AD #2635 – Ferrari’s Stock Off to the Races, Long Distance Road Trip in EV SUV, Honda Reveals All-New Kei Car

This is Autoline Daily reporting on the global automotive industry.

FORD FIRES BACK ON DCT STORY
The Detroit Free Press broke a story alleging Ford knowingly sold defective dual clutch transmissions in the Fiesta and Focus despite receiving thousands of complaints from customers. Yesterday, Ford fired back, defending its validation procedures and said the report is misleading. Well that’s going to be one of the topics Autoline After Hours this afternoon. Joining us for the show is Phoebe Howard the reporter who broke the story. That you will not want to miss. Also joining us is Larry Erickson, the head of design at Magna. That’s today at 3PM eastern time on our website or YouTube channel.

FERRARI’S STOCK OFF TO THE RACES
Ferrari isn’t doing all that well in Formula One racing this year, but its stock price is off to the races. It’s up 70% this year, and is probably headed higher. Yesterday Ferrari closed at $168 a share. But Merrill Lynch predicts it will hit $225. Ferrari has a big backlog of orders and has more new models on the way. We already know about the Monza SP1/SP2, F8 Tributo and SF90 Stradale, but there are others that have not been unveiled yet. Merrill Lynch says it would not be surprised if it has to raise its stock forecast again.

C8 CORVETTE LIVESTREAM REVEAL TODAY
Well today’s the day. Chevrolet will unveil the mid engine C8 Corvette tonight in California, and it promises to be an extravagant event. We’ll be posting a ton of social media coverage later today to give you a flavor of what’s going on. And you can watch the unveiling too since Chevrolet will be live streaming it. You can click on the headline in the show notes or in the description box below to get the link.

IIHS WANTS MORE RESEARCH ON YOUNG TRUCKERS
As we’ve reported so many times before, the trucking industry is facing a shortage of drivers. So the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration proposed to launch a pilot program that will allow 18 to 20 year olds to drive commercial vehicles on interstate highways. Currently, you have to be 21 years old. But the agency is getting pushback. The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety says more research needs to be done and the Teamsters union came out against the proposal, saying that the trucking industry should improve working conditions and increase pay if it wants to fill its shortage of drivers.

AIWAYS TAKES LONG DISTANCE ROAD TRIP IN EV SUV
Well here’s a gutsy move from a Chinese car company. AIWAYS is driving two electric prototypes from the city of Xi’an all the way to Frankfurt, Germany to arrive just in time for the Frankfurt auto show. The electric SUVs, called the U5, will travel nearly 9,000 miles, going through places like the Gobi desert and Kazakhstan. AIWAYS says a trip like this will prove the durability of its electric powertrain, which it claims its the most compact of any electric vehicle. Let’s hope their right because if they break down along the way their name will go from AIWAYS to NOWAYS.

FAMILY PHOTOS REVEAL OLD CONCEPT CAR
One of our viewers Steve F was rummaging through some old family photos and he came across this one. He asked us if we could identify it and that took some sleuthing. Right away we noticed it had the look of an old Buick or maybe even an Oldsmobile. But neither one made a model like this. Though it’s hard to read, we noticed that the hood ornament has the letters XP above it, which stands for experimental, and that helped a lot. And the dapper dude on the right hand side has a little tag hanging off the lapel of his jacket which looks like it says Buick. After that it was easy. This is the 1951 Buick XP-300 and it was a leading indicator of GM’s future styling for the ‘50’s: long, low and wide. Thanks for sending this in Steve, we had fun trying to figure it out.

HONDA’S ALL-NEW KEI CAR
Few vehicles look more cute and inviting than Japan’s kei cars and Honda has introduced the all-new version of its N-WGN. Like most kei cars, it’s powered by a 660cc engine, but also features front and 4-wheel drive. Honda was able to improve rear cabin space by mounting the gas tank under the front seats and made it easier to load tall and heavy objects by lowering the ground height of the tailgate opening. One other neat feature is a swivel front passenger seat. Honda plans to sell 7,000 N-WGNs a month and prices will range from about $11,000 to $16,600 when they go on sale in August.

LEXUS GOES OFF ROADING
When you think of off-road vehicles, Lexus is probably not on your short list. But the automaker created the GXOR Concept, which it says is made for “all of the GX enthusiasts that use their rigs to escape on epic adventures…” As I’m sure you’ve guessed, it’s based on the GX SUV, but features off-road tires, a custom bumper with hidden winch, upgraded suspension, full underbody skid plates and frame sliders, engine snorkel and LED light bar. And it even has it’s own off-road trailer to match.

But that’s all for today. Thanks for watching.