AD #3526 – Ford Bringing the Bronco to Europe; Kia Unveils Electric EV9 SUV; BMW Previews New HUD for Next-Gen EVs
March 15th, 2023 at 11:53am
Listen to “AD #3526 – Ford Bringing the Bronco to Europe; Kia Unveils Electric EV9 SUV; BMW Previews New Head-Up Display for Next-Gen EVs” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 9:43
0:08 Most Mid-Size SUVs Fall Short in Rear Passenger Protection
1:13 Honda Developing Software Defined Vehicle
2:03 GM’s Chief Marketing Officer Steps Down
3:19 Ford Bringing the Bronco to Europe
5:04 Kia Unveils Electric EV9 SUV
5:55 Porsche Offering New Crankcases for Old 911s
7:23 BMW Previews New Head-Up Display for Next-Gen EVs
8:11 BMW To Launch Electric 5 Series for First Time
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MOST MID-SIZE SUVs FALL SHORT IN REAR PASSENGER PROTECTION
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety or IIHS recently updated its moderate overlap front crash test to measure protection for rear seat passengers. And of 13 midsize SUVs it just tested, it says most of them don’t offer adequate protection for rear passengers. Only four, the Subaru Ascent, Tesla Model Y and Ford Explorer and Mustang Mach-E, earned good ratings. Three earned marginal ratings and the rest were poor. The IIHS updated the test because it says the gains automakers have made in protecting front seat passengers have not been applied to the rear. For model year 2007 vehicles onward, the risk of fatal injury is 46% higher for belted rear seat passengers than passengers in the front. And the IIHS says that’s in part because restraint technologies have only improved in the front seat.
HONDA DEVELOPING SOFTWARE DEFINED VEHICLE
All the legacy automakers are scrambling to develop an electronic architecture similar to the one that Tesla uses; the so-called software-defined-vehicle, where pretty much every part of the vehicle is controlled by software from a more centralized computing system. Now we can add Honda to that list. It reached an agreement to work with KPIT Technologies, a software integration company that’s based in India. The two companies will develop a new operating system for Honda’s next-gen electronic architecture as well as software for EV powertrains, in-car entertainment and other connected technologies and autonomous driving. But it doesn’t say when it plans to launch the new system.
GM’S CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER STEPS DOWN
Less than a week after General Motors revealed it’s offering buyouts to most of its salaried employees and global executives, the automaker announced its global chief marketing officer, Deborah Wahl, is retiring at the end of the month. Wahl joined GM in 2019 after holding the same position at McDonald’s. She also held marketing positions for a number of automakers. GM, which spent $3.3 billion on advertising in 2021, will conduct an external search for Wahl’s replacement. It’s offering the buyouts as part of an effort to cut $2 billion in costs over the next two years.
FORD BRINGING THE BRONCO TO EUROPE
Not long after saying it would focus more on BEVs and introduce vehicles that are “unapologetically American” in Europe, Ford is doing just that. It showed another teaser for its VW-based MEB vehicle, which says “A Reinvented Ford is Coming,” and reveals the EV will debut on Tuesday the 21st. Ford also announced it’s going to start selling the Bronco in Europe for the first time ever. But only the Outer Banks and Badlands editions, which come standard with more off-road equipment and a 315 horsepower 2.7L turbo V6. Here in the states, these vehicles would sell anywhere from about $50,000 to somewhere in the $80,000 range. So, you know there will be a markup to ship them to Europe. Ford says it’s making these moves to differentiate itself and attract more customers. It will also help it crawl out of the lower priced segment of the European market, which it has slowly slid down into. But there’s also worry this won’t be enough to turn Ford’s European operations around. It’s lost nearly half its market share over the last 10 years and offering Broncos in limited numbers isn’t going to help that. And some analysts think the VW-based EV won’t be different enough for customers to embrace it. The Ultimate fear is that Ford will eventually just be an importer of vehicles to Europe. But what do you think? Let us know in the comments where you think Ford is headed.
KIA UNVEILS ELECTRIC EV9 SUV
Kia pulled the wraps off its newest electric vehicle, the EV9. Fans of the concept’s styling must be happy because it remains pretty faithful to that original look. The EV9 is a large 3-row SUV that rides on the Hyundai Group’s E-GMP platform. It’s not sharing a ton of details at the moment, but it does show the interior has a modern design with a long, thin display that combines the infotainment and instrument cluster together. There also looks to be a generous amount of room with all the seats folded down and a neat feature is second row captain’s chairs that can swivel to make entering and exiting easier or face the 3rd row. Kia says stay tuned for more details.
PORSCHE OFFERING NEW CRANKCASES FOR OLD 911s
Finding replacement parts for old, classic cars can be difficult. That’s why Porsche offers reissued parts for its older models and now it’s making magnesium crankcases available for 911’s built between 1968 and 1976. Until now, the only hope was to weld cracks in the cases or reuse parts from another engine. But now owners can order the crankcases as an original part right from Porsche. However, it wasn’t easy to recreate because the old drawings with production related data were hard to decipher. So Porsche had to go through parts lists, technical info in company archives and interview former and current staff about design details, in order to reproduce the crankcase.
BMW PREVIEWS NEW HEAD-UP DISPLAY FOR NEXT-GEN EVs
Last week, BMW teased its new iDrive system that launches later this year. And now the automaker is giving us a preview of its new head-up display, called BMW Panoramic Vision, that will debut in its Neue Klasse electric vehicles in 2025. It projects information and graphics across the entire width of the windshield for all passengers. While BMW didn’t get into specifics, the new HUD is able to create sharp images by showing info with a higher light intensity and contrast onto a dark coated edge at the lower edge of the windshield. That’s all the details we have for now but BMW says it will share more about the system at the Munich auto show in September.
BMW TO LAUNCH ELECTRIC 5 SERIES FOR FIRST TIME
And BMW also shared a few details about the upcoming 5 Series. An all-electric powertrain will be offered for the first time and it will be available for the sedan, wagon and M versions of the car. The 5 Series will also offer plug-in hybrid variants as well as gasoline and diesel engines with 48V mild hybrid technology. Other new features include an updated design, new operating system with a curved display and digital services. The new 5 Series Sedan launches worldwide in October.
And you won’t want to miss this week’s Autoline After Hours. Sandy Munro and Corey Steuben from Munro Live will be joining the show. Some of the topics they’ll dive into is Tesla’s new assembly process and what they think it will take for Tesla to come out with a $25,000 car and still make a profit. So join John and Gary tomorrow afternoon at 3PM eastern time for what should be a fun show.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching.
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Comments (39)
March 15th, 2023 at 12:06 pm
does ford sell anything in europe to compete with the yaris gr? im mean a true competitor a 300 hp puma? if not why not? wrc is huge on the old continent.
March 15th, 2023 at 12:17 pm
Ms. Wahl leaving GM will cost GM a fortune in recruiting costs and she probably is inundated with job offers this just shows the demise of a large corporation using dumb broad based policies rather than keeping its talented help versus selectively getting rid of the deadwood and overpriced staff. The job of the chairman is to maximize long term shareholder profit It is the job of government of social justice.
The job of Autoline is to entertain us gearheads with automotive news keep up the excellent work.
March 15th, 2023 at 12:22 pm
I think GM – like many others- does a bad job of marketing. Eg-when I go to the dealership to buy some swag for my wife to match her new vehicle and they have next to nothing and then you go online and don’t find much more. To me that’s what they teach in marketing day one.
New leadership may help.
March 15th, 2023 at 12:26 pm
After reading the build-up from Porsche on how difficult it was to retool those crankcases, I’m guessing that they plan to charge an arm and TWO legs for them.
March 15th, 2023 at 12:33 pm
I think BMW has a good idea putting the hud on a dark lower part of the windshield. It’s difficult to not get it blown out in bright sunlight if it’s raised higher. I am not sure about spreading it across the windshield though. I thought one of the major benefits of huds is the information is directly in your line of sight.
When they start adding augmented reality information like arrows on the road, they will have to be up on the glass area.
March 15th, 2023 at 12:40 pm
@4 – I thought the same thing, that sounds inexpensive.
March 15th, 2023 at 12:47 pm
4,6 The crankcase will probably cost at least $15K. Even parts for newer Porsches, and oil changes at dealers are very expensive.
March 15th, 2023 at 12:54 pm
Its probably okay that GMs marketing officer is stepping down. As I think about GM over the years I remember a few good marketing slogans like “Heartbeat of America” and the use of Bob Seger’s “Like a rock” or the one before that “If you like baseball, hot dogs apple pie and Chevrolet”. I even remember the signs before my time “See the USA in your Chevorlet”.
What have they done lately? Oh yeah changed GM to gm. Horrible.
March 15th, 2023 at 12:56 pm
Ford is in a tailspin everywhere, not just Europe. Ford has ceded the Australian and South American markets. As with other western OEMs, its China results are falling. You already noted the European results are a shadow of its former self (and sliding further into the abyss). In NA, Ford’s CR customer satisfaction, JDP durability, and service rankings are in the bottom quartile. Survival is more at risk than ever before.
Farley says he is focusing on iconic brands and commercial trucks. The cold, stark reality is that Ford is running away from competition. It only wants to compete in segments with few competitors… particularly those segments where Asian brands don’t participate. But Mustang and Bronco participate in niche segments.
The smaller volume Ford will quickly burn through cash in a recession. And the smaller it becomes, the greater the fixed cost burden weighs on it… meaning Mustang and Bronco are not sustainable.
Pink Floyd sang “You can’t have your pudding if you don’t eat your meat.” Similarly, mom said “you can’t have dessert if you don’t eat your vegetables.” Mustang and Bronco are the auto industry equivalent to dessert. Ford’s “meat” is F-Series and commercial trucks. But its diet is not balanced as it removes vegetables from the menu… discontinuing Edge, lack of appetite to make Escape competitive (Farley has alluded to no Escape replacement), and making an abysmally poor quality Explorer (its poor retail sales masked by police fleet sales).
The reality is that Farley’s strategy is not sustainable. He appeases WCF2 with promises of a transformed company with investments in EVs and AV. But simply, I don’t know why anyone would buy an EV or AV from a shrinking bottom tier company.
March 15th, 2023 at 12:58 pm
Wouldn’t most people in Europe rather just buy an EV from Volkswagen, rather than a badge engineered Ford version, with VW having a lot more sales and service outlets in Europe? Also, how much market is there for expensive off-road trucks? I wouldn’t think there would be much market.
Maybe they will sell Mach-Es from Mexico and China, which might do fairly well. Also, they may continue to fill the “cheaper V8″ niche with Mustang. The outgoing Mustang was sold globally, including RHD markets. Will that continue with the new one?
March 15th, 2023 at 1:07 pm
Where do I think Ford is headed? Well, by 2035 they will be lucky to be in 7th position behind VW, Toyota, Tesla, GM, Stellates, Honda and maybe even a Chinese automaker. They haven’t carried an entry level vehicle in the US for years and if the recent bank failures are a sign of another 2008 crisis, they will have a hard time peddling 50-80k trucks and SUVs. Their offerings in Europe has been shrinking and I’m not sure they will have anything to compete with the Chinese EVs there. I hope I’m wrong but it doesnt look good for Ford to me.
March 15th, 2023 at 1:11 pm
10 Kit – People here can be astonishingly loyal to their dealer and marque. People who have shopped Ford literally all their automotive life are not going to switch – especially not when the underpinnings are the same.
March 15th, 2023 at 1:13 pm
9 Well said Drew. I wouldnt be surprised to see Ford follow GM with some buy-outs of their own to reduce staff that they wont need soon enough.
March 15th, 2023 at 1:15 pm
8 I liked those ads you mention, but for some reason, my father hated the “like a rock” ones. He was about my current age when the ads ran. I remember the “Dinah Shore Chevy Show” when I was in grade school, with the “See the USA in your Chevrolet” ads. Lawrence Welk did some Dodge ads around that time.
I agree that the current ads have little appeal. The ones I see the most are of trucks being abused, bouncing on rough terrain with wheels off the ground. I guess than makes them look durable, since they get the ad done without anything being visibly damaged, but does that sell trucks? They don’t seem to be selling too well, since they are shutting the Fort Wayne plant down because of excess inventory.
March 15th, 2023 at 1:18 pm
It looks like Kia outsourced the styling for the EV9 to the Lego company. Its a style, and it will appeal to some, but its just not for me.
March 15th, 2023 at 1:19 pm
They sell the Mach-E in Europe now. Sales totaled about 25,000 last year.
March 15th, 2023 at 1:19 pm
9 Exactly! How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat?
March 15th, 2023 at 1:26 pm
15 I agree, its not very appealing. I never liked the half hexagonal wheel arches that GM used either. However I fully expect more radical designs to come, as manufacturers try and stand out from the massive amounts of similarly looking SUV/CUVs.
March 15th, 2023 at 2:44 pm
18 Even though most of today’s vehicles are tall with lift kits, couldn’t they add some style, like this ’60 Chrysler? Maybe it would be a pedestrian hazard, though.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jacksnell707/5761534083
March 15th, 2023 at 2:59 pm
Very impressed how Porsche went through all the trouble bringing those crank cases back to life. Giving Porsche lovers new hope.
March 15th, 2023 at 3:06 pm
19 Well the cars from the 60s sure got some heavy influence from the space race. All kinds of rocket and jet shapes with fins and Dagmars. Maybe they’ll garner some influence from the current race to Mars and Jeff Bezos rocket. Actually, let’s hope not.
March 15th, 2023 at 3:14 pm
Sean, what happened to the idea that 3D printers would allow manufacturers to scan an obsolete part and then 3D print it? Is magnesium one of the materials that 3D printing can’t handle?
March 15th, 2023 at 3:17 pm
21 By about ’63, the fins were gone. It was sure easy to tell what brand an American car was from the mid ’50s to early ’60s.
March 15th, 2023 at 3:30 pm
22 I found some articles about 3d printing biodegradable magnesium items for orthopedic surgery. An article mentioned difficulty getting as good of density/strength as with other techniques, and that it can catch fire. I’d think the fire part could be dealt with, by doing the printing in an argon atmosphere.
March 15th, 2023 at 3:46 pm
22 Even without 3D printing there are many scanning tools out there that should have made reproducing the drawing pretty simple. Maybe they made it sound more difficult to justify the cost.
March 15th, 2023 at 3:57 pm
25 It sounded like they may not have had complete drawings. In any case, there will be people willing to pay the price, no matter what, if they have a car in excellent condition except for the crankcase. Probably other engine parts are available, at least barrels, pistons, rings, and bearings.
March 15th, 2023 at 5:31 pm
Poor old IIHS, desperately trying to stay relevant by upping the ante, what’s next, protection rating for the rear stowage compartment to see if your tomatoes will be bruised in a fender bender?
I call BS on Porsche going through all that trouble to offer new crankcases for old 911s, you mean to tell me they don’t have a half dozen in cars in their museums they could have scanned or taken apart to get the information to make new ones? I think they are just trying to justify the high price they plan on charging by making it sound like they moved heaven and earth to get it done. What a crock.
March 15th, 2023 at 6:18 pm
As all vehicles now have Automatic Emergency Braking, those IIHS crash tests seems like an organization desperately hanging on to its past. Certainly those crash vehicles would have applied the brakes and avoided hitting the barrier… if IIHS hadn’t disabled the system.
March 15th, 2023 at 9:31 pm
27,28 Vehicles still crash, and people carry passengers in the 2nd row seats of these vehicles. If IIHS has found that many of them have substandard 2nd row seat belts, that is worthwhile information. What they have published will influence car companies to spend a few bucks to improve the belts.
Yes, Porsche will be charging too much for those crankcases. So what? It will generate extra money to keep the low volume 718 cars I like in production a little longer.
March 15th, 2023 at 10:11 pm
28 Not all vehicles now have automatic emergency braking. I happen to have two 2023 model year vehicles, a Porsche Cayman and a Mini Cooper, which do not have it.
March 16th, 2023 at 6:31 am
By the way, the US grid is slowly but steadily getting more sustainable (though it would be wrong to simply extrapolate the trend):
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=55719
March 16th, 2023 at 7:27 am
31 Yeah, I saw this the other day too. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/07/a-new-nuclear-reactor-in-the-us-starts-up-for-first-time-in-seven-years.html
First nuclear reactor to open in the US in 7 years. 67 nuclear reactor construction projects were canceled after 3-mile isle in 1979.
March 16th, 2023 at 8:44 am
32 The 1984 abandonment of the half completed Marble Hill nuclear plant in southern Indiana was big news at the time in all of Indiana. They were still working on demolishing it 25 years later. Maybe they should have left it alone, and completed it 25 years later.
March 16th, 2023 at 9:06 am
28,30 Correction: The Mini has low speed automatic emergency braking, but not highway speed. The Cayman has neither.
March 16th, 2023 at 9:29 am
Pretty interesting article on Hydrogen plane travel.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/this-record-setting-new-plane-may-eventually-change-air-travel-forever-today-will-go-down-in-the-history-books/ar-AA18FgQu?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=a33bb2acd48d462285eefa5fdb407bbc&ei=50
March 16th, 2023 at 9:47 am
I can imagine that the original drawings for the Porsche crank case were done by hand on Mylar. There should not have been too much degradation of the drawing if done on Mylar. God help them if they were done on Paper as I would be surprised if they even existed in any condition.
I suspect that they first took the drawings and tried to recreate them in a 3D cad system. At that point they probably found that the 3D rendering from the hand drawn dimensions would have gaps. They also likely compared the 3D cad they created from the drawings to a scanned image of the actual parts and found even more gaps in the design. Thus why they needed to discuss with the original engineers of that time period to fill in the gaps between the hand drawn drawings, the scanned images, and the 3D model.
Scanned images do not give tolerances which is critical to crank cases as even a few microns off can spell disaster. That is also why you can’t just 3D print it, which has discrepancies, using a scanned image which also has discrepancies. It would not work. The best is the original drawings using cast parts that are machined to exact tolerances. A low volume casting and machining likely would cost a lot using low volume tools. Especially if they are using a die casting, which it appears they are. That is easily $750K just in tooling alone. Spread that cost over even 200 units and it is going to be expensive just to cover tooling cost. Not even adding in the machining and other sundry labor/overhead/profit/etc. It is going to be very expensive. Porsche even went the extra mile and tested these parts for durability which is very expensive and can also run 100s of thousands of dollars depending on how much testing they performed. I could easily justify $15K with the level of work they did.
The cost doesn’t necessarily make a difference to these original year Porsche owners though. These year Porsches are so expensive that even $15K is a fraction of the price of one of these cars. It is also worth $15k to transform your car from garage art to a running driving car. Also, in the end you are getting a part that is likely to never have an issue again and is made to a very high OEM porsche standard. Not to some random standard from some random shop in some random location using scans from some random vehicle they found in a random junk yard. All that to say, in this case, it is worth the price. Expensive, but worth the price. It would not be worth the price for something like a Ford Maverick of this time period for instance. But for a Porsche 911 of this time period, completely worth it.
March 16th, 2023 at 10:12 am
According to Jalopnik, the Porsche cases are sand cast, followed by lots of machining.
March 16th, 2023 at 10:19 am
37 I wonder if they can 3D print material for lost foam casting. That would be intersting.
March 16th, 2023 at 3:36 pm
Porsche Parts – We had a 1979 928 for 30 years, & while the parts may not have been inexpensive, they were available. More than I could always say about parts for our 1996 Contour.