AD #2376 – Cars and Cognac, Mid-Size Pickup Sales Soar, New Build Process Needed for AVs
June 15th, 2018 at 11:38am
Runtime: 7:07
0:29 Honda Insight Details
1:22 Mid-Size Pickup Sales Soar
2:32 Cars and Cognac
3:18 Audi Uses Video Game to Train Dealer Employees
4:02 Ford Adds Street Smarts to Bicycle Jackets
5:04 New Build Process Needed for AVs
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On today’s show…mid-size pick-ups are the hottest segment in the U.S. market…Ford creates a smart jacket for bicyclists…and making autonomous cars means a whole new build process. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily the show for enthusiasts of the automotive industry.
HONDA INSIGHT DETAILS
Honda wants electrified vehicles to make up two-thirds of its global sales by 2030 and the soon-to-be-released Insight hybrid will help. It’s based on the Civic, but only shares the roof and rear quarter panels. It actually looks more like a baby Accord. One thing that stands out is all the surface treatment to the body panels, which helps give movement to the design. Power comes from Honda’s two-motor drive unit, which is paired to a 1.5L Atkinson cycle engine. It puts out over 150-horsepower and nearly 200 lb-ft of torque. It’s rated up to 52 miles-to-the-gallon combined and we were able to get over 51 MPG in mixed driving with the AC blasting. We’ll be able to report on our driving impressions, pricing and on-sale date next week.
MID-SIZE PICKUP SALES SOAR
Sales of smaller pickups are outpacing the rest of the car market so far this year. While the overall market is up about 1%, the midsize pickup segment is up nearly 20%. We’re talking about trucks like the Toyota Tacoma, Chevy Colorado, Nissan Frontier, GMC Canyon and Honda Ridgeline. They’re all up by double digits except for the Honda Ridgeline, whose sales have plummeted 22% from a year ago. Next year Ford and Jeep are coming out with smaller pickups. So, we’ll have to see if that expands the segment, or just slices it up thinner. But right now, mid-size pickups represent the hottest segment in the market.
| U.S. MID-SIZE PICKUP SALES, JAN-MAY 2018 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Toyota Tacoma | 93,970 | +20.2% |
| Chevrolet Colorado | 56,224 | +38.2% |
| Nissan Frontier | 34,845 | +17.4% |
| GMC Canyon | 13,734 | +11.0% |
| Honda Ridgeline | 12,358 | -22.0% |
| Source: WardsAuto | ||
Still to come…Rolls-Royce puts a new spin on “Cars and Coffee.”
CARS AND COGNAC
No doubt you’re familiar with “Cars & Coffee” events where automotive enthusiasts get together on Saturday mornings. Well Rolls-Royce just hosted what it calls “Cars and Cognac” at the Soho Farmhouse in the UK. The event was attended by Rolls-Royce owners, who enjoyed a night of fine dining in a room adorned with all things Rolls-Royce. During the event, Rolls’ Spirit of Ecstasy watched over patrons as they were taught by a Cognac sommelier or expert, on how to best enjoy the tasting of fine liquors. At the end of the night, this “eminent group of individuals”, were either chauffeured home or stayed at the Farmhouse. Somehow or other our invitation must have been lost in the mail.
AUDI USES VIDEO GAME TO TRAIN DEALER EMPLOYEES
Everyone loves getting a new car but they hate the dealership experience to buy one. So to make the process more pleasant, Audi is training its service and dealership employees in Germany with a digital game to help them improve customer interaction. The employees use an avatar to move around a 3D world and are able to communicate with virtual customers or colleagues. They’re also encouraged to try different strategies to find out what works best and learn from their mistakes. They can also track their progress with other dealership colleagues. This is a supplement to standard training but anything that can make the dealer experience more enjoyable is welcome.
FORD ADDS STREET SMARTS TO BICYCLE JACKETS
Ford’s Smart Mobility Innovation office in London just developed a smart jacket for cyclists. The jacket has turn signals, brake lights, a smart phone pouch and haptic vibrations for integrated navigation. The navigation system sends riders onto bicycle-friendly routes rather than busy roads. Ford’s “Share the Road” campaign ties in with the smart jacket, as the company aims to increase harmony between cyclists and motorists. Right now, the jacket is still a prototype and Ford is in the process of securing a patent for it.
Building autonomous vehicles is going to be a lot different than manufacturing traditional cars, and we’ll take a look into that, right after this.
NEW BUILD PROCESS NEEDED FOR AVs
Autonomous vehicles will completely transform the auto industry but one area it will impact that isn’t discussed as much, is manufacturing. Automakers will need to change the production process for self-driving cars. On Autoline This Week, we’re joined by Abe Vadhavkar, from the Center for Automotive Research and he talked about how build process will be different.
(The ATW preview is only available in the video version of today’s show.)
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, thanks for watching and have a great weekend.
Thanks to our partner for embedding Autoline Daily on its website: WardsAuto.com
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Comments (14)
June 15th, 2018 at 12:18 pm
I suspect the biggest impact the Ford Ranger mid-size pickup will have is to siphon off sales from the F-150. The Ranger is a nice looking pickup and I’m sure there are a lot of loyal Ford pickup buyers who will prefer and jump to the smaller and hopefully cheaper Ranger. I wonder if anyone has numbers on the number of Colorado/Canyon buyers that switched from full-size GM products? I love my Colorado ZR2, but have always owned mid-size GM pickups.
June 15th, 2018 at 12:22 pm
Re: pick up truck sales -
Honda down 22%. I’ve said it before, Honda’s market in trucks is for non-conventional vehicles. Why then do they offer only the “out there” choices of white, gray, & black…boring.
Put a little life in these and maybe you’ll get a bump in sales
June 15th, 2018 at 12:23 pm
Too bad that Ford has been so slow to see the potential in the mid-size pickup market. It appears to have lost its way in almost every market segment in which it participates. As soon as Mulally left the company took so many wrong turns that it can’t find its way with a GPS! Perhaps Alan saw the handwriting on the wall.
June 15th, 2018 at 12:39 pm
Perhaps some of the bump in mid-sized pickups is the anticipation of fuel price rises; because some people just want the utility/look/persona that trucks provide. Plus them/there big pickups are getting huge, and despite their driving prowess, are still cumbersome in less than wide-open country settings.
June 15th, 2018 at 1:30 pm
The Ford Ranger may siphon some sales from the F-series but I would expect it to just take a portion of the mid-size truck sales from all the others. There could be a few folks that might be in the market for an Escape or Exporer that realize a 4 door Ranger will work for them. But I think they really missed out on a small truck market. They would have had a market almost exclusively maybe even drawing from the CUV market.
June 15th, 2018 at 2:05 pm
I think that years ago, the manufacturers realized that people buying small and mid-sized trucks bought them because they needed a truck and they would buy the bigger, more profitable full-sized trucks if that was their only choice. It would also be more profitable by reducing the models they had to manufacture.
June 15th, 2018 at 2:06 pm
Mulally was at Ford for 8 years. That’s a longer time than averagely the top and you’d hope his organizational skills would rub off and result in procedures and activities that would live long after his tenure.
Boy! That didn’t happen. From outside the company, it looks like the management were just waiting for him to leave so they could go back to the old ways.
I sense he knew that was going to happen and exited as soon as his commitment was up.
June 15th, 2018 at 2:56 pm
My belief is the mid size truck market is just starting to gather some steam. Once the new rangerdanger becomes available,it will sell,and I think it will do very well.
Once Nissan decides to come out with a new frontier,that will do good as well,providing they don’t screw it up.
The ONLY reason it’s selling so well is because it’s the cheapest out there,and despite it’s age,it is still a very capable little truck.
June 15th, 2018 at 3:36 pm
I will venture to forecast 60% of Ranger sales to come from within Ford… a little more than half that from F-150 and the majority of rest will cannibalize from Escape. The 40% of conquest sales will come from within the compact/mid-size pickup world…. more than half of it from GM and Toyota.
June 15th, 2018 at 3:37 pm
I really like that bike jacket. They should also offer a bike shirt for warmer weather.
June 15th, 2018 at 4:24 pm
It is made in England so no need for a shirt, but must be rain proof
June 15th, 2018 at 5:16 pm
I’d think there would be a market for one actual small pickup, and with a standard cab.
#2 Honda seems to have a history of offering little or no color choice. Several years ago, I was considering an Accord coupe with the 4 cyl, manual trans powertrain. The only “color” choice was black with a black interior, which ruled me out.
June 16th, 2018 at 8:48 am
Kit I agree. It’s a shame that no one will ever build a true mini truck again. You just can’t put that much in them and today it’s all about how much you can jam in them to run up the price. I think a base model mini truck with a reg cab would sell well if at 20-25K .
June 16th, 2018 at 4:24 pm
Building a basic, small pickup would be the ideal way for a new car company to enter the U.S. market. Buy a shuttered plant, like DiamondStar and build it in the U.S., to avoid the “chicken tax.”