This is Autoline Daily reporting on all aspects of the global automotive industry.
As you can see we made some changes to the set. We’ve received a lot of feedback, which we really appreciate. One of the big complaints was that things looked a little too busy and that I blended into the background. Well, we hope this more minimalistic approach addresses that and we’d really like to thank Vicente and Omar at Studio VO for taking the time to render out their take on our new set. We took inspiration from them and we’ll likely continue to make updates. Please continue to let us know what you think, we’re listening.
NACTOY WINNERS REVEALED
The winners of the North American Car, Truck and Utility of the Year Award were revealed this morning. In the car category, no surprise here, the Chevy Corvette beat out the Toyota Supra and Hyundai Sonata. The Jeep Gladiator won the Truck category by beating the Ram Heavy Duty and Ford Ranger. And last but not least, the Kia Telluride won Utility of the Year over the Hyundai Palisade and Lincoln Aviator. If you’d like to learn more about the finalists, check out our two most recent Autoline This Week’s (Part 1, Part 2), where John and several of his NACTOY jurors discuss the pros and cons of all the vehicles. You can watch that on our website or on our YouTube channel.
GEELY WANTS STAKE IN ASTON MARTIN
Chinese automaker Geely is building quite the automotive empire and it could add another brand to its stable. The Financial Times reports that the automaker is in talks with Aston Martin to take a stake in the company. Aston’s profits are down and its outstanding debt is approaching 1 billion pounds, so it needs to raise cash. But if Geely does take a stake in Aston, it would add to an impressive list of brands that are part of the Group. It owns Volvo, Lotus, Proton and the London EV company, and it has a nearly 10% stake in Daimler.
CAR SALES PLUNGE IN INDIA
Car sales in India plunged in 2019. According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, automakers sold 1.8 million passenger vehicles last year, which is a drop of nearly 20%. Truck sales were down 15% and sales of two-wheelers, which are popular in the country, were down 14%. And car sales are expected to remain flat this year due to weak demand and stricter emission rules that go into effect in April, which are expected to boost the price of vehicles by as much as 10%.
FORD’S LOCAL HAZARD WARNING
Ford ls using technology to improve the safety of its vehicles in Europe. It’s starting to equip its vehicles with Local Hazard Information which provides drivers warnings of what’s coming ahead via the display in the instrument cluster. The system monitors everything from airbag deployment, to emergency braking events and automatically provides information to a central, cloud-based platform. Then, only if the incident or road hazard will impact the vehicle’s journey, will a warning be sent. The system will only work on connected vehicles. The new Ford Puma comes standard with the feature, which is free for the first year. Ford will continue to roll out Local Hazard Information to 80% of its European passenger vehicle lineup this year. And information and warnings can be sent across different brands of vehicles as well.
NISSAN HAS CONTINGENCY PLAN FOR SPLIT WITH RENAULT
The relationship between Nissan and Renault may be worse than people realized. Reuters reports that Nissan is working on a contingency plan for a potential split with the French automaker. That includes a total split in engineering and manufacturing and changes to Nissan’s board. That planning has ramped up since Carlos Ghosn’s escape from Japan and the news pushed Renault’s shares down 3.7%.
SWITCH TO EVs TO CAUSE JOB CUTS
We know that due to fewer parts and the automated nature of manufacturing that the switch to electric vehicles will cost a lot of people their jobs. Now a German newspaper is reporting the switch could cut as many as 410,000 jobs in Germany by 2030. Many of jobs at risk come from the production of combustion engines and transmissions. Many of the job cuts announced up until this point have been white collar jobs, but as we’ve said and as this story shows, blue collar jobs are at significant risk as well.
GM TO REVIVE HUMMER
A little more information is coming out on GM’s revival of the Hummer brand. It will only make electric versions of pickups and SUVs, which will be sold under the GMC brand. GM will also promote the return in a new Super Bowl ad featuring NBA star LeBron James.
GMC INTRODUCES FIRST-EVER CANYON AT4
And speaking of GMC, it introduced the AT4 version of the Canyon for the first time. The mid-size pickup features dark chrome finishes on the exterior and a new larger grille. It also comes standard with an off-road tuned suspension with hill descent control and a four-wheel drive system with rear automatic locking differential. The new Canyon AT4, as well as the Denali version, are powered by a 3.6L V6 engine or a 2.8L diesel is also available. The new Canyon goes on sale later this year and pricing will be revealed later.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.
Share
Permalink
Comments (32)
January 13th, 2020 at 11:52 am
Corvette looks good!A big step from the previous generation.I’m a fan as i’ve owned several.However,to make it the car of the year when it’s not even on the road yet is a bit of a stretch. It’s all new.Check.Mid engine.check. Very fast.check.That’s about all you can say.No one in the general public owns one yet! So why is it the car of the year?? The other ones are out,working and have been for a little while now. Oh well,such is life in the big car show!
January 13th, 2020 at 11:52 am
Sean yes! Studio looks better.
No big surprise on the NACTOY winners.
Sean, Question; I noticed on your clip of India that it looked like everyone was wearing helmets on the scooters and motorcycles. All the clips I’ve ever seen prior to today that never seemed to be the case. Just curious if they passed some helmet laws there?
I like the looks of the Hummer pick-up. Wish they were offering it in both EV and ICE. Oh and keep it small.
The Canyon looks like a full size truck. Park it next to a 70s full size and I doubt there is much difference.
January 13th, 2020 at 11:52 am
My set suggestions… Move your chair toward Camera a couple of feet, we don’t benefit by seeing the chair, open the iris a bit on the camera, give yourself a little bit of a backlight to separate you from the background some, mix up the color palette on the background items more – I know all those things have importance, but it might be better to cycle them around rather than put them all up at once.
January 13th, 2020 at 12:11 pm
1 Presumably, Chevy provided a C8 to evaluate, and it will be sold as 2020 model year. If they re-think things, and call it a 2021, with none sold as 2020, I’d have a (small) problem with it being 2020 “car of the year.”
2 I’ve seen photos of small motorcycles carrying families of about 6, none wearing helmets. I think some those pics would be from India.
January 13th, 2020 at 12:17 pm
4 Here’s a photo of a bike in India, but with only 5 people.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/apar0/15811118375/in/photolist-q6b7De-2CTJBz-5Hj6q2-4g5WAo-6LUuf8-ytQq2-ytQoz-fh5LSJ-scRYB-7MLEN-ncPYk-LwxAgt-dJNfDL-nCdJBX-6e11iU-7ZRfBr-7iL1yg-hxQ67C-bjSmgh-qtw1K-Lw6Lr-5Hon4L-2ahwb7c-9MMHa-QvNoeW-bwVXQY-4uKHWs-6AUmjV-MdPkH-gmM6EU-62bTmg-KQWVwJ-4x4xvL-4x4yQ9-4x4yBh-4x4ynN-86jEed-5KKZSF-98MmPv-ryxmew-4wZowB-4zqfDr-4wZppM-4wZose-qsrF2t-756jHS-4zuvh9-4e8Bqj-4x4xzY-88oFtY
January 13th, 2020 at 12:25 pm
5 It’s amazing that a tiny 3 cubic inch engine (50 CC) can move this whole crowd at all, let alone at 50 MPH.
The women (mostly) on BEV scooters in China, typically college students, all wore helmets, and were going as slow as the bicycles. I saw one of them fall over, she was not injured much, rose from the ground and continued. Most scooter drivers have a strange blanket-comforter in front of them, was not sure if it was a safety item or to warm them up and shield them from the wind.
2 Even an 80s full size would not be larger.
January 13th, 2020 at 12:44 pm
The Canyon AT4 is going to be a pretty competent rock crawler; seems the major players are going for trucky trucks leaving the Ridgeline for the suburbanites and light off-road crowd. Whether that is the smart move or not, I’m not sure but I think the majors should consider a smaller unibody, like Honda, and get some of that market. And I agree with 2, Lambo, the midsized are getting as big as the not so old full sized.
January 13th, 2020 at 12:50 pm
5,6 The bike in the picture is probably a “big” 110cc.
https://www.heromotocorp.com/en-in/the-bike/passion-xpro-ibs-47.html
January 13th, 2020 at 12:50 pm
“SWITCH TO EVs TO CAUSE JOB CUTS”
Not only for the reasons given here, but also due to the far more reliable and far less service needed by BEVs. (Imagine if all your home appliances were ICEs and not E-motors. When I have to replace an electric appliance in less than 20 years, I consider it… unreliable. Since I bought my unit in 1987, I have replaced the very old Maytag washer around 2003, still have the same one, the stove in 1991 (still have it), and the furnace is pre-87 but I did have to replace its control unit for $500.
January 13th, 2020 at 12:53 pm
8 wow. A full 7 cubic inch engine! At that Stahl museum they started (with a fire extinguisher prudently nearby) a truck-like vehicle from the 1910s or 20s called “Rhino” that had a 1,000 ci or 15 liter engine.
January 13th, 2020 at 1:05 pm
8
That Xpulse 200T looked pretty sweet. Wonder what that would cost FOB Miami or Jacksonville.
January 13th, 2020 at 1:14 pm
I don’t think there is enough EV’s of different brands and data to accurately judge reliability. The electronics alone change so fast that anything over a couple years old is obsolete. These gizmo’s may last a long time, but to replace any of them will cost an arm and a leg.
Just from my experiences, I believe total repair costs of all the ICE vehicles I’ve owned without all the fancy electronics would be far less than any EV I might own in the future.
January 13th, 2020 at 1:33 pm
12 not necessary. If u used your common sense u would see it.
January 13th, 2020 at 1:35 pm
12 also wrong on the replacements, this is the other breakthru with Tesla, over the air updates make ‘new models’ every 4 years or 5, obsolete. The current Model S is 8 or 9 years old and still going strong, Musk will not bother to waste billions coming up with the ‘annual model change’ like they did in the 50s or whenever.
January 13th, 2020 at 1:39 pm
11 It would be cool to have one of those bikes, but I suspect there would be no easy way to get one shipped to the US, and it would be difficult to register it for street use.
January 13th, 2020 at 2:00 pm
Rather than play around at being bad partners, I think Nissan and Renault should just divorce. Based on current market value, I think Renault owns about $9.8B US of Nissan and Nissan owns $2.2B US of Renault. Shouldn’t be that big a problem for Nissan to raise the $7.6B difference and clear the slate. Then, if they really wanted to, they could merge again with a more currently equitable share. Heaven knows Renault could use the cash. But they could also use the sales & profit of Nissan, so it could be a non-starter.
January 13th, 2020 at 4:09 pm
John McElroy, will we get to see voting breakouts, and vote totals for NACTOY?
January 13th, 2020 at 4:10 pm
This is always my running complaint. Why is it called the “car/truck/SUV of the year? It only addresses the vehicles that have undergone extensive change. Those vehicles may well not be the best! Quite often there are older models that are better. Why are these permanently excluded? To me, car (ok vehicle) of the year should be the best regardless of design cycle.
January 13th, 2020 at 4:32 pm
I like the new look to your set. I’m wondering if you could turn that into producing some revenue? Those impact wrenches and tools brands if prominently displayed maybe could be sell able? Or some other items you may wish to display.Just a thought.
January 13th, 2020 at 6:01 pm
Did anybody else watching the Ford vehicles simply drive around the boxes in the road think that Ford could have done a better job of being a good corporate citizen by having the second driver pull off to the side of the road and re-locate the boxes to the shoulder so that the next vehicle coming along wouldn’t have to deal with the safety hazard? I just kept hearing the drivers say “not my job, let someone else take care of it” as they went on their merry way.
January 13th, 2020 at 6:37 pm
14) I’m not necessarily talking about “over the air updates”. Just the other day a commenter said he had already change motor wheel bearing in his EV. I doubt anyone really knows what impact the weight of the battery pack will have. Just considering the number of sensors, where/ how they are mounted could get expensive if an accident occurs. These things are just so new and unproven over time that replacement costs are a guess.
As an example, Tesla had free super-charging, then they started to charge for the energy used. Now they are also adding costs of cooling and use of the charger.
There remains so many unknowns, believing the total cost to own one of these things is cheep and trouble free is premature at this point.
January 13th, 2020 at 6:58 pm
20 Yeah, I was wondering about, why two new wheel bearings on a practically new car?
January 13th, 2020 at 7:16 pm
I have yet to dig into the physics and other dynamics of using hydrogen power, but I have a notion it should not be shoved by the way side. Presently it’s about 10X more expensive, but all new concepts are expensive. yet, creating an infrastructure would be much easier and without putting strain on the power grid. Refueling time is a main selling point.
We are already seeing large trucks and small fleets converting to hydrogen for moderate hauls. As stations are placed along the interstate, the distances are increased.
I’m not so certain, but it is very possible that hydrogen may prove to be much more eco-friendly in the long run than straining our electrical grid.
January 13th, 2020 at 7:50 pm
22 The hydrogen has to come from somewhere. At this point, it comes from dissociating methane, oil, or electrolyzing water. None of those makes sense, for powering vehicles. If electrolyzing water, why not just use the electricity to, you know, charge batteries. With methane, why not just use it to fuel power plants, heat homes, etc.
January 14th, 2020 at 6:16 am
I’m no ‘rocket surgeon’ but did fine an interesting YouTube from “Engineering Explained” in which hydrogen combustion versus hydrogen fuel cell is broken down somewhat and helped me in my understanding of the processes. If interested, here’s a link (and it’s not too long either): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ajq46qHp0c
January 14th, 2020 at 8:14 am
21 & 22 I believe Bob said he was changing wheel bearings on one side due to hitting a curb. So not exactly anything specific to being an EV.
20 Reality would be more like, people would quickly stop and see if anything of value was in those boxes and is so they would quickly be loaded up in their car and removed from the road.
January 14th, 2020 at 8:14 am
24 I agree that fuel cells are “fools cells” as Musk accurately labeled them, but then why is Toyota and other makers still investing billions on them?
January 14th, 2020 at 8:43 am
25,27 The video Chuck linked explains why, if you want to power a car with hydrogen, fuel cells are better than combustion engines, because of higher efficiency and low/no NOx emissions. The thing is, where is this hydrogen going to come from? If it’s from electrolyzing water, use it to charge batteries. If it’s from natural gas, what’s the point at all? Use the gas in the usual ways, home heating, etc., and making electricity. If you really want to use it to run cars, burn it directly in engines. There will be CO2 emissions, but aren’t there CO2 emissions when you “take methane apart” to get hydrogen? Maybe I’m missing something on that. Are there any petrochemical engineers out there?
27 I, too, wonder why Toyota and others are messing with fuel cells. The tech is expensive, and hydrogen (or natural gas) needs to be very cold, or at very high pressure to transport in useful quantities. I guess we may be missing something, but it’s a mystery to me what it would be.
January 14th, 2020 at 9:07 am
Fuel cells remind me of the old Stirling engines. Seem promising in theory but when actually applied they don’t really perform that great. Many years ago when I was running engine dyno’s a company was testing a new Stirling engine. Seem to be promising for maybe generator applications where it ran at the same speed all day but ramping up and down was slow and basically made it a bad choice for any vehicle application. Plus the fact they were pretty large. But hey that was back before CVT’s too so who knows, maybe it will make a comeback.
January 14th, 2020 at 9:32 am
The video that followed Chuck’s (link below) talked about what Kit said; battery vs fuel cell. Fuel cells do have higher energy density and are quicker to refuel, but it is very expensive (8x-10x) to refuel and wastes a lot of energy to produce and ship the hydrogen. Since the late 90′s, a friend of mine keeps pushing the fuel cell and I’ve been saying that would only make sense as a stop-gap measure until battery tech was refined; we are now (20+ years later) nearing the battery tech that will surpass ICE and fuel cell, making it silly to keep investing in fuel cell infrastructure; the same money could more readily further the battery tech. ICEs will always be around (at least as hobbyist interest), but battery technology (where the current tech is going) just makes more sense economically, logistically, and environmentally.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7MzFfuNOtY
January 14th, 2020 at 11:48 am
30, ‘Uke’, nice video and I’ve learned some more; thanks for the link.
January 14th, 2020 at 12:22 pm
#2 & #7 – I remember some information from a couple of years ago where the Colorado/Canyon are within an inch or so of the 1967 Chevrolet/GMC pickups.