This is Autoline Daily reporting on the global automotive industry.
BMW AND DAIMLER PARTNER ON MOBILITY
BMW and Daimler are teaming up on mobility services to offer around the world. The two companies are investing one billion euros in a partnership that will create five new joint ventures: for multimodal services, charging, taxi ride hailing, parking and car sharing. Customers will be able to use the services through an app. Over time, the automakers say the hope is to form a single mobility service portfolio with an all-electric, self-driving fleet of vehicles that charge and park autonomously and interconnect with other modes of transport. While mobility services are growing in popularity, it still isn’t known how the market will shake out. So by teaming up like this, BMW and Daimler will be able to share costs while experimenting in new services.
GM TO CONTINUE MAKING IMPALA AND CT6
Workers at GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant got a bit of good news. The company announced it will remain open for another seven months. Last November, the automaker announced it planned to idle the plant and four other facilities as part of a restructuring move. The Detroit-Hamtramck plant was scheduled to stop producing vehicles in June but now will continue to build the Chevy Impala and Cadillac CT6 until January 2020. The Chevy Volt and Buick LaCrosse were also built at that plant but production of those models ended on February 15th.
LEXUS HITS BIG MILESTONE
Lexus hit a big milestone. Toyota’s luxury brand just sold its 10 millionth vehicle globally since its debut. About a million and a half of those are hybrid vehicles. The automaker also set a sales record in 2018. Last year the company sold just under 700,000 units globally, an increase of 4.5%.
PEUGEOT SHOWS OFF NEW 208
Peugeot is baring the teeth of the new 208. Check out the fang-like Daytime Running Lights on the B segment car, which is now longer, wider and lower than the outgoing model. And the three vertical lines you see in the headlights are also carried over into the rear taillights. Under the hood will be a range of 3- and 4-cylinder gasoline and diesel engines as well as an all-electric option. A 100-kW electric motor is paired to a 50-kWh battery pack, which helps return up to 340-kilometers or 211-miles of range. And that’s based on the new WLTP fuel economy test. When the new 208 goes on sale later this year it will also feature Peugeot’s latest i-Cockpit infotainment system, including a 3D head-up display and a host of driver assist technologies.
BMW MAKES VEHICLE INTERACTION EASIER
BMW is combining voice command technology with gesture control and gaze recognition to revolutionize how customers can interact with their vehicles. For example, someone could point at a window or swipe past the moon roof and say “open” to open a window. Or point at something inside the vehicle and ask “what’s that?” to get an explanation of a system and/or how it works. But it’s not just limited to in-vehicle. You can also point at buildings, like restaurants and movie theaters to learn more about them or book reservations or buy tickets. The i-NEXT, which is scheduled to come out in 2021, will be the first BMW with some of these features.
HOW TO MAKE AN ELECTRIC HOT ROD
On last week’s Autoline After Hours we were joined by Dave Fulton, an EV Powertrain expert from the supplier BorgWarner. And during the show, he talked about what it would take to engineer an electric hot rod and what would need to happen to make it work.
(The AAH preview is only available in the video version of today’s show.)
To learn more about EV powertrains, you can watch that entire discussion right now on our website, or you can find it on our YouTube channel.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.
Share
Permalink
Comments (35)
February 25th, 2019 at 11:59 am
BMW and Diamler throw even more money at autonomous ride sharing. It still amazes me how much money is being thrown at these two concepts that will never work globally. Autonomy and ride sharing will most likely never expand beyond major cities that are in perfect climate conditions.
Maybe I just like simplicity in my vehicles but the BMW interaction is not anything I would be interested in having. Sounds like a solution to question that no one asked for.
February 25th, 2019 at 12:05 pm
In addition to the delayed closing of GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant, and according to an article at the GM Authority site, more than the initial 275 CT6-V’s will be produced for the ’19 model year. Also announced, according to that article, a second generation CT6 is also in the works.
Hey Peugeot’s 208; I don’t hate it (at least it looks good). IMO
I really didn’t care much for when the automobile started talking to the driver (via voice; I think that started sometime in the ’80′s) and fortunately that mostly went away; and I certainly don’t want to talk to my car either (give me a button please). If I’m seen talking to someone/something while driving alone, I fear that my sanity, which may already be subject to scrutiny, would be confirmed as a no-doubt reality (that I’ve lost it).
February 25th, 2019 at 12:07 pm
I have enough problems with our cars asking what we want when we’re just having a conversation. Imagine how annoying it would be to have it also interpreting simple hand gestures! Reaching for your coffee gets a lecture on the history of the coffee bean. Turn right at this corner would make a restaurant reservation for the six people in the car.
February 25th, 2019 at 12:07 pm
That BMW interaction might sound like great technology, but if it is anything like Alexa, it will be subject to misinterpretations. Automotive misinterpretations can be very distracting while driving… and can be potentially dangerous.
February 25th, 2019 at 12:08 pm
The real Hot Rod question is “can or how” do I mate an auxiliary electric system “hybrid” for fast burn outs and quarter mile type speed burst!
February 25th, 2019 at 12:26 pm
#5 Find any youtube videos on how to tub a Tesla S? At some point your limited to tire adhesion.
February 25th, 2019 at 12:29 pm
It is apparently pretty easy to make an electric hot rod, if you don’t need to go very far. There were very quick electric dragsters a decade or so ago.
February 25th, 2019 at 12:34 pm
I’d think it would be hard to maintain quality in a plant like Detroit-Hamtramck, where the employees know they will get the axe in a few months. I wouldn’t think morale would be too high.
February 25th, 2019 at 12:37 pm
Generally I just need machines to do what I tell, most of the time when they start guessing or ” interpreting ” my commands swearing follows.
February 25th, 2019 at 12:44 pm
The first “talking cars” I remember, were Chrysler K cars, maybe just the fancier versions. No one liked it then, and probably very few people like it now. I don’t use voice recognition either, even though, from what I’ve heard, it works pretty well in Corvettes like mine.
February 25th, 2019 at 2:05 pm
electric hot rods,not quite main stream yet but i’m sure soon. an e copo camaro is currently running in the 9′s which i find pretty impressive
February 25th, 2019 at 2:41 pm
Electric cars are ideal for impressive 0-60 times. You have instant response, and 4wd, good for quick standing start acceleration, is simple to do, with a motor for each axle, or even a motor for each wheel. Also, since electric motors have maximum torque at zero rpm, you don’t need a shifting transmission, saving milliseconds wasted while a conventional transmission shifts. Of course, if you do many of those sub 4 second 0-60 runs, you will quickly run out of battery, and not be able to go very far.
February 25th, 2019 at 2:57 pm
12 Drag races and jack rabbit starts are usually a quarter mile or so long. It is completely unrealistic to assume that anybody on this planet who goes on a 500 mile trip would want to do it in 1/4 mile drag races, where battery would be an issue.
February 25th, 2019 at 3:02 pm
2 “..If I’m seen talking to someone/something while driving alone, I fear that my sanity..”
That was my first reaction when I first saw some young guy in a suit walking down the street, gesticulating like a lunatic and talking into the air, to apparently nobody, not even into his cellphone, to later realize he had one of these little horn like devices up his ear and was talking to a tiny mike near his mouth.
A comedian once commented why God is not talking to people any more, like he or she did in the old times (“Abraham! Get your skinny ass off your couch, take your son to the forest and slaughter him for me, would you?”), and then concluded that maybe he still does, to all those people walking down the street gesticulating and talking back to nobody in particular)
February 25th, 2019 at 3:39 pm
13 No argument here. If I had a Model 3 performance, I would “get on it” occasionally for fun, maybe the most fun would be staying with a Z06 Corvette up any remotely legal speed, but driving “for range” most of the time.
If you use the performance for an extended time, like on a track, you might need a long break before driving home. R and T did a track test with a Model 3 performance, and got about 1/6 the normal range, when doing laps on the track.
February 25th, 2019 at 3:46 pm
#8 The quality systems that are used today provide a much better handle on what is going on out on the manufacturing floor. Besides the fact that many of the GM workers in Hamtramck will most likely have the option to transfer to another GM plant if they actually close their plant. I still believe they will use this closure to negotiate with the UAW and may still keep the plant open. They dumped a ton of cash into that plant during the Volt launch. So sure they might have a few folks who no longer care but most may stay with the company even if the plant closes.
February 25th, 2019 at 3:51 pm
15 That 1/6 is a pretty high loss considering the ICE cars probably only lose 1/2 their range with track testing. Did they state a fair comparison?
February 25th, 2019 at 4:13 pm
#17 Here is the article:
https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/road-tests/a22625274/tesla-model-3-performance-track-test/
I found a discussion about track day mpg on Corvette forums, and most people seemed to be getting about 4 mpg, so that would be about 1/6 of what I get in normal mixed driving. One guy on the forum say he got on 2 mpg with a Z06, but on a track where he reached 150 mph. Others on the forum thought there was something wrong with the car that got only 2 mpg.
February 25th, 2019 at 4:14 pm
Here’s the Corvette track day mpg discussion:
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c7-tech-performance/3988266-c7-z06-track-days-fuel-consumption.html
February 25th, 2019 at 11:22 pm
I have 3 GM vehicles with voice tech. All three of them need drastic improvement.
February 26th, 2019 at 7:11 am
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2019/02/genesis-stretches-luxury-dollars-with-g90-limousine/
Another case study for your Automotive Failure 101 course.
At first I thought this would compete for the sizeable livery market, dominated by the Lincoln Town Car not long ago. But not at… $133,000 a piece. I’d rather have a S class 600 with 600 hp and 750 lbft torque. Seriously.
February 26th, 2019 at 7:49 am
The first sentence of the article was a little funny in my mind: Hyundai has Mercedes in it’s crosshair; well maybe, but it is a thousand yard shot and their gun isn’t sited in by my evaluation. Opulent interior maybe but still not ready for prime time in my opinion. I will give it to Hyundai though, their efforts are grand and they do make some ‘hits’, so the automotive world better watch out; but not just yet (on this one).
February 26th, 2019 at 7:53 am
Change Mercedes to German and sited in to sighted in. Sorry, my bad (AND NO EDIT AVAILABLE).
February 26th, 2019 at 8:06 am
22, 23 they keep trying, and losing billions while at it, the Koreans. Not even Lexus, quite a successful luxury car maker, has ever attempted such an expensive limo.
And a major fault of Hyundai is they keep changing their logos and symbols for their brands. This limo has, yet again, changed the Genesis Grille to one with a bent lower line.
The Hyundai Logo looks like a variation of the Honda “H”. The grilles keep changing. THis is killing their cars re recognizability etc.
They should look at the established automakers, Ford has the oval, GM the bowtie, Toyota the trademark circular logo, VW the initials, BMW the kidneys, Merc the three-pointed star and the radiator. Hyundai Kia have NOTHING, and they keep changing what little they have.
February 26th, 2019 at 8:41 am
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10218545536853366&set=gm.992420467618477&type=3&theater
Jerks will be inconsiderate jerks, even this Tesla X owner, who either is a terrible parker, or purposely blocked THREE superchargers so he can use one. Or both.
February 26th, 2019 at 9:42 am
Even worse, I’ve heard about people parking Lincoln Navigators, etc. that way at charge stations.
February 26th, 2019 at 10:05 am
26 I hope these were not brand new top line $110k Navigators, and that they were fully insured, the ire of the people needing a charge might severely damage them
February 26th, 2019 at 11:14 am
27 Yeah, my thought exactly
February 26th, 2019 at 11:17 am
24 Hyundai Kia have nothing because they are always too busy trying to copy other makers designs rather than establish their own identity. Its always changing depending on what maker they are trying to replicate.
February 26th, 2019 at 11:40 am
Kia has had a “signature” front end for a few years, but I saw a picture of the new Soul, which seems to have abandoned that look. Why?
https://autoweek.com/article/car-reviews/first-drive-2020-kia-soul-takes-boxy-good-and-keeps-it-inexpensive
February 26th, 2019 at 11:46 am
Kia also tried the K900 (first intro’d as K9; ironic, as it was received as a dog). Wondering if Kia/Hyundai threw a couple darts, Genesis/K900, to see if one or both would stick; so far, neither but especially the K900 not making inroads.
February 26th, 2019 at 11:50 am
The “canine thousand” name was panned by nearly everyone. What were they thinking?
February 26th, 2019 at 11:50 am
Well, “canine hundred”
February 26th, 2019 at 11:52 am
31 In my weekly Sunday visit to the public Library here I saw a car I had no clue what it was, largish, a bit like the Panamera, it took me a while to figure it was the Kia Stinger. The grille was a bit like a Kia, when i saw it I thought it must be one, still did not know which model.
Hyundai and Kia have tried not 3 or 4 but maybe a dozen times.
Hyundai 250 or sth.
Hyundai Azera
Hyundai Genesis
Genesis
Kia Stinger
Kia 900
I am sure I forget 6 more H-K attempts at luxury or near luxury cars.
February 26th, 2019 at 12:02 pm
Stinger is similar to G70, but is a liftback.