AD #3000 – Buick Shows Off New Enclave; Barn Find Narrowed Down; Is VW Ready to Dump Its MEB Platform?

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

CELEBRATING SHOW #3,000!
And welcome to show number 3,000! Wow! What an accomplishment. We’re so grateful to have been around so long and that people continue to want to watch. Our very first episode of Autoline Daily went out on October 14th, 2008. And it’s kind of funny, that first show included talk of Chrysler possibly merging with GM or Ford. Now, today, a merger has finally happened, albeit with the PSA Group. But I’d like to take a moment to think back to our start. Tesla had only recently started production of the Roadster. GM still commanded over 22% market share. There was no such thing as Nikola, Lucid or Rivian. Volkswagen’s diesels were still admired by all. Flo-Rida and T-Pain topped the Billboard charts. And the F-150 was the number 1 selling vehicle. Well, at least some things never change. And we don’t plan to either. Adapt sure, but you’ll continue to find us the same place every day during the week. Now, on to the news!

NEW BUICK ENVISION NOW ON SALE
Buick showed off the new Envision last year and now it’s hitting showrooms in the U.S. It carries a starting price just under $33,000, including destination charges. Powering the crossover is a 2.0L inline four-cylinder turbo that’s matched with a nine-speed automatic transmission. All-wheel drive is also available. Nine active safety features are standard and it’s offered with a Continuous Damping Control suspension. The interior styling has also been refreshed and it’s now available with a 10.2-inch touchscreen. The new model is lower and wider than the outgoing Envision and it features new styling with good proportions and a well sculpted body.

BUICK SHOWS OFF NEW ENCLAVE
Buick is also giving us our first look at the new Enclave. As you can see, the styling has been updated, most notably the front end, which features a new grille and thinner, sleeker headlights than before. Buick didn’t share any more details other than it will go on sale later this year.

Autoline supports the automotive industry.…because it supports so many other industries, like the materials industry. We’re talking steel. And aluminum. Magnesium. Plastics. Glass and rubber. Textiles and fabrics. No other industry uses so many different materials in these kinds of quantities. That’s what makes the economy hum. And that’s why we’re proud to say that Autoline is an advocate for the automotive industry.

IS VW READY TO DUMP ITS MEB PLATFORM?
Is Volkswagen getting ready to dump its MEB platform? It unveiled the MEB architecture for its electric cars in 2019 with great fanfare, but it’s already moving on. Ralf Brandstatter, the CEO of the VW brand, posted on LinkedIn that at the end of this year they’re going to unveil the first car to come out of what it’s calling Project Trinity. He called it “A highly efficient flat seat concept with an iconic design.” If this car under wraps is any indication, it could be a station wagon with seats that stow away for a completely flat floor. Brandstatter described it as a new architecture that makes us wonder if it’s a skateboard design. It will launch with L2 driving assist and will be L4 ready. VW plans to build 300,000 a year at its home plant in Wolfsburg. Brandstatter claims it will set a new standard in range and charging and will use a neural network.

VW REVEALS NEW TAOS DETAILS
Speaking of VW, it released more info yesterday on its Taos CUV that will be out at the end of the second quarter. It’s powered by a 1.5-liter turbocharged gasoline engine developing 158 horsepower and 184 pound feet of torque. The front wheel drive version gets an 8-speed automatic, while the all-wheel drive version gets a 7-speed dual clutch transmission. There are three trim levels, but VW hasn’t posted any info yet on how it’s going to price it.

BMW ENHANCES THE i4’S DRIVING DYNAMICS
With so many EVs coming out, automakers will come up with a number of different ways to set themselves apart from their competitors. Looks like BMW is going after handling. Since most EVs mount the battery in the floor of the vehicle, all that mass is down low, which gives them a low center of gravity. That makes for a great on-road feel, especially through long, sweeping turns. But hit some quick switchbacks or an autocross course and all that weight wants to push the vehicle around. A few months before its world debut, BMW is finishing testing on the all-new i4 and working to give the EV the same dynamic driving capabilities of its other models. While the i4 will have up to 530 horsepower and do 0 to 100 km/h in 4 seconds, the automaker says, “Simply accelerating fast in a straight line is not enough for BMW.” Sure lends validity to reports the first electric M car will be the i4.

NISSAN DEBUTS CLOSED-LOOP ALUMINUM RECYCLING SYSTEM
Many automakers are actively reducing emissions produced from their entire supply chains. At Nissan, the all-new Rogue will be built using the automaker’s first closed-loop recycling system for aluminum parts. The model is made in Japan and the U.S. and as its doors and hood are stamped, the scrap material falls on a conveyor system where it’s taken to be shredded and separated into grades. That scrap is then sent back to its suppliers, who turn it back into aluminum sheets and deliver it back to Nissan. According to the Aluminum Association, recycling scrap aluminum saves more than 90% of the energy needed to create a comparable amount from raw materials.

STELLANTIS & TESLA’S STOCK SYMBOLS VERY SIMILAR
Well, here’s something that is bound to cause confusion for investors. Stellantis, the new name for the merger between PSA and FCA, started trading on stock exchanges this week. And it’s trading symbol is STLA. Does that sort of sound familiar? It should. Tesla’s trading symbol is TSLA. So a word to the wise for all you day traders out there: you better proofread your orders or you might end up investing in the wrong company.

DON’T BOTHER WITH NEDC TEST NUMBERS
As long as we’re on the topic of confusion, let’s talk about the driving range that some EV companies claim for their cars. When NIO unveiled its eT7 in China last week, it claimed it will go 600 miles. That got all the headlines. And earlier this week when Mercedes unveiled the EQA it claimed a driving range of just over 300 miles, which is really impressive for a CUV with a 66.5 kWh battery. But here’s the thing. Those ranges were calculated using the NEDC test procedure, which everyone knows is bogus. It’s an easy-breezy test that doesn’t produce real world numbers. The WLTP test is much more credible, and the U.S. EPA is the most credible of all. So any time any automaker claims anything under the NEDC procedure, walk away from the numbers. They’re just trying to make things sound better than they actually are.

BARN FIND NARROWED DOWN
With your help, we think we have a pretty good idea of what our recent Barn Find is. You may remember these pictures sent in by viewer Will Prudden of an old vehicle tucked away in a barn. While it looks more like a pile of parts, Joe Wilder commented the engine “…appears to be an overhead valve, 4 cylinder engine. I don’t think Ford, GM or Chrysler made such a thing until the 70’s.” That prompted this reply from Mike K, “That is a Chevrolet engine from about 1916. They offered a “valve-in-head” in-line 4 cylinder engine starting in 1914.” These details seemed promising so we did a little more digging. That engine did start in 1914 and went all the way up until 1928 when it was replaced by a six-cylinder engine. Using that information, we started trying to match up known models that used the 4-cylinder engine with other features from our Barn Find. The dashboard design eliminated the earlier models that ran from 1914 to 1922, but the Chevrolet Superior that ran from 1923-1926, the 1927 Series AA Capitol and 1928 Series AB National, all used a similar dashboard seen in the pictures sent to us. So, our Barn Find is very likely one of those 3 models. Interestingly, they all offered a coupe that looks like it has an awfully short wheelbase. But based on the placement of the wheels on our Barn Find, it still looks like the frame was chopped and the rear axle moved forward. 

And that brings us to the end of another week’s worth of shows. Thanks for watching and we hope you have a great weekend.