-size vehicle that’s a little bit bigger than a Tesla Model Y and is RWD only with up to 340 horsepower and 770 kilometers or nearly 480 miles of range. The model is just hitting the Chinese market now with a starting price a little under $30,000 but the gullwing doors are only available on the top two trims, which starts at just under $40,000. Automakers have largely avoided gullwing doors because they add heavy structure to the roof and can be hard to seal. While Hyper is clearly copying Tesla, Tesla certainly wasn’t the first with gullwings. The look was pioneered by the Mercedes 300 SL in the early 50’s and the next most well-known application is probably the DeLorean. But also let us know some of your favorite gullwing models.
DOMINO’S PIZZA DELIVERY E-BIKE
Domino’s is always coming out with unique vehicles to deliver pizza. In the past, it partnered with Ford and Nuro to deliver food with autonomous vehicles and it teamed up with Chevy to make custom-built delivery vehicles based on the Spark and Bolt. And now it’s coming out with a custom-made electric bike that has a built-in pizza warmer on the back. It’s temperature controlled and stays at a constant 68 degrees Celsius or 154 degrees Fahrenheit. The bike also has what Domino’s calls a “space-age suspension” to make sure the pizza doesn’t get jostled around too much. But you won’t be seeing it in the U.S. anytime soon. The e-bike was created by Domino’s international, which has stores in Australia, Asia and Europe.
But that’s a wrap for today. Thanks for joining us.
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Gullwing production cars? Don’t forget the 1974-76 Bricklin SV-1 and 1993-1994 Autozam AZ-1/Suzuki Cara.
Sean,
Did Mack increase their offer during the strike? I recall that Fain and the UAW Mack team announced they had fought hard and gotten a great new offer and then the workers voted it down. So, after that, did Mack improve the offer or did the workers simply come around to the offer already on the table after a 39 day strike?
Thanks for the great coverage of these fascinating negotiations!
GM Veteran
Between the Mercedes 300 SL in the early 50’s and the DeLorean 1981 – 1983, you missed the Bricklin 1974 – 1976.
My vote is for the UAW to go after VW again. They probably view that plant as their best first opportunity. However, I predict that they will be no more successful than before. The fact that the contract votes are not landslides and the Mack strike suggest that the workers as a whole have a tepid view of the success of Team Fain. Workers at the transplants and EV plants may very well interpret that as a reason not to vote for a union. “If their current workers are not that happy, why should we join?”
I think if they add up ‘all’ the resources required to produce, maintain, recycle and reuse electric vehicles, I think “net zero” may be further than the speculated date (and closer to what already exists for ICE vehicles). It depends on what you measure, what your electricity source is, what extra facilities were built to produce the BEV’s and other esoteric considerations, i.e., windfarms that have to replace (non-recyclable blades) every 15 to 20 years, solar panels, at 25, is better but still a consideration. Not saying to ‘can’ BEV, just present it truthfully (not Autoline; the ‘experts’ and the media). Just saying, I could be wrong (but I’m willing to learn). 😀
And I’m still scratching my head; what on earth do the UAW workers want? I can’t believe the percentages of non-approval (there’s always going to be some, but close to fifty/fifty). Wow!
WOW! A study commissioned by the Bezos Earth fund found that despite everyone trying to reach a net-zero carbon emission by 2050 EV’s were the only ones on track. I’m sure that study isn’t biased at all. 😉
I wonder how Elon feels about the GAC SUV (Chinese model Y knock-off)? Well, that’s what you get when you deal with the Chinese.
I wonder if the Ford feedback feature will allow transmission both ways. Otherwise, how are owners to know if the feedback is actually read or just going into a dumpster? They could get more feedback than they expected.
Would there be any point in trying to unionize factories in South Carolina, Alabama, and other “right to work” states where people wouldn’t have to pay dues? What’s in it for the union? They could try to organize Tesla in Fremont, but that would only result in them moving what’s there to Texas.
I like and applaud the feedback mechanism Ford is providing to its owners. I think it will be beneficial to the engineers and help to get Ford back to Quality being Job 1. I think it would be great to add a feedback mechanism to the marketing and product planning departments. It might provide more direct and faster feedback on product features and benefits. For example, it would be great if they stopped packaging sunroofs into the higher level trims. Many people don’t want them but can’t get the vehicle without them if they want a nicely equipped car. It’s like throwing away $1,200 to $1,500 as you hope that you never have leaking problems while you own the car. Or that their owners would prefer to have three levels of heat in their heated seats instead of just two. (Are you listening Stellantis?)
Hasn’t it generally been determined that gull wing doors are stupid, since they are heavy, leaky, structurally bad, and you can’t open them in most garages or parking places?
GM Veteran, I ran into something interesting when I ordered my Mini in April last year. A sunroof was “standard.” You could delete it on an ordered car, but the price was the same. I didn’t particularly want the sunroof, but I’d expect the car to be much better for resale with the roof, so I ordered the car with it.
I’m a bit partial to the Coyote X from the 83-86 TV show Harcastle and McCormick for a set of Gullwing doors.
That was actually a Manta Montage kit car modeled after the 1968 McLaren M6A. I wanted one so bad back in the day.
Gullwings don’t work so great in the Midwest anyway. They can freeze shut with allot more doors seal and you really need to make sure you clear the snow off the roof before opening the doors or it ends up on the seats. I saw some videos of the Model Y in prototype fashion and opening the rear doors in the rain dumped it inside. I’m sure that’s been resolved but they have their downsides.
Kit, In addition to those things, they limit ingress as you have to be shorter than the door to get into it. Then there is the issue of opening a gull wing during a roll over. Something Mercedes had to find a solution for by using exploding bolts during a rollover so that the door would fling open mid crash. Tesla got around that by having the doors on the rear position so that it evaded the roll over protection requirement as the front doors are conventional and passengers are expected to exit via the front doors in an emergency.
In the end though, Gull wing doors are fascinating. My preferred door styles are: 1) Butterfly opening doors of the Toyota Sera & Mauck MSX & Mclaren F1. 2) Scissor door from Lamborghini. 3) Gullwing doors. 4) Disappearing pocket doors of the Kaiser Darrin. 5) Sliding van doors. 6) My least favorite are traditional opening doors LOL.
Like others have said, I think that Hyundai and Kia are the most likely targets for UAW organization (although maybe not the first), because of their labor rates and number of safety and other workplace complaints to US government agencies like OSHA.
I like sliding doors. They’d be good on a small, boxy 2-door car, like a 2-door version of a first generation Scion xB.
The Ford in-vehicle feedback option is now available on Mach-E, some Lightnings and ICE F-150’s, Edge and Expedition. It will be rolled out next year on a total of 11 vehicles. No two way communication for now. I think this is a great feature.
I suspect the UAW will target Hyundai/Kia and Tesla. Then, M-B and BMW, despite the Right-To-Work locations.
Kit,
You would probably like the Peugot 1007. It is a small car with sliding doors. I am not so sure that the europeans warmed up to it though. I think it was eliminated in the next generation. Maybe our european commentors could speak on if they liked the small car sliding door idea. Top Gear did not like it, but that is hardly surprising as it was not a supercar.
Drew, would more than a handful of people voluntarily pay union dues in “right to work” states if they’d get the same benefits without paying?
MERKUR, I haven’t been to Europe since 2012, but haven’t bigger vehicles started taking over the market? I’ll look up the Peugeot 1007.
Looks like the Peugeot 2007 didn’t go over well. It lasted only 2004-2009. It was really small, 5 inches shorter than a Mini 2 door.
What percentage of the workers have to approve the contract for it to be ratified?
That’s Peugeot 1007. What happened to the edit function?
My predictions for NACTOY.
Car, Accord. I’d say the Prius, except for the strange instrument arrangement John mentioned in AAH, and I’ve read about otherwise.
Truck, Ford “super duty.” Only a handful of people have any use for it, but it sounds like they did a very good job of designing for what those few need.
Utility, EX30. The price is right, and it will be a nice commuter for those with home charging. Both Hyundais have poor range, in today’s market.
I suspect I would have voted for a number of different “finalists” than the 9 that emerged. I’m not a professional journalist, though, so am not on the jury.
Regarding the Peugeot 1007, I actually saw one this week – only noticed it when the door slid closed. It’s still pretty fresh-looking, but tiny even for Europe. Come to think of it, France has an entire category of minicars that make the 1007 look big.
Sliding doors just never caught on, and I suspect even making them electric may not help, which is strange. Parking lots here can be very cramped. I remember the trouble getting in and out of an original Smart, which is probably the narrowest car I’ve ever driven (plus the original Mini?), except that it had giant, annoying doors.
The Smart had a terrible transmission, compounded by the absence of torque. I bet the WuLing Mini EV is far more grownup and relaxed to drive.
Oh, I forgot the delightful Diahatsu Copen roadster. A tiny Kei-car engine, but so much fun to drive!
Kit :
Michigan became a Right to Work state in 2012 and has a pretty high percentage of workers that still participate in the various unions. A recent study showed 71% of union members oppose repealing it. However, Michigan also has a Democratic Govenor that just recently got the right to work repealed and it takes effect in March of 2024. She did it in conjunction with also allowing the union special privileges enabling them to bankroll political campaigns with subsidized union dues. So, she made it a requirement of employment again and she can receive unlimited funds from the unions. Hum no secret what’s going on there.
The legislation will repeal right-to-work for private sector workers, enable unions to spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns and make union dues eligible for a 100% refundable tax credit. The combination of repealing right to work and enabling unlimited campaign contributions from unions, with union dues subsidized by taxpayers, creates a cycle in which workers’ money is used to support Democrats and Democrats turn around and lavish tax revenues on their labor allies. However, in 2018 the supreme court ruled that you cannot make joining the union a condition of employment. So, you have always had the option to opt out. You still have to pay a service fee but not dues while still receiving the benefits.
Knowing the UAW historically supports the Democratic party the Southern plants might have less luck getting members to join and they will take advantage of the right to work option. Unless governors in those states pull a similar move as Govenor Whitmer did in Michigan.
To my knowledge, UAW members in Indiana still have to pay dues, even though it is a “right to work” state. I guess there is a lot of nuance in what “right to work” means.
Sean, I drove a Smart when they first sold them in the US, and the transmission reminded me of a manual transmission driven by someone very unskilled at driving a manual transmission.
Just saw an article that the NHTSA is recommending 17 manufacturers to install speed limiting devises on all vehicles to prevent tragedies like what happened in Vegas where this guy was drunk and had PCP in his system crashed at 100mph killing a family of 5 in a car he struck and him and his passenger.
Whether the vehicle will actually limit the speed or provide some type of audible or haptic response to the driver when speeding is still up in the air. I assume there will also be some tolerance to some speeding allowing the vehicle to go maybe 5 or 10 over before triggering an alarm. Who knows.