AD #2423 – U.S. & Mexico Reach Trade Deal, Toyota Makes Uber Investment, Waymo Sets Up Chinese Subsidiary

On today’s show… Toyota and Uber announce a partnership to develop autonomous cars… the U.S. and Mexico agree to a new trade deal… and it looks like Waymo is headed to China. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

This is Autoline Daily the voice of the automotive industry.

U.S. & MEXICO REACH TRADE DEAL
The U.S. and Mexico agreed to a tentative trade deal yesterday. It allows cars and trucks to be imported duty-free to each country as long as 75% of the parts and components are made in the U.S. and Mexico. That’s up from 62.5% previously. And 45% of the parts have to be made with workers earning at least $16 an hour. That’s either going to raise wages in Mexico or result in more production being done in the U.S. Now the focus turns to Canada to see if it will agree to a new trade agreement with the U.S. and it probably will.

TOYOTA MAKES UBER INVESTMENT
Toyota was lagging behind in the race to develop autonomous cars and mobility services. But now it’s racing ahead. Yesterday it announced that it would collaborate with Uber to develop autonomous cars. They will use Sienna minivans equipped with Toyota’s safety suite of technologies called Guardian, and with Uber’s self driving technology. They plan to start testing these vans in Uber’s ride sharing network in 2021. Toyota also invested $500 million in Uber, which gives the ride-sharing company a market capitalization of $72 billion.

FORMER FCA LABOR NEGOTIATOR GOING TO JAIL
If you break the law you go to jail. And that’s exactly what’s happening to FCA’s former labor negotiator. Alphons Iacobelli was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for his role in the UAW corruption scandal. He helped funnel $4.5 million to UAW officials and to himself to buy luxury goods like a Ferrari, Mont Blanc pens and expensive vacations.

Still to come… Waymo sets up shop in China.

WAYMO SETS UP CHINESE SUBSIDIARY
Looks like Waymo is headed to China. It set up a subsidiary there, called Huimo Business Consulting and John Krafcik, the CEO of Waymo, is listed as the director of the new company. It will focus on designing and testing self-driving vehicle parts and products, supply chain and logistics. Google also confirmed last week that it’s working to get its search engine up and running in China. It had abandoned the Chinese market 8 years ago rather than agree to censorship regulations.

DIDI HALTS RIDE-HAILING SERVICES
And speaking of ride-hailing services in China, the country’s largest provider, Didi just announced it has halted all operations. The news comes after a second passenger using its services was raped and killed by a Didi driver. That has led Chinese regulators to warn of industry-wide action. Didi says it will use the time off to review business operations and has fired its general manager and head of customer relations.

Coming up next, Nissan kicks off production of a new electric vehicle for the Chinese market.

NISSAN SYLPHY EV STARTS PRODUCTION
Nissan’s first all-electric vehicle built in China specifically for Chinese consumers has started rolling off the production line. The Sylphy Zero Emission was developed on the same platform as the LEAF and is basically a LEAF with a Sentra body on top. Nissan says the new EV will pave the way for its Intelligent Mobility strategy in the Chinese market, which by the end of 2019 will see it launch five new EV models across the Nissan, Venucia and Dongfeng brands.

FORD CREATES NEW ORGANIZATION
Ford is creating a new organization within the company to help focus on customer needs. Called Enterprise Product Line Management, it will be led by Jim Baumbick, who is currently Ford’s executive director of Global Product Planning and Strategy. He will report to Jim Farley, Ford’s president of Global Markets. Within the organization, 10 teams will be created which will manage distinct product lines as end-to-end businesses. They will work with the company’s Product Development and Marketing organizations to create vehicles, bring them to market faster and deliver profitable growth.

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