Driving with Dunne

Who supplies the most cars to the Mexican market? If you guessed China, you are not wrong. China is flooding the market with low cost gasoline-powered and electric vehicles. Leading brands include SAIC-MG, Great Wall and Chery. But there's more. One of every two vehicles GM sells in Mexico is built in China. Meanwhile, Chinese suppliers are pouring into supporting Tesla's Giga 6 factory in Monterrey. What do Mexico's leaders make of this mass Chinese arrival? Will the Chinese automakers use Mexico as a base camp for invading the US market? With me today is Jorge Guajardo, former Mexican ambassador to China. He was there for six full years. I I really appreciate Jorge's knowledge of how Chinese people think and his candor. He of course also knows the top people - Jorge met with BYD founder Wang Chuanfu more than ten years ago. What did he see and hear from Wang that made the biggest impression?

Never before in the history of humanity have we had so many choices when it comes to what we drive. Think about it: We have cars, pickup trucks, SUVs, crossovers. station wagons. On size we run the spectrum from the tiny Mini Cooper beastly Hummer. And now these vehicles might be powered by gasoline engines, hybrids, batteries or hydrogen. Some of them even drive themselves, well almost. The average consumer has hundreds of options to choose from. So, how on earth do you land on exactly the right one for you? The process can be all-consuming and overwhelming. Thank goodness we can turn to experts for advice, people who know cars intimately from direct experience. Today's guest, Nicole Wakelin, is exactly that kind of an expert. She test drivs 80 vehicles a year, she has a very good eye for detail and a memory like steel trap. Today, I ask Nicole to deliver her verdict on some of the best-selling EVs on the market, like the Mustang Mach- E, the Hyundai IONIQ 5 and the Tesla Model Y.

China is now the world's No. 1 exporter of cars and trucks, blowing past Japan. In 2023, Chinese automakers will ship more than 4 million vehicles to over 100 markets markets worldwide. Leading destinations include Russia, Saudi Arabia, Chile, Sweden, Malaysia and Mexico. How good are these Chinese cars? And what kinds of challenges are they bound to encounter as they invade global markets. To get answers today our guest is Carlos Roma. Mr Roma is one of those rare western executives who can say that they know Chinese companies from the inside. He worked for BYD, China's largest EV maker, for more than 5 years. He knows how Chinese business people think. And he understands the tight relationship between companies and the Chinese government. In our conversation. today, I will ask Carlos to make some assessments and some predictions: How strong is the Chinese auto industry compared to America's? Can the West ever catch up with China on electrics and batteries and battery supply chains? And how will Chinese cars perform in Brazil's market, a real indicator of how they are likely to perform in many markets worldwide? Carlos Roma, General Director, TB Green on the Driving With Dunne podcast.

Ready or not, we are in the midst of a global battery arms race. China enjoys a commanding lead. America and Europe are racing to catch up. This week we are joined by Simon Moores, CEO, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. No one on the planet knows more about the lithium ion battery industry and gigafactories than Simon. He's been laser focused on it for more than 10 years. Today I will ask Simon some tough questions, including: Can America and Europe close the gap? How soon? Or does China have an invincible position with its enormous scale and low costs? Also this: What was he doing in the middle of a tornado in Nebraska earlier this summer? Let's talk to Simon to get the inside scoop on the Driving With Dunne podcast.

How much do you know about Taiwan? Until recently, most people in the world, if they were being honest, would say practically nothing. But not today. Today, Taiwan finds itself in a highly precarious situation. The People's Republic of China has clear its intentions to integrate Taiwan, to take control of the island and its 22 million residents. Not so fast, say the people of Taiwan. And the are not alone. The United States - most economies around the world, are heavily reliant on Taiwan for supply of the advanced chips that power everything from iPhone to Teslas. China cannot tolerate a future where Taiwan is separate from China. America and its allies cannot accept such a Chinese takeover. Two powerful forces diametrically opposed. How will this high stakes drama play out? Joining is today is Bethany Allen, author of a tremendous new book called Beijing Rules. Bethny, who lives and works in Taiwan, gives us her view on how China plans to take control of Taiwan. And how they might even get it done without firing a shot. Wait - how is that even possible?

BYD is an electric vehicle powerhouse. Already dominant globally in buses and trucks, BYD is now chasing Tesla for world leadership in battery-powered electric vehicles. The Shenzhen-based company will produce more than 3 million electric vehicles in 2023. Many of those cars and SUVs will find their way to global markets including Thailand, Mexico, Germany, the UK, Australia and Japan. For the casual observer, BYD might appear to be an overnight sensation. But this is not that case. BYD is a 30-year old company that persevered through lots of twists and turns before finally gaining traction in the late 2010s. In this Driving With Dunne episode, I have a conversation with my producer, Chris Donovan, to recount how BYD grew from an unknown battery maker for cellphones in the 1990s into a global champion in electrics today. What do we know about BYD's founder, Wang Chuanfu. How soon will we see BYD cars on American roads? BYD - which stands for Build Your Dreams - is a rich and captivating story, one that will give you a fresh appreciation for new-found Chinese might and confidence. #DrivingWithDunne / #ZozoGohttps://twitter.com/Dunne_ZoZoGohttps://www.instagram.com/zo.zo.go/?hl=enhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-dunne-a696901a/

It is no secret that technology is taking over our cars. But what is stunning is the speed and magnitude of the onslaught. Some of it looks amazing. Other stuff feels downright invasive. Hello biometrics and autonomous driving. Where did you come from, phantom braking. And did I agree to those driver monitoring cameras capturing my every move? Could I have some privacy back please? Overall, it feels like automakers and tech companies are creating miniature frankensteins inside our cars. And there is no turning back. How to make sense of it all? Our special guest today is Kathy Rizk, Senior Director at JD Power. Kathy knows the technologies and how consumers feel about them. Let's listen to her takes on the current relationship between the car owners and the young tech frankensteins.#DrivingWithDunne / #ZozoGohttps://twitter.com/Dunne_ZoZoGohttps://www.instagram.com/zo.zo.go/?hl=enhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-dunne-a696901a/

Think of batteries for electric cars as the most important American industrial movement since WWII. Investors are pouring more than $100 billion into new battery plants across the country, from South Carolina to Georgia, from Ohio to Michigan. There's new battery factories coming up in Kansas, Texas and Arizona, too. These battery manufacturing sites are supported by a growing pack of new companies hell-bent on building out America's battery supply chains - minerals, processing and recycling. America's explosion in battery manufacturing is an urgent response to the competitive threats posed by a dominant China. There are national security concerns. There are worries about economic dependence on an increasingly hostile adversary. Our special guest this week is Chris Berry, founder, House Mountain Partners, a research and advisory firm based in Washington DC. Chris is a highly respected expert on batteries and global battery supply chains. Listen in as he paints a picture of America's transportation future, one dominated by electric vehicles and the batteries that power them. #DrivingWithDunne / #ZozoGohttps://twitter.com/Dunne_ZoZoGohttps://www.instagram.com/zo.zo.go/?hl=enhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-dunne-a696901a/

You may not know it yet but there is a great battle underway for your eyes and for your ears inside the car. That battle is taking place between two powerful competitors. In this corner, we have current hardware and software giants like Apple and Google. Most of us are already addicted to their weapons - smartphones. In that corner, we have giant global automakers who are racing to build up their software capabilities. Automakers like Mercedes-Benz envision a future world where you are so impressed with your digital experience inside the car - navigation, entertainment, communication – that you forget all about your iPhones. The automakers are taking this battle very seriously. Our guest today is Magnus Ostberg, Chief Software Officer at Mercedes-Benz. I had dinner with Magnus at CES earlier this year. And I was highly impressed with his expertise in software. Let's learn how Magnus and his team are getting that done. On this week's Driving With Dunne podcast. #DrivingWithDunne / #ZozoGohttps://twitter.com/Dunne_ZoZoGohttps://www.instagram.com/zo.zo.go/?hl=enhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-dunne-a696901a/

Drive the streets of San Diego and it will feel like the whole world is going electric. Here is a Tesla Model 3. There is a Hyundai Ioniq 5. Look at that Lucid Air. Or that cyber orange Mach E. Take your driving to the northern climes, like Detroit, Michiganor Green Bay, Wisconsin, and the picture looks totally different. There full-size pickup trucks and SUVs powered by gasoline engines rule the road. Electrics are simply hard to find, like some endangered species. What explains the dramatic difference? Why is California covered in EVs while people in the north are hanging onto their gasoline powered vehicles? For this week's Driving With Dunne episode conversation, we speak to Andy Minckler, a regular listener to the podcast. Andy lives in New Hampshire about an hour from Boston. He is tempted to go electric. But something is holding him back. What are his concerns? And what might make him change his mind? #DrivingWithDunne / #ZozoGohttps://twitter.com/Dunne_ZoZoGohttps://www.instagram.com/zo.zo.go/?hl=enhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-dunne-a696901a/