This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
RENAULT & GEELY PLAN TO BUILD HYBRIDS IN SOUTH KOREA
Well, here’s something different. A French company is going to team up with a Chinese company to make cars in South Korea. Renault and Geely are going to make hybrid cars in South Korea. They’ll be based on Geely’s compact vehicle architecture and use its hybrid technology. That same architecture is also used by Lynk & Co and Volvo. The new vehicles will be built by Renault-Samsung at its plant in Busan starting in 2024. They will be sold in South Korea and exported around the world.
BOSCH & MAHLE ALREADY CARBON NEUTRAL
Germany wants to be the global leader in achieving carbon neutrality by 2045, and two big German auto suppliers are well ahead of the curve. Bosch achieved carbon neutrality in February of 2020 and Mahle did it last year. This includes all their manufacturing facilities, and both companies say the next step is to achieve it with their entire supply chain. Maybe one reason they’re so far ahead of everyone else is that neither Bosch or Mahle are publicly traded companies. Both are owned by charitable foundations.
CHINESE STARTUP SUES RENAULT OVER COPYCAT LOGO
If you go back about a decade ago, several western automakers sued several Chinese automakers for their copycat designs. Now it’s sort of going the other way. HiPhi, an electric Chinese startup, is suing Renault for using a copycat logo. HiPhi has a logo that looks like a vertical line with brackets on each side of it. Renault uses a logo that looks a lot like the HiPhi logo, but dialed to the right about one quarter of a turn. Renault uses this logo for its new mobility business unit called Mobilize. Sure looks to us like HiPhi has the upper hand in this lawsuit. HiPhi came out with its logo in 2018, while Renault’s came out in 2021.
MERCEDES PARTNERS WITH LUMINAR
Luminar keeps notching up contracts with automakers to sell them lidar. It just added Mercedes to the list. The automaker has an SAE Level 3 system, which debuts on the S-Class and EQS this year. It’s expanding that with Luminar and will put its lidar units on its other cars in the future. Luminar already has deals with Volvo, SAIC and the self-driving startup, Pony.ai, which is backed by Toyota. Luminar, which is based in Orlando, Florida was started by Austin Russell, who is now 26 years old and reportedly worth $1.6 billion.
SONY LOOKING FOR MORE PARTNERS FOR EV PROJECT
We’re learning more details about Sony’s move to make its own electric cars. Earlier this month, it showed off an electric SUV prototype at CES based on the sedan it revealed two years ago. Now Reuters reports that it’s looking for more partners to make them. It’s already working with Magna, which built the prototypes at its factory in Austria. And it has partnerships with Bosch, Valeo and a Hungarian autonomous startup called AImotive.
DODGE LOOKS TO HIRE “CHIEF DONUT MAKER”
Dodge is looking to hire someone for “the Greatest Automotive Job in the World.” Their title will be Chief Donut Maker and basically, they’ll go around to different events, decked out in Dodge gear, promoting the brand. Anyone can sign up. It’s asking for a video, no longer than two minutes, that shows why Dodge should hire them. The top 10 finalists will then be thrown into a series of eliminations that test their talents and it will all be aired like a reality TV show. The final episode will reveal Dodge’s new Chief Donut Maker. Not only will that person get to drive around an SRT Hellcat, they’ll also earn $150,000 a year and they don’t have to quit their day job.
GLICKENHAUS REVEALS CRYOGENIC HYDROGEN POWERED TRUCK
Glickenhaus is showing off a cryogenic hydrogen powered race vehicle it plans to race at the Baja 1000. The company didn’t reveal many details about the truck but it did have a pretty amusing press release about why it feels fuel cells are a better application for larger vehicles than batteries. It did say it’s creating its own refueling infrastructure because it doesn’t have a source for cryogenic hydrogen for testing or to run the race. Only a few places in the U.S. are using cryogenic hydrogen which includes NASA and the military. But Glickenhaus says it welcomes the challenge and is even planning on making a street legal version of the truck.
ZF MERGES ALL VEHICLE MOTION COMPONENTS INTO ONE UNIT
Pretty much every automaker that doesn’t offer over-the-air updates is working on doing it. One way to get there is to have a central computer, or domain controller, rather than have individual computers for each component. ZF is launching a product it calls cubiX, which merges everything related to vehicle motion, including steering, braking, suspension and powertrain, into one control unit. And it can plug in components from any supplier, not just ones from ZF. We’ve talked a lot about how automakers will charge customers for vehicle upgrades right from the center screen. Well, it’s technologies like this that enable that. Systems will be able to go from one extreme to the other, from comfort to performance, at the touch of a button. Think of it like an extreme version of drive modes that you have to pay for. ZF’s cubiX platform can also be optimized for ADAS and autonomous functions. And it says it will be entering volume production soon with a Chinese OEM.
FORD MAKES RANGER BED MORE VERSATILE
Hey, let’s be honest. The reason most people love trucks is you can throw practically anything in the bed and take off. And since truck owners are using the vehicle for way more than hauling tools and equipment, Ford tried to add as much versatility as it could into the new Ranger. First, it’s now wide enough to fit a European pallet between wheel arches. A side step was added behind the rear wheel, it features an easy-lift tailgate, two clamp pockets allow work items to be held securely against the tailgate and there’s a lot more tie-down points. Two technologies we like are the ability to control all the lights, including the headlights, puddle lamps, license plate and box lights, from the center screen or a smartphone app as well as a power source in the bed, which features a 12-volt socket and 400-watt inverter. Those interested in the new Ranger will have to wait a while. Deliveries aren’t expected to start in Europe until early next year.
ACURA CREATES ANIME SERIES THAT FEATURES NEW TYPE S
Everybody likes to watch cartoons, right? So, as part of its sponsorship of the Sundance Film Festival, Acura released a four-part anime series that follows the journey of a young racer named Chiaki. Each video is about a minute long and they feature Acura’s all-new Type S lineup. We kind of wish they were all looped together, but it’s worth four minutes of your time.
And that’s a wrap for this week. I hope you have a great weekend.
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Comments (16)
January 21st, 2022 at 12:38 pm
Doing donuts is just a complete waste of time, it may have been ok the first four million times along along time ago but just stupid now
January 21st, 2022 at 12:42 pm
@1 agreed. Yea doing a bit of a burn out in a powerful car is fun but the fun wears off after about 10 seconds. These competitions should go the same place as the loudest pipe contests for motorcycles- away.
January 21st, 2022 at 12:45 pm
1 Some might say watching a 3 hour baseball game is a waste of time, or so many other things other like to do. But I would rather do doughnuts in a hellcat and get paid 150K to do it than so so many other things.
January 21st, 2022 at 1:48 pm
Hiphi and Renault need to get together on that logo thing and agree that both designs are weak and they should both come up with something better.
January 21st, 2022 at 3:23 pm
Chief donut maker @150K,sign me up
January 21st, 2022 at 4:43 pm
There will be no shortage of applicants for the donut maker job.
January 22nd, 2022 at 8:14 am
The Cheif Donut Maker (CDM) is Dodges attempt to raise brand awareness and get the attention away from power their future vehicles make and not the vehicles propulsion! One of the things that their SRT, Redeye, H’Cat and Demon versions of their vehicles bring is not only extreme power, but that V8 rumble! With the brand turning to EVs in the future, that rumble may be replaced by an electric motor whine, which may not excite many enthusiasts. But by anointing a CDM, perhaps Dodge is attemping to move their crosshair symbol away from the V8 rumble by focus attention on and highlighting the other advantages to the crazy power their BEVs will make. And giving $150K to the winner of the challenge will no doubt add interest to the brand, but the question is, will they be doing donuts in their own vehicles or will Dodge be providing the “tools” for the competition? With some many people having FWD based cars or CUV/Crossovers, how my people really know how to do a ‘donut’ with a RWD vehicle? We shall see!
January 22nd, 2022 at 12:12 pm
Another ‘take’ on gross overkill (not that there’s anything wrong with it); Cadillac announced an Escalade “V” with the supercharged LT4. Horsepower not announced but probably very similar to the CT5 V Blackwing, Camaro ZL1, etc.
January 22nd, 2022 at 1:10 pm
Comment worthy in today’s show: VW misses its EV China sales again.
For those who know, this is terrible and inexcusable news for VW.
Because until a few years ago, and still today, China was a h u g e market for VW, where it was established for many decades, and, to the misfortune of Western tourists, many taxis were butt-ugly, very tiny, very uncomfortable “Passat” sedans. Esp when the taxi driver was enclosed in a huge plexiglass bubble, none of the other 3 seats in the damned car was any good, unless you were an emaciated female.
Admittedly they were deliciously cheap, even well into the 2010s, you could do most rides around town for a worthless US dollar or two!
VW spent tens of billions on it’s EVs, and so far they have failed their very ambitious targets. (They seemed as the only hope for the Tesla haters in competing with the million sales Model 3, all other EVs have insignificant to pitiful sales $ unless you consider that joke, the $4800 Wuling, a “model 3 killer” (Guffaw)
From the start, VW EVs were not supposed to be performance EVs, and while their prices were not much lower than the Model 3, their performance was far inferior.
Diess or sth, the troubled CEO of VW, is a big admirer and friend of Musk, who got to test drive those lame VW EVs and noticed the above, which Diess freely admitted.
But the consumer was not amused when he or she had to pay Model 3 prices for something far inferior. The sales numbers are the proof,(whether you admit it or not), and the above is correct.
This applies also for the god-awful, horrendously unreliable and flawed, loss-making, way Overpriced, fugly CHevy Bolt, a mini-minivan only whose mother would love, also priced like a Model 3 and not like a Honda Fit (the Fit actually is far more cute than the Bolt)
The horrendous Bolt reliability that finally convinced GM to give up on this Total Turkey (and yes, I told you so and you strongly disagreed, and you were wrong here as well!)
January 22nd, 2022 at 1:18 pm
“Tesla keeps breaking sales records in China”.
I am not going to gloat over this, but I did remember the apples vs watermelons comparisons some geniuses here (all incorrigible Tesla haters), whenever the news was that that utter joke of a tiny golf cart with an even tinier range and safety, that allegedly $4,800 a pop “Wuling” “EV”, surpassed Tesla in sales.
I forget the names of the posters who were delirious with joy at the idiotic comparison, which is not “apples and oranges”, it is precisely as I wrote above, “apples and watermelons”.
If the rest of you actually believe that the comparison is valid (I am in stiches with laughter thinking of those who do), why leave it at that? Follow that line of “reasoning” and you can cheer all kinds of imaginary Triumphs for your pet brands. I will help you with specific example: Why not also celebrate that Genesis sold more cars last year (did it?) than Rolls Royce did?
Genesis, Kia-Hyundai’s 15th or more failed attempt at a US market “luxury” car, has allegedly had a “great” 2021, if you use % rises instead of the pitiful absolute numbers.
The reason, of course, is NOT that they are… superior, or even equal, to Mercs, Lexi or BMWs, but instead that the chip crisis and the COVID shutdowns have eliminated the Inventories of the Successful True Luxury, Refined vehicles in their segments, while the unpopular Genesis was left with a ton of unsold units.
So due to d u m b l u c k and not M e r i t, those unwanted units were sold in 2021, resulting in some ‘impressive’ three-digit % gains.
Now there is hope for all those who always hate brilliance and excellence (such as Tesla) and root for the losers (such as the late Bolt) instead. But this joy will be very short-lived. Wiser observers will know that this was a one-time event, and Genesis’ ‘windfall gains’ will be gone once the Covid and the chip shortage is gone.
January 22nd, 2022 at 1:29 pm
Couple leftovers from Thu’s show:
1. The idiotic idea of some German greenies to kill the no limit Autobahns.
Said like the Consumer reports old lady, but not backed with statistics.
In fact, amazingly, historically (nitpickers. don’t try to find one year in 100 that this may not be so!) there are m o r e, not l e s s , deaths and injuries per capita among the irresponsible, eat and drive, apply makeup and drive, text and drive, sext and drive, mickey-mouse driver’s ed, US, despite our restrictive speed limits, than in the no speed limit Germany.
I said it is an idiotic idea ( and I am being lenient here!) Not just because of the above, but also because, if implemented, it will KILL Tourism in Germany.
Do these idiots have any idea how many millions of people (including myself) have visited Germany and rented cars for 3 day weekends and entire weeks, for the primary pleasure to drive all day long on the (Truck free on weekends, when I was there) Autobahns, making multiple sightseeing stops while coverign 3,000 km each weekend? (I have done this twice!)?
Talk about terminally stupid, like most in the extreme left are (you are a bleeding heart leftie at 25 to show you have a heart, and conservative from 40 on, to show that you also have a brain!)
Another Thu show item. You may have noticed I post and don’t bother to correct anybody who replies to my posts. My time is valuable. But on thu’s show, my eye caught, inadvertently, a couple of these:
a. A poster responding to the name of “Drew” recommended that I ‘switch to decaf”. Rest assured that I will never do so. It is a blatantly idiotic suggestion. If I ever switch (maybe at 105) from coffee to something decaf, it would be green tea, not that watery mud called “decaf coffee”.
But don’t worry too much, “Drew”, I never drink any coffee after 11 AM or so, by which time I have finished my daily wakeup dose (half a pot, but the coffee is very diluted, as I only use 3 small scoops of coffee).
The rest of the day, if I have the bad taste to drink any nutritionally empty soft drink, it is always a “no caffeine” version.
b. “Kit” (is this your full first name? Sounds like part of a pet food brand), started his or her response by addressing me as “Larry”?
Wait, genius, weren’t you and that other Brilliant mind, Cwolf, (and others I forget) who pestered that poor devil “Rey”, who vainoly insisted that he is a down on his luck Filipino immigrant in Canada, that he is also “Larry”?
And he aptly informed you that there are ‘thousands and thousands” of “Larry’s” on the sites he follows, meaning of course, people who appreciate the stellar success of Tesla as true EV pioneer and game changer, whether you haters like it, or not.
Musk did it his way, and is also laughing all the way to the bank.
For my part, I am very flattered that you think I am that brilliant poster, and could care less if you call me Larry, Barry, Harry, or the Czar of All Russias (no wait, that’s Vlad Putin). Actually, why waste your time? Just refer to the number of the post you want to comment on, life is too short, especially your r e m a i n i n g life!
But seriously, “Kit” (whatever your proper first name really is) and “Cwolf” (another beauty of a name, does it mean that this person is truly some guy called “C. Wolf”, or that it is a guy that can barely swim one hour in salt water, and calls himself “Seawolf”? I don’t claim to know. Keep up the good work, great scholars!
But if you think that Rey was the same poster as Larry, it is exactly like saying that my deaf uncle George (and he was very deaf, RIP) is the same as the great Ludwig van Beethoven! Both were stone-deaf, as both Larry and Rey were Tesla admirers.
Seriously, “Kit” and “Cwolf” and any others I have missed, those of you that wrote that “Rey” = “Larry”, you should all refuse to participate in any jury Duty, for reasons of utter lack of judgement and severe incompetence. I will give you a letter certifying that, for free. Because I am a very nice guy.
January 22nd, 2022 at 2:13 pm
11 Yes, I did briefly think that “Rey” might be “Larry,” but now it is very obvious that you are “Larry,” also know as Cybil and some other names. It might be possible, though, that you are “Rey” and adjust your style a little for that handle.
…and to you, S65AMG who has used about 6 different names here, probably none remotely resembling your actual name, Kit is not my legal name, but is a nickname I have had since birth, as with Kit Carson, Kit Morley, and some others well known, and more “regular” people than you might realize.
January 22nd, 2022 at 5:39 pm
11 Also, Larry, not a lot of tourists go to Germany because they can drive their 1600cc Ford Focus rentals wide open at 160 km/hr. They go to see the history, and “old world” preservation of history that doesn’t happen in the US.
January 24th, 2022 at 8:26 am
9 You can certainly take joy in knowing Tesla is the EV leader and rightfully so. They have the right combination that so many other automakers have struggled with. The first EVs had this image that they were supposed to be green and good for the environment and so like all other eco friendly cars they placed the new powertrains in tiny ecobox cars. However those powertrains required a hefty price and they soon realized few people would pay luxury car prices for a tiny hatchback that was electric.
Then Tesla hit the road with the Model S and they quickly realized they needed to offer something besides just gas free. The consumer needed something more than “good for the environment” to pay almost double for what they could get in an ICE. Now they look into their books and realize they have huge margins on SUVs and trucks and they package batteries well in those models. What they fail to look for is customers. Will there really be a huge demand for an electric truck? I’m betting on no. Yes there will be interest and the first year or two will be decent sales and then they will fall flat. Then automakers and Tesla included are going to be scrambling to make CUV EVs. A very popular replacement for the family sedan. But I still believe at least in the US and even most of NA we are 10-20 years out from seeing a mass adoption to electric. No one will remember in 13 years but I’m telling you now by 2035 EVs will not account for 25% of sales. IMO
January 24th, 2022 at 8:46 am
9 When/if EVs become price competitive, they will become a high percentage of commuter cars for those who live in houses in the suburbs with attached garages. Still, I suspect a lot of those people will also have a gas or hybrid vehicle for longer trips, unless charging becomes much quicker, and much more widely available.
I’ve driven a Model 3, and except for the controls, really liked it, but I would not buy one, even at a lower price, without having “home” charging at my condo.
January 24th, 2022 at 8:53 am
9 There is nothing wrong with those VW Santana taxis in China. They are much roomier than the Nissan Sentra taxis in Guadalajara, Mexico.
I agree, though, that VW is in trouble in China. They dominated there 20-30 years ago, but now, with all of the home grown brands doing better, and Tesla doing well with the expensive EV market, they need to come up with a “hit,” and it’s not happening.