AD #2530 – Dealers Against Import Tariffs, Could Corolla Hybrid Make Prius Obsolete? 3 Groups Control Russian Car Market

This is Autoline Daily reporting on the global automotive industry.

Hi I’m Sean McElroy. It’s February 12th, 2019. And now the news.

DEALERS AGAINST IMPORT TARIFFS
Most car dealers are a conservative lot, and a lot of them are big supporters of President Trump. But Bloomberg reports that a lot of them are not at all happy with the president’s threats to impose 25% import tariffs on cars and car parts. Next week Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will wrap up a study to determine if imported cars pose a national security threat and he’ll give his recommendation to Trump. A study by the Center for Automotive Research concludes that a 25% import tariff would cost dealerships $66 billion in sales and would eliminate 117,000 dealership jobs. And that’s why so many car dealers are against the tariffs.

TOYOTA COROLLA HYBRID FUEL ECONOMY
The new Toyota Corolla sedan will likely go on sale later this year and we’re finding the fuel economy numbers for the hybrid to be pretty interesting. It’s rated at 53 MPG in the city, 52 on the highway and 52 combined. Those figures are nearly identical to the Prius. And while Toyota hasn’t announced price for the Corolla hybrid, it will likely butt right up against the price of the Prius. So, that makes us wonder, why does Toyota need a dedicated hybrid platform? Add to that, sales of the Prius hybrid were down 31.5% in 2018 and a whopping 67% last month.

Could white wall tires be making a comeback? That’s coming up next.

ALPINA GETS ITS HANDS ON THE NEW 7 SERIES
Alpina is a company that makes high-performance versions of BMWs and here’s its take on the new 7 Series. It’s expectedly painted in a deep blue color and rides on thinly-spoked 20-inch wheels, two trademarks of Alpina. Under the hood is a reworked twin-turbo 4.4L V8, which now produces 600-horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque. It’s mated to a 7-speed transmission and all-wheel drive. That allows this nearly 5,000-pound beast to go from 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds and top out at over 200 miles-per-hour. The vehicle is also lowered by a little over half an inch. Look for the Alpina B7 to hit the market in the third quarter with a price tag of a little under $143,000.

TOYOTA SUPRA GETS TRD TOUCHES
Toyota’s in-house tuning shop, TRD is reaching its hands into parts of the lineup it never has before. Now it’s showing off a concept version of the all-new Supra. There’s no changes to to the powertrain or suspension, but rather a number of carbon-fiber aero elements and a set of 19-inch wheels. It gives the Supra a little bit more of a race car vibe.

SOLE OF THE LEXUS UX
Speaking of Toyota, did it just come out with the ultimate white wall tires? These all white tires were designed by John Elliott, who used inspiration from his Nike Air Force 1 shoes to create them. Lexus is using this as a way to promote the new UX crossover and it certainly is eye catching.

Did you know that only three automotive groups control 75% of the Russian car market? We’ll tell you who they are right after this.

OEMs FOCUS ON ADAS TECHNOLOGY
Automakers and suppliers are pouring billions of dollars into the development of autonomous vehicles. But a report from ABI Research found that companies are scaling back those autonomous efforts to focus on Advanced Driver Assistance Systems. Fully autonomous vehicles are still a ways off as well as very complex. But they can make money right now on ADAS technology. The take rate for these systems is still pretty low. But by 2022, the researchers estimate that around 26 million vehicles will be shipped with SAE Level 2 technology.

3 GROUPS CONTROL RUSSIAN CAR MARKET
The car market in Russia never really recovered from sanctions imposed on the country for invading Crimea. Last month sales came to 103,000 vehicles, up only a fraction of one percent. Did you know the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi-Autovaz alliance dominates the Russian market? It has 36% of the market. In the old Soviet days they would have called it a monopoly. Hyundai-Kia has 26% market share, and the VW Group has about 13%. Those three groups control 75% of the market.

Be sure to tune into Autoline After Hours later this week. We’ll be talking about the all-new Cadillac XT6 with John Plonka, the chief engineer of the vehicle. So if you have any burning questions about the SUV send them our way to viewermail@autoline.tv or hit us up on social media.

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