Making road-legal vehicles is generally really hard. For one, the bulk cash required to get through the difficult engineering process, establish a distribution network, and work through the pains of production on the path to profitability is simply immense, which is why so many fledgeling companies seem to have difficulties. This week, there’s drama at electric semi truck startup Windrose, with The Wall Street Journal writing “…Paychecks Are Missing—and So Is a Truck.”
Meanwhile, Bentley just released the first real teaser image of its upcoming EV, and more importantly, announced a name. It’s expected to share a platform with a model from a brand that may be cutting thousands more jobs. Oh, and if all that’s a bit too doom-and-gloom for you, I have a little tidbit of van news that ought to perk things up.
Welcome to the Morning Dump, where we serve up finger food-sized portions of the day’s important car news. I’m taking over from Matt for a few days as he’s at a water park and writing equipment generally gets a bit cranky when exposed to liquids.
What The Truck?
Despite the drawbacks of electric vehicles for high-speed, long-distance load lugging when compared to diesel, the electric semi truck race is on. From the Freightliner eCascadia to the Volvo FH Electric to the Tesla Semi, everyone wants a slice of the pie, so it’s understandable that startups are looking to jump in the pool. One of those startups is Windrose, and it already has fully-functional Chinese-built but locally-assembled trucks. Not only has it successfully made customer deliveries, it’s also been dubbed the “Tesla Semi’s biggest rival” by Forbes. While the brand has been moving fast, a new report titled “A Trucking Startup Aims to Challenge Tesla. Now, Paychecks Are Missing—and So Is a Truck” from the Wall Street Journal suggests they’re also breaking stuff. From WSJ:
By March, the company was in such disarray that Windrose’s chief executive, Wen Han, was demanding to know where one of his $285,000 trucks had gone.
Two former employees fired in January, Travis Waite and Harold Keller, refused to help locate the vehicle until Han paid them a combined $91,000 in unpaid wages and benefits. They still haven’t been paid, they say, and the truck remains at large.
The CEO disputes the reported unpaid wages and benefits, although chat logs obtained by the WSJ suggest a history of late payments. Plus, there’s the matter of an actual labor case that played out in Michigan. From the Wall Street Journal:
Last May, operations director Kyle Maki complained in a company chat about missing wages. By March, labor regulators in Michigan ordered Windrose to pay almost $10,000 in back wages and interest. Han said he would pay the money but disputes the amount involved and may file a counterclaim later.
Not a great look for a company that sponsors a football team. Also, how do you lose track of a rather distinctive aerodynamic heavy truck? It’s not like it’s particularly small or nondescript.
Alleged payroll disputes and a missing truck aren’t the only problems reportedly going on at Windrose. The company’s also reportedly drawn the scrutiny of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration due to claims of inaccurate vehicle identification numbers.
Of the four Windrose trucks in the U.S. today, at least two have Vehicle Identification Numbers assigned by Windrose that identify the trucks as having been made in Georgia. In fact, the vehicles were made in China, according to Han.
A representative for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the agency is seeking additional information from Windrose. Submitting false information could mean a civil penalty of almost $28,000 for each violation.
Yikes. I’ve reached out to Windrose for comment, and will update you should I hear back. Given how much of this is still to shake out, I’ll be following the Windrose saga as further developments arrive. While the company reportedly still has 150 orders and plans to go public via SPAC later this year, alleged payroll disputes and NHTSA issues cast serious doubt on the company. Oh, and if anyone finds the allegedly missing truck, drop me an email. I’d love to know where it’s been.
Hello Torcal
After years of rumor and a slight delay, the first electric Bentley is almost here. While we’re still going to have to wait until Sept. 23 to see the actual car in full, the crew in Crewe have finally released a name: Torcal. As you probably guessed, “Torcal” traces its etymological roots back to the latin “Torquere,” which translates as “to twist.” Rather apt for something powered by electric motors.
Don’t be terribly surprised if the Torcal shares an architecture with the new Porsche Cayenne Electric, just like how the Bentayga’s a cousin of the regular Cayenne. This should mean DC fast charging at up to 390 kW, a battery pack capacity well in excess of 100 kWh, and a load of different output options Bentley can choose from. Judging by the latest official teaser photo, cues like the taillamp detailling and rear glass treatment seem far less generic than on last year’s EXP 15 concept too. We should know a whole lot more in the next three-ish months, but for now, I’m just dreaming of what the depreciation will be like in a decade.
Porsche’s Reportedly Cutting Thousands More Jobs
Speaking of Porsche, the marque continues to find itself in a tight spot, and it’s been responding with austerity. After culling 500 jobs in May, more cuts are reportedly on the way according to Manager Magazin.
According to information obtained by the Handelsblatt newspaper, up to 4,000 more jobs could be lost in the announced further job cuts at sports car manufacturer Porsche . The report states that employees in management and administration are particularly affected. Around 30 percent of the capacity at the Weissach development site is to be reviewed.
A Porsche spokesperson declined to confirm the specific number of job cuts when asked by the German Press Agency (dpa), but referred to a comprehensive restructuring plan currently being developed to streamline the company. The plan is expected to be presented by the end of July.
This certainly isn’t the first time in history that Porsche’s found itself in a tight spot. Around the turn of the ’90s, the marque found itself in a serious profitability crisis, eventually rising from that so monumentally, it attempted to eat Volkswagen. Now though, the challenges are different than they were back then, as are the opportunities. Porsche’s last comeback was aided by new currency, a period of free trade expansion, the ability to find huge operational efficiencies, and getting in on the ground floor of an extremely profitable new segment, the luxury SUV. This time, the world is now a very different place.
Van Time
That was a bit depressing, so how about some slightly uplifting news? Kia has announced pricing for the 2027 Carnival minivan and it’s only $100 more than last year’s model across all trim levels. This means the base LX starts at $39,035 including freight, a pretty good deal for a practical family hauler. At the same time, mid-range EX and SX trims gain optional second row captain’s chairs, and while red is no longer on the color palette, EX-and-up trims get a fetching shade called Iceberg Green.
On paper, the sweet spot of the range is likely the EX Hybrid, which combines the 32-combined-MPG hybrid powertrain with hands-free power sliding doors and sunshades for $45,235. That’s a solid amount of van for the money, an honest machine at a rather sensible price tag.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
Man, 112 is fantastic. I know “U Already Know” probably isn’t a song you’d play around your parents, but in a drop-top on a summer’s evening in the city, it’s a feeling.
The Big Question:
Let’s say that you were given the keys to the Porsche kingdom with the mission of turning things around. How would you do it?
Top graphic image: Windrose
I absolutely love how I don’t give a single damn anymore about any new s..t that is coming out these days…
all I care about is whether the good parts manufacturers will stay in business.
my older cars face more and more parts scarcity, especially here in Canada…. that worries me a ton more than wtf is going to happen with Porsche. One year they make so much profit that every employee walks out with 17k euros as a bonus. then anther year they lay them off. Sorry but this is just batshit crazy
Porsche is slowly going to their early to mid 90s crisis…Lack or strategy and slow responsiveness are both resulted in lost competitiveness. This will end up bad for them
TBQ:
I’d design a new modular, air-cooled, all-turbo, all-hybrid, flat/boxer engine family. Boxster/Cayman get boxer 4, 911 gets 6 (clearly), special supercar gets flat 8 (Carerra GT type vehicle, but less deadly).
But what about emissions from an air-cooled engine vs water/glycol cooled? Well, with today’s combination of engine technology advancements and applying a hybrid solution to all the above engines… could it be possible? I feel like with VCT, VVL, Variable oil pumps, Cylinder deactivation, direct injection (with port), start-stop, cats, dpf + modern hybrid transmissions…. i feel like it could be…
Other than that… Cayman should be two-row, Cayenne should be 3-row.
“VCT, VVL, Variable oil pumps, Cylinder deactivation, direct injection (with port), start-stop, cats, dpf + modern hybrid transmissions….”
All that so you can have a terrible cabin heater?
Ok, that is a solid point haha.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea. And I fully support all that tech, as long as it works. These are expensive cars, might as well get something good for all that money. But taken to the hybrid extreme the ICE becomes more or less a generator/heater and to be effective as a cabin heater it needs liquid coolant. As do the batteries if they’re going to last.
I’ve long thought one could modify a H6 Honda Goldwing engine to be such a generator/heater. It’s the right size, the right shape and right cylinder count. They are cheap enough to experiment on while also being common enough to be readily available. It’s SOHC/2v design might be a challenge but it’s a starting point. The latest generation has 4v heads and by now those might be cheap too.
Fair point.
It could be done with a heat pump setup. If a heat pump was able to keep my 120 year old house (with endless problems) at 70f when it was -10F outside… i feel like it could work in this situation. But obviously all of this is a pipedream.
Sure, especially if its going to have A/C anyway. The only downside is the energy consumed pumping heat when there’s *free* heat otherwise being thrown away
Of course there is also the oil. Maybe use the oil to heat the cabin either by pumping hot engine oil directly to the cabin heat exchanger through insulated lines or through an intermediate water/glycol loop. That way you get the air cooled engine AND good cabin heat.
oooo yeah that could work!
TBQ: hire back those 500 workers, also hire ALL the fired VW workers. Drop the price of the Caymen by 25%. Increase the price off the base 911 by 50%. Reverse trimflate the Cayenne, and offer that one specific model for $42069.41.
Profit.
Then wait for it (the pink slip)
The big questions are:
1. Has the push for cheap Chinese vehicles, plus overpaid US auto workers, led to slaves not being paid?
2.you have 3 prototype semi truck vehicles you can’t spend $20 a month each for tracking?
I assume the employees holding the truck hostage know how to disable the tracking.
Porsche is not Hermes, it’s a publicly owned company and will be either forced to offer products to a wider audience to keep the wolves at bay, or I suppose they could go private and become even more exclusive. A 911 used to be the absolute top of mainstream, but it feels like they’ve busted right through that ceiling. A 911 starts at $135,500. Ten years ago it was right at $85,000. Ouch.
Or they could operate as what they really are – a premium brand of the Volkswagen Group. There is not need for Porsche to make cheaper cars – that is what VW and Audi are for.
$85,000 in 2016 dollars is $120,000 today accounting for inflation, so it is about 10% more expensive.
um, 10% more of 85,000 is 93,500. It’s 35,000 more, not 8500 more.
“accounting for inflation”
and if you don’t know what words means I’d recommend a dictionary
Which football team do they sponsor? I could only find a basketball team in Belgium.
Torcal. That sounds like the Weather Channel’s totally made-up Tor:Con tornado forecasting BS marketing exercise.
So, you could say that they are digging (digging) holes?
I’m glad I wasn’t the only one to immediately think of the band. *wanders off humming dwarf metal*
Torcalmada, do not beg for long road trips. Torcalmada, do not ask for beautiful exhaust notes. Let’s face it, you can’t Torcalmada anything!
Oooooo, drama!!! I can’t wait to find out how they’ve hidden it. Are they borrowing someone’s giant RV storage shed? Did they park it in a back lot somewhere, throwing tarps and other debris on it to disguise the shape? Or did they make a really daring move and park it in plain sight, hoping that the average person isn’t observant enough to notice something unique about it?
Giant faraday cage? 😉
Like BJ and the Bear, they got some chicks to help them paint it in a different color with rollers and bathroom paint. “15 gallons. It’s a really big bathroom”
They parked it at a Chrysler dealership.
like when South Park hid votes at a Hummer dealership almost 20 years ago?
According to the EPA, Porsche sells 57 different models in the US. That seems like an awful lot, and could be culled by 80%.
They must be calling every trim level a different model. <shrug>
I don’t care how many they sell, since none of them currently sold have any appeal to me.
They could start by making actual sportscars and GTs that are somewhat affordable by mere mortals. Seven years ago, I came *this close* to ordering a Cayman Euro-Delivered for my 50th birthday present to myself. Base car, a bare handful of options (most of which should have been standard at the price), and by the time the State was paid it was going to be $80K+. Before the Pandemic runup in prices. Now they don’t even make it anymore. My inner Yankee Cheapskate couldn’t go through with it – that is just not good value for a car that sounds FAR too much like a Subaru. It should have been a $50K car then, with an n/a six in it. Boxster should be a little cheaper but the same. 911 prices went Plaid a long time ago. The rest of the range are just tarted up Audis at astronomical prices. A proper Porsche used to be an attainable car for the young up and coming professional, but hasn’t been for eons. It’s middle-aged and up rich guys (sportscars and GTs) and entry-level Trophy Wives (the SUVs) all the way down now.
I believe the EPA only cares about the powertrain, which implies they sell 57 different combos.
Again, must be counting every 10hp variation in hp to get that many.
They currently sell the 911, Taycan, Panamera, Macan, and Cayenne. 718 Cayman and Boxster are dead. That’s five models by my reckoning. Everything else is a trim level of one of those.
If your count is by variation BMW made about 100 different 3-series when I bought mine. Nope, they made the 3-series with four body styles and a bunch of engine options, but they are all just 3-series as far as I am concerned. Choice is not a bad thing.
I guess it’s further proof that I’m old (not as I need more) but TBH, I’d rather have a Kia van to daily than a Bentley EV or Porsche SUV.
I’m so put off by astronomically high priced vehicles and deeply troubled by the almost complete lack of anything actually entry level/affordable from most brands. Not that I expect such from Bentley or Porsche of course, but now there’s no Fit, no Yaris, not even a Mirage or Versa, let alone anything domestic under $20K. It’s crazy and sad (to me).
I don’t even know if the Fit and Yaris, etc… would work here anymore… those cars are both still made and sold in the UK and elsewhere, but they seem to have grown in price to the point where they seem a too pricey for what they are (‘super minis’ is the term used in the UK/Europe). Even Toyota’s AygoX (below even the Yaris) seems sort of expensive. 🙁
I’m not in the market for these cars, but it really feels like they should exist in the U.S. auto market.
I’m right there with you as far as hating what options we have available as consumers. I hate that as you spend more money the products become less reliable. Even when it comes to inanimate objects such as TV’s, why do LG, Samsung, or Sony models fail 3 times as often as TCL or Hisense, with Vizio in-between. Why is an old BMW control module frequently the most likely cause of a problem when that never happens in a Civic. Who decided that leather is the “Premium” option? It’s less comfortable, rarely lasts more than 7 years, heavier, and annoyingly hot / cold if you live somewhere that has seasons.
I mean, obviously Porsche needs some sort of entry point into the brand. No, I’m not expecting them to fart out a rebadged A3 or some other Cimmaron-level product, but rather something in the 50-70k range that young professionals desire to own (and be seen in). I get that some douche in charge once said the entry level Porsche is a used Porsche, but how’s that strategy going?
Again, this is because Porsche got Stellantitis and discontinued products without direct replacements. I highly recommend these car brands consider making sure that they have you know, a product to sell.