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Runtime: 12:10
0:00 75% of Wrangler 4xe Buyers New to Jeep
1:09 Shareholders Tell Porsche To Back Off EV Blitz
1:56 Lyft Sees Sunny Days Ahead
3:53 Rivian Makes Massive Upgrades to R1
6:22 Volvo EX30 Off to Good Start
6:49 Daimler Launches Military Trucks
7:27 Biden Admin Allows More PHEVs
8:32 300-Mile BEVs Now Cheaper Than Average ICE
9:29 Stellantis Has Highest Profit Margin
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
75% OF WRANGLER 4XE BUYERS NEW TO JEEP
Jeep’s sales in the U.S. have fallen five years in a row. And last year’s sales of nearly 643,000 vehicles was its lowest in more than a decade. So to help turn things around, CEO Antonio Filosa, who took over the brand last November, is trying to attract new buyers with its electrified models. And so far, it’s been a success. Filosa told Automotive News that half of Grand Cherokee 4xe buyers come from other brands, 75% of Wrangler 4xe buyers are new to Jeep and he expects around 100% of new buyers for the new Wagoneer S electric and the upcoming Recon will be conquested from other brands. And it seems to be helping sales. In the first quarter, Jeep’s sales are up 2% compared to last year. And parent company Stellantis is expected to share more of Jeep’s strategy during its investor day next week.
SHAREHOLDERS TELL PORSCHE TO BACK OFF EV BLITZ
Porsche shareholders think the automaker’s EV goals are too ambitious and they’re calling on the company to scale back its plans. Next year, Porsche is aiming for EVs and PHEVs to account for half of its sales and by 2030, it wants 80% of its sales to be all-electric. But with the slowdown in EV demand, shareholders want the company to prioritize sales of ICE vehicles to help improve the stock, which has dropped by more than a third in the past year. Poor sales in China and issues sourcing parts have also contributed to its slumping stock. But CEO Oliver Blume expects things to turn around by next year with it refreshing five of its six models.
LYFT SEES SUNNY DAYS AHEAD
Ride hailing company Lyft has really struggled financially but it looks like it could be turning things around. It’s forecasting 15% growth in gross bookings through 2027. That refers to the total dollar value of transactions billed to ride-share riders including taxes, tolls and fees but excluding tips to drivers. Lyft says its advertising business is the biggest contributor to the growth. This year, it expects to bring in $50 million from ads that are placed on its app or digital screens on top of cars. And by 2027, it expects that to jump to $400 million. Lyft’s shares rose 10% on the news. But it still has a ways to go to catch up to its rival Uber, which is aiming to bring in $1 billion annually from advertising.
RIVIAN MAKES MASSIVE UPGRADES TO R1
Rivian is coming out with significant upgrades to its R1 platform that are going to make them easier and cheaper to build as well as deliver a better product to the customer. But more like Tesla, the big changes are under the skin. Rivian went to a new zonal electrical architecture, which allowed it to slash the number of ECUs from 17 down to 7 and cut over 1.6 miles of wiring that weighed 44 pounds. On top of this it was able to build the Rivian Autonomy Platform, which is a perception-based system or in other words, it doesn’t use any lidar. Instead, it has 11 cameras, 5 radars and an array of ultrasonic sensors as its vision system, while the computing system relies on 2 NVIDIA processors and an NVIDIA Operating System. At first, Rivian will offer hands-free driving on the freeway with commanded lane changes, enhanced highway assist and expanded road coverage to be added later. Perhaps more importantly, the company says its new electrical architecture will be adaptable to future models as well. Those models will also feature in-house electric motors. Rivian says all of its motors, including a brand new one, are fully designed, engineered and manufactured in-house. The new unit houses two motors and is featured in the rear of the Tri-Motor and in both the front and rear of the Quad-Motor. The rear unit is larger and is geared to maximize torque, while the front unit is smaller and meant to optimize efficiency at cruising speed. With a new Launch Mode, the top-of-the-line Quad-Motor will do 0-60 MPH in 2.5 seconds and turn the quarter-mile in 10.5 seconds. But wait, there’s more. Rivian also went to town on the ride and handling and fully reengineered the suspension system, especially for the R1S SUV, which it said customers complained about being too stiff before because it was tuned for a sporty feel. So, it smoothed that out. And lastly, Rivian is using large castings for its battery enclosures that reduces weight and simplifies manufacturing and it has made the switch to LFP cells for its standard battery pack. And these new R1 models can be ordered now.
VOLVO EX30 OFF TO GOOD START
Volvo’s new more affordable EV the EX30 is already selling pretty well. In May, it sold over 11,000 EX30s and more than 35,000 so far this year. Volvo has not said what it will do with the EX30 in the U.S. since the new import tariffs were announced, so that could hold back the sales performance of the EV. But the early returns are still promising.
DAIMLER LAUNCHES MILITARY TRUCKS
You probably wouldn’t want to see one of these bad boys barreling down on you in the rear-view mirror, but you’ve got to feel like a boss driving one. This is the Zetros, which is geared toward military applications, from Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks. They’re available in two-, three- and four-axle configurations and can also be fitted with an armored cab. We think they’re kind of cool to look at and if you’re one of our friends to the North in Canada, you might get to see them in person as well. The Canadian Ministry of Defense placed an order for 1500 units.
BIDEN ADMIN ALLOWS MORE PHEVs
The EV revolution is going a lot slower than everyone expected just a couple of years ago. So the Biden Administration gave automakers some leeway, by allowing them to build more hybrids instead of BEVs from 2027 through 2032. The EPA even said the change would not cause emissions to go up. But Reuters did its own calculations and says that carbon emissions will be up 14% during that time period. It also says that the EPA’s calculation for emissions from PHEVs are anywhere from 25% to 75% lower than what’s actually coming out of the tailpipe. The EPA assumed that people plug in their PHEVs more than they actually do. Originally, the EPA wanted 67% of all new cars sold to be pure BEVs by 2032. But under the new rules that will be 35% to 56% by 2032, with that wide variation depending on how many hybrids get sold.
300-MILE BEVs NOW CHEAPER THAN AVERAGE ICE
But maybe BEVs will start to sell better than they’ve been doing lately. Bloomberg reports that EVs with 300 miles of range or longer, now cost less to lease than the average ICE car. And not by a little bit. It says the Hyundai Ioniq 6 is $82 less a month to lease than a Toyota RAV-4, and a Tesla Model Y is $230 a month cheaper to lease than a BMW X3 with a gasoline engine. And cheaper EVs are on the way. When Chevrolet offers the base electric Equinox for sale, it will cost about $28,000 including the federal subsidy. The next gen Chevrolet Bolt will be less than that. The International Energy Agency estimates that by 2030, EVs will reach price parity with all ICE vehicles.
STELLANTIS HAS HIGHEST PROFIT MARGIN
Which automakers have the highest profit margins? We’re not counting Ferrari, Lamborghini or any of those boutique manufacturers. We’re talking about the operating profit margin of the automakers that sell full line-ups of vehicles all around the world. And there are four of them that stand above the rest. Stellantis is best but is just barely ahead of Mercedes-Benz. BMW and Toyota are hot on their heels. Want to know who made it into the top 10? Check out our Industry Report Card which you can find on the Autoline website, or our YouTube channel. It will help you understand how the biggest car companies in the world stack up against each other.
But that brings us to the end of today’s show and this week. Thanks for making Autoline a part of your day and I hope that you have a great weekend.
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I think the idea of PHEVs is excellent. However, study after study tells us they don’t perform better than a straight hybrid. So why not drop the special incentives and treat them exactly as a hybrid. Then in a few years, if studies show they are better than hybrids, bring back some cash. Government money is our money, and should work for us.
PHEVs vary widely in how they perform, if not plugged in. Wrangler 4XE does no better than a non-hybrid Wrangler when running on gas, but a Prius Prime does almost as well as a regular Prius. The bottom line, is that PHEVs makes sense, if you plug them in regularly, but if you don’t, you are buying a lot of expensive batteries for nothing.
What is amazing is that, there was a time when Toyota and then Ford were originally investing in hybrids, there were auto industry leaders and other important people in the know, that felt that one vehicle with two different propulsion systems, was a waste of time and money! Thinking that the cost to develop an ICE, as while as an electric motor, the batteries to power it, the systems to charge those battles AND THEN the software to make the two propulsion systems work together seamlessly, oh and let’s not forget the vehicle platform/architecture that all of this is to go into has to be affordable, comfortable and competitive as vehicles that do not have all this hard and software too?! Then hope customers buy them! Talk about threading a camel through the eye of a needle! Today OEMs are more interested in doing a plugin version of that original concept. Man, how times and thinking has changed. Yet, if buyers want them instead of BEVs, I guess automakers have to get into the market that customers want to play in.
Re: “Which automakers have the highest profit margins? We’re not counting Ferrari, Lamborghini or any of those boutique manufacturers. We’re talking about the operating profit margin of the automakers that sell full line-ups of vehicles all around the world. And there are four of them that stand above the rest. Stellantis is best but is just barely ahead of Mercedes-Benz. BMW and Toyota are hot on their heels”.
How does M-B and BMW qualify for full line-ups of vehicles when they don’t make pick-up trucks of any size?
Pickups are a niche market in most of the world, except for commercial use, but yeah, BMW and M-B don’t have them at all. Mercedes sold a Nissan-based pickup for a while, but never in North America, or at least not in the US. Are there really any full-line car companies, if you include coupes and convertibles to be considered full line, and think a full line company should cover a wide price range? Maybe Toyota is, if you include Lexus.
With most Toyota hybrids, and the soon-to-be-discontinued Ford Escape hybrid, you have more complexity in some areas, with the motor-generators and control electronics. On the other hand, the power train is much simpler mechanically. The transmissions are only gear reduction and power splitters, with no clutches, hydraulic actuators, etc. The end result, at least with most of the Toyota hybrids, is that they are very reliable, in addition to getting good mpg. Of course, some people don’t like the lack of feeling shifts, and the disconnect between engine rpm and road speed under some conditions. I don’t mind that, knowing that the system is delivering the acceleration and speed I ask for with my right foot in about the most efficient way possible, for a gasoline burning vehicle.
Kit — As has been said, with the rush to get more hybrids/plugging hybrids on the road, not all are created equal! Some hybrids, like with IC engines, are more efficient then others, but buyers may be more willing to except this and some improvements with emissions, then the much higher cost of EVs. Add to that is the quickness of response of OEMs in introducing some type of hybrid, may make one wonder if they are putting something out, to keep potential buyers coming through the doors.
Toyota and others have both “maximum efficiency” hybrids and “performance” hybrids. There are two Lexus RX hybrids, one with a N/A 2.5 like my Highlander, and one with a 2.4 turbo. The turbo hybrid does somewhat better than the non-hybrid in the EPA city test, and is the quickest version of the RX.
https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbs&id=47150&id=47151&id=47149
Hyundai and Kia have a number of hybrids that get very good mpg, but have extra complexity, using a 6-speed DCT, with little, if any advantage over the mechanically simple systems in Toyota and Maverick hybrids.
“75% of Wrangler 4xe Buyers New to Jeep”
It’s is my understanding, or I have been told, that, to make that happen and to build demand, Jeep only stocks 4xe versions of the Wrangler on dealer lot, while the non-hybrid version customs have to order, which may take several weeks to build and deliver! If that is true, it seems that they are stacking the deck, in pushing the 4xe Wrangler.
…my mistake, the quote I meant to comment on, was that most Wrangler buyers go for the 4xe over that standard Wrangler. My apologies!
According to this, 43% of US Wrangler sales were 4XE in 2023.
https://www.topspeed.com/why-jeep-wrangler-4xe-most-successful-phev-america/
wmb- My guess would be that the 4xe has inventory due to build forecasts being more optimistic than actual sales. Leaving dealers with 4xe’s on the lot while having to order the non-electrified versions. Lots of buyers don’t shop until they plan to actually buy and expect to be able to go home with that new vehicle that day due to the hassle of dealing with the sales team and the games that are played. So, if they want to leave the dealership that day with a vehicle, they end up taking a 4xe or walking away. So, while 4xe sales are up the overall sales are down. Seems Jeep should make sure they have what people want in dealerships and available.
To me, it’s amazing that the Wrangler 4XE sells so well. It has a base MSRP of $50,695. Then, for it to make any sense at all, you had better plug it in a lot. Running on gas only, the EPA combined mpg is no better than the V6 automatic, and one mpg worse than the non plug-in 2.0 turbo. It is better than the V6 manual, though.
https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbs&id=47278&id=47378&id=46726&id=46885
Four of the 16 Wranglers in stock at the dealer near me are 4XE. One is a left over 2023. It’s yellow, which may not be a popular color.
Reading articles in Car and Driver and Motor Trend, the overall consensus is that Rivian made a lot of the right choices in updating the R1 series. Yet, as the has been reported on by Autoline, most of the under the skin hardware updates were to make the vehicles cheaper to assemble and build, although less expensive to purchase was not necessarily what they were shooting for! LOL That said, I believe they have a fairly competitive product, if a bit of a tweener, regarding the R1T. The R1S, with all that power for the quad motor version, having 5 more horsepower then the Model X Plaid, give me a measure of concern. Reason being that, while they both may be able to go off round, the R1S, I’m sure, would be the clear winner! Yet, having all that power, with knobby tires, while attempting to be the stop light champion, may not prove to be the safest exercises in demonstrating all that power (not that achieving a vehicles best 0-to-60 times on public roads, is ever the wisest or safest way to displaying a vehicles attributes)! I guess if the Hummer SUV EV set the standard, I suppose it was just a matter of time before other OEMs would follow!