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Runtime: 7:22
0:07 BAIC Wants to Be Daimler’s Largest Shareholder
0:53 Jeep to Add New Subcompact in Europe
1:14 Passenger Car Sales Continue to Sink
2:04 Cadillac Launches Digital Showroom
2:47 JLR Uses 3D Printed Dog Paw in Durability Tests
3:36 Big Chevy SUVs Use New Electronic Architecture
4:31 Inside the Development of The C8 Corvette
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This is Autoline Daily reporting on all aspects of the global automotive industry.
BAIC WANTS TO BE DAIMLER’S LARGEST SHAREHOLDER
Last month, reports surfaced that Chinese automaker, BAIC, wants to boost its 5% stake in Daimler. And now Reuters has more details about BAIC’s plan. It wants to double its stake to around 10%, in order to become the largest shareholder in Daimler. Chinese automaker Geely is currently the largest Daimler shareholder with just under a 10% stake. If BAIC hits its target, it also wants a seat on Daimler’s supervisory board. BAIC and Daimler are joint-venture partners in China and build Mercedes-Benz’s in the country. But this has got to make Germany nervous that Chinese automakers are looking to take a controlling interest in one of the country’s most iconic brands.
JEEP TO ADD NEW SUBCOMPACT IN EUROPE
Jeep is planning to expand its lineup in Europe. Auto Express reports that the company will introduce a subcompact utility vehicle in 2022 that will slot below the Renegade. It will compete with the Suzuki Jimny and will likely have an electrified powertrain which would come from FCA’s merger with PSA.
PASSENGER CAR SALES CONTINUE TO SINK
Sales of passenger cars in the U.S. market continue to sink. They were down 10% last month and are down 10% so far this year, while the overall market is down less than 1%. Despite the on-going market shift to CUVs, SUVs and pickup trucks, passenger cars still account for one out of four vehicles sold. And consumers will buy about 4.7 million cars this year. Even so, that’s about half a million fewer passenger cars than they bought last year.
CADILLAC LAUNCHES DIGITAL SHOWROOM
Cadillac is trying to take some stress out of the car buying process. The brand launched its online shopping experience, called Cadillac Live in the U.S. Shoppers enter a digital showroom from either a mobile device or desktop where they can look at features and specifications of 10 models, video chat with a product specialist who can answer questions and shoppers can even invite a guest to join them. With so much of the car buying process being done online, automakers are trying new ways to improve that process. And what should appeal to buyers is the Live specialists can be booked on-demand or scheduled for a later date and are available 7 days of the week, although times vary.
JLR USES 3D PRINTED DOG PAW IN DURABILITY TESTS
Many of us invite our furry friends into our vehicles, but that can often times lead to more wear and tear. So, to help test the durability of its vehicles, Jaguar Land Rover engineers developed a 3D printed dog paw. It was modeled after a mid-size dog, named Yogi who also was recorded jumping in and out of the trunk of a Land Rover Defender with pressure mapping technology. JLR uses that data and the 3D printed paw to perform a 5,000-cycle abrasion test on painted panels and says the bumper of the Defender can stand up to more than a decade’s worth of use by dogs.
BIG CHEVY SUVs USE NEW ELECTRONIC ARCHITECTURE
One of the most significant aspects of the new Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban is that they are equipped with GM’s new electronic architecture. GM says it offers over-the-air updates, far better cyber protection and can process 4.5 terabytes of data an hour, which is five times faster than the old system. One thing drivers will really appreciate is that it will reduce the delay for acceleration when using adaptive cruise control. People who tow will be able to monitor the tire pressure and lights in their trailer. GM does not use centralized computing like Tesla does. Instead, it has broken computing power into segments. But GM says the architecture can accommodate centralized computing, where a few powerful microprocessors handle all the computing power in a vehicle, rather than having microprocessors in components scattered throughout the vehicle.
INSIDE THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE C8 CORVETTE
General Motors had to pour much more time and effort into the development of the new C8 Corvette, since the company didn’t have a lot of knowhow developing a mid-engine vehicle. And one of the challenges engineers had to tackle was getting the engine noise to sound right inside the car because of the new engine layout. On last week’s Autoline After Hours we were joined by Tadge Juechter, the Executive Chief Engineer of the Corvette and he explained how they got it to sound just the way they wanted.
Tadge Juechter, Executive Chief Engineer, Corvette
“And so one of the puzzles we were trying to figure out was, how do we have a car that sounds good. You want to hear the intake, you want to hear the exhaust. Well, the intake breathes out of the back of the engine, the exhaust goes out of the back engine. We just put those things farther away. And you don’t want to hear the high frequency stuff, we put that closer. So what are the architectural secrets of making the good sounds audible and the bad sounds distant? And so one thing we were shocked at, we took apart this Ferrari and a lot of the parts are very lightweight but the back window was really thick glass and we knew we were going to have to do that. We didn’t realize how much were going to have to do it. I mean the back window on our car ended up almost 9 millimeters laminated glass, so it’s twice as thick as a windshield back there. And the reason is, is its one of the primary sound paths between you and that high frequency noise. So we started with thick glass. We’re using heavier than normal fiber glass around that glass. We’re using the acoustic on both the clean side and dirty side, to try to create this barrier between you and all that high frequency noise. And then we had to use some very clever solutions to actually plum the good noise around towards your ear around that barrier, that sound barrier. And that’s why the side intakes you see, the top third of that is actually the intake for the engine, the throttles on the back. We go through a big air box, it comes around the sides and we actually use the body structural panels as the ducting to get to the top of that side inlet. And so it’s breathing, you hear that intake sound, so it’s nice and throaty intake sounds coming right through that corridor. And so that bypasses that opaque barrier and gets you close to the thin side glass, that’s very thin relatively speaking, thinner than a windshield, way thinner than a back light. So you can hear that.”
There’s a lot more, great insight into the development of the new Corvette in that show and you can watch it now on our website, Autoline.tv or you can find it on our YouTube channel.
But that wraps up today’s report, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.
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John McElroy is an influential thought leader in the automotive industry. He is a journalist, lecturer, commentator and entrepreneur. He created “Autoline Daily,” the first industry webcast of industry news and analysis.