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Runtime: 9:54
0:00 GM & Hyundai Tie-up Includes Pickups & EV Vans
1:23 Musk Asks Workers to Not Sell Their Stock
1:47 Tesla Owners Trading in Vehicles at Record Pace
2:14 Cybertruck Gets Dry Cathode Battery Upgrade
2:56 Rivian Offers to Buy Back Fiskers
3:49 Xiaomi Hires BMW Execs for New EU R&D Center
4:36 Only 39% Of China Dealers Profitable In 2024
5:33 Chinese Car Sales Surge in Europe Thanks To PHEVs, ICEs
6:35 BYD Reveals EV Motor With 30,500 RPM
7:32 Autoline Used Car Poll
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
GM & HYUNDAI PARTNERSHIP INCLUDES PICKUPS & EV VANS
We’re getting a clearer picture of the partnership between GM and Hyundai that was officially announced in September of last year. In January, we learned Hyundai will supply electric commercial vehicles for GM to rebadge and sell in North America. And now we know those are two EV van models, which will have Hyundai equivalents and will initially be imported from South Korea. But Hyundai is also considering making the commercial vans in North America by 2028, which could require expanding production at a current plant, building a new facility or getting someone else to make them. As a tradeoff, GM might supply Hyundai with pickup trucks to rebadge and sell in North America, with talks focused around the mid-size Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon. However, Hyundai also reportedly wants to get a version of GM’s full-size trucks. But we think that GM would have to be pretty desperate to give access to the platform that likely generates its most profits. Outside of North America, Hyundai could supply GM with compact crossovers to add to its lineup in Brazil and globally, they’re considering purchasing and/or developing computer chips, batteries and battery materials together.
MUSK ASKS WORKERS TO NOT SELL THEIR STOCK
Elon Musk held an impromptu meeting with Tesla employees in Austin, Texas yesterday to help reassure them about all the negative headlines about the automaker. During the meeting, which was livestreamed on X, Musk told workers that despite the company’s stock dropping 40% this year, they should hold on to their shares, saying that the “future is bright and exciting.”
TESLA OWNERS TRADING IN VEHICLES AT RECORD PACE
But on top of the company’s stock dropping, owners are trading in their Teslas at a record pace. According to data from Edmunds, 2017 and newer Teslas made up 1.4% of all the vehicles traded in through March 15th, up from 0.4% last March. That would be the highest monthly share that Edmunds has ever seen for people trading in their Tesla to a dealership.
CYBERTRUCK GETS DRY CATHODE BATTERY UPGRADE
However, it’s not all bad news for Tesla today. The senior director of its 4680 battery cells told The Information that versions of the Cybertruck will feature its new dry cathode batteries later this year. By applying the cathode material in a dry, powder form, instead of with liquid solvents, Tesla is able to greatly reduce complexity and the energy needed to make batteries, which significantly cuts cost. The company has previously said the dry coating process could save it $1 billion in manufacturing costs. Prior reports have also indicated that Tesla will use the same method for the batteries it puts in the robotaxi.
RIVIAN OFFERS TO BUY BACK FISKERS
Fisker Ocean owners are getting a lifeline from an unlikely source. Rivian has partnered with Chase Bank to allow Ocean owners to offload their vehicle. They have three options; sell your car to Rivian, trade it in to Rivian for a discount on one of its vehicles or sell it back to Chase Bank if it doesn’t work anymore. According to reports they’re offering over $36,000 for some Oceans, which is likely a lot less than the original sticker price, but also significantly more than they’re worth on the open market.
XIAOMI HIRES BMW EXECS FOR NEW EU R&D CENTER
As we reported earlier this week, Chinese EV startup Xiaomi is growing at a rapid pace. It only started selling vehicles about a year ago but it’s already sold 200,000 vehicles in China. And it just raised its sales target for the year by 50,000 units to 350,000 vehicles. Now Xiaomi has its sights set on the European market. Reuters reports that the company has hired at least five executives, including ones from BMW, for a new EV research and development center that will be located in Germany. It’s also hiring engineers and designers for its European operations. Earlier this week, Xiaomi’s president said the company is aiming to sell vehicles outside of China in 2027.
ONLY 39% OF CHINA DEALERS PROFITABLE IN 2024
The price war in China is putting a big dent in dealer profits. According to a survey of dealers by the China Automobile Dealers Association, only 39% were profitable last year, while 19% broke even and the remaining 42% of dealers reported losses. Part of the problem is that 84% of the dealers said they sold new vehicles for less than the price they paid to automakers. And while sales of new passenger vehicles were up 5.5% last year, dealers aren’t very optimistic about this year. Only 51% said they expect sales to improve, 23% believe they will decline and 26% think sales will be flat. China’s car market is saturated with too many brands, so automakers have been fighting it out in a prolonged price war in an effort to sell as many vehicles as possible.
CHINESE CAR SALES SURGE IN EUROPE THANKS TO PHEVs, ICEs
Europe’s tariffs on Chinese-made EVs are having mixed results. While sales of those EVs did drop last year, Chinese automakers are making up those losses with ICEs and plug-in hybrids. According to market researcher Dataforce, Chinese automakers sold about 38,900 vehicles in Europe in February, up 64% compared to a year ago. Sales of BEVs imported from China fell 3.4% to just over 11,000 units, compared to the overall BEV market which was up 26%. Meanwhile, PHEV sales from Chinese brands, which we might add don’t face tariffs, skyrocketed 321% to 4,700 vehicles. And sales of non-hybrid Chinese models were up 27%, to about 11,800 units. Chery, BYD and SAIC’s MG Brand accounted for most of the gains.
BYD REVEALS EV MOTOR WITH 30,500 RPM
Looks like there’s a new top EV motor in town. Last August GAC claimed it had developed the fastest spinning EV motor with a stop speed of 30,000 RPM, which was better than Lucid at 20,000 RPM, Tesla about 23,000 and Xiaomi at over 27,000 RPM. But now BYD is introducing a new motor that can spin over 30,500 RPM. Introduced at the same event as its new 1,000 volt architecture, each motor module is said to generate 580 kW or about 775 horsepower, which provides impressive performance, but should also boost range by quite a bit. GAC said its motor could add 50 kilometers or 31 miles of range to an EV or 150 kilometers or 93 miles of range to an EREV.
AUTOLINE USED CAR POLL
Time for another Autoline Poll. If you watched yesterday’s show, you saw our story about how Amazon is going to start selling used vehicles online. And that made us wonder how you’d prefer to buy a used car.
1. I want the ease of buying online
2. Through the dealer
3. With a third-party seller
You can vote by going to the Post tab on the Autoline Network homepage on YouTube, or you can leave the answer in the comments section on our website and we’ll reveal the results in Monday’s Autoline Daily.
But that wraps up today’s show, thanks for watching and have a great weekend.
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As I mentioned yesterday,, Amazon did not become the behemoth it is today by chance.
I did not buy from Amazon until about 10 years ago, when I received some gift cards specifically valid only to buy books from Amazon, or other items too, again only from Amazon, and the experience was EXCELLENT, and BY FAR the best buying experience EVER for me.
Not only do you get the lowest prices for standard items, you also have a GREAT return and complaint policy. Amazon does not only pay lip service to the adage “THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT”, it applies it every day to its business.
If Amazon gets into the used car business online, I would check it out before I check ANY other vendor, whether they are dinosaur used car dealers, or online outfits.
My wife and I have been using AutoTrader for every used car purchase over the past 20 years – traveling as far as Florida (from Michigan) for my current vehicle. We’ve never paid for the cars over the AutoTrader portal, but instead used it for ‘shopping’, then reached out to the dealers (via the AT portal) to secure the vehicles, then complete the purchases in-person.
Amazon would have to offer A LOT to pull me away from what I’m familiar with using AutoTrader…
ALSO, having tried my hand at being a private label Amazon seller several years back, I know first-hand how out-of-pocket and quite excessive Amazon’s seller’s fees can get!! I have no reason to believe it would be any different for auto sales facilitated through Amazon. The Amazon seller’s model (fee structure) may not be so advantageous for sales of entry-level automobiles. It may only be worthwhile for the higher profit margin vehicles.
Poll reponse for me: 4: All of the above. whichever way gives me the right car at the right price
If Amazon has a grace period where you can return the car for any reason, such as a maintenance issue, then I would order from them. Carvana used to have a 7 day period that allowed you to get the car to a mechanic and determine if it truly was worth keeping or not. Then they eliminated it and stated you had to refuse the car at delivery or else it was yours. So effectively you are buying site unseen. I am not buying a car site unseen. You can get into a ton of trouble doing that.
Amazon used vehicles- initially I’m thinking #2. I like the idea of new car purchase online because they come with a warranty but a used vehicle can have so many issues from something minor like a missing spare tire to unreported accidents. Resolving those type of issues could be a challenge for Amazon. I tend to scrutinize a used car much more thoroughly than a new car. So depending on the return policy and certification process I’d maybe consider it after others have had good experiences.
I don’t normally buy used cars, but if I did, I’d probably buy from Carmax. I guess that would be #3 for the poll. I’ve had good experiences selling cars to them, and friends have had good experiences buying from them.
I’ve always purchased new cars from local dealerships. It’s mostly from people I know, that live locally.
Local dealer
If Tesla is using a solid dry/powder Cathode for their batteries, inside of a liquid, wouldn’t that make them a solid-state battery? If so, that would make since, for many have said that solid-state batteries would be cheaper to produce, but today’s report didn’t say whether or not the Tesla battery would be lighter, as has been suggested of batteries of that type.
The radio commercials I’ve heard about Hyundai selling vehicles through Amazon in the Detroit area, has not stipulated as to whether they were selling new or used vehicles. According to the radio broadcast, you would view the vehicle(s) online, make your selection, then you would go to a Hyundai dealership to pickup the vehicle! So, it seems, that the purchase is online and the commercial doesn’t say new or used.
Tesla has been ‘advertising’ the cost savings of dry-coated electrode materials all along. They need to advertise (show RESULTS) the DURABILITY (extreme condition tolerance) and LONGEVITY (cycle lifetime) of the battery product whith major / new type or production process if they want me to buy ‘new cost effective battery’.
Tesla, show the durability & longevity results I get, not the savings and profit you get.
I will only buy a used car if I can examine it in person. So, no online retailers for me.
While I would prefer #3. With a third-party seller – It would depend on the particular situation. I will admit last used car we bought was a 1979 Porsche 928 direct import from Germany in 1985. We did keep the vehicle for 30 years.
Lambo, almost all used cars come with warranty, especially if you buy them online, thus not having to worry about getting yourself or a mechanic to check them out.
I even got warranties from used car dealers for both of my E classes, otherwise I’d not agree to buy them online and then drive four hours or so (once to Indy (Carmel) and once to Columbus OH) to get them. Both came with free 3 months warranties, and both had over 100 miles and were 8-9 years old when i bought them. I never needed to use them. In fact, I asked the dealer in Carmel to give me 6 months, because I wanted the car fully covered while in the USA (Oct 16-Apr 17), before I shipped it to my summer home. But at the end I held on to that car because I thought the black interior would get too warm in the summer there, and bought second E diesel, white with beige interior, very fancy, which I sent overseas and still drive it every summer there.
The talk of 20K and 30K rpm EV motors got me curious about how big they are, physically. I’m familiar with electric motors that turn 50K rpm, but they are much smaller than motors for EVs. I found this video of a Lucid rear motor/differential unit, and it is very interesting. The rotor for the motor appears to be 4-5 inch diameter, and the differential is inside the shaft of the motor. This allows the differential to be very small, since it handles only the small torque of the motor, rather than about 7x that, as would be the case if the diff were after the gear reduction, as with most car powertrains. The video is 11.5 minutes long, but if you find mechanical things interesting, it’s worth the view.
https://www.google.com/search?q=lucid+motor+rotor+removal&oq=&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCQgAECMYJxjqAjIJCAAQIxgnGOoCMgkIARAuGCcY6gIyCQgCECMYJxjqAjIJCAMQIxgnGOoCMgkIBBAjGCcY6gIyCQgFECMYJxjqAjIJCAYQIxgnGOoCMgkIBxBFGDsYwgPSAQkyNzY0ajBqMTWoAgiwAgHxBVpZ1HeL4Cja8QVaWdR3i-Ao2g&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:aa489c7a,vid:10P1D_OGvt4,st:0
It’s cool that Rivian is offering to buy back Fisker SUVs from buyers who were burned when they went out of business. Yet, I wonder, with the buy back seeming to be treated like a trade-in, how long will they hold out the off? Is this offer just for the R1 series vehicle, or will they be able to apply it toward a purchase of a R2 or R3 model? In wonder too, if those buyers of the Fisker SUVs might be hesitant, thinking that may be going from startup that had a shaky future to another one?! At least Rivian appears to be on much more solid footing then Fisker ever was.