AD #3756 – Tesla Steals More New Buyers Than Anyone Else; Yanfeng Makes Seating Cheaper; Isetta-Like EV Could Come to U.S.

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

ITALY ROLLS OUT WELCOME MAT FOR BYD
While many European countries are concerned about Chinese EV imports, they have no problem with Chinese companies building vehicles in the EU. Bloomberg reports that BYD has been contacted by the Italian government to manufacture vehicles in the country. Fiat is the only major automaker that builds vehicles in Italy and the government wants to lure another automaker to boost jobs. But BYD isn’t committing to Italy just yet. It confirmed it will open its first EU plant in Hungary and says a second EU plant will depend on its sales.

XPENG EXPANDS SALES NETWORK IN EU
And Chinese EV maker Xpeng is also looking to expand into Italy. It currently sells vehicles in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands. Later this year, it will begin selling vehicles in Germany, France and the UK and now Xpeng says Italy will be added to the list. But it didn’t say when or what models it will sell in the country.

CADILLAC NEEDS NEW MARKETS
If Cadillac really wants to grow, it needs to get into new markets. And that’s exactly what it’s doing. Cadillac sells well in China and the U.S., but it’s unlikely to dramatically grow its sales in either of those markets. And so it’s looking to Europe as its best opportunity to find more customers. It’s already selling the Lyriq in Switzerland where it retails for over $93,000 and now it’s going into France and Germany is likely to be next on the list. But rather than establish a dealer network, it’s using a direct sales model. That will reduce the time and expense of re-establishing itself in the EU market. General Motors pretty much abandoned the EU market in 2017, and it sees battery electric cars as its opportunity to go back in. This also helps explain GM’s strong interest to go into Formula One racing with Cadillac, since F1 is so popular in Europe. We estimate that Cadillac sells about 335,000 cars a year globally, with 183,000 sales in China, 150,500 in North America and about 1,500 in the rest of the world. Meanwhile, Mercedes sells about 2 million cars a year and BMW sells 2.5 million.

TESLA CONQUESTS MORE NEW BUYERS THAN ANYONE ELSE
S&P Global Mobility released its annual Automotive Loyalty Awards and General Motors and Tesla took home the top awards. GM won the Overall Loyalty to Manufacture category, while Tesla won the Overall Loyalty to Make award. And that’s a repeat for both companies. Tesla also won the Highest Conquest Percentage, Alternative Powertrain to Make and the Ethnic Market Loyalty to Make categories and those are repeat wins as well. The Lincoln Nautilus won the newly created Overall Loyalty to Model category. Overall loyalty levels in the industry had declined the past several years but in 2023 it was up 0.8% to 51%. And S&P says it increased thanks to improved inventory levels, new products and unique marketing initiatives.

102 KWH BATTERY 10-80% CHARGE UNDER 11 MINUTES
Charging an EV battery can almost be as fast as filling up a tank of gas now. Chinese automaker Li Auto has demonstrated real-world sessions of its new Mega van charging from 10-80% in under 11 minutes, adding 500 kilometers or about 310 miles of range in that time. But it takes a lot of power to charge that fast. Thanks to the Mega van’s 800-volt electronic architecture and 102 kWh Qilin battery pack from CATL, charging power peaked at over 521 kW. For comparison a Tesla Supercharger tops out around 250 kW and the fastest public chargers in the U.S. are around 350 kW. So, to make sure its customers get the best charging experience, Li Auto also plans to build out its own charging network. And each site will have at least one 480 kW charger. It currently has about 350 charging spots in China, but wants to increase that to 2,000 before the end of the year and 10,000 by the end of 2025.

HYUNDAI GROUP DOMINATES SAFETY AWARDS
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is making it harder for vehicles to earn its Top Safety Pick Plus and Top Safety Pick awards. The organization updated its test to evaluate back seat safety and revised its requirements for pedestrian crash avoidance systems. But despite the tougher criteria 71 models qualified for the awards, 22 received the Top Safety Pick Plus, while the rest earned a Top Safety Pick. The Hyundai Group, including Kia and Genesis, had the most with 16, followed by Toyota and Lexus with 13. And Mazda had the most Top Safety Pick Plus awards of any brand with 5.

YANFENG’S LOW-COST SEAT MODULE
That price war in China that kicked off over a year ago looks like it’s starting to spread to other parts of the world. And unless automakers figure out how to cut the cost of making their cars, any price cuts are going to come right out of their profit margins. The best way to cut costs is to come up with clever designs that are cheaper to make. Here’s Yanfeng’s idea for a low-cost seat module. The frame, foam and covers, seat backs, headrests, floor tray and console all get assembled as one unit that goes into a car. The center console houses a display screen mounted on a gooseneck stanchion, where the screen also doubles as the steering wheel. We think it’s likely the whole module lends itself to automated assembly to further bring down costs. Yanfeng is just showing this concept to automakers, so it’s probably still a number of years away from production.

CHEAP JEEP IN EU ADDS AWD
Did you know Jeep has a model without AWD or 4X4? Up until now the Jeep Avenger, which is a compact crossover it sells in Europe, only powered its front wheels. But it’s launching a new 4xe version that customers can order by the end of the year. The system pairs the Avenger’s 1.2L 3-cylinder engine, which features 48-volt mild hybrid technology, with two 21 kW or 28 horsepower electric motors and a 6-speed automatic transmission. Not only will the system provide more traction, the Avenger 4xe is capable of driving solely on electric power. And just for a little extra info on the Avenger. It’s also available as an ICE and pure electric model and its platform, which is also used for the Fiat 600e and new Lancia Ypsilon, was developed with its Chinese joint venture partner Dongfeng.

MICROLINO EYES U.S. MARKET
The Microlino, which is like an all-electric modern-day version of the Isetta, could be coming to the U.S. Regular viewers of this show will know that we’ve been following this cute little electric ever since we first laid eyes on it at the Geneva auto show in 2021. The company has already started selling some versions in Europe that cost around $13,000. But it’s coming out with a new, less powerful model that it would like to have in the U.S. before the end of the year. The Microlino Lite is limited to 45 km/h or 28 MPH, which means it could qualify as a neighborhood vehicle, like all those golf carts in Florida. In Europe, the Microlino Lite can be leased for about $170 a month for 2 years.

BYD SEAGULL: THE EV EVERYONE WANTS TO BENCHMARK
While the Cybertruck is grabbing all the headlines these days, the auto industry is actually a lot more interested in a car at the other end of the spectrum, the BYD Seagull. That’s because this compact electric car comes very nicely equipped with a retail price in China of only $11,500. Even though it doesn’t meet U.S. crash standards, the Seagull has stunned auto executives with its level of execution and low price. So how did BYD pull this off? Well, we just got a chance to test drive the car, and Terry Woychowski, the president of Caresoft, pointed out one of the reasons why BYD’s costs are so low.

John McElroy: “Another interesting thing here, the headlamps. Made in-house! And that’s one of the secrets to BYD, right? They’re very vertically integrated.

Terry Woychowski: “I think that’s the secret sauce, to be honest with you. It’s incredibly vertically integrated. When you look at the car in totality, you know, it starts with the batteries, LFP and blade batteries. They make them. They make a million cell phone batteries, may as well make batteries for the car, and leverage your expertise in making these batteries. The electric motor, made by BYD. These headlamps, you can see their logo in the lamp, which is a very attractive lamp by the way. The front fascia, made in-house. The rear fascia, made in-house. The door trim panels, made in-house. The IP (instrument panel) is made by BYD. The console is made by BYD. So, all these things you’d typically have a supply base for in the loop. But they’re also in the value chain. They have their own pricing and markup and margin and such things. But here, they’ve integrated that all.”

By the way, you can watch that entire video on our website or our YouTube Channel.

But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for making Autoline a part of your day.