AD #2789 – Oil Prices Collapse; New Cars Cost More Weeks of Income; Chevrolet Enhances Bolt EV

This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.

OIL PRICES PLUMMET
Russia and Saudi Arabia launched an oil war against each other over the weekend and the price of oil is plunging. In the US prices fell to only $27 a barrel and we’re getting reports that in some areas of the country gasoline is selling for well under $2 a gallon. The global economic slowdown triggered by the coronavirus is what set off the price war. Instead of cutting production to avoid large surpluses, Russia decided to maintain production and gain market share. Saudi Arabia decided to prevent Russia from doing that, and the result is plunging prices. Other experts say Russia is also trying to cripple the US fracking industry by driving prices below production costs. This price war is only just getting going, and we could see $20 a barrel before it’s over.

GM BREATHES NEW LIFE INTO THE CHEVY BOLT
Even though General Motors is coming out with a full family of electric vehicles with a dedicated EV platform, it’s not giving up on the Chevrolet Bolt, which has been in the market for about three years. Chevy sold a little over 16,000 Bolts last year but it hopes to do much better with an enhanced version that gets an upgraded interior to address complaints that there was too much hard plastic inside. It gets a new infotainment system, and a new front fascia and headlamps. But wait, there’s more. Chevrolet is also going to get a slightly longer version, with an extra three inches of wheelbase, that adds five inches to the overall length. Could it be that GM wants squeeze in a few more batteries for longer range? The Bolt is now rated at 259 miles with its 60 kilowatt hour battery. It probably wouldn’t take much more to boost it to 300 miles. GM calls this version an EUV, presumably for electric utility vehicle. The one they displayed looked like it had more ground clearance and so we’re guessing that an all-wheel-drive version could also be in the cards.

NEW CARS REQUIRE MORE WEEKS OF INCOME
Is affordability for new cars really a problem? You bet it is and here are the numbers to prove it. Historically it’s taken the average American family 26 weeks of income to buy a new car. Even though car prices always go up, so does income, so measuring how many weeks of income it takes to buy a car is a good apples-to-apples comparison from one era to another. Well it no longer takes 26 weeks of income to buy a new car, now it takes nearly 31 weeks. Keep in mind that the average household in the United States now makes over $66,000, but the average car is nearly thirty eight grand. This explains why a smaller percentage of Americans buy new cars and are turning to used cars instead. It all comes down to affordability.

CADILLAC’S MERLETTES AND COURONNE
In Friday’s show last week we talked about the evolution of Cadillac’s logo because it looks like it might be changing again. After the video went up, viewer GM Veteran provided a comment with an interesting bit of information. “Those ducks in the logo are actually called Merlettes. The Cadillac marketing staff was pretty adamant about using the correct terminology.” GM Veteran worked on projects with Cadillac. “The birds, called merlettes, are adaptations of the martin, but without legs or beaks. Today, both the couronne, which is the proper name for the crest, and the merlettes are absent in the Cadillac crest.” Thanks for the feedback, we love learning things like this.

CHEVY’S OLD VAN SELLING STRONG
The current Chevrolet Express has been around since 1995, but it remains a popular choice with customers. Commercial sales alone increased 12% last year and the van continues to receive updates. The Express and Low Cab Forward trucks get a new 6.6L V8 engine, which replaces a 6.0L unit and was originally introduced in the heavy-duty Silverado 2500 and 3500. It produces 401 horsepower and 464 lb-ft of torque in the van. That’s 17% more power and 24% more torque. Chevy expects the new engine to be popular. 70% of buyers opted for the old 6.0L V8.

MASERATI LOSES MONEY SELLING EXPENSIVE CARS
You’d think that selling luxury cars with a storied brand to rich people should be an easy business proposition. But Maserati is struggling. Last year it sold only 26,500 vehicles, down 25%. Its revenues fell 40% to 1.6 billion euros and it managed to lose 199 million euros. You’d think that Maserati’s first SUV, the Levante, would have turned things around like the Urus did for Lamborghini. But maybe the Levante just looks too much like a car than a sport ute.

ADAS REPAIRS ARE SAFETY-CRITICAL
We hosted a fascinating discussion over the weekend about making sure all these ADAS, or advanced driver assistance systems, continue to operate properly, even after a crash. But if just one sensor is slightly misaligned the system can be rendered useless. They need to be checked even when doing routine maintenance. Here’s Mike Anderson, the CEO of Collision Advice and Jake Rodenroth, the director of industry relations at asTech to explain.

Mike Anderson, CEO Collision Advice
“So, it’s been my experience that in most of the owner’s manuals it will give you some standards and say, if these things happen it (ADAS systems) will need a recalibration. But Jake I think you can probably answer that a little more clearly.”

Jake Rodenroth, Director of Industry Relations, asTech
“One of the advanced driver assist drivers, is what I call them, You figure alignments are pretty heavy maintenance item, right? Most vehicles require those two times a year, unless it’s an exotic or sports car and it may even require it more. So, I would say follow your maintenance guide in your owner’s manual. If you see 4-wheel alignments insist on the dealership and/or independent repair facility that’s doing them for you to research how the alignment is performed. As a consumer I would want to see that in writing so that I could follow along as well, maybe even if I didn’t understand it. I would want to see the camera calibration. Because if you change thrust angle in an alignment situation you change the way that camera sees the road. So those are the kinds of things from a maintenance perspective, you want to be mindful of that as you’re servicing other components on the vehicle. It’s very operation driven. It’s not scan tool driven, DTC (diagnostic trouble code) driven, any of those kinds of things. You can’t look at it and tell if it’s bad. You’ve got to look at the operations being performed on that vehicle.”

There is a ton of great information in that show and it really is a must-watch for anyone that has a vehicle with ADAS technology.

Don’t forget to tune in for Autoline After Hours this Thursday. We’ll be talking with a husband and wife team that run two of Honda’s assembly plants, and it should be interesting to learn how they balance work time with time off.

But that brings us to the end of today’s show. If you think we earned it, please like or subscribe. And we’ll be right back here again tomorrow.