Runtime: 9:04
0:33 Sergio Marchionne Leaves FCA
1:10 Ferrari Names New Management
1:38 Detroit Auto Show Moves from January to June
2:52 Waymo Racks Up Autonomous Miles
3:46 BMW Plans to Electrify M Division
4:23 New Toyota Supra Details
5:16 Weekend Race Results
6:19 Electric Corvette Has Manual Transmission
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On today’s show…in a shocking development, FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne steps down over health issues…the Detroit auto show makes a major announcement…and we get to drive an all-electric Corvette with a 7-speed manual. That’s right, an electric car with a manual transmission. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily the show for enthusiasts of the automotive industry.
SERGIO MARCHIONNE LEAVES FCA
No doubt you already heard this, but in a shocking development over the weekend Fiat-Chrysler replaced its CEO Sergio Marchionne. Michael Manley, who had been running Jeep, will take over. Marchionne apparently suffered serious health issues resulting from surgery on his shoulder and is reportedly in intensive care at a hospital in Zurich, Switzerland. Then this morning, Alfredo Altavilla, the head of FCA’s European Operations, resigned from the company. He had been in the running to replace Marchionne and is obviously not sticking around after he got passed over.
FERRARI NAMES NEW MANAGEMENT
Marchionne was also the CEO of Ferrari and Louis Camilleri was just named to replace him. Camilleri, who is 63 years old, is the chairman of Philip Morris, the giant cigarette company. John Elkann was named as chairman of Ferrari. He’s part of the Agnelli family which owns Exor, the family’s financial investment company that has large holdings in FCA, Ferrari, and Juventus, the Italian soccer club.
DETROIT AUTO SHOW MOVES FROM JANUARY TO JUNE
Well, it’s finally official. The North American International Auto Show in Detroit is moving from January to June starting in 2020. By moving the show out of winter and into summer, organizers say it will allow them to set up events outdoors and in other parts of downtown Detroit. They plan to have autonomous car driving events, live music and food trucks. Moving the show to June also gets it out from under the shadow of CES, which is held a week before the NAIAS, and is stealing concept car reveals. Organizers also needed to make a change because a number of automakers pulled out in recent years. We also think it’s likely they’re going to drop the North American International Auto Show name and change it to the Detroit Auto Show. And we are in favor of that.
Still to come…BMW plans to electrify its M Division within the next decade.
WAYMO RACKS UP AUTONOMOUS MILES
Waymo is really racking up the autonomous miles. Last November, Waymo announced it had driven 4 million self-driven miles. Now, just 8 months later, that number is 8 million miles. That’s according to CEO John Krafcik, who also notes it’s logging 25,000 miles a day with its autonomous fleet and has put in over 5 billion miles in simulation. This also shows that AVs can operate on today’s roads and do not need a lot of infrastructure improvements to be viable. Waymo plans to launch its autonomous ride-hailing service later this year and Krafcik hints the company will be expanding into other areas as well. He says it will soon announce a plan on how it’s going to use its technology to move people from their home or work to existing public transportation hubs, so people can get more out of those services.
BMW PLANS TO ELECTRIFY M DIVISION
It looks like the future of BMW’s M cars is all about electrification. BMW M Division CEO Frank van Meel, at a media event in Spain, said that all BMW M cars will be electrified within the next decade. He did, however, say this will be a gradual process, because BMW wants an electrified M vehicle to feel like a traditional BMW M car. Van Meel went on to say that electrification components are still “quite heavy,” so the M Division will wait until it can find the best electric powertrain for the job.
NEW TOYOTA SUPRA DETAILS
Toyota published an interview with chief engineer Tetsuya Tada at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where the engineer divulged some interesting details about the new “A90” Supra. According to Tada, it will have a lower center of gravity than the GT86 while being twice as rigid as the ’86. That means the Supra will be roughly as rigid as the Lexus LFA without using carbon fiber. Tada also revealed that the new Supra will sport a shorter wheelbase than the GT86, while also having a wider track. The chief engineer revealed he has concerns about fans of the old Supra accepting the new car but emphasized that much of the Supra basics were still intact. The new Supra will carry a front-mounted inline-six engine and be rear wheel drive, just like the old Supra.
WEEKEND RACE RESULTS
In racing news over the weekend, Sebastian Vettel’s history of never winning his home race in Germany continued. He threw away a near-certain win, sliding off the track and into the barriers late in the race in his Ferrari, when rain showers briefly hit the track. That allowed Lewis Hamilton, who started 14th on the grid, to take the win in his Mercedes and regain the lead in the driver’s championship. And at the NASCAR race in New Hampshire, Kevin Harvick crossed the finish line first in his Ford Fusion. He used the old-school bump-and-run method to get past Kyle Busch’s Toyota Camry, with only 6 laps to go.
Coming up next, who ever heard of an electric car with a manual transmission?
ELECTRIC CORVETTE HAS MANUAL TRANSMISSION
On last week’s Autoline After Hours we were joined by Andrew Saul, the CEO of a company called Genovation, which is converting Corvettes into electric vehicles. The car is wicked fast, beautifully engineered and also has a unique feature you don’t find on EVs…a manual transmission. Yeah a manual! Take a look.
(The AAH preview is only available in the video version of today’s show.)
For more about Genovation and its electric Corvette, you can watch that entire discussion right now on our website, Autoline.tv or you can find it on our YouTube channel.
But that brings us to the end of today’s report, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.
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John McElroy is an influential thought leader in the automotive industry. He is a journalist, lecturer, commentator and entrepreneur. He created “Autoline Daily,” the first industry webcast of industry news and analysis.