AD #2411 – Ford to Run Mustang in NASCAR, Mazda Diesel Has Disappointing MPGs, Chevy Silverado Goes Tow Crazy

On today’s show…Mercedes is caught in the middle of the trade war between the U.S. and China…Ford takes the wraps off the NASCAR Mustang…and Tesla sort of goes from boom to bust in less than five days. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

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

TESLA’S STOCK FALLS FAST
Well that didn’t last long. After Tesla’s stock shot up when Elon Musk said he wanted to take the company private, yesterday it plummeted nearly 18% to $352 a share. In fact, the stock is back to the price it was before Musk made his announcement. No doubt investors who shorted Tesla stock are rubbing their hands in glee.

FORD TO RUN MUSTANG IN NASCAR
Ford just celebrated producing its 10 millionth Mustang and starting next season, the pony car will compete in NASCAR for the first time. The company just took the wraps off the racing model, which was created by Ford’s Design and Performance teams, which worked together to maintain its look while also meeting NASCAR safety standards. The NASCAR Mustang will make its debut at the Daytona 500 next February.

MAZDA DIESEL HAS DISAPPOINTING MPGs
Mazda’s diesel engine for the CX-5 finally got rated by the EPA, and the numbers are kind of disappointing. Auto analyst Dave Sullivan from Autopacific pointed out that the diesel CX-5 gets the worst fuel economy of some of its peers. It’s rated at a combined 29 miles per gallon. But the larger Chevrolet Equinox diesel is rated at 32, the same as the hybrid Toyota RAV4, while the Nissan Rogue hybrid is rated at 34 miles per gallon.

The United States has about 280 million vehicles. Imagine a future when we get rid of more than 200 million of them. That’s coming up next.

CHEVROLET SILVERADO GOES TOW CRAZY
Chevrolet is really going after the market for people who tow. The all-new Silverado has the most extensive trailering package we’ve ever seen. It has 7 different camera views that you can choose to display on the center console of the truck. Here they are: 1. Back of truck with hitch guidance. 2. Junction view, which is a wider view of the first. 3. Top down overhead view. 4. Hitch view, which zooms in for proper alignment with the trailer. 5. Rear trailer view which comes from a camera you mount on your trailer. 6. Combination view of the side mirrors stitched together. 7. Front tire view so you can see the placement of your front tires. Chevrolet says 20% of Silverado buyers tow at least once a month and that towing is a major determination in the kind of truck they buy.

CHINA BLOCKS MERCEDES WITH NON-TARIFF BARRIERS
Back in June, Daimler cut its 2018 profit forecast because of the brewing trade war between the U.S. and China. And it looks like those fears were justified. Reuters reports that U.S. built Mercedes-Benz GLE and GLS models are being held up by Chinese authorities because they pose a “safety risk” due to the rear brakes being “insufficient.” Daimler says it’s working authorities to try and resolve the issue. But this shows China is using non-tariff barriers, in addition to tariffs, in its trade war with the U.S.

HEY, WHERE’D ALL THE CARS GO?
Larry Burns, the former head of R&D at General Motors, has written a book called Autonomy. It’s all about the impact autonomous ride sharing could have on the auto industry. He studied Ann Arbor, Michigan which has about 200,000 personally owned cars. His study showed that you could meet everyone’s transportation needs in Ann Arbor with only 18,000 cars—even during rush hour. And if you applied that to the entire U.S. we could go from 280 million vehicles to only 42 million. And that suggests, that sometime later in this century, this country will have many fewer cars.

Is the internal combustion engine going to go away any time soon? Ha! We’ll have more about that right after this.

IS THERE LIFE LEFT IN THE I.C.E.?
In the eyes of some analysts, the internal combustion engine could be on its last legs. Governments are setting electric vehicle sales requirements and some cities are considering banning the engine all together. So how much life is left in the ICE? Here’s what Dave Filipe, the head of Powertrain Engineering at Ford, said when asked that question on Autoline This Week.

(The ATW preview is only available in the video version of today’s show.)

For more of Ford’s outlook on powertrains, 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 we’ll see you back here again on Monday.