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Runtime: 8:30
0:15 OEMs Exempted from Steel Tariffs
1:15 Electric Kia Soul Range Revealed
1:41 Fastest Production EV Hypercar
3:06 GM Names eBike Brand
3:47 Tenneco Splits in Two
4:19 Audi Teases Q4 E-Tron Concept
4:55 Tesla Introduces New Features
6:01 Auto Industry Struggling to Fill Jobs
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This is Autoline Daily reporting on the global automotive industry.
Hi I’m John McElroy. It’s February 15th, 2019. And now the news.
OEMs EXEMPTED FROM STEEL TARIFFS
If you work at a car company or supplier that uses steel and aluminum that was hit with President Trump’s import tariffs, we have a suggestion for you. Stop what you’re doing and write a letter to the Commerce Department asking for an exemption from those tariffs. The Detroit News reports that Commerce granted exemptions to 370 manufacturing companies that import over 4 million tons of steel, including from China and Japan. Even foreign owned automakers with plants in the U.S. got exemptions including Toyota, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen. So far Ford and GM have not asked for exemptions because they mainly use steel and aluminum made in the U.S. But FCA did ask, and it’s going to save over $100 million this year on hot-dip galvanized, carbon sheet-steel coming from Germany.
ELECTRIC KIA SOUL RANGE REVEALED
The first electric Kia Soul had a range of just over 110 miles, but the new one can go much further. Its 64-kWh battery pack, which is also shared with the Niro EV and Kona Electric, provides up to 243 miles on a single charge. The 2020 Soul EV will be on sale soon, so pricing should be announced shortly as well.
FASTEST PRODUCTION EV HYPERCAR
One of the joys of driving electric cars is the instant torque they provide. And a Japanese company is showing just how fast EVs can be. Aspark, a company founded by Masanori Yoshida in 2005, is creating an EV hypercar called the OWL that can move from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in under 1.9 seconds. It’s got a 750v lithium-ion battery pack and two 140 kw electric motors at the front with two 300kw motors at the rear. It has a range of 300 kilometers or about 186 miles based on the WLTP and its speed tops out at 174 MPH or 280 kmh. While the engineering was done in Japan, the OWL will be built in Italy by Manifattura Automobili Torino. The final production version will be revealed at the Dubai auto show this November and deliveries to customers will start in April of 2020.
GM NAMES EBIKE BRAND
General Motors has given a name to its eBike brand. It’s called ARIV and will offer two choices: the Meld, a compact eBike, and the Merge, a folding eBike. They’re able to go up to 25 kilometers per hour or about 15 MPH and travel up to 64 kilometers or about 40 miles on a single charge. The eBikes will first be available in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands and prices range from about 2,800 euros to 3,400 euros.
TENNECO SPLITS IN TWO
Speaking of new names…there’s a major trend in the industry right now, with supplier companies splitting in two, with one half concentrating on traditional technology and the other half going after the new stuff. Tenneco is the latest to split. One half is called DRiV, and will concentrate on aftermarket products with brands like Monroe, Champion, Moog, and Ferodo. The other half will still be called Tenneco and it will concentrate on powertrain technology.
AUDI TEASES Q4 E-TRON CONCEPT
Audi released a few renderings of the Q4 e-tron concept that will debut in Geneva. What jumped out at us, is that the styling is more in line with e-tron GT concept. Notice the thin headlamps, large air inlets in the lower bumper and strong character lines over the wheel wells. The interior is highlighted by sharp lines that draw your eye into the instrument cluster and infotainment screen. It seems very driver focused. And also notice that it looks to have a head up display.
TESLA INTRODUCES NEW FEATURES
Tesla is rolling out more over the air updates. Sentry Mode uses Autopilot’s cameras to keep track of what’s going on around the vehicle. For mild stuff, like someone leaning on the car, a message will pop up on the big center screen. Something more serious, like a window being busted out, the alarm will go off, loud music starts blaring, the owner is notified and 10 minutes of footage is saved on a USB. Tesla also introduced Dog Mode. It’s a cabin temperature control setting for those times customers need to leave their pet in the vehicle. A message even shows up on the screen that displays the temperature inside the vehicle and a note that the pet’s owner will be back soon, so don’t break the windows to let the dogs out.
AUTO INDUSTRY STRUGGLING TO FILL JOBS
There are thousands of jobs in the auto industry going begging. And the number one problem for automakers and suppliers is they are struggling to fill those jobs. That’s the topic on Autoline This Week. We’re joined by two experts in recruitment and in the following clip, they explain just how big of a problem it is.
(The ATW preview is only available in the video version of today’s show.)
For more about the struggle to fill automotive jobs, you can watch that entire discussion right now on our website, Autoline.tv or on our YouTube channel.
But that wraps up today’s show, 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.