On today’s show…FCA is looking for a new CEO and we have a bombshell of a suggestion…now the city of Munich is looking at banning diesels…and we take a look at Nissan’s first electric car. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

This is Autoline Daily the show that is researched, written and produced for enthusiasts of the automotive industry.

FCA’S CEO CANDIDATES
The CEO of FCA, Sergio Marchionne, is scheduled to retire at the end of next year. And so now the search is on to find his replacement. Bloomberg reports that the FCA board could consider Richard Palmer the head of finance or Alfredo Altavilla who runs FCA Europe. But it could also include Mike Manley who runs Jeep or Reid Bigland who runs US sales as well as the Alfa Romeo and Maserati brands. Here’s our Autoline Insight. We think two other names could make the list. First is Pietro Gorlier who runs Mopar and has turned it into a global operation. And the next one could be a shocker. We think it’s possible the board would have to consider Mark Fields, who just got tossed out at Ford. During his career at Ford, Fields ran Mazda, worked in South America, ran Ford of Europe, ran the Premier Automotive Group, was head of North America and became CEO. So he could easily run FCA. Moreover, now he has a chip on his shoulder. He has something to prove. And there is something of a precedent for this. Nearly 40 years ago Ford fired Lee Iacocca, who then went to Chrysler. Iacocca also had something to prove, and as the old saying goes, the rest is history.

NISSAN CELEBRATES ELECTRIC PAST
As you all know, electric cars are nothing new. Heck, Detroit Electric was making EVs back in ‘07, as in 1907. And now, as Nissan gets ready to introduce an all-new LEAF, it’s giving us a peek into its electric past. Check out this cool looking electric car from 1947, called the Tama. It almost looks like an old milk truck. Tama started out life as an aircraft maker but after the war switched to cars, which included an electric model because of a gasoline shortage. Like many EVs today, the Tama stored its batteries underneath the floor, but they were also mounted on a sliding rack for an easy swap. The first ones had a top speed of 21 miles per hour, which was later bumped to 22 MPH and it had a range of 40-miles. While Tama was not a part of Nissan at the time, the EVs were nearly made entirely by engineers from Nissan and another automaker, called Prince Motor Co. Prince purchased Tama in 1952 and Nissan took over Prince in ‘66.

Autonomous cars will never go anywhere unless the proper regulations are in place. That’s coming up next.

WAYMO RETIRES BUBBLE CAR FLEET
Ask someone what an autonomous car looks like and they’ll probably describe Waymo’s bubble car. But it’s time to bid that cute car farewell. Waymo announced it’s going to retire that fleet. Instead, Waymo, will now concentrate on its fleet of Chrysler Pacifica minivans. And that’s the path Waymo will most likely take towards full autonomy: collaborating with automakers to design and make cars with no pedals and steering wheels that use Waymo’s custom-built radar, lidar and vision systems.

CHEVY BUILDS FIRST AUTONOMOUS BOLT EVs
In other AV news, Chevrolet announced it has completed building 130 autonomous Bolt EVs at its Orion assembly plant in Michigan. The vehicles will be put into fleets for testing purposes, which GM says will eventually grow to 180 cars.

AV LEGISLATION PROPOSED
Speaking of AV’s, the U.S. Senate is working on legislation to govern them. Three U.S. Senators, in a bipartisan effort, have come up with guidelines for any regulations. They want to prioritize safety, promote innovation, reinforce separate federal and state roles, strengthen cybersecurity and educate the public. The three senators are John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota; Gary Peters, a Democrat from Michigan; and Bill Nelson, a Democrat from Florida. With all the partisan bickering going on in Washington, we think it’s great to see both sides of the aisle working together to bring autonomy to the marketplace.

Coming up next, the German post office wants electric vans so bad it’s willing to make them itself.

CHINA’S AMBITIOUS EV PLANS
China is by far and away the biggest producer of electric vehicles and it hopes to keep the momentum going. The government set a goal to have electrified vehicles, including plug-in hybrids, reach 8 percent of sales by next year, 10 percent by 2019 and 12 percent by 2020. But in 2016 they accounted for just 1.8% of sales. And most of those sales went to government agencies. That left many in the industry saying the goals were too ambitious and that China should back off. But China is not backing down. It will go ahead with the strict sales targets.

MUNICH CONSIDERS DIESEL BAN
In Germany, the city of Munich is considering banning diesel powered vehicles to reduce high levels of nitrogen oxide. According to Reuters between 130,000 and 170,000 vehicles could be affected by the ban, although cars that meet Euro 6 emission standards would be exempt. Stuttgart is also looking to kick some vehicles off its roads sometime next year as well. The German automakers are big proponents of diesel cars, so it’s surprising to see their home country turn its back on the engine.

ELECTRIC DELIVERY VANS
And this may explain our next story. The German postal service, Deutsche Post DHL Group, and Ford have teamed up to build electric delivery vans. Production is scheduled to begin next month and 2,500 vans based on the Transit will be built by the end of 2018. Deutsche Post currently builds a smaller electric van that operates under its StreetScooter subsidiary. So if that diesel engine ban expands to other cities, the German post office is ready.

And with that we wrap up today’s report. Thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.