Let Musk Put You in the Driver’s Seat

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With its Hertz deal, Tesla continues to defy us skeptics

By Todd Lassa

Contributor

Electric cars are the future. No matter how attracted you are to the charms of the internal combustion engine, it should be obvious by now we need to stop burning fossil fuels ASAP and begin to try and reduce greenhouse gases, if it’s not already too late.

When the transition finally comes, when internal combustion engines are powering only a few collectible cars out for a cruise on warm summer days – and two or three of them may be mine, I’m afraid – it will be right and appropriate to celebrate Tesla’s contribution to the shift. Full disclosure here: I’ve long been a Tesla skeptic, not so much because of the cars, which are undeniably state-of-the-art in their battery chemistry (until solid-state batteries become the order of the day), but mostly because of its CEO, Elon Musk.

(Image: Tesla)

From the beginning, I was skeptical about Telsa’s ability to make money. Most of the few profitable quarters since Tesla’s 2012 IPO were from selling zero-emissions vehicle credits in California to automakers whose sales of vehicles were anything but zero-emissions.

Then there’s Musk’s techie hucksterism and his faked astonishment at the value of the company’s shares. He’s long been known for unveiling new products with ridiculously short development schedules. The vehicle is introduced. The stock goes up. And in many cases, the vehicle is nowhere to be seen after it has left the stage. The Cybertruck has been delayed again and again. As has the Roadster. No matter, it seems. The Tesla faithful will wait.

Were it a brand from Detroit or Stuttgart, these delays would be derided. Not so for Musk.

When Hertz announced in October that it has signed a contract to buy 100,000 Tesla Model 3 EVs, one-fifth of its rental fleet, conventional auto business wisdom might have been, “why would Musk do that?”

“Heritage” automakers historically relied on rental fleets to take as much as one-quarter of the production of their mainstream compact and midsize models. A Nissan Sentra sold to a retail customer will make a razor-thin profit for both the automaker and the dealer – and even less when leased to Hertz or Enterprise and then sold after a couple of years at another huge discount, damaging resale values even more for those who drive these models every day. 

Many of the mainstream automakers have been talking for years about reducing their rental fleet business because of the negative effect those sales had on residual values. But when the Hertz-Tesla deal was announced, Tesla Inc.’s shares shot up by 9.6% to make it the latest tech firm to top $1-trillion in market cap. Musk may soon pass Amazon’s Jeff Bezos as the world’s wealthiest human. As I write this, one share is worth $1,096.02, or $1.1 trillion in market cap. GM is at $79.1 billion and Ford Motor is worth $68.53 billion.

Bloomberg News explains that Hertz will pay “full price” for the Teslas, worth $4.2 billion in revenue to the automaker. Citing a Hertz spokeswoman, the report says the Model 3 rental rates will be “similar” to other luxury car rates, and charging will be covered by the rental company through January of next year. Tesla will deliver all 100,000 Model 3s within the next 14 months.

What is interesting about the Hertz-Tesla deal is another individual: Hertz acting CEO Mark Fields. Fields had been the CEO of Ford, but “retired” from the company in 2017. Fields is 60. One of the rumored reasons why he departed Dearborn was because he wasn’t doing enough to message to Wall Street the OEM’s mobility vision.

Seems that what he’s contributed to Tesla’s valuation underscores his mobility vision.

What worries me about the Hertz-Tesla arrangement is this detail, also from the Bloomberg News report: You will be able to re-load your smartphone with the Hertz app, for on-demand access to Supercharger credits and to the car’s Autopilot system.

Autopilot is Tesla’s “autonomous driving” system, which Musk has promoted as the car being able to drive itself. It is not self-driving, and by most accounts it’s less sophisticated than the GMC Super Cruise commercials you might have seen on television, lately with the Queen hand-claps.

In case you rent a Tesla from Hertz and choose to download the Autopilot system on your smartphone, I’m going to give you a piece of advice I would never otherwise give for a rental car: You might want to take the supplemental insurance from Hertz.

All About Jeep

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Jim Morrison talks about the venerable brand on this “Autoline After Hours”

The numbers are notable.

Through the first three quarters of 2021 Jeep sold 604,671 vehicles in the U.S.

That makes it, by far, the most important brand within the Stellantis U.S. group.

While everyone knows that pickup trucks are driving the market in a big way, Jeep handily outsold Ram brand, which had sales of 495,410 units.

Of course, in terms of product offerings Ram pretty much has the Ram pickup variants, which accounted for 434,772 of the sales. The ProMaster Van and the ProMaster City account for the rest.

Jeep vp Jim Morrison (Image: Jeep)

In the case of Jeep, there are the Wrangler (164,710) and the Grand Cherokee (189,727). Having two popular models is certainly beneficial.

And as for the other brands—Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat and Alfa Romeo—realize that all in for the first three quarters the entire group had sales of 1,365,881.

Jeep and Ram combined account for 1,100,081 units, so you can figure how the others did.

Jim Morrison is vice president, Jeep Brand North America. On this edition of “Autoline After Hours” he talks with “Autoline’s” John McElroy, Mike Austin of Hemmings and me about where the brand is and where it is going.

The importance of having some solid nameplates is something that they’re taking into account which is leading to an expansion of offerings.

For example, the fifth generation Grand Cherokee is now also available as the 4xe (plug-in hybrid) and Grand Cherokee L (a three-row vehicle).

In addition, this year Jeep has also launched the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer. The Grand Wagoneer starts at $86,995. It is not only the most sumptuous Jeep, but what is important to note is that it is still a Jeep: the engineers didn’t forget capability when developing the vehicle.

Morrison talks about those vehicles, as well as about the influx of competition that Jeep is now facing, such as with the Ford Bronco and the GMC HUMMER.

He thinks that what is going to happen is that the entire segment is going to grow as people begin to think more and more about vacations that put them behind the wheel of a vehicle and not strapped into a seat on an airplane, and that an increasing number of those vacation trips will be out in the wilds, a place where Jeeps excel.

Morrison also thinks that Jeep will maintain its share of the market, not lose it to the other companies.

He also talks about whether there could be fully battery electric Jeeps, and while he is cautious about talking future product, he does make an interesting statement that encompasses Jeep:

“We don’t care what puts power to the ground. We just want to do it better than anyone else.”

That’s a Jeep thing.

You can see the show here.

Toyota: Continuously Improving Georgetown

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The legendary assembly plant (and there is a powertrain plant there, too) is getting a serious refresh

By Gary S. Vasilash

Toyota’s Georgetown, Kentucky plant—the company’s original manufacturing operation in the U.S.—is undergoing a transformation. One that is based on a $461-million investment.

Susan Elkington, president of the facility known as TMMK: “As Toyota’s most experienced assembly plant in the U.S.”—it has been in operation for 35 years—“with a workforce of about 9,000, TMMK must transform physically and strategically to meet the changing needs of customers.”

Toyota Georgetown plant (Image: Toyota)

They are going to improve the plant layout to improve operational capability and to allow it to produce new products (it builds the Camry, Camry Hybrid, RAV4 Hybrid, Lexus ES and Lexus ES Hybrid right now; the Lexus models will be moving to Japan).

In 2023 they will start producing fuel cell modules in Georgetown.

They will be adding a 2.4-liter turbo line in the plant.

And while it has some 1,400 variable team members—meaning they work for Kelly Services, not Toyota directly—they will be offered jobs by Toyota, too.

The Georgetown plant, for years, was a place that other OEMs wanted to tour in order to see how Toyota does it.

Presumably how they do it will be even better.

Munro & Faraday’s Future

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Will this design-for-manufacturing expert consultancy put Faraday on the road?

By Gary S. Vasilash

Sandy Munro, of Munro & Associates, has long been known in the Detroit area for his always relevant and sometimes strident analyses of motor vehicles. For the past few years Munro has become more widely known (and as much of a YouTube star as someone who does things like assess manufacturability and cost reduction opportunities can be) for his work on electric vehicles. He has become an expert on the ways and means Tesla produces its vehicles, which has resulted in Munro being a go-to for those who want to do a better job of execution.

But at the end of the day, he and his team are suppliers. And rarely do vehicle manufacturers talk about their suppliers.

After all, OEMs know everything. . .don’t they?

So it comes of a bit of a surprise that Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc., which revealed the FF 91 at the 2017 CES to much attention and levels of acclaim, has announced that it has engaged with the consulting firm.

Carsten Breitfeld, CEO of Faraday Future Global (yes, a different name than the aforementioned but part of the same outfit), announced, “We are excited to work with Munro & Associates, who has a tremendous amount of experience in the electric vehicle space and has a highly respected reputation within the industry.

“We are grateful to be on the right track in our production of the FF 91 Futurist and to have the support and opportunity to co-create our products and technologies with this esteemed firm.”

(Yes, the “FF 91” is now the “FF 91 Futurist.”)

Clearly Munro has gained significant traction in this space.

And the FF 91 Whatever-it-will-be-called-when-it-hits-production will be the better for that profound knowledge that Munro & Associates will bring.

Construction Equipment Concept

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From Volvo. . .and LEGO

By Gary S. Vasilash

When you think “construction equipment” the first thing that you don’t think of—and possibly not even the last thing—is LEGO.

We’re talking earth-moving gear here, not a cleverly constructed toy.

Yet according to Volvo Construction Equipment, its engineers and designers worked with those from LEGO Technic and developed the Volvo LX03.

Volvo LX03 concept wheel loader. Looks like something from the set of Dune. (Image: Volvo Construction Equipment)

The concept, a 5-ton wheel loader, is based on a toy, the 42081 LEGO Technic Concept Wheel Loader ZEUX. 

According to Head of Product for LEGO Technic, Niels Henrik Horsted, Volvo and LEGO have collaborated on several models that became LEGO models, “But this is the first time we are making a real machine based on a model and not the other way around – and that is what makes this a truly unique project.”

The LX03 is autonomous and electric, It uses the same driveline as the Volvo L25 electric. It has a run time of up to eight hours.

According to Volvo, it is programmable so it can perform heavy, repetitive or dangerous tasks without humans being on site.

While it isn’t commercially available, it is certainly conceivable that the LX03—or something very much like it—will be in the not-too-distant future.

And we don’t mean on the shelf at Target.

2023 Corvette Z06 Unveiled

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An interesting aspect of the product development

By Gary S. Vasilash

Odds are you’re going to spend more time looking at the aggressive forms that have amped-up the design of the already-aggro Corvette Stingray and transformed it into the Corvette 2023 Z06 than you are going to spend reading this.

2023 Chevy Corvette Z06. (Image: Chevrolet)

Front and rear fasicas, bigger fenders, additional aero bits.

And there’s that naturally aspirated 670-hp 5.5-liter V8 under the hood. (Part of the rationale for the front fascia redesign was to funnel more air into a center heat exchanger, one of five that the car has.)

But here’s a quick fun fact about the Z06:

The chassis is the same as the one used for the C8.R race car that was campaigned in IMSA.

So while the production car was being developed, its underpinnings were out int the world for everyone to see.

Clever.

Fly or Drive?

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How about both?

By Gary S. Vasilash

Chinese vehicle manufacturer XPeng Inc. held a tech day at which the company displayed things like its advanced driver assistance systems (XPILOT 3.5 and XPILOT 4.0) and it “X-Power” supercharging system, which, with a 800-V capability, can provide a charging range of 200 km (124 miles) in five minutes.

That is the sort of thing that even the impatient can tolerate.

Sixth-gen flying car from HT Aero. (Image: XPeng)

But what is arguably a more interesting development is the road-capable flying car developed by affiliate company HT Aero.

The rotors adjust depending on whether the vehicle is in the air or on the highway.

The flying car is scheduled to become available in 2024.

Cadillac LYRIQ: Hitting All the Right Notes

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An up-close look at the exterior and interior design of what will undoubtedly become the flagship of the Cadillac lineup (sorry, Escalade)

By Gary S. Vasilash

The Cadillac LYRIQ is certainly the most important Cadillac vehicle to be launched since the Cadillac CTS appeared in 2003. Arguably the LYRIQ, an electric vehicle, is one of the most important products that General Motors is putting on the market because it truly marks a commitment to contemporary EVs that it has announced are coming.

The 2023 LYRIQ, which will be on the market in the first half of 2022, is the real thing.

The fresh face of Cadillac. (Images: Cadillac)

Yes, it will be beaten to showrooms by the GMC HUMMER EV, but that is arguably a niche vehicle. A niche vehicle with people with deep pockets: the first edition, for which all of the reservations have been spoken for, has an MSRP of $112,595.

The LYRIQ will start at $58,795. The reservations for the first edition of the crossover were full. In 10 minutes.

The LYRIQ has an estimated range of over 300 miles from the 100.4-kWh Ultium battery pack. It is a rear-drive vehicle. The Ultium drive unit will provide ~325 hp.

On the inside there is a 33-inch diagonal screen that stretches across the instrument panel, a 19-speaker AKG Studio audio system, eight-way power driver and front passenger seats, and other accoutrements that are characteristic of a vehicle that is a showcase for the brand.

An interior so well crafted, you might not want to leave when your trip is complete.

On the exterior there is a illuminated black crystal front grille that illuminates in an orchestrated manner, a grille that is certainly a signature of not only the vehicle, but of the level of creativity, imagination and technology that may become known as what Cadillac is all about.

On this edition of “Autoline After Hours,” we learn about the LYRIQ, inside and out.

We—“Autoline’s” John McElroy, Henry Payne of The Detroit News, and me—are joined by Brian Smith, Cadillac exterior design director, and Tristan Murphy, Cadillac interior design manager.

What is notable about LYRIQ, even if you put aside that it is an EV, is that this is a vehicle that was a total clean-sheet design. They were creating something absolutely new, something that wasn’t a variation on a theme.

The charter was to create a vehicle that would not only show the world of electric vehicles that Cadillac has arrived, but the world that drivers live in too: This is meant to be a vehicle that not only will people like driving, but be one that they’ll be proud to be seen in.

Three of the words that Smith and Murphy use to characterize what the LYRIQ represents are performance, technology and craftsmanship.

The best of right now with the attention of detail that often seems to be lost.

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Then, for the second half of the show, McElroy, Payne and I, all jurors for the North American Car, Truck & Utility of the Year (NACTOY) awards, talk about the vehicles that we had the opportunity to drive earlier in the week, all semifinalists for the 2022 awards.

The vehicles include:

  • Audi A3 and S3
  • Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing
  • Genesis G70
  • Honda Civic
  • Mercedes S Class
  • VW Golf and GTI
  • Ford Maverick
  • Hyundai Santa Cruz
  • Nissan Frontier
  • Toyota Tundra
  • GMC HUMMER EV pickup
  • Rivian R1T
  • Ford Bronco
  • Genesis GV70
  • Hyundai Tucson
  • Jeep Grand Cherokee
  • Jeep Wagoneer & Grand Wagoneer
  • Kia Carnival
  • Nissan Pathfinder
  • VW ID.4

And you can see it all here.

Top Auto Brands

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How do auto brands stack up in value with other familiar companies? Turns out, pretty well.

By Gary S. Vasilash

Global brand consultancy Interbrand produces a list of the Best Global Brands each year, is out.

Not surprisingly, tech is huge.

Interbrand notes that the top three brands on the 2021 list are Apple, Amazon and Microsoft. Although they are but 30% of the top 10, they represent 62.3% of the total value of that group.

But it is worth noting that two in the top 10 are vehicle manufacturers. At #7 is Toyota. And #8 is Mercedes.

To get a sense of where they are in context, #6 is Coca-Cola and #9 is Disney.

Serious brands.

At 11 is Nike. Twelve is BMW.

Louis Vuitton is at 13.

Tesla is #14.

Facebook is at 15.

J.P. Morgan is 24.

Honda is in the 25th spot. Followed by YouTube.

Number 34 is Allianz. Number 35 is Hyundai. And Netflix is number 36.

Zara is #45. Audi is at 46 and sibling brand VW is 47. Axa is 48.

Starbucks is 51. Ford is 52. L’Oreal is 53.

Fifty-seven is Philips. Porsche is 58. Nissan is 59. Siemens is 60.

FedEx is at 75; Ferrari is 76 and Dior is 77.

At 85 there’s Huawei. Kia is at 86. Johnson & Johnson is at 87.

Finally, Hennessy is #95, MINI is #96. Burberry is #97. Land Rover is #98. And Uber is #99.

Clearly the OEMs are in solid company.

Sour Mash and Motorcycles

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Yes, a special edition motorcycle predicated on a legendary whiskey

By Gary S. Vasilash

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:

“In 2019, 4,733 people operating a motorcycle were killed in traffic crashes. Of those motorcycle riders, 1,383 (29%) were drunk (BAC of .08 g/dL or higher). 

“Motorcycle operators involved in fatal crashes were found to have the highest percentage (25%) of alcohol-impaired drivers than any other vehicle types. 

“The 40-to-44 age group had the highest percent, 40%, of drunk motorcycle operators killed in 2019.”

Which leaves me mystified about this:

“Indian Motorcycle, America’s First Motorcycle Company, and Jack Daniel’s®, America’s first registered distillery, along with Klock Werks® Kustom Cycles have partnered to celebrate American craftsmanship with the introduction of the Jack Daniel’s® Limited Edition Indian Challenger Dark Horse. Marking the sixth year of the bold partnership and limited-edition series, the 2022 Jack Daniel’s® Limited Edition Indian Challenger Dark Horse draws inspiration from Jack Daniel’s® renowned Tennessee Rye whiskey – each product embodying the same spirit of innovation to break the mold and exemplify world-class craftsmanship.”

Somehow it would seem that there is a large separation between motorcycles and alcohol of any type.

(Image: Indian Motorcycles)

But evidently this is far from being a novelty (“Marking the six year of the bold partnership”), and something that is beneficial to the firms involved.

Whether you ride a 2022 Jack Daniel’s® Limited Edition Indian Challenger Dark Horse or a low-power Vespa:

Don’t drink and ride