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Runtime: 7:32
0:07 Tesla Raises Model Y Prices
1:44 Vehicle Sales Down in South America
2:25 Forecast Calls for March Slowdown
3:08 How GM’s Heritage Center Picks What Stays & Goes
5:31 Order Pizza Right From Your Car
6:20 Ford Fiesta & Focus Getting 48-Volt System
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This is Autoline Daily reporting on the global automotive industry.
TESLA: THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE IN-BETWEEN
And we’ll start out with everyone’s favorite electric vehicle company, Tesla. The automaker is already raising the price of the Model Y. All trims currently available on its online configurator got a $1,000 price bump, but that doesn’t include the base version as of now. Elon Musk also revealed that all cars in its inventory worldwide will get a price hike of around 3% starting on April 2nd. And speaking of Tesla sales, an analyst for RBC is warning that the company’s deliveries could disappoint. He expects Tesla to deliver 52,500 Model 3’s in the first quarter, which is down from 57,000 in a previous estimate. And overall for 2019, Model 3 deliveries are expected to reach 261,000 units down from 268,000. But it’s not all bad news for the company. A federal judge just dismissed a lawsuit that was brought against it by shareholders that alleged Tesla misled them about the production status of the Model 3. The suit said shareholders bought artificially inflated shares because of bullish statements Tesla made about Model 3 production. But the judge rejected that claim and ruled in favor of Tesla.
VEHICLE SALES DOWN IN SOUTH AMERICA
We like keeping you up to speed with what’s going on in the global auto industry. So, let’s take a look at how automakers are doing in South America. According to WardsAuto, through the first two months of the year, light vehicle sales hit 580,000 units, which is down about 6% compared to the prior year. Most of the largest automakers are down this year as well. General Motors is the top automaker in the region, followed by FCA. Volkswagen is number three, and then there’s a bit of a drop off to Renault, Toyota and Ford, which are all pretty close in sales. As you can see, all but FCA saw their sales drop.
| South America LV Sales YTD | ||
|---|---|---|
| Total | 580,537 | -5.7% |
| GM | 92,931 | -7.2% |
| FCA | 88,444 | +10.5% |
| VW | 73,912 | -8.9% |
| Renault | 52,853 | -10.8% |
| Toyota | 50,595 | -5.5% |
| Ford | 48,160 | -15.8% |
FORECAST CALLS FOR MARCH SLOWDOWN
And speaking of sales, Wards is forecasting that light vehicle sales will fall in the U.S. this month. Its estimating that sales will hit about 1.5 million units, which is a drop of 5% compared to the year before on a daily selling rate basis. The SAAR is expected to hit 16.8 million, which is ahead of the first two months of 2019 but below last March’s 17.2 million figure. Sales are expected to drop due to rising vehicle prices and lower incentives. Wards says there’s no indication that automakers will make an incentive push to counteract the slowdown or to get rid of excess inventory.
SHOULD IT STAY OR SHOULD IT GO?
GM’s Heritage Center houses 700 classic vehicles from the company’s history. On last week’s Autoline After Hours, we were joined by Greg Wallace, who used to run the museum. And he talked about how the company decides what cars to keep and which ones to let go. But first a word from our sponsors.
To learn more about the GM Heritage Center, you can watch that entire discussion right now on our website, Autoline.tv or you can find it on our YouTube channel.
ORDER PIZZA RIGHT FROM YOUR CAR
Connected vehicles offer a number of benefits and soon that will include the ability to order pizza right from your car. Domino’s has teamed up with Xevo, the global leader of in-vehicle commerce and services for automakers, to launch a new pizza ordering platform that can be accessed through a car’s infotainment screen. Once logged in, customers are just a few taps away from ordering a pizza. Time can be saved by using an Easy Order function or going back to a recent order. The progress of the pizza can also be followed, customers can locate other stores and even call in an order from the interface as well. It won’t be till later this year when the Domino’s function is added to Xevo’s platform, which is already in vehicles from GM, Ford, Hyundai and Toyota.
FORD FIESTA & FOCUS GETTING 48-VOLT SYSTEM
Ford of Europe says it wants to bring the benefits of electrification to a greater number of consumers and will offer new hybrid models for two of its most popular cars. The Fiesta and Focus Hybrid will be introduced next year featuring a 1.0L 3-cylinder EcoBoost engine paired to a 48-volt mild hybrid system, which includes a belt-driven starter/generator and a small lithium-ion battery pack. The 48-volt system will allow for energy recovery, provide torque assistance during normal driving and acceleration and run some vehicle accessories. And because it helps mitigate turbo-lag, Ford was able to boost the engines power with a larger turbocharger. What you see here are the current engine and cars. Ford hasn’t released the new stuff, so we don’t know if there’s anything unique about them.
But that wraps up today’s show, thanks for watching and we’ll see you again tomorrow.
Thanks to our partner for embedding Autoline Daily on its website: WardsAuto.com
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.
