AD #2666 – GM Developing New Vehicle for U.S. Army, Audi Creates Digital OLEDs, Training Centers at Core of UAW Scandal

This is Autoline Daily reporting on the global automotive industry.

PARIS SUBURB TESTS “NOISE RADARS”
To reduce noise pollution, a suburb of Paris is using what it calls a “noise radar” to catch noisy vehicles. It’s equipped with four microphones that measure decibel levels and can pinpoint the location of a vehicle using police CCTV cameras, Then it automatically tickets the driver. It’s not in use yet, but will be as soon as they get a permit for these devices.

GM DEVELOPING NEW VEHICLE FOR THE U.S. ARMY
GM Defense was awarded $1 million from the U.S. Army to develop a new Infantry Squad Vehicle or ISV, for prototype testing and evaluation. It’s based on the Chevy Colorado and is powered by a 2.8L diesel engine that’s matched with a six-speed automatic transmission. It features 70% commercial off-the-shelf parts, including high performance parts developed by Chevy Performance. The ISV must be light enough to be sling-loaded from a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter, compact enough to fit inside a CH-47 Chinook helicopter and versatile enough to carry up to nine soldiers and all of their gear at highway speeds on pavement and off-road. The Army plans to buy around 650 ISVs by 2020.

FORD REVEALS BIG NUGGET CONCEPT
Ford is rolling out a series of camper vans based on the Transit Custom, called the Nugget, but it must feel that customers want something bigger. The Big Nugget concept is based on the long-wheelbase, high-roof Transit and offers more space for things like a bedroom, bathroom and kitchenette area. Ford says a Transit-based camper van like the Big Nugget is being considered for the future.

GENESIS SUVs ARRIVE IN 2020 & 2021
By all accounts, the Genesis brand makes some very nice vehicles, but in the first half of the year in the U.S., Genesis only sold about 12,000 cars. Everyone knows Genesis doesn’t have any utility vehicles but Motor Trend reports the brand will soon fill that hole in its lineup. The Genesis GV80 will hit the U.S. market in the first quarter of next year and the GV70 will follow in early 2021. It’s also said to be converting the Essentia coupe and Mint city-car concepts into production cars.

SUBARU UPDATES THE IMPREZA
Subaru has made a couple of mid-cycle refresh changes to the Impreza in Japan. The lower air inlet in the front fascia now extends the entire width of the car, the grille design has been lightly massaged, as has the rear lighting design. Subaru’s driver assistance package, called EyeSight Touring Assist, is also standard equipment. While these changes have been released in Japan, we’d expect to see them in all markets where the Impreza is sold. 

AUDI DEVELOPS DIGITAL OLEDs
Audi has been at the forefront of lighting technology and in 2016 introduced its first series produced OLED light in the rear taillight of the TT RS. It’s now expanding on that technology with the introduction of digital OLEDs, which are broken up into 50 different segments and each segment can have its brightness adjusted from the one right next to it. That means the same basic hardware could be used on a number of vehicles, but produce a different lighting design for each. Digital OLEDs could also be used to communicate with other road users, like providing a warning that there’s a dangerous situation ahead. Audi will debut the technology at the International Symposium on Automotive Lighting. 

IMPORT TARIFFS CAUSING UNCERTAINTY IN AUTO INDUSTRY
President Trump’s trade war is causing a lot of uncertainty in the auto industry. On Autoline This Week, John Murphy from Bank of America, shares his thoughts on how the threat of import tariffs is impacting the industry.

(The ATW preview is only available in the video version of today’s show.)

You can watch that entire show right now on our website, Autoline.tv or you can find it on our YouTube channel.

And coming up next, John has more to say about the UAW scandal.

TRAINING CENTERS AT CORE OF UAW SCANDAL
At the core of this UAW scandal involving corruption with senior leaders at the union are training centers set up with GM, Ford and FCA. The training centers are actually non-profit corporations set up with the purpose of training and educating UAW workers. It’s part of the labor contracts. The car companies have to set aside money for every hour worked by every UAW employee, and that generates so much money every year, that at times the automakers and UAW have a hard time spending it all. 

Take a look at the UAW-GM Human Resources Center located on prime real estate on the Detroit River. It is a monstrously large facility, 398,000 square feet, 7 stories tall with multiple side buildings. No expense was spared, in fact I call it the Taj Mahal. And yet, barely anybody works there. A complaint filed against the UAW in 2010 by some of its own members say only 76 hourly employees were assigned to the building. And they accused the union of staffing it with friends, cronies and relatives.

You know, whenever there’s some sort of malfeasance, they always say “Follow the money.” In this case I’d say, follow the UAW training money. I believe that’s at the core of this scandal. 

Just a quick programming note, there won’t be a new Autoline Daily on Monday because we’re taking the day off for the Labor Day holiday.

But that’s it for today, thanks for watching, have a great weekend and we’ll see you again on Tuesday.