This is Autoline Daily reporting on the global automotive industry.
Hi I’m John McElroy. It’s February 15th, 2019. And now the news.
OEMs EXEMPTED FROM STEEL TARIFFS
If you work at a car company or supplier that uses steel and aluminum that was hit with President Trump’s import tariffs, we have a suggestion for you. Stop what you’re doing and write a letter to the Commerce Department asking for an exemption from those tariffs. The Detroit News reports that Commerce granted exemptions to 370 manufacturing companies that import over 4 million tons of steel, including from China and Japan. Even foreign owned automakers with plants in the U.S. got exemptions including Toyota, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen. So far Ford and GM have not asked for exemptions because they mainly use steel and aluminum made in the U.S. But FCA did ask, and it’s going to save over $100 million this year on hot-dip galvanized, carbon sheet-steel coming from Germany.
ELECTRIC KIA SOUL RANGE REVEALED
The first electric Kia Soul had a range of just over 110 miles, but the new one can go much further. Its 64-kWh battery pack, which is also shared with the Niro EV and Kona Electric, provides up to 243 miles on a single charge. The 2020 Soul EV will be on sale soon, so pricing should be announced shortly as well.
FASTEST PRODUCTION EV HYPERCAR
One of the joys of driving electric cars is the instant torque they provide. And a Japanese company is showing just how fast EVs can be. Aspark, a company founded by Masanori Yoshida in 2005, is creating an EV hypercar called the OWL that can move from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in under 1.9 seconds. It’s got a 750v lithium-ion battery pack and two 140 kw electric motors at the front with two 300kw motors at the rear. It has a range of 300 kilometers or about 186 miles based on the WLTP and its speed tops out at 174 MPH or 280 kmh. While the engineering was done in Japan, the OWL will be built in Italy by Manifattura Automobili Torino. The final production version will be revealed at the Dubai auto show this November and deliveries to customers will start in April of 2020.
GM NAMES EBIKE BRAND
General Motors has given a name to its eBike brand. It’s called ARIV and will offer two choices: the Meld, a compact eBike, and the Merge, a folding eBike. They’re able to go up to 25 kilometers per hour or about 15 MPH and travel up to 64 kilometers or about 40 miles on a single charge. The eBikes will first be available in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands and prices range from about 2,800 euros to 3,400 euros.
TENNECO SPLITS IN TWO
Speaking of new names…there’s a major trend in the industry right now, with supplier companies splitting in two, with one half concentrating on traditional technology and the other half going after the new stuff. Tenneco is the latest to split. One half is called DRiV, and will concentrate on aftermarket products with brands like Monroe, Champion, Moog, and Ferodo. The other half will still be called Tenneco and it will concentrate on powertrain technology.
AUDI TEASES Q4 E-TRON CONCEPT
Audi released a few renderings of the Q4 e-tron concept that will debut in Geneva. What jumped out at us, is that the styling is more in line with e-tron GT concept. Notice the thin headlamps, large air inlets in the lower bumper and strong character lines over the wheel wells. The interior is highlighted by sharp lines that draw your eye into the instrument cluster and infotainment screen. It seems very driver focused. And also notice that it looks to have a head up display.
TESLA INTRODUCES NEW FEATURES
Tesla is rolling out more over the air updates. Sentry Mode uses Autopilot’s cameras to keep track of what’s going on around the vehicle. For mild stuff, like someone leaning on the car, a message will pop up on the big center screen. Something more serious, like a window being busted out, the alarm will go off, loud music starts blaring, the owner is notified and 10 minutes of footage is saved on a USB. Tesla also introduced Dog Mode. It’s a cabin temperature control setting for those times customers need to leave their pet in the vehicle. A message even shows up on the screen that displays the temperature inside the vehicle and a note that the pet’s owner will be back soon, so don’t break the windows to let the dogs out.
AUTO INDUSTRY STRUGGLING TO FILL JOBS
There are thousands of jobs in the auto industry going begging. And the number one problem for automakers and suppliers is they are struggling to fill those jobs. That’s the topic on Autoline This Week. We’re joined by two experts in recruitment and in the following clip, they explain just how big of a problem it is.
(The ATW preview is only available in the video version of today’s show.)
For more about the struggle to fill automotive jobs, you can watch that entire discussion right now on our website, Autoline.tv or on our YouTube channel.
But that wraps up today’s show, thanks for watching and have a great weekend.
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Comments (27)
February 15th, 2019 at 12:36 pm
I have seen this many times. A large company will be laying off employees in one group and hiring in another group at the same time. You would think they would try finding jobs for their employees in the hiring group even if some training was required, but they don’t. Some of it is getting rid of older employees and replacing them with younger employees and so they can pay them less, some of it is getting rid of low performers, and some of it is to transitioning to new technology/products faster at the expensive of current employees.
My recommendation to employees is to keep your skills and resume current and “Follow The MONEY”. Watch for the groups that have growing budgets and are getting majority of the company’s focus. These are the groups you have to move to. Staying in your comfort zone in a group that is on the out will lead to unemployment.
February 15th, 2019 at 1:25 pm
I’ll have to watch the show but the first thing that comes to mind is , are they having trouble finding talent at least partly because so much auto manufacturing has migrated to Mexico taking the talent with it?
Apple has stated that is one of the things stopping them from manufacturing more in the North America- there just isn’t the talent here like there is in China.
February 15th, 2019 at 2:06 pm
Why would anyone with choices want to work in an industry that will kick you to the curb if they think they can make 10 cents more on their bottom line? I think today’s workers have seen the lack of respect and little regard the auto companies and their suppliers have for keeping people around when the going gets a little rough, I worked at GM for 12 years and as soon as they hit a rough patch me and the group I was in was terminated instead of transferring us to a new group that was starting up. I think today’s workers are too smart to fall for all the worthless promises the car companies come up with for employment knowing they will cut you loose as soon as their profit sharing is even the least bit threatened. I have no pity for their sob story of not having enough workers, they did it to themselves with the way they treated their workers in the past. And people wonder why unions still exist…..
February 15th, 2019 at 5:05 pm
Ziggy—–Greed rules the world!
February 15th, 2019 at 7:38 pm
3 I was in on the tail end of cars companies being good places to work, both for production and salary people. Those days are gone.
February 16th, 2019 at 10:20 am
I worked in the automotive industry for 33 years (for the same company). I think it is a little bit of chicken and egg with employer/employee loyalty. While the industry was less loyal to the employees, I also think the employees were less loyal to the employer. In the later years, most new hires from day one had no expectations or desire to be “lifers”. The job was just an experience and stepping stone to next, hopefully better job for more pay or perks. We had some talented young people and they often got recognized and “fast tracked” with promotions and groomed for management, yet that only made them more marketable to a competitor or other industry, and off they went.
February 16th, 2019 at 10:37 am
6 Bob,
I think you are pretty much on the right path as to your evaluation of the general workforce of today. Even the very high muckity, mucks trade positions where (they think) the grass is greener. Funny when you hear the ‘heads of state’ describe their company and how it’s the best of the best. Then they move and their new company takes that accolade over. I don’t blame them (too much) but miss some loyalty that should sometimes be shown (especially if that head of state was given a great opportunity that they might not have naturally gained from some other). Just some ramblings (in my head); I know this doesn’t hold true for every situation as there can be so many permutations in employment scenarios.
February 16th, 2019 at 10:39 am
@6, Bob. What you describe seems to be in most industries now, young workers are not interested in long term employment, and I think you are spot on. I am retired now but was an “Old School” long term employee in the retail car industry. this just seems to be the way it is. Oh well.
February 16th, 2019 at 1:02 pm
Back when companies had defined pensions, there was more incentive to stay the same place. Also, the amount of paid vacation increased with time at the company.
February 16th, 2019 at 5:13 pm
The onetime “big 3″ had lots of power over their suppliers and squeezed them dry. Supplier companies had fewer complaints about Honda, Toyota and other imports, who treated them more humanely and decently than the greedy beancounters of the big 3 did. Of course, one consequence of asking the suppliers to offer lower and lower prices, was lower and lower quality, and after a few decades, guess who went bankrupt, the Greedsters or the Import Makers?
February 16th, 2019 at 5:24 pm
Before i did my weekly groceries shopping this afternoon I dropped by the public library to get 4 DVDs I had reserved, and took a look at the mags, the new Consumer Reports issue was there and had lots of interesting tests and data. Unfortunately I was not able to read them slowly and carefully and what I write is from memory anyway, because as soon as I sat down to read them, a colleague who is in his second semester of paid sick leave (has early Alzheimers and also liguid in the brain that they cannot operate to remove due to some ventricle problems) showed up and we had a rather long talk instead.
Surprising CR opinions and results:
The darling of the auto press, the Genesis G 70, was tested and found rather deficient, scores at 70, and got only 23 MPG, the same 23 MPG the far bigger, far more powerful BMW x5 tested on the RHS of the same page got (only diff, the 70 runs on regular and they put premium on the X5). The G 70 had a lousy 2.0 lt 4 and the X5 the great 3.0 BMW 6.
The G 70 was deficient in several areas, incl. long stopping distances. In sharp contrast, the testers at CR pronounced the X5 the best SUV they EVER tested, gave it a test drive score of a 98 (!) and an overall score of 88.
Then they had a long list of how much owners are happy with their own vehicles, admittedly a subjective number, but very important too. They had a summary graphic of the best and the worst models.
The very top ones were, not surprisingly, the Porsche 911, which, surprisingly, tied for 1st place at 92 with the little rookie the Tesla 3!!! The Tesla S and X were also high up there.
The Corvette, the Prius, 86 the Avalon, 88 were also high.
The worst losers were, not surprisingly, the Dodge Journey with 46 and, more surprisingly, the Acura ILX (what the hell is that? A civic clone? an HR-V clone?) with an equally dismal, failing score. The complete list evaluates over 100 models.
February 16th, 2019 at 5:46 pm
11. I saw that CR a few days ago, and yeah, the so-so review of the G70 was, well, interesting.
The ILX is Civic-based. It may even be one generation behind the current Civic, but not sure.
February 16th, 2019 at 5:54 pm
11 Challenger and Wrangler are always high in CR’s owner satisfaction survey. Neither is a great vehicle in some ways, but the people who buy them know what they are getting, and that’s what they wanted.
February 16th, 2019 at 8:09 pm
Also, among cars that people would buy again, according to CR’s owner satisfaction survey:
Charger
Bolt
Stinger
5 Series
G80
G90
Camaro
GTi
Cayman
Boxter
Ridgeline
Model X
Ram 1500
Macan
X3
Q7
and others. Those stood out.
February 17th, 2019 at 7:15 am
I’ve always bought what I wanted despite recommendations (and a lot of times warnings from C.R.) and have been generally happy with my picks. Two notables that I’ve had probably the most mechanical troubles with were an ’80 Chevy Citation X-11 and an ’84 Jeep Cherokee; loved them both (despite some repair woes).
February 17th, 2019 at 9:01 am
Correction to my #15post; not that important but to be correct, it was a 1988 Jeep Cherokee (oh, and it was the Pioneer model).
February 17th, 2019 at 10:08 am
12 I think the results are more than just interesting, they are also very surprising, and, despite all the “employee of the month” awards, show that the Koreans failed yet (for the tenth time) to come up with a decent luxury performance car. This one the G 70 was supposed to be a 3 series fighter, and they are indeed fighting the last war, since the Model 3 is now eating the 3 series Lunch, and everybody and his mother-in-law are developing Model 3 fighters.
For a 3 series fighter, having long braking distances is inexcusable and dangerous. And for an almost Honda Civic sized car, the 23 mpg is really lousy, when a 5,000 lb behemoth with a 355 HP 3 lt 6 like the X5 also gets the exact same 23 MPG in the CR test. Utter failure for G 70, and if you disagree, watch its sales for the proof.
February 17th, 2019 at 10:11 am
12 if indeed the ILX is one model older than the current much improved and best selling (despite sedans and hatches being out of fashion) Civic, this obviously is inexcusable, and the consumers have punished Acura severely for it.
Buying a car, especially a new car, is an emotional decision. Buyers want to have fun with their vehicles, which explains the popularity of the iconic Wrangler and even the potent Challenger.
February 17th, 2019 at 10:16 am
14 These scores are owner reported scores and one would expect them all to be high or very high, since the buyers chose the vehicle because they liked it. I liked all the cars I owned, even the alleged 46 MPG Pontiac 2000 83, which would only get 42 MPG and that at 55 MPH and had a crude 5 sp manual transmission. When I would get the next, and usually better one, I would see the weaknesses of the previous one more vividly.
So except if the car is a total lemon, I would not expect any owner, even those who bought the Elantra or the Soul or esp the Versa, to give them low points.
We have plenty of examples of posters here who are very happy with cars the rest of us would not be. Including the guy with the Fusion Lincoln which he claimed he takes to the .. track because it has 400 HP, the other with the Mitsu bargain priced SUV etc.
So for buyers to give the Journey or the Acura ILX a 46, they would have to be dismally bad, unless their parents forced them on them to drive.
February 17th, 2019 at 10:19 am
15 The useful part of the CR car reports are the actual data and their convenient tabulation. Their MPG numbers were always more meaningful than the lab-based EPA numbers. Their opinions about how the car handled were subjective, and the owner reported reliability data could be shot down by academic statisticians all day long, especially those for top end six figure models for which they have tiny (if at all) samples.
February 17th, 2019 at 3:01 pm
I have a 2017 Journey. I like it fine. Lots of room in the back with the 3rd row down, AWD, great looking (Blacktop edition), first of the current vehicles with the 8.4″ infotainment system. Has a CD/DVD player included in-dash along with the other available tech. Has the 287 HP 3.6 V-6 and the reliable 6-speed trans. Don’t expect 30 mpg, 20 is fine. Has a nice size gas tank. Filler is on the left where it’s supposed to be. Ride might be stiff, but that’s expected with the “performance” suspension. Very popular around the SE Michigan region. I rarely accept the Consumer Reports ratings. A 26 for the Wrangler? Get serious. It’s a specialty vehicle! Got off CR when they called the ’78 Omni and Horizons as dangerous when they did a test of sudden steering that didn’t return as they thought it should. I had four over the years and never had a problem, the best being a 1985 GLH turbo.
February 17th, 2019 at 3:28 pm
21 I remember the CR report on the OmniRison in ’78. I, too, though it was silly, because the thing they didn’t like, was that the car/steering would go into an oscillation if you turned the wheel half a turn, getting the car cornering and leaning, and then let go of the wheel. No one would do that in normal driving.
As far as CR now, I find it to be interesting, and useful. As Larry said, their mpg numbers are much more useful than the EPA numbers. Also, the road tests themselves are useful, if you read them and look at the charts, not just the numbers. A Wrangler ranked low because of ride, noise, seat comfort, ease of access, on-road handling, braking, lack of some of the latest safety gadgets, etc. You can find out what they do, and don’t like about a vehicle by, and buy accordingly. Most Wrangler buyers don’t care much about those things, since they bought the vehicle, and most of them say they would buy it again, if they could re-make the buying decision.
As far as the Journey, a basic, FWD one would make a reasonable replacement for my 30 year old minivan, if you can easily remove the rear seats, or if they fold down to make a flat floor.
February 17th, 2019 at 3:40 pm
20 The CR reliability data is better than it once was. A few years ago, they quit publishing data if they had fewer than 100 responses for a car model. Yeah, I’m sure a statistician could poke holes in the way the data is reported, and its statistical significance. I figure it is better than no data at all, not that it affects what cars I buy.
February 17th, 2019 at 3:47 pm
19 Only two vehicles were in the very lowest “would you buy it if you could do over” category, Sentra and ILX. A majority of vehicles seem to be in the 61-80% category.
February 17th, 2019 at 4:02 pm
17 I know one person who has a Genesis, a base G80, and it fits what he wanted perfectly. It has a non-turbo V6, simple displays and controls, comfortable leather seats, a long warranty, and lots of standard safety gadgets. To him, it was an E-Class at a $20K discount. It will probably depreciate more quickly than an E-Class, but he’ll probably keep it long enough that it won’t matter.
The G80 and E300 (2.0 turbo) are nearly identical in acceleration. The Benz got 20% better mpg than the G80 in CR’s tests, 24 vs 20, but the Benz is supposed to get premium, which costs about 30% more than regular in my area. I don’t know if the E300 really needs premium, or if premium is “recommended but not required,” as with some cars I have, and have had.
February 18th, 2019 at 8:37 pm
Mr Buzzerd, china’s main talent is in shoddy merchandise –across the board
February 19th, 2019 at 4:05 am
Gee. Maybe that imported steel and aluminum wasn’t such a “SECURITY THREAT” after all. Go Figger…..
If all OEM’s had to do was wait a while, and ask for an exemption, maybe there was just the ‘tiny hands’ guy, having a tantrum.
What a bozo.