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Runtime: 7:37
0:07 Shareholder Value No Longer Main Concern of Corps.
1:15 Audi Offers Free Rentals to New Car Owners
1:44 Tesla Spends Less on R&D
2:23 More Robots Filling Jobs
3:23 Mercedes’ First Electric Passenger Van
3:51 MAN’s First Electric Commercial Van
4:29 Lincoln to Get Electric CUV
4:58 All-New Lincoln Aviator Impressions
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This is Autoline Daily reporting on the global automotive industry.
SHAREHOLDER VALUE NOT MAIN CONCERN OF CORPS.
This is a stunning development. Yesterday, CEOs of about 50 of the biggest corporations in the United States declared that generating shareholder value is no longer the primary concern of a corporation. Instead, they said that corporations must equally serve all their stakeholders, including employees, customers and suppliers. And they must protect the environment. The declaration came from the Business Roundtable, which is dedicated to generating pro-business policies and legislation. GM’s CEO Mary Barra and Ford’s CEO Jim Hackett signed the declaration as did a number of automotive suppliers. Here’s our Autoline Insight. American corporations spend billions buying back their own stock to generate more shareholder value. GM alone spent nearly $11 billion in the last 5 years. If corporations no longer feel pressured to spend money on buybacks, it will free up billions that can be invested in research, new products and equipment, as well as better wages for their workers.
AUDI OFFERS NEW OWNERS FREE RENTALS
Audi is hoping to boost sales by giving its customers complimentary car rentals. Anyone who buys or leases a 2019 or newer Audi in the American market will get seven rental days for free from Silvercar by Audi. Customers can choose an A4, A5, Q5 or Q7 as their rental. The idea is to give customers another option while traveling, instead of using Uber or renting a car.
TESLA SPENDS LESS ON R&D
Tesla used to spend far more money on research and development as a percentage of its revenue than other automakers. Indeed, this is often cited by Tesla supporters as a key reason why the company does not make a profit. But starting last year Tesla started devoting proportionately less money to R&D and is now spending about the same percentage as many traditional automakers. Tesla is still spending a lot of R&D money to develop a pickup truck, semi, as well as its own AI chips and autonomous technology. But now it’s spending more like a mature automaker instead of a Silicon Valley startup.
| Tesla R&D Spending | ||
|---|---|---|
| R&D | % of Sales | |
| FY 2014 | $464 Million | 14.53% |
| FY 2015 | $717 Million | 17.74% |
| FY 2016 | $834 Million | 11.92% |
| FY 2017 | $1.378 Billion | 11.72% |
| FY 2018 | $1.460 Billion | 6.8% |
| H1 2019 | $664 Million | 6.1% |
MORE ROBOTS FILLING JOBS
Everywhere we go we hear companies complaining they can’t find the people they need in their manufacturing facilities. So the Association for Advancing Automation says companies in North America are filling those jobs with robots. Orders for industrial robots in the second quarter shot up 19% and for the full year they’re up over 7%. A new generation of smaller, more flexible robots that are cheaper are making it more attractive for companies to buy them. A study from the Association shows that when robot sales go up, unemployment in the U.S. goes down and when robot sales go down, unemployment goes up.
MERCEDES’ FIRST ELECTRIC PASSENGER VAN
There’s more news on electric vehicles, especially with commercial vans. Mercedes is showing off its first fully electric passenger van, the EQV. It features a 90-kWh battery which gives it an estimated range of 405 kilometers or a little over 250 miles. It can be charged from 10% to 80% state of charge in just 45 minutes using a fast charger. The EQV will be built at the company’s plant in Spain.
MAN’S FIRST ELECTRIC COMMERCIAL VAN
Volkswagen’s commercial unit MAN, will introduce its first electric commercial van in Spain and Portugal. The eTGE is powered by a 36-kWh battery and has a range of 108 miles based on the NEDC test cycle. MAN says the extra cost of the battery powered van can be made up quickly since its maintenance costs are lower, which brings its total operating cost down. Many cities in Europe are establishing EV-only zones, so a van like this will be necessary to drive in those areas.
LINCOLN TO GET ELECTRIC CUV
And in more EV news, Autoforecast Solutions reports that Lincoln is going to get a fully electric crossover in 2022. It will be built at Ford’s assembly plant in Flat Rock, Michigan, the same plant that will make the Mustang-inspired crossover EV which comes out next year.
ALL-NEW LINCOLN AVIATOR IMPRESSIONS
We’re now able to give our impressions of the all-new Lincoln Aviator and we feel pretty lucky having recently driven the all-new Explorer, as the two vehicles share the same platform. What first jumped out at us is the Aviator looks like it has a more raked back roof thanks to a blacked-out and upright C-pillar. While we’re not a big fan of the grille, it is instantly recognizable as a Lincoln and overall, as you would hope, the design is more elegant than the Explorer. Under the hood, a 3.0L twin-turbo V6 mated to a 10-speed automatic comes standard. The engine produces 400-horsepower and 415 lb-ft of torque. It’s actually the same engine as the Explorer ST, but tuned slightly different. There’s also a plug-in hybrid version, called the Grand Touring, that produces nearly 500-horsepower and 630 lb-ft of torque. But we have to wait a few days before we can give our impressions on that. One thing we were really looking forward to compare was the ride of the two vehicles. The Aviator comes with available adaptive suspension, available air springs and available Road Preview technology. All things the Explorer doesn’t have. We think you know what adaptive and air-ride suspension is, but Road Preview uses the forward facing camera to look for imperfections in the road nearly 50 feet in front of the vehicle and will adjust the suspension before getting to those imperfections. We were hoping for an amazingly smooth ride, but it wasn’t. It was good and better than the Explorer, but not as good as we hoped. Where the Aviator does excell is the interior. Long, horizontal lines on the dash really accentuates the width of the interior and the contrasting color schemes are on point. Second row seating is much more comfortable than the Explorer and, of course, those awesome 30-way adjustable and massaging front seats are available. Pricing for the Aviator starts at a little over $52,000 and goes up to a Black Label Grand Touring, which starts at nearly $89,000, including destination charges.
And that wraps up today’s report. Thanks for watching.
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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.
