Auto File: May Day! Teslas Vanish in Asia!

Nu Ride

01/05/2023 16:00

Joe White
  
    Global Autos Correspondent
  
     
    
    Greetings from the Motor City! And happy May Day!
     
    I took advantage of a break in Detroit’s rainy spring
weather to install an oil pressure gauge in a 60-year-old truck.
With wrenches and rags at the ready, I fired up the engine and
waited for the drips to start. Miracles do happen – the
connections held.
     
    One set of connections was tough enough for me. Now imagine
what it takes to be sure that dozens of electrical and fluid
connections are assembled properly on a line of trucks moving
past workstations at the rate of one per minute.
     
    That’s one of our stories for today –
     
    *         Tesla cuts off Model S and X orders in Asian
markets
    *         Ford’s Kentucky Truck plant battles quality demons
    * California wants to ban diesel trucks by 2036

     
     
    * Right-hand drive Teslas disappear in Asia
  
Aspiring Tesla Model S and X buyers in several Asian countries
where steering wheels are on the right-hand side will have to
wait to place an order.
    
    Without explanation, Tesla removed the Model S and Model X
from websites in Australia, Thailand, Singapore and New Zealand.
Right-hand drive models are a small share of production for
those vehicles, and those Asian-Pacific markets are far away
from the Fremont, California plant that makes the aging, larger
models.
    
    As Electrek notes here, Tesla production managers may have
opted to fill more profitable orders for left-hand drive models
in the United States and other markets.
     
    * Essential Reading
  
    *         The greenest and dirtiest states to charge an EV
      
    *         Goodbye to the stretch limo
      
    *         Can the Gulf of Mexico pivot to carbon capture?
      

     
    * Crushing the quality gremlins at Ford
  
    Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville is ground zero for
the automaker’s latest effort to attack a stubborn drag on the
company’s profitability: The $4 billion-plus annual tax levied
by quality defects.
     
    During the launch of Ford’s new generation of Super Duty
pickup trucks, the plant’s workforce went to unusual lengths to
detect and fix bad parts coming from suppliers, use new
technology to goof-proof jobs on the assembly line and test
vehicles before they are shipped to customers.
     
    These measures aren’t cheap. Ford hired 300 new inspectors
and deployed a team of workers to test-drive 28,000 trucks.
Plant manager Joe Closurdo stopped the assembly line to give
engineers time to track the cause of bad parts through the
supply chain.
     
    Using one of the company’s most profitable product lines to
work out the kinks elevates the risks. But recalling new Super
Duty trucks for preventable glitches would be worse.
     
    Ford has little choice but to make quality Job One again.
Chief Executive Jim Farley declared war on quality costs more
than two years ago. But high warranty and recall costs were a
factor in Ford’s humbling 2022 results, which fell well short of
Wall Street expectations and management’s own forecasts.
     
    Wall Street will be watching to see if the numbers show
progress when Ford reports first quarter results Tuesday, May 2.
     
    * California’s diesel deadline
  
    California will ban sales of new diesel-powered heavy trucks
by 2036 under a set of rules adopted by state air quality
regulators Friday.
     
    A trucking industry group called the action to phase out
combustion commercial trucks “unrealistic” and “unachievable.”
The California Air Resources Board found the diesel ban is
justified by a potential $26 billion in savings from improved
public health. Regulators reckoned fleet owners would save $48
billion in operating costs as they go electric through 2050.
     
    The regulators also adopted rules to reduce CO2 and soot
from diesel rail locomotives.
     
    You can read the CARB’s press release and rules here.
     
    California sets the pace for other populous, U.S. coastal
states. The Golden State has already acted to ban sales of new
combustion passenger vehicles by 2035.
     
    * Lordstown Motors fights for life
  
One-time EV SPAC star Lordstown Motors is fighting to stay
afloat after its would-be investor and production partner
Foxconn threatened to cut it loose.
     
    Foxconn has told Lordstown Motors management it will not go
ahead with a planned series of investments totaling $117 million
because NASDAQ has threatened to de-list Lordstown’s shares.
     
    In an SEC filing Monday, Lordstown said Foxconn’s action was
without merit and the companies are in talks. But the EV startup
said that if Foxconn refuses to put up more money “there is
substantial doubt regarding our ability to continue as a going
concern.” Options include curtailing or ceasing operations and
seeking bankruptcy protection, Lordstown said.
     
    Foxconn already controls the main Lordstown Motors asset it
needs for its plans to build EVs for other  manufacturers: The
former General Motors Lordstown auto assembly plant just east of
Interstate 80 near Youngstown, Ohio.
     
  
    * Fast Laps
  
    - The Biden Administration may hit the brakes on a proposal
to allow electric vehicle manufacturers to profit from mandates
on the oil industry to use ethanol and other biofuels, Reuters
reported. The administration is concerned about legal challenges
to the plan to give EV makers credits they could sell to oil
refiners.
     
    - Geely’s Zeekr brand has adopted a Tesla cost-cutting
technology: Using large aluminum castings formed by a
“giga-press” to create chunks of its newest vehicles.
Giga-castings can replace scores of small metal parts – and the
welding machinery and time required to assemble them.
     
    - Wolfgang Porsche said he will retire as chair of
Volkswagen’s supervisory board. The grandson of company founder
Ferdinand Porsche turns 80 on the day of VW’s annual shareholder
meeting, May 10.
     
  
    - It is “unthinkable” for Germany to cut economic ties with
China, Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kaellenius told German media.
Western political leaders talk up reducing dependence on China –
and criticize China’s labor and environmental practices.
Kaellenius’ comments add to the warnings from Germany Inc that
like it or not, China is too big a market – and too important a
source of supply - to cast aside.
     
    - Ethanol-fueled hybrids have a future in Brazil, the
country’s vice president said. The remarks are a reminder that
some big global markets are not all-in on EVs. China’s Great
Wall Motors last week opened a new factory in Brazil to build
flex-fuel hybrid pickup trucks.
     
    - Ouch! Ferrari’s F1 cars are “too slow”  to win races
against Red Bull and Aston Martin, Ferrari team driver Charles
LeClerc said after finishing third in Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand
Prix.
    
    
    Auto File is published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
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