Runtime: 8:11
0:29 May Sales Stronger Than Expected
1:04 May Sales Results for Major OEMs
2:02 Pace Car Crashes in Detroit
3:23 Britain Wants to be Leader in AVs
4:04 Toyota to Merge Electronics with Denso
4:36 Daimler Launching a Comedy Show
5:51 Continental Helping to Reduce Emissions
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On today’s show… new car sales in the American market continue to confound the experts… Mercedes Benz will gets its own comedy show… and GM’s Mark Reuss badly damages his ego. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily the show for enthusiasts of the automotive industry.
MAY SALES STRONGER THAN EXPECTED
Once again sales of new vehicles in the U.S. market came in stronger than expected. The SAAR hit 16.8 million, which was better than last year. Automakers sold 1.58 million cars and trucks, up only 0.7% on a daily selling rate basis. That too doesn’t sound all that great, except that most analysts were predicting a 3% drop. Once again, trucks led the way, with sales going up by 127,000 units, while sales of passenger cars fell by 55,000 units.
| May, 2018 U.S. LV Sales | ||
|---|---|---|
| SAAR | 16.81 Million | |
| Sales | 1.58 Million | +0.7% |
| Trucks | +127,361 | +13.3% |
| Cars | -54,669 | -9.7% |
MAY SALES RESULTS FOR MAJOR OEMs
Amongst the major manufacturers, General Motors had a great month. But Ford saw double digit drops with Explorer, Edge and Expedition, and the Escape was down as well. Toyota posted a 5% drop largely caused by double digit drops in sales of all of its passenger cars. In fact, FCA almost caught Toyota in sales. But that was almost completely due to an amazing surge in Jeep sales, up 24%. Honda posted a slight decline, but it once again outsold Nissan which posted the biggest drop of any automaker. Here’s our Autoline Insight. The real news in these numbers is that the market continues to confound the experts. With rising gasoline prices and interest rates everyone was sure that sales would go down. What the results show is that the automotive market continues to show more underlying strength than anyone expected.
| May Sales for Major OEMs | ||
|---|---|---|
| General Motors | 264,888 | +7.4% |
| Ford | 235,822 | -3.7% |
| Toyota | 215,321 | -5.1% |
| FCA | 213,142 | +7.0% |
| Honda | 153,069 | -0.8% |
| Nissan | 131,832 | -7.8% |
OOPS… PACE CAR CRASHES IN DETROIT
In racing news over the weekend, Honda dominated the Indycar Detroit Grand Prix, with Scott Dixon winning the first race and Ryan Hunter-Reay winning the second. But everyone was talking about the crash of one of the pace cars as it led the field on its formation lap, before the green flag fell. And driving the pace car was none other than Mark Reuss, the vice president of General Motors in charge of all product development. Coming out of turn two on the Belle Isle track there’s a slight downhill dip, where the car gets light. It looks like Mark stomped on the Corvette ZR-1 just over that rise, and that car came around, hitting the wall a couple of times and sending carbon fiber all over the track. Mark emerged from the accident with a very badly damaged ego, but other than that he was fine. I say, give it time Mark, because in about 20 years you’re going to think that this was hilarious.
Toyota is making a very unexpected move and that is coming up next.
BRITAIN WANTS TO BE LEADER IN AVs
Britain wants to set itself up as a leader in autonomous vehicles. The government is handing out 25 million pounds or $33 million this week for up to six projects researching and testing AVs on highways and for self-parking. Because of Brexit, some analysts believe Britain can offer subsidies and tax breaks that are restricted under Common Market rules. It’s easy to see why Britain would want to be a leader in this area. The U.K. forecasts the global driverless vehicle market will be worth 907 billion pounds ($1.2 trillion) by 2035.
TOYOTA TO MERGE ELECTRONICS WITH DENSO
To help make itself more competitive, Toyota is going to merge all its core electronic component operations with the supplier company Denso. Starting in 2022, Denso will be responsible for the mass production and development of the components. Keep in mind that Toyota owns about 25% of Denso, which is part of its keiretsu system. Even so, you know we’re entering a different a hyper competitive era when a major car company turns over core electronic development to one of its suppliers.
DAIMLER LAUNCHING A COMEDY SHOW
Daimler is launching a comedy show. Did you hear what I said? Daimler is launching a comedy show, called “AutoAuto ShowShow.” You’ll be able to find it on YouTube and social media. It’s all about getting people interested in the Mercedes-Benz brand and its mobility offerings. It will feature humorous, unusual events experienced by the main character, Joko Winterscheidt, a gas station manager. And of course, these events will conveniently involve a Mercedes-Benz product or mobility service. An example plotline includes “Innovation Lab,” where Joko works with Mercedes-Benz engineers to develop pothole-detection software. “AutoAuto ShowShow” will be released in August 2018 with English subtitles.
Coming up next, the supplier company Continental has a way to drastically reduce engine emissions.
CONTINENTAL HELPING TO REDUCE EMISSIONS
On last week’s Autoline After Hours, we were joined by Brian McKay, the Director of Powertrain at Continental North America. And he talked about how they’ve developed an electrically heated catalyst to help with vehicle emissions.
(Clip from AAH 421 can only be viewed in the video version of today’s show.)
For more about Continental and how its helping automakers meet emission standards you can watch that entire discussion 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.
