AD #2334 – China to Lift Foreign Ownership Cap, VW Could Buy Navistar, Lidar Prices Dropping Fast
April 17th, 2018 at 11:54am
Runtime: 8:48
0:30 China to Lift Foreign Ownership Cap
1:15 Tesla Pauses Model 3 Production
2:38 VW Could Buy Navistar
3:26 Toyota & Lexus to Add DSRC System
4:00 Lidar Prices Dropping Fast
4:41 BMW to Open 3D Printing Center
5:37 Paint Plays a Role in Autonomy
Visit our sponsors to thank them for their support of Autoline Daily: Bridgestone , Dow Automotive Systems and Lear Corporation.
On today’s show… China will lift the cap on ownership for foreign automakers… European truck makers absolutely dominate the American market… and how paint affects the performance of autonomous cars. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily the show for enthusiasts of the automotive industry.
CHINA TO LIFT OWNERSHIP CAP
China is going to allow foreign car companies to own more than 50% of their joint ventures in China. It will lift the cap this year for automakers that have new energy vehicle joint ventures, and will lift it for other automakers by 2022. Even so, major automakers like Volkswagen and General Motors are so integrated with their Chinese partners that they will maintain those partnerships. China says this move and its recent announcement to lower tariffs on imported cars has nothing to do with its trade dispute with the United States. But some Chinese automakers are ready to move into the American market and China realized it could face the same kind of protectionism it practices back home unless it changed its policies.
TESLA PAUSES MODEL 3 PRODUCTION
Yesterday we reported that Elon Musk acknowledged that Tesla relied too much on automation to build the Model 3. Now Tesla is temporarily suspending production for four to five days to deal with production issues. It’s the second time since February the company has stopped production.Tesla says it will build 2,500 Model 3’s a week by the end June but it’s still running short of that goal.
Speaking of Tesla, you’re not going to want to miss this week’s Autoline After Hours. It’s going to be all about the Model 3 because our special guest is Sandy Munro, who will take us through his company’s complete teardown of the car. They ripped apart everything mechanical, everything electronic, and the batteries. They found some stupid design mistakes, but also found some brilliant engineering. So if you have questions about the Model 3, send them to viewermail@autoline.tv.
European truck makers absolutely dominate the American market for big semis and that’s coming up next.
VW COULD BUY NAVISTAR
Big news in the world of big trucks. Volkswagen could buy Navistar. VW already owns nearly 17% of the American truck manufacturer, and Bloomberg reports it could buy the whole company. Both of them are already developing an all-electric truck. VW’s truck operations are big in Europe, China and South America but have little presence in North America. Buying Navistar would plug that gap. European truck makers dominate the US market. Daimler owns Freightliner, Mitsubishi Fuso and Western Star, while Volvo Truck owns Mack Truck. If VW acquires Navistar, European truck makers will have 89% of Class 7 and 8 sales.
TOYOTA & LEXUS TO ADD DSRC SYSTEM
Yesterday we talked about how putting V2V connected technology into race cars could make them safer. Now Toyota and Lexus will start selling V2V connected vehicles in 2021. It will use Dedicated Short-Range Communication or DSRC systems with the goal of spreading it across most of its lineup by the mid-2020s. Some tech companies are promoting LTE technology instead of DSRC. But LTE is the same system that cell phones use, and would incur network charges. DSRC does not.
LIDAR PRICE DROPPING FAST
The price of Lidar, one of the most expensive and important sensors in autonomous cars, could be coming down drastically. Luminar Technologies, the self-driving sensor startup backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, says it can chop the cost tens of thousands of dollars to just $3. Lidar prices have been dropping fast. A decade ago they cost $70,000. Then it dropped to dropped to about $6,000 and it should go down to $250 next year. Luminar says it plans to boost production from 100 units in 2017 to 5,000 a quarter by the end of this year.
BMW TO OPEN 3D PRINTING CENTER
A number of automakers are experimenting with 3D printing but it’s mostly for prototypes and not production vehicles. But now BMW is looking to take the next step and is investing 10 million euros to create the Additive Manufacturing Campus in Germany. It will focus on developing 3D printed plastic and metal components for series production, prototypes, and custom parts. The new facility will be up and running early next year.
Autonomy will change a lot in the auto industry, including what colors are used for cars. We’ll tell you all about that, right after this.
PAINT PLAYS ROLE IN AUTONOMY
Autonomy could be the most transformative technology to hit the automotive industry. It’s going change a whole lot, even paint. Yeah, you heard me, even the paint. On Autoline This Week, we were joined by color experts from Axalta, BASF and PPG and they explained how color can play a role in autonomy.
(Clip from ATW #2212 can only be viewed in the video version of today’s show.)
You can watch that entire discussion right now on Atuoline.tv or just look for it on our YouTube channel.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.
Thanks to our partner for embedding Autoline Daily on its website: WardsAuto.com
Share
Permalink
Comments (21)
April 17th, 2018 at 12:22 pm
Tesla, Musk…………..Oh, never mind.
April 17th, 2018 at 12:38 pm
I still do not feel the AV will “detect or see” a lane splitting motorcycle on in traffic. And did I just hear that the AV has “vision problems” seeing or even detecting certain colors and paint coatings on another car?? Hello lawsuit in a crash for the OEM!
April 17th, 2018 at 12:47 pm
Our country isn’t our country any more, it has been sold, company by company.
April 17th, 2018 at 1:01 pm
Reactive vs proactive. Well done President Trump! The Chinese blinked. You can spin all you want, China can see what they must change to deal with a proactive American President who has the USA as a priority. As it should be.
April 17th, 2018 at 1:13 pm
@4 – But the damage is already done. GM and VW prostituted themselves to gain access to the Chinese market. In hindsight, EU and NA manufacturers should not have transferred so much expertise in such a one-way manner. It’s one thing if they were building a wholly owned operation; it’s a big red flag when you don’t have controlling interest per the Chinese government restrictions.
April 17th, 2018 at 1:16 pm
China-wary, as always …
April 17th, 2018 at 1:22 pm
4 Trump needs to be very careful. China clearly has the upper hand. If they quit buying, or decide to “cash in” the U.S. debt, exacerbated by the tax cuts, we will be in deep trouble.
April 17th, 2018 at 1:26 pm
Re: Autonomous Vehicle Detection
Anybody thought that transponders may be legislated, analogous to those on commercial airlines?
April 17th, 2018 at 1:30 pm
@ VW buying Navistar: of course, makes sense since heavy trucks = diesel engines!
April 17th, 2018 at 1:53 pm
I don’t get the DSRC vs LTE battle. Seems to me that the right answer is BOTH. DSRC for localized low latency stuff, LTE for longer range less latency critical stuff.
I’m a big fan of the future of autonomy, but, there are some areas I don’t even hear discussed. I live on an island accessible only by car ferry. I want to see a level 5 vehicle load on and unload off the ferry following the random hand gestures of the ferrymen.
April 17th, 2018 at 3:31 pm
Although I know damn well that fully autonomous vehicles is our future. But it still ain’t ready for primetime. Not by a longshot. This deal on paint etc has me scared.
And what Phred said about the motorcycles drives it home. It will involve anything on the road. Then the connectivity,pay to drive using your own data plan,or the other system that is “free”.
Coating on sensors etc,wow. I say pick a city,or several,install whatever system they choose,and have at it. The lawyers WILL be waiting…
April 17th, 2018 at 4:26 pm
I thought Navistar had a poison pill to stop takeovers – that being the legacy costs from International Harvester including debt, pensions, health costs etc. Could this also be a national security issue given the military vehicles Navistar manufactures?
One thing they both have in common: Each has taken a huge hit due to diesel NOx emissions.
April 17th, 2018 at 4:41 pm
Not sure of the source of your market share numbers in the VW-Navistar story, but an American company currently commands over 30% of the American Heavy Truck Market. Its called Paccar Corp, and fields the well known Kenworth and Peterbilt brands in the US.
Page 10 of this Investor Information Presentation shows US heavy duty market share of just over 30% in 2017. It also shows market share in four other key world markets for the Paccar Corporation and its brands.
http://www.paccar.com/media/2714/q4-2017-investor-presentation.pdf
Also of interest in this presentation is page 8 that shows the volume size of the major world markets, and page 11 that shows the worldwide size of each truck maker. Navistar ranks 19th out of the top 20 heavy truck manufacturers. They seem to have a larger share of the medium duty truck market.
April 17th, 2018 at 5:08 pm
12 I suspect different definitions of “heavy truck” are used for those sales numbers. Maybe Paccar has 30% of class 8, but no, or very few sales of “lighter” trucks.
I checked out the Navistar site and found that they use both their own, and Cummins engines. Does anyone know the percentages of each?
April 17th, 2018 at 11:41 pm
When VW takes over Navistar will they take care of the unfunded pension liability? That was the hang up with other potential buyers. Caterpillar got into the class 8 truck business a few years ago and I was told that they were built by Navistar….can someone enlighten me further on this.
Finally…that Lonestar model has to be the best looking class 8 truck on the road. Every time I see one reminds me of my late fathers 1938 Ford. Great old car even if it didn’t have hydraulic brakes.
April 18th, 2018 at 8:00 am
Navistar’s value to VW has other potential. Not only is their dealer network helpful with heavy trucks but they could even develop and market an International-branded pickup (as no one wants a VW pickup). Let’s also not forget that Navistar still maintains the “Scout” SUV trademark. VW could use that to compete with Wranglers and Broncos.
April 18th, 2018 at 9:36 am
What time is this week’s Autoline After Hours?
I’ve shared the announcement with the PriusChat community that it is Thursday. So far, no luck finding the start time.
Thanks,
Bob Wilson
April 18th, 2018 at 10:22 am
16 Bob, thanks for your interest in After Hours! The show will be LIVE at 3 PM ET on our website. For future reference, every After Hours, unless we announce it ahead of time, starts at 3 PM ET.
April 18th, 2018 at 1:07 pm
The news that VW may take over Navistar, and that foreign interests have majority ownership in the big rig industry saddens me. My father used to work at International Harvestor [now Navistar] as a design engineer in the 1970′s-1980′s.
April 18th, 2018 at 5:22 pm
More trouble for Telsa? https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-18/california-opens-investigation-into-tesla-workplace-conditions
April 20th, 2018 at 10:41 am
#12 VW has a very clever solution to that annoying NOx issue.