AD #3182 – New Car Prices Soaring; BMW Ready for ICE Bans; Lexus Reveals All-New Boldly Styled LX

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

ATP SOARS IN THE U.S.
We’ve never seen anything like this before. New car prices are going up faster than ever. Kelley Blue Book says the average transaction price in the U.S. in September was just over $45,000. And no surprise, that’s a record. That’s up 12% from a year ago and up nearly 4% from August. Besides tight inventory due to the chip shortage, KBB says prices spiked because consumers shifted away from entry level vehicles to more expensive pickups and SUVs. KBB says as long as inventory remains tight, prices will remain high.

BMW READY FOR ICE BANS
If the EU wants to ban ICE cars by 2030, BMW’s CEO says ‘Bring it on.’ Oliver Zipse says if any city, region or country bans ICE cars, BMW will have an EV to offer. Reuters quotes him as saying, “The BMW Group is not worried about this. Whether it’s a good idea is another question… but we will have an offering.”

RENAULT MOVING OUT OF ITS HEADQUARTERS TO SAVE MONEY
We never thought we’d see this. Renault is moving out of its headquarters in Paris and will rent space in another location. It’s all about cutting cut costs. Renault didn’t say where it’s moving or provide any other details, but it sure is a shock to see that it’s leaving the City of Lights.

SKODA DEVELOPING ENTRY-LEVEL CARS FOR DEVELOPING MARKETS
While automakers are racing to launch BEVs as fast as they can, analysts say that sales of ICE vehicles could actually grow by 58% over the next 10 years in developing countries, like Latin America, Africa, Russia and India. So Skoda, which is part of the VW Group, is taking over responsibility for developing new entry-level ICE vehicles off the MQB platform. Specifically, the MQB-A0 platform, which underpins current vehicles like the Skoda Kushaq and Volkswagen Polo Vivo.

LEXUS TAKES BOLD GRILLE TO NEW LEVELS ON ALL-NEW LX
Lexus is taking big, bold grilles to a new level on its all-new full size SUV, the LX. That giant spindle grille just about covers the entire front end.

Lexus also went all out to convince its customers that the LX has hard core, off-road capabilities. Let’s start with the basics. The LX sits on what Lexus calls its GF-A platform. It’s still body-on-frame, but the frame is 20% more rigid and has a lower center of gravity. Impressively, the LX is 441 pounds lighter than before. Lexus also went all out to make the ride even smoother. Front suspension travel increased by 0.6 inches, and 0.8 inches in the rear. The ride height automatically adjusts to driving conditions. The spring rates also adjust automatically, to smooth out the ride on the optional 22 inch wheels. Just in case an owner actually takes it off road, four cameras show what’s around the wheels and under the vehicle. Under the hood, the V8 is gone and replaced with a twin-turbo V6 with 409 horsepower and 479 lb.-ft. of torque. All that power goes through a 10-speed automatic. Inside, the instrument panel is surprisingly subdued with everything concentrated around the center console. A 12.3-inch upper screen sits right above a 7-inch one.

Customers who feel the need to upgrade can go with a trim level called Ultra Luxury. One feature includes VIP seating, which, at the touch of a button, folds the front passenger seat forward, creating 42 inches of legroom, supported by a foot rest, for the rear seat passenger. There’s a lot more about the LX which you can find in the link that we’ve included in the transcript and description box.

HONDA ELECTRIFYING CHINA
Honda is going all electric. At least, in China it is. Starting in 2030 Honda will only introduce electrified models, including hybrids and EVs. It will launch 10 new EV models, most of which will be branded e:N. The first, the e:NS1 and e:NP1, go on sale next year and look like they’re based on the HR-V concept and the e:Prototype concept. Three other EVs in the e:N family will probably go on sale within the next 5 years. Note how they have very angular body panels, kind of like the Tesla Cybertruck, which could cut way down on manufacturing costs. Speaking of manufacturing, Honda is going to build new, dedicated EV production sites in China that it hopes to have up and running by 2024. Honda also announced that it’s tapping CATL to supply it with batteries for all of these EVs. And to maximize its investment, it says it plans to export e:N Series models around the world.

HONDA IMPROVING ITS DRIVER ASSISTANCE SYSTEM
And staying with Honda for a moment, it’s improving its suite of driver assistance features, now called Honda SENSING 360. The system was upgraded with 5 radars at the front and each corner of the vehicle, along with one camera. This greatly improves its detection area and removes blind spots around the vehicle. Customers should find that the system works better at detecting potential accidents with other cars or pedestrians at intersections as well as intervene if they’re going to change lanes into another vehicle, provide steering assist when changing lanes and reduce speed when coming up on a turn too fast. Honda says it wants zero fatalities involving any of its vehicles, including motorcycles, by 2050.

GOOD HEADLIGHTS REDUCE NIGHT TIME ACCIDENTS
A few years ago, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety started factoring in headlights as part of its safety ratings. And it just released a study that found vehicles with headlights that earn a Good rating in its evaluation, are nearly 20% less likely to be involved in an accident driving at night, compared to vehicles with headlights that earn a Poor rating. Driver injury is also reduced by nearly 30%. Since it started evaluating headlights in 2016, the percent of vehicles with a Good headlight rating has risen from 4 to 29%.

AAA SAYS SAFETY TECH STRUGGLES IN BAD WEATHER
And speaking of safety studies, AAA just released a report that found safety systems struggle to “see” in bad weather. A vehicle equipped with automatic emergency braking travelling at 35 MPH collided with a stopped vehicle one third of the time, during tests that simulated rainfall. And vehicles with Lane Keeping Assist veered outside the lane 69% of the time. The safety systems are normally evaluated in ideal conditions but AAA says testing needs to incorporate real-world scenarios that drivers encounter in day-to-day driving.

FORD NO LONGER ON RIVIAN’S BOARD
Something weird is going on between Rivian and Ford. Very quietly, with no public announcement, Ford no longer has anyone on Rivian’s board of directors, even though Ford invested $820 million in the startup and is one of Rivian’s largest investors. Last year Ford made a big deal of appointing Bill Ford’s daughter, Alexandra English, to the Rivian board. But it never said a thing when she stepped down this May and was replaced by another Ford executive, Doug Power, who runs the company’s strategic investments. But then he left the Rivian board last month—with no public announcement. Here’s our Autoline Insight. Rivian is about to become a publicly traded company and maybe these moves are related to that. Rivian expects to have a market cap of $80 billion, while Ford is only worth $60 billion. Could it be possible that Ford will sell its Rivian stock to invest in other things, like maybe paying off that investment for the giant Blue Oval City EV manufacturing complex? If so, Ford would essentially get Blue Oval City for free.

But that’s the end of today’s show. Thanks for joining us.