The Lamborghini Huracan goes off the pavement, Volkswagen starts American ID.4 production, Faraday Future might run out of money. All this and more in today’s issue of The Morning Dump.
Welcome to The Morning Dump, bite-sized stories corralled into a single article for your morning perusal. If your morning coffee’s working a little too well, pull up a throne and have a gander at the best of the rest of yesterday.
Lamborghini Teases A Crossover Supercar
When Lamborghini launched the Urus, I was a touch underwhelmed. It just didn’t seem crazy enough for the Italian marque’s image. However, the Urus has shifted a lot of units, which may have got Lamborghini thinking about adding another soft-roader to its lineup. Indeed, Lamborghini is now taking the classic crossover approach of starting with a car, raising the ride height, and slapping on cladding and chunky tires. Safari-style Huracan? Safari-style Huracan.
Yes, a production version of the Huracan Sterrato concept car is on its way. I’m not going to mince words here: This thing looks fucking awesome. It’s every TaxTheRich100 daydream made real, then equipped with a warranty and sold to the public. There’s also a chance that the Sterrato will be the Huracan’s swansong, as Lamborghini is readying a replacement with PHEV power. In any case, this gravel-eating V10 monster seems to perfectly embody the supercar spirit – loud, fast, and crazy. I wouldn’t be surprised if more details on the Sterrato arrive in the coming months, and I’m on the edge of my seat waiting to find out exactly how Lamborghini raised the ride height on its baby bull.
Volkswagen Starts ID.4 Production In America
After what felt like an eternity of waiting, Volkswagen has announced in a press release that the first saleable ID.4 electric crossover produced in its Chattanooga, T.N. plant rolled off the line on Tuesday.
Volkswagen plans on ramping up American ID.4 production to 7,000 units per month in the fourth quarter of 2022, with even grander production plans for 2023. In addition, American consumers will soon be able to buy a cheaper ID.4 with a smaller 62 kWh battery pack. Volkswagen has confirmed production of this entry-level variant will start by year’s end, and that this model will carry a lower MSRP than the current Pro model.
In addition, massive investments in U.S. production have reportedly created thousands of American jobs. Keep in mind, it really takes a village to build a car, from plant workers to component supplier employees to workers handling raw materials.
As part of the preparation to launch the ID.4, suppliers have invested $2.7 billion throughout the North American continent, including the battery partnership with SK Innovation. More than 3,000 U.S. jobs on supplier side have been created.
Hey, 3,000 jobs isn’t anything to sneeze at, plus Volkswagen plans on hiring 1,000 plant workers in Chattanooga through 2022. While the ID.4’s user interface is certainly contentious, it’s still fundamentally a solid EV. Quiet, comfortable, spacious, and featuring surprisingly pleasant chassis tuning. More new vehicle supply is always a good thing, especially in a tight market, so hopefully we’ll see more ID.4s out and about in the next few months.
Flo Ramps Up Charging Station Production
Here’s a brand you may not have heard of. Flo is a Canadian manufacturer of electric vehicle charging stations, with Level 3 stations in Canada, the Northeast, California, and Ohio, plus a handful scattered across other Midwest states. While not an American household name yet, Flo has some big ambitions for charging station production. According to Automotive News Canada, Flo will soon have the capacity to build 75,000 charging stations per year.
To localize and scale up production in the United States, Flo announced plans in June to spend $3 million to open a Michigan assembly plant. The site in Auburn Hills, north of Detroit, is scheduled to open this fall and gradually ramp up to producing 30,000 EV chargers per year.
It will join a pair of Flo assembly plants in Shawinigan, in central Quebec north of Trois-Rivières, where the company is expanding as well. Flo’s second Shawinigan plant opened in late 2021, doubling production capacity. Once running full tilt, the two Canadian plants will produce 45,000 chargers a year.
While this is good news for EV drivers, some of you might be thinking “great, another charging network where I have to carry a special card and put up with typical charging network reliability.” While that’s a valid point, Flo isn’t just in the Level 3 charging station game – Flo also builds Level 2 charging stations for home and business installation from local components. Not only do these Level 2 charging stations look pretty sleek, they make some incredible claims about durability. Flo says that its Home chargers work in temperatures from -40°F to 122°F (-40°C to 50°C), exactly the sort of thing we need in North America with our temperature extremes. Pricing doesn’t seem crazy either, ranging from $795 to $995.
Honestly, if you’re an EV driver and are able to install any sort of Level 2 charging station at home, I highly recommend making the upgrade. While the expense may seem a bit shocking at first, the convenience is incredible and it really reduces dependency on flaky public charging networks.
Faraday Future Appears To Be Running Out Of Cash
It’s been a tumultuous year for electric vehicle startups. Commercial EV company Electric Last Mile Solutions has filed for bankruptcy, Canoo warned investors of a potential liquidity shortage, Fisker wants non-refundable $5,000 deposits on its Ocean crossover, and now Faraday Future is facing a potential cash crisis. According to Bloomberg, Faraday Future issued a filing on Monday with hopes of raising $325 million and fears of running out of cash.
“The company needs additional cash to commercially launch the FF 91 and is currently seeking to raise additional capital to fund its operations through December 31, 2022.”
Well, this seems a bit concerning, not only for Faraday Future but also for retail investors who hopped in on the SPAC. Faraday Future’s stock is currently down around 76 percent from market peak in 2021, and retail investors won’t have much in the way of recoup if the company goes bust.
The Flush
Whelp, time to drop the lid on today’s edition of The Morning Dump. With the Safari ethos making its way from Gambler 500 entrants to the supercar world, I’d love to know what car you’d lift and throw some knobby meats on. I’ll be honest, a Safari-style fifth-generation Maserati Quattroporte really appeals to me. Something about the concept of firing a glorious V8-powered Italian sports sedan down a gravel track really puts an ear-to-ear grin on my face. Plus, it’s not like I’d be ruining a rare car either. How about you? What fictional gravel-eating monster haunts your daydreams?
Lead photo credit: Lamborghini
That Lambo Sterrato looks like an updated version of the 2013 Italdesign Parcour concept: https://youtu.be/tx6T9b3CXpY
All the cars I would safari are old rally cars, I think. Lancia fulvia? Hell yes.
For DT. Replicate Gene Henderson’s 600 hp Cherokee Chief, and blast it through the Michigan woods as he did in the Press On Regardless! Great memories!
Safari an AMG E63 S Wagon? It would sound GLORIOUS.
Hey, maybe in the future, when writing headlines, avoid using adjectives that infringe on Lauren Boebert’s husband’s territory? TIA!
Making a safari ID Buzz would be practical and doable for me. Once they start Chattanooga cranking them out, that is. Keeping a set of AT meats in the garage for weekend warrior duty while swapping on road tires for the weekly grind would be doable. And it’s two tone anyhow, so three tone with lower body protection would be fine.
Faraday Past 😛
Faraway Future.
What would I safari? A 1976 Cadillac Eldorado convertible with a second drivetrain in the trunk to power the rear wheels.
Wow, I didn’t even know Autopian existed till today. Thank god I never have to look at Jalopnik ever again. Very exciting.
Anything small and rear-engined would be fun to lift. No VW/Porsche, though, been done to death. Corvair, maybe. But ideally, a Renault 8 or a Fiat 850 coupe.
If a Corvair- go with a Rampside!
Safari Lotus Elise.
I have built a rallyghini in basically every Forza Horizon game. This was mostly for the gravel speed traps and speed zones. But they can be fun to race.
Remember the Lamborghini LM002 – https://www.lamborghini.com/en-en/history/lm002 – ?
I wonder why they didn’t try and make a “soft road” version of that but downmarket, slotted above the Urus but below the LM002, instead of trying to safari-ize the Huracan?
I’m no product manager so I don’t know.
The LM002 was a prototype that was legitimately pitched to militaries, I assume once they struck out on the defense dollars, there was no money left for variants. It’s hard to believe given their wild success over the last 20 years, but Lamborghini danced around insolvency for decades.
It is also hard to believe any military in the world would actually procure and rely on boutique Italian built V12/manual transmission powertrains getting 7 mpg on premium gas, but the 80s were a weird time.
We’re those ever legit pitched to any militaries outside of petro-states, and even then for anything beyond ruling family detail?
Petro states were the only ones who showed real interest, but apparently they really thought they were going to get some large orders.
https://militarymatters.online/weapons/rambo-lambos-lamborghinis-foray-into-military-vehicles/
I am glad to see the new competitor in the home L2 charging game. This will be a must at my house (or garage) if I get an EV.
Flush:
’57 Bel Air? Similar to Hot Rod’s Project X, but offroad?
Modern Beetle with Audi AWD underneath? Convertible for maximum WTF.
Oh lord, don’t tempt me, I already pine for one of those 4WD scale model safari Beetle R/C cars, to say nothing of the real thing!
I have been of the mind that if I had the dough to purchase a car at the Huracan price point it probably wouldn’t be a Huracan, but goddamn if the Sterrato isn’t changing that mind set. That’s my kind of loopy, and I would absolutely drive the bejusus out of one if I had the means.
That mountain bike is cool AF. And it’s faster than a Lambo. Where can I get one?
Pretty sure it is an Orbea Rallon. So in terms of getting one, I guess your friendly local Orbea retailer?
It would be funny to upset a few people by doing it to an F40 or something equally rare. In this scenario I’d basically be the richest man alive so I wouldn’t really care.
Although realistically I’d just borrow Mod Max and thrash it.
^^This.^^
In the current tech investor climate, if you are burning through cash now, you aren’t getting more. Ever.
If there is any unique IP, it will get pieced out and everybody will go home without a job.
Was supposed to be a reply to Drew.
The faster we safari all the things, the faster it can become mundane and people will stop jumping on the trend.
Just do it to some Buicks and other grandma mobiles, take video of them raving about the great visibility and get it over with.
Lifting an Encore is actually a solid idea. It’s basically a Sonic on stilts already. Trifecta tune it, add a transmission cooler, raise the suspension on 1″ pucks, and add some floaty tires with Jegs fender flares. It’s ridiculous and ridiculously comfortable at the same time. And you won’t care about mucking up the leather since someone is selling their grandma’s for cheap.
I’m picturing a lifted Encore toppling over at the slightest provocation like the AT-ST in the log trap.
mmm, brown on brown on green colony park wagon on an F150 chassis…
“Just do it to some Buicks and other grandma mobiles, take video of them raving about the great visibility and get it over with.”
If the Aztek based Buick Rendevous wasn’t enough to kill the SUV craze why do you think a Safari’d Century would do any better?
I’ve been shocked that VAG hasn’t made a new Safari 911 yet. They’ve made more Cayennes than 911s, and lifting/black cladding has been all the rage for years. Heck, the Yaris is basically a “safari”, Volvo can’t sell wagons anymore because everyone orders the lifted versions, Audi doesn’t sell Avants, but they’ll sell an AllRoad. How many more Crosstreks does Subaru sell compared to Imprezas?
Make a Safari 9114S, make bank, then come out with a special edition “Dakar” version that’s manual only, and print more money.
Given that I had a Dakar Porsche on my wall instead of a Countach, I would salivate over a Dakar 9114s.
Not that I would ever buy one unless somehow an 8-figure sum descended upon me.
Flush: For maximum fun, it’d have to be a convertible, and I need a reasonable back seat for the kids. So the only reasonable answer I can think of is Mustang.
Can you guess the (pre-Bronco) car that Jeep claimed was cross shopped most frequently with the Wrangler?
I think I’d bomb a Vantage down the gravel, given the opportunity to do so for free. That said, I don’t really think supercars are my type of safari car. I think all I would really like to Gambler in would be a Miata off-roadster.
A Tesla3 with 33s-hell, 35s: it’s got the torque, right?-would be fun on the trails. That would be all custom fabrication, though —not to mention fighting the control module.
But the glares you’ll get from the tribal Jeep crowd would make it worth it
Check grind hard and rich rebuilds on youtube. Done already.
I knew Rich Rebuilds had done one, but forgot about Grind Hard. Also reminds me I oughta check how Trukla is doing now.
Call me closed minded if you must, but “safari” editions of 911s, Lamborghinis, etc are about as silly and pointless to me as “stanced” vehicles.
The vehicle I would lift is my own F350, adding some 37s in the process.
At least safari versions can go over speed bumps.
That and it at least harkens to an actual race series
“Faraday Future Appears To Be Running Out Of Cash” Again. And will be again after that. Cash to get them through December isn’t going to do much but delay the bankruptcy.
Every time I read a story about them I always go “wait I thought they already went bankrupt, someone bailed them out AGAIN???”
The company is an absolute joke at this point.