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Runtime: 10:03
0:00 Aston Martin Not Dropping V12 Engines
1:56 Toyota Partners with Argonne To Recycle EV Batteries
3:24 Hybrid Sales Outpace EVs In California In Q1
4:53 EVs More Expensive on Per Mile Basis Than Gas Cars
6:08 Volkswagen Offers €900 Million In Buyouts
6:40 China Launches “Cash for Clunkers” Program
7:24 Ford Launches Dealer Training Platform
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ASTON MARTIN NOT DROPPING V12 ENGINES
Aston Martin is in a state of transition. The company announced an all-new CEO in March. But Adrian Hallmark, who was previously the CEO of Bentley, is the fourth Chief Executive Officer at Aston since Chairman Lawrence Stroll took over in 2020. He comes in at a time when the company is getting ready to launch new cars, which required it to stop production of some of its older models. That shutdown and investment into new products caused Aston to post first quarter losses that were bigger than expected. Its adjusted pre-tax losses came to about $138 million, which is nearly double last year. Aston is hoping those new models, which are supposed to start rolling down the line before the end of the year, will turn around its second half and give it momentum into 2025. To help create a little extra buzz, Aston announced it’s not dropping V12 engines. Instead it’s coming out with a new V12 that will likely debut in the new Vanquish. The engine features a strengthened cylinder block and connecting rods, redesigned cylinder heads with re-profiled camshafts, new intake and exhaust ports, repositioned spark plugs, higher rate fuel injectors and higher speed, reduced inertia turbochargers. The result is 823 horsepower and 737 lb-ft of torque, which is 64 more horsepower and 73 more lb-ft of torque compared to the previous highest output version of its V12. Now the real question for Aston will be, how does it look on the other side of this transition?
TOYOTA PARTNERS WITH ARGONNE TO RECYCLE EV BATTERIES
Toyota made a number of announcements and we’ll start off with its continued development of hydrogen and fuel cell technology. It says it’s renaming its North American R&D center in California to the North American Hydrogen Headquarters or H2HQ for short. Toyota reworked the space so its research and development teams can transition to commercial planning and sales of hydrogen-related products. It already has a hydrogen refueling station there and says it will start several new projects in the coming years. Next, Toyota is cutting the number of executives that report to its North American CEO from 8 down to 7. With that, two current execs in North America, Jack Hollis and Chris Reynolds, are expanding their roles with the company to cover the one less person. And lastly, Toyota must really see a need for battery recycling, especially in North America. It already has recycling deals with Redwood Materials and Cirba Solutions. And now it also has an agreement with Argonne National Lab. The two announced a collaborative R&D project to develop a direct recycling process for NMC or nickel, manganese, and cobalt batteries, which is fairly standard in most long-range EVs today. They’re hoping to come up with something that works on an industrial scale and explore next-gen recycling tech.
HYBRID SALES OUTPACE EVs IN CALIFORNIA IN Q1
Well this isn’t a good sign for EV sales in the U.S. Hybrid sales surged more in California than EVs did. While EVs still easily out-sell hybrids, the rate of growth has slowed significantly. According to data from Experian Automotive, more than 56,000 hybrids were registered in California in Q1, a 53% increase. Meanwhile, EV registrations totaled more than 90,000 units, which is only a 2.8% gain. Plug-in hybrids also outpaced EVs in the first quarter, up 9% to just under 16,000 units. Hybrids and PHEVs now have a combined 16.6% share of the total new car market in California, that’s up from 12% last year. EV share remained relatively flat, 20.9 % compared to 20.5% last year. With more automakers pulling back on EVs and shifting to hybrids, this is a trend we’ll likely see continue not just in California but the rest of the U.S.
EVs MORE EXPENSIVE ON PER MILE BASIS THAN GAS CARS
While EVs are cheaper to maintain than gas powered vehicles, according to a new study from ISeeCars, they’re more expensive on a per mile basis. That’s because EVs are driven significantly less than gas cars and they’re more expensive. The study analyzed data from over 1.3 million 3-year old cars. The average gas car is driven about 12,800 miles a year, compared to about 10,250 miles for EVs. And the average price for a new gas car is $40,000 compared to $52,000 for an EV. That means electric cars on average cost $5,100 for every 1,000 miles driven per year, which is 63% higher than gas cars which average $3,100. PHEVs are also costlier on a per mile basis, coming in 39% higher than gas cars. But hybrids are the most cost-effective vehicles and are 2% cheaper than gas cars for every 1,000 miles driven per year. That’s because hybrids are driven almost as much as gas cars and they cost slightly less.
VOLKSWAGEN OFFERS €900 MILLION IN BUYOUTS
To help cut costs and reduce its workforce, Volkswagen is offering buyouts to workers in Germany. The automaker announced it’s offering administration employees 900 million euros in buyouts or 50,000 euros per worker. Employees have until the end of the month to accept the buyout. As we reported yesterday, VW had a tough first quarter. Its sales dipped 2%, its revenue was down 1% and its operating profit fell by 20%.
CHINA LAUNCHES “CASH FOR CLUNKERS” PROGRAM
This should help give the Chinese car market a boost. The government is implementing a program like “cash for clunkers” to help get older, less environmentally friendly vehicles off the road. Vehicles that qualify for the subsidy are gasoline powered cars registered before June of 2011, diesel cars registered before June of 2013 and new energy vehicles registered before April of 2018. Owners who scrap their vehicles, will receive a $1,400 subsidy to purchase a new energy vehicle or $950 if they choose an ICE car with an engine that has a displacement of 2.0L or less. The program runs now until the end of the year.
FORD LAUNCHES DEALER TRAINING PLATFORM
Ford is going Hollywood to make its dealers a better place for customers. It’s launching a new dealer training and productivity platform, called Ford University, that includes videos made by award-winning producers, content creators and training specialists. They’re meant to be more personable, so dealer employees and even customers have an easier time learning about a vehicle or other complex topics. The platform also includes gamified learning experiences and an AI virtual coach, which allows dealer employees to upload a video that they might send to a customer and give advice to make it better. Ford says this should help dealers adapt to a faster pace of new products and technology developments.
But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for tuning in.
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Doesn’t Aston Martin now use Mercedes/AMG engines? Are Aston Martin redesigning the Mercedes V12, or is Mercedes redesigning it for them?
China would probably make a bigger impact if they offered a cash for clunkers program aimed at the two-stroke moped and motorcycles.
Ford’s dealer training program should probably have a heavy focus on their EVs as it seems thats the biggest complaint I hear is that the sales teams know little about them.
I suspect the hybrid movement to keep on growing. HEV and PHEVs will surpass BEV for sure.
Sean, If there is soon to be a glut of EV batteries, due to falling EV sales, wouldn’t it make sense for makes of full size trucks and SUVs to push harder into Hybrids? Nobody really wants a full size truck that gets 10 mpg, but if it could be full gas when pulling a load and an EV when not pulling a load, that could be a game changer. Maybe adding more batteries to big HEVs is the answer! (my pickup gets twice the gas mileage of yours!) PS as the new owner of a Honda Accord HEV, I can’t believe I wasted so much time before buying one. Performance is just as good and gas mileage is amazing!
@Kit, Aston Martin V12. Either one of those options, or it is outsourced to an engineering firm like AVL.
Kevin, for four years, I had a Camry hybrid, direct competitor to your Accord, at least in the U.S. It was great, and I’d still have it, except I needed something that would be better to carry my toys, so I replaced it with a Highlander hybrid with a similar powertrain to the Camry. Both Camry and Accord hybrids are great cars, and the Camry got even better mpg than I expected, very close to a Prius.
Lambo, aren’t the two-strokes mostly gone from China? There were zillions of them when I was there, but that was 30 years ago.
So far, no one seems to have gotten very serious about making hybrid pickups targeting efficiency. The F150 is somewhat more efficient than the standard one, but not by a lot. Also, in CRs surveys, it is highly unreliable.
As someone that has created dealership training materials, videos and events like ride and drives for over 20 years, I can tell you that Ford did not have to use award-winning producers and “go Hollywood” to create more engaging training content. They simply had to allow the training suppliers they already used to exercise some level of creativity. The only reason OEM training content is so boring is that is the only type of content the middle managers at the OEMs would approve. It was safe. No one would criticize them for boring content. This risk-averse mentality has plagued the Big 3 for a very long time. There are very few risk-takers in the middle management ranks. And, of course, the top managers used to be some of those middle managers. So, there ya go.
The Camry LE hybrid gets about 15% better mpg than the Accord, but I suspect the wheels and tires account for a lot of that. The Camry LE hybrid has 205/65R16 tires, while the Accord has 235/40R19.
Kit — The Aston V12 is their own, big the V8 is from Mercedes.
The iseecars survey seems seriously flawed. They are comparing apples and oranges and drawing a conclusion that EVs cost more to drive. If I had a Camry and drove it 12,000 miles last year commuting to work and running errands, and I replace it with an EV, I am going to drive the EV 12,000 miles this year too. When you look at it that way, their conclusions are flawed. The problem is that they are comparing two different owner groups that use their vehicles differently. I know many people that say that they would consider an EV but it won’t go far enough in one day to avoid a significant delay in their trip for charging. They may only make that trip once a month or twice a year, but it still holds them back from an EV purchase. So, I would argue that on average, many EVs are used more for daily commuting and driving rather than long trips. And, ICE owners also use them for daily driving and commuting but also use them for long trips, driving up their average miles driven per year as compared to and EV owner.
The ISeeCars thing made no sense at all, because all it did was divide the average price of the car type by the average miles driven by that car type. Residual value is the biggest determining factor in cost of driving a car three years, if you sell it. Operating and maintenance cost is what counts if you don’t sell it. An EV would have the lowest operating plus maintenance cost, especially if most of the driving uses home charging.
Also, the “average cost” numbers are misleading. The average cost of hybrids is lowest because most hybrids are compact and mid-size sedans and CUVs. Most big, expensive SUVs are not hybrids, so it’s no surprise that average price of gas vehicles is higher than for hybrids, even though hybrids cost more than non-hybrid versions of the same vehicle.
I think what the ISeeCars report does is just confirmation bias. Want to ‘prove’ something? Then find the stats, even if stupid, to prove your point. Did you know that smokers have lower car costs than non-smokers? They drive more.
In 2006, the long gone CNW Marketing published the “Dust to Dust” report that concluded a Hummer was more ‘green’ than a Prius. This report uses similar metrics which does not match my 130,000 mi, 5 year ownership of a 2019 Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus.
Trading in my 2017 Prius Prime for $18,300, my EV car cost $24,000 out of pocket. Charging at home cost ~$2.50 per 100 miles not counting the 15% free charging where merchants and restaurants want my business. On cross country trips, it cost $3.00 per 100 miles by staying at affordable motels with free breakfasts and charging.
Because I pay the bills, I trust my “Lying Eyes” before this iSeeCars statistical study.
Yeah the survey did seem to have a lot of variables used that were not all equal. To provide a proper study they should take a vehicle like the Camry which you can get in a ICE and Hybrid version and compare that to a comparable EV like the model 3. Then take into account initial cost same miles driven and residual value after 3 years. Then you would see the proper cost to operate. But when you throw in multiple vehicles that are driven differently and cost way differently because one can be a Prius and the other an EV hummer and it sounds like you are doing a study to get the answers you want to get. Or maybe it’s true from an overall average basis. But with that in mind the majority of EVs are high end luxury type vehicles simply because the new technology requires automakers to offer them in high end vehicles to get the prices, they need to get this technology out there.
It’s like the flat screen TVs when they were first introduced, and people were paying 5-10k for a 46″ TV and now that same TV is like $500 or less. Not only did the price come down but they went into 50″, 60 and 70″ sizes. So this study would be like comparing a 28″ tube TV to a $8,000 46″ flat screen (back then) and trying to make a proper comparison. But like all new tech, you pay to play. So, if you want to be an early adopter you can expect to pay more. I believe that an EV probably does cost more to operate right now I’m not sure that will always be the case. Is the gap as big as this study eludes it to be? I doubt it.
Lambo, all it did was divide the average price of the car type by the average miles driven by that car type. It means nothing.
Lambo,
I agree with you with one exception. The Model 3 should be compared to the Corolla, not the Camry. The Corolla is in the same size category as the Model 3 and honestly the same level of “luxury”. The Model 3 is however priced like a Camry, so there is that.