AD #2391 – Lamborghini’s Sales on Fire, Tesla Loses $7,500 Tax Credit, Maserati Unveils High Performance Levante
July 13th, 2018 at 11:58am
Runtime: 10:01
0:29 Lamborghini Sales on Fire
0:55 Maserati Unveils High Performance Levante
1:33 Genesis G70 Details
3:05 Honda & Panasonic Test Swappable Batteries
3:40 Tesla Loses $7,500 Tax Credit
4:37 Autonomous Vehicle Fail
5:19 Mercedes Resurrects 1930’s Land Speed Record Car
6:54 Seats About to Become Smart Devices
Visit our sponsors to thank them for their support of Autoline Daily: Bridgestone , Dow Automotive Systems , Lear Corporation , and ExxonMobil.
On today’s show…sales at Lamborghini are on fire…Mercedes rolls out a land speed record car from the 1930’s…and Lear bulks up its technological muscles. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily the show for enthusiasts of the automotive industry.
LAMBORGHINI SALES ON FIRE
Lamborghini just set a sales record for the first half of the year. It sold 3,327 Huracans and Aventadors, up 11% from a year ago. That’s more cars than it sold for an entire year only 5 years ago. And the future looks bright. Sales of Lambo’s first SUV, the Urus, go on sale this month. We think that Lamborghini is on track to double its sales in the next couple of years.
MASERATI UNVEILS HIGH PERFORMANCE LEVANTE
Speaking of Italian performance, Maserati just unveiled a hot version of the Levante SUV at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. It’s called the GTS. Its 3.8 liter Ferrari twin turbo V8 was tweaked to deliver 550 horsepower and 531 foot-pounds of torque. That gives it a power to weight ratio of only 8.6 pounds per horsepower, which puts it in the super car category. Maserati says it will do 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in only 4.2 seconds. Not bad for an SUV.
GENESIS G70 DETAILS
We just got a chance to test drive the new Genesis G70, and while driving impressions remain under embargo until next week, here are some important details about the car. It sits on a rear drive platform called C2, which is actually a longer wheelbase version of the Kia Stinger which has received rave reviews. Power comes from a 2-liter turbo producing 252 horsepower and 260 pound feet of torque, or a 3.3 liter V6 turbo, producing 365 horsepower and 376 foot pounds. Power is fed through an 8-speed automatic that features rev matching and will hold gear while cornering. Or, rejoice enthusiasts, there is a 6-speed manual available with the two liter. You also get dynamic torque vectoring, launch control and Brembo brakes. And you can completely shut off electronic stability control in Sport mode, which can be a ton of fun on a track. Oh yes, all-wheel-drive is also available. We’ll have more info and driving impressions next week.
Have you seen this wild land speed car that Mercedes made in the 1930’s? That’s coming up next.
HONDA & PANASONIC TEST SWAPPABLE BATTERIES
Honda and Panasonic are teaming up to test electric motorcycles with swappable batteries. They’ll install charging stations at several dozen locations in Indonesia to charge Honda’s Mobile Power Pack. You just grab one of those fully-charged ones anytime you need it. This is a perfect application of swappable batteries because they’re small enough to store a bunch of them at the charging stations and swap them out easily. Tesla and a company called Better Place tried swappable batteries with cars, but those efforts never really caught on because it’s just too complicated.
TESLA LOSES $7,500 TAX CREDIT
Speaking of Tesla, it just delivered its 200,000th car in the U.S., which means its $7,500 federal tax credits will start to run out. But they don’t go away immediately. Buyers who get their Tesla by December 31st of this year get the full incentive. However, every six months after that, the tax credit gets cut in half. For example, buyers who receive their Tesla in the first six months in 2019 will receive a $3,750 and then it drops to $1,875. GM is also closing in on 200,000 EV sales, it sold 184,000 through June, so it faces the same issue. This will put the companies at a competitive disadvantage to their competitors, and that’s why Tesla and GM are lobbying Congress to extend the full credit. But so far, no luck.
AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE FAIL
If you ever wondered if autonomous cars really need all those sensors sticking out of them here’s proof that they do. Siemens along with the UK’s Cranfield University decided to enter, a 1965 Ford Mustang in Goodwood’s Hillclimb. But instead of using all the usual AV technology, the team created a 3D map of the course using a drone and data from a vehicle equipped with a laser. So all the Mustang had to do was drive on a predetermined path. But the result is giving autonomous cars a bad name. The Mustang inched along, weaving back and forth, and would have hit a hay bale or two if not for the human behind the wheel. It looked more like a drunk driver.
MERCEDES RESURRECTS 1930’s LAND SPEED RECORD CAR
In the 1930’s famous race car driver Hans Stuck wanted to break the land speed record of 595 km/h or about 370 MPH. Along with a board member from Daimler, an air force general and an engineer named Ferdinand Porsche they created the Mercedes-Benz T 80. It had a tubular spaceframe with the panels molded over to create a very aerodynamic body that even features small wings off the side. But that’s all that’s small. Total length is more than 8 meters or over 26 feet. Each of the 6 wheels, yes 6, are more than a meter or nearly 4 feet in diameter. And the massive V12 engine can produce up to 3,500 horsepower. The team set its sights on a speed of 650 km/h or about 400 MPH. But after 4 years of development, World War II broke out and the vehicle was never used. But the T 80 lives on in a permanent exhibition at the Mercedes-Benz Museum.
Coming up next, Lear explains why the seats in your car are about to become a lot more intelligent.
SEATS ABOUT TO BECOME SMART DEVICES
The auto industry is undergoing massive technological change. That’s why Lear, a traditional seat supplier, is building up its technical capabilities to keep pace with the change. On Autoline This Week, Ray Scott, the CEO of Lear, describes how the company is turning car seats into smart devices.
(The ATW preview is only available in the video version of today’s show.)
For more about Lear, 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
Share
Permalink
Comments (16)
July 13th, 2018 at 12:11 pm
Why don’t they put the naturally aspirated 3.8 V6 from the G80 in the Stinger and G70? That non-turbo engine was a lot of why a friend bought a G80, and would also help sell G70 and Stinger. Not everyone wants a turbocharger (or two).
July 13th, 2018 at 12:12 pm
I really don’t understand why there are $7500 incentives on a Tesla. If some has a 100K to throw at any car they don’t need the taxpayers helping to pay for it. If the cars are as good as advertised they should sell themselves . It’s like affirmative action for cars. They all want to be looked at as equal ,but we are going to tilt the playing field so one can get a advantage over the rest.
July 13th, 2018 at 12:19 pm
Sean; The Urus will not be Lamborghini’s first SUV. Google the Lamborghini LM002 made from 1986 thru 1993.
July 13th, 2018 at 12:29 pm
Lamborghinis were literally on fire this week:
http://thechive.com/2018/07/10/minivan-driver-burns-down-2-lambos-at-gas-station-2-photo-gif/
July 13th, 2018 at 12:38 pm
Personally I would like to see the Federal Tax cut for all electric vehicles taper down with the Tesla phase out. It would equalize all electric makers including the laggards who built a small number of ‘compliance’ cars.
The best incentive would be one to a dealer when they sell an EV, a direct to profit incentive. We find the dealers are the ones standing in the way of EV adoption. This justifies Tesla skipping the dealers.
Pay the dealers to sell EVs and adoption rates would sky rocket.
July 13th, 2018 at 12:53 pm
A “smart seat” is another pricey accessory that no consumer is clamoring for. This company is attempting to create a money stream …or “demand” for something you do not need or even want by spinning it as a technological break thru!
July 13th, 2018 at 1:07 pm
#6
Part of winning in business is inventing a product that nobody knew they wanted before they saw or experienced it. I’m old enough to recall the common wisdom that nobody in their right mind would have any use for a computer in their home.
July 13th, 2018 at 1:18 pm
#5 Bob why are dealers not selling EV’s? Is the margin on those vehicles a lot lower? Because I dont see why a dealer would care, other than maybe not having the trained staff to service them.
The government has offered subsidies and tax breaks on everything from putting insulation in your home to buying a high efficiency furnace. But those discounts and breaks have always gone to the consumer and not the sales force offering those items. Nor would I think the dealers should get the incentives to sell a product. If the product is in demand and consumers want them I doubt salespeople would stand in their way. They would just shop around until the found a dealer that is interested in selling an EV. My guess is the problem is the demand just isnt there yet.
July 13th, 2018 at 1:21 pm
7 Other than modern engine controls, my favorite innovation in cars was the electronically tuned radio. That was something I didn’t know I wanted in ~1978 when it came along, but it didn’t take long to know I liked it. I could actually tune to a radio frequency easily, and the presets stayed set, unlike with those mechanical slides.
July 13th, 2018 at 1:32 pm
5, 8 My experience has been that “mainstream” car dealers don’t even know how EV’s work, and they clearly aren’t prepared to sell them. You go into a Chevy or Ford dealer, wanting to test drive a Bolt or Focus EV, and the sales people don’t know if they have one. Then, if they find that they do have one, they don’t know if it is sufficiently charged for a 10-15 mile test drive. That doesn’t do much to increase “demand.”
If a Chevy dealer put a charged and ready to test drive Bolt in a prominent place at their dealership, with a sign saying “ready for test drives” or similar, people would check it out, and a certain number would buy one as a commuter car, after finding out how well it drives. You don’t see that where I am.
July 13th, 2018 at 2:33 pm
@Lambo – Thanks for pointing this out. And worse still, I know all about the LM002. Sometimes I think I shut off the thinking part of my brain when I’m reading a script. At times I feel like Ron Burgundy.
July 13th, 2018 at 2:33 pm
I’m waiting for the Lear seat that can “self-service” me, let me know when that comes out Lear mouthpiece.
July 13th, 2018 at 5:47 pm
12 Ziggy, there could be law suits for driver distraction.
July 13th, 2018 at 8:06 pm
13 Kit, you’re right, but it could go a long way towards relieving stress and road rage
July 13th, 2018 at 9:53 pm
14 Yep, that is true.
July 16th, 2018 at 1:36 pm
My web link is to an article, one of many, that independently report dealers are especially incompetent selling EVs. But I have taken three test drives at local dealer and found each failed.
The Toyota dealer sales critter had never seen anyone get 99 MPG in a 2016 Prius Level 3. The Hyundai dealer could barely operate the tripmeter controls and had not clue about how it worked. The recent Honda Insight test again revealed the salesman did not know how to operate the tripmeter and was astounded when I got 60 MPH (ended the test drive so he doesn’t know what it can do.) Then the Chevy Volt was equally grim.
The salesmen report EV and plug-in customers come in with more technical data than they have. Yet they will still try to put the customer in a gasser.