Episode 931 – Opel Shake-Up Continues, Mustang Heads to Philippines, 2013 Mercedes GL
July 19th, 2012 at 11:35am
Runtime: 7:12
Earlier in the week Opel named a new interim CEO and now the company is replacing its chief financial officer and the head its of research and development. Honda is investing $40 million to increase production at its plant in Indiana, which will boost capacity by about 50,000 units annually. The Ford Mustang is now available in the Philippines. All that and more, plus a look at the 2013 Mercedes-Benz GL.
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It’s Thursday, the 19th of July, 2012. Welcome to another scintillating episode of Autoline Daily with yours truly, The Autoextremist, Peter De Lorenzo bringing you the latest news from the automotive beat.
OPEL SHAKE-UP CONTINUES
The shake-up at Opel isn’t over yet. Earlier in the week, the company named Thomas Sedran its new interim CEO, and now the company is replacing its chief financial officer and its head of research and development. Michael Lohscheller will take over as CFO, leaving his current position as CFO of VW of America. Michael Ableson will take over as the head of Engineering. The two will start their new positions September 1st. We’re in the last days of Opel from where I sit. GM is either going to make it fly over the next six months, or the company will have to walk away, just keeping the R&D capability.
FIAT EXTENDS PLANT SHUTDOWN
And speaking of struggling European automakers, Fiat will extend a summer shutdown at its plant in Naples, Italy because of slumping sales in the country. According to the AP, the plant, which builds the Panda, will halt production for an extra two weeks. In the first half of the year, Italy’s car market has shrunk 20 percent, compared to a 6 percent decline for the overall European market.
TOYOTA GREEN LIGHTS LF-LC?
Lexus is getting serious about this whole image thing. Rumors abound that Toyota has given the green light to bringing the dramatic Lexus LF-LC 2+2 Hybrid Sport Coupe concept to production. Designed by the company’s Calty design studio in Newport Beach, California, the LF-LC coupe was named the best concept car in the annual Eyes On Design Awards at the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit last January. And even though the LF-LC coupe was labeled “a pure design exercise” by Toyota and Lexus minions in Detroit, the ultra-positive buzz generated by the smokin’ hot Lexus did not go unnoticed in Japan, apparently. The old Toyota would have filed that praise away and continued on their journey of building bland-tastic appliances. The new Toyota, led by family scion Akio Toyoda, is much more aggressive and prone to just go for it, which in this case would be a superb move. We hope they do it and we applaud the cojones behind the decision. We just hope they don’t screw it up making it “production ready.”
HONDA BOOSTS U.S. MANUFACTURING
Honda is turning up the wick in the Hoosier state. The Japanese automaker is shelling out $40 million to increase production at its plant in Greensburg, Indiana. It will also hire about 300 more workers. Manufacturing capacity should increase by about 50,000 units annually to about a quarter of a million vehicles. The facility is home to the Civic, Civic Natural Gas and the Acura ILX. The Civic Hybrid will soon be built there as well.
MUSTANG HEADS TO PHILIPPINES
As you know, the next-generation Mustang is supposedly going global, but Ford may be getting a jump-start on this push. America’s pony car is now available in the Philippines of all places. V-6 and GT premium models are on the menu. Deliveries start in September. This is the fourth vehicle Ford has launched in the country in 2012. The Mustang follows the Explorer, Focus and all-new Ranger pickup.
2013 MERCEDES GL
(The Mercedes GL overview is only available in the video version of today’s program.)
Mercedes has really stepped up its game with the new GL, apparently. According to Craig, the 2013 model’s interior is very, very nice, with a stitched leather dash cover and other premium materials throughout. We’ll see how it plays in the market.
It’s time to wrap up today’s show, but before I go, I want to remind you to join us for Autoline After Hours tonight. John and I are going to be chatting with Joel Ewanick, the head of all marketing and advertising at General Motors. This is going to be a great show, so tune at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time for some of the best insider discussion in the automotive business.
And that’s it! As always, thanks for watching and/or listening. I’ll see you later tonight.
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Comments (10)
July 19th, 2012 at 11:59 am
I’ve got to go against Peter (this time) on his comments on the LF-LC; the styling is a little busy (don’t you think). Actually, I’d say, it is way too busy. Now the production model may change some (and it would sure need to) in order to have some ‘legs’ (design-wise); as is, it would be ‘flash in the pants’ styling (say, in the order of the Hyundai Sonata) as I think that that will wear thin in a couple of years. JMO, of course.
July 19th, 2012 at 12:02 pm
Shake them up at Opel; this might be their last-best chance to save the brand. They need something radical to see if they can get some ‘fire’ back in the brand; the latest numerations (to fix) have failed pretty dramatically. Maybe some new blood will do the trick; that, and some help from the Unions (like that is going to happen).
July 19th, 2012 at 12:49 pm
Another fire story involving a new vehicle. this time it is the new Escape, this is another stumble for Ford which has been riding high on their “improved” quality perception campaign.
July 19th, 2012 at 1:08 pm
Turn around Opel in six months? Opel’s deal with the union maintained the Bochum plant till 2016. PSA is free falling and GM has a deal with PSA to make cars in Germany with Opel? Why does Opel seam like it’s GM’s version of Bizarro world?
July 19th, 2012 at 1:56 pm
This Escape fire issue is only with the 1.6 turbo engine, too small for such vehicle. Nothing ever changes, you put a too small engine in a vehicle that requires a bigger one and this crap happens. We had the story about no more 4 cyl in minivans this week.
July 19th, 2012 at 3:39 pm
The Lexus LF-LC looks to me like it needs major redesign to be pedestrian-friendly. Those front edges could serve as a Ginsu vegetable slicer – as seen on TV, as they say.
July 19th, 2012 at 3:41 pm
Perhaps in the future cars will have padding like the test mules that you see heavily camouflaged with layers of leathery materials.
July 19th, 2012 at 7:45 pm
Here is the link to the ecoboost fires
http://wot.motortrend.com/recall-roundup-2013-ford-escape-ecoboost-16-recalled-over-engine-fire-concerns-235385.html
Seems the fuel lines are splitting and leaking gas which then catches on fire… draw your own conclusions from there.
July 19th, 2012 at 8:26 pm
Re #8, The Ford Escapes are built in Louisville, KY and the Louisville Courier Journal reports: Ford blames the problem on fuel lines that were damaged before Ford got them from a contractor, whom the company declined to name.
“This is not … related at all to the manufacturing processes at Louisville Assembly Plant,” said Ford spokeswoman Marcey Zwiebel. “This is a part that they received that was damaged.”
July 19th, 2012 at 9:16 pm
John & Peter,
I really enjoyed the AAH # 157 with Joel Ewanick. I wish he would have spoken more about the GM Globalization with the Chevy Cruze.
I believe Chevy is really missing sales opportunities by not bringing the Cruze Wagon and Hatch to the USA. I would also love to see a 200hp Cruze with a 2.0 Litre Turbo. There ia a whole lot of really great synergy for the Cruze to be the world car for Chevy/GM. As I had written before, Joel Ewanick should just change the words to Dinah Shores version of “See the USA in your Chevrolet” to “See the World Today in your Chevrolet”. This could be a contest using Social Media to gather some finalist which people can vote on for a winner. If my idea is used all I expect is a Fully Loaded Cruze in my driveway as compensation.