AD #1562 – Honda Pushes Out Ito, New Evoque Revealed, More Nations Adopt U.S. MPG Standards
February 23rd, 2015 at 11:57am
Runtime: 7:28
- Takata Slapped With Fine
- Honda Pushes Out Ito
- Nissan’s Mr. K Passes Away
- F-150 Demand Stronger Than Anticipated
- New Range Rover Evoque Revealed
- More Countries Adopting U.S. Fuel Economy Standards
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On today’s show…Honda pushes out its CEO, the new Range Rover Evoque makes its first appearance and why countries are dropping Euro fuel economy standards in favor of U.S. regulations. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily for February 23rd, 2015.
TAKATA SLAPPED WITH FINE
Beginning last Friday, the U.S. started fining Takata $14,000 a day for not cooperating with the government’s investigation into its defective airbags. NHTSA says Takata dumped 2.4 million pages of documents on the agency with no guidance as to what to look for, which is in violation of the law. In a statement, Takata denies it’s not cooperating and says it’s been in regular contact with the agency. But until NHTSA is satisfied, Takata will be fined 14 grand everyday.
HONDA PUSHES OUT ITO
Last week we reported that Honda CEO Takanobu Ito was fighting for his job because of all the recalls the company has been hit with. But now we’ve learned he just lost that battle. Honda announced that starting this June, Takahiro Hachigo, who’s currently the company’s Managing Officer, will take over as President and CEO. Ito will remain on the board and will also become Director and Advisor to Honda Motor.
MR. K PASSES AWAY
And we’ve got some sad news to report. Nissan’s first U.S. president, Yutaka Katayama, has passed away at the age of 105. Known as “Mr. K,” he joined the company way back in 1935 and retired in 1977. He’s credited as being the father of the Datsun Z and has been inducted to both the American and Japanese Automotive Hall of Fames.
Still to come… Range Rover reveals the new Evoque, the new F-150 is selling better than even Ford anticipated and why U.S. fuel economy regulations are becoming the standard around the world.
F-150 DEMAND STRONGER THAN ANTICIPATED
Critics wondered whether truck buyers will go for a pickup made out of aluminum. But Ford says that based on December and January sales the new F-150 is selling twice as fast as they expected. On Autoline This Week, Joe Hinrichs, the president of Ford Americas, said their dealer orders are so strong that they’re increasing production capabilities at Dearborn Diversified, at Dearborn stamping and Kansas City to make even more trucks. BTW, Hinrichs says Ford sees the U.S. market staying strong for several years to come. Even with booming sales for five years the average car is still more than 11 years old. And transaction prices are still rising so those sales are not coming from incentives, they’re the result of strong consumer demand.
NEW RANGE ROVER EVOQUE REVEALED
Last week we showed you this teaser image of the headlights for the new Range Rover Evoque and now we can show you the rest of the refreshed SUV. Changes to the outside include a new front bumper, 2 new grille designs, 3 wheel designs and those previously mentioned LED headlamps. Moving to the inside customers will notice new seats, door castings, a new infotainment system, colors and materials. Under the hood, the 2016 Evoque can now come equipped with JLR’s Ingenium 4-cylinder diesel engines, making it the most efficient Land Rover model ever produced. Deliveries of the 2016 Evoque, to over 170 markets worldwide, begin in August.
Well you’re going to have to color me impressed. It was just a matter of minutes from the time Friday’s show was published that people started flooding the comments section with an answer to our Barn Find. An International Harvester KB-series from the late 1940’s. I’m serious, I was blown away how fast the correct answer came in. So impressed I’d like to give a prize to the first person that I saw respond, which was Pedro Fernandez. Pedro, if you want it, we’d like to send you this Toyota Tundra watch. As always, just let us know in the comments section below.
Coming up next, a look at why more countries are adopting U.S. fuel economy standards rather than Europe’s.
MORE COUNTRIES ADOPTING U.S. STANDARDS
Most countries around the world traditionally followed Europe’s fuel economy standards but now countries are ditching them in favor of U.S. regulations. On last week’s Autoline After Hours we were joined by Oliver Schmidt who runs powertrain development at Volkswagen. In the following clip, he explains why that’s starting to happen.
(The AAH preview is only available in the video version of today’s show.)
There’s a lot of great info about powertrains in that show, so if you haven’t done so already you can watch that entire show right now on our website or YouTube channel.
But that wraps up today’s show, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.
Thanks to our partner for embedding Autoline Daily on its website: WardsAuto.com
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Comments (31)
February 23rd, 2015 at 12:06 pm
Congrats, Pedro!
February 23rd, 2015 at 1:00 pm
I’m not surprised with Ito being pushed out. This is fairly common at large Japanese companies. Between the Takata airbag recall, the numerous Mexican Fit recall, it was too much to bear. Honda seems to have lost it’s way for the last several years. The new Insight, CR-Z, Crosstour, and to a less extent, the Ridgeline truck were answers to questions no one had asked. Same with the Acura ZD-X. They were the company that would take the path less-traveled, more risky. Now they seem to have become more like their contemporaries. The NSX while very nice, doesn’t have the chutzpah the first one did. I hope whomever inherits the chairman’s job will have more of the challenging spirit so needed to get Honda back to being Honda.
February 23rd, 2015 at 1:02 pm
Pedro- now you have to buy the truck to match, it’s like when you paint the walls- you then have to get new flooring and furniture.
February 23rd, 2015 at 1:04 pm
1,3 Someone fill me in. What’s up with Pedro? New ride?
February 23rd, 2015 at 1:05 pm
Frank- lately some of Honda’s motorcycles have been .. um different shall we say.
February 23rd, 2015 at 1:13 pm
Good going Pedro. Thumbs up!
February 23rd, 2015 at 1:20 pm
Sending my regards to Mr. K. and family. Growing up I always had my eye on the Datsun Z. Just last week I was watching some repeats of the game show ‘Sale Of The Century’ and the big prize was a Datsun 300Zx. Nice!
February 23rd, 2015 at 1:33 pm
Actually that truck is in better shape than my Crapolla/Vibrolla thingy. Don’t know how I got it, I was thinking Internationally I guess. Yes that would be a very nice gesture on your part, I will happily accept your gift and wear it proudly as a regular Autoline participant. My email is Pedro830@bellsouth.net
February 23rd, 2015 at 1:34 pm
Why is Ito being punished because of the Takata air bag fiasco? Seems unfair to me.
February 23rd, 2015 at 1:44 pm
8 Oh, I see. Nice win there, Pedro. (I guess it doesn’t pay to skip parts of the transcript. It happens
)
February 23rd, 2015 at 1:48 pm
I will try the lotto today as well, just in case!
February 23rd, 2015 at 1:56 pm
Nice going Pedro…..don’t buy the truck,lol unless you own a gas station ;}>
February 23rd, 2015 at 3:35 pm
Kudos Pedro; nice to see one of us regulars getting some ‘gear’.
Surprised nothing on the CT6 (peek) from Cadillac; new ‘Dare’ commercial last night at the Oscars and on the internet. Perhaps tomorrow.
February 23rd, 2015 at 4:18 pm
Good going pedro and the Toyo gift is right up your alley! The ability of AL to offer watches is an indication of moving up in the world! AL 18K gold rings next?
February 23rd, 2015 at 4:30 pm
pedro cont: don’t become alarmed if you become notified of a recall on your watch! :>)
February 23rd, 2015 at 5:08 pm
That is a good one, C Wolf!
February 23rd, 2015 at 5:29 pm
Congrats, Pedro. I’ve been visiting friends, and didn’t see the show until just now.
February 23rd, 2015 at 6:04 pm
Thanks, guys. Can’t recall winning anything, ever!
February 23rd, 2015 at 7:14 pm
2 I don’t know if Ito had much to do with it, but the second generation Insight was the most disappointing car Honda has ever sold. The Insight hit the market about the same time as the third generation Prius, with the Prius as the obvious competitor. I checked out both, at a dealer that sells both Toyota and Honda. There was no comparison. The Insight is slower, thirstier, noisier, less roomy, and probably rides worse. The only area where the Insight might be a little better is handling, and only a little better. It is a mystery to me that Honda would have put the Insight on the market, when it was so much worse that its obvious competition.
February 23rd, 2015 at 7:52 pm
I’m I too cynical? Isn’t the reason that more countries are adopting the the US fuel usage standards is because they are more accurate?
February 23rd, 2015 at 8:29 pm
20 That’s what I thought. Before hearing the video version of the show, I assumed that the US ratings were being adopted because they are closer to what people actually acheive. The numbers on the stickers being downwardly adjusted from the actual test results is largely responsible for the US ratings being closer to reality than Euro ratings.
February 24th, 2015 at 12:33 am
Congratulations Pedro.
February 24th, 2015 at 6:33 am
While the rest of the world is adapting the U.S. fuel standard as far as mpg ratings they are also adapting the emissions rating as well (that ‘s the big deal about it). And even if they didn’t adapt the U.S. specifications, in whole, it would (and is) a good idea to have standardized ‘numbers’ for the world.
February 24th, 2015 at 8:59 am
23 I’d like to see commonality of all standards, including lighting, crashworthiness, etc. in addition to fuel economy and emissions standards. Then, we Americans might have a decent choice of vehicles of types other than SUV’s and 4 door sedans.
If all standards were the same in the U.S. and, say, Germany, it would be economically feasible for M-B to sell manual transmission C-Class wagons in the U.S., even though few would be sold, and it might even be feasible to sell cars like Citroen C4, VW Polo, and many other European hatchbacks that we don’t get.
February 24th, 2015 at 9:23 am
23,24 The harmonization of regulations is one of the main points of the current trade negotiations with the pacific rim and europe. Autos are one category. I think this summer is when the talks are supposed to wrap up and then face ratification processes in the member nations.
February 24th, 2015 at 9:45 am
Will the adoption of U.S. fuel, emission, and safety standards mean the elimination of certain vehicles sold in other countries like the kei cars in Japan?
February 24th, 2015 at 10:22 am
26 I suspect Japan will keep their kei car formula. It has been successful in selling the very small cars in a country where space is at a premium. I wouldn’t expect to see them sold in North America any time soon.
February 24th, 2015 at 10:28 am
I don’t think the Europeans would agree to adopting US Standards, that would be too hard for them to swallow.
February 24th, 2015 at 10:37 am
28 Are the US standards not strict enough for the Europeans?
February 24th, 2015 at 11:30 am
The U.S. standards are more stringent than Europe and that is the argument Oliver Schmidt was making (on Autoline After Hours). This guy is really smart and he is heading back to Germany to co-ordinate emissions for Volkswagen (Group) I think.
February 24th, 2015 at 12:04 pm
The US standards are more stringent is some ways, and less stringent in others. The US requires better protection for unbelted occupants, which means more powerful air bags, among other things. The EU requires better protection for pedestrians hit by cars. Also, the EU requires only amber rear turn signals, while the US and Canada allow either red or amber. There are other differences, but more more in being different, than more or less stringent.