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Runtime: 9:03
0:07 Europe Faces Slow Sales Recovery
0:46 Sharp Won’t Force Mercedes Sales Ban
1:14 Polestar 2 EPA Range Disappointing
1:54 GM Will Reveal Hummer EV During World Series
3:15 Kia & Lexus Take Different Approaches to Rebelle Rally
4:43 Allison Transmission Launches New eAxle
5:19 Most Popular Car Related Tattoos
6:23 Fun to Drive VW Golf Is Comfortable & Familiar
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EUROPE FACES SLOW SALES RECOVERY
We start out today in Western Europe where sluggish car sales show it’s going to be a slow recovery from the Covid pandemic. LMC Automotive reports that sales are slowing compared to recent months. It forecasts that automakers will sell about 11 million new vehicles this year, compared to about 14 million for each of the last three years. Sales were down in Germany, the UK and Spain. They were flat in France. But Italy showed a healthy increase. LMC Automotive says that sales fell despite government incentives, as a second wave of the virus in some areas have led to new lockdowns.
SHARP WON’T FORCE MERCEDES SALES BAN
Last month, we reported that Mercedes was facing a sales ban in Germany after a German court said the automaker was using technology from Japanese electronics company, Sharp, without a license. The court ruled that Sharp could force the automaker to stop selling vehicles in the country. But that won’t happen. Sharp and Mercedes’ parent company, Daimler, just signed a licensing deal for wireless transmission technology, which settles the dispute.
POLESTAR 2 EPA RANGE DISAPPOINTING
The official EPA ratings for the Polestar 2 are in and it’s a bit disappointing. The range is rated at 233 miles, which is well below the 275 miles the company was targeting from its 78-kWh battery pack. For comparison, a Tesla Model 3 Long Range with AWD has 322 miles of range and the Performance version is at 299 miles with a 75-kWh battery. We got a chance to drive the Polestar 2 a few months back and if you want to see those impressions, just click the link in the transcript or description box below.
GM WILL REVEAL HUMMER EV DURING WORLD SERIES
If you haven’t been following the Major League Baseball playoffs, here’s one reason to watch. General Motors will unveil the new Hummer EV during a commercial break in the first game of the World Series on October 20th. But if you want more, the company is also streaming a live unveil on YouTube the same night. While we haven’t seen it yet, GM has announced that the Hummer EV will crank out 1,000 horsepower, 11,500 lb-ft of torque and move from 0 to 60 MPH in 3 seconds.
KIA & LEXUS TAKE DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO REBELLE RALLY
Have you heard of the Rebelle Rally? If not, it’s an all-women, off-road event that covers 1,500 miles of desert in California and Nevada without the use of digital technology, only maps and compasses for this event. Kia and Lexus are going to compete in the Rebelle Rally, which starts on October 8th, but are taking two very different approaches. Kia will compete in the “Bone Stock” crossover class with a 2020 Telluride SX and as you can guess, the vehicle is bone stock, no upgrades. Lexus on the other hand will be taking a heavily modified version of its LX SUV, a concept called the J201. That name is an homage to the SUV’s chassis and platform code. Add-ons include, off-road bumpers, a winch, light bar, aggressive wheels and tires, underbody protection, air snorkel, performance differentials and brakes, more storage and a suspension system that raises an additional 1 to 4.8 inches, depending on the selected drive mode. To help get through any obstacle the engine is supercharged and now makes both 550 horsepower and 550 lb-ft of torque. The teams that Kia and Lexus have put together not only sound impressive, but also seem to have a chance at winning their classes.
ALLISON TRANSMISSION LAUNCHES NEW eAXLE
Allison Transmission launched a new electric axle for medium and heavy-duty trucks. It features two electric motors that can each generate 200 kW of power and a peak combined power of 550 kW. And it’s capable of a 23,000-pound gross axle weight ratio. It also integrates a two-speed transmission into the central housing. Hino Trucks, which is Toyota’s big truck subsidiary, is equipping Allison’s electric axle into its XL7 truck which it recently showcased.
MOST POPULAR CAR RELATED TATTOOS
Compare-the-market.com is helping drive home that car enthusiasts are a real die hard group. It looked at Instagram posts for car-related tattoos and compiled a list of the top brands to be branded on somebody’s skin. Volkswagen holds the #1 spot for brands and is followed by Jeep, Cadillac and surprisingly Pontiac, which went away nearly 10 years ago. The top models to be tattooed is also a bit of a shocker. The most common is the Chevy Impala, which just eked out the Delorean, while the Corvette comes in third. And if anyone out there has some automotive ink, we’d love for you to share it with us.
FUN TO DRIVE VW GOLF IS COMFORTABLE & FAMILIAR
We had a Volkswagen Golf TSI in the Autoline Garage this week, and it was like visiting with an old friend. Everything about the car is comfortable and familiar. VW figured out what the Golf is all about decades ago and just keeps making it better. The styling is conservative inside and out, the controls are all where they’ve always been, and there’s no new-fangled technology to figure out. But you get a rock solid car that is a lot of fun to drive. The structure is impressively stiff, and while the suspension provides a supple ride, the Golf corners really well. VW has done a masterful job of blending the perfect combination of springs, shocks, bushings and sway bars. The Golf’s 1.4-liter turbo is surprisingly responsive and quiet, even when driving above posted highway speeds. And we were lucky enough to test drive one with a 6-speed manual transmission. The only critique we have is that the pedals could be better positioned for heel-and-toe driving. The brake pedal is positioned a bit too high to make heel-and-toe easy and comfortable to do. That’s if you’re into that sort of thing, but it’d be an easy fix that would make this car even more fun to drive. The EPA rates this powertrain combination at 31 miles to the gallon, but we were getting an indicated 42 MPGs on the highway. The car we test drove was priced at a very competitive $24,115, but it lacks any advanced safety equipment such as automated emergency braking. VW really needs to step up its game in advanced safety and connectivity, not just with its most expensive models. One final note on this car, it’s quite a collection of components from around the globe. The transmission comes from Japan, the engine is made in Brazil and the car was assembled in Mexico, and of course everything was engineered in Germany.
Join us tomorrow afternoon when we take a deep dive into the development of the new Acura TLX. We’ll have the team leader Ken Sheridan and the chief engineer Marc Ernst on Autoline After Hours. Frank Markus will also be on the show, so join John and Gary when we go live Thursday afternoon at 3 pm eastern time.
But that wraps up today’s show, 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.