AD #2731 – Takata Recall Far From Over, GM & LG Chem to Make Batteries in Ohio, Hyundai Improves Sonata’s Safety

This is Autoline Daily reporting on all aspects of the global automotive industry.

TAKATA RECALL FAR FROM OVER
Just when you thought that maybe the disastrous Takata airbag story was behind us, we learn that it’s far from over. Now NHTSA says it found another defect in Takata airbags that were made from 1995 to the year 2000. It issued a new recall involving 1.4 million cars, and more recalls are on the way. BMW put out a warning to owners of the 3 Series that was made during those years to park them and not drive them. Safety regulators say it will take until 2023 before the recall is complete. At that point the recall campaign will have lasted 15 years.

GM & LG CHEM TO MAKE BATTERIES IN OHIO
General Motors announced this morning that it will build an EV battery plant in conjunction with LG Chem. The plant will be located in Lordstown, Ohio, where GM just shuttered a massive manufacturing complex. The two companies will collectively invest $2.3 billion and the plant will make 30 gigawatt hours of energy storage a year, going to 100 gigawatt hours. Groundbreaking for the plant will start next year.

JOE ASHTON PLEADS GUILTY FOR ROLE IN UAW SCANDAL
Another UAW official has pleaded guilty in the union’s corruption scandal. Former Vice President and GM Board member Joe Ashton plead guilty to one count of committing wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Prosecutors are recommending a sentence of 30 to 37 months in prison and the crimes carry a maximum fine of $250,000. He will be sentenced in March. Ashton is the 11th person convicted in the scandal and 12 more have been charged, not including former UAW presidents Gary Jones and Dennis Williams. So this scandal is far from over.

BIG JOB CUTS COMING
As we’ve been reporting, the massive industry upheaval is well underway. And according to Bloomberg, automakers plan to cut 80,000 jobs over the next several years. Part of that is due to a slowdown in the global auto industry. According to IHS Markit, automakers will produce almost 89 million vehicles globally and that’s a drop of 6% from 2018. But the shift to electrification is also playing a role. Since EVs use far fewer components, not as manufacturing jobs are needed. And those jobs can’t switch to producing batteries, since battery manufacturing is already 99% automated.

BUICK WILL DROP ENTIRE REGAL LINEUP
The last Buick Cascada rolled down the assembly line earlier this year. In 2018 GM announced Buick would not replace the LaCrosse. That only left the Regal in Buick’s passenger car lineup, but now that’s going away too. It will axe the sedan and its wagon variant, called the Tour X after the 2020 model year due to lack of demand. Although, it will live on in China. As we know, the market is shifting to crossovers and SUVs and as a Buick spokesperson notes, nearly 90% of Buick’s sales this year have come from those types of vehicles. Even still, this might not be the end of Buick passenger cars. Remember, both the Cascada and Regal were jointly developed with Opel, which GM sold to PSA in 2017.

NISSAN GT-R50 TO START HITTING CUSTOMER HANDS IN 2020
Last year Nissan and Italdesign came together to make a special GT-R. It’s a celebration of both the iconic race car’s and the Italian design house’s 50th anniversary. Based on a GT-R NISMO, the car features completely reworked styling and NISMO tuned the car’s engine to 710-horsepower. Now we’ve learned the first of the production models will start reaching customer hands sometime between late next year and the end of 2021. Only 50 will be made, but Nissan says there’s still a few reservations left. But you will have to be ready to shell out $1.12 million for the car.

MORE CONSUMERS CONSIDERING A USED CAR
The average transaction price for a new vehicle is approaching $38,000, so it’s no surprise to learn that an overwhelming amount of car buyers would consider a used car. A new survey from Ally Financial found that nearly 70% of consumers would look at a used vehicle for their next purchase. And interestingly, more than half said they would prefer buying a used car from a franchised dealer that sells both new and used vehicles rather than a private individual selling the car, a used only dealership or from an internet based company. So while more consumers are shopping for cars online, they still prefer buying from a dealer, at least when it comes to used cars.

ADOPTION OF SAFETY FEATURES TAKES TOO LONG
Automakers have made big strides in developing safer vehicles but a new report from the Highway Loss Data Institute found that it still takes decades for many safety features to make their way into vehicles. Automakers are making vehicles more crashworthy three times faster than in the mid-1990’s according to IIHS data. But the percentage of the U.S. fleet with a good rating in the IIHS moderate overlap test is only 64% and that test was introduced 23 years ago. And only 14% of the fleet earns a good rating in the small overlap test that was introduced six years ago.

HYUNDAI IMPROVES SONATA’S SAFETY
But the all-new Hyundai Sonata is a great example of how automakers are improving safety. While this is the 8th generation of the sedan, it’s only on its 3rd-generation of architecture, which is now called DN8. And it’s much better at absorbing crash forces than the previous model. Check out this simulation of the car in a small overlap crash test. That ghost model is how the old car performed in the same test. Note how much further it kicks out from the barrier compared to the new car, which kind of slides away from it. The old car has a really strong structure, but it’s not as good at absorbing energy, and Hyundai found it was causing more head rotation in accidents, which could result in injury. It clearly set out to improve that with the new model.

And be sure to join us for Autoline After Hours this afternoon. Our special guest will be Ernie Brink, a backyard mechanic, who is back to share an update on his improvements to the rotary engine. Todd Lassa from Automobile will also be joining us. That’s at 3PM eastern time on our website, Autoline.tv.

But that wraps up today’s show, thanks for watching and have a great day.