Happy Friday! It’s June 28, 2024, and that is The Morning Shift, your every day roundup of the highest automotive headlines from around the globe, in a single place. Here are the necessary tales you want to know.
1st Gear: Ram Good, Dodge Bad: JD Power
JD Power’s newest Initial Quality Study is out, and this 12 months’s outcomes are… odd. Ram takes the highest spot, however Dodge is absolutely the worst of the bunch — in addition to Polestar, which the research claims isn’t eligible anyway. From Automotive News:
Ram grabbed the highest spot within the J.D. Power U.S. Initial Quality Study for the second time in 4 years, whereas Stellantis stablemate Dodge dropped to final place after main the business in 2023.
Porsche ascended to the No. 1 rating amongst premium manufacturers after being the runner-up final 12 months to Stellantis-owned Alfa Romeo, which fell to the underside tier in 2024. Porsche was seventh total.
Chevrolet ranked second, transferring up three spots from final 12 months. Hyundai jumped to 3rd place, up from No. 17 in 2023. Kia was fourth, and Buick rounded out the highest 5.
GMC and Cadillac fell out of the highest 10. Ford moved up from beneath common in 2023 to ninth place this 12 months.
It’s not instantly clear why the hole between two sibling automakers could be so huge, although Automotive News says Alfa Romeo was damage by the Tonale. Perhaps the Hornet is seeing some points.
2nd Gear: Elon Musk’s $56 Billion Payday Goes To Court
Remember when shareholders voted on giving Elon Musk $56B? Well, as it’s possible you’ll recall, that vote wasn’t binding — it was simply proof to ship to the Delaware courtroom that had blocked Musk’s pay. Now, that’s precisely the place it’s gone. From Reuters:
Tesla is claiming Elon Musk gained his authorized battle over his $56 billion pay package deal as a result of shareholders voted for the compensation, regardless of a choose rescinding it earlier this 12 months, in response to a courtroom submitting made public on Thursday.
The firm’s submitting comes two weeks after Tesla shareholders voted to ratify the 2018 package deal of inventory choices. Tesla held the vote following a January ruling by a Delaware choose to void the compensation as a result of Musk improperly managed the negotiation course of and the corporate misled shareholders about key particulars.
The uncertainty within the case hangs over Musk’s relationship with Tesla, which is battling slower gross sales and stiffer competitors. He has mentioned he would possibly develop some merchandise exterior the corporate if he doesn’t receive a bigger possession stake.
Given that the present state of Tesla and Musk are far completely different than they had been when the pay package deal was initially authorized — Tesla is a robotics firm now, in the event you hadn’t heard, not a carmaker — it’s unclear how a lot this new proof will sway the choose.
third Gear: Toyota Wants To Catch Up On Driver Assists
Buyers in China need EVs with superior driver-assist tech. Toyota, notably, lags on these two factors — and lags accordingly in Chinese gross sales. Now, via a three way partnership, the corporate is trying to change that. From Reuters:
Toyota is planning to launch the primary electrical automotive mannequin outfitted with a sophisticated autonomous driving system much like Tesla’s Full Self-Driving for the Chinese market subsequent 12 months, one in every of its Chinese joint ventures mentioned.
The JV with state-owned Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC) goals to revive the Japanese automaker’s market share in China by catching up with Chinese rivals on applied sciences in hybrids, batteries and clever autos.
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Toyota ranked fifth amongst all manufacturers by automotive gross sales in China within the first 4 months of this 12 months, when the Japanese model noticed a 22% drop from the identical interval in 2023, in response to knowledge from China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
Toyota can also be engaged on creating new battery tech to chop the price of the bZ4X, which — if profitable — might give consumers a single purpose to buy it over actually every other choice.
4th Gear: Electrify America Is Racing To Fix Chargers
The biggest barrier to EV adoption within the United States is our patchwork of unreliable chargers, and the roughly 35 apps wanted to run all of them. Electrify America is aiming to vary that, with a radical new strategy: What if EV chargers labored? From Automotive News:
Electrify America, one of many largest electrical car charging networks within the U.S., is pulling a number of levers to enhance an EV business black eye: poor charger efficiency.
Just 9 % of EV charging makes an attempt failed on the Electrify America community within the first quarter of this 12 months, in contrast with 11 % within the first quarter of 2022 and 2023, in response to a J.D. Power evaluation.
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EV charging corporations have centered on enhancing charger efficiency over the previous 12 months. Charging setbacks have damage EV gross sales. A fifth of charging makes an attempt failed at non-Tesla chargers within the first quarter of this 12 months, in response to J.D. Power. Tesla Superchargers, often called essentially the most dependable, had a fail fee of 5 %, J.D. Power mentioned.
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Electrify America has changed legacy charging tools, a few of which it put in in 2018, with extra subtle chargers that may rapidly energy EVs which have essentially the most superior programs.
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Electrify America additionally introduced software program in-house to achieve management over the charging expertise.
With any luck, this can assist change the face of charging within the States. There are so many nice EVs on the market, and driving them could be such a trouble because of our rubbish infrastructure. Let’s repair that.
Reverse: Remember Where Pride Month Comes From
As a reminder, youngsters: These rights didn’t come from asking politely. Queer individuals who got here earlier than us fought, bled, and died for them.
On The Radio: SOPHIE – Reason Why
Source: jalopnik.com