Happy Friday! It’s January 19, 2024, and that is The Morning Shift — your every day roundup of the highest automotive headlines from world wide, multi function place. Here are the vital tales it’s good to know.
1st Gear: Ford Cuts Lightning Production, Ramps Up Bronco And Ranger
EV pickups are an odd promote — the eco-friendly drivetrain provides a touch of care to a car historically recognized for its lack thereof. How do you sq. “I bought this vehicle to roll coal on cyclists as I run them down” with “but I care about the trees?” Well, that’s a query Ford remains to be attempting to reply. From the Detroit News:
Ford Motor Co.’s determination to cut back all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup manufacturing is affecting 1,400 jobs in Dearborn. Meanwhile, it’s hiring practically 900 folks in Wayne for meeting of Bronco SUVs and Ranger midsize vehicles.
The Dearborn automaker in a Friday information launch stated it’s in search of to stability manufacturing to satisfy buyer demand. It says it expects development for Lightning gross sales this yr, but it surely’s lower than beforehand anticipated. The manufacturing lower is the newest pullback by the automaker within the EV area.
“We are taking advantage of our manufacturing flexibility to offer customers choices while balancing our growth and profitability. Customers love the F-150 Lightning, America’s best-selling EV pickup,” Ford CEO Jim Farley stated in a press release. “We see a bright future for electric vehicles for specific consumers, especially with our upcoming digitally advanced EVs and access to Tesla’s charging network beginning this quarter.”
The Lightning is a deeply cool truck, and I’d a lot reasonably see it on the highway than any variety of coal-rolling F250 Super Duties. Maybe Ford can break up the distinction right here with a RangEVr or a B(atter)onco. Names are nonetheless in improvement.
2nd Gear: The U.S. Government Will Start Fixing EV Chargers
The worst a part of proudly owning an EV is charging it. Not due to how lengthy it takes, or how usually it must occur, however merely how irritating the method is — busted chargers, iced-out spots, high-speed chargers taken up by slow-charging autos, it simply sucks. Now, the feds are stepping in to assist out with a minimum of a type of. From Reuters:
Jan 19 (Reuters) – The U.S. Departments of Transportation and Energy will make investments $325 million throughout three packages to advance EV applied sciences, restore chargers and lower battery prices, the White House stated in a press release on Friday.
“This new funding for EV chargers will repair and replace existing, non-operational chargers across the country, reduce costs for deploying charging in underserved communities, and cut battery costs”, the assertion added.
Hopefully, a bit of money can easy out the EV transition throughout these janky early years. Once chargers are as dependable as gasoline pumps, we might begin to see extra of us shift over to battery energy.
third Gear: Chrysler Is Having A Mid-Life Crisis
Sometimes, on this enterprise, you find yourself feeling just like the “consultants” from Office Space. You sit down, throughout the desk from Chrysler, and also you ask: “What would you say you do here?” It appears Chrysler, too, is engaged on getting that reply. From Automotive News:
The Chrysler model is affected by an id disaster. What is it? What does it wish to be? Those are questions that Brand CEO Christine Feuell has to reply. Quickly.
Just one yr shy of its a centesimal anniversary, the longtime model with roots in Detroit — and a major presence in Canada — gives only one product: a minivan.
The Chrysler Pacifica and Grand Caravan can be found in Canada and the Pacifica and Voyager fleet car can be found within the United States. They’re all constructed on the identical platform in Windsor, Ontario.
The Pacifica is a improbable highway journey mini van, but it surely’s not sufficient to bear the burden of a whole model on its shoulders alone. What’s subsequent for Chrysler?
4th Gear: People Are Loving The Lyriq
Cadillac’s sellers didn’t take too kindly to the Lyriq, quitting the enterprise reasonably than retooling to promote EVs because the General wished. Those objections, nonetheless, seem to have meant objecting to raking in chilly onerous money — the Lyriq is promoting. From the Detroit Free Press:
General Motors stated it’s rising manufacturing of its Cadillac Lyriq electrical SUV this yr after resolving battery module manufacturing issues that hindered gross sales within the final two years.
The model additionally added new dealerships final yr in New York, Texas, Los Angeles and Atlanta, the place EV adoption is most typical, stated John Roth, vice chairman of world Cadillac, throughout a media roundtable Thursday.
Roth declined to say what number of new dealerships Cadillac added. In 2020, about 170-180 of Cadillac’s 870 U.S. sellers, or about 20%, took buyouts from the model to surrender their franchise reasonably than make the funding to promote and repair EVs.
It’ll be attention-grabbing to see whether or not these dealerships meaningfully affect Cadillac gross sales — if the bottleneck strikes up the provision chain to the distribution finish — or if the model is wholly unaffected by their departure. In the EV age, it may go both method.
Reverse: It Was Many And Many A Year Ago, In A Kingdom By The Sea
On The Radio: 100 Gecs – Boiler Room DJ Set
Is there any rule on the books saying that On The Radio needs to be a single track? If there’s, no person advised me. Throw this 86-minute DJ set on in your headphones at work, you’ll get pleasure from it. I’ve listened via all of it greater than as soon as.
Source: jalopnik.com