On today’s show…the supplier company Hella shows off new sensor technology…Maruti dominates the light vehicle market in India…and why the 5.0L V8 in the Ford Mustang is one of the best engines you can get. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

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

CAR SALES IN INDIA RISE
We like to keep you up to speed about the global automotive industry, so let’s take a look at how automakers faired in India last year. WardsAuto reports that car sales totaled 3.7 million light vehicles, which is a gain of nearly 10% compared to the year before. And while passenger cars outsell light trucks by a fairly wide margin, the truck segment is growing at a much faster pace. Indian automaker Maruti, which is a subsidiary of Suzuki, is by far and away the largest carmaker in the country. The company sold 1.6 million light vehicles last year, which is over a million more than Hyundai, who is in second. Not surprisingly, two more Indian automakers occupy the top of the list, Mahindra and Tata. And then there’s another drop off to the next automakers on the list, Honda and Toyota. But this gives you a good look at the top automakers in India.

VW CLAIMS SALES CROWN
And speaking of sales, Volkswagen sold a record 10.74 million vehicles globally in 2017, which is a 4.3% improvement compared to 2016. And that makes it the largest automaker in the world. Well, maybe. About 200,000 of those vehicles were commercial trucks, which Renault-Nissan says shouldn’t count towards the total. But that’s just because Renault-Nissan wants to be considered number one. It sold a combined 10.6 million vehicles last year, including Mitsubishi which it acquired last year. And that of course would put it just ahead of VW if you remove the truck sales.

BMW AIMS TO OVERTAKE MERCEDES
And in related news, BMW is aiming to take back the luxury sales crown from Mercedes. Harald Krueger, the CEO of BMW, says the company will be the number one luxury brand globally by 2020. BMW held the top spot for about a decade until 2016 when it was passed by Mercedes.

Automakers say they don’t care about sales titles, but stories like these show that they love to have bragging rights.

Still to come…Hella shows off new sensor and lighting solutions at the Detroit auto show.

HELLA’S NEW TECHNOLOGY
There’s so much uncertainty when it comes to what autonomous and connected cars will be capable of that we’re seeing waves of new and innovative technologies. At the Detroit auto show we caught up with the folks from Hella, to see its latest in sensor and lighting solutions. Here Steve Lietaert, President of the Hella Corporate Center USA points to, or I should really say taps sensor technology that should give drivers a little more piece of mind when they’re away from their vehicle.

(Hella’s technology can only be viewed in the video version of today’s show.)

That’s just a small taste of our Detroit auto show coverage and if you’d like to see more you can check out all our videos on our website, Autoline.tv or on our YouTube channel.

AUDI WORKERS HELP SAVE MILLIONS
Automakers are equipping factories with more advanced technology to help reduce costs and improve efficiency. But at Audi, it’s using ideas from workers to make manufacturing more efficient. The company has set-up a formal process for workers to make suggestions and if they are chosen, the employees are financially rewarded. Last year, the automaker implemented nearly 15,000 suggestions, which the company says helped it save over 100 million euros at two of its plants in Germany. There are a number of automakers that have similar practices in place, but it just goes to show that while most of the ideas are small, simple solutions they can add up to some real savings.

Coming up next, why the WardsAuto staff picked the Ford Mustang’s V8, as one of the best engines in the market.

WARDS 10 BEST ENGINES
Every year, the editors at WardsAuto choose the 10 Best Engines in the market and that’s the topic on Autoline This Week. We’re joined by some of the staff from Wards and in the following clip they talk about why they chose the 5.0L V8 in the Ford Mustang GT as one of the best engines you can get.

(The ATW preview is only available in the video version of today’s show.)

For more about the other engines on the list and why they’re winners, you can watch that entire discussion right now on our website, Autoline.tv or you can find it on our YouTube channel.

But that’s it for today’s show, thanks for watching and have a great weekend.