AD #2424 – Details on New Trade Agreement, Mercedes & Kia Teasers Look Very Similar, New Auto Lighting Company
August 29th, 2018 at 11:34am
Runtime: 6:51
0:31 Details on U.S. & Mexico Trade Agreement
1:31 Musk Back to His Twitter Ways
2:08 Gigafactory Getting Its Solar Roof
2:55 Magna Forms New Auto Lighting Company
3:42 Teasers From Kia and Mercedes
4:12 Aretha Franklin’s Final Ride in Classic Hearse
5:04 Toyota Wants to Triple China Production
5:47 SAE Out to Change AV Perception
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On today’s show… Trump’s new trade agreement puts a cap on Mexican car imports… the latest cars from Mercedes and Kia look like they came out of the same studio… and if you want to get to heaven, you might need a classic hearse. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily the voice of the automotive industry.
DETAILS ON NEW TRADE AGREEMENT
We’re getting more details on the new trade agreement between the United States and Mexico. It includes a cap of 2.4 million car exports from Mexico to the United States. Anything above that gets hit with a 25% import tariff. Last year Mexico exported almost 1.8 million vehicles to the U.S., so the cap actually allows exports to grow. And if exports of Mexican-made parts to the U.S. exceeds $90 billion, they’ll get hit with tariffs. To avoid all tariffs, Mexican-made cars have to have 75% of their value made in North America. Automakers can count all the design and engineering they do in the US and Mexico as part of their local content. That benefits GM, Ford and FCA, as well as Toyota, Honda and Nissan, who have large engineering facilities in the US.
MUSK BACK TO HIS TWITTER WAYS
Elon Musk is at it again. Back in July, he called the British diver who helped rescue the boys trapped in that cave in Thailand a pedophile. That diver said Musk’s attempt to save the boys by sending over a small submarine was a PR stunt. We thought that story was over and done with but Elon can’t let dead dogs lie. He’s tweeting that the diver didn’t sue him, after he said he would, implying the diver has something to hide. Sure seems to us that Elon is trying to distract everyone from his failed attempt to take the company private.
GIGAFACTORY GETS SOLAR ROOF
Here’s what Elon should be tweeting about. Tesla has finally started installing solar panels on the roof of its Gigafactory in Nevada. The facility was designed for a 70MW solar array on the roof, and by the end of 2019 the Gigafactory will be powered 100% by renewable energy.
Do Mercedes and Kia have spies in their design studios? That’s coming up next.
LET THERE BE LIGHT!
Whether it’s part of the design or just helping the driver to see better, lighting plays a bigger role today than it ever has before. And the giant supplier Magna just formed a new joint venture with lighting company Rohinni, called Magna Rohinni Automotive. Rohinni is known for making thin-film micro and mini LEDs that are brighter, lighter, more energy efficient and flexible. You know how some display screens are hard to read in direct sunlight? Well, Rohinni says its ultra bright LEDs solve that problem and in some cases use 96% less power. And the lights can be used in almost any application. The new joint venture will be based in Michigan.
ARE KIA & MERCEDES SPYING ON EACH OTHER?
Yesterday we got this teaser from Mercedes-Benz of the rear end of its EQC electric which makes its official global debut next week. And then this morning we got this teaser from Kia of the rear end of the new ProCeed which makes its official debut the week after next. Man, it looks like the rear ends of both these cars came out of the same studio. No wonder the public is starting to think that all new cars look the same.
FINAL RIDE IN A CLASSIC HEARSE
There’s an old time song that goes, “Oh you can’t get to heaven in an old Ford car, ‘cause an old Ford car won’t get that far.” But maybe you can get to heaven in an old Cadillac LaSalle hearse. Aretha Franklin, the singing legend who passed away earlier this week, is taking her final ride in the same 1940 LaSalle hearse that was used to carry her father at his funeral.
A lot of people say they hate autonomous cars, until they get in one. More on that after this.
TOYOTA MAKING BIG PUSH IN CHINA
Toyota is able to make a little over a million vehicles in China and sold about 1.3 million cars there last year. But it plans drastically increase those numbers. According to Bloomberg, the automaker is targeting production of 3.5 million vehicles a year in China by 2030, while boosting imports to half a million. Toyota will increase capacity at its two existing facilities to build more plug-in hybrids and EVs and will also build an all-new factory. The automaker hopes the move will help it gain ground on rivals Volkswagen and General Motors, who both delivered more than 4 million vehicles in China.
SAE OUT TO CHANGE AV PERCEPTION
All the polls show that the public is leery of autonomous cars. Of course, most of the public has never seen an autonomous car, they’ve never been in one, and they have no clue how the technology works. Well the Society of Automotive Engineers is out to change all that. They arranged for members of the public to go for a ride in an autonomous car, and that completely changed their perception. We’ll have David Shutt, the president of the SAE, joining us for Autoline After Hours tomorrow. He’ll be talking about their AV demonstration and what they found. So join john and Gary for some of the best insights into what’s going on in the automotive industry.
And with that we wrap up today’s report. Thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.
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Comments (28)
August 29th, 2018 at 11:45 am
we could not care less about Musk’s tweets that have nothing to do with the focus of this broadcase, ie, the automotive industry.
What I would really be interested to know is, why the huge discrepancy between Tesla sales estimates by Wards (9,300 last july) and other estimates posted here which are almost twice as many? Even Ward’s are over 50% higher than the outdated 6,000 Automotive News July Tesla sales estimate.
August 29th, 2018 at 11:49 am
The relentless shoving down our throats of AVs and all these pie in the sky rosy scenaria about them is the wrong way to go about this.
Auto Enthusiasts do not want a dumb robot (which, BTW, is NOT perfect, as it was designed by a dumb human) to make decisions for them.
They, at best, want the Tools and they want the freedom to CHOOSE to use them. Such as lane departure warnings and the like, which are already available in upscale cars and SUVs.
August 29th, 2018 at 12:03 pm
2 Technology like lane departure warning, like other things, keeps trickling down. The Camry hybrid I drove a few weeks ago had it. The system would beep if leaving a lane without signaling, and gently tug on the steering wheel. The car was the bottom trim level, but the lane departure warning was an option.
August 29th, 2018 at 12:19 pm
Kia/Hyundai are not new to the copying of design; there are many examples of almost clone-like designs, but with almost simultaneous reveals, perhaps they do have spies (at other companies).
I’m not totally against autonomous cars, however, seems that when they are force fed (to us enthusiasts), they kind of leave a ‘sour’ taste in one’s mouth. And the same goes for electrics; when they come, they come, I don’t need a constant reminder that they are just around the corner. I’ll parallel my remark with another example: the news in my area constantly bombards (us/me) with the hurricane prediction even when none are on the horizon; seems premature to keep everyone on edge the whole season when in this day and age, with proper warning of an approaching storm, there is time for preparation (without the constant blather that there’s sure to be one ‘sometime’ this season). Sorry for the rant; I shall step down from my soapbox.
August 29th, 2018 at 12:23 pm
I drove 1,360 miles last week from Florida to Tennessee and back, attending the memorial service of a family member. I would’ve adored an autonomous vehicle, particularly since I came down with a headcold on Saturday night and drove home Sunday with a box of tissues on my lap, generating titanic sneezes every couple of minuts.
August 29th, 2018 at 12:40 pm
On the taillights – check out the Lincoln MKC LED taillights since 2015 – Porsche’s seems to my eye to be incredibly similar…
August 29th, 2018 at 12:53 pm
Elon Musk’s logic: “If a Thai diver living in Thailand does not sue me, with my $ 20 billion net worth, in the U.S., he must be guilty.” I hope Elon applies better logic when doing the job he is supposed to do.
And I hope for Elon that the Thai diver does not sue him in a court in Thailand; the outcome may be very different from what he expects.
August 29th, 2018 at 1:20 pm
Sean/John – Some input from the other side since it appears you are receiving criticism for your presentation today. While many times I really don’t care about St Elon & his ramblings, and believe he is just trying to distract people from the bad news he generates, I do give him credit for many of the good things he has accomplished – Honesty on his part would be good. In addition, not in the market for an AV since I enjoy driving (particularly on roads with curves), I do enjoy your input on keeping us informed on these items.
Long winded way of saying “Please continue informing us as you have”.
Thanks for the knowledge.
August 29th, 2018 at 1:22 pm
5 why not fly instead? The distance is too long to drive for such a short stay.
August 29th, 2018 at 1:25 pm
Will lane departure warning work on twisty country roads with constant sharp turns and curves? And in these cases it is usually one lane each way, which produces far more serious collisions. Two cars against each other going 50 MPH collide with 100 MPH, while on the interstate, a car going 100 hits another going 70 with a mere 30 mph
August 29th, 2018 at 1:32 pm
8 JWH Says:
August 29th, 2018 at 1:20 pm
“… While many times I really don’t care about St Elon & his ramblings, and believe he is just trying to distract people from the bad news he generates…”
I cannot think of any serious “bad news” Musk has generated, he has faced big problems and, unlike GM and Chrysler, who went Broke and Tesla has not, he made sacrifices, slept on the floor of the plant and solved them. This is how a CEO i can respect should behave.
by comparison, Ford’s Mark Fields made a mess, got himself fired, and cried all the way to the bank to get an utterly undeserved $57 million parting bonus for being a lousy CEO.
I know I am a tiny minority in this, the industry contains millions who work for the domestics and especially their dealers whom Tesla is going over their heads to sell its cars directly to the consumer. Not surprising at all so many dislike (not to say hate) Tesla.
August 29th, 2018 at 1:37 pm
#9
Because I refuse to pay for the privilege of being treated like some sort of potentially criminal cattle. I despise the “security theater” that is foisted on us as being helpful as much as I despise the “We don’t care. We don’t have to.” attitude of the air carriers.
Curmudgeon I am. I admit it.
August 29th, 2018 at 1:46 pm
12 I fully agree with you. I also hate to fly under those conditions, . And after 9/11 it has really become very bad, with the lines and the whole production and taking off shoes and belts and all that.
I used to drive any business trip I could that was less than 700 miles one way, if I had the time. Usually they paid me a nice 50-55 cents a mile when i did it, and one year my private car made a net profit because of 5 trips to wash DC. paid for all expenses and service, even a small repair.
And if you own a really nice car, you drive really first class
August 29th, 2018 at 1:49 pm
12 Other than that, how do you like Flying?
To me, flying vs driving would be a hard call for that trip of ~700 miles each way. It’s about 10 hours of driving each way, assuming the drive is mostly on the interstate. If you fly, you need to be at the airport two hours early. The flight time, departure to gate is about two hours. Then, if you need to rent a car, that takes time, etc.
When I’m going 1100 miles one way, I generally fly, unless I’m going to stay at the new location for an extended time.
August 29th, 2018 at 1:56 pm
As far as Elon tweeting, it’s fine if he wants to talk about cars, rockets, etc., but he really needs to avoid talking about stock manipulation transactions, and needs to avoid international name calling discussions.
August 29th, 2018 at 2:45 pm
I have compared Musk in the 21st century with Henry Ford in the 20th.
If you want to continue the comparison on non-auto related stuff, you have Musk’s tweets in bad form, but compared to Henry Ford’s bigotry and blatant antisemitism ( Henry Ford was not just a bigot who kept quiet about his prejudices, he published a paper, and even accepted a decoration of some kind from Adolf Hitler, I have recently seen a photo with Nazi bigwigs and Ford in their middle.
So if you think Musk is bad, Henry Ford was 1,000 times worse.
August 29th, 2018 at 2:53 pm
Henry also had hired thugs, to beat up union organizers.
August 29th, 2018 at 2:55 pm
17 that too, but I bet others like Ford did that too, Carnegie for sure.
August 29th, 2018 at 2:59 pm
4 re Autonomous cars, a lot of the news items about them here are some studies that make projections. It should be made clear that these forecasts are not facts, but opinions that may or may not materialize.
But most of the problem is in the marketing of the idea, stuffing it down our throats, as if 10 years from now everybody will be sitting in an autonomous car and texting instead of driving and paying attention on the road.
August 29th, 2018 at 3:06 pm
It looks like Mercedes and Kia copied the new Porsche Cayenne’s taillamp design.
August 29th, 2018 at 3:15 pm
10 My experience with lane departure warning is limited, but I think it would work on twisty country roads, if the edge of the road has a painted line. It might not do much good, though, because a lane departure would tend to be more abrupt, than a gradual drift out of a lane on a multilane highway.
August 29th, 2018 at 3:57 pm
On the Mexican trade “agreement”, it sounds about weak as the “great” deal Trump negotiated with South Korea. His bragging point was that he increased the number of vehicles each US OEM could import into Korea without a tariff from 25,000 to 50,000 annually, which sounds great, until you realize that no US OEM imports more than 11,000. Lots of talk with no meaningful gain.
August 29th, 2018 at 7:36 pm
Elon tweets on Tuesday and the titteratti catch the vapors. Thanks to the Tesla ‘short’ complaints, I read the TSLA filings at the SEC. So today, I picked up 60 shares of TSLA at my asking price and I’m very happy.
There are no guarantees but this reminds me of when I bought Apple stock before their first laptop came out. I made over 30% profit in six weeks. That is where Tesla is today with a killer car, the Model 3, established production facilities, and a backlog of eager customers.
I expect Elon to pick up more shares at today’s discounted price. In effect, the ‘shorts’ are using Elon tweets to discount TSLA stock and making them quite affordable.
Bob Wilson
August 29th, 2018 at 7:55 pm
23 Good luck. I’m not enough of a gambler to do that, or buy Apple, but you may do well.
August 30th, 2018 at 12:17 am
#24 – not gambling as much as a forced hand.
I’m 68 and at age 70.5, at least 27% of my 401k will be forcibly taken out and sent to me. My 401k holding company also reports I should be 50/50 between stocks and bonds. Finally, I have to keep my income low this year to get a break on our Medicare B premium and not trip up into the next tax bracket. So I took out ~1/3d holding back 20% Federal and 2% State taxes.
Once the money was in my brokerage account, I put in a low, price limited, bid. Based upon past performance, my guess is the end of August would be a local minimum. Then Elon tweeted. BINGO!
I thought it would take a week to catch my buy-low price but it came in early.
August 30th, 2018 at 1:48 am
25 you got the rules wrong. Once you turn 70.5, you do NOT have to withdraw 27% of the 401k, but the ratio of what you have by 27, or 100/27= 3.8% or so. These are the so called MRW, minimum required withdrawals. You can withdraw more if you want to. The 3.8% is just for the first year, as you get older you naturally need to withdraw a minimum each year which goes up every year.
If you are like me, who saved and contributed the max, and your investments on average did well, you will have a significant amount in the 401k (very few do), and the TAXES when you withdraw the ever increasing minima will be considerable.
But what does this have to do with buying Tesla or Apple shares? Nothing.
August 30th, 2018 at 1:50 am
Previews of coming attractions. I bet one of the items tomorrow will be Moody’s downgrading Ford. Apparently Hackett’s Hatchet on all ford cars failed to impress Wall Street.
August 30th, 2018 at 2:37 am
27 glad I have only a small amount of Ford