AD #2339 – Maybach CUV Concept Gets a Trunk, Electric Busses Dent Oil Demand, DiDi Has Uber in Its Sights

On today’s show… Mercedes unveils it’s ultimate vision for electric luxury… Electric busses are starting to put a dent in oil demand… and move over Uber, Didi wants to take over your world. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

This is Autoline Daily the show for enthusiasts of the automotive industry.

MAYBACH CUV GETS SEDAN-LIKE TRUNK
Mercedes finally stopped teasing and fully unveiled at the Beijing auto show what it’s calling the Vision Mercedes-Maybach Ultimate Luxury. What a mouthful. Mercedes is calling it a crossover but notice how they stuck a big trunk on the back. Automakers are trying to come up with a new silhouette for crossovers because they’re all starting to look the same. And sticking on a trunk makes this Maybach stand apart from the crowd, or at least until everyone else copies it. Another key differentiator is the split window look that you see on the backlite. An unusual touch are the air scoops on either side of the front and rear fascias. They look like they came right off a BMW. Overall this Maybach seems a bit bland looking until you poke your head inside. It’s lavishly opulent, wrapped in bright white leather, complete with diamond-quilted seats accented with bright, reflective copper. Oh yeah, almost forgot. It’s an electric car with four electric motors generating 750 horsepower and providing a 200 mile range. Even though it’s a concept car, it looks very close to being production ready.

ELECTRIC BUSSES DENT OIL DEMAND
Electric busses are starting to make a dent in oil demand, and China dominates that market. Of the 385,000 electric busses in the world, 99% are in China or were made by Chinese companies. And China is adding 9,500 new electric busses on its streets every five weeks. Bloomberg reports that they will eliminate the need for 279,000 barrels of oil a day, about the same amount of oil that Greece uses every day.

Didi wants to push Uber aside and that’s coming up next.

WATCH OUT UBER! HERE COMES DIDI
China’s largest ride-hailing service, DiDi is getting even bigger. It just launched its services in Mexico. And you’ve got to believe it’s next step will be to launch in the U.S. The Wall Street Journal reports DiDi is in talks with bankers to raise cash through an IPO. It could happen as early as this year and it hopes to be valued somewhere between $70 and $80 billion. It could even use that money to build its own purpose-built vehicle. DiDi already put together a team of automotive designers and engineers and is now looking for OEMs to partner with. That might be the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance. The automotive group announced it has joined the DiDi Auto Alliance, which wants to establish itself as the world’s largest full-capacity vehicle operator platform.

LUTZ SAYS CHINESE WON’T GET MUCH U.S. SHARE
Next year a number of Chinese automakers plan to start selling cars in the American market. Bob Lutz, the former vice chairman of General Motors, predicts they will mainly compete with Japanese and Korean brands, because they will be more Asian in character. He says they probably won’t get much market share. Here’s our Autoline Insight. It’s going to come down to price. If Chinese made cars are significantly cheaper they will make immediate inroads. But if they’re only a little bit cheaper, Lutz will be right. They won’t get much market share.

Coming up next, you can now buy something online and have it delivered to the trunk of your car, wherever it’s parked. That’s coming up next.

AMAZON WILL DELIVER TO GM OR VOLVO CARS
Amazon Prime members, who also own a Volvo or a GM vehicle, can now have packages delivered to their car for no extra cost. After the product is ordered, customers will receive a notice via a smartphone app when the package is on its way and after the package is delivered. GM owners must have a 2015 model year or newer Chevy, Buick, GMC or Cadillac with OnStar, while Volvo owners must have Volvo On Call. The service is available in 37 cities across the U.S. and more will be added in the future.

Be sure to join us for this week’s Autoline After Hours. Our special guest is Rich Haas, the CEO of Mahindra North America, who will be bringing one of their Roxor off-road vehicles to the studio, which looks like an original Jeep. They’re actually manufacturing these things in Michigan. Want to know more about it? Tune in Thursday afternoon for some of the best insights as to what’s going on in the automotive industry.

But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.