On today’s show… China considers giving foreign automakers more independence, Mercedes introduces a more powerful version of the AMG GT and Ford pays homage to its 1966 Le Mans winner. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily for June 27th, 2016.
CHINA MAY LIFT JOINT-VENTURE MANDATE
A little over two decades ago, China began mandating that foreign automakers must form a joint-venture with a domestic Chinese company in order to operate in the country. The foreign companies are only allowed to take up to a 50% stake in the venture but now Bloomberg reports the government is considering lifting that cap. The chairman of Geely says removing it will encourage competition and benefit consumers. However, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers is against the proposal and argues that Chinese brands will be hurt if the foreign companies can operate more independently. And for some great insight into the Chinese auto market, check out our most recent Autoline This Week. John sits down with three experts to get their analysis into China. You can watch that entire show on our website, or you can find it on our YouTube channel.
EU WANTS SIMILAR DIESEL COMPENSATION
Last week, it was revealed that VW will pay a fine of $10.2 billion in the U.S. over its diesel emission cheating scandal. Part of that agreement includes compensating owners between $1,000 and $7,000, depending on the age and condition of their cars. And now regulators in Europe are calling for similar compensation for European owners. Reuters reports that the Industry Commissioner for the EU says it’s unfair to treat European customers differently just because the legal systems are different. VW plans to fix vehicles with the cheating software but doesn’t have plans to compensate owners in Europe.
Still to come… Mercedes introduces what it calls a “road-going sports car with motor racing genes.”
MERCEDES AMG GT GETS PIRATE TREATMENT
For fans of the Mercedes AMG GT that didn’t think it was quite fast enough, the company just slapped an “R” at the end of its name, which, as you know, almost always means more go-fast goodies. In this case, the width of the car has been increased for better cornering, which is also aided by rear-wheel steering and adjustable coil-overs. Newly designed front and rear fascia with active aero elements were added to fit the car’s wider track. Developers were able to squeeze another 70 or so horsepower out the twin-turbo V8, which now comes in at 577. Mostly thanks to new turbochargers that can handle a little more boost. To finish it off, the car is draped in Green Hell Magno paint. Look for the Mercedes AMG GT R to start hitting dealer showrooms midway through next year.
FORD HONORS LE MANS-WINNING GT40
To honor the 1966 Le Mans-winning GT40, Ford is coming out with limited-edition version of the all-new GT that was inspired by the race car. It comes in either a matte or gloss finish with silver racing stripes and #2 decals on the hood and doors. Unique 20-inch wheels dipped in a gold satin clearcoat and black lug nuts round out the changes to the exterior. Inside, the car is wrapped in black leather and features a number of gold accents. The Ford GT ‘66 Heritage Edition will only be sold as a 2017 model and I’m sure will prove to be a valuable collector’s item for the lucky few who can get their hands on one.
Coming up next, a look at an unlikely new inductee to the Automotive Hall of Fame.
AUTOMOTIVE HoF’S UNLIKELY INDUCTEE
The Automotive Hall of Fame is full of many important people who helped build and shape the automotive industry, including executives, designers, engineers and many more. But this year, the museum chose an unlikely new inductee, Ralph Nader. On Autoline After Hours we were joined by Bill Chapin, the President of the Hall of Fame. And he shared why they picked him.
(Clip from ATW #2020 can only be viewed in the video version of today’s show.)
To learn more about the other inductees to the Automotive Hall of Fame, you can watch that show right now on our website, autoline.tv or you can look for it on our YouTube channel.
And to get our opinions of all the cars we get drive, check out the Seat Time section of our website. And be sure to let us know what you think.
But that wraps up today’s show, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.
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Comments (22)
June 27th, 2016 at 11:48 am
A Mercedes GT R? The lawyers at Nissan will surely be filing a lawsuit for trademark infringement shorty. And the Nissan GT-R will still out perform the Merc.
June 27th, 2016 at 12:10 pm
The far-East’s mandate on joint ventures has long been a burden to investors in the west. Many of JVs that are in China had western investor putting of most of the capital and technology with the Chinese partners supplying the workforce and ability to bribe the officials to get the necessary documents and permits.
If this comes to pass, will GM, VW and others be able to get out of existing JVs and have their own non-JV business going forward? Also, will they be finally able to take the profits out of China?
June 27th, 2016 at 12:27 pm
Ralph Nader is a bold face lier. He rigged a test between the Corvair and a Mercury Comet where I could see the driver of the Corvair purposely over steering the Corvair in the corners making the car swing out in the corners. Such a shame that this guy is being considered for anything but just dropping from all memory.
June 27th, 2016 at 12:37 pm
@2
I did not realize that the western auto mfgrs could not transfer profits accrued in China into their corporate coffers. If that is actually true, why would they even begin the process? It seems way too restrictive to enter into any agreement with that type of stipulation at the outset. Then, couple that with the very real possibility that China could nationalize the venture at any moment and keep all the knowledge AND the businesses. Thanks – I will just stay in a more accommodating business environment.
On top of that, there have been several stories of copycat vehicles. The most recent was the Land Rover Evoque coming out of a Chinese factory. The first I was aware of was the Honda CR-Vs coming into Honda dealers for warranty work – and the vehicle did not come out of a Honda factory anywhere in the world!
Quite a place to do business! Makes Mexico and India look like Snow White. No bribes and no coercion there!
June 27th, 2016 at 12:38 pm
Nader was selected for the profound impact he had on the automobile safety narrative of the industry. Not because he is a saint. Not because he was scrupulously honest about the Corvair. I might add that GM screwed the pooch badly in their initial dealings with him. They made him a hero, not him.
June 27th, 2016 at 12:52 pm
Ralph Nader ushered in an era that to this day has kept the buying public safe from corporations that otherwise would have simply “paid the going rate” for loss of life. Yes the pendulum at times may have swung to far, but he at least started awareness.
As to China rethinking their strategy, may have something to do with the western world possibly re thinking theirs.
June 27th, 2016 at 12:52 pm
Back in my high school days a friend was driving his Dad’s corvair home in the city and turnned into the driveway a little too fast and rolled it over in the yard! But then another guy we knew was older and had the turbo Spyder and that was a crazy ride with four of us in it, we took turns so hard that when we would get out the whitewall tires we black! lets face it, the standard model was a POS just like the first Ford explorers and nobody cared. Just ignore it and maybe it will go away!
June 27th, 2016 at 1:10 pm
So for VW in Europe… Say the average compensation is $3000 per car time 10 million car, that’s another $40 billion. And I assume every other country in the world where the cheating happen will want a similar “deal”.
June 27th, 2016 at 1:31 pm
A high school class mate ran off the road when a wheel of his first generation Corvair tucked under. Luckily, he wasn’t hurt. That car was replaced with a 1966 140hp, 4-speed Corvair, which was a fun car, kind of a poor person’s Porsche. The second generation Corvairs were much better, but the reputation was tarnidhed. Even without Nader’s book, Corvair production wouldn’t have lasted much longer than it did.
June 27th, 2016 at 2:19 pm
The European Union wants similar compensation as we here in the United States is getting; but there’s a small wrinkle.. VW did not break emission laws in most EU countries which means they’re not entitled to any money. This is probably another reason why the United Kingdom wanted out of the EU because these guys are all about shaking down any corporation for money.
June 27th, 2016 at 3:14 pm
VW didn’t break laws as blatantly in Europe, but many of the cars do not even come close to meeting the NOx regs in real-world driving. The rules are probably poorly written, and the testing seems to be even more under the control of the manufacturers in Europe than in the U.S.
Yeah, maybe the Brits voted to leave the EU, so they could have even worse air quality in the cities than they already have. No, I’m not serious about that, but it increasingly seems that Europe’s having so many diesel cars is not a good thing. They are more efficient than gas cars, but it may be impossible to clean them up well enough to have decent air quality in big cites, with millions of them.
June 27th, 2016 at 3:35 pm
@#1.
Add to that one huge cease and desist from Porsche for that blatant rear-end styling rip-off. I can’t be the only one who sees the striking resemblance.
June 27th, 2016 at 4:17 pm
The Europeans need to follow their own laws, not pick and choose the ones they want to adopt from North America (when it suits their purpose). They need to sue, separately; as there are other instances when they just say, ‘oh, those crazy Yanks’, we’d never want to do that.
Just bought an XT5; I know I like it (a lot), won’t know whether I love till I get some miles under my belt.
June 27th, 2016 at 4:31 pm
Force the Chinese to joint ventures in America or get massive tariffs like they did to foreign companies to sell in China for twenty years while they stole all the technology …
Trump better win the election and kick butt on the Chinese bull rap they have been getting away with for two decades…
Jmo
June 27th, 2016 at 5:03 pm
If Trump wins the election, the world wide market crash will be 10x the one resulting from from Brexit, given his desire for a trade war to end all trade wars. BTW, Apple wasn’t forced by the Chinese government to contract a Taiwani company to make all of there stuff in China.
jmo
June 27th, 2016 at 6:41 pm
Airport rented a new Corvair. On the open road, 2 adults ,4 kids, 65 MPH , I could turn the wheel 1/4 either way w/o affecting it’s direction. We had liftoff.
June 27th, 2016 at 9:01 pm
The Ford GT is absolutely gorgeous. So nicely proportioned and now a Lemans winner again. Much more pleasing than the AMG GT-R. Not sure about the performance match between the two. Now that would be an interesting grudge match!
June 27th, 2016 at 9:30 pm
I wonder how this Merc compares to the pace car for Formula One that Bernd Maylander drives. I worked at a Mercedes Canada High Perfomance School that was at the Shannonville Race Track near Kingston Ontario and Bernd was there one year to help feature the AMG line to Mercedes customers. He said that he would be going as fast as he could when leading the F1 cars on yellow laps while they were just idling as they were behind him! I imagine every year that AMG coupe supplied to him was faster but still he had a job giving them enough speed. I would suspect that some of the design learned from the pace car (F1 calls it a safety car) would apply to this street car.
June 27th, 2016 at 9:36 pm
I am also one of those Corvair owners who would not be too happy about Ralph Nador. My first new car after graduating from University was a ’64 Corvair Spyder coupe. GM didn’t talk about it, but it had the transverse leaf spring as a camber compensator to keep the rear wheels from tucking in in hard cornering. Just like the aftermarket spring for VW’s and 356 Porsches.
Of course, the 2nd generation Corvairs starting in ’65 had the rear end of the Corvettes so handling was vastly improved. Still loved driving mine in club rallies and auto slaloms. Eventually traded it in for a new ’66 Lotus Cortina which I still have.
June 27th, 2016 at 10:45 pm
19 Eric
Were Lotus Cortinas sold in the U.S. through Ford dealers?
June 28th, 2016 at 7:40 am
Why are the owners of VW vehicles getting compensated? How were they harmed? The environment is the one suffering! Fix the cars or get them off the road.
June 28th, 2016 at 3:12 pm
21 – The owners are getting compensated because they were damaged by VW, as the market value of their cars decreased by all the negative publicity. Plus after the fix (if there is one), the performance and fuel economy is likely to be less, and the durability of their emission hardware/engine will likely suffer, causing increased cost of ownership in the long run. If you bought a car in good faith from VW, and you found out they purposely did something that devalued it by several grand, wouldn’t you want to be compensated?