AD #3039 – Where Are Pickups Most Popular?; All-New Peugeot 308 Revealed; Why Hyundai is Marking Wheels & Tires
March 18th, 2021 at 11:43am
Listen to “AD #3039 – Where Are Pickups Most Popular?; All-New Peugeot 308 Revealed; Why Hyundai is Marking Wheels and Tires” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 8:28
0:07 VW Now Most Valuable German Company
0:50 More Production Cuts Due to Chip Shortage
1:34 Nissan Using 3D Printing to Make Old Parts
2:56 Where Are Pickups Most Popular?
3:56 Peugeot Reveals New 308
5:25 NASCAR Turns to Dogs to Detect COVID
6:21 Why Hyundai is Marking Its Wheels & Tires
7:26 Could Ford Make Canoo-Like Pickup?
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VW STOCK JUMP MAKES IT MOST VALUABLE GERMAN COMPANY
Investors really loved what Volkswagen had to say during its Power Day earlier this week, where it laid out its electric vehicle strategy. Yesterday, the automaker passed software maker SAP as the most valuable company on Germany’s blue-chip DAX index. VW now has a market valuation of 136 billion euros or about $162 billion. But the company still has room to grow according to CEO Herbert Diess, who believes the automaker is worth 200 billion euros. But it still has a ways to go to catch Tesla, which has a market cap of over $670 billion.
MORE PRODUCTION CUTS DUE TO CHIP SHORTAGE
The global semiconductor shortage continues to wreak havoc on auto production. Honda said its halting production at most of its plants in the U.S. and Canada for a week and all of its plants in Mexico. In addition to the chip shortage, severe winter weather over the last several weeks, the impact of COVID and congestion at ports, is forcing Honda to cut production. Toyota also announced its cutting production at four of its plants in North America for similar reasons. But it did not say for how long or how many vehicles will be impacted. And Volvo announced it will cut production at some of its plants in China and the U.S. this month because of the chip shortage.
NISSAN USING 3D PRINTING TO MAKE OLD PARTS
If you own an old Nissan vehicle and are having a hard time with finding replacement parts, you’re in luck. The automaker has partnered with HP and digital manufacturer SOLIZE, to make 3D printed discontinued parts for the NISMO Heritage Parts program. The first component that will be available is a plastic harness protector for the R32 Skyline GT-R. Automakers must continue to make replacement parts for vehicles ten years after it goes out of production. But building those parts can be expensive because they need to keep the molds for the parts and store those components. But with 3D printing, automakers can produce the parts on-demand, which helps cut costs.
WHERE ARE PICKUPS MOST POPULAR?
Where in the world are pickup trucks the most popular? Most Americans would say the United States. And by sales volume that’s true. But if you look at how much market share they have in every country, the US is not even in the Top Ten. They account for over half the market in Kenya and almost as much in Thailand. They’re more popular in the Middle East and Africa, and even New Zealand and Canada.
Do legacy automakers stand a chance of surviving the transition to electric cars? That’s the topic on Autoline After Hours this afternoon. We’ve got Rob Mantinan, the program engineer, for the Chevrolet Bolt EUV coming on. If you’ve got a question for him send an email to [email protected] or tweet it to @Autoline. Jeff Gilbert from WWJ will also be joining John and Gary when they get going at 3 pm eastern time.
PEUGEOT REVEALS NEW 308
Peugeot revealed the all-new 308, which is one of the first vehicles to wear its new lion’s head logo. Like the Kia EV6, it has a long cascading hood, which flows into a new trapezoidal grille. And it gets those Sabertooth Tiger DRLs that so many other Peugeots wear. The rear end is almost wavey and features a gloss black bar that connects the taillamps together. There will be a range of powertrain choices when the new 308 launches, everything from gas and diesel to plug-in hybrid. While the exterior is somewhat shapely, the interior seems to pick up on the angular cues of the headlamps, taillamps and exhaust and take that to the extreme. Tack on that bright green color and this is a vehicle that should be popular with young professionals.
NASCAR TURNS TO DOGS TO DETECT COVID
NASCAR is going to the dogs, and that’s actually a good thing for the sport. Last year NASCAR was the first sports organization to develop COVID protocols and get back to running live races. In fact, it did such a good job that other sports organizations like the NFL and MLB studied what NASCAR was doing and started copying it. Well NASCAR just took COVID screening to a new level. This Sunday its going to use trained dogs to sniff out people who might have COVID. They’re not going to sniff out fans, just the team crews that go into the garage area. The dogs can sniff out COVID within 30 seconds. And if they flag someone, that person will undergo another test with medical personnel at the track. It’s all about getting really fast results. And it’s just another reason why we call our doggies man’s best friend.
WHY HYUNDAI IS MARKING ITS WHEELS & TIRES
Here’s a great example of why Hyundai customers keep giving it high marks, maybe without even realizing it. Yesterday a Sonata showed up at the office for us to test drive. While giving it a quick once-over, I noticed that there were little red stickers on a single spoke of each wheel that matched up with a red dot on each tire. There’s only a couple of reasons I know why anyone would do this. The first is for racers who want to check if their tires are spinning on the wheels under hard braking and accelerating. But Hyundai confirmed with us it’s the other reason. The marks are the high spot on the tire and the low spot on the wheel. When matched up it gives you the lowest amount of vibration. That means even as the tire wears over time the whole assembly will stay more balanced. So, as customers put miles on their vehicles it still feels liked it just rolled off the assembly line. I’m not sure if any or how many automakers do this, but it’s the first time I’ve ever seen them marked before.
COULD FORD MAKE CANOO-LIKE PICKUP?
Ford might be looking into a unique electric vehicle. Someone from the company posted on LinkedIn, “Wouldn’t it be cool if someone made a modern BEV version of this 1961 Ford Econoline pickup truck?” Normally we might not get too excited about things like this but it comes from Hau Thai-Tang, Ford’s Chief Product Platform and Operations Officer, which makes it a little more credible. It would be awesome to have an EV like this and we’d point out the Canoo pickup would probably fit that bill perfectly.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching.
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Comments (27)
March 18th, 2021 at 12:05 pm
when AD 1st showed us the Canoo, I liked some of the features. the bed extender, the side gates, the pull out steps are things I`d like. Having said that, Im not a mainstream consumer.
March 18th, 2021 at 12:16 pm
corvettes have use the wheel balancing system for years
March 18th, 2021 at 12:24 pm
Ask the question; Where are full-size trucks most popular and I bet the US shoots up toward the top. Most of the trucks sold in the countries on that last are small and mid-size trucks.
On the Ford pick-up/van, it makes sense to not need a hood in a EV powertrain however crash testing might become a problem. Its cool if they kept it close to the orginal size and they would make it with a removable top like the old full size Bronco/Blazers with rear seating that folded flat so it had the option for 4-5 passengers and flexibility of a truck Ford would probably do really well..
March 18th, 2021 at 12:24 pm
motorcycle tires have a red dot, which is on the lightest weight side of the tire, and should be line up with the valve stem.
March 18th, 2021 at 12:29 pm
Us motorcyclists recognize a dot as the light spot of a tire. Michelin, no longer does this on their tires, as I feel that they think their tires are homogenous and it is not required. As Kit mentioned, the light ‘spot’ is usually lined up with the valve stem (generally the heaviest part of the wheel (not always, but generally) and with that, the wheel/tire still needs to be balance (but usually minimizes the weight required to do so).
March 18th, 2021 at 12:31 pm
Only OEM tires have the red dot. And you are correct, it is used to position the tire on the wheel to achieve the best balance position and reduce the amount if weight needed to balance the wheel.
I am aware of it on factory tires from Lexus, Acura, Honda and Toyota. Not sure why it is not used consistently on every vehicle coming out of their factories but it is definitely missing from some vehicles.
March 18th, 2021 at 12:32 pm
Toyota Hilux is the 4th best selling pickup, globally, after F series, Silverado, and Ram, and probably dominates market share in most global markets.
March 18th, 2021 at 12:42 pm
OK, with the car tires, are the dots for-out-of-roundness, or out-of-balance-ness of the wheels and tires? I’d expect today’s aluminum wheels to be round, within a thousanth or two, since the bead area is machined. They could certainly be out of balance, with much of the wheel being unmachined cast surface.
March 18th, 2021 at 12:49 pm
While 3D printed parts may save the OEM money, you can rest assured that they will not be passing the saving to you if/when you need to purchase them!
March 18th, 2021 at 12:49 pm
9 I found out. Red dots on car tires are the high point. Yellow dots are the light weight side.
https://www.topgear.com.ph/features/tip-sheet/do-you-know-what-those-colored-dots-on-the-sides-of-new-tires-are-for-a2600-20181008
March 18th, 2021 at 12:53 pm
There was also the Corvair Rampside Pickup
March 18th, 2021 at 12:54 pm
I’m often amazed at what we can train dogs to do. Very cool
March 18th, 2021 at 1:01 pm
Sean, You state that there laws requiring the manufactures to make/supply parts for their cars for 10 years. Are you sure and do you know this for a fact? The reason I ask is that the editors of Hemming’s could find no laws and believe it is just a common misconception.
March 18th, 2021 at 1:05 pm
12 Is it for real, though? Do the dogs smell Covid somehow?
March 18th, 2021 at 1:58 pm
my 2020 Mazda3 has red dots on the bridgestone tires, but nothing on the rims.
March 18th, 2021 at 2:07 pm
I doubt you could make a COE vehicle like the Econoline ever pass the crash tests today. There is zero crumple zone . My Dad had a 61 and your feet are against the front of the vehicle. The only thing separating you and the outside is 22 gauge steel.
March 18th, 2021 at 2:23 pm
15 From the article linked in #10:
“Most of the time, a wheel will also have a dot—either a drilled dot or a sticker to indicate its low point.”
It might not be easy to see the drilled dots, with the wheels on the car, as they’d be on the inside of the wheels. I’ll have to see If I can find them on any of my wheels.
March 18th, 2021 at 2:39 pm
13. I’ve searched for this many times over the years and have never been able to find anything definitive. I think it’s an urban myth but if Sean can find anything, I’ll be happy to see it.
I belong to a Lincoln LS owners’ club. The LS went out of production in 2006, and I know that members were unable to get certain (critical) parts before 10 years had elapsed. We were told it all depends on demand. OTOH, you can build a 1965 Mustang from scratch with aftermarket parts.
March 18th, 2021 at 2:44 pm
18 Maybe a Jaguar dealer could get some of the mechanical parts for the Lincoln LS.
March 18th, 2021 at 2:46 pm
The idea of matching the high and low spots of tires and wheels is nothing new. The South African developed 1973 Chevrolet 3800 and 4100 had particularly sensitive steering, so adopted this solution almost half a century ago.
March 18th, 2021 at 3:35 pm
13&18 Having worked for suppliers most of my career I can say that we have always been required to maintain tools and provide parts for service at least 7 years after production as part of the original contract. Often times that service contract will get sold off to a smaller manufacturer to run the real low volume that’s required for service. What I am not sure about is if that applies to all parts. Also when a small shop goes under that was sub-contracted to make service parts getting the tools moved to another facility can be difficult and cause long delays.
March 18th, 2021 at 4:05 pm
13 I read the Hemmings article referenced by Fstfwrd in #13, and it sounds convincing that car companies are not required to have parts available for 10 years.
March 18th, 2021 at 7:46 pm
@12 I don’t know but sounds legit. A dogs nose is so much more sensitive than modern equipment. Ive seen stories of dogs that can detect cancer, there’s alert dogs for seizures, I personally have seen my dog dig up a dead mouse under 2 feet of snow in a field…. twice!
March 18th, 2021 at 9:49 pm
23 Could be. I’ve read that well trained dogs can be very good at detecting some kinds of cancer, especially lung cancer from one’s breath. Maybe the same would apply with covid. I read somewhere, though, that there are scams involving selling people dogs for 30 thousand dollars to detect things that they can’t really detect, like heart attacks before the victim can detect it themself. If dogs can detect covid quickly and accurately, though, that would be great, because the regular tests are not too quick, and not too accurate, especially in that they give a lot of false negatives.
March 19th, 2021 at 11:36 am
I own a 2019 Sonata and I always wondered why the dot is on the tire. Thanks Autoline for the info. I wonder if that dot is only on the Kumho tires or other brand tires.
March 19th, 2021 at 11:58 am
25 I recent bought some Continental tires with both red and yellow dots.
March 20th, 2021 at 7:20 pm
I recall back 90s and 00s our plant had the stickers on the tires and yes, our tire room matched and balanced with this in mind. (LH and LX)