AD #2206 – Renault’s Plan to Boost Sales, Toyota’s Tokyo Concepts, What Automakers Want With NAFTA
October 6th, 2017 at 12:06pm
Runtime: 8:38
0:28 Renault’s Plan to Boost Sales
1:17 GM Creates New International Unit
1:47 How the Cloud Can Help Commercial Trucking
3:08 Distracted Driver Study
4:10 Toyota’s Tokyo Concepts
5:52 What Automakers Want With NAFTA
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On today’s show…Toyota reveals two new concepts it will debut at the Tokyo auto show…Renault says EVs and emerging markets will help it boost sales…and we take a look at what automakers would like to see happen with NAFTA. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily the show for enthusiasts of the automotive industry.
RENAULT’S PLAN TO BOOST SALES
French automaker Renault has ambitious plans to boost sales over the next five years. Reuters reports, CEO Carlos Ghosn revealed the company is targeting global sales of 5 million vehicles by 2022, that’s up from about 3.5 million last year. It says it can achieve this through introducing more electric vehicles and offering a wider range of low-cost cars in emerging markets. By 2022, the company expects its less expensive vehicles will account for 2 million annual sales or about 40% of the group total. This growth will happen mostly outside of Europe. Renault expects its share of deliveries in Europe to drop from 52% to 36%. Because of this, Renault expects to outpace alliance partner Nissan in growth.
GM CREATES NEW INTERNATIONAL UNIT
And in other corporate automotive news, General Motors announced it’s going to combine its International and South America regions into one unit. The head of its International operations, Stefan Jacoby, is retiring at the end of the year. Barry Engle, who currently is the head of South America, will be in charge of the new International group, starting January 1st. He will be in charge of all of GM’s operations outside of North America and China.
HOW THE CLOUD CAN HELP COMMERCIAL TRUCKING
Vehicles that can talk with each other, the infrastructure and get updates from the Cloud will greatly change the way we drive. And now Continental is showing how its eHorizon technology can improve commercial trucking. Since the system will already know the road ahead, it can instruct the driver when to brake, shift or even coast. By knowing what traffic lights are going to do, a display can pop up that shows if the truck will make it through the next light and if not prompt the driver to coast up to the light. These are great ways to improve efficiency, but there’s also safety benefits. If a car breaks down on the road, the system can send an alert to change lanes well before the truck comes up on the vehicle or warn of other potential hazards, like ice on the road. And as more vehicles get connected, the information will come faster and be more useful.
Still to come…Toyota takes the wraps off a couple new concept cars.
DISTRACTED DRIVER STUDY
With all the technology being pumped into cars, drivers can easily get distracted. So, the AAA along with the University of Utah tested 30 different model year 2017 vehicles to see what systems are the most dangerous to use. Overall, using navigation while driving is the most demanding task a driver can perform because of the amount of time it takes. And when it comes to infotainment controls, they found that touch screens, knobs and buttons are better than voice commands and that voice commands are better than touch pads or dials placed by the shifter. While voice commands did keep a driver’s eyes on the road longer, longer interaction times offset that benefit. Obviously, motorists need to do a better job of not allowing themselves to get distracted, but the research also concludes that automakers should block functions, like texting and navigation while the vehicle is in motion and design infotainment systems that are no more demanding than using the radio.
TOYOTA’S TOKYO CONCEPTS
Yesterday we showed you the new Toyota Century, a Rolls-Royce like luxury car the company sells mainly in Japan. And now Toyota is showing off a couple of concepts it will debut at the Tokyo Motor Show. First up is the Tj CRUISER, which looks like a combination of an SUV and a van. The company says the “T” stands for “toolbox” while the “j” stands for “joy” and of course CRUISER has been used previously with its SUVs. The boxy vehicle seats up to 4 people and features rear sliding doors. It’s powered by a 2.0L engine matched with a hybrid system and is available in front and all-wheel-drive. Next up is a hybrid sports car called the GR HV SPORTS. The rear drive vehicle was partly inspired by the company’s TS050 hybrid race car that competes in the WEC. The concept features LED headlights, aluminum wheels and a rear diffuser similar to the race car. The Tokyo Show kicks off later this month.
Coming up next, a look at the impact NAFTA negotiations could have on the auto industry.
WHAT AUTOMAKERS WANT WITH NAFTA
President Trump made NAFTA a big issue during his campaign and any changes that happen could have a significant impact on the auto industry. On Autoline This Week, we’re joined by NAFTA expert Les Glick and in the following clip he discusses what the industry would like to see happen with the negotiations.
(The ATW preview is only available in the video version of today’s show.)
For more about the impact renegotiating NAFTA will have on the auto industry, you can watch that entire show right now on our website, Autoline.tv or you can find it on our YouTube channel.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and have a great weekend.
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Comments (12)
October 6th, 2017 at 12:30 pm
On the Distracted Driving; They found knobs and buttons to be better than voice commands? Was that for use or in reference to distraction. Cause as I would agree the voice commands are not as easy to use and tend to take longer due to the menu levels that need to gone thru to get to the command you want, but they certainly are less of a distraction when it comes to taking my eyes off the road.
October 6th, 2017 at 12:45 pm
When speaking about NAFTA and what the automakers want isn’t necessarily what is best for the American people. Certainly the automakers would like to keep the supply chain open allowing them to source components to companies south of the boarder. It helps their bottom line at the expense of jobs here in the US.
Any time we offer free trade with any country you have basically said you are willing to compete on an equal playing field. Which also means if you expect your workers to earn the wages and benefits that are being paid in that country. While plants in that country don’t always have the same EPA and OHSHA regulations to deal with either. So when someone like Les Glick says that most people in the auto industry are happy with 62.5%, Who specifically is he talking about? CEO’s Stock holders, Management, Suppliers or workers?
October 6th, 2017 at 12:47 pm
Let’s hope the Toyota GR-HV Sports wasn’t inspired by the Hybrid WECs cars tendency to break down prior to completing its journey like its inspiration did at LeMans. Twice.
October 6th, 2017 at 3:48 pm
Tradeoffs, tradeoffs…
If NAFTA were abandoned, and assembly and parts plants moved back to the U.S., some U.S. jobs would be created, but if the price of cars went up 25% as a result, fewer cars would be sold, or the companies most affected might go broke, costing tens of thousands of jobs. This stuff isn’t simple.
October 6th, 2017 at 5:15 pm
There is no easy answer. But,I personally am a staunch supporter of Keeping what we can here at home,and a more equitable trade deal with the USA’s best interest first and foremost.
October 8th, 2017 at 9:37 am
The F1 championship is getting kind of boring. Maybe Ferrari are using too many genuine Fiat parts.
October 8th, 2017 at 11:35 am
I hadn’t thought of that Kit but you might be onto something. Kimi did fairly well today but between bad luck and not bringing their best ‘game’ to the party, Ferrari has been on the wrong side of winning for the last three (or is it four) races. Next race Texas (COTA) in two weeks; still a Ferrari fan (even with their woes).
October 9th, 2017 at 8:42 am
#4 Kit the auto-workers salary in the US is about 10 to 15% of the cost of the car so not sure how it would raise the price of a car 25% bring labor back to the US. Probably more like 5% increase.
10-15 Labor
20-30 Material
50-60 Overhead
10-20 R&D
5-10 Profit
October 9th, 2017 at 11:20 am
#8 How much of the cost of parts manufacturing done in Mexico is labor, relative to if it were done in the U.S.? Yeah, I was exaggerating with the 25%, but it wouldn’t take much to erase all profit, or result in price increases that would put GM, Ford, and FCA at a disadvantage compared to, say Toyota.
October 9th, 2017 at 12:40 pm
Actually Toyota pays their workers more than GM but are burdened with all the benefits of the retirees from back in the hay days.
But also when more Americans are working they can afford more they buy more and trickle down economics pays off.
Not that we will see the days when a family could be well supported on a single blue collar workers salary. Sadly those days are few and far between.
October 9th, 2017 at 1:35 pm
#10 Huh? Trickle down economics is the long-disproven theory that tax cuts for the rich, who don’t spend their extra money, will help out the less rich.
yeah, if middle and lower income people have better jobs, it should help the economy in general, unless creating the jobs increases prices too much.
October 9th, 2017 at 2:00 pm
Yea sorry they coined that phrase I didn’t realize I worded it that way. I meant The economics of more people working being able to afford to buy things has a trickle down effect and when more people are working restaurants and retail do better. It just has a ripple effect.