AD #2395 – Hyundai Opens “Showroom” on Amazon, BMW Using X-Ray for Quality, Nissan Reveals LEAF NISMO

On today’s show… BMW is using powerful x-rays to develop better cars… Hyundai opens up a digital showroom on Amazon.com… and manual transmissions are headed towards extinction. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

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

MANHEIM SEES JUMP IN ONLINE SALES
Manheim is the biggest auction house for used cars in the U.S., but more and more of its transactions are happening online, not on the auction lanes. WardsAuto reports that during the first half of this year, 45% of the vehicles it sold were to a digital buyer. Manheim saw double digit growth in digital transactions, volume and sales.

HYUNDAI OPENS DIGITAL SHOWROOM ON AMAZON
And speaking of buying cars online, Hyundai just opened a digital “showroom” on Amazon. Car buyers can compare pricing and reviews, book test drives and check dealer inventories at the site. For Hyundai, this provides another way for it to reach customers and for Amazon, this is a step that allows it compete with Autotrader and Cars.com. We’ll have to watch and see if other automakers follow suit.

GENESIS’ BELGIAN WAFFLE GOING INTO PRODUCTION
Last year Genesis unveiled a concept called the GV80. One of the styling details that caught our eye is this latticework theme that showed up on various parts of the car. It’s on the spokes of all four wheels. It shows up on the intake scoops for the front air curtain. And most intriguing, it’s used on the B and C-pillars. Luc Donckerwolke, the head of design of Genesis, says this is not some idle styling exercise. He says it involves new manufacturing techniques that they’re working on, but that this latticework will go into production in the next three years. He says the design team nicknamed it the “Belgian waffle,” since Donckerwolke is from Belgium.

The future does not look bright for true enthusiasts and we’ll tell you why right after this.

BMW USES X-RAY TO IMPROVE QUALITY
BMW is using more powerful x-ray technology at its Research and Innovation Center in Munich, Germany to improve quality control even in the early stages of development. The more powerful computer tomography or CT scanning system allows the automaker to look at vehicles on a micro level. So, it’s able to check welds, rivets and even see how adhesives are affected by temperature without having to tear the vehicle apart. Or it’s able to tell if an absent-minded worker left a bag of pretzels on the driver’s floor. BMW says it spent 2-years developing the system and it’s the only one in the automotive industry.

MANUAL TRANSMISSION COULD GO AWAY
We laughed over this shot that one of our viewers sent us, calling the manual transmission a millennial theft-proof device. But it goes way beyond millennials. According to data from Edmunds.com, it’s a sad day for the manual transmission. So far in 2018, just two percent of all vehicles sold had a clutch pedal and only 20 percent of new models offered a manual transmission. In 2006, 47 percent of new models offered a manual gearbox. With the automatic transmission controlling an overwhelming share of the new car market, the manual transmission could go away, according to Edmunds.

Coming up next, Nissan is coming out with a NISMO version of the Leaf.

NISSAN ANNOUNCES NISMO LEAF
Lots of news in the electric car market today. Nissan has announced a high-performance NISMO version of the Leaf EV which goes on sale at the end of the month in Japan. It has new wheels, a new suspension and a new “tuning computer” that Nissan says will help it accelerate faster. And the Kia Niro EV is on sale now in South Korea. The electric crossover sports a 239-mile range from a 64-kilowatt hour battery pack. The electric Niro will go on sale in the US in the first quarter of 2019, following a European debut at the end of 2018.

Be sure to join us for Autoline After Hours this afternoon. We’ve got an all-electric Corvette from a company called Genovation. It’s wicked fast and beautifully engineered. Greg Migliore from Autoblog will also be there, so join John and Gary for some of the best insights into cars and the people who make them.

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