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Runtime: 7:33
0:32 GM Calls for National ZEV Program
1:15 Ford & VW Deep in Collaboration Talks
1:57 U.S. Market Defies the Experts
2:56 Hyundai’s Amazingly Affordable Santro
3:32 Tesla to Intro Neural Networks
4:29 Tesla’s Enhanced Autopilot
5:25 Would You Lease A Used Car?
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On today’s show…GM calls for an aggressive national program to sell a lot more electric cars…Tesla reveals some fascinating info about the bleeding-edge technology going into its cars…and here’s one dealer who thinks it’s time for automakers to start leasing used cars. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily the voice of the automotive industry.
GM CALLS FOR NATIONAL ZEV PROGRAM
While the Trump Administration wants to take away California’s legal right to mandate electric cars, General Motors is calling for a national zero emissions vehicle program based on California’s regulations. It says this could result in 7 million EVs on the road by 2030. GM says this would help the U.S. auto industry and drive down the costs of EVs. The proposal sets ZEV requirements each year, starting at 7% in 2021 and then working its way to 25% by 2030. Automakers would receive credits for how many they sell and the range of the EVs and would be able to buy or trade those as needed.
FORD & VW DEEP IN COLLABORATION TALKS
Ford stock shot up 10% yesterday after the company’s earnings beat Wall Street estimates as investors rushed in to buy more shares. But there might be something more in play. Ford is in deep talks with Volkswagen on a massive collaboration project that could save both companies a large fortune. At first, the idea was to collaborate on commercial vehicles. Then that expanded to include collaboration in Europe and South America. Now, in talking with Bloomberg yesterday, Bob Shanks, the CFO of Ford, said that the two companies could share different types of technology, collaborate in various product segments and do this all over the world.
U.S. MARKET DEFIES THE EXPERTS
At the beginning of the year, all the analysts and even the car companies expected new car sales in the U.S. to drop. But the market is defying those predictions. Sales held steady all year and now it looks like they’re even strengthening. WardsAuto says October sales will come in at a SAAR of 17.5 million, and will likely finish the year at 17.2 million. That’s higher than last year’s 17.1, and all thanks to a healthy economy and strong consumer confidence.
Tesla dumped a boat load of info about the bleeding edge tech it’s about to put in its cars and that’s coming up next.
HYUNDAI’S AMAZINGLY AFFORDABLE SANTRO
Hyundai is bringing back its small car, the Santro to the Indian market. It’s built on an all-new platform and is powered by a 1.1L 4-cylinder gasoline engine, which can also be converted to run on CNG. It comes standard with a five-speed manual or for the first time for a Hyundai vehicle, its Automated Manual Transmission, which was developed in-house. The Santro also offers smartphone connectivity, a touchscreen infotainment system and voice recognition. The base price is only about $5,300.
TESLA TO INTRO NEURAL NETWORKS
Tesla let out a lot more information about its enhanced Autopilot system that uses neural networks running on chips that the company will build itself. Elon Musk says they will increase processing capability 1000%. The system will provide a 10-fold increase in frames per second for analyzing camera inputs that will provide a 360-degree view around the car. Yet it has the same cost, power consumption and volume as the current system, and can be retrofitted to any car being built now. Tesla has already validated the software, is currently validating the motherboard, and already started the manufacturing line. That is unique in the auto industry. Automakers just don’t make their own chips. Some of the fastest GPUs are made by NVIDIA. But Tesla says that NVIDIA chips just aren’t fast enough.
TESLA’S ENHANCED AUTOPILOT
The enhanced Autopilot will be able to automatically change lanes. At first the driver will confirm the move by using the turn signal, but later versions will do this on their own. It will also handle forks in the road, and very tight exit ramps. And if the cloud determines the car could hit a passenger that the driver does not see, it will brake on its own. While other cars have Automated Emergency Braking, the Tesla system sounds like it can monitor pedestrians and objects anywhere around the car, not just in front of it.
Coming up next, would you lease a used car?
WOULD YOU LEASE A USED CAR?
Leasing keeps growing in popularity It’s been a key way to sell more new cars. So why not do the same thing with used cars? George Glassman from the Glassman Automotive Group, wants to change that. He’s our guest on Autoline This Week and in the following clip, he discusses why he thinks leasing used vehicles is a great idea.
(The ATW preview is only available in the video version of today’s show.)
For a deeper dive into the used car market, you can watch that episode on our website, Autoline.tv or you can find it on our YouTube channel.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and have a great weekend.
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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.