AD #2422 – Mercedes Creates Retro Race Car, Musk Won’t Take Tesla Private, Santa Fe’s Structural Improvements
August 27th, 2018 at 11:46am
Runtime: 8:26
0:31 Musk Won’t Take Tesla Private
1:11 Ferrari Race Car Sets Auction Record
1:37 Weekend Race Results
3:00 Mercedes’ Homage to The Past
3:59 Traffic Management Industry Poised for Growth
4:26 New Hyundai Santa Fe Is Stronger, Lighter and Quieter
6:18 Acura RDX’s New Multi-Link Suspension
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On today’s show…Elon Musk changes his mind and lights up the blogosphere once again…Mercedes looks back to 1937 for future inspiration…and Hyundai takes structural integrity to a new level with the Santa Fe. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily, the voice of the automotive industry.
MUSK WON’T TAKE TESLA PRIVATE
Well you probably heard this by now. Over the weekend, Elon Musk announced he is not taking Tesla private. He cited several reasons why he changed his mind, but this unleashed a torrent of criticism aimed at Musk, questioning his credibility. Now that the markets are open we’ll see how investors treat the stock, but the actions at the company seem to be getting more erratic. Here’s our Autoline Insight. It’s time for Tesla’s board to get a new CEO and COO. They need to keep Musk on as non-executive chairman, but it’s time to get him out of the day to day activities of the company.
FERRARI RACE CAR SETS AUCTION RECORD
A classic Ferrari racing car just set an auction record at the RM Sotheby’s auction at Pebble Beach. The 1962 250 GTO sold for a staggering $48 million after all the fees. The previous owner, made a nice return on his investment. He bought the car back in 2000 for a measly seven million bucks.
WEEKEND RACE RESULTS
In racing news over the weekend, the start of the Belgium Grand Prix started with a pile-up of F1 cars at the first corner. Fernando Alonso’s orange McLaren went flying into the air, and provided one of the first racing tests of the halo safety device which passed with flying colors. Alonso’s tires left skid marks on the halo of Charles Leclerc’s car. After they brushed all the carbon fiber pieces off the track, it settled into a predictable pattern where Sebastian Vettel powered his Ferrari to an easy win. In IndyCar racing, Scott Dixon’s Honda-powered Ganassi car dominated most of the race. And Alexander Rossi squeezed some unbelievable fuel economy out of his Honda-powered Andretti Autosport car. But in the end, it was Will Power’s Chevy-powered Penske that took the win at the Gateway Motorsports Park.
Coming up next, we’ll tell you how Hyundai made the Santa Fe stronger, quieter and lighter.
MERCEDES’ HOMAGE TO THE PAST
What is it with these concept cars that harken back to the 1930’s grand prix era? Infiniti showed one last year at Pebble Beach, the Prototype 9. Now Mercedes just showed the EQ Silver Arrow as an homage to the W 125 race car from 1937. It’s an electric car with 780 horsepower and an 80-kilowatt hour battery, all packaged within a carbon fiber body structure. Inside this single seater, the driver is presented with an array of information on a wide screen. One thing caught our eye. Note the wheel covers on the front half of each wheel. We also saw this look on the autonomous Roll-Royce Vision concept car. When you start to see styling cues like this show up on multiple concept cars you just know the designers are working feverishly to get this into production.
TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT INDUSTRY POISED FOR GROWTH
Traffic management could turn into a business that will grow significantly over the next few years. According to ABI Research, the traffic management industry will generate revenues of $6 billion by 2023. The study says suppliers Kapsch, Siemens and the PTV Group, which is part of Porsche, are the leaders in the move from passive to active traffic management.
NEW HYUNDAI SANTA FE IS STRONGER, LIGHTER AND QUIETER
Since its introduction in 2000, Hyundai sold more than 1.6 million Santa Fe’s worldwide and we just got to experience the new 2019 model. This is the 2-row example that was previously called the Santa Fe Sport, but Hyundai dropped the “Sport” from its name. There is still a 3-row model, which is now called the Santa Fe XL. While there are a number of improvements for 2019, one of the things that jumped out at us was the advancements to the structure. 67% of the structure is now made from advanced high-strength steel. That helps keep weight down and protects passengers better in a crash and improves torsional stiffness by over 15%. There’s also 45% more structural adhesive compared to the outgoing model. 386-feet vs. 266-feet. Hyundai says this contributed to weight savings that improved fuel efficiency by 1.5%. Another added benefit of structural adhesives is that they do a better job of deadening sound compared to welds. We’ll share more of our thoughts on the new Santa Fe during the week, but we can tell you this is the most structurally sound, best handling and quietest Santa Fe ever made.
The rear suspension in the new Acura RDX looks like it fell off a Formula 1 car. And we’ll tell you more about it, right after this.
ACURA RDX’S NEW MULTI-LINK SUSPENSION
The 2019 Acura RDX is completely new from the ground up. It has a lot of impressive new features but one thing that caught our eye is the rear suspension. On last week’s Autoline After Hours we were joined by Stephen Frey, the Chief Engineer of the RDX, and he shared the improvements to the suspension and its benefits.
(The AAH preview is only available in the video version of today’s show.)
For a deeper dive into the all-new Acura RDX, you can watch that entire show 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 please join us again tomorrow.
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Comments (11)
August 27th, 2018 at 12:15 pm
I don’t think Elon was serious about taking Tesla private. It was just a scheme to raise the price of the stock which it did a lot. Now, the stock is once again down to where it was before that announcement.
August 27th, 2018 at 1:05 pm
Bob Lutz’s take on Elon Musk:
https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/car-technology/a22812531/tesla-replace-elon-musk-bob-lutz-column/?src=nl&mag=rdt&list=nl_rdt_news&date=082418
FWIW, I am neither particularly a fan, or hater of either Musk or Lutz. Actually, I am kind of a fan of Musk’s rocket company. Those booster recoveries are cool.
August 27th, 2018 at 1:35 pm
Lutz has forgotten that those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. After a not memorable career which ended with GM going truly bankrupt and shareholders losing their shirts, Lutz has repeatedly got involved in total loser schemes, vehicles like the failed FIsker and its soon to fail successor. he should take some vacations instead, he only has a few years left.
August 27th, 2018 at 1:46 pm
2 I saw that video with the recovery of 2 of the 3 boosters and how they landed almost simultaneously and upright, several times. Very impressive, and even more is the fact that with Musk’s innovations, the cost of these things have gone down by a factor of 10.
However I am not as big a fan of expensive manned mars programs as Musk is, when one can accomplish most objectives with unmanned missions.
August 27th, 2018 at 2:12 pm
The 2019 Acura RDX shares current CR-V architecture as it did the previous generation and ss it should since they are assembled so close to each other in Ohio. Notice when asked the engineer did not say it wasn’t on the same platform.
At Toyota admits to the RAV4 and Lexus NC share less than half between each other.
August 27th, 2018 at 2:39 pm
4 I saw the double recovery “live and it person” from my condo about 10 miles from the landing site on Canaveral AFB. The third, center one did not land successfully on the barge. From my location, there is a sonic boom a couple seconds after you see the engines shut off after landing.
Neither am I a fan of future human space flight. It was really exciting when “science fiction became reality” with the moon landings about 50 years ago. I was 22 years old, but yeah, a lot more can be learned about the universe for a lot less money with unmanned robotic probes, like Curiosity, and even earlier missions in the 1990′s.
August 27th, 2018 at 2:40 pm
4 I saw the double recovery “live and it person” from my condo about 10 miles from the landing site on Canaveral AFB. The third, center one did not land successfully on the barge. From my location, there is a sonic boom a couple seconds after you see the engines shut off after landing.
Neither am I a fan of future human space flight. It was really exciting when “science fiction became reality” with the moon landings about 50 years ago. I was 22 years old, but yeah, a lot more can be learned about the universe for a lot less money with unmanned robotic probes, like Curiosity, and even earlier missions in the 1990′s.
August 27th, 2018 at 3:12 pm
I don’t think we should focus so much on whether a car is based on another car or not. It’s just laziness if people pre-judge and won’t take the time to really look at the new car. Top Gear used to always complain when they found switches on expensive cars that were identical to ones on family cars. Well, if the switch is good enough for the luxury car, just get over yourself.
It’s amazing what can be done with the same platform. Pretty obvious Stephen Fry wants everyone to approach the RDX as its own car and not a luxoboat CRV. I agree.
August 27th, 2018 at 3:47 pm
With “premium” vs “mainstream” brands, it depends on what you want. I suspect Honda will sell some RDX’s to people who really want to cut their 0-60 time a second or two, by having the 2.0 turbo, and won’t mind the worse gas mileage, and the need for premium gas. If I wanted a vehicle like that, I’d be inclined to save the $10-15K and get by with the 8.2 second (CR’s test) of the cheap one, and do without the somewhat fancier cabin decor. That just me, though.
August 27th, 2018 at 4:21 pm
8) You are thinking exactly like a modern buyer. It is why you see the mainstream brands going upmarket lately. A high spec CRV is a very nice vehicle and there is not enough luxury credibility in Acura to justify a $15k price premium over the comparable Honda. Todays consumer is far more savvy with all the information available to them.
True luxury vehicles that share a platform need to distinguish themselves far more compentently now then in times past. Drive say a Lincoln MKX and a Ford Edge back to back. There isn’t enough distinguishing features to justify buying the lincoln. Maybe if the Lincoln had a unique active suspension, better seats, true leather, better tires, far far far more sound deadining, better tuned exhaust, and far far far more power…Then I could justify buying a lincoln over the comparable ford.
August 27th, 2018 at 5:19 pm
…and luxury “trappings” have trickled down to even basic cars. A base Prius has keyless go, automatic temp control, adaptive cruise, and auto emergency braking, features that used to only be in true luxury cars. Keyless go is still an option in an E-class, or a $60K Porsche Cayman. .