AD #2426 – Cadillac Escalade Turns 20, New Kia Forte Impressions, Progress of High Octane Fuel Standard

On today’s show… the Cadillac Escalade celebrates its 20th birthday… automakers want only one grade of high octane gasoline sold in the US… and we’ll share our first driving impressions of the all-new Kia Forte. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

This is Autoline Daily the voice of the automotive industry.

TWO DECADES OF CADILLAC ESCALADES
The Cadillac Escalade is celebrating its 20th anniversary. It was rushed to the market after the success of the Lincoln Navigator caught Cadillac flat footed. And it was Cadillac’s dealers who begged management to come out with a something to compete with the Navigator. Then musicians like Jay Z, Jay Lo and Drake started making references to the ‘Slade in their lyrics and in their videos, and the Escalade gained instant street cred. Today it outsells the Navigator two-to-one and is the best selling full-size luxury SUV in the US market. As part of its 20th birthday, Cadillac commissioned this animation to show how the front end styling of the ‘Slade evolved over the last two decades.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: ALL-NEW KIA FORTE
We just got to drive the all-new Kia Forte and here are our impressions. It’s powered by a 2.0L four-cylinder that’s mated to a CVT or a 6-speed manual. While it doesn’t blow you away, it has more than enough power and is fun to drive when you put it in Sport mode. The CVT is also impressive and most drivers probably couldn’t tell the difference between it and a regular automatic transmission. The interior is nice but nothing special and is highlighted by its 8-inch standard touchscreen. It’s also now comes standard with driver assist features like Forward Collision Warning, Lane Departure Warning and Blind Spot Detection. The new Forte is arriving at dealerships now. The base model with the manual costs just over $18,500, while the top EX model with the CVT starts just under $23,000.

The Mustang GT is a pretty powerful car, but Roush decided it needed another 250 horsepower and that’s coming up next.

INDIAN BIKES BECOME MORE LIKE CARS
Technologies like cylinder deactivation and driving modes have been available on automobiles for quite some time, but now they’re starting to make their way 2-wheeled machines. Indian Motorcycles announced that 3 of its 2019 bikes will come with those features. The rear cylinder on its air-cooled 111 cubic inch v-twin engine can be shut down when the motorcycle is at a standstill to keep the engine cooler. And there’s 3 riding modes that give the bikes “distinct personalities,” a similar sounding claim made by most automakers. They include Tour, Standard and Sport.

FORMULA E LAUNCHING OFF-ROAD SERIES
We were talking about Formula E last week and now it looks like the all electric racing series may be getting a off-road counterpart. The CEO of Formula E says that Extreme E is a new project that’s in its early stages and would be operated by Formula E. We should also note that racing legend Gil de Ferran is leading the project. Jaguar has already announced it will operate it’s own all-electric racing series with I-PACEs ahead of Formula E events and now maybe sibling company Land Rover can get in on the action. Extreme E is expected to launch in 2020.

ROUSH DECIDES MUSTANGS NEED MORE POWER
Roush Mustangs are already pretty sweet, but it’s giving the pony car even more power for 2019. Based on a 5.0L Mustang GT, the supercharged RS3 packs 710-horsepower and 610 pound-feet of torque. That’s 250-horsepower more than the base car. It also comes with a custom aero kit and interior package as well as suspension and brake upgrades. The total Stage 3 package costs roughly $23,000 and comes with a 3-year/36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty and a 5-year/60,000-mile powertrain warranty. Pre-orders start tomorrow.

Automakers want only one grade of high octane gasoline sold in the US and we’ll tell you why right after this..

PROGRESS OF HIGH OCTANE STANDARD
A little over a year ago on Autoline This Week, Dan Nicholson, the VP of Global Propulsion Systems at General Motors, called for the U.S. to adopt high octane gasoline across the board, that would only be one grade. This would allow automakers to raise the compression ratio of engines, improving their thermodynamic efficiency, which means they’ll emit less pollutants. Dan Nicholson is once again our guest on ATW and he shared how that effort is progressing.

(Clip from ATW #2228 can only be viewed in the video version of today’s show.)

For a deeper dive into GM’s powertrain strategy, you can watch that entire discussion right now on our website, Autoline.tv or you can find it on our YouTube channel.

Just a quick programming note before I sign off. There won’t be a new Autoline Daily on Monday because of the Labor Day holiday. But we’ll be back again on Tuesday and we’ll see you then.