Good morning! It’s Wednesday, April 10, 2024, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know.
1st Gear: Boeing Whistleblower Claims It Cut Corners
American plane maker Boeing is in hot water right now after a series of high-profile issues involving its aircraft. In the past few months alone, planes have lost landing gears, door panels and, just this week, a Boeing plane was forced to land after an engine cover came off. Now, the company is facing allegations that it ignored safety concerns in its production process.
The Federal Aviation Administration has launched an investigation into claims that Boeing “dismissed safety and quality concerns” that were made by a company whistleblower, reports Reuters. According to the site:
Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour’s allegations stem from work on the company’s widebody 787 and 777 jets. He said he faced retaliation, such as threats and exclusion from meetings, after he identified engineering problems that affected the structural integrity of the jets, and claimed Boeing employed shortcuts to reduce bottlenecks during 787 assembly, his attorneys said.
Boeing halted deliveries of the 787 widebody jet for more than a year until August 2022 as the FAA investigated quality problems and manufacturing flaws.
The Seattle-based company has refuted the claims, issuing a statement to Reuters that said it was “fully confident in the 787 Dreamliner,” reports the news agency. The company added that the allegations do not “represent the comprehensive work Boeing has done to ensure the quality and long-term safety of the aircraft.”
Upon its launch, the 787 Dreamliner craft did have issues of its own, with battery packs used in the plane suffering short-circuits in some aircraft. However, Boeing’s recent issues have stemmed from its next-generation 737 fleet.
2nd Gear: Price Cuts Save Lucid’s Sales
It’s a tough time to be an electric vehicle startup, with pioneers like Tesla struggling to maintain momentum and demand at established automakers not quite matching projections. For EV maker Lucid, the answer to avoiding those woes was simple: slash prices.
According to the Californian company’s latest sales figures, volumes were up 40 percent in the first quarter of 2024, reports Automotive News. The rise in sales was thanks, in part, to extensive price cuts that came amid an EV pricing war that was started by Tesla. As Automotive News reports:
Lucid Motors said its first-quarter deliveries surged 40 percent compared with the same period last year to 1,967 Air sedans after sharply cutting prices in mid-February and sweetening its lease deals.
The Newark, Calif., startup said Tuesday it produced 1,728 Airs in the quarter ending March 31 at its factory in Casa Grande, Ariz., and a secondary assembly facility in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia.
Sales weren’t just up compared with Q1 in 2023, Lucid also posted a 13 percent increase over sales in Q4 of 2023. During that time, an entry-level Air Pure started at $82,400 after Lucid first cut its prices last summer. By the time 2024 rolled around, the price dropped again and through Q1 a base Air would set you back $79,400.
Lucid currently only offers one model for sale in markets including the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. However, the company has plans to roll out its new Gravity SUV, which it hopes will help “open up a much larger market for the automaker,” reports Automotive News.
3rd Gear: Rimac To Make BMW’s Batteries
In other EV news, German powerhouse BMW has announced that it is partnering with Croatian supercar maker Rimac to help develop battery tech for its latest electric models. The unlikely duo will be Rimac’s “largest and most ambitious” collaboration, according to the brand.
As part of the partnership, Rimac will provide batteries for BMW’s next-generation electric cars, reports British outlet Autocar. Further details of the two companies’ partnership will be shared in due course, but it sounds like it could bring big change to Rimac’s home in Croatia. As Autocar reports:
No financial terms of the deal have been disclosed and neither firm has given any indication of the volumes in which Rimac will supply batteries.
However, Rimac said the deal requires it to equip its battery factory with new “sophisticated automated production lines”.
“A significant portion” of the Rimac Campus near Zagreb will be dedicated to developing and supplying BMW’s new battery packs, “underlining the company’s commitment” to its partnership with BMW.
Currently, BMW sources its battery packs from five sites around the world, and the automaker already has plans for new battery facilities in China, Hungary, Mexico and here in the U.S. The new cells that will be assembled at those plants are said to be “unique to BMW,” according to Autocar, so it remains a mystery what tech Rimac could bring to the company’s latest and greatest EVs.
4th Gear: Ferrari Wants To Learn More About The Batteries It Won’t Make
On the topic of batteries, Ferrari is wading ever deeper into the battery game. The famed Italian supercar maker has announced plans to invest big bucks in its own battery expertise, but apparently won’t get into production of EV cells.
According to a new report from Reuters, Ferrari is amping up its expertise in the battery tech essential for its own EVs. However, the company has no plans to manufacture these cells itself. As Reuters explains:
“We want to open up cells and understand what is in there,” [CEO Benedetto] Vigna said at the opening of a research center on battery cells in partnership with Italy’s Bologna University and chipmaker NXP Semiconductors.
“Production will always be done through external manufacturers, based on the know-how we hope to acquire through this research centre,” Vigna said during a presentation.
“We cannot afford to take cells as black boxes,” he added.
Instead of investing in battery-building facilities, the Italian company is instead backing a new E-Cells Lab, which Reuters reports will be “focused on electrochemistry.” The new lab will endeavor to boost Ferrari’s battery cell knowhow, so that it can get to grips with eking the maximum performance out of the cells that it will source from outside manufacturers.