Episode 287 – VW Buys Suzuki Stake, Ford to Move Hybrids to MI, Mercedes SPLITVIEW Screen
December 9th, 2009 at 12:00pm
Runtime 7:15
Volkswagen purchased close to 20 percent of Suzuki. Ford is seeking aid from the state of Michigan to help it research and produce lithium-ion batteries in the state. Mercedes comes out with new technology to split the screen on navigation systems. All that and more, plus John answers your questions in the “You Said It!” segment.
Transcript and Story Links after the jump . . .
Here are today’s top headlines. Volkswagen buys part of Suzuki. Ford may move most of its hybrid production to Michigan. And Mercedes comes out with new technology to split the screen on navigation systems.
Up next, we’ll be back with the news behind the headlines.
This is Autoline Daily for Wednesday, December 9, 2009. And now, the news.
Volkswagen says it plans to overtake Toyota and become the number-one automaker in the world in the next decade, and as we reported weeks ago that it might, now it did buy part of Suzuki. According to Bloomberg, VW purchased close to 20 percent of Suzuki for $2.5 billion. Suzuki will also purchase a small share of VW. The acquisition gives VW access to one of the best manufacturers of small cars. And it helps VW gain a foothold in India where Suzuki has an alliance with Maruti which builds half the cars sold there.
The Obama Administration’s automotive task force forced GM and Chrysler to get rid of thousands of dealerships to help turn those companies around. But now, Congress is forcing the automakers into binding arbitration with dealers who want to challenge their franchise cancellations. According to Reuters, some dealers believe political or other factors played a role in their termination, not just business reasons. An independent arbitrator will hear both sides’ arguments and then make a binding decision as to whether a dealer should be reinstated or not.
Boy, just when you think it’s safe to go in the water. In yesterday’s newscast, I lauded GM CFO Ray Young for surviving all the slings and arrows thrown at him, and then, only two hours later, GM CEO Ed Whitacre announced they will replace Young as CFO. No word on whether or not he’ll be reassigned.
And in somewhat-related news, Roger Penske announced that Jill Ladjziak, who formerly ran Saturn, will now be head of sales and marketing for smart USA. Penske interacted a lot with Ladjziak when he was putting the deal together to try and buy Saturn, and obviously was impressed enough to hire her. I also find it telling that Roger made the announcement, and not Dave Schembri, the president of smart USA.
Ward’s reports that Ford is seeking $85 million in advanced-technology development credits (subscription required) from the state of Michigan to help it research and produce lithium-ion batteries in the state. The move could potentially create 1,000 new jobs. Right now, battery packs for Ford’s hybrid sedans – the Fusion and Milan – are assembled by Delphi in Hermosillo, Mexico, where the cars are built. If Michigan grants these funds, the company could invest anywhere from $300 million to $500 million in the state to manufacture more HEVs. According to Bloomberg, Ford wants to move battery and hybrid production from Mexico to Michigan. Does this mean the Fusion, Milan and MKZ triplets are moving to Michigan? We’ll have to wait and see.
According to Autoblog, photos and specifications of Honda’s CR-Z hybrid have leaked on the internet. Enthusiast website Temple of VTEC scored a brochure with all the details. The car should be powered by a 1.5-liter, four-cylinder engine with 112 horsepower. A 14-horse electric motor gives a little extra kick. Drivers can choose between a six-speed manual transmission or a CVT. Zero to 100 km/h should take about 9.7 seconds.
Last week at the LA Auto Show, Mercedes displayed the new S-Class equipped with new technology called SPLITVIEW which allows the driver and passenger to view different content on the display screen simultaneously. For example the driver can use the navigation system while the passenger views a movie on DVD. But neither can see what the other is looking at.
Coming up next, it’s time for You Said It!
And now it’s time for some of your feedback.
Viewers and listeners like you give us all kinds of feedback, from direct e-mails to comments posted on our website – and let me say, we appreciate all of your responses.
Recently I received a letter from a group of high-school automotive students in Beloit, Wisconsin, asking for more coverage of automotive training programs. They’re part of an organization called the AYES, which is short for Automotive Youth Education Systems. It’s designed to get young people interested in automotive service, and prepare them for careers in the industry. The whole thing is sponsored by OEMs like Chrysler, Subaru and Rolls-Royce, as well as a wide array of dealers and dealership groups. We’ve decided to devote this week’s entire installment of You Said It! to them.
They wrote in to say: “We would like you to do a show on automotive youth … We feel that we are an important part in this industry’s future. We are learning about the latest technology as well as learning good foundation skills. “
Thanks for the suggestion. We’ll make a point of seeking out stories in this area for us to cover. And you’re right, you are a critically important part of the industry’s future. And on a personal note, one of my brothers and one of my sons are ASE-certified mechanics. The letter goes on to say: “Our instructor requires us to watch Autoline Daily each and every day as kind of an industry current events, because he believes that we need to know what’s happening in our industry.”
That’s great to hear – both that you’re keeping up on the latest news and that you’re getting it from Autoline Daily! We have a link where viewers can read the full letter.
Thank you guys for watching!
Tune in tomorrow night for Autoline After Hours when our guest will be Sandy Munro, one of the best design engineers I’ve ever met in this industry, who has a lot to say about how this industry can get back on its feet. And that’s it for today’s top news in the global automotive industry. Thanks for watching, we’ll see you tomorrow.
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Comments (30)
December 9th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Wow-zero to 62 mph in a “blistering” 9.7 seconds for a car as sexy looking as the Honda CR-Z. Another triumph in the awe-inspiring rush to electrify the automobile!
December 9th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Does Penske think that anyone can save Smart? give it up, Roger, Smart is as dead as Saturn. Maybe he should have hired a former funeral director for the job. And VW: Look at GM and Toyota before you continue your grandiose plans of taking over the automotive world.
December 9th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Mr. Whitacre seems determined to become Mr. GM – at least the only one left standing
Honda continues to demonstrate that it has lost its way. Instead of demonstrating superiority in engineering, packaging and design it seems ready out-smart “smart.” Its sights are set way too low
And CVTs are just sooooo much fun to drive!
With the announcement of the new six in the 2011 Mustang, there just might be a Ford in my future
December 9th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
It’s nice to know that the VW can be just as dumb as GM, Toyota and Ford. Taking their hard earned money and investing it in other car companies instead of their own automotive engineering and design departments. I wonder if VW is interested in Saab too?
December 9th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Ron @1…you got it buddy. 9.7? Snoozer.
Good job on that YOU SAID IT piece John. There are some great kids out there with superb skills in dealing with the complicated vehicles we now all drive. Best of luck to them.
December 9th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
The split view technology in Mercedes Benz is already in Land rover – Range Rover. They have this technology for their on-going sales models.
December 9th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Pedro Fernandez Says:
December 9th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
“Does Penske think that anyone can save Smart? give it up, Roger, Smart is as dead as Saturn. Maybe he should have hired a former funeral director for the job. And VW: Look at GM and Toyota before you continue your grandiose plans of taking over the automotive world”
Smart will make a major resurgence in a couple years when they have a better transmission, and probably engines that will get better gas mileage. Have you driven a Smart? Other than the crappy transmission, they drive ok, and can serve the purpose of a city car pretty well.
December 9th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
dcars Says:
December 9th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
“It’s nice to know that the VW can be just as dumb as GM, Toyota and Ford. Taking their hard earned money and investing it in other car companies instead of their own automotive engineering and design departments.”
Suzuki isn’t much in North America, but they are a major player in a number of other markets. VW may very well know what they are doing.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
I just checked online for the Smart car locally and they go from the high 15’s to the high 18’s for the ragtop. I can get a one year old Civic, Mini, etc etc which make this Smart look like a toy. I think people who buy this should have their heads examined.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
There will be a smart elecric in 2012. It will be interesting to see how that goes over. I haven’t seen anything about estimated range, but I’ve read that it will have lithium ion batteries, so it should have enough range for most commutes.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
” Pedro Fernandez Says:
December 9th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Does Penske think that anyone can save Smart? give it up, Roger, Smart is as dead as Saturn. Maybe he should have hired a former funeral director for the job. And VW: Look at GM and Toyota before you continue your grandiose plans of taking over the automotive world.”
Pedro is absolutely right, and Kit is wishful thinking. I believe that Penske is actually is not that dumb, and he hired that clueless dwarf woman from Saturn to preside over the unacceptable, overpriced, Not for the US TOY Scooter called “Smart” or better the “Dumb”.
It is ludicrous that a five seater like the Prius gets 10-20 MPG MORE than the pathetic Smart, which is not even available in the US with even the Start-Stop tech.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Everybody and his mother in law will have electrics by 2012, and all will be far better than the impractical TOY Smart.
Most people can only afford ONE car per person in any family, and all these people cannot have a Smart as their one and only car.
it is not a car. I know one who owns one, and in $6 gas EUrope. He has it in ADDITION to his 5 series and his X3. He sees is as a SCOOTER for city driving.
WHo in his or her right mind would buy such a POS as his or hers SINGLE and ONLY vehicle?
December 9th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Are you also aware that the original SMART and its successors were sold in Europe for more than a decade with HUGE LOSSES?? If they finally became profitable it happened only after the $150 oil TEMPORARY spike, and for that brief interval only. Can you imagine a loser like the “Dumb”, which can’t even make a profit in the narrow Euro Streets, where gas is $6 and $9 a gallon, EVER make it HERE, where we have AMPLE spaces, many never have to parallel park EVER, and gas is barely $3?
December 9th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
“pedro fernandez Says:
December 9th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
I just checked online for the Smart car locally and they go from the high 15’s to the high 18’s for the ragtop. ”
Nobody pays that much $ for that POS except maybe auto illiterates that don’t even watch TV, since I just saw ads on TV last night offering “Dumbs” for $11,990. Maybe they were 09s, but maybe not. They were brand new, of course.
December 9th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
“U.S. small-car rush may create oversupply!
December 9, 2009 – 12:01 am ET
DETROIT (Reuters) — A new lineup of small cars slated for U.S. showrooms next year may create an oversupply of compact vehicles at a time when gasoline prices remain stable, an industry forecasting firm said on Tuesday.
Automakers including General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. are rushing to launch new fuel-efficient small cars and electric vehicles in 2010 to meet tighter fuel economy standards in the United States and attract buyers that have gravitated toward smaller cars.
Michael Robinet, vice president of forecasting at CSM Worldwide, said if gasoline prices are steady from today’s levels of under $3 per gallon “extreme pressure to channel smaller vehicles in the market due to CAFE and emissions standards will raise incentives and lower profitability.”
December 9th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Nick: with a tsunami of small cars heading this way, I’m sure the desirable, affordable Smart will do real well against better, cheaper competitors.
December 9th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Nick, Pedro, et. al.
No one, including Roger Penske or Daimler Benz management ever said that the Smart was something you would have as the only car for a family of five. It is a commuter car, plain and simple. Most Hummers have one occupant most of the time. Which is smarter, a Smart transporting one person or a Hummer doing the same thing? OK, if you get in a crash, the Hummer with its three foot high bumpers designed to kill people in other vehicles will be safer, but you get the point.
I agree that the transmission in the smart sucks, and you can get much roomier cars for the same money, and there are much roomier cars (but more expensive) that can match a Smart’s gas mileage. Still, there are people who want a city car for one or two people who think the Smart is cute, and who don’t mind the crappy transmission. As they say, diff’rent strokes. The electric will expand the market, and if/when they get a better transmission, it will widen the market further.
December 9th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Forget Smart, its a ludicrous car. In 3 years almost everything from everybody with a 2.0 or less will get 40+ MPG
Why worry about a brand that was created in a mistake?
December 10th, 2009 at 2:51 am
The CRZ is fantastic, but Hyundai’s Accent/Veloster Hybrid will get 54 MPG and 140 HP, and will look just as sexy, with a more premium interior. Though I can imagine that there will be a lot of those CRZs on the road too.
And speaking about Hyundai, Check this KIA K9 sneak peak out. Its their version of the Eqqus according to a KIA source I talked to. I asked him a few days ago if the Rumored K9 was going to be the KIA Genesis. I got my answer back today, he said “No, it will be a KIA Eqqus.” It will feature a 4.0L, and a possible 5.0 V8. Codenamed CH, it will be completely unveiled in September 2010.
Before you guys jump on me, just remember Im a superfan that just digs for scoops about this company.
http://www.kia-world.net/index.php/2009/12/09/kia-k9-luxury-rear-wheel-drive-sedan/
December 10th, 2009 at 6:43 am
Kit: I’ve always been a fan of small cars, I have owned 2 old Beetles and a Kharman Ghia, when gas was pennies a gallon, but I just think you can do a lot better than a Smart,( Yaris, Fit, Versa etc.) Too expensive, bad tranny and so-so gas mileage not to mention you get hit and bye bye. Another car I found unacceptable was the old Swift hatch, there was just no protection for the rear seat passengers if you got hit from behind.
December 10th, 2009 at 8:04 am
Pedro,
I had an old beetle, and also a Swift hatch (in Chevy Sprint guise). I think the market could now use a car like the one liter, 3 cyl. version of that Swift. It would be cheaper and roomier than a Smart, and would drive better with a manual transmission. If Suzuki, or anyone else, sold today’s version of the old Swift hatch, it would also be safer than the old one.
December 10th, 2009 at 9:44 am
Kit: True, I’m sure a new Swift would be safer than the old ones, specially in the back seat. And yes we will be seeing 3 cyl engines as the govt. keeps raising mpg standards and I’m sure gas prices WILL go up, even with the stagnant economy they’ve been creeping up, Just imagine if the economy takes off, so will gas prices and then people will be forced to buy the small, high mpg, albeit not cheap looking , cars. Our roadways will look more like Europe and the rest of the world.
December 10th, 2009 at 9:51 am
“HyundaiSmoke Says:
December 9th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Forget Smart, its a ludicrous car. In 3 years almost everything from everybody with a 2.0 or less will get 40+ MPG”
For the first time I agree with EVERY thing HS says above. Bull’s eye. ANd I usually do not read his lengthy posts- Hyundai commercials. This one was only 3 lines and not spam, so it made the cut.
The SMART is not a car, it is a covered SCOOTER, but with twice as bad fuel economy. It is not only a small niche car, even in Europe, it is an utterly FAILED niche car
December 10th, 2009 at 9:54 am
Kit: You are in the deepest of denials about the SMART (or, more accurately, DUMB) and I do not know why. There have been dozens of reasons given here proving to you it has been an utter failure. You of all people should know. You drive a Mini, which is also a niche car, but a HUGELY successful one, that is able to price a cheap plasticky coupe at 20-30k, while the SMART failed even in Europe. WHy make me repeat all this? Look at the earlier posts.
COmpanies should admit their mistakes, but even if they do not, the sales volumes and prices tell the story. You can disregard the spin.
December 10th, 2009 at 10:06 am
“Why worry about a brand (SMART) that was created in a mistake?”
That’s also 100% correct. The “Dumb” was designed by a very impressive guy, Nicholas Hayek, both as an inventor and an all-around very well educated intellectual type, who is also the creator of the enormously profitable and successful “SWATCH” watches, but as it often happens, when he ventured into a field different than his own, he failed miserably, and took Mercedes down with him.
December 10th, 2009 at 10:34 am
In Europe they love that (Smart)thing. I never liked it for all the reasons mentioned above. It seams that the Europeans want to impose their will and “likes” on the US, so I’ve disliked it even more. I think Americans like bigger cars. The Japanese seam to make what we like and the Europeans want us to like what they make.
December 10th, 2009 at 10:49 am
“dcars Says:
December 10th, 2009 at 10:34 am
In Europe they love that (Smart)thing.”
No they do not. If they did, it would not have been losing money for a whole Decade after its introduction. Even there in the land of narrow streets and parallel parking every day, the Smart is also a Niche Vehicle and an utterly failed one. Its US intro was a “Hail Mary” pass that did not work either.
Successful niche vehicles are, besides the mini, the Fiat 500. Coincidence that they are both successors to very successful predecessors in the 50s and 60s? or that both, unlike the Smart, have a back seat of even a modest size?
December 10th, 2009 at 10:50 am
PS John Mc, you claimed it was “news” the item about mercedes and its split screen? Where have you been? I have been reading about that many weeks ago, or so it seems. I certainly did not hear it from you first!
December 10th, 2009 at 11:45 am
Nick Stevens Says:
December 10th, 2009 at 9:54 am
“Kit: You are in the deepest of denials about the SMART (or, more accurately, DUMB) and I do not know why. There have been dozens of reasons given here proving to you it has been an utter failure.”
I did not buy a Smart, but I know two people who did. One likes it a lot, and the other likes it, except for the transmission. The person who likes the Smart in spite of its shortcomings also has an Escalade and a few other vehicles. Obviously, he likes variety in his cars. Yes, the Smart is a toy to this buyer, just as my motorcycles are toys to me.
Whether Smart is a total “failure” is in the eye of the beholder. So far, Daimler and Penske still think it is worth continuing.
December 10th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
Nick, I said quite a few non-Hyundai posts in here. They just usualy get ignored, but if I say Hyundai the room is like “Oh my God, I cant believe he said Hyundai.”