Volkswagen Has Actual Ambition For ID Buzz EV Bus

Elon Musk goes to Germany, the Volkswagen ID Buzz appears good, and Avtovaz. All that and extra in The Morning Shift for March 21, 2022.

1st Gear: VW Thinks It Will Promote A Lot Of ID Buzzes

I’m not so positive that the ID Buzz will likely be a giant hit, very a lot as a result of it looks as if a great automobile. It additionally appears quirky, or no less than presents itself that approach, recalling, after all, the Sort 2, and quirky by definition shouldn’t be a mass market factor, in any other case it wouldn’t be quirky, however, all of that mentioned, VW nonetheless has excessive hopes. This factor is coming to America, too.

It would be one of the best EV we get within the States when it will get right here in 2024, until there’s a low cost EV in the marketplace then, not a robust probability.

From Automotive Information.

“We wish to promote round 120,000 models a yr,” Volkswagen Passenger Automobiles CEO Ralf Brandstaetter mentioned throughout a livestream of the corporate’s fiscal and product outlook for 2022 and past.

The ID Buzz is the “most emotional “ member of VW’s ID household of battery-electric vehicles, and has what it takes to develop into a bestseller, Brandstaetter mentioned.

The ID Buzz has styling parts that recall the Microbus, which develop into an icon of the Sixties Hippie period. A lot consideration has been paid to the van’s two-tone paint scheme, retro-futuristic design, and eco-conscious choice of supplies on the inside.

“The ID Buzz has been extremely properly obtained within the U.S. the place it’s even a little bit of a cult determine,” Brandstaetter mentioned.

Advance orders for the ID Buzz are attributable to begin in Could, with deliveries scheduled to start out in September in Europe in September the place it is going to be offered as a passenger automobile and in a cargo van model. The U.S. will get solely the long-wheelbase model of the passenger van, with deliveries beginning in 2024.

The U.S. will solely get the worst model of a great EV, this says. Sounds about proper.

2nd Gear: Sellers Have EV Worries

Automotive Information additionally has a pleasant report after going to the Nationwide Vehicle Sellers Affiliation expo in Las Vegas this month. Sellers there have been in poor spirits, Auto Information reviews, as a result of they’re fearful about their revenue margins after the swap to EVs.

Sellers shouldn’t have to just accept smaller income or a enterprise mannequin change simply because the powertrain is completely different, mentioned Mike Sullivan, president of LAcarGuy dealerships within the Los Angeles space. Margins on EVs at his shops are usually not discernibly decrease, he mentioned.

“I’m not going to accept smaller margins below the guise that they’ll pay my flooring or enhance my co-op promoting,” Sullivan mentioned throughout a panel dialogue on EVs on the Automotive Information Retail Discussion board: NADA. “I feel that results in a really harmful place if we go from 13 to six p.c. I think that the following name can be, ‘I guess we may get him to go for five.75 or 5 [percent].’ “

The priority shouldn’t be theoretical, as manufacturers together with Mercedes-Benz and Mini have requested sellers to just accept decrease margins on EVs.

Also somebody there claimed that sellers are greatest for EV shoppers.

Whereas many shoppers have a great impression of the Tesla model, they don’t essentially desire its client expertise, mentioned Mike Dovorany, vp of automotive and mobility at Escalent, a market analysis firm. He performed an enormous survey of probably future EV patrons about their perfect method to purchasing and servicing automobiles.

“We truly took the weather of the Tesla method and we kind of de-badged them,” Dovorany mentioned throughout an NADA Reside session.

A significant takeaway? The dealership mannequin is an effective one for mainstream shoppers shopping for their first EV.

Customers overwhelmingly mentioned they like going to a dealership, having a human to work together with and never having to schedule service solely by means of their telephones, in keeping with Escalent’s analysis.

It “actually had us type of increase our hand and say, ‘Hey, I do know there’s a variety of dialogue about shifting in direction of this kind of extra Tesla-like method, however after we discuss to the shoppers … they’re telling us that’s not their perfect’ “ expertise, Dovorany mentioned.

And likewise sellers are simply fearful basically.

Randy Hoffman, COO at Ed Morse Automotive Group, of Delray Seashore, Fla., mentioned the group has signed on for EVs at every of its dealerships. Ed Morse has about 30 franchised dealerships in Florida, Illinois, Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas and Iowa.

“That’s an costly endeavor,” Hoffman mentioned. “My concern with EV is that the expertise is bettering so quickly that what we’re investing right now could also be antiquated inside just some years.”

Sellers are simply the crabbiest bunch, most likely as a result of they know deep down that they’re inessential.

third Gear: Avtovaz

Avtovaz.

High Russian carmaker Avtovaz mentioned on Monday it was partially halting manufacturing at its crops in Togliatti and Izhevsk on March 21-25 due to to shortages of digital elements.

Avtovaz, managed by French carmaker Renault (RENA.PA), has periodically stopped its manufacturing this month over these shortages.

Renault produces two fashions – Logan and Sandero – for the Russian market in Izhevsk, together with LADA fashions. Avtovaz mentioned the LADA Izhevsk plant will proceed producing its Vesta mannequin and automobiles from Renault’s B0 platform on March 21-22.

Avtovaz.

4th Gear: Elon Musk Going To Berlin

Tesla’s lengthy, tortured, nightmare of a brand new plant in Germany is now, it seems, good to go, and so there may be a gap ceremony and all of that on Tuesday, in keeping with Automotive Information. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is headed to Germany for it, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will even be there.

Musk was headed to Berlin from Austin, Texas, the Twitter person @ElonJet, who tracks the actions of Musk’s non-public jet, posted on Monday.

Musk plans to personally hand over to clients the primary Mannequin Y vehicles constructed on the manufacturing facility, German press reviews mentioned.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz can be scheduled to attend the opening of the manufacturing facility in Gruenheide, 22 miles southeast of Berlin.

Scholz will give a welcome speech on the opening ceremony, however there could also be modifications at quick discover due to the Ukraine battle, a authorities spokeswoman mentioned.

The truth that the Chancellor is displaying up for the opening means that the opening itself was by no means actually unsure.

fifth Gear: Trucking Automation

It has been mentioned that trucking in America is ripe for automation, and that driving a truck is an endangered blue-collar job, and that we must always all panic. I’m unsure that’s is true, as a result of I don’t suppose self-driving vehicles or vans are a near-term factor. Nonetheless, a brand new research says that 500,000 drivers’ jobs might be in danger if it does come to move. The attention-grabbing factor right here is that the research says that drivers will nonetheless be wanted, simply not for the tedious stretches on interstates.

From Bloomberg:

The largest hurdle could also be infrastructure. The quick journey from a manufacturing facility or distribution heart to an interstate is often way more sophisticated than the following a number of hundred miles. The identical is true as soon as the machine exits the interstate. One answer is for trucking corporations to arrange switch stations at both finish, the place human drivers deal with the tough first leg of the journey after which hitch their cargo as much as robotic rigs for the tiresome center portion. One other station on the exit would flip the freight again to an analog truck for supply.

Such a system, in keeping with a brand new research out of the College of Michigan, may exchange about 90% of human driving in U.S. long-haul trucking, the equal of roughly 500,000 jobs.

“Once we talked to truck drivers, actually each one mentioned, ‘Yeah, this a part of the job will be automated,’” defined Aniruddh Mohan, a PhD candidate in engineering and public coverage at Carnegie Mellon College and a co-author of the research. “We thought they might be a bit extra doubtful.”

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