AD #1567 – Ford Introduces E-Bikes, VW Posts 2014 Earnings, How Racing Can Win Back Fans
March 2nd, 2015 at 11:59am
Runtime: 7:31
- Ford Introduces Electric Bikes
- VW Posts Strong Gains In 2014
- Global Sales Up In January
- Cadillac Reveals ATS-V.R
- Mazda Bets on Diesel in Japan
- FCA Winter Driving
- How Racing Can Win Back Fans
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On today’s show…VW posts impressive gains in 2014, Ford unveils two e-bikes as part of its mobility plan and Cadillac reveals a new race car. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily for March 2nd, 2015.
FORD INTRODUCES ELECTRIC BIKES
Ford is expanding its Smart Mobility plan with the introduction of a couple electric bicycles at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The bikes are powered by a 200 watt motor which provides an electric assist up to 15 MPH. They are also designed to fold up for storage in a Ford vehicle. And they’re equipped with a sensor that alerts the rider when another vehicle is overtaking by vibrating the handlebars. It’s an experiment called Handle on Mobility, that’s aimed at integrating e-bikes with automotive and public transportation options. The overall goal is to reduce congestion and make mobility more efficient.
VW POSTS STRONG GAINS IN 2014
Volkswagen just posted its financial earnings for 2014 and the results are very impressive. Last year the company sold 10.2 million vehicles which is a 5% gain. Its total revenue for the year hit $227 billion which is up about 3% compared to the previous year. And the company’s net profit jumped 21%, coming in at $12 billion. Not to mention, Volkswagen anticipates that its success will continue this year. It forecasts that sales revenue will be 4% higher than in 2014.
GLOBAL SALES UP IN JANUARY
Global car sales are off to a good start in 2015. Wards reports that automakers sold 7 million vehicles, a gain of 3% compared to a year ago. North America led the way with a 13 and half percent jump, the Asia-Pacific region and Europe followed, both posting over 2% gains. But South America was the only region to see a decrease in January, with sales plummeting nearly 20%.
Still to come…Mazda gambles on diesels in Japan, Cadillac unveils the racing version of the ATS-V Coupe, and what Ford says can be done to attract new fans to motor sports.
CADILLAC REVEALS ATS-V.R
On Friday we showed you the Mercedes-AMG GT3 and now Cadillac is showing off the car it will compete with in the same series, the ATS-V.R. It’s an extension of the upcoming ATS-V Coupe and is powered by a twin-turbo V6 engine, ditching the V8 that was in the previous CTS-V.R. The drivers also have to get used to paddle shifters because as one driver said it’s the first race car he’s driven with them. Cadillac will also field the official ATS-V pace car and Escalade Medical Response Vehicle in the Pirelli World Challenge.
MAZDA BETS ON DIESEL IN JAPAN
Mazda is placing a big bet on diesels in Japan. The company announced that it will only offer diesel engines for its new CX-3 compact crossover in its home market. It’s a gamble for the company because diesel powered cars have a negative image in the country and last year they only made up 3% of all sales in Japan. So, it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
FCA WINTER DRIVING
If you follow Autoline on Twitter you may have seen that we were off driving all-wheel and 4-wheel drive vehicles from FCA in Montreal’s winter wonderland. The automaker wanted to show off how well its systems work in even the most treacherous of conditions. We went through a snow and ice covered road course, slaloms, figure 8’s and an off-road area. We’ll have more to report on that in the days to come. But if you want to learn more about what we’ve done, where we’re going, what’s coming up next on Autoline and much much more, then follow us on Twitter at Twitter.com/Autoline.
Coming up next, a look at how car companies can boost interest in motor racing..
HOW RACING CAN WIN BACK FANS
Most racing series’ are losing viewership and having a hard time attracting new fans. On Autoline After Hours last week we were joined by Dave Pericak, the head of Ford Performance and Jamie Allison, who oversees the racing activities. And in the following clip they share their thoughts on what to do about the problem.
(The AAH preview is only available in the video version of today’s show.)
There’s a lot of great info about Ford Performance and racing activities in that show, and if you haven’t done so, you can watch it right now on our website or Youtube channel.
And speaking of After Hours make sure you tune in this Thursday when our special guest will be Art Anderson, the chief engineer of the Jeep Renegade. So if you got any questions about the new small crossover, send them to viewermail@autoline.tv. And remember the live show now starts at 3PM eastern time.
That wraps up today’s show thanks for watching and have a great day.
Thanks to our partner for embedding Autoline Daily on its website: WardsAuto.com
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Comments (18)
March 2nd, 2015 at 12:11 pm
Racing fans disappearing? NASCAR really does not race stock cars. That went our the door 20 + years ago. What I would like to see is the top series racing front wheel drive V6 cars. You know Stock Cars. The other thing killing racing is there is no such thing as a shade tree mechanic. It takes more training and skills to be a mechanic today than days long long ago. In short racing has left most of its fans in the dust.
March 2nd, 2015 at 12:19 pm
1 Something similar called North American Touring Car Championship was tried in the ’90′s, though maybe with 4 cylinder rather than V6 engines. I thought it interesting, but apparently no one else did. The series folded after two years.
March 2nd, 2015 at 12:21 pm
Big Deal
NXP will buy Freescale. This is consolidation in the embedded processor market which is a bigger part of cars today.
http://news.investors.com/030215-741461-nxp-freescale-merger-creates-powerhouse-in-automotive-chips.htm?ven=yahoocp&src=aurlled&ven=yahoo
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Racing
Formats and relevance? How about platforms? Let me watch races on my computer without having to pay for cable I don’t want. It’s not gonna happen, guys. I’ll pay per race or for a season. But NOOOOOOOOOOO!
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Shoveling the S*&w
OK, that’s enough for this year. It’s not fun anymore.
March 2nd, 2015 at 12:21 pm
EV racing in Downtown Miami coming up, just wondering how many people are gonna show up to this, most likely will sound like an attack from millions of bees buzzing by.
March 2nd, 2015 at 12:42 pm
Pedro, if you go, let us know how it sounded. I’d guess nothing but tire sounds, and some whooshing from air being moved around. There could be gear noise, though.
March 2nd, 2015 at 12:45 pm
The electric bike thing has lot of possibilities. An outfit called Statista (http://www.statista.com/statistics/255658/worldwide-sales-of-electric-bicycles-by-region/) Expects 50 million E bike sales within 3 years. 90% in China but significant sales in Europe. This a product you can sell in China. It will boost volumes/lower costs for about the size of battery likely to be used in Mild Hybrids. Maybe you need two of them for a hybrid (E-Assist uses 15 lbs.) but the bikes could build the commercial scale volume for the cars…maybe.
March 2nd, 2015 at 1:00 pm
About increasing motorsports veiwership. “Modifying the format to make it more relevent” is such a generic answer. Says to me they have no idea how to fix it.
March 2nd, 2015 at 1:46 pm
Is “Modifying the format to make it more relevent” what NASCAR is doing with the strange system to determine a “champion,” and the crash fest qualifying at Daytona? Both have only served to turn me off with NASCAR, even more than before. Maybe others feel differently, though
March 2nd, 2015 at 2:28 pm
I think viewership is down simply because there is just so much and so many different things competing for your entertainment dollars.
I’ve also noticed that at a couple of tracks that I’ve gone to that they start clamping down on the after race activities that people participate in. Like it or not that is why many come to the tracks, to kick back and blow off some steam and when you start limiting that or kicking people off the property they stop coming. I think many tracks need to find a better balance between “safety” and fun.
March 2nd, 2015 at 3:02 pm
that’s three tries now, Ben
March 2nd, 2015 at 3:06 pm
VW moved $227 Billion worth of product and for all that work, only 5% stays home. Okay the 5% is $12 Billion, but by the standards of most industries, that 5% is a terribly thin margin. This especially true as these are “the good times”. You can imagine that 5% disappearing during the down cycle of consumer cyclicals.
March 2nd, 2015 at 3:37 pm
Sorry dude. A parking lot in Montreal does not qualify as the most treacherous conditions. Maybe the AutoRoute through Montreal at 5 PM on a Friday night in the snow. Now you’re talking.
March 2nd, 2015 at 4:37 pm
NASCAR turned their back on their original winning format, killed and/or ignored their stars, and turned their backs on their loyal fans in pursuit of some NFL-like dream.
They get what they deserve now.
March 2nd, 2015 at 5:19 pm
TV viewership is down because most of is on pay cable channels . ABC/NBC/CBS/Fox Show very little on regular over air channels with exception to Cup series in NASCAR. So casual viewers won’t stumble over it and watch and perhaps become a fan.
March 2nd, 2015 at 5:33 pm
Yeah, XA, some time ago I heard an ALMS big talking about TV’s ability to show the sport to people just flipping channels, and that streaming over the web didn’t have this upside.
One thing NASCAR should do is get Danica to the front. Wouldn’t there be a few women that would take notice if she was spinning fancy pants Jimmy Johnson?
March 2nd, 2015 at 7:00 pm
14 Even cup series is only part time on broadcast channels. NFL seems to be the only thing that has all of its “playoffs” on broadcast TV. You can’t even get some of the major league baseball playoffs on broadcast.
March 2nd, 2015 at 7:41 pm
16 In Australia, this year’s F1 will be partially shown on a pay channel owned by Murdoch. It’s like Bernie accepts that he must take money today even if it will hurt the sport, long term. Part of how I watch F1 is observing it destroy itself.
March 3rd, 2015 at 1:11 am
I had been away from Nascar for a few years. When I watched Daytona I noticed there were maybe five minutes of racing followed by three minutes of commercials. That finished it for me for this year.