AD #2090 – Shanghai Auto Show Reveals, Honda to Make Short Wheelbase Pilot, Why Investor is Going After GM
April 18th, 2017 at 11:36am
Runtime: 6:53
To watch this episode on YouTube click here.
- Mercedes Concept A Sedan Hints at Future Style
- I.D. Crozz is VWs First EV Crossover
- AAA Study Says Americans Want EVs
- Lincoln Offers Lessees Chauffeur Service
- Honda to Make Short Wheelbase Pilot
- Why Investor is Going After GM
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On today’s show… we’ve got the latest reveals at the Shanghai auto show, Lincoln throws in a chauffeur as part of your lease and why David Einhorn desperately needs a blockbuster deal involving General Motors. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily the show for enthusiasts of the automotive industry.
MERCEDES HINTS AT FUTURE OF SMALL CARS
Mercedes is giving us a taste of what its future compact sedans will look like, by unveiling the Concept A Sedan at the Shanghai auto show. Even though the company calls this a sedan, the designers blended coupe-like elements into its style. This sleek looking concept uses a unique approach to make its headlights stand out. The grid structure in the lamp is coated with UV paint and exposed to ultraviolet light, which results in the headlights “glowing” in different colors, depending on the light. It’s a neat looking feature. But tell us what you think? Is Mercedes heading in the right direction with its design?
VW DEBUTS FIRST EV CROSSOVER
Volkswagen pulled the wraps off the I.D. concept in Paris, the I.D. Buzz in Detroit and now the I.D. Crozz in Shanghai. If you don’t remember, I.D. is the name VW is giving to a fleet of electric vehicles it will start producing in 2020. The I.D. Crozz is the first crossover it has shown. It’s built on the automaker’s MEB architecture and is a little bit smaller than the new long wheelbase Tiguan. Highlights include all-wheel drive from two electric motors that combine for 302-horsepower and over 300-miles of range from a 83 kWh lithium-ion battery pack. As for the styling? It’s pretty clear. As VW’s Head of Design says, “if it was ever possible to make a one-hundred percent certain prediction of what the future will look like, here it is.”
AAA STUDY SAYS AMERICANS WANT EVs
Despite electric vehicles only making up a tiny fraction of the overall car market, a new AAA study says Americans are ready to embrace EVs big time. The survey found that 15% of Americans or 30 million people said they will likely buy an EV as their next car. And nearly a third said they will likely buy a hybrid for their next vehicle. Look, we highly respect the AAA, but this survey isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. People have been saying the same thing for years in similar surveys. But the EV segment still represents less than 1% of car sales. Clearly the people being surveyed just say what they think is politically correct. We say, don’t listen to what they say. Instead, watch what they buy when they actually go to the showrooms.
And we’ll be back with more right after this.
TAKE ME HOME JEEVES
As it tries to claw its way back into the luxury segment, Lincoln is offering something that no other luxury brand has. As part of your lease you can get a chauffeur to drive your car for you. Lincoln will give you a $250 credit on your lease to use a chauffeur, which works out to about 8 hours of chauffeur time. You summon one with an app and can even use the chauffeur to make deliveries or pick stuff up at the store. And if you’ve had a drink too many at a party, you can get a chauffeur to take you home. The chauffeurs are all vetted and specially trained. And after you run out of your $250 credit, you can still hire them for $30 an hour. So far this is a test program in Miami and San Diego but Lincoln wants to take it nationwide to create a better luxury experience than anyone else is offering.
HONDA SPLITS SUV HAIRS
AutoForecast Solutions reports that Honda will start production a short wheelbase version of the Pilot in September of 2018 that only has 2-rows of seats. Obviously Honda wants more SUVs since that’s such a hot segment. But a short wheelbase Pilot will slot in right ahead of the CR-V, which is its best selling model by far. We’ll have to keep a close eye on this one, and see if the 2-row Pilot increases overall sales, or eats into sales of the CR-V.
Coming up next, John thinks that David Einhorn’s financial engineering plan for General Motors is something of a Hail Mary pass.
EINHORN’S HAIL MARY
David Einhorn is the hedge fund manager who wants to break GM stock into two different classes of shares. He’s a brilliant investor. So brilliant that he was reportedly on the short list to replace Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway. Investors in his company Greenlight Capital earn average returns of 16.5% a year, which is staggeringly good.
But David Einhorn hasn’t made any block buster deals in the last five or six years. And that’s what several analysts on Wall Street believe he’s after, a big blockbuster deal to get General Motors to split its stock into two different classes of shares.
I talked to several of the best known automotive analysts on Wall Street who think it’s a crazy idea. One analyst explained it this way. “Imagine that GM is a cookie and you break it in half. You can tell investors they can have this half of the cookie or the other half. But it’s still the same cookie.” The thinking on Wall Street is that David Einhorn is going after GM because he needs another blockbuster deal to polish his reputation. To use an American football analogy, it’s his Hail Mary pass.
And with that we wrap up today’s report. Thanks for watching and we hope to see you again tomorrow.
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Comments (21)
April 18th, 2017 at 11:52 am
AAA study goes to show how bad studies are conducted and displyed. Real world results are not coming close to this studies results. As to MB’s design, save for the “trick” head lights looks like a modified copy of a Ford Fusion.
April 18th, 2017 at 11:58 am
Why would AAA even bother with this study? As was pointed out,just look at the sales figures = study done.
MB and their headlights: looks like they are going psycho-delic.Must be for the rich hippies…
April 18th, 2017 at 12:01 pm
Hail Mary. Maybe. I doubt this deal will happen. What it looks like is a Ford set up where one class gets better benefits ovef the other. Yea it is not the best idea
April 18th, 2017 at 12:23 pm
Maybe the people who said they would buy an EV in the survey don’t know how much they cost, how much range they have, or that you need a place to plug them in.
As far as hybrids, as they become available in more market segments, sales will increase dramatically, since, like a regular car, you just put gas in it and drive, only it gets much better mpg. Now, if you want a jerky shifting alternative to a Prius, Hyundai will sell you one. There are still very few mass market hybrid CUV’s, though.
April 18th, 2017 at 12:32 pm
I see a market for the shorter Pilot, those who want a short wheelbase minivan, but without the convenience of sliding doors. If they’d build it with sliding doors, it would be great. Yeah, that’s just me.
April 18th, 2017 at 12:54 pm
I think the news story about the Honda Pilot is incorrect. Honda will be making a CRV based truck like the Ridgeline.
Yes. I am trying to start rumors. A truck based CRV would get a lot more attention than a shorter Pilot.
April 18th, 2017 at 2:41 pm
Hey Sean I like the lines of the Mercedes. As for the headlights….Just so they work when they are supposed to. The only thing I wish Mercedes would change would be their trademark symbol on the grill. And no I don’t own one.
April 18th, 2017 at 5:06 pm
I like the lines of the Mercedes, but don’t like the vertical bars in the grill.
If this car ends up replacing the CLA, it will, hopefully, be a better car. The CLA does not have many Benz attributes, except price, though it is attractive.
April 18th, 2017 at 5:10 pm
1. MB has lost their way in terms of styling. The tail ends from the C-pillar aft are droopy disasters. The front end are fine. But I suspect the concept headlamps will have a challenge getting through the maze called FMVSS 108… and I suspect it’ll be distracting.
2.Research neophytes like AAA rarely tell respondents about the price/cost of the alternatives. So, on an unconstrained basis, I’m sure they got got those Pollyanna results.
April 18th, 2017 at 5:41 pm
The only reason to buy hybrid is to save on gas. At today’s gas prices, and the premium of hybrids, it’s a tough sell and always will be at these economics.
I think the EV is different. I expect as more models get introduced, and the 200 mile range becomes common, they will grow in popularity because the range fits the need.
Home charging is key. I have no interest in an EV if we have to find and use public charging, and I believe most people agree. Gas stations just aren’t that inconvenient. We have a regular car for longer trips.
April 18th, 2017 at 6:02 pm
10 I like one hybrid car, Prius, for more than the gas mileage. I like the utility of the liftback, and tbe smooth, impossible-to-abuse powertrain. Also, some gadgets seem to “trickle down” to Prius, before they become standard on other cars in their price range. A base 2017 Prius has adaptive cruise control. I could be wrong, but that is probably rare in $25K cars.
If they sold a non-hybrid Prius, with a manual transmission, for $5K less, I might have bought one.
April 18th, 2017 at 6:12 pm
This type will eventually rule http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/11/20161102-epower.html
April 18th, 2017 at 6:17 pm
Maybe the public is waiting for an EV which is clearly more cost effective than a gasoline powered car.
April 18th, 2017 at 6:19 pm
$30 an hour seems like a bargain if she looks as good or better than the model in the commercial and has the right skill sets from that special training.
April 18th, 2017 at 6:28 pm
12 It will be a gas hog on tbe highway, compared to other hybrids. We should soon get confirmation of that. When electric motors and generators are 98% efficient, series hybrids will be competitive. Tbat is unlimely to ever happen.
April 18th, 2017 at 7:44 pm
I believe the short wheelbase Honda pilot is great news. The new 2017 Honda CRV is terribly under powered with the smaller turbo charged engines in the higher trim levels. You can only get the non-turbo in the LX base model. This was very bad planning on Honda’s part. A shorter Pilot will only eat into Acura RDX sales.
April 18th, 2017 at 9:31 pm
The 1.5 turbo in the upper trim CR-V’s makes more power than tbe NA 2.4 in the base vehicle, and performs accordingly. It has competitive performance in the class.
If you want something wider, heavier, and thirstier, the short Pilot might be your thing. I’d expect the V-6 Pilot to tow much better than tbe CR-V.
April 18th, 2017 at 10:14 pm
People like the thought of owning an electric or hybrid car but the choices out there are not appealing enough (Bolt), or not affordable (Tesla), and just not enough practical models to choose from. I am super curious to see how the Pacifica plug in sells, that would tell us whether this AAA study has any merit.
The Mercedes headlight looks silly to me, these are too expensive of items nowadays, imagine with fancy UV coloring, doesn’t add much value to me. Maybe I’m just getting old.
April 19th, 2017 at 12:49 am
If the string battery proves out, electrics have a fighting chance
April 19th, 2017 at 9:10 am
18 Bolt and Tesla also have a problem of not being available, even if you want on. You have to go to a boutique in a big city mall to buy a Tesla, and Bolt is sold only in a handful of states, so far, at least.
April 19th, 2017 at 12:38 pm
WOW Mercedes Benz is lusting after Buicks in their Concept A Sedan. Might be a future cost saving move to play off of Buick ads, and I heard that Buicks sell well in China – BRILLIANT!