Follow us on social media:
Runtime: 8:53
0:00 Ford Developing Compact EV Truck & SUV
1:32 UAW Ready for Union Vote at VW
2:28 Fisker Stops Production, Almost Out of Money
3:07 U.S. DOE Gives Automakers a CAFE Break
4:22 Gotion Sues Michigan Township Over Battery Plant
5:18 Chinese OEMs Sign Up for Newest NVIDIA Computer
6:19 Bentley Delays EVs, Pushes PHEVs
7:22 NIO Opens Solar Powered Battery Swapping Station
7:45 GM Plans Huge Ultium Growth This Year
Visit our sponsor to thank them for their support of Autoline Daily: Bridgestone and Intrepid Control Systems.
This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
IS THIS FORD’S ELECTRIC MAVERICK?
The need for more affordable vehicles is causing Ford to make some key shifts. Last month CEO Jim Farley revealed the automaker created a top secret skunk works program to develop an EV platform that significantly slashes cost. And Alan Clarke, the person who led engineering of the Tesla Model Y, is heading up the program. According to Bloomberg, his team is less than 100 people and the first models will debut in late 2026, priced around $25,000. There’s going to be a compact electric truck and SUV and possibly another vehicle that could be used for ride-hailing. The Maverick has been a surprise hit for Ford, so a compact electric truck makes sense. And small SUVs are one of the fastest growing segments. But a ride-hailing car is a surprise and we wonder how big Ford’s plans could be? Remember, GM CEO Mary Barra thinks Cruise could generate $50 billion a year in revenue by 2030. Jim Farley says he wants the new models to turn a profit within the first year of hitting the market, so it’ll do things like use LFP batteries, which are about 30% cheaper than traditional lithium batteries. With its focus on more affordable EVs, Ford is delaying plans for a pricier 3-row electric SUV.
UAW READY FOR UNION VOTE AT VW
The UAW says it’s ready to rumble at Volkswagen’s U.S. assembly plant in Tennessee. The union claims a supermajority of the plant’s 4,000 workers signed cards saying they want to be represented by the United Auto Workers. And so it filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to hold an election there. The union lost a vote there in 2019 when 52% of the workers voted against the union. Only 1,600 workers voted in that election. Now comes the tricky part for the union. Workers will often sign a card saying they’re in favor of a union, just to get union organizers to stop pestering them. Then, when they vote in secret at the ballot box, they vote against the union. But this time could be different, and everyone in the U.S. auto industry will be waiting with anticipation to see the results of the vote.
FISKER STOPS PRODUCTION, ALMOST OUT OF MONEY
Fisker is in serious trouble. The company has practically run out of money, it stopped production of the Ocean SUV, and it says there’s “substantial doubt” that it can continue with raising more capital. The company started shipping vehicles last year and built roughly 10,000 units. But it still has about 5,000 in inventory and we’ve seen reports of quality problems and other software issues. Fisker says it’s trying to raise $150 million, but we think it would need more like a billion dollars or someone to take it over to have any chance of surviving.
U.S. DOE GIVES OEM’S A CAFE BREAK
The U.S. Department of Energy is giving automakers a break. It’s expected to announce revised fuel economy rules today that will give car companies more time to adjust to the stricter standards. It originally proposed to lower the fuel economy equivalency of electric vehicles by 72% in 2027, which the Detroit automakers warned would result in fines of $10.5 billion for not complying with the standards. Instead the DOE will reduce the fuel economy ratings through 2030 by 65% in total, to give companies more time to adjust. And in another win for automakers, the EPA is expected to issue revised emissions rules that will soften the requirements of its original proposal. However, the easing of the standards is front loaded, and by 2032 they’re expected to be as strict as the original proposal.
GOTION SUES MICHIGAN TOWNSHIP OVER BATTERY PLANT
Chinese battery maker Gotion is suing a township in Michigan where it wants to build a plant. Township board members voted to prevent extending the city’s water supply to the plant’s location, even though the township already entered a contract to provide that water. A year and a half ago, the company, and state officials announced plans to build the $2.4 billion plant. But there was local opposition to the construction due to tax incentives used for the project and concerns over Gotion’s alleged ties to the Chinese government, which the company has denied. Last year, five members of the township’s board who approved the project were recalled by voters and another two resigned. And it’s the new board members who are trying to prevent the plant’s construction. So Gotion is filing a lawsuit to get the township to honor the contract that was originally signed.
CHINESE OEMS SIGN UP FOR NEWEST NVIDIA COMPUTER
NVIDIA, which makes some of the most powerful computer chips in the world, and has a market cap of $2.2 trillion, came out with a new centralized computer for cars called Drive Thor, and it signed up a slew of automakers and autonomous mobility providers who want to use it. All the automakers are Chinese. BYD, Xpeng, Li Auto, Zeekr and Hyper will begin using the generative AI compute system when it comes out next year. NVIDIA says Drive Thor is perfect for “feature-rich cockpit capabilities, and highly automated and autonomous driving.” It can perform 1,000 teraflops of processing per second. Keep in mind that a high-end gaming consoles has about 13 teraflops. If you wanted to know why Chinese automakers are on the leading edge of technology, this is a good example. NVIDIA is based in Silicon Valley, while its chips are made by TSMC in Taiwan.
BENTLEY DELAYS BEVs, PUSHES PHEVs
Bentley is tapping the brakes on its transition to electric cars. First off, it’s delaying the sales of its first BEV by two years until 2027, which the company blames on technical difficulties with software development. Since Bentley is part of the Volkswagen Group, that sounds like another Cariad victim to us. But Bentley is also backtracking on its commitment to go all electric by 2030, and will put more emphasis on plug-in hybrids instead. But its main competitor, Rolls Royce, already has its all-electric coupe, the Spectre, on sale and Rolls says it’s still committed to going all-electric by 2030. One factor in Bentley’s delay is that its sales, revenue and profit fell last year. Sales fell 11%, revenue dropped 13%, and profits came in 17% lower. CEO Adrian Hallmark blamed rising interest rates. He said customers who were leasing their cars saw the cost of their monthly payments triple.
NIO OPENS SOLAR POWERED BATTERY SWAPPING STATION
Chinese EV maker Nio opened its first solar powered battery swapping station in China. The station’s power modules achieve a peak efficiency of 98.2% and a discharging power of 62.5-kW. The modules are also bidirectional, meaning that electricity can be shared with the power grid.
GM PLANS HUGE ULTIUM GROWTH THIS YEAR
GM plans to significantly ramp up production of its Ultium batteries and the EVs they go into. It sold fewer than 13,000 Ultium-based EVs last year. But this year it’s planning to make 200,000 to 300,000 examples or 20-times more. That would be a massive jump, but still behind previous forecasts. However, GM says that it thinks the challenges it had scaling Ulium is behind it.
And that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for tuning in.
Thanks to our partner for embedding Autoline Daily on its website: WardsAuto.com
I can’t imagine anyone willing to buy a Fisker with the company teetering on bankruptcy. They seem to be high priced low quality and if you can’t get parts in the coming years because the company goes belly up you could have an obsolete EV that you can’t sell or fix. Although I feel that way about most start-ups.
Was the Maverick, at least the hybrid really a “surprise hit” for Ford? It didn’t surprise me, with an MSRP in the low 20s, and about twice the city mpg, and 30-40% better highway mpg of any other pickup in the US market.
We’ve heard from multiple manufacturers of EV’s that would be built for 25k, with all these projections in the future. When those dates come and go, they have so far, either been cancelled or prices raised (and with most new prices, not even close to originally projected); will this one (Ford) be another. Chances are good we won’t be seeing that 25-thousand-dollar vehicle.
Ford was concerned that with the Ranger back on the market, that consumers would not embrace the Maverick in a meaningful way. It was really designed with fleets in mind as many of their customer companies said they needed a smaller truck that was less expensive to operate. Many had been buying Tacomas. So, Ford was targeting the commercial market to defend their commercial market share and was caught off guard by how many consumers really liked it, for all of the reasons you mention, Kit.
Yeah! I’m not sure how Ford was surprised by the Maverick either. Everyone has been asking for a small pickup since the death of the S-10 and Ranger. The Colorado was supposed to be the S-10 replacement but it’s the same size as a 1970s full size truck.
I haven’t forgotten about the $39,000 Cybertruck and the $39,000 Lightning. which never happened. The Model 3 is the only one that came close. If they can’t do it for almost 40K not sure how they can do it for 25K. Just sounds like a nice target that will surely be missed. Maybe stop trying to include self-driving with every EV and just make a vehicle that is reliable and affordable.
The way to make a less expensive EV is to make the vehicle smaller and/or sacrifice range. You can reduce cost a lot by using a 40 kWh battery instead of of 80 kWh. A small car with a 40 kWh battery should have ~150 miles of range, plenty for most commutes if charged overnight. A car like that should be able to sell for $25K.
The current MIni SE is ~$31K MSRP. It has very short range of only 112 miles, but has the BMW surcharge. Hyundai should be able to make a similar size car, with a little bigger battery for ~150 mile range, and sell it for $25K.
The problem with a low range EV is that regardless of price there is a very limited market for the car. Chevrolet discounted the Bolt down to below the $25k price and it sold but not in great numbers. Lots of range, decent features, reliable, ugly but look at all the people swooning over the Wooling. There is a vocal group of commentators excited about a car and anxious for someone else to risk bringing it to market. They’re not going to buy it, of course, but they’d like to dream they might.
Small inexpensive cars don’t sell in any profitable volume in America or Canada (except Quebec), and not because they aren’t worth the money. Nissan Micra? Mitsubishi Mirage? Not great but small and cheap and sales dead. What can you expect for a micro econobug?
The very short range Mini SE has actually sold fairly well, and was the best selling Mini model in 2023 at 45,261 units. It is certainly a niche product, though, and nearly all of them would be second, third, or fourth cars.
I think that’s 45,261 global sales for the Mini BEV, not many.
Maverick would have been a bigger hit if they could have actually produced them in numbers large enough to supply the demand. Some people waited a year or more for their truck. . Then because of low supply Dealers were raping customers with well over sticker for those dumb enough to pay it. I was seeing trucks with under 1000 miles selling for 1000s over MSRP new.
Lambo even the Maverick isn’t a real compact. It’s nearly the same in size to my 1998 F150 Regular cab short bed . 1998 F150 119.9 WB 202.2 L 79.5 W72.7 H Maverick 121.1 WB 199.7 L 72.5 W 68.7 H So what I lose in seats I gain in bed volume. . But the calling it a compact is a myth. The Ford Courier was a compact truck 101.4 WB 172 L 67 W 61 H. Tiny compared to these behemoths today.
XA351GT, yep, the Maverick is longer and wider than the late “large sedan” Chrysler 300, and is almost 11 inches wider than a second generation Chevy S10. The Maverick is also 7 inches taller than an S10.
Maybe Ford is limiting production of Maverick to help the dealers, so they can charge over MSRP, as Toyota seems to be doing with Sienna and Prius.
I posted on here before but I have a friend that bought a Maverick when they first came out. Two years later a local dealership called him and offered him $3000 over what he paid for it. The dealership took it back with 24,000 miles and two years old so I can only imagine what the second owner paid for it. I rode in it a couple times and it seemed nice enough but not 30K used nice.
Lambo, are all Mavericks going for more than MSRP, or just hybrids? I can’t see any particular reason to buy the non-hybrid. It gets barely better mpg than Ranger, Taco, et. al., and isn’t that much smaller. Also, doesn’t Maverick have a shorter bed than any of the others, except the Hyundai Santa Cruz?
Kit- I don’t work in sales so I have no idea, but I just know of this one instance where a dealership paid 3 k more over the original transaction price to get the vehicle back and sell it. Which just tells me that someone paid way too much for a used truck.
I’m not sure if his was even a hybrid.