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Runtime: 8:01
0:29 FCA to Retool Engine Plant for Jeeps
1:01 Mid-Size Pickup Sales Through November
2:01 Euro NCAP Rates Two FCA Vehicles Poorly
3:07 Chevy Shows Less-Bold High Country HD
3:44 Rinspeed Details New microSNAP Vehicle
5:14 How the Jeep Gladiator Got Its Name
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On today’s show… FCA is running out of manufacturing capacity and needs anther plant to make Jeeps… the Honda Ridgeline is losing ground in the mid-size pickup segment… and Rinspeed unveils a wild, modular, autonomous vehicle. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily the voice of the automotive industry.
FCA TO RETOOL ENGINE PLANT FOR JEEPS
At a time when General Motors is talking about closing assembly plants, FCA is going to open one. The Detroit News reports that FCA is going to retool an idled engine plant in Detroit to make 3-row Jeep Grand Cherokees, instead. FCA is doing this because it’s essentially out of manufacturing capacity. Last month it’s plants were running at 92% of capacity, while GM ran at only 72%, while Ford was running at an average of 81%.
MID-SIZE PICKUP SEGMENT SOARS
With the introduction of the Jeep Gladiator, the return of the Ford Ranger and with Hyundai working on a production version of the Santa Cruz, the mid-size pickup segment is about to get real crowded. But let’s look at how the models currently on sale stack up against each other. The Toyota Tacoma completely dominates its competition and is outselling the second-place Chevy Colorado by over 100,000 units, through the first 11 months of the year in the U.S. There’s another big drop off to the third-place Nissan Frontier. But it’s impressive to see such an old vehicle increasing its sales. The GMC Canyon is next and is up 8% so far this year. But poor Honda, consumers just aren’t responding to the Ridgeline and it’s the only midsize pickup whose sales are down in 2018. The segment is up double digits this year, so it suggests there’s room for more players.
Mid-Size Pickup Sales YTD 2018 | ||
---|---|---|
Toyota Tacoma | 224,128 | +24.9% |
Chevy Colorado | 123,652 | +19.6% |
Nissan Frontier | 72,154 | +5.4% |
GMC Canyon | 30,889 | +7.9% |
Honda Ridgeline | 27,725 | -13.1% |
Total | 478,548 | +16.2% |
EURO NCAP SCOLDS FCA
Euro NCAP, the organization that crash tests new vehicles for the European market, is scolding FCA over the safety of its vehicles. The Fiat Panda and the Jeep Wrangler just received zero and one star respectively, in its latest round of tests. The Panda got dinged because it only features a seatbelt reminder as part of its safety assist features. And the all-new Wrangler got a low score because the only form of driver assistance features it has, is a seatbelt reminder and a driver-set speed limiter. The Euro NCAP says it’s disappointing that a new vehicle like the Wrangler doesn’t have automatic emergency braking or lane-keep assistance.
Still to come… a look at a wild autonomous, ride sharing concept from Rinspeed.
CHEVY SHOWS LESS-BOLD HIGH COUNTRY HD
Earlier this week, Chevy took the wraps off the new Silverado HD, which featured a fairly polarizing front end. Well it turns out that was only one of its styles. Each of the five trims will get its own distinct design, features and technology. Now the company is showing off what the top of the line High Country will look like. As you can see, the front end isn’t as bold as the LT model it showed off earlier this week. But unfortunately, Chevy didn’t reveal any more details about the High Country. The new Silverado HD goes on sale in mid 2019.
ELECTRIC, AUTONOMOUS, RIDE SHARING, DELIVERY VEHICLE
A few months back, Swiss company Rinspeed, teased a concept it will show off at CES next month. And now we’re getting more details. Called the microSNAP, it’s an evolution of the SNAP concept it displayed previously. It’s an electric, autonomous, ride sharing vehicle, that features a chassis that can be separated from the body. That way, the chassis, which houses all the components and technology, can be swapped out and recycled once that tech becomes outdated. Both vehicles carry passengers, but the microSNAP, which is the same size as a Renault Twizy, can only hold two people. And it’s been designed to be a “just-in-time” delivery vehicle. As part of that delivery service, Rinspeed is demonstrating how an automated robot station can swap out the bodies carrying the cargo, to handle all the orders. It’s a pretty cool concept but there’s a lot more features we don’t have time to dive into. So if you’d like to learn more just look for the link in today’s transcript or in the description box below.
Coming up next, a look at why Jeep chose the name Gladiator for its new pickup.
HOW THE JEEP GLADIATOR GOT ITS NAME
When rumors started flying that Jeep was planning on introducing a pickup truck, it was assumed that it would be named the Scrambler, in honor of the past model. But the company surprised people, when it chose name Gladiator instead. On last week’s Autoline After Hours, we were joined by Scott Tallon, Jeep’s Marketing Director and Mark Allen, the head of Jeep Design, and they discussed the debate inside the company over the name.
(Clip from AAH #443 can only be viewed in the video version of today’s show.)
And for more about the new Gladiator, you can watch that entire show right now on our website, Autoline.tv or just look for it on our YouTube channel.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and have a great weekend.
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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.