AD #1941 – China Accuses Nissan & Hyundai of Cheating, Elio Beat to Market, Lexus Shows “Edgy” Crossover Concept
September 9th, 2016 at 11:48am
Runtime: 9:37
To watch this episode on YouTube click here.
- China Accuses More Companies of Cheating
- Volvo Launches Autonomous Program
- Canadian Company Unveils 3-Wheel EV
- Lexus Shows New Crossover Concept
- Dodge Brings Back Colors From the Past
- Porsche Panamera Hybrid Details
- EPA Looking Past 2025 Standards
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On today’s show… China accuses Nissan and Hyundai of cheating on electric car subsidies, the EPA wants stricter fuel economy standards after 2025 and a startup from British Columbia beats Elio to the market. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily for September 9th, 2016.
CAR COMPANIES IN CHINA’S CROSSHAIRS
Yesterday we reported that China is cracking down on car companies that broke the rules on its subsidy program to develop electric cars. We said that none of the major automakers were involved. Wrong! Today China announced the names of another 20 automakers that were caught and two of those companies are Nissan and Hyundai. Geely, the company that owns Volvo, was also named. Chinese authorities are hopping mad. Reuters reports that the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers says this is a blow to the automotive industry and warns that this is going to have “a large impact on the country’s policy enforcement.” We take that to mean the authorities are going to start an industry-wide crackdown on all kinds of rules and regulations.
VOLVO SAYS POWER TO THE PEOPLE
Today is the day that Volvo starts using autonomous XC-90s in Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo calls the program Drive Me. At first engineers will test out the cars to make sure they work perfectly, then they’re going to turn the cars over to families. Erik Coelingh, a senior technical leader at Volvo explains why: “We have to study with normal, everyday drivers. Because we as engineers, we test the technology, we find out if it’s working to specifications. But it’s not really about technology, it’s about how everyday people use a self-driving car in daily life, about how people drive their kids to school, to their work. And we want to find how they use the time they free up. When they don’t have to drive, they can spend their time on something else. Exactly what we don’t know. But we will find out.” He’s right, engineers always test things properly. When you put cars in the hands of the everyday public, anything can happen. Volvo says it will start the Drive Me program in London next year, and will offer it in China in the next few years.
SOLO BEATS ELIO TO MARKET
Uh-oh Elio! Looks like you have some competition. Canadian based Electra Meccanica Vehicles Corporation just unveiled this very Elio-looking three-wheel EV called the SOLO. That’s an appropriate name because it only sits one-person. It’s powered by a 16.1 KWh lithium-ion battery, has a range of 100 miles, a top speed of 80 MPH and produces 140lb.-ft. of torque along with 82 horsepower. The company is now accepting fully-refundable deposits for the SOLO at its website and is aiming for delivery sometime next year. It retails for just under $20,000 in Canada, which translates to about $15,500 U.S. dollars. That’s more than twice the base price of the Elio, which is powered by a three-cylinder gasoline engine and can sit two people. Assuming that consumers are even interested in buying vehicles like these, this could be an interesting battle to watch between these two companies.
Don’t you just love clever names for paint jobs, like White Knuckle? That’s coming up next,
THAT’S THE LEXUS YOU-EX, NOT UCKS
With the Paris auto show right around the corner, more and more automakers are teasing what they’re going to reveal. Lexus is the latest. It just released this image of a new crossover concept called the UX, which comes from its European design studio, and continues the brand’s jagged edge styling theme. Interesting name, UX. In the auto industry that refers to user experience. We wonder if this hints at the kind of touch screens and connectivity that will come in this car?
DODGE DROPS ACID, GOES PSYCHEDELIC
Dodge may have the most wild color palate of any carmaker in the world and now it’s dipping back in time to revive some colors from its past. You may remember we highlighted a few of these shades during the Dream Cruise, like Plum Crazy, Go Mango, Redline Red and B5 Blu, but there’s so many more. Names like Yellow Jacket, Blu By You and White Knuckle will all find their way back on Dodge vehicles. The colors won’t be exactly the same as the old ones. You’ll notice they’re more chromatic and have more gloss and sparkle. Click on today’s link to see all the colors that will be making their way back to dealerships this fall on 2017 Challengers, Chargers, Vipers, Durangos, Journeys and Grand Caravans.
PORSCHE’S TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
The Porsche 918 Spyder is one of the fastest hybrid vehicles in the world and now the knowledge that went into the supercar is making its way into the new Panamera Hybrid. Under the hood is a turbocharged 2.9L V6 engine that’s mated to 100 kW electric motor. Total system output is good for about 460-horsepower. As you might expect, the Panamera E-Hybrid is pretty darn quick. It hits 100 km/h in just 4.6 seconds. And that’s thanks to all the electric power being on tap the moment the driver hits the accelerator pedal. On the previous model the pedal had to be pressed down 80% before additional power from the electric motor kicked in. But just in case you want to be more green minded, the car can travel up to 50 kilometers or about 31-miles on pure electric range. The new Panamera E-Hybrid will debut at the Paris auto show.
Coming up next, automakers are arguing they can’t meet the 2025 CAFE standards. But the EPA is already looking way past 2025.
EPA LOOKS PAST 2025 STANDARDS
Automakers are going through the mid-term review of the 2025 fuel economy standards. But what happens after 2025? On Autoline This Week, John sits down with Chris Grundler, the Director of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality at the EPA and he revealed how the agency is approaching the issue.
(Clip from ATW #2027 can only be viewed in the video version of today’s show.)
John also talks to representatives from the California Air Resources Board and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers to get their assessment of how the industry is progressing in meeting future fuel and emission regulations. So head on over to autoline.tv or our YouTube channel to watch that entire discussion.
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
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Comments (23)
September 9th, 2016 at 12:12 pm
In the unlikely event that Elio ever builds any of their machines to sell, the price will be a lot closer to the $15.5K of the Solo, than the $7K Elio has been claiming.
September 9th, 2016 at 12:29 pm
Man, I am really glad that, by the time everyone is reduced to motoring around in their electric powered autonomous three wheeled bubble cars, I’ll be up in heaven cruising around in my L88 Corvette. Call me a dinosaur but there’s still no replacement for displacement.
September 9th, 2016 at 12:38 pm
“Marco”…’Solo’, “Marco”…’Elio’, “Marco”… “Polo”; it has been said that Marco Polo really didn’t know where he was going; sure hope these three-wheeled ‘explorers’ have a clue.
“Plumb Crazy”: always my favorite Dodge color.
September 9th, 2016 at 1:00 pm
Elio’s only purpose seems not to be manufacturing vehicles, just collecting money from investors and deposits from gullible people. It’s years since their inception and they have never produced a production vehicle!
September 9th, 2016 at 1:25 pm
3 Today’s Plum Crazy seems to hold up a lot better than the early ’70′s version, which seemed to peel off after a couple years.
September 9th, 2016 at 1:27 pm
Elio is the Moller of the 21st century.
I dearly wanted an Aptera. Shame they didn’t make the cut.
September 9th, 2016 at 2:34 pm
@6 – remember the Carmichael? Another 3-wheeled sham, from a 1970s transvestite.
September 9th, 2016 at 3:02 pm
There’s little doubt that we’re heading to a zero-emission country; but we won’t be going straight to electric because the US power grid cannot support the demand on power which means fuel cell powered vehicles and not hydrogen fuel cell as we’ll most likely see gasoline and even liquid-natural gas fuel cell vehicles first.
September 9th, 2016 at 3:40 pm
How can 3-wheeled cars possibly sell for $15,000 when Can-Am Spyders go for $18,000+? With no roof, defrosters, wipers, etc.
Wait a minute, I know, there will be no $15,000 3 wheeled cars…
September 9th, 2016 at 3:42 pm
#7
Wasn’t that called the “Dale”?
Two of my favorite episodes of Top Gear were Jeremy Clarkson trying to drive across country in a Reliant Robin and where they turned one into an ersatz Space Shuttle.
September 9th, 2016 at 4:16 pm
Brett, yes, it was called the Dale. The official name of the shell of a car company was 20rh Century Motors. Liz Carmichael was a man and convicted of fraud and other charges.
September 9th, 2016 at 4:54 pm
One Dale, capable of moving under its own power, was built.
September 9th, 2016 at 6:18 pm
But the Dale’s wheels were suspended by 2×4 lumber and the door hinges were from a hardware store. The whole thing was a scam.
Given the reports from China about EV cheating, perhaps ALD can give us a history lesson of scams (like the Dale) and blatant unviable start-ups that crop up whenever a new government initiative has agencies and investors too anxious to get on the ground floor.
September 9th, 2016 at 6:33 pm
While Tucker has been glamourized recently, it was considered a scam, at the time, by people who knew the details. The cars used airplane engines that, alone, would cost much more than you could sell a car for. They used Cord tranmissions from salvage yards, etc., not the way you build a viable car. They did build about 50 cars, though.
September 9th, 2016 at 10:47 pm
NOBODY cheats more than China !
September 9th, 2016 at 11:01 pm
Kit, I was a teen when Tucker appeared. crawled under a tent flap at the dealer only show in Miami, found myself looking up at the Continental.
September 10th, 2016 at 2:06 pm
The Reliant Robin had the single wheel in the front; now that’s the vehicle that is “unsafe at any speed”. (As Jeremy demonstrated)
September 10th, 2016 at 6:41 pm
Has anyone here heard of Stutz cars? There was a national get together of Stutz owners today in Kokomo. They went under in the mid 1930′s, but made some cool stuff, like a twin overhead cam, 4 valve/cylinder straight 8, in the 1920′s.
September 11th, 2016 at 3:36 pm
Stutz Bearcat is the only Stutz that comes to mind; but I don’t know much more than the name (and believe it was a sports type car for the wealthy).
September 11th, 2016 at 6:06 pm
A Bearcat was a chassis with a very minimal “speedster” body with no doors or top, and often no windshield. There were no Bearcats here, but various other body styles, from basic tourers, to a long wheelbase dual cowl phaeton. Stutzes were sold as chassis with custom bodies, and were very pricey.
Today, there was another show in Kokomo. Organizers tried to get as many Indiana cars as they could, for the bicentennial of statehood. There were Auburns, Cords, Stutzes, and Marmons, but no Duesenbergs that I saw. Oh, and Studebakers. It may have been the best collection of pre-WWII Indiana cars likely to be in one place, other than a museum.
September 12th, 2016 at 10:54 am
18 – The Stutz production plant was in Indianapolis (10th and Capital). The building sat idle for a number of years, then rehabbed into a business center that specializes in mostly artists studios.
September 12th, 2016 at 12:27 pm
Elvis owned a Stutz in the 70′s. Not sure if he put a bullet into it though.
September 17th, 2016 at 9:40 pm
Why doesn’t EPA regulate and restrict emissions from chimneys and heating systems ? Proof they are on an anti auto agenda ! Home and industrial heating systems are about external combustion and use oil, coal, low grade fuel oil totally unabated 5-8 mo a year 24/7. Most photos you see of smokey smog cities are in winter and caused by heating. Cars are uses about 20min a day ? So what gives ?