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iPhone Maker Foxconn Enters EV Fray: Meet Foxtron

Foxtron EV Concepts

Foxconn, the Taiwan-based electronics manufacturer best known for building Apple iPhones, is getting into the electric-vehicle business.

The giant electronics firm recently purchased the Lordstown Assembly facility in Ohio from Lordstown Motors, intending to build vehicles for start-up EV companies. Foxconn already has a contract to build the Fisker Ocean compact crossover at the Lordstown plant beginning in 2023 or 2024. The factory was once a General Motors facility.

Foxconn made additional EV news last week, revealing three EV concepts of its own design. This should not be especially surprising, as the company has been developing its own open-source EV architecture on which it intends to builds vehicles for other makers—and, apparently, itself.

Foxconn plans to sell its own vehicles under the “Foxtron” banner. Shown here are the first-ever Foxtron EV concept cars, all of which were revealed at the company’s Hon Tai Tech Day, an annual event. No word yet on when Foxconn intends to begin building Foxtron vehicles, or where it will build them.

Note: Expect these Tesla-like model names to change before any of these vehicles see production.

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Foxtron EV Concepts

Foxtron Model C Concept – compact crossover

Foxtron Model C Concept

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Foxtron Model E – premium midsize sedan

Foxtron Model E Concept

Written by: Tom Appel on October 19, 2021.

Flash Drive: Lucid Air Dream Edition R

A Quick Drive and More Tech Announcements

The ride was short, but provided the essentials—time split between the driver’s seat and the spacious back seat, the two defining spaces in the Lucid Air, the latest luxury electric car to arrive on the market.

This was a pre-production Dream Edition Range model, the actual car used by Lucid execs and Motor Trend magazine staff to demonstrate the car’s range by driving from LA to SF on a single charge. Customer cars are now flowing off the production lines at Lucid’s Arizona factory, so real world test drives are coming soon. Consider this a quick preview.

Lucid Air Dream Edition — **Compact outside; spacious inside**

Quick is the operative word. Lucid’s two motors and 966 horsepower (in the Range model; the Performance version boasts more than 1,000 horsepower) move the Air smoothly and swiftly to the maximum speed allowed on any road. Road feel is solid and my relatively low-speed run barely teased the potential out of the car.

That’s from the front seat. The ride in back is another world. It’s designed for comfort, part of the car’s goal of making a market in China, where chauffeured high end cars (the initial Lucid models will retail for more than $160,000) are relatively common. Lucid makes a point of the Air having a full-size car’s interior packaged in a midsize car’s exterior. That design sleight of hand, made possible by an electric car’s flat floor reduced need for engine space, is evidently in the spacious leg and headroom.

An additional comment I would add is that the Lucid presents itself as a traditional luxury with full instrumentation in front of the driver and auxiliary controls and information on a hidden tablet that can be summoned with a quick touch. The trim pieces have all the right look and feel to impart to the buyer that he/she has purchased a six-figure car.

One feature struck me as particularly distinctive. While panoramic glass rooms are becoming quite common in the automotive community, the Lucid takes a slightly different approach to the idea. The sweep of the glass from the touchdown point on the hood id uninterrupted (other than by two seemingly floating sun visors) until it reaches a crossbar above and slightly behind the driver. It made for an expansive view of the exterior and enhanced the spacious feeling of the car’s interior.

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The battleground for the next round of EVs (the Lucid is only one of a dozen either just introduced or coming soon) has numerous fronts. Lucid has addressed two of those with its 1,000+ horsepower performance model and its companion 528-mile range model. The third area, another one in which Tesla has set the bar, is advanced driver assistance technology (ADAS).

The week after my brief test drive Lucid Group announced details on its DreamDrive driver assistance platform, a suite of technologies that will be standard on the high-end models like the Dream Edition I drove and optional on other models. Like Tesla’s misnamed Autopilot, it’s designed to allow hands-free driving under certain conditions. Unlike Tesla, which appears to be moving to a completely camera-based system, Lucid’s systems uses 32 on-board sensors, including the first use of lidar on a production vehicle.

Lucid Air DreamDrive — **Surrounded by sensors**

The extensive variety of sensors will allow Lucid to offer more than 30 driver-assistance features, including collision avoidance, Traffic Jam assist and Highway Assist.

The sensors feeding the system include 14 visible-light cameras, five radar units, four surround view cameras, ultrasonic sensors around the vehicle’s exterior and a solid-state lidar sensor. Lucid describes the ultimate system, which will be able to grow in capability via over-the-air software updates, as an “invisible co-pilot.”

The DreamDrive system relies on the car’s proprietary on-board Ethernet Ring to enable quick response and will use the Lucid Air’s 21-speaker audio system to deliver directional alerts while presenting information on the graphic display.

Story by Michael Coates. Photos courtesy of Lucid Group.

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Feature: Lucid’s Studio Approach to Sales

News: Lucid Finally Unveils the Whole Air Package

News: Lucid Announces 500+ Mile Range

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Meet GM’s Best Selling EV: Wuling Hongguang Mini EV

Wuling Hongguang Mini EV

From January through July of this year, General Motors’ Chevrolet division sold almost 22,000 Bolt EVs. That’s a solid performance, good enough to rank third among all EV models sold in the U.S. during the same period. But impressive as the Bolt’s sales may or may not be, know this: The Bolt isn’t even close to being GM’s best-selling EV. Read on…

SAIC-GM Logo

General Motors has enjoyed considerable success selling vehicles in China, both through brand channels we’ve heard of (Buick, Cadillac) and via joint ventures (or JVs) that are less well known to Americans. One such venture is the impressive-sounding SAIC General Motors Corporation Limited (SAIC-GM; SAIC was formerly known as Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation). The largest automotive JV in China, SAIC-GM is involved in another JV/ownership arrangement with Chinese micro-vehicle maker Wuling. Famous for its tiny commercial trucks, Wuling sold an impressive 1.8 million vehicles in China in 2020. It was in 2020 that Wuling began producing an unassuming little electric car called the Hongguang Mini EV.

The consumer-oriented Hongguang (Hongguang—pronounced “hong gwong”—is a variation of a popular Chinese unisex first name) is most notable for its price, starting at around $4200. For that money, you get a predictably tiny car— at 115 inches in overall length, the Hongguang stretches only 9 inches longer than the last version of the Smart ForTwo sold in the United States.

Unlike the ForTwo, which, as its name implies, seated only two occupants, the Hongguang provides seating for four—though two of those four will have to be smaller than average in size.

Wuling Hongguang Mini EV

The base version of the Hongguang is delivered with a 9.2 kWh battery and 13 kWh electric motor which drives the rear wheels through a single-speed transmission. So equipped, Wuling says its Mini EV will travel 75 miles on a single charge and reach a top speed of 62 mph. A note about that range: Chinese automakers quote New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) range estimates, which are generally optimistic relative to America’s EPA range estimates. The quoted 75 miles is probably more like 60 miles of real-world range.

Consumer Guide Car Stuff Podcast, Episode 88: EV-Startup Reality Check, Underrated Cars

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For roughly $5600, Chinese consumers can step up to a higher-line model with a 13.8. kWh battery, which raises the promised range to 110 miles (likely more like 85 miles).

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Wuling Hongguang Mini EV Cabrio

Both models come standard with an audio system, power windows, and air conditioning. Safety features include a driver-side air bag and antilock brakes.

Otherwise, the Hongguang is rather conventional for a Chinese-market mini car, save for one thing: It’s insanely popular with young shoppers. Wuling sold almost 30,000 examples of the Hongguang in January 2021, and more than 120,000 examples since the vehicle’s introduction. By most counts, the Hongguang is now the best-selling electric car in China—and the world—at the moment, pushing past the hot-selling Tesla Model 3 compact sedan.

To capitalize on the car’s youth appeal—more than 80 percent of buyers are under the age of 30—Wuling is rolling out two new variants. One is the high-style Macaron, which will feature unique color and trim options, and the convertible Cabrio, which was revealed at the 2021 Shanghai Auto Show.

Looking to take some Hongguang magic to other markets, Lithuanian armored-car manufacturer Dartz Motors is planning to export the car to Western Europe, beginning with Spain in 2022. Unfortunately, the upgrades necessary to make the Hongguang European Union compliant have driven the estimated cost of the car to €10,000 (roughly $12,000).

Our guess is that the spunky $4000 car that has Chinese youngsters scraping their Yuan together will fail to excite more-stoic Europeans at almost three times the price. As for the Bolt EV, a round of battery-fire-related recalls will blunt the impact of the revamped 2022 model, which was just beginning to arrive in showrooms earlier this summer. Regardless, it was unlikely that even an updated Bolt EV would ever come close to being GM’s best-selling EV.

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Wuling Hongguang Mini EV Macaron

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Wuling Hongguang Mini EV Gallery

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Wuling Hongguang Mini EV

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Wuling Hongguang Mini EV

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Written by: Tom Appel on September 16, 2021.

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First Look: 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EV and 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV

2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV (left) and Bolt EV

Today Chevrolet unveiled its redesigned-for-2022 Bolt EV electric vehicle, and also took the wraps off the Bolt EV’s all-new, SUV-like sibling: the 2022 Bolt EUV.

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The Bolt EUV shares its powertrain and basic architecture with the Bolt EV, but it’s about 6 inches longer overall, which gives it 3 inches more legroom than the EV in the back seat. However, the EUV’s cargo room is not improved over the EV. It’s actually a shade less, measuring at 16.3 cubic feet behind the rear seat and 56.9 cu. ft. with the rear seat backs folded, compared to the EV’s respective measurements of 16.6 and 57.0 cubic feet.

2022 Chevrolet Bolt EV

The Bolts’ all-electric powertrain is a single-motor drive unit that makes 200 horsepower. It has a 65 kWh lithium-ion battery that enables a Chevrolet-estimated driving range of 259 miles for the Bolt EV, and 250 miles for the slightly larger, heavier Bolt EUV.

The front-end design of both vehicles is highlighted by “high-eye” daytime running lamps (which also function as sequential turn signals) perched above the headlamps. Interior features include an 8-inch configurable digital gauge cluster, 10.2-inch infotainment touchscreen, and space-saving push-pull gear-selector buttons in place of a traditional shifter. A driver-selectable one-pedal driving mode increases regenerative braking to the degree that the driver can speed up, slow down, and come to a complete stop using only the accelerator pedal. Also included is a Regen on Demand feature, which enables the driver to initiate regenerative braking by pulling on a steering-wheel-mounted paddle.

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2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV

Heated/ventilated front seats and heated outboard seats are available on both Bolts, as are a 360-degree surround-view monitor, rearview-mirror camera display, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, 4G LTE Wi-Fi hotspot, and wireless charging.

The Bolt EUV is available with GM’s Super Cruise semi-autonomous hands-free driver-assistance system. It’s the first Chevrolet to offer the feature, which is currently offered only on select Cadillac models. The EUV gets the base version of Super Cruise—not the enhanced version offered at Cadillac, which includes hands-free lane-change capability.

DC fast-charging capability, which enables the Bolt EV to add up to 100 miles of driving range in 30 minutes of charging (up to 95 miles for the Bolt EUV), is standard. The myChevrolet smartphone app has an Energy feature that enables users to locate charging stations across the country to plan for a road trip. A Dual Level Charge Cord, which has a changeable plug that allows charging on a standard 120-volt three-prong outlet or a 240-volt outlet, is standard on the EUV and available on the EV. And, in partnership with EV home-charging company Qmerit, Chevrolet will cover the installation of Level-2 charging capability in the homes of eligible buyers/leasers of a Bolt EV or EUV.

Meet the New GM Logo

2022 Chevrolet Bolt EV

Both Bolts are slated to go on sale in all 50 states this summer. The Bolt EV starts at $31,995, and the Bolt EUV starts at $33,995 (both prices include destination). The Bolt EV’s sub-$32K base MSRP represents a price reduction of more than $5000 over the 2021 model. A limited-production Launch Edition version of the Bolt EUV, which includes Super Cruise, a panoramic sunroof, unique wheels, an illuminated charge port, and special badging, will start at $43,495. Even though the federal tax credit of $7500 is no longer offered on General Motors vehicles, there may be other state and local incentives that could lower the actual transaction price a bit more.

Hummer Is Back, And This Time It’s Electric

CG Says:

The redesigned Chevrolet Bolt EV and new Bolt EUV represent a further commitment to an all-EV future from General Motors, but neither vehicle feels like a full step forward at this point. The electric powertrain is essentially carryover technology, and the Bolt EUV isn’t radically different from its Bolt EV sibling. The EUV’s additional passenger room and added features are welcome enhancements that may nab customers who wouldn’t have considered a Bolt EV, but all-wheel drive is not on the menu, and even Chevrolet calls the EUV “SUV-like”—not an SUV—in its official press materials.

However, the pricing of both 2022 Bolts is very aggressive—even without a federal tax credit—and the other new features and enhancements should help these vehicles attract more first-time EV buyers and bridge the gap to when GM’s forthcoming, next-generation Ultium battery technology hits the market.

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2022 Chevrolet Bolt EV and 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV Gallery

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Written by: Damon Bell on February 14, 2021.

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