On today’s show…General Motors achieves a milestone in the history of the automotive industry…FCA’s stock price is soaring and nobody knows why…and who is going to win this year’s North American Car, Truck and Utility awards. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily, where we cover every aspect of the automotive industry.
GM ACHIEVES MAJOR MILESTONE
Here’s one for the history books. General Motors just filed a petition with NHTSA to allow it to deploy a fleet of unmanned, self-driving vehicles next year, in order to launch an on-demand, ride-hailing service in an undisclosed city. Based on the Chevy Bolt EV, it would be the first production vehicle without a steering wheel, pedals or gear shifter. If it gets approval, GM could start building up to 2,500 a year. But getting approval is no guarantee, since current federal regulations require a human behind the wheel. And on top of that, there’s currently only 7 states where GM can operate unmanned vehicles. But in our opinion, the Cruise AV, which is what GM is calling the vehicle, could go down as one of the most important cars in automotive history.
WHY IS FCA’S STOCK PRICE SKYROCKETING?
Hey, what the heck is going on with Fiat-Chrysler stock? It’s gone up 31% in just the last two weeks, and its trading volume tripled. Who the heck is buying the stock and why? Rumors on the street are running rampant. Some believe FCA is going to sell off Jeep. Some say a Chinese car company is buying the stock, others say it’s a tech company. And a few believe the company simply represents a good investment and so it’s attracting institutional investors. Meanwhile FCA will not say peep about it. One thing’s for sure. Something big is going on.
RAM HD PRODUCTION MOVES FROM MEXICO TO MICHIGAN
Speaking of FCA, the automaker just announced it’s going to move production of the Ram Heavy Duty pickup out of Mexico and into the U.S. It will invest $1 billion at its Warren Truck plant, which will add 2,500 jobs by 2020. FCA also announced it’s going to give its 60,000 U.S. hourly employees a bonus check of $2,000 thanks to recent tax cuts in the U.S.
Still to come…a look at a stunning interpretation of the original Citroen DS.
BORGWARNER DEVELOPS NEW AWD SOLUTION
All-wheel drive systems will drag down a vehicle’s fuel economy because of the extra power needed to turn the additional moving pieces and the friction between them, but many customers want AWD. Here’s the latest electro-hydraulic clutch assembly with an integrated control module that is made by BorgWarner and is used on the Volvo XC40. It sits in front of the rear differential and operates independently from the two axles. It’s able to offer a complete disconnect of the rear to save fuel. Or it offers full locking torque, which can be provided at any time or speed. And because the control module features adaptable software, an automaker can input their own driving characteristics.
STUNNING INTERPRETATION OF ORIGINAL CITROEN DS
Jean Louis Bui is a French designer who works at a French design house called Etud Integral. He just came out with this modern interpretation of the original Citroen DS, and it looks stunning. The DS debuted 63 years ago and it created a sensation for its sleek look and ground breaking technology. Citroen recently revived the DS brand for its upscale cars. But none of them look anywhere as good as this. Our advice to Citroen is to buy this design and start building it!
Next Monday we’ll learn who the winners are for this year’s North American Car, Truck and Utility awards. Coming up, we’ll give you a sneak peek at who the winners could be.
WHO WILL WIN NACTOY AWARDS?
The winners for North American Car, Truck and Utility of the Year will be revealed at next week’s Detroit auto show. And on the new Autoline This Week, John, along with three of his NACTOY colleagues, talk about the finalists. Who’s going to win? Well, here are some of their predictions.
(The ATW preview is only available in the video version of today’s show.)
To find out what these jurors think of the finalists, you can watch that entire discussion right now on our website, Autoline.tv or you can find it on our YouTube channel. And make sure to tune into Monday’s Daily, to find out who really won.
And be sure to check out our coverage of the Detroit auto show, which also starts on Monday.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and have a great weekend.
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Comments (28)
January 12th, 2018 at 12:02 pm
I never, and I mean never, cared for the looks of the Citroen DS, at least not until now (from the pen of Jean Louis Bui; I whole heartedly agree with Sean that given this design, this will be a winner.
January 12th, 2018 at 12:06 pm
Dont want to get political but moving production from Mexico into the US but even better the northern US is great news, not to mention the 1 billion dollars to be spent and 2500 direct jobs which means just about as many indirect jobs. Then throw on 120 million in bonuses due to tax cuts. Seems like all the right things to me..
January 12th, 2018 at 12:15 pm
I believe that GM will have an uphill battle, of getting the proper permissions to allowing this on the road. Currently it is illegal for these self driving (autonomous) vehicles from operating without a driver present. This will/may certainly be in everyone’s future (if you are young enough now) but I still don’t think it is ‘ready for prime time’. I believe the road to autonomy will be millions of miles driven, autonomously, but with a driver present, then documented, for these millions of miles driven, that no driver input was required. I won’t get into the litigious issues if even one accident occurs autonomously (despite how much more safer it is than regular drivered vehicles) but suffice it to say; not yet. JMO
January 12th, 2018 at 12:53 pm
John, you are welcome to deliver my NAxOTY proxies… Accord, Volvo XC, and Navigator.
January 12th, 2018 at 1:02 pm
Just what we need. A Chinese Jeep!
January 12th, 2018 at 1:03 pm
#4. Drew. I gave points to all the finalists, but your selection is pretty much how I voted.
January 12th, 2018 at 1:14 pm
#3 I think they will get approval as the government can certainly issue a permit that supersedes the law on a limited basis. If so I think it will most likely be San Francisco. My guess is they will be restricted to inner city areas roads under 35mph.
January 12th, 2018 at 1:21 pm
I wonder why Navigator & Expedition are classified as Trucks instead of Utility vehicle? Could be to separate body on frame vs unibody, however, Navigator & Expedition with full interior & no pick up bed sure look like Utility vehicles to me.
January 12th, 2018 at 1:38 pm
the proper GM name should be AutoCruiseVehicle —ACV for short
January 12th, 2018 at 1:48 pm
Re; Citroen—-owned an SM briefly 25 years ago, I restored it from flood damage , returned it to it’s mother country via eBay.Unique & impressive engineering
January 12th, 2018 at 1:53 pm
#8. You’re right, NACTOY decided to classify Navigator and Expedition in the truck category because they are body on frame. I don’t agree with that classification. They are utilities.
January 12th, 2018 at 1:57 pm
The interior of the Bolt/Cruise AV without a steering wheel, shifter, and lack of outside or inside mirrors looks totally weird. It should have been pretty simple to use half of the dash from the RHD Bolts on the driver’s side but I noticed there was no glovebox on the left? At first I was meh on the whole AV thing but now that it’s getting closer, my interest is pretty strong. I’ll still keep my cars with steering wheels and clutch pedals, but this is pretty cool stuff.
January 12th, 2018 at 2:03 pm
#11 – So John, if you don’t agree with the classification, why not vote for the ZR2. Yes a variation upon an existing truck, but a truck never-the-less. And I suspect the number of unique parts on a ZR2 compared to the standard Colorado are a lot more than one would think (I just traded a 2015 Colorado Z71 for a 2018 ZR2 and was surprised/impressed with how different this truck is).
January 12th, 2018 at 2:40 pm
BobD. ZR2 is an amazing truck, with a sensational suspension and spectacular AWD system. But it’s a performance variation of the existing Colorado. NACTOY rules clearly call for a significant re-design (as in new sheet metal) or an all-new design. This is why cars like the Mustang GT 350 or Camaro ZL1 were never eligible for the award.
January 12th, 2018 at 2:47 pm
For NAxOTY, I pick Stinger, XC60, and , and ZR2. I’d pick Stinger, because if it is anything like the G80, which I have experienced, it is a very good car, and its being a hatchback makes it even better. With the ZR2, as John says, it’s just a new version of a non-new product, but the Ford Tall Trucky Wagon vote will be split between the other two.
They probably put the Expedition and Navigator in the truck category, so they would have more than one entry in the category. They should just stick with car and truck, using the EPA definitions, no matter how silly those definitions are, unless they want to have a coupe of the year, convertible of the year, car-height wagon of the year, etc., etc. While a lot of pickup trucks are sold, there are not very many different ones on the market, and almost no “all new” ones in a given model year.
January 12th, 2018 at 3:22 pm
Who is in charge of marketing at GM? They need someone with some common sense.
Let me see if I have this right. Chevy will continue building the Chevy Cruze for another year or two, more than likely, until sedan sales totally peter out. And next year, they will start production of the Chevy Cruise AV, a plug in electric vehicle which is really an autonomous version of the Chevy Bolt, not to be confused with the Volt, Chevy’s plug in hybrid.
Is the model name pool really that shallow at Chevy? Perhaps they are slapping the bowtie on too many models and they are simply running out of ideas.
January 12th, 2018 at 4:04 pm
At least they spell “cruise” correctly for the autonomous car, but yeah, I agree about the too-similar names. It probably won’t be a big deal with the Cruise AV, though, because it will be many years before it, or anything similar, is sold to the general public.
January 12th, 2018 at 4:06 pm
16 IMO I think all of the automakers are scrambling to figure out what to market and plan for. The electronics industry changes at a much faster rate than the automotive industry. They need to design a vehicle with plug n play electronics because by time they launch a new vehicle 36 to 48 months the AV technology has jumped 4 versions if not more. They are all going to struggle with this new technology and how to integrate it into their cars.
January 12th, 2018 at 4:40 pm
#16 – Unless something has changed, I believe GM is still wandering in the forest without a chief marketing officer. No surprise to me that confusion appears to reign supreme.
January 12th, 2018 at 6:12 pm
This is totally off-topic for today’s show, but a good review of the Tesla 3.
http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/first-drives/a15070866/tesla-model-3-test-drive-review/?src=nl&mag=rdt&list=nl_rdt_news&date=011218
January 13th, 2018 at 6:46 am
My picks are for the Accord, Volvo and the Chevy (because it is a truck). If the Chevy was never really a viable choice to vote for, because of being just a performance variation, well then it should have never made the list. Since my pick is null and void, I’ll then go with the new Explorer, as it is the more mainstream model that will appeal (and sell) to more of general public.
January 13th, 2018 at 9:30 am
#21 If they hadn’t included performance variations and SUVs, there wouldn’t have been even one entry for truck, unless I’m forgetting something. They really seem to need a new “system” for these awards.
January 13th, 2018 at 7:59 pm
Actually, they should probably go back to the old system. Pickup trucks, and the various tall wagons with lift kits are “trucks.” Sedans, coupes, convertibles, low roof wagons, and hatchbacks are “cars.” There would still be some confusion with minivans, and slightly tall vehicles like Kia Soul, etc. How about just one award, “light vehicle of the year,” defined as some maximum GVW?
January 14th, 2018 at 11:22 am
Chevy is going to have a proper diesel in the Silverado 1500, an in-line six.
January 14th, 2018 at 2:33 pm
And next year shouldn’t be a problem (for NACTOY): new Silverado, new Ram and new Ranger. They better vote for a real truck in 19.
January 14th, 2018 at 3:02 pm
25 Yeah, very true. This year, they shouldn’t have even had a truck award, since they separated out most of the tall wagons, but next year should be the best truck competition since they’ve had NAxOTY.
January 14th, 2018 at 3:04 pm
I read that the Ranger will have one, and only one powertrain in the US, a 2.3 turbo, and 10-speed automatic.
January 15th, 2018 at 6:25 am
I just read of Dan Gurney’s passing; RIP
A true car guy; raced them, designed them, built them (and always the gentleman)