AD #3862 – Citroen’s Cheap Chinese EV Competitor Delayed; VW Falling Behind Toyota in Sales; Volvo Calls New Software Acquisition “Crucial”

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

MUSK VS. MADURO
It never seems like there’s never a dull moment with Elon Musk. It turns out that Mark Zuckerberg isn’t the only person he wants to get into the ring with. Musk launched an attack against Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, calling him a “dictator” and accused him of election fraud. In the country’s recent election Maduro was declared the winner with 51% of the vote, which many people do not believe is legitimate. So Maduro challenged Musk to a fight, and Musk accepted. He posted on X that “If I win, he resigns as dictator of Venezuela” and “If he wins, I give him a free ride to Mars.” One thing about Elon, he sure knows how to make headlines.

VOLVO CALLS NEW SOFTWARE ACQUISITION “CRUCIAL”
Legacy automakers are still struggling with software. That includes Volvo. So it decided to buy out a software company called HaleyTek. It’s actually a joint venture Volvo formed in 2021 with the mobility technology company ECARX to develop Android-based software for vehicles. Volvo had 60% of the JV, but now it’s taking full control and will operate the unit as a standalone company. Volvo says the acquisition will strengthen its technological capability for current cars and that it’s “crucial” for its future products.

CITROEN’S CHEAP CHINESE EV COMPETITOR DELAYED
Sticking with “problems in software land,” Stellantis is delaying the launch of its new low-cost EV in Europe because of problems with, you guessed it, software. Stellantis is counting on the Citroen e-C3, to compete with low-cost Chinese EVs in Europe, but Bloomberg reports that the €23,000 electric is months behind schedule. Stellantis says it has 30,000 pre-orders for the model and will start delivering it after its “summer break.” By the way, the e-C3 likely uses the same platform as the $25,000 Jeep that’s been promised. And Stellantis is also having issues ramping up production of the Peugeot e-3008 electric because of problems with the vehicle’s powertrain.

FORD HOPES FOR MORE STREET-CRED WITH NEW MAVERICK LOBO
Ford is coming out with a performance version of the Maverick called the Lobo. It comes standard with the 238 horsepower 2.0L EcoBoost 4-cylinder engine and AWD. But it also features sport-tuned steering and suspension that lowers the ride height by half an inch in the front and over a full inch in the rear. Ford snagged dual piston front calipers from the Focus ST in Europe to enhance its brakes, the twin-clutch rear drive unit from Bronco Sport to give it torque vectoring capability and the cooling system from the Maverick’s towing packing, which includes a bigger radiator and fan and a transmission oil cooler. It also calibrated a special drive mode that it says improves cornering, grip, stability and helps minimize understeer on the FWD-based truck. Unique accents, a new front fascia and 19-inch wheels, called Turbofan, highlight a few of the styling differences. The high-spec version of the Lobo, which includes heated seats and steering wheel, adaptive cruise control and Trailer Hitch and Backup Assist, can be ordered right now for just over $42,000 including destination chargers. Another version without those features can be ordered before the end of the year for roughly $36,500. But both won’t go on sale until early next year.

UPDATE MAKES MACH-E GT FASTER THAN MODEL Y PERFORMANCE
In other Ford news, it’s offering an update to Mustang Mach-E GT owners that will make their EVs faster than a Tesla Model Y Performance or a Porsche Macan 4. The upgrade is available at purchase or via an OTA and it unlocks an additional 100 lb-ft of torque through improvements to the powertrain control and thermal systems. That brings total output to 700 lb-ft of torque and 480 horsepower and drops the 0-60 MPH time to 3.3 seconds. But it also comes with a price. It costs just under $1,000. All automakers want to unlock more value by offering subscription services and OTA upgrades, and this is just one way they’ll do it.

FORD RUNNING INTO MORE DELAYS WITH NACS ADAPTER
But those Mach-E owners will probably have to wait before they’re able to plug in at a Tesla Supercharger. Last week the company extended the period to get a free NACS adapter because it was running into supply issues. Well, it just sent another letter to Ford EV owners saying they may see more delays of their CCS to NACS connector because it’s still having supply issues and is trying to increase production. The current deadline to get a free adapter is the end of August.

  

TOYOTA SALES DOWN, BUT EARNINGS UP
We’ve got earnings reports for the last quarter coming in from all over the world. Let’s start in Japan, where Toyota saw a 3% drop in global car sales. It sold 2.252 million vehicles, with most of the decline in sales coming from Japan itself. But Toyota shrugged off the drop in vehicle sales and brought in $78.7 billion in revenue, up a sharp 12%, and it posted an operating profit of $8.7 billion, up an even stronger 16.7%.

VW FALLING BEHIND TOYOTA IN SALES
Now, over to Germany, where Toyota’s biggest competitor, the Volkswagen Group reported almost a 4% drop in sales. It sold 2.244 million vehicles, meaning it was 8,000 vehicles behind Toyota. Last year this time, the gap was 5,000. VW AG saw its revenue rise 4% to €83 billion, meaning it brought in more revenue than Toyota. But Vee Dub’s operating profit of €5.4 billion fell 2.4%.

BMW’S SALES & EARNINGS DROP
Sticking with Germany for the moment, BMW reported that it sold 618,000 vehicles, down a little over 1% in the second quarter. That’s just cars and SUVs and does not include motorcycles. Its revenue came in at almost €37 billion, down just a fraction. And its operating profit of €3.8 billion dropped over 8%.

JLR HAS JOLLY GOOD QUARTER
Now let’s cross the channel to England, where Jaguar Land Rover put in a surprisingly strong quarter. It sold over 97,000 vehicles, up 5%. That brought in over $9 billion in revenue, up more than 5%, and it posted $887 million in operating profits, up a staggering 59%, an all time record for the company. We think that’s jolly good!

U.S. SALES FORECAST TO RISE
By the way, tomorrow we should have a decent idea of how new car sales did in the United States for the month of July. J.D. Power is forecasting that sales will be up 2.8% compared to a year ago. But one thing is going to bum out the car companies and their dealers. The Federal Reserve decided to leave interest rates where they are, but hinted it could cut them next month. The auto industry is praying for a rate cut to bring down the cost of buying a new car and give a boost to car sales.

1ST LUCID GRAVITY ROLLS OFF PRODUCTION LINE
Lucid was able to increase sales, but it got there by significantly cutting prices. However, it’s about to get some fresh product that will bring in new customers. CEO Peter Rawlinson drove the first pre-production version of its first SUV, the Gravity, off the manufacturing line yesterday. The model is expected to launch before the end of the year with a starting price around $80,000.

ROADSTER REPLACES MORE EXTREME MODEL S PLAID
Tesla once had aspirations of making an even more extreme version of the Model S Plaid, called the Plaid Plus. But not anymore. It feels like the Plaid has more than enough capability and Elon Musk says the new Roadster will fill the void for something more extreme.

CADILLAC ESCALADE CHIEF ENGINEER ON AAH
The 2025 Cadillac Escalade went through a major refresh and to get into all the details we’re going to have the chief engineer, Martin Hayes, on Autoline After Hours today. And we invite you to pull up a chair and listen in when the show goes live at 3PM EST on the Autoline website and our YouTube channel.

But that’s it for this show. Hope to see you later.