AD #2012 – Why Honda is Tracking Down Owners, VW in Another Fine Mess, A Look at Lincoln’s Turnaround
December 21st, 2016 at 11:45am
Runtime: 7:33
To watch this episode on YouTube click here.
- Honda Tracks Down Owners
- Tesla Steals Volvo Designer
- BMW Creates New Autonomous Research Center
- A Look at Lincoln’s Turnaround
- VW in Another Fine Mess
- Turbo 4-cyl. Dominate Wards 10 Best Engines
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On today’s show…another day, another billion dollar fine for Volkswagen….Tesla steals away a Volvo designer to fix its interiors….and why one car company hired private detectives to track down customers. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily the show that’s carefully crafted for enthusiasts of the automotive industry.
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK. ANYBODY HOME?
A car company has hired private detectives and is sending out people going door to door to track down customers. At first glance it sounds like Gestapo tactics, but Honda is trying to find customers who have not brought their cars in to replace their defective Takata airbags. Speaking to reporters at an event last night, John Mendel, an executive vice president at Honda of America, explained that it’s hard to track down cars that have been handed down to family members, or are on their fifth or sixth owner. But Honda takes recalls so seriously that it’s taking extraordinary measures to find them. Here’s our Autoline Insight: about a quarter of car owners simply ignore any recalls. As long as their car starts up every morning and gets them where they’re going they just don’t care.
TESLA STEALS VOLVO DESIGNER
One of the knocks against Tesla is that its interiors don’t match its luxury car prices. On the other hand, Volvo is praised up and down for the stunning interiors in the new XC90 and S90. It’s true, they’re gorgeous. So what did Tesla just do? Well it went out and stole Volvo’s head of interior engineering, Anders Bell. He was actually hired by Volvo right out college in 1998, and has worked various gigs within the company since then.
Lincoln is now four years into its turnaround plan and coming up next we’ll look at how that’s going.
AY, AY, AY
Despite its tagline “The Ultimate Driving Machine,” BMW sees a future where its cars will drive themselves. It just announced it will open a new campus dedicated to autonomous driving near Munich. It will focus on software development and testing vehicles. That way developers can take the code they just wrote and test it right away. BMW has about 600 people working on automated driving, but by the time the campus is completed by the middle of next year, it will have more than 2,000. By 2021 BMW says it will have a self-driving, electric and fully connected vehicle ready, called the iNEXT. It says a whole range of highly-automated models from all BMW Group brands will follow after that.
LINCOLN, LINCOLN, BO-BI-KIN
Lincoln is now four years into its turnaround strategy and so far, so good. Sales in the American market are up nine and a half percent this year. In fact, Lincoln is growing faster than any luxury or premium brand, except Jaguar and Volvo. And that’s despite the fact that sales of the MKS and MKT dropped by double digits and are being phased out. The MKZ is up slightly, but considering that most sedans aren’t selling that well, that’s not so bad. The MKC is doing well, and the new MKX is up by more than 40%. Lincoln really hit a home run with that one, but the Navigator is a dud. Sales are down 13% and that’s a real unlucky number considering that this is the hottest SUV market we’ve ever seen. But the Navigator gets replaced by an all-new MKN next year. And finally, the new Continental seems to be doing well, but it’s only been on sale for two months, so it’s too early to draw any conclusions. All in all, Ford is probably pleased by the progress but Lincoln still has a long way to go before it’s considered a true luxury brand.
Coming up next…good thing that Volkswagen has deep pockets, because it’s going to pay and pay and pay.
VW IN ANOTHER FINE MESS
A few months after reaching an agreement over its 2.0L diesels with emission cheating software, Volkswagen and U.S. authorities reached a settlement regarding its 3.0L diesels. The company agreed to buy back or fix 83,000 VW’s, Audi’s and Porsche’s, which could cost the company $1 billion, but could go much higher. The government still hasn’t approved a fix, but if VW can find one, it could save the company $4 billion. VW must also spend $225 million to help offset the extra pollution caused by the cars and spend another $25 million to promote the use of zero-emission cars. The settlement also covers claims against the supplier company Bosch, which is accused of helping VW cheat. VW is still under criminal investigation and recent reports suggest it may have cheated on gasoline engines as well.
In related news, German authorities have finally approved a fix for VW’s diesels in Europe with the cheating software.
WARDS 10 BEST ENGINES
And speaking of diesel engines, none made it into Wards Auto 10 Best Engines list this year. In fact V8’s and naturally aspirated V6’s were off the list. The only 6-cylinders to make the list are the turbocharged 3.0L in the BMW M240i, the 3.6L in the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid and the turbo 3.0L in the Infiniti Q50. The rest of the list is dominated by turbo 4’s. To the editors the larger engines are good, but turbo 4’s are just that much better. And if you want to learn more about Wards 10 Best Engines, keep an eye out for our Autoline This Week that will be available on our website January 12th. That show is all about the Wards editors explaining why only turbos or hybrids made this year’s list.
Be sure to join us for the last Autoline After Hours of the year. We’ll have our traditional Christmas show where we hand out presents and lumps of coal to the best and the worst of the automotive industry for 2016. Be sure to join John and Gary for some of the best insights of what makes this industry go ‘round and ‘round.
And that brings us to the end of today’s report. Thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.
Thanks to our partner for embedding Autoline Daily on its website: WardsAuto.com
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Comments (20)
December 21st, 2016 at 12:30 pm
It looks like VW just had to cheat on every engine instead of investing in better engine technology. I guess the technology would have been a better investment after all. Probably would have been cheaper to just not import and sell any diesels at all.
Happy Holidays! to all at Autoline and all the viewers
December 21st, 2016 at 12:34 pm
In your statement that Lincoln is not a “true luxury brand”, is this because its vehicles share platforms with a non-luxury brand? Hmmm, Cadillac Escalade, XTS, and XT5. Lexus CT, ES, RX, NX, GX, LX. Infiniti’s most popular QX models. Mercedes GLA. Nearly all Acura. Nearly all Audi. All Porsche crossovers.
The reality is “luxury” has many dimensions, and many of those dimensions don’t care if the engine is east-west or north-south… nor track times. To me, luxury is top quality finish materials, coddling conveniences, peace of mind safety engineering, and peace of mind reliability/durability.
Hmmm, “quiet flight” works for me as a luxury brand.
December 21st, 2016 at 12:38 pm
Actions speak louder than words. If 25% of owners with recalled vehicles don’t care to fix the recalled items or in this case air bags. I can not help but wonder if a portion of the car buying public really cares if their car has air bags at all?
December 21st, 2016 at 12:42 pm
Ah…..VW,the gift that will keep on giving.And now maybe their gassers will contribute too.Can you hear us now VW?
December 21st, 2016 at 1:05 pm
I’m thinking that consumers that don’t get their vehicles fixed under a recall is more due to the hassle of having to bring it back into dealership; dealership experience (after the sale), a lot of the times, is not pleasant. This is why some/a lot of consumers that have maintenance done have it done ‘somewhere else’.
December 21st, 2016 at 1:06 pm
I was never crazy about the interiors of Tesla vehicles. The Tesla’s fit and finish were sub par to true luxury brands. When you get into one all eyes always go directly to the center tablet console. I hope Anders Bell will go directly to work on the Model Three which is totally horrible inside. That goofy horizontal tablet in the center of the dash is ridiculous. He has a lot of work ahead of him. I wish Anders Bell much success at Tesla. We the consumer public are counting on you to deliver a functional and inviting new interior experience to all Tesla vehicles.
December 21st, 2016 at 1:25 pm
@5 – My Lincoln dealership service experience has been outstanding. The time element is a reasonable issue. But if your local Honda dealership is that aggravating, then it is time to find another dealer.
December 21st, 2016 at 1:53 pm
I don’t think Lincoln should even try to compete with the so called “true” luxury brands. Often those “true” brands cost too much up front and to repair. My Lincoln meets all of my expectations and the service has been outstanding.
IMO, all of the 10 best engines don’t compare to anything naturally aspirated. Nar a one provides claimed mpg’s or better the 6 and 8′s to any significance. Sure, less pollution, but still inadequate for larger vehicles. Plus the sound sucks!
December 21st, 2016 at 4:35 pm
2, 7, 8
I suspect the reason many car buffs consider Lincoln less of a “true luxury brand” than some others, is that all of their products are based on a Ford, rather than some, or a few based on mainstream brand products, as with Cadillac.
That said, I think the Continental should do well, or at least, it deserves to do well. I haven’t driven one, but have checked it out, and the interior is attractive, comfortable, and roomy. If the car drives decently, and is quiet and rides well, it will satisfy its intended customers.
December 21st, 2016 at 4:45 pm
In addition to turbo fours, plug-in hybrid powertrains were a big hit with the Wards gang.
Does anyone know why they have liked Nissan bent sixes so well the last couple years? How are they different, and better than all of the other similar engines out there?
December 21st, 2016 at 6:51 pm
@ cwolf: I don’t believe that boosted 4′s are less polluting at all.Those higher temps create more N0x,or whatever the hell it’s called,and they all put out more particulates than na engines.
December 21st, 2016 at 7:36 pm
At least VW TDI’s put out lots of NOx. GDI engines, including na ones, put out lots of small particulates.
December 22nd, 2016 at 12:05 am
@ Kit: Yeah they do,but I think maybe the boosted ones will eventually be fitted with particulate filters of some sort….or not.
December 22nd, 2016 at 1:16 am
With the rain in So. CA the lane marking paint and absence of the reflectors has made the freeways ay nigh very dangerous. How will a self driving car “see” the lanes in the rain in California. They do not do the maintenance on the roads to preserve the lane markings.
December 22nd, 2016 at 9:18 am
Correction to your short article. New Pacifica V6 engine is still naturally aspirated.
December 22nd, 2016 at 9:41 am
All of the naturally aspirated engines in the Ward’s 10 best, including the Pacifica, are part of plug-in hybrid systems.
December 22nd, 2016 at 10:06 am
16 Correction: The Accord on Ward’s list is a regular hybrid. The other two non-turbos are the Volt and Pacifica plug-ins.
December 22nd, 2016 at 10:40 am
G.M. may have addressed the particulate issue with its DI engines or at least has substantially reduced the amount produced. My STS, with the 3.6, I believe was the LFX engine, did in fact produce carbon deposits in the exhaust collector; my new XT5, with the 3.6 in the LGX variant, hasn’t exhibited exhaust deposits at the tail-pipe. Just one’s observation (mine) but I think I may be onto something.
December 22nd, 2016 at 3:10 pm
Ref: 3 & 5…..Might part of the problem be that there is STILL no actual fix for the problem? All that I am aware of is a replacement to buy time until either the vehicle goes away or a new fix is come up with.
December 23rd, 2016 at 11:18 pm
Lincoln is on a slow growth again towards relevancy but has to once and for all has to settle on a front end styling pattern. Maximum Bob recently said everytime Lincoln installs a new head man they immediately change the front end. And not all are inspiring.