This is Autoline Daily reporting on the global automotive industry.
CHINESE COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF JLR
Nearly three years ago, Jaguar Land Rover sued Chinese automaker Jiangling Motors because the design of its Landwind X7 is a copycat of the Range Rover Evoque. And in a rare instance, a Chinese court ruled in favor of JLR. It says the Landwind model copied 5 distinct features of the Evoque which led to confusion among consumers. Because of this, the court ruled that all sales, manufacturing and marketing of the Landwind X7 must cease immediately. And Jiangling must compensate JLR as well.
NISSAN CUTS OUTLOOK IN CHINA
And speaking of China, Nissan’s former CEO, Carlos Ghosn, had big plans for the company in the country. But the automaker is changing its strategy now that he’s no longer in charge. Ghosn planned on investing $9 billion in China, introduce 20 new electrified models by 2022, and increase sales by one million units to around 2.5 million vehicles. However, under its new CEO, Nissan is cutting back on its sales target by 200,000 units because it wants to focus on boosting profits instead of increasing sales. It could also pull back on introducing new models in the market as well. Another reason Nissan is cutting its sales target, is the slowdown in sales in China. Last year was the first in two decades that sales fell on annual basis.
BMW TESTING ELECTRICS IN SWEDEN
BMW is currently testing its next generation of electric vehicles at the edge of the Arctic Circle in Sweden and is revealing more about the EVs. The iX3 will be the first to come out when it goes on sale next year. It’s said to have over 400-kilometers or 248-miles of range and will have the ability to use DC charging stations with a capacity of 150 kW. The iX3 will be the first model built for all markets by the BMW Brilliance Automotive Joint Venture in China. The i4 is a mid-size sedan that has over 600-kilometers or 372-miles of range and can go from 0 to 100 km/h in 4-seconds. It will be made in Germany starting in 2021. Also coming at the same time will be the BMW iNEXT. It will have the same 600-kilometer range as the i4, but also Level 3 autonomous driving capabilities as well. The iNEXT will be made at BMW’s plant in Dingolfing, Germany.
MERCEDES eSPRINTER UNDERGOING WINTER TESTS
And BMW’s German rival, Mercedes, is also testing electric vehicles in Sweden. It just wrapped up tests of the electric version of the Sprinter. In normal conditions the van has a range of 150 kilometers or about 93 miles and in the winter tests, it was still delivering about 100 kilometers or 62 miles of range. The eSprinter launches in the second half of the year.
MERCEDES IN-CAR GAMING CHALLENGE
Autonomous vehicles will allow people to do things in vehicles that they’ve never been able to do before. And with that in mind, Daimler is opening up a challenge for gamers, developers, interaction designers and students to come up with new in-car experiences. Some of the ideas that are already out there, sound like a lot of fun. Like using the car’s steering wheel, gas and brake pedal as controls for a video game, while parked of course. Moveable seats, seat belt tensioners, HVAC system and interior lights could also be used to simulate movement. They’re also talking about car-to-car experiences. So, you could interact with people in the vehicles around you. There’s a number of prizes for winning entries and some of it may even find its way into production.
MAZDA TIGHT LIPPED ABOUT WHEN U.S. WILL GET SKYACTIV D & X ENGINES
Mazda has been talking about a diesel engine for the U.S. market for so long that it feels like we will never see it. And a new article from WardsAuto doesn’t make me any more optimistic. It spoke with the automaker, who said that right now the U.S. is not the primary market that needs the engine. It’s instead needed for Europe. But Mazda continues to say it would not have gone all this way and gone through all the trouble to not offer the diesel engine in the U.S. It also won’t say when it will offer its spark-compression ignition Skyactiv-X engine in the U.S. That engine too will be headed for Europe first. Mazda did, however, shed a little light into its push into electrification. It will soon show off a new concept that sounds like it will have a rotary engine range extender.
FORD RANGER ADDS NEW APPEARANCE PACKAGE
Even though it’s only been on sale since the beginning of the year, Ford is offering a new appearance package for the Ranger. The Black Appearance Package gives the truck a bit more of an aggressive look with a black grille, running boards, accented wheels and more. The new package costs about $2,000 and is available to order now from dealers. Ford says two-thirds of all new Rangers are ordered with an optional appearance package.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.
Share
Permalink
Comments (21)
March 25th, 2019 at 12:05 pm
I think Ford is smart by coming into the mid-sized p/u market with both guns a blazing (full availability of options). They are showing that they are fully committed to be a player in the segment. Chevy/GMC better keep on their toes and react and surpass what Ford might be bringing.
March 25th, 2019 at 12:17 pm
1 It will be interesting to see how the “smaller” pickup wars turn out. Ford has a lot less choice than Chevy/GMC, with only one powertrain choice, but I suspect a very high percentage of Colorado/Canyon buys get the same powertrain, 3.6 automatic. Also, GM offers one more body-bed choice, but neither offer a regular cab version.
So far, Toyota rules the “mid-size” pickup market in the US (and globally) even though the current Tacoma has been around a long time.
March 25th, 2019 at 12:30 pm
In the parking lot at work I saw a recent Ford Raptor in its trademark blueish color. Up front it looked very wide, well over 80″, maybe more. There are light trucks up to 96″ wide but these must be the ones with four wheels in the back (six total)
March 25th, 2019 at 1:03 pm
This should be a slow news week, but next Tue April 2 I expect March and Q1 auto sales are out and it will be very interesting to see how the $35k Model 3 has been selling.
March 25th, 2019 at 1:04 pm
I don’t know how many takers there will be of that $2,000 Black Appearance Package on the Ford Ranger when all it takes is $20 worth of black automotive paint to achieve the same effect on the stock grille, wheels and running boards…
March 25th, 2019 at 1:08 pm
Sean, that idea of the steering wheel and pedals in autonomous cars (while at park) doubling as video game controls might not be a bad idea if used as a driving simulator for teens. Especially if the entire windshield could become like a giant head-up display for the simulator.
Of course, it still wouldn’t be able to recreate the sensations of acceleration, braking and cornering, but it’s a start…
March 25th, 2019 at 1:53 pm
It looks like there will be a second generation 86/BRZ. I’m a little surprised, given the slow sales, but they apparently consider it useful as a “halo” car.
https://autoweek.com/article/car-news/toyota-confirms-86-will-return-second-gen-again-subies-help?utm_source=DailyDrive20190325&utm_medium=enewsletter&utm_term=image-center&utm_content=body&utm_campaign=awdailydrive
March 25th, 2019 at 2:00 pm
7, Strange that Toyota would use a Subaru variant as a Toyota halo car; but whatever. Don’t ‘halo’s’ usually say, look at we can do?
March 25th, 2019 at 2:07 pm
#5 I think that it also includes a spray-in bedliner and running boards / nerf bars
March 25th, 2019 at 2:12 pm
8 Yeah, companies usually do want to show what they can do, but Toyota seems to like to outsource their “halos” these days, with the BMW Supra, and the Subaru engined 86. I wonder if they will offer a turbo in the new 86/BRZ. People have been whining about wanting more power in those cars since they were introduced, about 7 years ago. The car isn’t that slow, comparable to a Mini Cooper S in acceleration, but people buying sports cars want them to be quicker than that.
March 25th, 2019 at 2:13 pm
Playing video games in a moving vehicle. playing games car to car while the cars are moving….I want to own stock in that law firm that specializes in those accidents!!
March 25th, 2019 at 2:19 pm
8 The Toyobaru was never a halo car, it was an affordable sports car. The old Supra was more like a high-end “halo car”, maybe the BMW-Supra will be too.
11 Me too.
March 25th, 2019 at 2:32 pm
12 I don’t consider the Toyobaru a halo car either, but in the article I linked, Autoweek alludes that Toyota considers it to be one.
March 25th, 2019 at 3:06 pm
Toyota owns 16.5% of Subaru. It’s quite common for Japanese manufacturers to have holdings in their Japanese competitors. Sort of “Japanese against the world”. Very sensible, I think.
I’ve always liked the new Ranger and it’s good to see Ford is trying to keep the interest up on it. Sort of like what Tesla does with price changes and version drops.
March 25th, 2019 at 3:10 pm
Did I hear you correctly, the new sprinter van will have a range of 100km’s in winter conditions before a recharge is needed. If that’s the case it pretty much renders the vehicle as next to useless, especially up in Canada. What’s the point?
March 25th, 2019 at 4:15 pm
Next week’s Tesla sales news may be a little surprising, and not in a good way. Not sure they will break out how many Model 3′s are the $35,000 model, but registrations for all Teslas in Q1 so far, in the 23 states that report registration data, fell way off the pace of Q4 2018. Elon’s references to adjusting prices on the “inventory units” also seems to indicate that they have a number of unsold units at their sales centers. Perhaps another reason that they decided not to close so many of those stores.
March 25th, 2019 at 5:20 pm
I read somewhere that Tesla is also limiting its warranty.; Most likely to save $.
After recollecting my teen age years when one had to borrow the family car, I don’t think I would give Merc. gaming idea any thought.
All that was on my mind was my date, a bench seat and a drive-in! Oh how times have changed.
March 25th, 2019 at 6:28 pm
16 Tesla has reduced warranties on some older used cars, but I couldn’t find anything about the new car warranties changing.
March 26th, 2019 at 5:42 am
If this conspiracy theory GM veterans wish to believe was true, then we would see $5,000s and $10,000s on the hood of Teslas as if they were Ford, GM and FCA models nobody wants. On the contrary, Teslas COMMAND the Highest used prices, no Tesla S is below $35,000 (even 6 year old basic models) while a 6 year old used Caddy can be had for $5k, and even an awesome S class for $10k.
Numbers do not lie. Tesla sold 400,000 cars in 2018, up from less than 200,000 in 2017. It is on its way to make more than 500,000 cars in 2019, and four million cars when its Shanghai Gigafactory is producing at full blast, and China is twice as big a market for EVs as the second biggest, US market.
I mentioned this before, but repetition is the mother of learning.
March 26th, 2019 at 10:28 am
If deliveries are down, even as the cheaper versions become available, that doesn’t sound good, but deliveries to Europe and China are only beginning. Tesla may be a mostly Chinese company in a couple years, after the Shanghai factory gets up to speed.
March 26th, 2019 at 11:25 am
The cheaper they become, new or used, in the US, the bigger the market penetration and sales increases Tesla will see.
I also heard in the morning edition of Auto News that Tesla won some kind of legal victory yesterday re its presentation of production numbers or sth, there was a Judge Bryer (sp?) who sided with Tesla in a lawsuit.
Tesla could become a major player in Europe too, as they want to go away from diesels and into renewables etc.