AD #2915 – Cadillac CT4 & CT5 Updates; Mercedes Faces Sales Ban in Germany; Maserati Shares EV Plans
September 11th, 2020 at 11:58am
Listen to “AD #2915 – Cadillac CT4 and CT5 Updates; Mercedes Faces Sales Ban in Germany; Maserati Shares EV Plans” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 8:32
0:23 Mercedes Faces Sales Ban in Germany
1:09 Continental Develops Weight Sensor for Big Trucks
1:52 Traton Ups Bid for Navistar
2:44 Maserati Shares EV Plans
3:51 Mercedes Cracks Code on EV & ICE Production
5:07 Cadillac CT4 & CT5 Updates
6:14 GM Explains Under the Hood Design of Full-Size SUVs
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MERCEDES FACES SALES BAN IN GERMANY
Could Mercedes be forced to stop selling cars in Germany? Sounds crazy but it could happen. Mercedes is being sued by the Japanese electronics company Sharp for using its technology without a license. A German court just ruled that Sharp could force Mercedes to stop selling vehicles. However, Sharp must pay 5.5 million euros to enforce the ban in order to cover any damages if the ruling is overturned on appeal. Last month, Nokia won a similar lawsuit against Daimler but it hasn’t enforced a ban yet. And Mercedes isn’t the only one in the hot seat. Sharp is suing Tesla and is seeking an injunction to stop it from selling cars in Japan.
CONTINENTAL DEVELOPS WEIGHT SENSOR FOR BIG TRUCKS
Starting next year, commercial vehicle operators in Europe have to weigh their trucks more often. It’s all about keeping roads in better shape and reducing the environmental impact of trucks. That means drivers must know the weight of the vehicle before they start a trip to avoid paying any fines. Instead of relying on a stationary scale to weigh the truck, Continental developed an On Board Weighing System that uses sensors to record how much a vehicle weighs, including the tractor and trailer. The driver gets the weight from an app. Not only will this help operators meet the new mandate, the technology also enables trucks to be loaded more efficiently and reduce empty runs.
TRATON UPS BID FOR NAVISTAR
And in other big truck news, Traton, the commercial vehicle maker owned by Volkswagen, upped its bid for Navistar. It’s offering to buy all stock it doesn’t already own for $43 per share, up from its previous offer of $35. That translates to a $3.6 billion bid, an increase of 23%. Traton currently owns 17% of Navistar, which makes it the second largest shareholder of the company, only behind billionaire investor Carl Icahn.
MASERATI SHARES EV PLANS
At Autoline we cover both electrification and internal combustion because we know that’s what consumers are into. Maserati knows that too. That’s why the MC20 super car was developed from the get-go to have both piston-engine and electrified powertrains. In fact, Maserati will have a whole range of electric vehicles that will carry the Folgore name, which means lightning in Italian. The first EVs to roll down the line in Turin will be the new GranTurismo and GranCabrio. Autoblog reports all electric Maserati’s will have the same setup; two electric motors out back, one up front and an 800-volt electrical system. While the automaker says it developed the powertrain for maximum range, it also says the MC20 Folgore will “absolutely be more powerful” than the version with the 3.0L V6, which makes 621 horsepower. The electric MC20 is expected to make its debut by 2022 and will be built in Modena.
MERCEDES CRACKS CODE ON EV & ICE PRODUCTION
Has Mercedes cracked the code on how to make EVs and ICE cars in the same plant and still get significant labor savings? It sure looks that way. The new S-class and upcoming EQS are assembled at a new facility called Plant 56 in Germany. It uses automated guided vehicles, or AGVs, to transport cars down the line. Nothing new there. AGVs have been around for decades. But it looks to us that the AGVs with EVs on them can skip parts of the assembly line. (video 0:18 freeze frame) So when an EV comes to that part of the line where ICE components are attached, like the radiator, exhaust system and fuel lines, the AGV with the EV just turns and goes to another part of the line. In plants with conventional conveyor lines, the EVs have to go through every assembly station in the plant and that means some stations have workers standing around doing nothing until the EV passes through. That hurts productivity. But Ola Kallenius, the CEO of Daimler, says that thanks to the flexibility they added in plant 56, productivity is up 25% compared to the old plant that built the S-class.
CADILLAC CT4 & CT5 UPDATES
Cadillac is making some updates to the CT4 and CT5 for the 2021 model year. First off, they get Super Cruise but only on the Premium Luxury and V-Series models. A new 12-inch instrument cluster is offered along with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay capability. A host of driver assistance features are now standard on the CT4, including Buckle to Drive, which doesn’t let the driver shift the transmission if their seat belt isn’t buckled. A new package called Diamond Sky gets a number of unique features and standard equipment, including a new paint color, which carries over to the rockers and rear diffuser, Brembo front brakes and exclusive grille accents and interior materials. 2021 CT4s and CT5s arrive this fall.
GM EXPLAINS UNDER THE HOOD DESIGN OF FULL-SIZE SUVs
When you pop the hood on GM’s new full size SUVs there’s a sealed-off, recessed area that sits in front of the radiator. It has a strange combination of slots and a circular opening. We figured out that the circular opening is part of the air intake but we couldn’t figure out what the slots are for. So on Autoline After Hours yesterday with Tim Herrick, the vice president of Global Products at General Motors, he explained what it’s all about. Take a look.
Tim Herrick, General Motors
“Cheese grater.”
John McElroy
“Yeah, what is that?”
Tim Herrick, General Motors
“That we affectionately call it the cheese grater. When you started discussing it, I won’t say his last name, but Jim the engineer that actually developed it. What that does, is that cheese grater, the pieces, the undulations in it, as well as the different holes and you can see all the seals we put around it, to seal it up. As it draws air in and then takes it to the edge and it separates water and any debris out of it, through that cheese grater. So you can clean it.”
John McElroy
“Very clever.”
Tim Herrick, General Motors
“Yes, its very clever. We paid him for a good patent on that. And it gets really clean air and a lot of it. It’s the best way to get the volume of air that you need and clean to the air filter, to the engine and then to the wheels.”
There’s a lot more to that show. In fact, there’s a great discussion about the investment firm Hindenburg that attacked Nikola and Trevor Milton as being nothing more than a scam. You can check that out in the second half of the show.
But that’s all for today, thanks for watching and have a great weekend.
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Comments (34)
September 11th, 2020 at 12:10 pm
I was hoping one of the updates to the CT4 and CT5 would be to offer the 3.6 V6, but no such luck.
September 11th, 2020 at 2:38 pm
Mercedes’s solution to ICE and EV production is very similar to the techniques used in the Auto Industry for many years. Vinyl Tops and Convertibles had spurs built that would shuttle them off to a separate line to have the work completed then merged back into the main line for the common components. Have you looked at Lake Orion to see how they were handling the Sonic, Bolt EV and cruise AV in the same plant down the assembly line?
September 11th, 2020 at 3:00 pm
Finally Maserati is doing what should have been done a long time ago. Designing a car with the ability to manufactured with an ICE or be a pure EV. Its a great looking car and it will be interesting to see the take rate of BEV to ICE of the same car.
September 11th, 2020 at 7:17 pm
I think weight sensors are a good idea. To take it a step further, there should be a way to also sense unbalanced loads. Believe it or not, unbalanced loads can be just as destructive as an over load.
In combination with sensors and since there is an app for everything, one should exist to keep trucks on designated roads. I am not certain if these routes are mandated by law but I question if everyone obeys the many signs. Having a mandated app would make it easier to fine those offenders who ruin roads meant for cars and fewer roads to repair or as often.
September 12th, 2020 at 4:24 am
https://www.autonews.com/automakers-suppliers/nikola-threatens-hindenburg-litigation-short-seller-welcomes-it?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20200911&utm_content=article2-headline
WHile the Tesla shorters lost way more than $3,000,000,000 ( the three billion was BEFORE the stock price took off!), there may be serious money to be made shorting this loser.
September 12th, 2020 at 5:17 am
I tried to SHORT sell Nikola but learned those who had the stock had put an unreasonable high interest rate. Since at that time the stock was primarily held by ‘insiders’, I figured it was just another way fleece anyone who came near them. To me, the business equivalent of a poison ivy patch.
As for GM’s EV efforts, Diess is right … design an EV as an EV and don’t try to modify an existing gas/diesel engine body. The electric Hummer, sad to say, is already doomed.
There are plenty of famous, USA inventors whose names could have been used: Edison, Westing, Marconi, Bell, e.t.c. These names a product labels are free of legacy of reputations.
September 12th, 2020 at 6:43 am
1, Kit, yeah, that CT5 could use the 3.6; I’ve had the 3.6 in an ’06 STS, ’11 STS, ’17 XT5 and currently in my ’19 CT6. Good power, great hwy gas mileage (with good all around town mileage as well).
September 12th, 2020 at 7:17 am
https://www.autonews.com/manufacturing/tesla-plans-export-china-made-model-3s-europe-asia-report-says?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20200911&utm_content=article4-headline
And while the short sellers now aim at the weak Nicola, Tesla, if allowed to sell its Shanghai made Model 3s in Pro-BEV (big way) Europe, will make a bundle.
The Q is, what will the Berlin 500,000 unit a year factory make? Model Ys?
September 12th, 2020 at 7:24 am
5 I could not read the full article, so do you know on what legal grounds (I doubt there are any) can Nicola sue its short sellers?
September 12th, 2020 at 8:18 am
https://insideevs.com/news/443598/nikola-threatens-sue-hindenburg-research/
But you can all read this, hilarious, Enjoy.
September 12th, 2020 at 9:01 am
From my link in 9:
Hindenburg accuses Nikola of “falsely claiming to have extensive proprietary technology.” When it announced its deal with GM, the company said the Badger would use Ultium batteries and Hydrotec fuel cell technology, both of which will be provided by GM.
In November 2019, Nikola promised it would reveal a revolutionary new battery with 500 Wh/kg that is 50 percent cheaper than current lithium-ion cells. Hindenburg says this technology would come from the “pending acquisition” of ZapGo that was called off when Nikola realized it was vaporware. The president of this company, Charles Resnick, would have conned NASA for funding and used the money to hire prostitutes.
Hindenburg also accuses Nikola of not having a running prototype of any of its vehicles, and of hiring Trevor Milton’s brother, Travis, to be its “Director of Hydrogen Production/Infrastructure.” The financial research company says Travis’s experience is limited to “pouring concrete driveways and doing subcontractor work on home renovations in Hawaii.”
You can’t make this stuff up, folks. Thanks for the Laughs, Hindenburg. “Oh, the Humanity!”
September 12th, 2020 at 9:05 am
10 Trevor and Travis… or Beavis and Butthead, more like it. ANd then John Mc compared these snake oil salesmen to the Almighty Elon Musk in his AAH discussion!!!
September 12th, 2020 at 10:07 am
7. “The Q is, what will the Berlin 500,000 unit a year factory make? Model Ys?”
Maybe a Golf-size hatchback. That’s the biggest part of the market in Europe, and I read somewhere that there might be one in the works.
September 12th, 2020 at 10:30 am
12 I heard Musk wanted to do a compact, but not of any definite plans.
September 12th, 2020 at 10:47 am
My friend’s daughter is having regrets that she bought a new Prius C equivalent in Europe, where it’s called the Auris Hybrid, because it has too little space for her, her Canadian husband (who is a musician, composer, player etc) and their 2 year old son, whose child seat takes up a lot of space too. They think they should have bought the regular Prius, or the less expensive Corolla Hybrid which I see parked here all the time and it looks like a roomy small wagon, although it’s not very tall and the cargo room should not be that big. Still, they enjoy the quiet operation (both she and her mother suffer from serious headaches) and good MPG.
September 12th, 2020 at 11:10 am
14. Do they sell a Corolla hybrid hatch or wagon in Europe? They sell only the sedan in the U.S., and if you want a hatch, you get a Prius. The Prius and Corolla hybrid have the same powertrain. The only reason to buy the Corolla over a Prius, is the appearance, and the base price is about $1K lower, at least in the US.
September 12th, 2020 at 11:15 am
15 I’ve only seen a COrolla Hybrid that looks like a small wagon. The Auris Hybrid is I believe like the Prius C, a small hatch. The Corolla Hybrid may have similar proportions to the rather cramped Lexus 200 ct or whatever hybrid. I sat inside that lexus and it had less room up front than the Prius.
September 12th, 2020 at 11:22 am
The Prius C that was sold in the US is about 20 inches shorter than a regular Prius, or a Corolla, so would have a lot less room. The Lexus CT is about midway between in length.
September 12th, 2020 at 2:15 pm
14 In fact before they bought the Auris Hybrid the wife asked me what they should buy. She had asked me before when she was in the Waterloo, Canada area on a postoc, and was considering a Civic sedan from the 2000s (used). I told them to buy a much bigger, safer car used but she was worried about the maintenance and repairs, which for many cars is not a problem, including both my Merc Es. In fact, her grandpa who lived to 101 and was elected to Parliament at 77 or so, had a nice Merc (probably an E class too) I advised them to buy from him when he retired, but they bought instead a rather awful Renault Megane, which sucked even when brand new. And paid a ton of money for that dog.
September 12th, 2020 at 2:28 pm
6. In the Camaro, the 2.0 turbo gets barely better EPA mpg than the 3.6, and the the turbo costs more to run, if you use the recommended premium gas. The 2.0 turbo Jeep Wrangler gets a 2 mpg better city rating, but the same highway. I don’t know how real world mileage would compare, but I suspect with a lot of drivers, the turbos would do worse.
https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbs&id=42882&id=42889&id=42906&id=42907
FWIW, when I bought my ’89 Caravan with the turbo manual, it was the quickest version of the van, and, as I remember, had the second best EPA numbers, beaten only by the 4 cylinder non-turbo.
September 12th, 2020 at 7:19 pm
19, It seems the only way you can see those high mileage numbers, with the four cylinder turbos, is if you don’t invoke the turbo (much); kind of like the old four barrel carburetors (efficient until the two rear barrels kick in). I think that’s why the six does pretty well against the four turbo; that, and especially when the six has cylinder deactivation (six to four). Both my XT5 and CT6 had/have the six to four deactivation; the XT5 would remain in four cylinder on the highway up to around 55mph, the CT6 for one reason or another stays in four cylinder mode closer to 65mph (conditions permitting; level ground, no or little wind). And as you said, the six runs perfectly well with regular fuel, the four does better with mid grade or premium.
September 12th, 2020 at 7:35 pm
I’m surprised how much time my Corvette spends in 4 cylinder mode. Changes in grade that you don’t see have it switching in and out, but on level ground, it seems to spend time it 4 cyl mode at 60 and above.
September 12th, 2020 at 10:07 pm
Fuel cells? The operating cost, so far, is even worse than I realized.
https://insideevs.com/news/443711/hydrogen-fuel-cell-cars-complex-costly-impractical/
September 13th, 2020 at 4:29 am
22 Why then is TOyota wasting so much time andf $ researching them? (other lesser makers too)? Puzzling.
September 13th, 2020 at 2:19 pm
22 Good question
September 13th, 2020 at 2:44 pm
23,24. One thing in the linked article didn’t make sense. They said the efficiency of the “grid” is 95%. I’d heard and read more like 60%, with the loss from transformers, IR loss in the wires, leakage of insulators, etc. Of course, there is a big “it depends.” If you get the power for a plug-in car from hundreds of miles away, there would be a lot of loss, but if a plant to electrolyze water is right next door to a wind farm or solar array, or if you charge a BEV near the source of the power, there wouldn’t be much loss.
September 13th, 2020 at 5:39 pm
Kit, regardless of losses in the grid, wouldn’t this apply to the production of all fuel sources? Hydrogen use has a better chance of becoming more efficient through advanced technology more than moving closer to a power source.
Considering the volume of sold vehicles other than ICE, your information is informative but not relative to scale.
September 13th, 2020 at 6:59 pm
26 I’d think production of hydrogen using facilities co-located with solar and wind power would make the most sense. Produce hydrogen when power is available on-site, but don’t use power from the coal plant 200 miles away to make hydrogen.
September 14th, 2020 at 9:57 am
GM CADILLAC BUCKLE TO DRIVE: Tyranny nanny state is here! Has GM been talking to the CCP in China? Now when you want to pull your car out of your garage to wash it in the driveway you need to buckle up. Insane!! Last I heard it was NOT the Auto Maker’s job to enforce seat belt laws! Put consumers/customers needs last….great idea GM!
September 14th, 2020 at 10:35 am
29) You can never be too careful pulling out of the garage LOL.
Just buy something other than a GM product. Seems that is what everyone is doing anyhow when it comes to Cadillac products….They just buy something else that is better.
September 14th, 2020 at 10:38 am
29 Cars had mandated seat belt interlocks in 1974, and they went away because people complained. Cadillac will probably reconsider for the same reason, or make it possible to disable.
September 14th, 2020 at 11:25 am
If you go to the article (transcript), “Buckle to Drive” needs to be turned on to function.
September 14th, 2020 at 11:56 am
29 I’m with you there. I’m all for safety devices and using them isn’t a problem. However there are many times I move my vehicles where I don’t need to be reminded to wear my belt.
I have a truck and when hooking up a trailer I may be in a tight spot or I get in and out of the truck a few times. I didn’t always close the door if I’m moving back 3 inches to get a hitch to drop over a ball. But now my new truck wont go into gear without the door being shut. PITA. I disabled the seatbelt chime the second day I owned truck because unlike common sense would warrant it to start chiming once the truck is over 10 mph. No it starts as soon as its in gear with a very annoying ding ding ding again while I might be just moving 6 feet.
Ive also found the auto braking feature to be too sensitive. If I’m baking out of the driveway and a car is parked on the street I have had the truck jam on the brakes scaring the bageezes out of everyone in the truck like we were about to get sideswiped. I’m not sure if its picking up the curb or the parked vehicle but its done this three times now. Thinking less is more on the next truck.
September 14th, 2020 at 11:59 am
The new Diamond Sky color on the Cadillacs might be similar to the Ice Blue on my ’89 Caravan.