On today’s show…Toyota and PSA expand their partnership…GM shakes up management at its self-driving unit…and what would you spend your time doing in an autonomous car? All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily the voice of the automotive industry.
TOYOTA & PSA EXPAND PARTNERSHIP
Toyota and PSA, the parent company of Peugeot, Citroen and Opel, are expanding their partnership in Europe. Beginning next year, PSA will supply Toyota with a compact commercial van which will be sold in Europe under the Toyota brand. The two companies have collaborated on commercial vehicles since 2012. Toyota also agreed to take full ownership of a plant in the Czech Republic the two companies jointly operate. The plant currently makes the Peugeot 108, Citroen C1 and the Toyota Aygo.
FIAT MAKES BIG INVESTMENT IN ITALY
And speaking of production in Europe, Fiat announced a big investment for its plants in Italy to try and save jobs. Pietro Gorlier, the new head of FCA’s European operations, said it will spend nearly $6 billion over the next three years on new models and engines. Fiat plans on launching 13 new or refreshed models by 2021 and will focus on developing electric and hybrid models. It also wants to create a common platform to build its vehicles on, for more flexibility and to save money.
And if you haven’t done so yet, be sure to check out our coverage of the LA Auto Show. John shares his thoughts on some of the most important reveals from the floor of the show. You can find that coverage in the Autoline on the Road section of our website or on our YouTube channel.
Autonomous vehicles will free up time for passengers, so what will they be doing? We’ll have more about that, right after this.
DAN AMMANN NAMED CEO OF CRUISE
General Motors self-driving unit Cruise is shaking up its management. GM’s President Dan Ammann, is taking over as CEO of the company. Kyle Vogt, the co-founder of Cruise and who had been running the company, is now President and Chief Technology Officer. Honda and Japan’s SoftBank, recently made huge investments in Cruise, which pushed its valuation to $14.6 billion. So now that the company is worth so much, GM probably wanted someone with a financial background running Cruise. Plus, this will allow Vogt and his team to focus on developing the technology while Ammann handles the launch of the autonomous, ride-hailing service which is scheduled to kickoff next year.
HOW WILL YOU SPEND YOUR TIME IN AN AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE?
And with all the talk of fully autonomous cars, have you ever stopped to wonder what you’d do in a vehicle if you didn’t have to pay attention to the road? Market research company, Ipsos surveyed 130,000 car owners in 9 different countries to see what they would do. The large majority of people in North America, Europe and Asia say they would still spend most of their time paying attention to the road. Next would be personal communication, like talking on the phone, followed by sleeping, relaxing and doing work. I think this survey sheds some light on how little trust people have in autonomous cars right now. As we spend more time and get used to AVs, our trust will grow. And I think it will be really interesting to see how different a survey like this is 5, 10 or 15 years down the road.
Coming up next, Nissan has a unique way to get people interested in its EVs.
NEXT-GEN MUSTANG & CONTINENTAL UPDATE
A quick little update here. Back in June we said the next-gen Mustang would be coming in March of 2022 and Lincoln would axe the Continental in 2 years. Well, AutoForecast Solutions reports, that production of the new Mustang is being pushed back a little, to May of 2022 and the Continental will actually stick around until the end of 2021.
NISSAN REVEALS NEW LEAF NISMO RACE CAR
And speaking of updates, Nissan revealed the new version of its LEAF NISMO RC electric race car. Styling has been updated to better reflect the road-going LEAF EV, which also donates its lithium-ion battery and power inverters to the race car. It now features all-wheel-drive with electric motors mounted at the front and rear. Combined they produce 240 kW or a little over 320-horsepower and nearly 475 lb-ft of torque. That’s more than double the power and torque of the previous model. It also does 0-100 kilometers-per-hour in 3.4-seconds, which is 50% faster. Nissan says it plans to build six LEAF NISMO RC vehicles to deploy around the world, so that fans can experience them firsthand. It’s a unique way to get people interested in your EVs.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching, have a great weekend and we’ll see you back here again on Monday.
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Comments (24)
November 30th, 2018 at 12:01 pm
With the advance of the AV …this is just an attack on public transportation system so only the poor who can’t afford an expensive ev/av will be sitting in a bus while the rich will be sitting in a personal “transportation pod”!
And as to the announced investment in Fiat…first increase the quality and redo the “Engineering Design Manual” to correct the many engineering mistakes in the cars. Then maybe you can sell a Fiat badged car!!
November 30th, 2018 at 12:02 pm
How will I spend my time in a driverless car? Pretty much the same way I spend my time as an airplane passenger or an uber passenger, or a train passenger, or a buss passenger. Those studies are already out there and have a lengthy history.
November 30th, 2018 at 12:02 pm
Sean, whatever is light colored on the back of your head is really distracting when watching the show, others here have commented on it too, care to share what it is?
Regarding the survey of what people would do if they didn’t have to drive their AV, they left out the category of getting it on, other surveys have mentioned that people have chosen that as a future endeavor as they make their way down the road. Seems the survey isn’t inclusive enough or maybe they were going for the G rated version.
November 30th, 2018 at 12:18 pm
People will read and comment on Autoline while in autonomous vehicles, like I now sometimes do while waiting for food in restaurants.
November 30th, 2018 at 12:28 pm
Slightly tongue-in-cheek: people will continue to text, listen to the radio, look at the info-tainment screen, put on their makeup, etc.; you know, kind of what they are doing now (when driving).
Where are all these “E” vehicle stylists; they should be designing the regular ICE offering; more times than not, the “E” vehicles are stunning, this takes me back to the Caddie ELR and quite a few others.
November 30th, 2018 at 1:07 pm
AV will appeal to sex workers and bring new meaning to Lyft. The quality of car based mini-bars will improve. Nursing home residents will make a break for it. Some outpatient medical procedures can be done solo.
November 30th, 2018 at 1:19 pm
I would be one to pay attention to the road in an AV. My Job on the otherhand will likely have the expectation that everyone works while travelling in an AV. With internet service being added to planes, they already expect I am accessible while in the air. My car is the last refuge against their 24/7 accessibility expectation.
November 30th, 2018 at 1:24 pm
Yup. Huge Fiat investment in Italy funded by Chrysler USA profits!
November 30th, 2018 at 1:33 pm
Toyota&Peugeot. While peugeot has a lot to gain from this cooperation (assuming they are paying careful attention!), Toyota’s only benefit is access to additional markets it could not go in alone.
Fiat’s investment, Dan Amman. Wake me up when this segment is over.
How will I spend the time in an AV? Unless the weather is clear and sunny, not even a mild rain, I will HAVE to DRIVE IT. How many more premature studies will we have about these nonsense AVs? You are assuming way too much. First make them operate even in moderate RAIN, let alone really FOUL weather, with snow, ice and fog, plus crazy traffic, and then ask.
The image of a dam fool teen in an AV suburban or Navigator, texting nonsense, while the huge vehicle is hogging the highway and wasting precious fuel to transport ONE fool who could have taken the dam BUS or Train instead, is NOT a hopeful one.
I will rather drop dead than be imprisoned in an AV and lose my RIGHT and Privilege to Drive. But if I am 105 and not too healthy and I really need to travel in one of these, then I will bring my personal physician or nurse along.. maybe a manicurist too..
Amazingly, I see a lot of rare Lexus LS 600 H (the big hybrid from 2007-12) rigged with AV and data gathering gear close to where I live, for the last year or so. This vehicle sold for more than $100k (the only Lexus in 6 figures back then) and claims to have V12 performance at V6 MPG (and much better City MPG). I have no clue why they did not use dirt-cheap Yarises instead.
The Continental will certainly not be missed by any true auto Enthusiast. In sharp contrast to the CT6 (NOT the XTS!) which is a great car that would have sold much better if priced right (a theme with Caddys?)
Finally the silly Nissan. They will only build 6? Why bother? Tesla already offers many Tesla S models that can beat its 3.4 acceleration, and can be had at modest premiums over the base S. THOUSANDS of these top spec Ss have already been sold. Is this how Nissan will compete with Tesla? Laughable.
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November 30th, 2018 at 1:36 pm
#8 FCA is #4 in Europe, with 6.7% market share in for 2017. If they can improve the products, that could increase. Yeah, it doesn’t sound like such a good investment now, but if the truck fad in North America ever subsides, Chrysler USA might no longer be doing the funding. I guess time will tell.
November 30th, 2018 at 1:44 pm
9 Yeah, that sounds like quite a waste of the LS hybrids. Maybe they have more weight in electronics, sensors, etc. than a Yaris could carry. Camrys should work, though. Do you know whose project this is? Is Toyota involved?
November 30th, 2018 at 1:48 pm
11 I’d bet Toyota is involved, it has a big research facility a mile from where I work (and live too) maybe it is just one or two LS600Hs but it goes the same parkway I commute each day. I was surprised they were not even regular LS460s. We also have a whole AV fake city here with little Google-ish cars and vans driving around its fake roads and buildings (at least they do not run around the public highways killing squirrels). the director is a colleague from Taiwan who was with me in my first stay in Shanghai in 2006, who sure did well career-wise with this development.
November 30th, 2018 at 1:54 pm
9, 11 a year ago or so when I was looking up 2007-12 LS460s I also did a search on used LS 600 H’s, one could get them for about $20k-25k vs the typical $12-15k for an LS460 of the same vintage. The H weighs a ton (close to 3 tons, 5,400 lbs before passengers and cargo) and should have a great ride, and i could do all my weekly driving on electric mode, due to my short commutes and side trips. But then i was stuck with my first of two diesel E320s, which has passed the two year mark on Oct 17 and still has not needed any repairs whatsoever.
November 30th, 2018 at 2:00 pm
I have some tips for the NA Car of the Year committee.
1. Don’t limit it to just “new” cars. People buy four times as many used cars every year as they buy new cars. Reward excellence, not just the accident that a car is new and there was no competition. I got my latest R&T issue yesterday, and they crowned the ZR1 the best performance car, regardless of price. It beat supercars costing 4 and 5 times as much. THIS is the kind of truly outstanding vehicle which should be on your list. NOT yet another Volvo that does not sell.
2. Pickups: there are just too few new models of these every year. I am surprised you found three this year, but I imagine there are years that only two are new, or just one. Face it, who makes pickups? Only serious makers are GM, Ford and Ram, and next year Jeep, and Toyota. The Nissan Titan sells what, 3 units a month? Same for the Ridgeline. But if you widened the search for the best pickup on sale, New model OR Not, you can reward excellence and provide a valuable service to those who think of buying one.
November 30th, 2018 at 2:10 pm
14 NACTOY had to use two nearly identical trucks to even come up with three. Next year, I guess there will be two, Gladiator and Ranger, or will there be other new ones I’m not thinking of?
November 30th, 2018 at 3:32 pm
I have to agree with Larry D and Kit: Car of the Year; if the new one isn’t better than the existing ones, the best of the year is the previous one. Don’t lower the standard.
November 30th, 2018 at 4:40 pm
Maybe they should just do North American Vehicle of the Year, picked from all of the new ones, and don’t have an award, unless one really stands out. Seeing the list of finalists, I don’t see how any “really stood out” this time.
December 1st, 2018 at 1:29 am
The web link is a YouTube about a guy, passed out drunk who didn’t crash … his Tesla was driving itself. He’ll still get a DUI ticket but he didn’t crash.
December 1st, 2018 at 10:13 am
The news today are dominated by the passing of GHW Bush at 94, but in automotive news there was another significant milestone achieved, the Model 3 has reached production of 1,000 units per day. Assuming they work 24/7, this means almost 30,000 units a month for a sedan priced like the (once) almighty BMW 3 series, which never sold even half that in any month in the US market, and currently at the top of any sedan production numbers, even those two and three times cheaper. Of course this will not continue forever, currently they have 500,000 orders to fill and have not even started selling the 3 in Europe (or China?), but do not assume that they do not have other high volume vehicles, perhaps even more affordable, up their sleeve.
December 1st, 2018 at 11:50 am
This may no longer be what is happening at the Tesla plant in Fremont but here is a link to Tesla Master Plan (stated two shifts), page 14, 4.3 employee count. This is dated 2016 but it also has a lot of other Tesla data: https://fremont.gov/DocumentCenter/View/32093/Tesla-Master-Plan-Final?bidId=
December 1st, 2018 at 5:20 pm
19 I’ve read that they are taking Model 3 orders in China, with deliveries to start in March. The Shanghai factory should be going in 3-4 years. By that time, there will probably be different and/or additional products.
December 2nd, 2018 at 11:31 am
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6449407/Fresh-violence-Paris-riot-police-use-tear-gas-batons.html
maybe we’ll hear about this in tomorrow’s show, as it is related to the protests (finally, after decades of higher and higher gas taxes) of the very high gas prices in Europe.
This was a protest that started in Belgium last week and apparently it spread in the land of regular protests, France, and even Holland.
The protesters cleverly chose to wear an easily visible garment, a reflecting yellow vest, that now identifies their movement.
The damage the protesters did in Paris was considerable.
December 2nd, 2018 at 11:37 am
https://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/global_gasprices/
i was curious what gas prices are currently in France, and I found this old CNN $ link with prices as of 2005. This is interesting to compare with today’s prices, which I could bet are at least 50% higher!
i found this site (don’t know how accurate it is, the prices do not look too high in France or Belgium, maybe they are pre-increase, Nov 2018 prices: They are in Euros per liter. A Euro is $1.1-$1.2 and a liter is 3.875 gal
https://autotraveler.ru/en/spravka/fuel-price-in-europe.html#.XAQJ9_lRdWE
December 2nd, 2018 at 8:51 pm
I guess that’s why gas taxes are kept so low in the U.S. There would be thousands of deaths with a gas tax riot in gun infested America.