AD #1606 – BMW to Use Toyota Fuel Cell, Hyperloop vs. Autonomous Cars, Ford Lays Off Workers
April 24th, 2015 at 11:53am
Runtime: 7:56
- BMW to Use Toyota Fuel Cell
- Ford Lays Off Workers
- Portable Nav with Driver Alerts
- Hyperloop vs. Autonomous Cars
- Where Is All The Cellulosic Ethanol?
Visit our sponsors to thank them for their support of Autoline Daily: Bridgestone, Dow Automotive Systems and BorgWarner.
»Subscribe to Podcast | 
| 
| Listen on Phone 
| 
On today’s show…why cellulosic ethanol isn’t being produced in large numbers, BMW’s new i5 will be powered by a fuel cell and weak small car sales forces Ford to lay off workers. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily for April 24th, 2015. I’m Drew Winter, Senior Editor from WardsAuto sitting in today and I’ll have news on a big event coming up toward the end of today’s show so stay tuned for that. But right now here’s today’s news…
BMW TO USE TOYOTA FUEL CELL
You may have heard rumors of a sedan being added to the BMW i lineup, most likely called the i5. On yesterday’s Autoline After Hours guest Sandy Munro of Munro and Associates gave those rumors a big jolt in the pants. While some have speculated the car would have a plug-in hybrid powertrain, Sandy says the i5 will come with a fuel cell, sighting the recent collaboration between Toyota and BMW. As a tradeoff, the Japanese automaker will be given the underpinnings to the new Z4. And if you haven’t already, we highly recommend you watch that show, because this is just one of many gems that came from it.
FORD LAYS OFF WORKERS
Sales of the Ford Focus and C-Max hybrid were way down last month. The Focus was down nearly 15% and the C-Max fell 23%. As a result, Ford is cutting a shift and laying off 700 workers at its Wayne assembly plant where those models are built. Not only are sales down, inventory levels are piling up. The C-Max is at 92 days supply and earlier this month, Autoline noticed that the company is parking hundreds of brand new Focus models miles away from the Wayne plant.
I want to take a couple seconds here to ask your help. Autoline launched its Auto Tunes project about a month ago. As some of you know it’s a weekly post about some of the most interesting and obscure transportation-related songs over the past 50 years such as this week’s selection “99 Miles From LA” by Art Garfunkle. We’d like to know what you think of Auto Tunes itself. Do you like it in its current state? Please send your reactions and/or suggestions to ViewerMail@Autoline.tv and we’ll see what “tune” you’re all singing about Auto Tunes.
And….We’ll be right back.
PORTABLE NAV WITH DRIVER ALERTS
The average of age of a car in the U.S. is around 11 years which means it’s not equipped with the latest technology. But instead of buying a new car to get those features here’s a more affordable solution. Garmin, the maker of portable navigation devices, just introduced the nuviCAM which comes with a built in dash cam and driver assistance features like Forward Collision and Lane Departure Warnings. The high-def dash cam continuously records on a micro SD card that’s included and if you’re in a crash it will automatically save files upon impact. The nuviCAM goes on sale this May and retails for $400.
PEDAL TO THE METAL
Last night, at the SAE World Congress, Frank Paluch, the head of Honda R&D Americas, laid out the company’s vision for future mobility. He said Elon Musk’s idea for a hyperloop is interesting but suggested that autonomous cars, driving at 300 kilometers an hour on dedicated highway lanes, make more sense. He said that unlike the hyperloop, this would provide point-to-point mobility. And it could slash travelling from Los Angeles to San Francisco to only two hours, instead of today’s 6 hours. Frank Paluch said all the nice things about the auto industry reducing its carbon footprint and getting to zero accidents. But when you start talking about driving 180 miles an hour: We. Are. So. Onboard.
Cellulosic ethanol, made from non-food sources, was supposed to be the answer for renewable fuels. So where the heck is it? That’s coming up next.
WHERE IS ALL THE CELLULOSIC ETHANOL?
The fastest way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is to reduce the amount of carbon in fuel. Adding cellulosic ethanol to gasoline is one way to do that but it never caught on. On Autoline This Week, the special guest is Margo Oge, who’s a former director at the EPA and the author of the new book “Driving the Future.” In the following clip, Margo explains why cellulosic ethanol isn’t being produced in large numbers.
(The ATW preview is only available in the video version of today’s show.)
You can watch that entire episode right now on the Autoline.tv website.
And just a word on an upcoming event before we go today…if you’re involved with vehicle interiors, you won’t want to miss our WardsAuto Interiors Conference on May 13 in the newly renovated Cobo Center. We’ve got a great roster of speakers including our keynotes Moray Callum of Ford and Marc Girard of Designworks, a BMW Group Company. You’ll get to check out the Ward’s 10 Best Interiors winning vehicles on display, see supplier technology exhibits, and sit in on your choice of nine panels covering everything from HMI to luxury to innovative materials. Seating is limited, so visit AutoInteriors.com now to reserve your spot.
But 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
Share
Embed
Permalink
Comments (44)
April 24th, 2015 at 12:10 pm
400 bux for the new Garmin nav isn’t bad when you consider what the oems charge for an ‘iffy’ system.Some systems rely on OnStar,or Sirrius subscriptions for the nav funcetion.After the honeymoon is over,it gets expensive fast.Garmin can be easily updated via the internet.Jmho…
April 24th, 2015 at 12:11 pm
Great job today, Drew, and you are absolutely correct, for the engineering interested people, you don’t want to miss Sandy Monroe on last nights(afternoon really) AAH. Outstanding show.
April 24th, 2015 at 12:24 pm
So John, Toyota traded the underpinnings of the new Z$ to Toyota for the latter’s fuel cell technology. As the owner of a current gen Z4, I’m curious about what is known of the future model?
April 24th, 2015 at 12:39 pm
I’ve read a couple places that the next Z4 will have a new inline 6 that is essentially two of the MINI/i8 turbo triples end to end. A hybrid will follow.
April 24th, 2015 at 12:48 pm
It looks like cheap gas is not only hurting sales of hybrids, but also hurting sales of Focus, one of the better fuel efficient cars in the U.S. market.
The Focus hatch is one of my favorite non-hybrid “do everything” cars. Crappy controls are the only thing that keeps me from really liking that car.
April 24th, 2015 at 1:09 pm
What is hurting Focus sales is the strong competition from Hyundai, Volkswagen, even Dodge. They are all getting more competitive in either price or performance to the Focus while Ford has reduced options and added ridiculous radio / entertainment controls.
April 24th, 2015 at 1:12 pm
What about taking all the garbage Americans and the rest of the world produces and instead of land-filling it clean burn it to fuel steam powered generators to produce electricity. Use this electricity to power electric vehicles or use it to do electrolysis to convert sea water or waste water into Hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles. I believe these two options will create jobs and hopefully reduce pollution of our environment.
April 24th, 2015 at 1:27 pm
I am not surprised that Ford Focus is not selling.
As long as gasoline prices stay low or under $3.00 per gallon on average small ugly cars like the Focus will not be selling many units.
If Ford could restyle the front end of it’s Focus to look like the Taurus or Edge maybe sales would improve but do not bet on it!
April 24th, 2015 at 1:36 pm
I have an issue with the upwardare folding rear doors on the upcoming Tesla Model X SUV. These doors are not practice in most homeowner garages! What were they thinking when they designed it. I hope these doors are eliminated and/or only offered as an option on the Model X.
Elon Musk’s real world salary is probably used to pay for his healthcare coverage through the company.
No Obama Care for this man and his family.
April 24th, 2015 at 1:42 pm
6 Are you saying sales are un on Dart, Elantra, Golf, and Jetta? If so, yeah, I guess people just don’t like Focus, or at least its pricing, and controls, which I don’t like.
April 24th, 2015 at 1:44 pm
10 That’s up, not “un.”
April 24th, 2015 at 2:31 pm
The Focus hatch is on my short list. But the Mrs wants an automatic and I want a manual tranny. The controls are now greatly improved, with better responsiveness and better voice recognition… and there are plenty of conventional buttons for the climate controls (solving my biggest issue with nearly all other touch screen vehicle).
The front end now has an attractive Fusion-like appearance. I just wish the rear seat was more package-efficient, particularly in terms of knee clearance and shoulder room.
April 24th, 2015 at 2:40 pm
A friend has a 2014 Focus ST, and likes it. The back seat is folded down most of the time, like with my Prius.
He says he bought the ST in spite of the controls/myfordtouch, because he really likes the way the car drives, and likes the hatchback utility.
April 24th, 2015 at 2:48 pm
12. Unless you were getting an ST or the 3 cylinder turbo, you might rather have the automatic. The manual with the standard engine is a 5-speed with a too-short top gear for relaxed highway cruising
April 24th, 2015 at 2:48 pm
Down here in So Fl. 2015 Corollas are all over the place, I see them all over. So much so that my local dealer is asking for a premium over MSRP due to “Market Conditions” Frankly, there are so many of them, that I most likely would not buy one if I could.
April 24th, 2015 at 3:18 pm
Focus-could it be that Ford is paying for not being as aggressive on discounts as the competition? I do like me some Focus, but then I remind myself of all the other cars I like too. It’s alsohard to believe consumers don’t like that CMax either; such a great package.
April 24th, 2015 at 4:01 pm
Beep, Beep needs to be at the top of the audio list. Just revisited it on You Tube !!
April 24th, 2015 at 4:18 pm
16 I like C-Max, except for the controls. It gets almost Prius-like city mpg, and is quicker and handles better than a Prius. C-Max has a shorter load floor, though, and doesn’t get the highway mpg of a Prius, probably because of its tall, cuv wannabe profile.
April 24th, 2015 at 4:32 pm
If the current effort to end ethanol succeeds,
gas will be up again. Ethanol almost ruined my OB (not news), but a mom & pop station nearby has lots of real gas.
April 24th, 2015 at 5:28 pm
15 – Pedro, the Crapolla has the cheapest interior I have seen in a very long time. The Mrs does like the C-Max – more rear seat space, more cargo space, higher seating position, and better FE than any of the C cars. So, we are shopping for a 2 year old with a good year and 12,000 miles left on the factory warranty.
April 24th, 2015 at 5:35 pm
I sat behind a 6’3″ guy in the CMax. I’m 5’9″. Amazing room.
April 24th, 2015 at 5:57 pm
Well, cheap interior or not, the Crapolla is beating the Crap out of the Focus, at least among the choosy, demanding, So Fl customers. This soft vs hard touch interiors are not important to the majority of buyers, they only care about where they rest their elbows.
April 24th, 2015 at 6:26 pm
21 Yeah, this “soft vs hard” thing is about the silliest thing to ever hit auto discussion. The only thing I touch in a car with my hands for any lenth of time is the steering wheel. Beyond that, the only things I touch, even briefly, are door pulls, and radio and HVAC controls. I barely touch arm rests, to the extent that they exist in my cars. A center arm rest was a $200 option on a MINI like mine, but I declined.
April 24th, 2015 at 6:51 pm
In the past 2 weeks, folks have either died or were poisoned by carbon monoxide emitted by cars that they had thought were shut off and were garaged right under their town houses here in Fl. I have to believe these vehicles had push button start systems and the drivers most likely touched the buttons too lightly and the motor stayed on, these modern cars have such quiet engines, that you barely can tell if they’re running or not.
April 24th, 2015 at 8:33 pm
Auto Tunes, to be honest I haven’t checked it out yet. Here’s a video that would fit very well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k0aiI1_mI4 If you don’t have videos like this you should.
April 24th, 2015 at 8:35 pm
Sorry I miswrote the link it’s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k0aiI1_m14
April 25th, 2015 at 8:04 am
#25 ‘XA’ (on Fu Manchu)
Sounds a little like “Black Sabbath” (of old); seems (they) need a little Ozzie (Osborn) to make that tune ‘work’ (for me).
April 25th, 2015 at 9:08 am
Just heard on the news that the 2 victims of the carbo mono poisoning both has keyless ignition late model cars, and they believedthey had shut off their motors. All new problem to be reckoned with.
April 25th, 2015 at 3:02 pm
I’m surprised they didn’t hear engines running when they got out, unless they were hybrids, and the engine started later, after the A/C ran the battery down to where the engine started to charge it. Even then, you get reminded, at least with a Prius. I get beeped at, if I get out of the car without turning it off. It is just an electronic beep, though, and not too loud.
April 25th, 2015 at 3:15 pm
I assume they were late model, lux cars with quiet engines, they all came home late, so they were probably tired and sleepy, pushed the button to shut off the engine and it failed to do so, I never liked the idea of having the garage right under your living area.
April 25th, 2015 at 3:28 pm
23 Pedro, is it certain that it was the cars that had emitted the CO? Were the cars in good repair also? I was under the impression that modern cars didn’t emit much CO at all.
April 25th, 2015 at 4:13 pm
Oh, yes put any ICE inside a closed garage and the CO will knock you out and if you don’t get rescued, eventually killed, which is what happened to some poor sap that had just arrived with his clan from Disney, all tired and sleepy, the other guy got saved thanks to the neighbor having a CO detector go off inside his unit and was able to call 911. I have a CO detector in the Crapolla also, since that time when the leaky exhaust headers almost did me in.
April 25th, 2015 at 4:28 pm
Piech resigns. Check Bloomberg
April 25th, 2015 at 4:34 pm
There can only be one
April 25th, 2015 at 5:32 pm
#32 I guess he was disgusted by the fact that his engineers could not design a clunk-free steering wheel adjustment mechanism like the Hyundai he sat in at some auto show a couple of years ago.
April 26th, 2015 at 9:40 am
31 Also, the CO coming from an engine would increase as the oxygen is depleted in a closed space, like a garage. At some point, the engine control will not be able to maintain a proper mixture and the engine will run rich if the oxygen percentage in the air gets too low.
April 26th, 2015 at 12:12 pm
It could also be that the vehicles had remote starting.Here’s what happened to me some years back when I had my 2011 silvey: I went to the local market to pick up a few things,while walking away from my truck I hit the lock button on my key.It locked my truck and flashed the headlights as usual but it also did that to another chevy in the parking lot,it wasn’t a pickup.When I came out I unlocked my truck with the remote and it also unlocked that chevy car too.I know the odds of that are astronomical,but as God is my witness,it’s true.It could very well be another remote from nearby.
April 26th, 2015 at 12:33 pm
The report stated that both vehicles had key-less start and they attribute the accident to this, we should start reading about this being an issue sometime in the future.
April 26th, 2015 at 12:48 pm
I have keyless start on my nox.However,it will only run for 10 minutes without the key in the ignition.I am assuming that goes for all of gm cars/trucks with this feature.However,I do no not know if that is an industry standard.If it isn’t,it should be.
There are many articles about keyless ignitions where people get to work and have a full tank,and when they come back out,they don’t anymore.And it has been found that someone else is starting their own car to warm it up,not realizing they might also be starting someone else’s car too.
April 26th, 2015 at 2:53 pm
36 can confirm. In a HomeDepot lot, a Honda Accord just started up as I walked by. I hung around to see if the owner would approach. Nope. And I only had my Civic key on me, no remote.
——
In other news, no more Mr Nice HtG. I’m instituting a boot on neck policy toward other drivers.
April 26th, 2015 at 6:01 pm
I don’t have a foreign car that starts cars other than my own, but I want to share a tidbit about something else; I heard on one of the business radio channels taxi use by business people decreased about 20-25% due to other options, like Uber. Still, taxi service controls over 50% of the New York transportation.
April 26th, 2015 at 6:27 pm
Hey guys,some possible good nooz for me: Remember when I said that I couldn’t get a new Promaster City Wagon SLT cause ordering was closed down etc? Well I did write to Chrysler and wanted to know why I couldn’t order and stuff.They said that 2014 ordering for that,and other rams/jeeps etc was closed till the 2015my start.
My dealer guy called me this ayem and said he thinks he found me what I wanted,even the color etc.at another dealer that is part of the Lithia group.The guy he needs to talk to won’t be in till tomorrow so I just might get the van/truck I want after all.
If the dealer doesn’t want to do the dealer trade thing,then I’ll just wait,but maybe….just maybe ;}>
April 26th, 2015 at 6:59 pm
And now it’s time for something completely different: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2015/04/24/youll-pay-for-that-brief-history-car-dealer-price-gouging/?intcmp=features
April 27th, 2015 at 10:35 am
@ #22 The hard vs soft material in interiors may seem silly to you, however there is proof of preference for many buyers. Any edge you can give a consumer to buy your vehicle over the competition IS important.
Dart sales are up and it is selling better than the Caliber it replaced.