On today’s show… Kia creates a new hamster commercial for the turbocharged Soul… Peugeot jumps back into the pick-up segment… and Tesloop is a company that wants to offer free ridesharing. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

This is Autoline Daily the show for enthusiasts of the automotive industry.

MORE DIESEL TROUBLE FOR BOSCH
The ongoing Volkswagen diesel saga continues, although this time it doesn’t directly involve the automaker. Bloomberg reports that prosecutors in Stuttgart, Germany are zeroing in on three managers from the supplier Bosch, over their possible role in helping VW cheat on diesel emissions. The company wouldn’t comment on the individuals but said it is cooperating with authorities. This probe is part of a broader investigation involving VW which includes former CEO Martin Winterkorn. But this isn’t the only scrutiny Bosch is facing. Earlier this year prosecutors in Stuttgart started looking at the supplier’s role in Daimler’s emission issues and the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Bosch over its potential involvement in VW’s diesel scandal.

KIA’S HAMSTER FAMILY GROWS
It was 8 years ago that those fun loving, dancing hamsters first graced our TV screens with Kia’s Soul. Now as the Soul gets its first turbocharged engine, so too is the hamster lineup getting turbocharged. Cue the maternity ward of a hospital where a nurse quickly realizes a newborn has gone missing. As she searches frantically, we get our first glimpse of a new baby hamster that clearly does not want to get caught, and the chase is on. Set to the soundtrack of Motorhead’s “The Ace of Spades,” the entire hospital is now on the hunt. The little guy finally makes it to the roof, grabs a sheet and makes a death-defying jump. He’s fine of course. A Kia Soul Turbo filled with the other hamsters is driving by at the precise moment the baby hamster opens his shoot, falls through the sun-roof and they all speed off.

And we’ll be back with more right after this.

PEUGEOT’S NEW PICK UP
More and more automakers are beginning to recognize that the pickup segment is a tidy business to be in. Now Peugeot is climbing back into the segment. Peugeot says it’s new Pick Up, and that’s the name of it, Pick Up, is about 16.5 feet long, with about a bed that is 4.5 X 4.5 feet. Ground clearance is 8 to 8.5 inches depending on the model. It will have a 2.5-liter turbodiesel with 115hp and 206 lb.-ft. of torque paired to a 5-speed manual. 4 wheel drive is optional. For now the Peugeot Pick Up will only be sold in Africa, but we’ve got to believe that Peugeot must have its eyes on other markets as well.

STEEL & PLASTIC DOWN, ALUMINUM UP
Here’s something a lot of people probably haven’t noticed about their cars: what they’re made of is changing. It’s a slow move to new materials, but it’s happening. According to statistics published by WardsAuto, regular steel saw about a 2% drop in usage between 2011 and 2015. While steel in general has remained constant, the type of steel used is shifting towards higher quality, higher strength steel. Aluminum use increased by 1.3% from 2011 to 2015. But this caught us by surprise, the plastic content in cars actually saw a decrease. It dropped by 0.4% between 2011 and 2013, and has yet to rise again. So, could we see cars become lighter thanks to aluminum? Or safer, thanks to higher strength steels? We’ll have to wait and see.
Source: WardsAuto materials chart.

THE FUTURE OF RIDE-SHARING?
If you want to get an idea of where all this ride sharing business is going, then take a look at a company called Tesloop. It offers rides in Tesla Model X’s on routes in Southern California. For example, you can book one-way rides from LA to San Diego or Palm Springs for anywhere from $39 to $79 depending on the day. They take four passengers in each car, so you may be sharing a ride with someone else. Tesloop says their rides take about the same time as flying as long as the trip is under 250 miles. It offers complimentary amenities like including WiFi, headphones, and organic juices, and snacks. Each car has a driver But passengers who get the proper training ahead of time can be the driver and travel for free. And here’s where the story gets really interesting. In a couple of years, it wants those cars to operate autonomously without drivers. Those Tesla Model X’s are driven about 16 hours a day and charged for about 6 hours a day. Right now they’re being driven 18,000 miles per month, but are expected to hit 30,000 miles per month. Not counting the driver Tesloop’s costs are 20 to 25 cents a mile, versus about 60 cents a mile for private car ownership. And Tesloop’s goal is to offer rides for free, though it hasn’t revealed how it expects to make money that way. The next step is for Tesloop to expand to Europe, especially to Germany and Spain.

Coming up next, how the air conditioning system in the Dodge Demon makes it go faster.

DEMON’S AC DOES DOUBLE DUTY
On Autoline This Week, the show is all about the engineering that went into the Dodge Demon. Our guest is Chris Cowland, the Director of SRT Powertrain Engineering. And he explained how they’re using the air conditioning system to make that car go faster.

Chris Cowland, FCA: And then we’ve got the “Chiller” system, which basically uses the air conditioning system to do double duty. It drops those charge temps so we don’t have any knock problems. We get more spark in the engine, get more power.

Alisa Priddle, Motor Trend: And then I think there’s another feature too, for people. Once you’ve run some hot laps, you can sit there and use the screen to monitor how quickly it’ll cooldown and you’ll be able to go again.

Chris Cowland, FCA: Yeah, we show that you can actually monitor the air induction temperature through the Chiller. So, the Chiller runs off after the lap, and basically you can monitor that temperature dropping so you know you’re at the ideal temperature to go and run again.

John McElroy, Autoline: Chris go back to that air conditioner that you’re using, cause I think this is unique in the business. I’ve never heard that. If I’ve got this right, you’ve got the regular air conditioner in the car, but when you really want to go and do a drag run, you use the air conditioning to cool the air going down into the engine for more power?

Chris Cowland, FCA: Absolutely. We use the capability that’s engineered into a normal air conditioning system, and then divert that heat rejection capability into the coolant system, which is the low-temp coolant system that we use to reduce the charge temperature, so. And it’s interesting, actually. That came from my advanced group, not the SRT group. The idea came from the advanced engineer group, because we think it may be a technology that could work in the future for the ultimate efficiency in other types of ICE engines, where we’re not just chasing power.

As always you can watch that entire show right now on our website, Autoline.tv. And a programming note here. Autoline Daily will be off all next week as the whole Autoline crew takes a well deserved mid-year break. And we’ll resume our normal programming on July 10.

But that’s wraps up today’s show, thanks for watching.