AD #1541 – BMW & VW Team Up, Cadillac Announces Future Plans, Rainbow Warrior Calls it Quits
January 23rd, 2015 at 11:59am
Runtime: 8:37
- EV Sales Fall Way Short of Million Mark
- BMW & VW Team On EV Charging Stations
- Cadillac Announces Future Plans
- Vietnam’s Booming Sales
- Audi Forced to Eat Alphabet Soup
- Audi to Make New Full-Size SUV
- Rainbow Warrior Calls it Quits
- Are Turbo 4′s Becoming the Norm?
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On today’s show… BMW and VW team up to spark EV sales, Audi announces it’s going to take on the Mercedes GL and the Rainbow Warrior is calling it quits. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily for January 23rd, 2015.
EVs SALES FALL WAY SHORT OF MILLION MARK
Several years ago President Obama set the lofty goal of having one million electric vehicles on U.S. roads by the end of this year. However that’s not going to happen, only 280,000 have been sold so far. And Energy secretary Ernest Moniz says hitting the one million mark is still at least a few years away.
BMW & VW TEAM ON EV CHARGING STATIONS
But in an effort to spark EV sales, BMW and Volkswagen announced they’ve teamed up to boost the number of EV charging stations around the U.S. The two automakers are partnering with ChargePoint, which operates the largest network of charging stations in the country. The companies plan to install 100 fast-charging stations on the east and west coasts by the end of this year.
CADILLAC ANNOUNCES FUTURE PLANS
Reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions is important for automakers and to help it do that Cadillac will be adding electrification across its lineup. President Johan de Nysschen said the first steps are advancing powertrains and start/stop technology and later moving to plug-ins. The brand will also focus on making lighter vehicles. It has a new body shop at its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant that uses new mixed-material manufacturing techniques. These techniques will be used to make its all-new flagship sedan, the CT6, which goes on sale in the 4th quarter of this year.
Still to come… Car sales are booming in Vietnam, Fiat forces Audi to eat its alphabet soup and it’s the end of the rainbow for one NASCAR driver.
VIETNAM’S BOOMING SALES
To be a student of the auto industry you need to know what’s going on in the world, so today let’s zero in on Vietnam. Car sales there are booming, up nearly 50% last year. The market is dominated by Toyota and Hyundai, which command 75% of all sales. They’re followed by Ford and Honda, then come Suzuki and Mitsubishi. Renault-Nissan and Isuzu round out the list of car companies that operate in the country. Vietnam has a population of 93 million, making it the 15th most populated country in the world, but it’s GDP is only 39th. If the socialist government delivers on economic reforms that give more power to the private sector, watch for GDP, and car sales, to really ramp up.
AUDI FORCED TO EAT ALPHABET SOUP
It can be difficult to come up with a name for a vehicle, maybe that’s why we see so many automakers switching to alphanumerics. But Audi is finding out the hard way that it can come back to bite you. The German automaker owns trademarks from Q1 through Q9 except for two, Q2 and Q4 and it wants to use those for upcoming models. The only problem is, Fiat owns them. CEO Sergio Marchionne would probably sell them but, to put it lightly, he doesn’t like the chairman of the VW Group, Ferdinand Piech. So, it looks like Audi maybe left flailing in the wind until one of those CEOs steps down.
AUDI TO MAKE NEW FULL-SIZE SUV
And in other Audi news, the automaker will be producing a new full-size SUV to compete with the likes of the Mercedes GL. Audi unveiled the all-new Q7 at the Detroit auto show, which is its current flagship SUV. But company CEO, Rupert Stadler says it needs the vehicle by 2020 to strengthen the brand.
END OF THE RAINBOW
Like him or hate him, Jeff Gordon is among the most successful NASCAR drivers of all time and this year will mark the last he will compete full-time for a championship. Gordon is third all-time in wins at 92 and has 4 series titles. There’s a possibility he will compete in select races after this year, although at this time he has no plans to do that. I guess this is the end of the rainbow for Gordon.
Coming up next, a look at the growing number of turbo 4-cylinders powering today’s cars.
ARE TURBO 4’S BECOMING THE NORM
On Autoline This Week the topic is all about engines. That’s because John is joined by editors from WardsAuto to talk about which engines made their top 10 list for 2015. In the following clip, they discuss the growing trend of turbo four-cylinders and whether they will become the norm.
(Clip from Autoline This Week can only be viewed in the video version of today’s show.)
To learn more about which engines made Wards Top 10 and why, you can watch that entire discussion right now on our website, Autoline.tv.
And don’t miss our coverage of the National Auto Dealers Association’s annual meeting in San Francisco. We’ll start posting interviews from that show today and into next week. So check them out if you’re interested in what’s happening on the retail side of the business.
That wraps up today’s show, thanks for watching and have a great weekend.
Thanks to our partner for embedding Autoline Daily on its website: WardsAuto.com
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Comments (62)
January 23rd, 2015 at 12:05 pm
Re the turbo 4′s becoming the norm, that is what every tech is hoping for, more potential income in the future from all the broken down turbos and extra engine wear because of them.
January 23rd, 2015 at 12:13 pm
Uh oh, Sean, you said the “O” word.
Take cover
January 23rd, 2015 at 12:17 pm
#2 – I’ll be hiding out under my desk the rest of the day.
January 23rd, 2015 at 12:40 pm
I’m not a big fan of turbo 4s. I’d love to see some automakers reintroduce smaller V-6s. Today, most V-6s are 3.5-3.6 liter engines but there was a time when 2.5-3.0 liter engines were the norm. Let’s see a very smooth 2.5 V-6 with variable displacement and all the other tricks compete with these turbo 4s. If nothing else, it would be a way for an automaker to stand out from the crowd.
January 23rd, 2015 at 12:43 pm
Wards really likes 3 cylinder turbos. Two of them are sold in the U.S. market, and both of them are in their “10 Best Engines” list.
January 23rd, 2015 at 12:47 pm
4 It seems that small V6′s get lousy gas mileage. At least the one current example I can think of, the Lexus IS250 gets lousy gas mileage for its power output.
January 23rd, 2015 at 12:50 pm
Gas here was 2.10 this morning. I’ll have a turbo with that, please.
—-
racing wretches might like to watch a 2.5 hour race from Daytona this afternoon. 1:45 eastern time at IMSA.com
January 23rd, 2015 at 1:00 pm
With the heavy rains slated to come in around 2:30 this afternoon, it should be quite the race. I can hear the cars practicing from where I work.
January 23rd, 2015 at 1:03 pm
7 It’s 1.999 a few places here, the first I’ve seen it under $2.00.
January 23rd, 2015 at 1:13 pm
The Mustang I tested out with the V6 seemed to be very thirsty, then again, I had just spent 5 days with a very frugal Focus, plus the Mustang was driven “hard” for our review.
January 23rd, 2015 at 1:14 pm
6 I think that’s because it’s an older design. Look what GM has been able to do with its LS/LT V-8s. Variable displacement can make a BIG difference when it comes to highway mpg ratings. I bet even on a packaging basis that a small V-6 could be competitive. All the plumbing needed for turbos takes up a lot of space. And I’d rather have a normally aspirated motor if I was planning on keeping a vehicle for a long time. Can you imagine the repair bills on these turbos?
January 23rd, 2015 at 1:20 pm
CVT,DCT and 6 and 8 speed transmissions also help to get higher mpg’s in the highway, I noticed very low RPM’s on those cars so equipped that I have recently spent some time in.
January 23rd, 2015 at 1:28 pm
S alabama Walmart–$1.94
I,ve put over 200k on my 3 GM 2.4,s , no problems , 1 timing chain recall
Extremely satisfied
January 23rd, 2015 at 1:43 pm
13 But are those turbo motors? I think they’re normally aspirated which is the point I’m making. Those engines tend to last for the long haul.
N GA – $1.84 in several places, even cheaper in Chattanooga, TN
January 23rd, 2015 at 1:43 pm
11 Yeah, the IS250 engine has been around a while. Funny you mention the GM V8′s. I checked CR’s and EPA gas mileage of the Corvette and IS250. In CR’s tests, the IS did 1 mpg better “overall” than the Corvette, and 2 mpg better combined EPA rating.
The thing is, the best of the “big” V6′s do very well. The Accord V6 automatic did 5 mpg better than the IS250 in CR’s test, and has 3 mpg better EPA numbers, while being substantially quicker than the IS. These comparisons aren’t quite “fair” because the IS tested by CR was AWD, but still…
January 23rd, 2015 at 1:49 pm
Anybody knows why those GM 3800 V6′s and 4 speed automatics had the reputation for being so reliable and durable? Were they an older design, simple engineering built into them?
January 23rd, 2015 at 1:59 pm
#7. Gas is $1.67 her in Detroit. ($1.98 in metro Detroit)
January 23rd, 2015 at 2:03 pm
15. Not really surprising since those vehicles are so different in so many ways.
BTW, the Honda V-6 does off variable displacement. It is an older design at this point though.
January 23rd, 2015 at 2:05 pm
Seems all the development is going into either high HP V8s or tiny I3 and I4 turbo engines. V6s appear to be getting phased out. With the exception of the Ford twin turbo V6 in the F-series and Diesel applications.
January 23rd, 2015 at 2:10 pm
19. Ironic. We thought it was limited to people, but this proves that even in engine size, the middle-class(V6) continues to get shafted! HA!
January 23rd, 2015 at 2:29 pm
18 The Accord is a different type of car, being front drive rather than rear drive or AWD like the IS. The BMW 3 series is very similar to the IS in powertrain layout, though, and only a little lighter weight, but the BMW is much more fuel efficient, and even the 4 cylinder turbo 3 series is much quicker than the IS250, even if both have AWD. I’d trust the reliability of the IS a lot farther, though.
January 23rd, 2015 at 2:38 pm
16 The GM 3800 dates back to ’61 or ’62, where it was used in the Buick Special. The early ones were uneven firing, and were very rough running at low rpm under load. I think even the early ones were fairly reliable.
In the late 1970′s, they started using splayed crank pins to get even firing, and later in life, they added a balance shaft to make the engine smoother. I’m pretty sure all of these engines had cast iron blocks and heads.
January 23rd, 2015 at 2:58 pm
21. The rear drive IS is rated at 24 combined vs 26 for the Accord with a much larger motor. I think that’s down to the variable displacement and newer technology. FWD vs RWD shouldn’t make any difference other than better handling for RWD. But imagine if you build a new engine of only 2.5 liters displacement and used all the new combustion designs and friction reduction strategies that they’re putting into the new 4 cylinders. You’d probably get close to the 3.5 liters in total output and even better fuel economy. And the real treat would be that is runs substantially smoother and would probably last a lot longer than a forced induction 4 cylinder.
January 23rd, 2015 at 3:15 pm
23 Transverse engine front drive power trains are a little more efficient than rear drive layouts, because they don’t have any bevel gears which are inefficient. Yeah, the difference would be small. It seems that no one wants to build small sixes, because similar size fours are a little more efficient, and a lot cheaper to make. I like inline sixes for their smoothness, but even BMW has quit selling non-turbo I6′s, at least in the U.S.
January 23rd, 2015 at 4:27 pm
For added entertainment, check out Ecoboost Problems on YouTube. Turbo mania will quickly drop the “U.S. average car life from 11 years to 36,200 miles” once the folks see the repair costs they face.
January 23rd, 2015 at 4:47 pm
Anybody else notice christy schwiensburg roll her eyes to the back of her head when drew winter jumped in and answered her question. She’s such a hottie. Oh and yea turboing all these engines now days is going to really change the industry as far as repairs frequency/ cost and reliability issues as soon as some of these turbo models start getting some age and mileage on them. Just thinking about a ten year old turbo 4cyl makes me nervous. Just look back to all the goofy things automakers did during the oil embargo era to try and make vehicles to fit the market and now we look back and laugh at some of that crap. Will we look back on cars from this era the same way?
January 23rd, 2015 at 4:50 pm
I’ve been applying Sean’s advice about running Premium on occasion. I’m buying it at my neighborhood Sunoco station for $2.29 a gallon.
Seems to help a bit. I’m doing it every couple of tank-fulls because, in 85k of running, I never did it, so I figure I’ve got some catching up to do.
That 2006 Mitsubishi Outlander with a manual is a peppy little spud on Premium.
January 23rd, 2015 at 4:55 pm
My EcoBoost Dodge Caravan has gone almost 25 years with the original turbo, but it has only about 70K miles.
January 23rd, 2015 at 5:02 pm
Sean, if you are out there, should I use premium in my Prius occasionally?
January 23rd, 2015 at 5:13 pm
27 Come on now, Kit, you’re going to confuse the Ford social media monitors.
——
28 I thought Sean was talking about using TopTier fuel with its higher level of cleaners.
January 23rd, 2015 at 5:15 pm
The thing is, and I’ve checked some of those Ecoboost vids, any added cleaners in your gas are never going to reach the valve stems on Fords direct injection motors.
January 23rd, 2015 at 5:52 pm
29 I probably use Top Tier about half the time. I suspect the Prius engine isn’t too picky anyway. At least I haven’t seen mention of carbony valves, etc. on Prius Chat which I check occasionally.
January 23rd, 2015 at 6:23 pm
Around these parts, if you shop carefully, you find top tier gas for the same price as the bargain stuff now that gas has dropped so much.
January 23rd, 2015 at 7:53 pm
One disadvantage of the V6 over an I4 is weight which influences the MPG. You add a disproportionate amount of lbs/displacement when you go to a V configuration. Once there, you might as well go to a V-8 which is only an incremental increase of weight/displacement.
January 23rd, 2015 at 11:42 pm
As I’ve mentioned before,my wife and I are very interested in the new Ram Promaster city wagon SLT.I talked to my local dealer this afternoon as to when I could test drive one.They won’t be in the dealers till April or so.I also did some research on the 2.4L Tigershark I4.It has port injection,not DI.That is a big plus to me.I’m really looking forward to the test drive etc.
January 24th, 2015 at 10:58 am
@ 30 HtG if you use the pour-in-tank cleaners such as Chevron Techron or BG which mix with your fuel, you’ll clean those valve stems and your tank.
@ 34 I am curious about the Promaster City (what a clunky name!) and how it will drive too.
As far as dealers vs. independents, after working for both, it comes down to management (and greed) at both. If a dealer or independent is well managed, they will have a good reputation. Many independent shops went opened by disgruntled mechanics and managers. Dealers do generally have the newer and better diagnostic equipment for their specific brand – the OEM’s force the equipment on them. To me, with better built vehicles lasting longer, and needing less maintenance, there are too many shops chasing too few dollars. If you ask around you will find a shop that people will recommend and with the internet, checking BBB and Yelp is a good start. In my travels the better shops are those who specialize in a particular brand, or model, or particular area (such as transmission or a/c).
January 24th, 2015 at 12:19 pm
35 how does this work in a direct injection motor unless there’s a supplementary fuel stream that spritzes the the valve stems via the intake runners?
January 24th, 2015 at 12:31 pm
Fuel conditioners don’t help much with intake valves in direct injection engines. The problem occurs when pcv fumes that get scavenged are sent back through the intake to be burned and some get baked on the intake valves. Since the fuel injection (on DDI) injects directly into the combustion chamber, the cleaners don’t get to properly wash the valves (I’ve heard from a GM engineer that there is some back-wash of intake charge that cleans the intake valves), it is not an ideal situation. “CRC” makes an intake valve cleaner (I have not tried it so I can’t endorse it though I’ve heard that it works); the spray is introduced after the mass air flow sensor and does wash the intake valves (to an extent). Here’s a link if you want to read more: http://crcindustries.com/auto/intake-valve-cleaner.php
January 24th, 2015 at 12:34 pm
Scotty Kilmer who has a YouTube weekly Q&A podcast as well as responding to auto repair questions says that both Turbo and Direct injection are just trouble down the road, he has already repaired many DGI equipped vehicles and VW seems to be the most problem prone motor out there.
January 24th, 2015 at 2:31 pm
VW may have more GDI engines out there, at least older ones with the 2.0 turbo that has been used for several years in GTi and various other VW and Audis.
January 24th, 2015 at 5:16 pm
I just found that VW has been selling DGI engines in the U.S. since 2005 model year. The first was a 3.2 litre V6 in Audis. The 2.0 liter GDI turbo four that they use in about everything arrived for the 2006 model year.
January 24th, 2015 at 6:21 pm
I guess all this new technology is good for better mileage and or performance, but in order to save a few bucks now on gas, you may be paying a lot in repairs in the future and seeing how long car loans are nowadays, most people will want their cars to last until it’s paid off before they have to trade away.
January 24th, 2015 at 6:42 pm
41 I really hope you’re wrong about those costs, Pedro, but I think you’re right.
___
Dateline Daytona24
Mark Reuss is at the race, was talking to RadioLeMans. Says it’s his favorite race. GM in racing because it’s important to customers, which is what it’s all about.
January 24th, 2015 at 6:46 pm
41 It seems like neither GDI nor turbo, or both in the same engine give much real world advantage in fuel economy. I can give multiple examples for comparison, but the best comparison is the non-turbo, non GDI Accord V6 vs the Fusion 2.0 “ecoboost.” The Honda is quicker, and more fuel efficient. What’s the point of all the complexity of the Ford’s engine.
January 24th, 2015 at 6:59 pm
And on the other end, weight goes up because of safety regulations. Tough job for carcos. Plus, customers demand power.
What’s that book CK would bring up, No Brow? One thing the author argued was that we Americans like technical overkill for its own sake. People wearing parkas in Atlanta, was an example.
January 24th, 2015 at 9:42 pm
I admire you guys because I would not have given a second thought about the effectiveness of cleaners in direct injection engines. The nice thing about our group is regardless of our knowledge or lack there of, there is always one of us with a sound answer to the question or adds enough input to create another question. Now I wonder why and how you know of these traits?
January 25th, 2015 at 2:08 pm
No induction cleaners are recommended for any of the ford ecoboost engines.Even their techs are warned not to do it.Ford’s answer to the carbon problem,’change the head(s).No joke.
January 25th, 2015 at 2:11 pm
here’s a youtube link that gives you everything you wanted to know about the egoboost carbon problems.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ford+ecoboost+carbon+problems
January 25th, 2015 at 3:29 pm
47 It looks like, in addition to carbon formation on valves, you get a lot of spark plug erosion with those boosted engines making higher torque at lower rpm, with fewer cylinders than a naturally aspirated V8 making near the same power.
January 25th, 2015 at 7:35 pm
Like I’ve been saying for a long, long time, I’d rather get a little worse mileage everyday than to have a huge repair bill later on,with all these new-fangled technologies I hold on to my cars a very long time, so long term reliability is crucial for me.
January 25th, 2015 at 7:52 pm
There are a bunch of youtube videos just showing how much trouble those Ford egoboost engines have been giving their owners, like Kit has said here, better off with a normally aspirated motor. Especially when the turbos cost more to begin with.
January 25th, 2015 at 8:06 pm
50 The thing is, they provide neither efficiency nor performance advantages over the better of the non-turbo, non GDI engine.
January 25th, 2015 at 8:11 pm
You said it, the better non-turbo, non-GDI motors, that is why OEM’s like Honda and Toyota have resisted both turbos and GDI in their mainstream motors and get hammered by the auto press for doing so. But this is precisely why most experienced techs warn you against buying such new technologies.
January 25th, 2015 at 11:28 pm
@ #37 I stand corrected, I did not correctly read HtG’s post. The spray-in fuel cleaners (BG, WYNN, 3M, off hand) are the only ones which could clean valves in GDI engines and there is the added plumbing complications in turbo and supercharged engines. I have not seen many problems out of the Hyundai and Kia GDI engines. Turbodiesels have been around longer and have racked up many miles. The better metals in bearings and modern electronics will help the turbos and direct injection last longer.
January 25th, 2015 at 11:30 pm
Still the gdi and turbos are expensive to repair. We will see how these affect used car values in the next few years.
January 25th, 2015 at 11:39 pm
An 8 year old turbo / direct injection / HID headlamp / CVT trans vehicle could be a financial disaster for someone
January 26th, 2015 at 7:35 am
Too bad the Ford F-150 didn’t get huge mpg improvement. Savings in the high volume low mileage end of the fleet is where the big fuel/CO2 improvements are as a percentage. An extra mpg on a Civic? Whoopee doo
January 26th, 2015 at 7:56 am
Mazda Skyactive injection
Here’s a YT video on their motor. If you look at the video at ~1min it looks like the injector is located in a spot that bathes the inlet valve as it’s lowered into the cylinder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXaZIsVD17A
I guess the exhaust intention explains the unique layout in the engine compartment, with the tubes facing the passenger compartment.
January 26th, 2015 at 8:11 am
58 Ecoboost has some simlilarities
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmHxiY2J8Ok
January 26th, 2015 at 9:05 am
55 Funny you mention HID headlights. A friend has a high trim level 2nd generation Prius with HID lights, and it had one problem during the first 200K miles, a headlight. It wasn’t cheap, I think he said almost $400 to fix.
January 26th, 2015 at 9:10 am
C-Tech, do you know how the non-turbo GDI GM 3.6 engines are doing? Most of those engines have been GDI since 2008 or so.
January 26th, 2015 at 10:41 am
From what I have seen in inspections and rental car fleets, the 3.6L V6 has not had many problems with the injection system or the engine overall. I have seen a few early models (08-09)have problems with oil leaking from the front cover due to a faulty application of sealer (a real B***H of a repair in a Chevy Traverse or Buick Enclave). I thought the weak spot might be the high pressure fuel pump but I have only seen 1 failure of a pump.