On today’s show…Daimler’s diesel troubles deepen…Volkswagen drops the Touareg from the American market…and hyperloop completes its first test. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the automotive industry.

DAIMLER’S DIESEL TROUBLES DEEPEN
These diesel scandals just don’t seem to go away. Now the investigation into Daimler is heating up. Yesterday a report out of Germany revealed that the company may have sold more than 1 million vehicles with emission cheating software. German prosecutors say two engines are involved and were sold between 2008 and 2016. One analyst tells Bloomberg that the cost to fix the engines could be more than $500 million. Daimler is meeting with investigators today in Germany to address the allegations.

FCA RESUMES DIESEL RAM PRODUCTION
And in related news, FCA has resumed building diesel Ram pick-ups. The company stopped selling them and Jeep Grand Cherokees, after it was sued by the U.S. Department of Justice back in May. The company has since come up with a fix and a ruling from the EPA is expected soon. So with production resuming, it looks like FCA thinks it will get approval.

TOYOTA HYDROGEN PROJECT KICKS OFF
Toyota is one of the few automakers to have a fuel cell powered car out in the market but it’s looking to use the technology in more than just passenger cars. The automaker, along with other Japanese corporations and the Japanese government, are beginning full scale operation of a project to power fuel cell forklifts through a renewable hydrogen supply chain. Wind turbines are used to generate electricity, which is then used to make hydrogen through water electrolysis. Excess electricity is stored in used nickel-metal hydride Prius batteries, so when there is no wind, the operations can continue. The hydrogen is compressed and loaded into fueling trucks, which is then delivered directly to forklift operators. The forklifts are powered by refurbished fuel cells from the Toyota Mirai. The fuel cell forklifts are currently being used in four locations throughout Japan but the goal is to expand it throughout the country. The Group says that initial tests show the potential to cut CO2 emissions by up to 80% compared with forklifts powered by gasoline or grid electricity.

Coming up next, automakers in China want the government to back off its quota for EVs.

VOLKSWAGEN DROPS THE TOUAREG
A popular question for Volkswagen has been, what’s going to happen to the Touareg now that the Atlas is out? Well Motor Trend reports that the SUV will be discontinued in the U.S. and will not have a 2018 model. It makes sense too. The vehicle hasn’t seen much change since it first came out in 2004 and the price is high. Even a top-of-the-line Atlas with all-wheel drive undercuts the Touareg’s $50,000 starting price. And sales have been suffering. Volkswagen has only sold 1,629 so far this year and it sits on 276 days’ supply, when 60 days is considered good. I will note that is down from 512 days’ supply in May, so Volkswagen is likely offering heavy discounts as it tries to move the last remaining examples.

OEMs WANT CHINA TO BACK OFF EV TARGETS
China recently upheld its strict sales targets for electric and plug-in vehicles. It wants those types of vehicles to hit 8% of sales next year, 10% by the year after that and 12% by 2020. But a German newspaper reports that automotive associations in Europe, the U.S., Japan and South Korea have written to the Chinese government demanding it change its plans. They would like to see the targets postponed by one to three years, less harsh penalties for failing to reach quotas and set the sales mark based on an automaker’s production volume. China already ignored concessions it made with German Chancellor Angela Merkel by upholding the sales targets, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see it ignore this plea as well.

Coming up next, the idea of using a Hyperloop for travelling just took a step closer to reality.

Be sure to join us later this afternoon for Autoline After Hours. Our guest will be Sandy Munro, who always brings in a bag full of high-tech goodies. And he’ll also be talking about the tear down his company did on the Chevrolet Bolt, with some amazing discoveries, especially on what it costs to make. So join John and Gary for some of the best insights into the automotive industry.

HYPERLOOP ONE PASSES ITS FIRST TEST
Sending a pod full of passengers through a vacuum at 750 MPH using electromagnetic propulsion and “magnetic levitation” sounds like science fiction, but it isn’t. Not anymore. Hyperloop One, an idea proposed by Elon Musk in 2013, had its first successful test on May 12th, 2017. The passenger pod, made of aluminum and carbon fiber, pulled 2 g’s of acceleration and reached 70 MPH. Now keep in mind, compared to the 750 MPH end-goal, 70 MPH is a humble beginning. But Hyperloop calls this a Kitty Hawk moment, equivalent to the Wright brothers flying their first airplane. The next step is testing a larger passenger pod at 250 MPH.

And with that we come to the end of today’s show, thanks for watching.