AD #1836 – Ford Heads South of the Border, Spain Starts Testing Mega Trucks, Cadillac Cancels Flagship CT8 Sedan
April 6th, 2016 at 12:01pm
Runtime: 9:54
To watch this episode on YouTube click here.
- Ford Announces New Mexico Plant
- Spain Starts Testing Mega Trucks
- Two Luxury Sedans Get the Axe
- Nvidia Provides Supercomputer for Roborace
- You Said It!
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On today’s show… Donald Trump and the UAW attack the Ford Motor Company, Cadillac cancels plans for its big flagship sedan and John responds to your comments in You Said It! All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily for April 6th, 2016.
FORD HEADS SOUTH OF THE BORDER
Back in mid-March we reported that Ford would soon announce plans to build a new assembly plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and yesterday Ford made it official. It will invest $1.6 billion in the plant which will make the Focus and an all-new electric car that may be called the Model E. Ford did not announce that yet, but we’re telling you now. The announcement triggered criticisms from the UAW and Donald Trump. The union called it “very troubling” while Trump called it an “absolute disgrace.” Interestingly, Ford kind of buried the announcement. It did not even mention Mexico in the headline of its press release. At the same time it made a big deal about a small investment it’s making in South Africa.
SPAIN TESTING MEGA TRUCKS
Yesterday we showed you how truck makers in Europe want to use autonomous platoons to help reduce fuel consumption and emissions. But another idea is being tested without the use of advanced technology. Spain just started testing mega trucks on its roads. The vehicles are 25.25-meters long or about 83-feet and can haul a maximum of 60 tons or about 132,300 pounds. The Catalan Automotive Industry Cluster is spearheading the project and it estimates that mega trucks could help lower logistic costs by 22% and reduce emissions by 14% because fewer trucks would be needed to transport cargo. Two mega trucks are about the equivalent of three conventional ones. Spanish automaker SEAT, which is owned by VW, is also involved and Swedish truck maker Scania is building the mega trucks. These types of vehicles are already permitted for use in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Portugal and parts of Norway.
Still to come… chip maker Nvidia will provide the brains for autonomous racing.
TWO LUXURY SEDANS GET THE AXE
We’ve just got word of two luxury cars getting cancelled. One we expected, the other we did not. AutoForecast Solutions reports that production of the new Phaeton at VW’s assembly plant in Dresden is getting the axe. No surprise there. VW needs to get rid of slow selling models to pay for its diesel emissions scandal. But we were surprised to learn that the Cadillac CT8 has been cancelled. It was going to be built at GM’s Hamtramck plant and was going to be Cadillac’s flagship sedan, a bigger and more expensive car than the CT6. We see two things going on here. First, the CT8 would have sold in very low volume and it was probably hard to justify the investment. Second, the dramatic market shift to crossovers and SUVs makes far more sense for Cadillac to invest in those kinds of models.
NVIDIA PROVIDES SUPERCOMPUTER FOR ROBORACE
Nvidia, the company that makes GPUs for video games and has used that knowledge to make control units for autonomous cars announced it will provide the brains for Formula E’s autonomous Roborace series. It will put its Artificial Intelligence Supercomputer, called DRIVE PX 2 into the racecars, which have the computing power of 150 MacBook Pros and is the size of a lunchbox. Automakers use the racetrack to test systems and components for road-going vehicles all the time, so why not Nvidia too? It will be a great way to put its technology into a harsh, demanding environment.
Coming up next, it’s time for You Said It!
Robert Stewart has a question about charging electric cars. “Can a Volt/Bolt/Leaf be plugged into a Tesla charging station? Seems silly for a series of charging sites being created if they only work for a single manufacturer.” Nope, only Tesla owners can use its Supercharger stations. The SAE asked for automaker input to set the standard for charging plugs designated SAE J1772. Tesla even provided input for that standard, then went out and designed its own plug so that no one else can use its Superchargers. And Tesla owners get an adaptor so they can use any public charging station.
Doug Watson heard our story on poorly performing headlights. He has a question about headlight lenses that become very cloudy over time. “I am really surprised this has not come up as a safety concern. Has this issue been considered at NHTSA?” Automakers no longer use the kind of plastic lenses that can fade from ultraviolet degradation. Even so, it’s up to car owners to properly maintain their cars. Getting your headlight lenses cleaned should be no different than replacing worn out brake pads. But it was a mistake for automakers to use those kinds of lenses in the first place.
Michael Ghiglieri has a thing or two to say about VW. “Volkswagen styling is Boring Boring Boring!!! That’s why the don’t sell. And who wants to drive a car called a “Golf” or “Passat”? WTF are those stupid names?” Those names work fine in most of the world, but you’re right. In the US market they come across as kind of stupid names.
Our report yesterday on the work being done in Europe for platooning trucks prompted a number of comments. Whatever04811 says, “What about the driver jobs in the future?” That’s a concern. Commercial drivers is one of the biggest job categories in the economy. But by the same token, the biggest complaint from trucking companies is that they can’t get enough drivers.
G.A.Branigan says: “Why not just build more railroads? If they built a railroad to run the length of I-5 say, that would eliminate a lot of truck traffic.” Here’s a little known fact. The United States moves more freight by rail than any other country in the world. Moreover, the US government does not subsidize the railroad companies.But I don’t expect to see new rail lines. It’s extremely difficult to get the land and right of way and even more expensive to lay new lines.
Rob wants to know, “If the DOT develops some standards for autonomous cars, what prevents states from establishing their own regulations?” Nothing will stop the states from acting on their own But if and when the Department of Transportation establishes its own regulations, federal law will supercede state law.
Our report on autonomous race cars kicked off a firestorm of questions and comments. Lisk wants to know, “Will the cars be “connected” or will the cars be rolling around free having to anticipate the next move?” My understanding is that they will be racing under their own means and will have to anticipate and react to what the other cars are doing.
buzzerd says, “Fans that aren’t familiar with the individual drivers can still root for Chevy or Ford, Yamaha or BMW. But with Robot Racing who or what am I rooting for? Why do I care what happens or what wins?” And RumNCoke says, “I think the robots are already here. Have you ever seen an interview with Kimi Raikkonen?” Rob says, “Robo racing could be interesting to me if they had actual drivers competing against the robo cars. Not sure how the race drivers would feel about being on the track with a unmanned race car but I would watch that.” And SpicyMatzahBall says, “C’mon guys, robo racing could be awesome! But think real-life Mario kart. If robo racers start flinging tortoise shells at each other, it’s game over for human driver racing.”
You guys are hilarious. Thanks for all your comments and please keep them coming. Also, please join us tomorrow for Autoline After Hours. We’re going to have the new Cadillac XT5 along with chief engineer Paul Spadafora. Here’s your chance to get the inside story on how they engineered that car.
And that wraps up today’s report. Thanks for watching and remember, we’ll be right back here again tomorrow.
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Comments (41)
April 6th, 2016 at 12:17 pm
Kudos to GM for realizing there wasn’t a market for the CT8. Or maybe they just realized Medicare won’t pay CT8s?
April 6th, 2016 at 12:18 pm
I think it is a mistake for Cadillac to drop the CT8 especially if Cadillac is looking for ‘cred’ from the other ‘big boys’; they could charge enough to cover production (if it’s good enough), and we would be talking six figures easy. Cadillac, if you want the respect of the world (which you once had), get this flagship done. And as was reported last week, Cadillac is still a cash-cow for GM; don’t get ‘cold feet’ now.
April 6th, 2016 at 12:18 pm
Should be won’t pay for CT8s.
April 6th, 2016 at 12:20 pm
VW Styling/Naming -
I love the names! Golf, Passat, etc.
The Styling of VWs were magnificent until they decided to make changes for the American Market.
If I wanted a Chevy Impala looking car…I would buy one.
April 6th, 2016 at 12:23 pm
IMO
One of VWs biggest problems are the dealerships. I have been to 3 VW dealerships in my 2.5 year ownership of my Jetta Sportswagen TDI.
They all have this same disposition. That VW is this massive mother ship with no communication to them.
Toyota Dealers give me a feeling that Toyota cares what the Dealers and I think.
April 6th, 2016 at 12:31 pm
Looks like ford is trying to sneak out the back door with the new plant in Mexico.Ford,you guys are coming off like washington politicians now.WE need the jobs here Ford,not south of the border,(what border)…
April 6th, 2016 at 12:31 pm
John – Last I knew plastic headlamp lenses are still made of Polycarbonate (for impact resistance) which will suffer UV degradation if not properly coated. The coatings are proprietary to the various headlight manufacturers & there can be a significant difference in life of the coatings. This was the reason why some headlight lenses yellowed & other ones of the same age remained clear.
April 6th, 2016 at 12:42 pm
“Interestingly, Ford kind of buried the announcement. It did not even mention Mexico in the headline of its press release. At the same time it made a big deal about a small investment it’s making in South Africa.” Shocked look, everybody :-O Politically, it’s the elephant in the room, but I think most everyone else is too desensitized to care.
April 6th, 2016 at 12:51 pm
Cadillac’s move to cancel the XT8 makes financial sense. I think the money would be better spent on a CUV, despite my disdain for such vehicles. Cadillacs were the everyman’s luxury car, something even the middle class could afford. I think a $100,000+ competing with the established brands would be foolish. One only has to look at the Hyundai/Kia/Genesis model. They didn’t start out selling Sonatas for Camry money; they earned their way there.
As for headlamps, what new material are they made out of? The 1973-87 Chevy full size trucks had the rear tail lamp lenses made from Lexan, and rarely do you see a badly weathered one, even of 30-40 year old trucks.
April 6th, 2016 at 12:58 pm
I forgot how gorgeous the Cadillac Elmiraj is. I think Caddy has a really great advanced styling team. GM should unleash them once in a while.
April 6th, 2016 at 1:01 pm
A convoy of three autonomous Mercedes-Benz Actros heavy-duty trucks began a two-day journey from Stuttgart, Germany to Rotterdam, Netherlands as part of the Netherlands European Truck Platooning Challenge 2016.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/connectedcar/autonomous-mercedes-benz-actros-trucks-travel-through-europe/ar-BBrlK8Q?li=BBnb4R5
April 6th, 2016 at 1:02 pm
#10
My favorite GM styled vehicle available is the Buick Regal (without the portals on the hood).
The portals are clearly a nod to the past..but they look so stick-on, etc.
April 6th, 2016 at 1:07 pm
Instead of Mega trucks maybe they should look at some type of mechanical quick connection that could link multiple trucks together leaving the lead truck to do all the pulling. Then engage start stop technology for the tag vehicles to help out during acceleration or uphill climbs.
April 6th, 2016 at 1:23 pm
I think the Europeans are a little late to the market with “Mega Trucks”. Manitoulin Transport has been running similar trucks in Northern Ontario for over 20 years. The link is to an example of one of their fleet. http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/pix/trucks/chris_hall/2003/sept28/manitoulin_pb_cat01.jpg
April 6th, 2016 at 1:26 pm
#9 – Lexan is GE tradename for Polycarbonate. Over the years put effort into specifying material spec or generic material on drawings instead of specific tradenames. Most rear lighting lenses (except for a few as you mentioned the GM trucks) are made of acrylic since impact resistance on rear lighting is less of an issue. GM obviously made a decision to use PC on some truck signal lights to protect against operators being careless when loading the vehicle. In addition, they used a pretty good UV coating.
April 6th, 2016 at 1:40 pm
If the state’s must observe the federal standards for Autonomous driving, Then how did California’s CARB require unique emissions standards in california? These stricter standards have now been adopted by several states, So we have federal (EPA) cars and 16 states requiring CARB standards
April 6th, 2016 at 1:47 pm
4, 5 I’ve had a few VW’s, most recently, an ’04 TDI Jetta wagon. My dealer experience has been the same as yours, Bradley.. They just don’t seem to know, or care about what is going on. That, and the sparse dealer network, is part of why VW hasn’t done well in the U.S., even before the TDI scandal.
As far as the cars, I like the appearance of most VW’s, and the names are just fine. A lot of people buy cars called Camry. I don’t think names like Golf hurt VW sales in America. It’s the other things.
April 6th, 2016 at 1:49 pm
Glass always made a great material for headlight lenses. It stays like new, unless it gets broken, and in about 30 years of driving with glass headlight lenses, only one ever got broken.
April 6th, 2016 at 1:53 pm
#17 Yes but PC lenses saved weight and had better design flexibility.
April 6th, 2016 at 2:05 pm
Ford is going to build more cars in Mexico, well i am buying a car in the next two months ,guess what make i am not going to buy FORD
April 6th, 2016 at 2:06 pm
whatever car i buy ,will be built by Americans . Listen ford you will loose long time customers like me. shame on you
April 6th, 2016 at 2:17 pm
Cadillac’s decision to cancel their CT8 is sort of a just as well situation because they could stretch the CT6′s wheelbase by 2.5 inches to get possibly the rear passenger legroom the bigger car would have offered and since this is a CUV market, it’s smart to try getting more CUV to the market place as they still need a 3-row CUV possibly sharing the Omega platform.
April 6th, 2016 at 2:29 pm
Short term thinking got Cadillac in trouble to begin with (i.e., CUV’s now, to cash in); you’ve got to elevate the brand (and keep it there). CT8 (and 9), for the long haul. Cadillac is half-way back (from what they were), keep going, and make the mark back where it used to be. Another CUV, okay, but in addition to the ‘Flagship’.
April 6th, 2016 at 2:31 pm
#13
Seems like the radio link MU concept utilized by the railroads could be a starting point for linked units.
April 6th, 2016 at 2:45 pm
I’m sorry to see the CT8 cancelled, but I’m not surprised. Mercedes sells only around 20,000 S-Class a year in the U.S., but they have a global market to help justify making the car. Even if a CT8 were genuinely competitive with the S, it wouldn’t sell as well, even in the U.S., and it wouldn’t sell at all outside the U.S., except maybe a few in China.
April 6th, 2016 at 3:00 pm
HtG, are you still around? Haven’t seen you here lately.
April 6th, 2016 at 3:14 pm
Cars names: Mostly it just doesn’t matter, who would have thought Beetle would be a good name? Certainly wasn’t VW, because the car that was known as the Beetle never was actually called the Beetle. If you have a great product, you could call it the Rabbit even, or god forbid a Corolla (I mean really, what the heck is that?). Heck you could call a car the Squash and it’d be fine if the product resonates with enough people to achieve stand out status. It’s the mediocre products where names are more important, hence Acura’s disaster with adopting names that mean NOTHING. I dare say this will be a challenge for Cadillac soon too.
Ford down South: Can’t wait for Trump’s latest on that one.
April 6th, 2016 at 4:45 pm
Late thought about the FTC suit against false advertising of the VW cheat-diesels. The ad agencies were not sued because they had no way to know VW was selling cheat, not clean diesels. That is fair but what happens if VW is found guilty of false advertising?
The settlement might ask VW to contact the ad agencies to ‘correct the record.’ But what about all the press reports that cited the false claims?
I’d asked Edmunds if they were going to put an “*” on their earlier articles about the cheat-diesels. They said no but that was before the FTC suit which is filed and not settled.
A fair argument could be made that it is too expensive to try and survey ever barber shop for the print copies. However, the electronic articles exist online and updating or footnoting them would be fairly easy.
Bob Wilson
April 6th, 2016 at 5:18 pm
Canceling the CT8, is it a good move? Only time will tell. What it does do, is give the CT6 space to move up into in its next generation. IMHO, while I see and do understand that Cadillac was attempting to go their own way, it made no since to have the CT6 between the CT8 and the CTS for the type of vehicle it turned out to be! The German Big Three have turned that space between their midsize and full size vehicles into place for stylish/sporty four door coupes, which the CT6 is not. The only way it makes since, to me, is as a replacement for the XTS! Now they can use the resources for the CT8, to make the CT6 the proper sedan flagship it could/should have been! Here’s a thought: Who says their flagship needs to be a sedan??? What if they made their flagship a CUV/SUV, to sit above the Escalade and more directly compete with the Ranger Rover, G Wagon/Maybach, future X9 and the Bentayga (with the Escalade being body-on-frame and truck based, these other vehicles are mostly unibody and therefore not as heavy and have other benefits in ride and handling)? Just ramblings of a Madman!
April 6th, 2016 at 6:26 pm
To expound on what I said earlier, consider: The Escalade is already one of Cadillac’s biggest salers at or around 80-90 thousand dollars. IMHO, I believe potential buyers would more willingly purchase a 100k (+) Cadillac CUV and in greater numbers, then they would a similarly priced flagship sedan that’s attempting to compete with an S Class! Going the full size CUV route automatically opens such a vehicle up to the US market, but also to Russia, the Mideast and even China to name just a few. To help defray the cost of the vehicle, a few years later GM could do a decontented, COMPLETELY restyled Buick version off the same architecture. While it would/could cost about the same as the Escalade, with the Buick full size CUV not being body-on-frame, they would not directly compete with each other.
April 6th, 2016 at 7:12 pm
Regarding VW names…I see nothing wrong with them with some exceptions VW names their cars after Winds:
-Golf is German for Gulf aka Gulfstream
-Passat is German for tradewind
-Jetta, German Jetstream
-Scirocco is a mediterranean hurricane force wind from the Sahara
-Corrado another name for Jetstream
As for their styling VW was borrowing a page from Toyotas playbook with their ultra boring cars that we can’t seem to get enough of
April 6th, 2016 at 7:13 pm
Born with a wrench in my hand , 85 years ago , still got a resto project in my shop. Caddy was once “The Standard of the World” Now
Consumers Reports gives the brand low marks on dependability. Owned 3 in my lifetime road tested several more recently , too often they were rebadged lower price ranged GMs. Owned 3 cuv’s in the Equinox class , very disappointing over all, cabin noise my pet peeve. Backed up to last year of the Envoy , probably last me.
April 6th, 2016 at 7:47 pm
Car names, who cares? I believe Carroll Shelby one said about naming the GT350. “If it’s a good car, the name wont matter and if bad car the name won’t save it.” Not sure that is the exact quote, but it was something like that, and I think that is so true. So….. Yes, call them what you want and we will get used to it. I really don’t think any of VW’s names were the problem with the cars, it is the cost of keeping them on the road that hurts them.
April 6th, 2016 at 8:40 pm
#27
Most Toyota names especially the ones pre 2000 are names from parts of flowers.
Corolla is part of a flower.
April 6th, 2016 at 8:45 pm
The car names that have always annoyed me are deliberately mis-spelled real words. GM has been especially fond of this with Prizm, Aztek, Savana, and Cruze. I would have bought a Prizm, except for the disgusting name that resulted in thousands of people not knowing how to spell prism.
April 7th, 2016 at 3:43 am
NEVER another Ford… They are happy to collect the dollars US workers for their products; however, they are made by others displacing those US workers jobs…
Probably should buy a Honda, Nissan, or Toyota made in the US… Pretty ironic, huh?!?!?
April 7th, 2016 at 8:40 am
35 All major car companies assemble cars, and source parts all over the world. You can find US/Canada content, assembly location, and other info by car model here:
http://www.nhtsa.gov/Vehicle+Safety/Part+583+American+Automobile+Labeling+Act+(AALA)+Reports
Unfortunately, the data is combined for US and Canada, not too useful to hard core “buy American (USA)” folks.
April 7th, 2016 at 9:24 am
#35 Ford is no different that any other automaker and they all do it. FCA is also moving most car production outside the country and moving truck production here. Ford is not displacing workers but making room for the Ranger and Bronco production to be in the states. Its a financial move to avoid the chicken tax on importing trucks. So imagine what would happen if our government put that tax on the cars being imported?
I’m all for buying American and that’s all I own but I also agree that the American auto industry would not be at the quality and reliability level its at without losing their a$$ to the Japanese like they did. Competition pushes us to be better. We just need to find the balance that entices manufacturers to stay in the states yet compete world class.
April 7th, 2016 at 9:32 am
Everyone thinks having a global economy is great and from the perspective of the consumer it is. We can buy the best products in the world at the best prices. From the manufacturers perspective you have to build the best product in the world and do it as cheap as everyone else in the world. So if folks in the US want to make the same wages as workers in China and India and if we didn’t have to meet EPA, OSHA, and tons of other federal guidelines that some of these countries don’t have then we can compete at their prices. Until that time there should be an import tax that compensates for those differences to level the playing field. Otherwise we here in the US can expect more jobs to move away and our wages to balance to the rest of the world. IMO its that simple.
April 7th, 2016 at 9:36 am
#38 My point was don’t blame Ford blame your government representatives as they are the ones that make it a good financial decision for companies like Ford to move production. They are in the business to make money #1 for their investors maintain US jobs #2. Without #1 there is no #2
April 8th, 2016 at 2:35 pm
For the cheerleaders of autonomous cars…look at the original movie Total Recall for how much driving enjoyment these future cars (electric boxes) will be. Pick out your classic car now to have something that is fun to drive.