AD #2736 – UAW Workers Approve FCA Contract; Taycan EPA Range Surprisingly Low; Importance of GM’s Big SUVs
December 12th, 2019 at 11:56am
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Runtime: 8:43
0:07 UAW Workers Approve New Contract with FCA
0:36 IIHS Makes it Harder to Earn Top Safety Award
1:09 Dan Ammann Bites the Hand That Feeds Him
1:52 Toyota’s North American CEO to Retire
3:18 Audi Unlocks More Range for e-tron
4:36 Porsche Taycan EPA Range Surprisingly Low
5:19 Ferrari Backtracks Stance on EVs
5:55 Baojun Shows Nameless NEV
6:23 Why GM’s Big SUVs Are So Important
7:30 Active Aero to Become More Common
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UAW WORKERS APPROVE CONTRACT WITH FCA
The UAW approved a new labor contract with FCA. The four-year pact includes $9 billion in investments and the creation of 7,900 new or secured jobs. Some analysts believed that the negotiations between the two sides would be contentious, since FCA is at the center of the union corruption scandal. But that didn’t turn out to be the case and FCA avoided a costly strike unlike GM.
IIHS MAKES IT HARDER TO EARN TOP SAFETY AWARD
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is toughening up the rules to earn a Top Safety Pick Plus award. Starting next year, all vehicles must come standard with headlights that earn a Good or acceptable rating. On top of that, vehicles must have an advanced rating in front crash ratings for the vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian tests. Previously, only vehicle-to-vehicle was required. Vehicles also must earn good crashworthiness ratings across the board.
DAN AMMANN BITES THE HAND THAT FEEDS HIM
GM’s former president Dan Ammann, who is now in charge of the automaker’s Cruise self-driving unit, is blasting car ownership. In a blog post he wrote that drivers of gasoline powered cars are “the fundamental problem” behind pollution, congestion and car crashes. He said if we were inventing a new transportation system today, we would be crazy to set it up and run it as we currently do. But his comments are pretty ironic considering GM owns a majority stake in Cruise and invests $1 billion annually in the startup. And that money mostly comes from the sale of vehicles he is railing against.
TOYOTA NORTH AMERICA CEO RETIRES
The CEO of Toyota North America, Jim Lentz, is retiring after 38 years with the company. Effective April 1, 2020, Lentz will be replaced by Tetsuo “Ted” Ogawa, who is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Toyota North America. While at Toyota, Lentz helped launch the Scion brand in 2003 and guide the company through its unintended acceleration crisis. But one of his most important accomplishments was consolidating and restructuring the company’s North American operations.
Be sure to join us for Autoline After Hours this afternoon, when we’ll have Tadge Juechter, the executive chief engineer of Corvette, on the show along with a C8 in the studio. If you would like to ask him a question, send an email to viewermail@autoline.tv or tweet it to us. Then join John, Gary and Greg Migliore from Autoblog, as they take a deep dive into what may be the most interesting Corvette in over half a century.
AUDI UNLOCKS MORE RANGE FOR E-TRON
When range for Audi’s first all-electric SUV the e-Tron was announced at 204 EPA miles, despite having a 95 kWh battery pack, we were a bit disappointed. Part of the reason for that is Audi limited its usable space to 83.6 kWh because it claims that “ensures battery longevity, repeatable performance and peak charging power for longer amounts of time.” Audi may have been a little too conservative because it’s going to unlock more of the pack’s capacity. It’s increasing it from 83.6 kWh to 86.5. Audi also reduced drag by allowing the front motor to disconnect in normal operating conditions and it redesigned the brakes, drivers can now dial in more aggressive regenerative braking and Audi modified the battery’s thermal management system. With all the changes, the e-tron gets 15.5 miles of additional range on the WLTP test, which would be close to 14 EPA miles. The updates have already been made to the European-spec model and should come to the U.S. in 2020 model year vehicles.
PORSCHE TAYCAN RANGE SURPRISINGLY LOW
Speaking of disappointing EV ranges, the EPA rated the Porsche Taycan Turbo at only 201 miles. With a fairly large battery pack that has a total capacity of 93.4 kWh, the Taycan was expected to get more range. Maybe it’s holding some back, only to unlock more range later when it knows it’s safe, like Audi with the e-tron. But 201 miles is way behind other EVs, like Tesla’s Model S, and the Taycan Turbo has a higher starting price than everyone else at nearly $151,000. The only thing that really matters though, is will customers even care?
FERRARI BACKTRACKS STANCE ON EVs
While we’re on the subject of performance EVs, the late former CEO of FCA, Sergio Marchionne once said that there would NEVER be a Ferrari BEV because the sound of its engines are so much a part of its DNA. But Sergio is gone and current chief executive Louis Camilleri says the sports car maker will have an EV after 2025. If you’re wondering why it’s waiting so long, Camilleri doesn’t think battery technology is where it needs to be in terms of recharge time.
BAOJUN SHOWS NAMELESS NEV
Now let’s go over to China, where Baojun is showing off its latest New Energy Vehicle. There’s not much information to go on, it doesn’t even have a name yet, but the futuristically-styled vehicle is said to appeal to younger consumers. We’ll keep our eyes peeled and update you when more details come out.
WHY GM’S FULL-SIZE SUVs ARE SO IMPORTANT
General Motors dominates the market for full-size SUVs, and has an impressive line-up. The Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, the GMC Yukon and Yukon XL, and the Cadillac Escalade account for 50% of all large SUV sales in the US. GM makes 340,000 of them every year and exports about 80,000 to 31 countries. They’re made in GM’s plant in Arlington, Texas, which is said to be the most profitable assembly plant in the world. We estimate they generate $20 billion in revenue for GM and about $4 billion in profits. That’s why the all-new versions of these vehicles are so important to GM. One reason why it took GM so long to redesign them is that coming out of the bankruptcy, when oil prices were soaring, it concentrated on re-doing its lineup of passenger cars. Besides, GM didn’t face much competition, until Ford got serious about developing the Expedition and Lincoln Navigator into true competitors.
ACTIVE AERO TO BECOME MORE COMMON
Automakers have understood the benefits of aerodynamics for over 100 years, and of active aero for over half a century. But due to cost and packaging considerations they never did much with it. Until now that is. With stricter fuel efficiency regulations and the need for longer range with EVs, active aero is a hot topic now. Magna is showing automakers its latest technology, including grille shutters, which are already quite common on pickup trucks. But it also has deflectors for SUVs which deploy ahead of the front wheels, a rear spoiler that extends out away from the roof, and a rear diffuser which drops down to reduce drag at highway speeds. We predict that in the coming decade active aerodynamic devices will become quite commonplace on most cars.
And that brings us to the end of today’s report. Thanks for watching, and don’t forget about Autoline After Hours later today.
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Comments (47)
December 12th, 2019 at 12:13 pm
Just because Porsche wants us to call its BEV the “Taycan Turbo” does not mean that we should encourage it.
The name is even more ludicrous than “Kia Rio Grand Touring”, or Nissan Versa for that matter.
RI DI CU LOUS.
Porsche, do you hear?
December 12th, 2019 at 12:16 pm
https://www.wardsauto.com/10-best-engines-propulsion-systems/honda-wins-again-accord-hybrid-20l-i-vtec?NL=WAW-04&Issue=WAW-04_20191212_WAW-04_603&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_1&utm_rid=CPENT000009061197&utm_campaign=23449&utm_medium=email&elq2=4cb4589057ff4c7ca23de40acfed952a&utm_source=27837
For the 1 in 1000 who might care. The “employee of the month” awards season is on.
December 12th, 2019 at 12:16 pm
As far as I’m concerned, Sergio M. was right about engines being a major part of Ferrari DNA. Electric powertrains are already essentially a commodity. I don’t see an EV being a Ferrari, in any meaningful way, no matter how fast it is, or what it looks like.
That said, I guess some people are willing to pay a lot for a name plate, like with Porsche. Thousands of people are making large deposits on the Taycan, and people pay major premiums for other Porsche models, like an extra $10 or more for a Cayenne over a similar Audi Q7. Maybe people will wait in line for a $300K electric Ferrari that won’t perform a lot better than a $70K Tesla 3 performance.
December 12th, 2019 at 12:23 pm
Interesting to hear a “well heeled auto executive” lament that if he could only rid himself of the pesky auto drivers he could solve all our transportation problems.
And the active aero idea for the common car also introduces the increased repair cost plus the cost to manufacture these “appliances”.
December 12th, 2019 at 12:24 pm
1 What do you think about the name “turbotax,” or “Turbo Clean PC”? The word turbo is used rather loosely, for things not involving turbochargers.
December 12th, 2019 at 12:25 pm
3 Ferrari already has hybrids, and it could go to plug-ins so its cars can circulate in downtown Euro Cities like Brussels without paying $250 every time they enter. One or more of those current hybrids are much more expensive than $300k.
December 12th, 2019 at 12:26 pm
Sean do you know if the IIHS has included any standardized tests for the many crash avoidance vehicles? It would be nice to see a third party testing of these systems and if they perform as intended.
Dan Ammann says: “If we were inventing a new transportation system today, we would be crazy to set it up and run it as we currently do.”
So Dan what’s your alternative solution?
Ferrari will build an EV when enough consumers are begging for one. I doubt recharging time is the sticking point. Givens them time to develop something really good rather than rush to market like Porsche with a half baked EV. IMO
December 12th, 2019 at 12:34 pm
6 I was talking about pure EVs, in regard to Ferrari. Hybrids fit very well with Ferrari. especially with F1 cars being hybrids. They can claim the the powertrains of their road cars are like their race cars.
December 12th, 2019 at 12:34 pm
7 Obviously Dan peddles his Cruise Crap, which is costing GM billions and from which GM never saw a dime.
December 12th, 2019 at 12:37 pm
2 Interesting that Wards would pick that powertrain as one of their “10 best,” given that it’s the reason I don’t own an Accord hybrid now. The Accord almost matches the Camry mpg, but the Camry system is smoother and more seamless, and yes, simpler. I liked the Honda better than the Toyota in some other ways, including appearance, but from my perspective, Toyota has the better hybrid powertrain.
December 12th, 2019 at 12:46 pm
@Larry – Ferrari does have a PHEV, the SF90 Stradale.
December 12th, 2019 at 12:47 pm
I wonder if Ferrari has tried those plastic cards they give you for hotel room keys in the wheel spokes on the BEVs.
December 12th, 2019 at 12:52 pm
11 Thanks. How much is it? (and don’t tell me if I have to ask, I cannot afford it. I can.)
December 12th, 2019 at 12:56 pm
@Lambo – I don’t think the IIHS has any tests for crash avoidance technology. I know the AAA has tested out Automatic Emergency Braking systems and Consumer Reports has tested Forward Collision Warning systems. The tests I’m thinking of would have been from several years ago.
December 12th, 2019 at 12:57 pm
I looked it up and it’s about half a mill depending on the options. (the SF90 Stradale plug-in)
December 12th, 2019 at 12:57 pm
11
16 miles of electric range, for an estimated price of only $600,000.
https://www.caranddriver.com/ferrari/sf90-stradale
December 12th, 2019 at 12:59 pm
16 and “Since it’s a plug-in, the feds will credit $4126 off your taxes. We’ll repeat: The government will pay you to drive a Ferrari.”
December 12th, 2019 at 1:00 pm
16 In most old cities in Old Europe, who are quite small in area, 16 miles electric range may get it off the hook.
December 12th, 2019 at 1:01 pm
@Larry – Looks like it’s about $1 million bucks.
December 12th, 2019 at 1:05 pm
The visceral engine/exhaust sound has defined the DNA of many vehicles – Ferrari, Corvette, Mustang to name a few. Such brands have to tip toe around electrification.
But I would not put Porsche in that camp. I always found its engines/exhaust to sound more like a sewing machine, so electrification shouldn’t be such a risk to its DNA.
December 12th, 2019 at 1:13 pm
20 I’ve read that the next generation Cayman and Boxster will probably be BEV. I suspect the 911 will never go electric, or not any time soon, but the others could, if there is a major trend in that direction. No Porsches sound that great to me either, but to some people, they do.
December 12th, 2019 at 1:21 pm
The Baojun EV looks like Baojunk to me.
JMHO.
December 12th, 2019 at 1:21 pm
19 Sean, the one that costs $ 1 mill is “LaFerrari” which is barely any better than the bargain basement Stradale 90, which goes, see the above comments, for a mere $0.5-0.6 mill.
December 12th, 2019 at 1:23 pm
21 If Porsche calls its BEV “Turbo”, then I doubt if it is beneath them to install an old cassette player which will play ICE engine sounds when you put their BEV in Drive.
December 12th, 2019 at 1:27 pm
24 They don’t call any versions of the current Cayman/Boxter “turbo,” even though all of them are turbocharged, except for a low volume one with a naturally aspirated six borrowed from some version of 911. Maybe they will call the top versions “turbo” after they go electric.
December 12th, 2019 at 1:30 pm
I recall IIHS’s headlamp testing favors brighter LED headlamps and auto high beams. I love the improved visibility at night. BUT, I hate the blinding glare from oncoming vehicles with the same technology.
As so often experienced, there are unintended consequences in “good intentions”… 1st gen passenger airbags that were too powerful for smaller stature occupants; no kids in fronts seats, but now at risk of being left in vehicle unintentionally; driver-assist technologies that are leading to less attentive drivers; and now, blinding headlights.
December 12th, 2019 at 1:44 pm
Wim mentioned fleets of Tesla S taxis operating for some years in Amsterdam ( the X might be more utilitarian as an airport taxi) but I just saw a photo of a yellow Model 3 Taxi in Stockholm, Sweden.
December 12th, 2019 at 1:49 pm
https://www.cnsnews.com/article/washington/terence-p-jeffrey/feds-collect-record-taxes-through-november-still-run-3433
The so-called Trump “Tax Cut” did not result in lower Government Revenue, EVEN, as they correctly do in the bar graph, they compare apples to apples and express all amounts in constant 2019 Dollars.
In fact, Govt Tax revenue jumped in 2018 and 2019, the years the tax ‘cut’ came into effect.
The irresponsible and corrupt Congress, however, who is the body that holds the purse strings, spent even more, so the deficits widened. But NOT because of lack of Govt Revenue!
December 12th, 2019 at 1:52 pm
27 The funny doors on the X might not be a good thing for taxi use, with all of those open/close cycles. Body-related areas are where the X does very poorly in CR’s reliability data.
December 12th, 2019 at 1:59 pm
28 Yes, the deficit is ballooning, not a good thing during what is generally a good economy. What spending has increased, other walls, and the military? Yeah, the wall, itself, is trivial, as a percent of the budget. Well, I guess a few billion are being paid to wealthy farmer/ land owners, to compensate for their lost export markets due to the trade war.
December 12th, 2019 at 2:03 pm
28 Wouldn’t the government have more revenue if companies like Amazon paid taxis? There seem to be a lot of loopholes that need to be plugged.
It would seem that Congress, and Trump, hold the purse strings. I doubt that many veto-proof bills come out out of Congress.
December 12th, 2019 at 2:06 pm
@Larry #23 – Thanks
December 12th, 2019 at 2:09 pm
5 I think they are really silly, but as they do not refer to autos, they are not as RI DI CU LOUS or misleading as Porsche’s naming a BEV “turbo”.
Because nobody will be confused or misinformed if one hears “Turbotax”, one understands that this is probably a really potent piece of software. Everybody knows software cannot possibly have a Turbocharger.
December 12th, 2019 at 2:11 pm
31 it does not just ‘seem’, Congress does hold the purse strings by definition and per the Constitution and all that. Their spending of huge amounts on pork projects and handouts to their constituents, so they get reelected, is notorious and known to all.
And esp the House, with their two-year election cycle, barely have time to get any work done, as they are constantly campaigning for reelection.
And it gets worse when they are voted out of office and they join the lobbyists on K street at $1 mill a year, selling access and influence. Legalized Corruption.
December 12th, 2019 at 3:35 pm
23,32 It looks like the LaFerrari is $1.42M.
https://www.caranddriver.com/ferrari/laferrari
I guess that F90 Stradale is really a bargain, at only $600K.
December 12th, 2019 at 3:46 pm
Someone needs to blast Dan Ammann for socks and underwear ownership! I’m sure no one should own anything but just live “on demand” with shared housing, etc?
At least my personal car never drives empty anywhere looking for a passenger!
December 12th, 2019 at 4:38 pm
36 GM might be able to get part of their money back, and bail out of Cruise now, rather than throwing more money away on it.
December 13th, 2019 at 8:40 am
Most memorable quote from yesterday’s AAH
“Anybody who is caught working on a mid-engine Corvette will be fired” — Bob Lutz
The guy is more overrated than the late Lee Iacocca.
“A mid-engine corvette does not exist” –the guest, couple years ago also on AAH. He explained it away by claiming that an actual car did not exist at the time.
December 13th, 2019 at 9:22 am
I think somebody should tell Dan Ammann that there is a huge segment of society which does not even need to show up to an office for work; including him. And yet companies like GM and cruise force them to do so every single day. These people show up to a GM office and proceed to get on the phone for hours on end or a computer for hours on end. That is the driver of the current “system” that he proposes should change.
If you could work from home for those non-Manufacturing jobs, you would not have as many cars on the road. You probably wouldn’t have much need for his cruise service either, so there is that. It would however eradicate a significant portion of total emissions output if half the population was not forced to drive to a job location just to spend time on a phone and computer.
December 13th, 2019 at 9:28 am
https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-cybertruck-weight-near-10k-lbs-vs-ford-f-150-class-carb-letter/?fbclid=IwAR2kEa47QXRAB_0Ms2V68nYYD-f33WEv2bJF-Ze66YikvBiVaObMYpdVufA
And this. What do you make of it?
December 13th, 2019 at 9:50 am
Seems the cybertruck will certainly hurt the domestic big three trucks. This is one segment where the EV can compete in price. They will have no choice but to lower prices of the trucks and large SUVs. As for the tug-a-war bologni, funny that Musk stated Physics is law and everything else is a recomendation. Yet placed his 8000lb truck with AWD up against a 6000lb 2WD F-150. Yep he proved that physics rule. Now hitch both trucks up to a 8000lb trailer and drag race and that will show me the advantage of the EV. Tesla would most certainly win and not be subject to critisizm over 2wd vs 4wd vs heavier truck or tires used.
December 13th, 2019 at 10:18 am
39 All true, regarding efficiency of working at home, but a lot of people probably need the social aspect of a work place with other people around.
December 13th, 2019 at 10:22 am
40 It makes sense, as far as Cybertruck being “class 2,” if it has the payload to qualify. As far as it being a real replacement for an F-250 et al, it depends on how you want to go, without taking a long break.
December 13th, 2019 at 10:51 am
43 Sorry I’m an hour late boss. Had to stop for a refill on my way into work in my EV.
Or; I cant come in today the power was out last night so my vehicle didn’t get charged.
It will be interesting to see if something like the Cybertruck will be successful. Lots of great features and may even be cheaper than its ICE counterparts. It would be interesting to know how most class B trucks are used. I’m sure there is a mix of short and long runs but do the majority need range along with the towing capacity? I wonder how many F250s opt for the dual fuel tanks. Those people will probably not want the cybertruck when they probably get 400 mile ranges with dual tanks.
December 13th, 2019 at 11:02 am
44 Dual tanks should give them 900 miles range if they got the Diesel. I am close to 1/4th tank left and my range left is 247 miles. I have not put diesel in the tank since Oct 5, 2019. (I spent Nov in China tho).
I don’t think the BEV truck will run out of juice commuting, unless they do 120 miles each way. The average commute is less than 20 miles one way
I have no idea how well the Cybertruck will sell and am very curious to find out. They sure have lots of reservations, though, and the price is right.
December 13th, 2019 at 11:08 am
44 I see 250-350 series pickups used for towing back hoes to constriction sites, and similar use. If they are only used locally, an EV should work for that. Also, though, I see them used where range, and quick refueling would matter. Surprisingly to me, I recently saw an “HD” Ram pickup towing a trailer with two new Sprinter vans, with the “Prime” logo. They were, presumably, being delivered from the South Carolina factory, to somewhere south of me in Florida. An EV would not work well for that. A Cybertruck with a rated range of 500 miles, would probably have less then half that towing a heavy, draggy load, at 70-75 mph, and it would take a long time to charge the quite large battery in the tow truck.
December 13th, 2019 at 11:27 am
45 The “HD” pickups with the big diesels get lousy mileage when empty, no better than gas V8s, from the experience of two people I know who have them, one Chevy and one Ram. As I remember their reports, they both get about 14 mpg in mixed driving, empty. The owners bought them mainly for towing, and usually drive something else, except when they need the capability.
Of course, the smaller diesels, like the new one in the Silverado, get much better mpg.