Listen to “AD #2801 – Germany Will Protect Auto Companies; SEAT Introduces New Leon; U.S. Traffic Volume Falls 30%” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 10:49
0:07 Two FCA Employees Die from Virus
0:37 Javits Center Converting into Hospital
1:10 Germany Will Protect Auto Companies
1:35 Ford Ramping Up Production of Medical Equipment
3:35 SEAT Introduces New Leon
4:13 U.S. Traffic Volume Falls 30%
4:55 New Design Cut for Spoiler Guards
5:56 Mercedes Celebrates Its First Bus
6:44 You Said It!
8:22 What Will Happen to New Vehicle Launches?
10:13 Skoda’s Simply Cleaver Bag Hook
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TWO FCA EMPLOYEES DIE FROM CORONAVIRUS
The coronavirus is really starting to hit home in the auto industry. FCA reports that two of its hourly workers died from the disease. One worked at the company’s assembly plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan. The other worked at its transmission plant in Kokomo, Indiana. While automakers are keen to get production going again, these deaths are a dose of reality and a sign that automotive production will not get going soon.
JAVITS CENTER CONVERTING INTO HOSPITAL
Before the coronavirus hit the U.S., automakers were gearing up for the New York Auto Show in early April. But now the Javits Center in New York, which is where the show is held, is being turned into a field hospital for coronavirus patients. It’s being outfitted with 1,000 beds in four separate hospitals inside the convention center.
GERMANY RACES TO PROTECT AUTO INDUSTRY
Meanwhile, Germany is racing to prevent the breakup or sale of its auto industry. Government officials fear that cash-rich companies, especially from China, may try to buy up companies that have seen their stock prices plummet and can be bought on the cheap. Reuters reports that the German government is ready to take stakes in companies or even take them over to prevent key industries from falling into foreign hands.
FORD RAMPS UP PRODUCTION OF MEDICAL EQUIPMENT
As we reported yesterday Ford is rushing to ramp up production of medical equipment needed in the fight against the virus. We got the opportunity to interview Jim Baumbick, the vice president in charge of the effort. It was a remote interview of course, as all of Ford’s employees from Bill Ford on down, are working from home. Here’s a clip of what he had to say.
Jim Baumbick, VP, Enterprise Product Line Management, Ford
“We’ve got a little team together called Project Apollo, inspired by Apollo 13. How do we look at what we have available in our parts bin on the automotive side? Look at this basic device, which is really a high-tech device. If you think about it at a macro level, it’s pulling in air, filtering air into a pressurized hood. There are components in an automotive vehicle that we can leverage. For example, we developed a prototype that leveraged heated and cooled seat fan motors and blowers, coupled with 3M filters and a battery pack off a power tool. And so how do we use that as kind of inspiration for design, a simplified design that we could then scale very quickly in parallel to what we’re doing with 3M, leveraging our manufacturing expertise with what they know, which is creating these pieces of equipment.”
We’ve got that entire interview posted on our YouTube channel. It’s got more details on how Ford was inspired by the Apollo 13 moon shot, and why this current effort is reminiscent of the Arsenal Of Democracy mindset during the Second World War.
SEAT INTRODUCES NEW LEON
Spanish automaker Seat recently introduced its all-new Leon compact hatchback. It’s an important car in the company’s lineup with more than 2.2 million sold since it was introduced in 1999. The new model is designed, developed and produced in Barcelona and features a sleeker design. It’s powered by a range of gasoline, diesel, CNG, mild hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains. The interior comes standard with a 10-inch infotainment screen and it features a wraparound ambient light that runs the entire width of the dash and into the doors. The 4th-gen Leon comes with new technology like driver assistance systems and it’s the brand’s first fully connected vehicle. It’s scheduled to launch next month in Germany with a starting price of 20,000 euros.
HOW MUCH TRAVEL HAS BEEN IMPACTED
INRIX, a company that provides traffic and parking data, is showing how much this COVID-19 virus is impacting how much we drive. Across the U.S. traffic volume fell 30% compared to typical daily travel on Thursday and Friday last week. It fell as much as 50% in San Francisco during the same time period. How bad can it get? INRIX’s data shows vehicle travel is down 65% overall in Italy. But there is one bright spot. Long haul traffic has not changed, which means truckers are still making a lot of deliveries, likely many of the essentials we all need.
DODGE DESIGN CUT FOR SPOILER GUARDS
The head of FCA design, Ralph Gilles says he and his team are staying busy with virtual design reviews and even though he’s “NEVER” going to show future product, Gilles made an exception for this experimental Dodge design. Don’t get too attached, this one hit the cutting room floor. Why? Gilles says the designer wanted the yellow spoiler guards to be a permanent part of the theme. He said they had a good laugh about it though. Many Dodge vehicles are shipped with yellow guards to protect the front spoiler during shipping, which are meant to be removed. But many owners like the look and keep them on. Some designers on the other hand, hate the look. We think it’s because it’s not part of the original design. It looks like Gilles falls into the ‘Hate’ category.
MERCEDES CELEBRATES ITS FIRST BUS
125 years ago this March, Benz & Cie delivered the first bus with a combustion engine. As you can see it looks nothing like today’s buses. It was based on the Benz Landauer and had a total of 8 seats. It was powered by a horizontal, single-cylinder engine in the rear with a standing flywheel and a displacement of 2.9 L. The engine cranked out a whopping five horsepower. The bus only lasted in service for less than a year because it didn’t perform that well in the winter but it was the start of the company’s work in that segment, which continues today.
Yesterday we asked you for your insights on how we need to balance health and safety with the need to get the economy back on track to prevent it from falling into a depression.
George Ricci says
A number of companies are working on developing an antibody test for the coronavirus. This would allow you to identify people who have developed likely immunity to the virus. They might be able to treat patients safely or take on other front-line jobs during the pandemic.
Bob Wilson says
I’m concerned that the two week “stay at home” is not long enough. An extra week would give time for the new supplies to start flowing to the medical staff and facilities who need them. Then relaxing the isolation orders could let us restart the economy.
Bjarke says
I would like to see the white-collar workers actually taking a week of vacation during this crisis. One week of vacation could directly affect the bottom line of the companies as the accrued vacation is a financial burden.
Richard Davis says
We need antibody testing to see who has had the disease. If antibodies are present, these people can get back to work with impunity whether in the auto or healthcare industry. The tests are out there, we need to ramp up production and testing. There are many who have already recovered and don’t know it!
Brian Murray
Recession OK, Depression NO WAY!
Dan B.
Maybe have the car companies make TOILET PAPER !!
Those are just a few of the comments and there are just too many others to go through them here. Thanks for your input. WE truly appreciate getting them.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO NEW VEHICLE LAUNCHES?
There were a lot of new vehicle launches scheduled for this year but now that’s up in the air due to the coronavirus. So, what will automakers do? On a recent Autoline This Week, auto analyst Michael Robinet from IHS Markit, shared his insight into what may happen.
Michael Robinet, IHS Markit
“There’s kind of three waves that are going to occur here. The first wave is, can we effectively launch a vehicle, let’s say in July? And there’s a couple of big launches occurring in July, significant launches by the way, that are occurring, GM’s got a couple, Ford’s got a couple. All the OEMs have something going on this year. Can you effectively get that done? And I know that is a major issue within the OEMs that they’re prioritizing that. And then there’s a couple of bigger ones towards the end of the year. So as some of the early work we need to do to make sure tooling is approved, we have parts ready to go, we got pre-builds and all those types of things, is that going to occur by the end of the year? And you can see the possibility for some of that to get pushed out a little bit. Then you got that second wave and this is the lesson a lot of us learned through 2008 and 2009, is that the OEMs would launch a vehicle if they got tools, you know it’s kind of like, the breads baked, let’s eat it. So they launched that vehicle, then you back up and take a look at launches that might occur in 2022 and 2023. And those are delayable and that’s the second wave with what might occur here.”
You can watch that entire discussion on our YouTube channel right now.
And you can pass about an hour of your time tomorrow with Autoline After Hours. Our guests are Louis Fourie, a former president at the Society of Automotive Historians and Cole Cunnien, the director of engineering at Magna’s lighting division. And join me and Gary for some of the best automotive news when we go live at 3PM ET.
SKODA’S SIMPLE BAG HOOK
We’ll end today with another one of those Simply Clever solutions from Skoda. It’s a bag hook that’s incorporated into and flips down from the glove box door handle. As long as it’s durable, there’s countless uses for a hook like that.
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.