Runtime: 8:26
0:31 Musk Won’t Take Tesla Private
1:11 Ferrari Race Car Sets Auction Record
1:37 Weekend Race Results
3:00 Mercedes’ Homage to The Past
3:59 Traffic Management Industry Poised for Growth
4:26 New Hyundai Santa Fe Is Stronger, Lighter and Quieter
6:18 Acura RDX’s New Multi-Link Suspension
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On today’s show…Elon Musk changes his mind and lights up the blogosphere once again…Mercedes looks back to 1937 for future inspiration…and Hyundai takes structural integrity to a new level with the Santa Fe. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily, the voice of the automotive industry.
MUSK WON’T TAKE TESLA PRIVATE
Well you probably heard this by now. Over the weekend, Elon Musk announced he is not taking Tesla private. He cited several reasons why he changed his mind, but this unleashed a torrent of criticism aimed at Musk, questioning his credibility. Now that the markets are open we’ll see how investors treat the stock, but the actions at the company seem to be getting more erratic. Here’s our Autoline Insight. It’s time for Tesla’s board to get a new CEO and COO. They need to keep Musk on as non-executive chairman, but it’s time to get him out of the day to day activities of the company.
FERRARI RACE CAR SETS AUCTION RECORD
A classic Ferrari racing car just set an auction record at the RM Sotheby’s auction at Pebble Beach. The 1962 250 GTO sold for a staggering $48 million after all the fees. The previous owner, made a nice return on his investment. He bought the car back in 2000 for a measly seven million bucks.
WEEKEND RACE RESULTS
In racing news over the weekend, the start of the Belgium Grand Prix started with a pile-up of F1 cars at the first corner. Fernando Alonso’s orange McLaren went flying into the air, and provided one of the first racing tests of the halo safety device which passed with flying colors. Alonso’s tires left skid marks on the halo of Charles Leclerc’s car. After they brushed all the carbon fiber pieces off the track, it settled into a predictable pattern where Sebastian Vettel powered his Ferrari to an easy win. In IndyCar racing, Scott Dixon’s Honda-powered Ganassi car dominated most of the race. And Alexander Rossi squeezed some unbelievable fuel economy out of his Honda-powered Andretti Autosport car. But in the end, it was Will Power’s Chevy-powered Penske that took the win at the Gateway Motorsports Park.
Coming up next, we’ll tell you how Hyundai made the Santa Fe stronger, quieter and lighter.
MERCEDES’ HOMAGE TO THE PAST
What is it with these concept cars that harken back to the 1930’s grand prix era? Infiniti showed one last year at Pebble Beach, the Prototype 9. Now Mercedes just showed the EQ Silver Arrow as an homage to the W 125 race car from 1937. It’s an electric car with 780 horsepower and an 80-kilowatt hour battery, all packaged within a carbon fiber body structure. Inside this single seater, the driver is presented with an array of information on a wide screen. One thing caught our eye. Note the wheel covers on the front half of each wheel. We also saw this look on the autonomous Roll-Royce Vision concept car. When you start to see styling cues like this show up on multiple concept cars you just know the designers are working feverishly to get this into production.
TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT INDUSTRY POISED FOR GROWTH
Traffic management could turn into a business that will grow significantly over the next few years. According to ABI Research, the traffic management industry will generate revenues of $6 billion by 2023. The study says suppliers Kapsch, Siemens and the PTV Group, which is part of Porsche, are the leaders in the move from passive to active traffic management.
NEW HYUNDAI SANTA FE IS STRONGER, LIGHTER AND QUIETER
Since its introduction in 2000, Hyundai sold more than 1.6 million Santa Fe’s worldwide and we just got to experience the new 2019 model. This is the 2-row example that was previously called the Santa Fe Sport, but Hyundai dropped the “Sport” from its name. There is still a 3-row model, which is now called the Santa Fe XL. While there are a number of improvements for 2019, one of the things that jumped out at us was the advancements to the structure. 67% of the structure is now made from advanced high-strength steel. That helps keep weight down and protects passengers better in a crash and improves torsional stiffness by over 15%. There’s also 45% more structural adhesive compared to the outgoing model. 386-feet vs. 266-feet. Hyundai says this contributed to weight savings that improved fuel efficiency by 1.5%. Another added benefit of structural adhesives is that they do a better job of deadening sound compared to welds. We’ll share more of our thoughts on the new Santa Fe during the week, but we can tell you this is the most structurally sound, best handling and quietest Santa Fe ever made.
The rear suspension in the new Acura RDX looks like it fell off a Formula 1 car. And we’ll tell you more about it, right after this.
ACURA RDX’S NEW MULTI-LINK SUSPENSION
The 2019 Acura RDX is completely new from the ground up. It has a lot of impressive new features but one thing that caught our eye is the rear suspension. On last week’s Autoline After Hours we were joined by Stephen Frey, the Chief Engineer of the RDX, and he shared the improvements to the suspension and its benefits.
(The AAH preview is only available in the video version of today’s show.)
For a deeper dive into the all-new Acura RDX, you can watch that entire show right now on our website, Autoline.tv or you can find it on our YouTube channel.
But that’s it for today, 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.