AD # 2886 – Alfa Romeo Stelvio Review; Ford & FCA Earnings Better Than Expected; Cadillac Lyriq Debuts Next Week

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

FORD & FCA Q2 EARNINGS BETTER THAN EXPECTED
Ford and FCA reported their second quarter earnings and never in the history of those companies have bad numbers looked so good. Let’s start with Ford. While analysts were braced for a big loss, it actually posted a profit of $1.1 billion. But that included a $3.5 billion gain on its investment in Argo AI, the company developing autonomous technology. Take that out and Ford actually lost almost $2 billion in adjusted EBIT. Even so, that’s about $3 billion better than expected. Even more impressively, it paid down over $7.7 billion in debt, and ended the quarter with $39 billion in cash on hand, which is a lot. That doesn’t mean Ford is out of the woods. Even though it cut costs by 43%, its revenue fell more than 53%. So it needs to figure out how to cut costs even faster.  

Let’s move over to FCA, which also posted bad numbers that were better than analysts expected. Sales were down 63% and revenue fell 56%, yet FCA posted a net loss of just over a billion euros. That’s a much smaller loss than expected because FCA was able to get higher prices for the vehicles it sold and it cut selling and administrative costs. FCA also says it expects to finalize its merger with PSA in the first quarter next year.

GREG KELLY TO STAND TRIAL IN SEPTEMBER
Carlos Ghosn’s right hand man, Greg Kelly, will stand trial in Japan starting September 15th. He was arrested alongside Ghosn by Japanese authorities in 2018 and is charged with helping Ghosn under-report his income at Nissan. Kelly denies any wrongdoing. The trial was supposed to start in April but was pushed back due to the pandemic.

HONDA ASKS OFFICE WORKERS TO HELP BUILD CARS
Earlier this week, GM announced it’s transferring workers from other plants to its Wentzville, Missouri facility, so it can keep it running on three shifts. Honda is also facing worker shortages at its Marysville, Ohio plant due to COVID and because it sent workers to help out suppliers with shortages as well. But instead of transferring workers from other plants, it’s asking office employees to help out on the assembly line. Honda says it’s had a hard time recruiting new factory workers, so it’s asking its accounting, purchasing and R&D workers to temporarily fill-in. It’s not known exactly what they’ll be doing on the factory floor, but it shows how desperate automakers are to keep production lines rolling during this crisis.

CADILLAC LYRIQ DEBUTS NEXT WEEK
Cadillac released a new teaser image of its first all-electric model, the Lyriq. It’s a shot of the charging port located behind the driver’s side front wheel fender. But more importantly, the company announced the electric crossover will make its debut next Thursday, August 6th in an online reveal on Cadillac’s media site. The Lyriq is built on GM’s new EV architecture and is powered by its new Ultium batteries but that’s about all we know for now, so we can’t wait to learn more next week.

MAHLE DEVELOPS NEW A/C CONDENSER FOR EVs
The supplier MAHLE developed a new A/C condenser for hybrid and electric vehicles that it says offers significantly higher power density compared to its current unit. Not only can it provide sufficient cooling for the cabin, the new condenser keeps the battery at its optimal temperature during fast charging, which helps protect the battery from damage. MAHLE also says it’s lighter, less likely to corrode, requires less refrigerant and doesn’t need any extra installation space. It hopes the new condenser will make EVs more suitable for everyday use. 

ACURA TAKING NEW TLX TO PIKES PEAK
Acura is taking the all-new TLX racing for the first time and it’s doing it up Pikes Peak. The two cars feature a race-tuned 2.0L engine with a larger turbo and intercooler, Brembo front calipers and rotors from the Type S and a more aggressive suspension setup. But one of the cars will have an even higher-output tune for the engine than the other and an even more aggressive suspension setup. Acura will also have a prototype version of the TLX Type S at the race, which kicks off on August 30th. It will be used as a pace car, but with a 3.0L turbocharged V6 that makes 355 horsepower and nearly the same amount of torque, the Type S will be a lot of fun to put through its paces on the hill climb. The new TLX hits dealerships this fall, with the Type S to follow in the spring of 2021. 

GM PRODUCING NEW VERSIONS OF OLD ENGINES
GM is now making new versions of old engines. It’s producing all-new 350 cubic-inch small-block engines that are available in three applications, which will fit trucks, vans and SUVs from 1987 until 2002. The cylinder block and heads are brand new, not remanufactured. The engines also come with a forged steel crankshaft and new valve covers, oil pan and timing cover as well as a 3-year/100,000 mile limited warranty. The new GM Genuine Parts 350 engine can be ordered from the dealer.

JEEP OFFERING LIFT KIT FOR DIESEL WRANGLER & GLADIATOR
Owners of Jeep Wranglers and Gladiators with the diesel engine, now have a specially tuned lift kit available to them. It includes FOX shocks, springs, longer lower control arms, swaybar links and heavy-duty bushings, which will provide a 2-inch lift. The Wrangler kit is available now, while the Gladiator kit comes later in the summer. Price is $1,500.

VW CONSIDERS SMALL PICKUP
The pickup segment in the U.S. is a tough market to break into. But does electrification offer an opportunity for an automaker, like Volkswagen, to jump into it? On Autoline This Week, Scott Keogh, the CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, had this to say when asked that question.

Scott Keogh, CEO, Volkswagen Group of America
“For us to go into the teeth of a brutally competitive segment and say ‘Here comes Volkswagen,’ frankly isn’t going to work. There’s a reason the C-pickup segment is 80% domestic. They do a good job there, they’ve got it covered and I don’t know if we can differentiate it. So frankly the question is ‘where can we differentiate in order to attack this market opportunity?’ To me there’s two places. Either we pursue it a little bit smaller and we come in with a Volkswagen style, good packaging, great fuel economy, great enthusiasm. And come in with more of an A-size type of vehicle. I think you see Ford’s discussing this, Hyundai’s obviously doing one as well. It’s something worth looking at. Or we do it with electrification. So these are things we have these possibilities but for me I’m always a bigger fan of fulfilling the segments that we’re in. I think we have a lot more room to grow in the current SUV segments we have. We have a lot of room to grow with the ID.4 before we go out and enter new areas. The two we’re looking at actively, is either go smaller and make a difference, real fuel economy fun. And if you look at what Volkswagen did with the Rabbit/Golf, with the Jetta, those segments really drained. They got significantly smaller. Could we bring that back to life with a pickup lifestyle vehicle? I think we could and we’ll look at those two opportunities. But it makes no sense to go into the big C-area. As you mentioned it’s tough for Nissan, it’s tough for Toyota and granted the domestics what they have, they have that covered and we won’t have a good point of view in there to make a difference. We want to make a difference if we come in with a car.”

You can watch the full show right now on our website or on our YouTube channel.

ALFA ROMEO STELVIO QUADRIFOGLIO IMPRESSIONS
We just had an Alfa Romeo Stelvio in the Autoline Garage and it brightened up our week considerably. Better still, it was the Quadrifoglio all-wheel-drive, which represents the performance pinnacle of this model. If this was the world of fashion, the Stelvio would be considered a supermodel. You can spot one a mile away and you just can’t take your eyes off it. The Stelvio is just one of the most handsomely styled crossovers in the market. The overall shape is compact, almost pudgy, but beautifully flowing lines mix well with mechanical details like the big, bright yellow brake calipers that instantly catch your eye and hold it.

Inside, the Quadrifoglio is another visual treat. Sliding into the well bolstered driver’s seat is like putting on a tightly tailored Italian suit. The materials were exquisitely selected and the stitching conveys a feeling of hand craftsmanship. The instrumentation binnacle and center console look precise and purposeful. There is a colorful contrast between the black upper instrument panel and the bright red lower half. And it’s all accented with glossy carbon fiber pieces. 

But the Quadrifoglio is more than just a pretty face. Under the hood the 2.9 liter twin turbo V6 cranks out an impressive 505 horsepower. Motor Trend says it will go from 0 to 60 in only 3.3 seconds. And while we didn’t do any instrumented runs, we believe it! 

Even more impressive is the stopping power. The Brembo front calipers have 6 pistons. The brake rotors are giant: 15.4 inch in front and 14.2 in the rear. And the rotors are carbon ceramic. If you’ve never experienced ceramic rotors before, make sure you get a chance to do so before you die. They are unlike anything you’ve experienced before.

OK, now for the damage. Our Quadrifoglio was priced at almost $94,400, almost $14,000 above the base price. And the ceramic rotors alone added $8,000 to the price list.

So here’s our bottom line. The Stelvio Quadrifoglio is a beautiful machine with blinding performance. But sales have never measured up to the promise it offers. Fewer than 10,000 were sold in the U.S. market last year. And that means so far, Alfa Romeo has failed to crack the code on how to get high end customers to put it on their shopping list. 

But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and have a great weekend.