AD #1891 – Kia Tops JD Power IQS, World’s First eHighway, Daihatsu Offers 3D Printed Panels
June 23rd, 2016 at 11:50am
Runtime: 8:24
To watch this episode on YouTube click here.
- Kia Tops JD Power IQS
- BMW Repurposes i3 Batteries
- Daihatsu Offers 3D Printed Panels
- World’s First eHighway
- You Said It!
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On today’s show… Kia outscores everybody else in J.D. Power’s initial quality study… new technology will turn commercial trucks into trolleys… and we answer your comments and questions in You Said It! All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily for June 23rd, 2016.
KIA TOPS JD POWER IQS
JD Power just released its latest Initial Quality Study and for the first time in 27 years a premium brand is not at the top of the list. Kia beat out all automakers in the study, which looks at problems experienced by owners in the first 90 days of ownership. The Korean automaker scored 83 problems for every 100 vehicles. The industry average was 105. Kia’s parent company Hyundai was third on the list with Porsche sandwiched in between. It was the first time since 2006 that the mass-market brands outperformed the premium brands. And for just the second time in the 30-year history of the study, the Domestic automakers collectively had better quality than all of the imports combined.
BMW REPURPOSES i3 BATTERIES
A couple of automakers are dabbling in making storage devices out of electric car batteries. And now BMW is joining in. The German automaker’s i brand developed a home energy storage system that uses batteries from the i3. Not only can it back up a customer’s home, but it also integrates with charging stations and solar panels. The system was developed to use both new or used batteries, which could be a nice way for an owner to help offset the cost of replacing an expensive EV battery pack.
One Japanese automaker will start selling 3D printed fender panels and SHOCKING new technology for commercial trucks. That’s coming up next.
DAIHATSU OFFERS 3D PRINTED PANELS
Rapid prototyping or 3D printing has the potential to completely transform the automotive industry and now Japanese automaker Daihatsu will use the technology to help customers personalize their car. In 2017 owners of a small, two-seat coupe, called the Copen will be able to purchase 3D printed panels for the front and rear bumpers and fenders. The panels, called Effect Skins, come in 15 different geometric and organic patterns and 10 colors. Although, customers can adjust the designs themselves for even more uniqueness. With traditional manufacturing methods, Daihatsu says panels like these would have taken 2- to 3-months to produce and be very expensive. By 3D printing them, the panels can be made in just a few weeks.
WORLD’S FIRST eHIGHWAY
The auto industry faces tough regulations to improve fuel efficiency and lower emissions. And that’s especially true for the commercial truck side of the business. So to help meet that goal Scania and Siemens are developing an eHighway system to power trucks electrically. The trucks connect to an overhead line, similar to an electric trolley car or bus. But unlike those, the truck is also equipped with a diesel hybrid when there aren’t any wires to connect to. It’s fitted with what’s called a pantograph to connect and disconnect from the lines at speeds up to 90km/h which is about 56 mph. The companies just kicked off a two-year trial of the system along a 2-kilometer stretch of highway north of Stockholm, Sweden. Siemens is also developing a similar system in collaboration with Volvo to test in California.
Coming up next, we get to some of your comments and questions.
YOU SAID IT!
And now it’s time for some of your feedback.
Paul Wicklund wants to know, “Could GM be preparing to buy Navistar in the next couple of years to get back into Class 7 & 8 trucks?”
That is an intriguing idea. The heavy truck segment can be quite profitable. Though Navistar is barely making money, it’s doing a lot better than just a year ago. The problem is that it has a big underfunded pension liability and I don’t think GM would want to add that to its balance sheet. If Navistar can figure out how to cut that liability, a lot of companies would be interested in buying it, maybe even GM. You know I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Navistar makes the most beautiful semi truck on the road, the stunning LoneStar. I’ll use any excuse to run another picture of that truck.
SkipTurrent has a question about autonomous cars. “People need to realize that autonomous cars will have to make moral decisions. How will they?”
Well, autonomous cars will not make moral decisions, the human beings who program them will have to do that. This argument centers around a hypothetical situation where the car is faced with running over grandpa or mowing down a bunch of school children. Look, it’s going to take a lot of legal advice to develop those algorithms. But that’s a situation that any human being driving a car could encounter today and there’s no easy answer.
Chuck Grenci want to know, “What has become of the new recently released Titan? It got a fairly large reveal and introduction but I haven’t seen/heard anything on sales. Has it moved the ‘mark’ any?”
Titan sales are up 6% so far this year, but the numbers are pretty small. For the first five months of the year only 5,200 Titans were sold. I think Ford sells that many F-Series trucks every two days. Nissan probably hasn’t ramped up all the variations it wants to sell, but this shows you just how competitive the pickup segment is.
Kit Gerhart thinks Ford missed the boat when it named its new high performance version of the Fusion. “Wouldn’t Fusion SHO be a more appropriate name for the hot rod version, than Sport? The ‘Sport’ moniker is used rather loosely, and usually means nothing, except maybe bigger wheels, or more tape stripes.”
I think you have a really good point, Kit. With 325 horsepower and 380 pound-feet of torque, the Fusion Sport would be worthy of the SHO name. And Ford has a lot of brand equity in the SHO name.
And Iddqd wants to know, “What`s your take on Skoda replacing VW in the US market as speculated here in Germany.. would this be viable or even smart?”
Even though they tell you never to say never, I’d say it’s never going to happen. Volkswagen needs to restore its brand image, which it can do if it does things right. As far as Skoda goes, It would take billions of dollars and 20 years to establish that brand in any significant volume in the US market. VW is much better off sticking with VW.
Thanks for all your comments and questions, we appreciate them all.
A quick note here, join Gary Vasilash and me for Autoline After Hours later today, for some of the best insights into the automotive industry.
And with that we wrap up today’s show, thanks for watching.
Thanks to our partner for embedding Autoline Daily on its website: WardsAuto.com
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Comments (23)
June 23rd, 2016 at 12:08 pm
I’m not surprised by Kia at all.My wife bought a new 14 Soul and it’s had zero problems.Fit and finish is good,there is nothing to complain about.Best car for 17k I have ever seen.
June 23rd, 2016 at 12:12 pm
I could see the “E-Highway” concept being installed for trucks on the large uphills. You don’t need every mile of highway to be “E-Highway” to have a dramatic improvement in efficiency. Uphills eat a lot of fuel.
June 23rd, 2016 at 12:36 pm
Maybe this will stop the miss perception of Domestic vehicles vs foreign competition. I feel American owned and built automakers are on par with any foreign competition … I have had 3 Chevy Malibu’s in the last 10 years never had any problems zero/zilch none I currently have a 2016 Chevy Malibu LT zero problems, fit, finish, quality, mileage, excellent ! A Happy GM owner
June 23rd, 2016 at 12:58 pm
I would like to see Skoda enter the U.S. market not to replace VW but to compliment it. The Skoda is slightly more upscale and a good choice for a loyal buyer that is unable to upgrade to Audi.
June 23rd, 2016 at 12:59 pm
Regarding Fusion Sport – I actually like the simple name Sport as applied to the Fusion model, & everything I have read on the Fusion Sport indicates it will be a nice vehicle. Have to admit I automatically link SHO to the Taurus nameplate – Had four of them in years past & they were a very good family vehicle.
June 23rd, 2016 at 1:19 pm
#2
And they could put much of the energy back into the system using dynamic (regenerative) braking on the downhills.
The overhead wires are called “catenary” in railroad parlance.
I expect that it is more challenging to engineer compared to railroad electrification as you have to provide a return path for the electricity unlike a locomotive that uses the rails as the path to ground.
There has been idle speculation that BNSF might electrify their transcontinental line to save on fuel costs.
June 23rd, 2016 at 1:29 pm
I will never know if GM builds a reliable vehicle. After buying one of their (rather expensive) cars – that turned out to be a known lemon – I was told “GM has no obligation to you.”
I know they provided at least token assistance to other owners – just refused to do anything for me. Repairs cost me about 25% of the original cost of the car in its third year. Never again! The first time is their fault, the second would be mine – and there will never be a second.
June 23rd, 2016 at 1:49 pm
#3
I would agree the quality is equal between a traditional Detroit brand and a foreign brand. However, if the traditional Detroit brands want to win more market they have to do better.
People didn’t go to Toyota, Lexus, etc because they were equal to the competition.
June 23rd, 2016 at 2:22 pm
Quality and reliability are big influences. Look at Fiat. Their cars break and fall apart like a Hugo yet they do nothing to improve the build quality or poor documented reliability. The beautiful design lures you into the showroom but the repairs and tow charges hurt. Very similar to the Mini.
June 23rd, 2016 at 2:24 pm
#7… Right on, right on… My experience has been pretty much the same with “domestics”… Lots of problems, dealer ineffective and not really interested, and companies say “tough luck”… Yes, I have had the same experience over and over; BUT, NEVER again!!! We cannot afford the time to take back to the dealer over and over, and then sell the car off early just to get rid of it and its problems (water leaks, rattles, door locks that won’t work, dash lights coming on without any reason, windshield wipers coming on with no rain, trim not attached or not fitting right, and on and on…) To be fair, I do think the domestics are designed pretty well, but just not assembled well… It might be a labor problem (…remember the Chrysler lunch time drinker/dope smoker worker video?!?!) or some cutting corners in materials or assembly procedures to cut costs??
Our last domestic car purchase was 2012.. Their poor quality and lack of interest in solving customer problems have cost them at least generations of buyers which is really too bad since they were once huge in market share and customer loyalty… Even if change really comes, this time, the domestic brands are not seen as quality compared to the others like Toyota, Nissan, Subaru, etc.. by many buyers… It will take time for this to change even if they really have changed this time, but I have heard it all before only to be disappointed… The only thing that is different now is that I no longer will risk my money by taking a chance on one of their products… What a shame!!
June 23rd, 2016 at 2:29 pm
Car names mean different things to different people. To me, “Sport” often means something like the lowest trim level of Jeep Wrangler. That’s why I’d prefer SHO for the performance Fusion.
Also, Skoka means something different to me, than to many people. I was in Czechoslovakia in 1992, and most Skodas were crude, little cars, about one notch up from Trabants from East Germany. Today’s VW Skodas are thoroughly modern cars, though are mostly an unknown in the U.S.
June 23rd, 2016 at 2:32 pm
Oh.. I forgot to mention that the quality survey was J.D. Power INITIAL quality…. Let’s check the results in a couple of years with the same people and cars… It is not really a good comparison of brands, domestic vs “imports” since most problems will show up over time… Let’s see a two or five year comparison of a Chevy vs. Toyota, or Chrysler vs. Subaru, or Ford vs. Nissan… I could be wrong, in fact I actually hope so; however, based on my experience I don’t think the results would be the same as in the INITIAL quality survey…
June 23rd, 2016 at 3:17 pm
If you look at JD Power’s 3 year dependability numbers, Buick and Chevy are fairly good. They’re not as good as Lexus, but not bad.
http://www.jdpower.com/ratings/study/Vehicle-Dependability-Study-%28VDS%29-by-Make/846ENG
June 23rd, 2016 at 4:54 pm
Even the three year dependability is subjective because total cost of any repairs are not considered. I will always buy American autos, except for Chry. products, because they contribute to 2/3 of the auto related labor in the US. This global economy, IMO, sucks so any individual attempt to make the US strong again is to all of our benefit.
June 23rd, 2016 at 5:00 pm
Seems like Ford is worse than Fiat, according to this chart. What happened to quality first?
June 23rd, 2016 at 5:21 pm
14 Ford was low for “feature and accessory” dependability, which I would have expected, with the earlier MyFordTouch, but they were also bad for powertrains. Seeing that, it looks like the turbo engines, and/or dual clutch transmissions aren’t doing so well. When I have more time to kill, I’ll try to find info on individual models. Some things are hard to find on the JDP web site, though.
June 23rd, 2016 at 6:16 pm
Ford, under Mullaly, introduced too many new technologies and it came back to bite them in the arse a few years later. It takes a Toyota to make a complicated car like the Prius, so damn reliable.
June 23rd, 2016 at 6:39 pm
The Prius powertrain is mechanically pretty simple, but the electronics is (are) very complex. I’ve never heard if Toyota did it in-house, or had outside help. Either way, it works very reliably.
June 23rd, 2016 at 8:19 pm
I see that even MINI is better than Ford, Subaru, and Nissan, for the three year dependability survey I wouldn’t have expected that.
June 24th, 2016 at 8:32 am
It’s kind of hard ti find JDP dependability data by car model, but it is available by category. Here is the data for compact cars. It’s kind of interesting, partly expected, but part not as expected.
http://www.jdpower.com/cars/study/2016-Vehicle-Dependability-Study-%28VDS%29-by-Category/843ENG/Compact-Car/1088
June 24th, 2016 at 11:11 am
why are we continually trying to make trucks run like trains when we could just use …. gee I don’t know.. TRAINS!
June 24th, 2016 at 11:14 am
Wow, Buick Verano, best; when I had one (as a loaner) I wasn’t thrilled by its highway ride but that is just a snapshot, maybe the whole experience supplants my observation.
June 24th, 2016 at 2:25 pm
Uhh… The Lonestar is the best looking truck? Yikes…