AD #2149 – Could Ford Buy Lucid Motors for Lincoln? VW to Undercut Bolt & Model 3 Price, 2018 Hyundai Sonata Updates
July 18th, 2017 at 11:51am
Runtime: 8:38
To watch this episode on YouTube click here.
- Could Ford Buy Lucid Motors?
- GM Extends Bolt Plant Shutdown
- VW I.D. to Undercut Bolt & Model 3 Price
- Scania Tests Autonomous Platooning
- Ford Grooming Next Head of Design?
- Drug Dealers Stuff Fusions with Weed
- 2018 Hyundai Sonata Updates
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On today’s show… GM idles production at the plant that builds the Bolt to curb inventory levels… could Lucid Motors become part of the Lincoln line-up?… and we’ll take a look at the updates to the new Hyundai Sonata. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily the show for enthusiasts of the automotive industry.
FORD & LUCID MOTORS MAKE EYES AT EACH OTHER
At CES in Las Vegas this past January, the Autoline crew spotted senior level Ford executives going for test drives in one of Lucid Motor’s prototypes that was at the show. They were in a big, open parking lot across the street from the convention center. They must have liked what they saw. Now Bloomberg is reporting that Lucid Motors has approached Ford about buying the electric car start up. Lucid just got one of its cars to hit 235 miles an hour. A base rear-drive model will offer 400 horsepower, a 240 mile driving range and start at $60,000, before any tax credits. Officially, Ford is not commenting, but Bloomberg says it’s not ruling out a deal, either. We think Lucid could be the perfect addition to the Lincoln lineup, and it’s possible Ford could buy the entire company for less than what it could cost to tool up a purpose-built electric luxury car.
GM SHUTS DOWN BOLT PLANT
As we reported last week, automakers have too much inventory on hand and that’s especially true for GM. It has 105 days supply, which is a ten-year high for the company. That’s why GM is extending summer shutdowns at four of its plants in the U.S. including its Orion, Michigan plant that builds the Bolt EV. A GM spokesman tells Reuters it’s temporarily shutting down that plant because of poor sales of the Sonic, which is also built there. It’s only at 43 days supply but its sales are down nearly 40% this year. The Bolt is at 112 days supply but GM says its production plan hasn’t changed this year, so it sounds like it may have built up a supply of Bolts, knowing that the plant would have an extended summer shutdown.
Speaking of electric cars, Volkswagen says its going to beat the pants off Tesla when it comes to pricing, and that’s coming up next.
VW TO UNDERCUT BOLT & MODEL 3 PRICE
The Chevrolet Bolt and soon to be Tesla Model 3 are and will be the first long-range EVs to hit the market in the $30,000 price range. But Volkswagen’s next EV, the I.D., will make those cars look like a couple of overpriced handbags. Elon Musk has said the Model 3 will start around $35,000, but now Volkswagen’s Head of Group Strategy says the Golf-sized I.D. will start $7,000 to $8,000 below the Tesla. That takes its starting price down into the high $20,000 range. The I.D. won’t be out until 2019 or 2020, so you’d expect prices to come down, but not that much. Couple its low starting price with a range that’s estimated to be on par with the Bolt and Model 3 and VW could just have a hit on its hands.
I’LL LEAD, YOU FOLLOW
Truck platooning is where several big rigs travel close together to cut down on fuel consumption. Now Swedish truck maker Scania has come up with a new way to platoon. Using sensors, cameras and 5G wireless technology, only the lead truck has a driver. The trucks behind follow autonomously. If the front truck changes lanes, the back trucks change lanes. If the front truck brakes, the back trucks brake. Interestingly, Toyota is also part of this project.
FORD GROOMING NEXT HEAD OF DESIGN?
Ford just promoted Joel Piaskowski to global head of design for cars and crossovers. Piaskowski who is 48 joined Ford in 2010 after leaving Mercedes and has moved up the ranks within the automaker. This sure looks like Piaskowski is in line to replace lead designer Moray Callum, when he retires. Callum turns 60 next year.
TOKEN FORD FUSIONS
As you know, a number of new cars no longer come with spare tires, but some enterprising drug dealers found a novel way to use the spare tire well. A recent shipment of Ford Fusions from Hermosillo, Mexico to Ohio and Pennsylvania had a million dollars worth of marijuana stuffed where the spare tires are usually stored. Ford says the pot was not added at the plant or its internal shipping yards and is working with the FBI This isn’t the first time it happened. Over $1.4 million of marijuana was found in new Fusions in Minnesota back in March. This begs the question, how often are these drugs successfully smuggled?
Hyundai just redesigned the Sonata and coming up next we’ll show you the changes they made to the car.
2018 HYUNDAI SONATA UPDATES
For all those who follow the auto industry here on DAILY, you already know it’s a Crossover world out there. There are so many Sport Utilities and CUVs introduced each year, it almost feels like they’re not even building cars anymore. But at Hyundai they certainly are. In fact, for this South Korean brand, this year it’s kind of a case of “keeping up with the Joneses…”or maybe the Toyotas and the Hondas as the case may be.
John Shon
Sr. Manager — Product Planning
Hyundai Motor America
“I think for the 2018 Sonata what we wanted to do was to focus in on enhancing the vehicle’s appeal especially given the competitive environment in the midsize car segment. You have the all-new Camry being released now; Very shortly you’ll have the all-new Honda Accord being released. So big segment stalwarts are being released in a very short amount of time. What we wanted to do was to keep our Sonata on the top of consumers’ minds, and we think that the significant mid cycle refresh helps us accomplish that.”
And it wouldn’t be a refresh without a new look, right?
Let’s start on the outside where almost the entire exterior has been redesigned. From the front facia and grille — which is now cascading — to what the chief designer calls a “saber line” that cuts across the entire side of the vehicle to a new look in the rear. In the end, they say what they ended up with is a Sonata with a look of “athletic elegance.”
Meanwhile the inside of the car got a little work out as well with a refreshed Instrument Panel, a three-spoke steering wheel along with a revitalized center stack equipped with piano key buttons for some of the controls.
And engineers didn’t forget the technology. Starting with safety, Sonata has the usual package of standard features but now adds Blind Spot Detection and Rear Cross Traffic Alert.
Of course there’s Apple CarPlay and Android Auto along with wireless charging for those whose phones are equipped, and the Hyundai’s Blue Link system which can now talk to virtual assistants like Amazon Echo or Google Home.
The Sonatas two top end models with a 2.0L Turbo engine are the only ones to receive the new 8-speed automatic transmission while the other 5 are equipped with their packages from the previous year.
The price for the refreshed 2018 Sonata starts at just over 22-thousand and tops out at about 32-and-a-half. If you’re interested, you should be able to find it at one of Hyundai’s 800-plus dealerships around the country.
But that brings us to the end of today’s show, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.
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Comments (19)
July 18th, 2017 at 12:12 pm
With GM halting production of the Bolt, Kinda hard to imagine VW will have any better luck even at 8K less in starting price. Buyers whose only car is electric will be far and few in the US until infrastructure can catch up.
July 18th, 2017 at 12:14 pm
Sean, I was completely unaware that there were ANY cars shipping without spare tires. In these cases are mfrs simply leaving the option of obtaining a spare (and loading it into the trunk) up to the buyer?
July 18th, 2017 at 12:28 pm
@MJB – I think for every vehicle that does not offer a spare tire, there is a way to get it, a jack and lug wrench. I’m just not sure if it’s wrapped into a separate option. Most that don’t offer a spare have at least a fix-a-flat bottle and most have a cheap air compressor, sometimes the two are combined.
July 18th, 2017 at 12:39 pm
There is a very simple way that GM could sell more Bolts, sell them at more than a handful of locations. They don’t sell them in Indiana or Florida, so I suspect there are many other states where they don’t offer them for sale.
July 18th, 2017 at 12:43 pm
2, 3 Also, a number of cars come with run flat tires, and no fix-a-flat, compressor, etc. Among them are Corvettes, and many BMW’s.
July 18th, 2017 at 12:46 pm
#4 – Kit – I believe Bolts are not sold in Florida & Indiana just to make sure Kit can’t get one. I found one report “http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1108353_when-can-i-buy-a-chevy-bolt-ev-electric-car-see-our-state-by-state-schedule” that states Florida in July & all states by September. It does have caveat that timing can change.
July 18th, 2017 at 12:55 pm
#6 I wouldn’t buy one, because I would have no place to plug it in at my condo in Florida. I know people in the area, having houses with attached garages, who might buy them. It looks like we should soon find out how they sell in Florida.
July 18th, 2017 at 1:04 pm
GM’s original announcement was the Bolt would be available in all states by September, but that has been moved up to August, due to slower than expected sales in the early states. GM’s explanation of the staggered roll out was due to special service training for the dealer who are allowed to sell Bolts, and that the training was ahead of schedule. Right!
The less than enthusiastic sales volume does show that GM was good at forecasting the demand of 30-40k EVs per year. It will be interesting to see if all of the Tesla Model 3 pre-orders turn into actual units sold. It is pretty easy to put down a refundable $1000 on the speculation that you might be able to flip the car if there is a large demand. Putting down another $30k-35k to buy the car is a different matter.
July 18th, 2017 at 1:09 pm
You could probably slap a Lincoln badge on that Lucid Motors vehicle and you might think it came from Ford from the start (catty and slit styled front/back). And Sean’s comment that it would be more economical to buy Lucid than to create an in-house electric seems spot-on as well. But put me down, as a pass, as to whether I would purchase same.
I wondering whether GM’s slow launch of the Bolt is somewhat because Tesla has ‘snatched up’ so many of the ‘EV Elite’ with the promise of the “3″. Personally I think the Bolt is superior but Tesla marketing is quite convincing. Put me down, as a pass, for a Tesla (but I’m intrigued by the Bolt).
July 18th, 2017 at 1:09 pm
More and more high end vehicles ride on run flat tires. I just replaced the run flats on my 2104 CTS and they weren’t much more expensive than non-run flats.
July 18th, 2017 at 1:13 pm
#2 – My first-generation Cruze Eco did not have a spare. As a result, the floor panel/carpet in the trunk was a difference design with part of the tire tub designed to store the inflator/compressor and the rest of the area was a square cargo depression (without a cover – but was nice to keep your groceries from rolling around). If you were to buy a tire and jack later, you would have needed to also order the other trunk floor panel if you wanted your mini-spare to fit below the floor level.
July 18th, 2017 at 1:21 pm
Sean,
If you learn more about the vehicles that carried the “extra equipment” from Mexico, would you pass the info along? Curious as to how all this happened that new cars became “mules” for drugs!
July 18th, 2017 at 2:24 pm
@Barry – There are a number of stories out there right now about the “extra equipment” in the Fusions. But I’ve made a note for myself, if I see an article how it got in there I will pass it along.
July 18th, 2017 at 2:24 pm
Very disappointed to see Hyundai decontenting the Sonata Limited Ultimate. Eliminated the panoramic moonroof and the heated rear seats. I have a 2016, and these are two of my favorite features the car has. Not sure I’d replace it with another Sonata if these changes remain in effect.
July 18th, 2017 at 3:06 pm
No idea how the Bolt would sell in Canada because GM has allocated so few. One per dealer with no opportunity to reorder is typical.
People are so frustrated that they aren’t available they are waiting for the new Leaf. It’s too bad because we love our Bolt. But if we were in the market right now, there is none available in Ontario. And in Canada there is no federal rebate, just provincial so you would give up $14,000 if not bought in Ontario. I don’t need an ev that badly.
July 18th, 2017 at 4:26 pm
14 Maybe they de-contented the Sonata to try to sell more Geneses, or maybe Azeras.
July 19th, 2017 at 2:26 am
Chevrolet Bolt EV sales are slow despite all the protesters who bashed Donald Trump for withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate Accord as Sandy Munro said last week on AutolineTV After Hours #385, Americans are slow to adopting to electric vehicles because the price of gas is so cheap as it’s under $2.50 in New York City whereas in Europe like London, England where the price of gas sells for almost $6.00, it might be easier to convince someone to buy an EV instead of gas or diesel vehicle.
July 20th, 2017 at 7:46 am
#17: To that point, I’d say post #15 has the right idea. Gas is not cheap in Canada–we were in Canada a couple of weeks ago and fuel was a little more than a dollar (CND) a liter. It would seem to make sense to allocate a few more of them north of the border. Canada historically has been more of a small car market than the US in any case.
July 20th, 2017 at 9:15 am
Re: the drug mule vehicles; back in the 90s in Missouri, a friend and I used to frequent the Chrysler dealership in a rural area where our friend worked. We would often test drive the vehicles and check out the new inventory. My friend was much more versed in matters of ganja. We raised the truck bed cover of a Dakota and he swore it had a strong scent of cannabis. I couldn’t tell if it was a pot smell or just the plastic bedliner off-gassing, but he was convinced someone had transported a large payload hidden in that covered Dakota bed.