AP Berlin city traffic: The environmental aid wants to block the city center for older diesel cars For motorists in Berlin it goes on Tuesday a lot: A court negotiates whether a Driving ban for older diesel has to come. The German Umwelthilfe (DUH) wants to banish them because of high air pollution from the… Continue reading Tuesday’s trial: Will Berlin be closed to older diesel cars?
Category: Automotive
Seeing the Light: Ford’s Call for a Standard Self-Driving Car Language to Communicate Intent
By John Shutko, Ford Human Factors Technical Specialist for Self-Driving Vehicles Ford is calling on all self-driving vehicle developers, automakers and technology companies who are committed to deploying SAE level-4 vehicles to create an industry standard for communicating driving intent In real-world and virtual reality studies, Ford has tested a self-driving intent interface that lets… Continue reading Seeing the Light: Ford’s Call for a Standard Self-Driving Car Language to Communicate Intent
[Exit from factory] How PSA designs the future sound signature of its electric cars
From 1 January 2019, all electric vehicles will have to emit an artificial sound at low speed to warn pedestrians. In the car manufacturers’ laboratories, like at PSA, we are refining this “sound signature”. One of the advantages of the electric vehicle is its silence. This type of vehicle emits almost no sound at low… Continue reading [Exit from factory] How PSA designs the future sound signature of its electric cars
Delphi Technologies names Hari Nair as interim CEO
Prior to this, Nair has also worked Tenneco Inc and General Motors Co. New Delhi: Vehicle propulsion systems supplier Delphi Technologies on Friday said that the company has appointed Hari N. Nair as interim Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. As per company release, Nair succeeds Liam Butterworth who is stepping down from his role as… Continue reading Delphi Technologies names Hari Nair as interim CEO
Electric cars are clean, but can they be profitable? New report casts doubt
Volkswagen MEB platform architecture
A flood of new electric-car models is washing into the market in the next year as automakers scramble to meet regulatory demands for electric cars around the world—not to mention scrambling to compete with Tesla.
The challenge, as with Tesla, is whether they can sell those cars at a profit.
A new report by AlixPartners, a worldwide business consulting firm, shows the transition to electric cars is coming at a steep cost to automakers.
DON'T MISS: VW plans 27 electric cars by 2022 on new platform
The company pegs the cost of building new electric cars at almost $9,000 more than conventional cars, and plug-in hybrids at an additional $5,700.
Worldwide, the report says, established and startup automakers are spending $255 billion to develop more than 200 new electric models that are expected to hit the market by 2022.
Many of these will be low-volume models that will not make a significant dent in the development costs for new powertrains, the report says.
CHECK OUT: Tesla sells 200,000th car, starting phaseout of federal tax credits
Further, the number of new models is likely to exceed customer demand, the report says, meaning that intense competition among these new electric cars may force automakers to sell them at a discount. This hit to automaker profits could be exacerbated by ride-sharing and autonomous car fleets, which would buy cars at fleet prices.
As if to confirm the report, BMW cheif executive Bernhard Kuhnt told Bloomberg Friday, “Tesla is now ramping up their volumes, and it’s putting pressure on that market segment.”
At the same time, the study notes, the overall car market in the U.S. is beginning a cyclical downturn from its record sales of 17.2 million new cars and trucks in 2017.
That's not to say the study expects electric cars to be unsuccessful. AlixPartners forecasts that by 2030, electric cars will make up 20 percent of the U.S. market, 30 percent of European car sales, and 35 percent of car sales in China.
2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC
In a consumer survey conducted as part of the study, AlixPartners found that 22.5 percent of Americans say they plan for their next car purchase to have plug-in capability.
A Reuters report on the study notes that auto executives generally concur that the transition to electric cars will be expensive, and that R&D and development costs for electrics may not be paid off any time soon. “What everyone needs to realize is that clean mobility is like organic food—it’s more expensive,” Carlos Tavares, chief executive of Peugeot, Citroen, and Opel manufacturer PSA told Reuters.
Last month, BMW warned investors that investments in electric-car development and meeting cleaner emissions rules would erode profits. Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz also each warned separately that developing electric cars will cost more than they initially budgeted.
So far tax incentives from many governments, such as the U.S. federal $7,500 tax credit, are designed to offset these higher costs. As automakers begin to sell millions of electric cars, however, these tax incentives may become unsustainable.
READ MORE: 2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC specs revealed (Updated)
The hope is that by then battery prices will equal the cost of internal combustion powertrains, but that's not guaranteed. Batteries currently account for 40 percent of the cost of building an electric car, Reuters reports.
AlixPartners reports that commodity costs are up 70 percent the last year compared with 2015, at $884 per car, a six-year high.
“Industry players are sort of caught between a rock and a hard place,” said Shiv Shivaraman, co-head of AlixPartners' American automotive and industrial practice. “If they don’t participate in some way in the ‘new-mobility’ revolution that’s coming, they stand to lose out on what might be the biggest thing ever in this industry. If they do participate, as so many are, they have the chance of benefiting from first-mover advantages, but they also face the possibility of going broke in the process.”
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General Motors sues Johnson Controls over $28M in warranty claims
Original Article
Ford is planning cuts to its salaried workforce
Rebecca Cook | Reuters
Ford Motor Company president and CEO James Hackett
Ford said Friday that it is planning cut to its salaried workforce in an effort to make the company more efficient.
The news was reported Friday in both the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press, but confirmed with CNBC.
The company does not yet know how many jobs it plans to cut, the company said. But it expects to have more details by the second quarter of 2019. Ford said it employs 70,000 salaried workers.
CEO Jim Hackett has said the second-largest U.S. automaker needs to improve its financial health.
Shares of Ford ended the day down less than 1 percent at $9.12. The stock has fallen about 27 percent since the beginning of the year.
Ford hired Hackett in early 2017 after seeing its stock languish under previous management, despite delivering several profitable quarters. However, since then some investors have grown frustrated with what they say is a lack of a specific plans to improve the company's outlook. The shares have fallen from a 52-week high of $13.33 set on Jan. 16 to a 52-week low of $9.09 on Thursday.
Ford expects to cut jobs in restructuring
Original Article
One size won’t fit all for future Kia EVs
2019 Kia Niro EV
For an automaker that’s pitching itself toward the fun side of the Hyundai Motor Group, the tone for the automaker’s sizable electric push soon sounds altogether like pants.
“It’s all about what fits,” said Michael Winkler, director of powertrains for Kia in Europe.
By the end of next year, Kia will offer in the U.S. all-electric versions of both the boxy Soul and the hatchback Niro.
Neither have been officially confirmed by the automaker: the next-gen Soul is still in development, and the Niro EV just made its debut for Europe with no word for a version in the U.S. Confirmation of both for buyers in the U.S. is just a formality.
DON'T MISS: Kia Niro Electric range rated at 301-miles in Europe
The specs for the Niro EV are all but set for the U.S.: 64-kwh battery, 201 horsepower, more than 240 miles of range—if not more. Although what the Niro rides atop is shared with the Hyundai Ioniq Electric, it borrows most of its powertrain components, including battery and motor, from the Kona Electric crossover.
When the Soul EV arrives, it’s likely to share its fundamental layout with the Kona Electric, although its powertrain configuration is less clear.
2020 Kia Niro EV, 2018 Paris auto show
It’s unlikely to get the same 64-kwh battery as the Niro EV, and instead may receive a 39-kwh battery from the European and Korean version of the Niro. If the Soul EV is a funky, urban green car, the Niro EV will be the big, electric family car.
Kia seems content to offer two electric vehicles in their portfolio—at least two—that fit different sizes.
The Niro EV and Ioniq Electric are related, both built on the same corporate platform, and the Ioniq’s paltry 124-mile range could be collaterally improved by the mere existence of the Niro EV. (The Ioniq’s pack is merely 29 kwh and upgrades to the 39-kwh pack, at the very least, does seem like a natural fit.)
READ NEXT: 2018 Kia Niro PHEV gas mileage review: outrunning expectations
Kia hasn’t yet developed its own electric powertrain separate from Hyundai, and it’s unlikely that the two automakers will keep anything from each other anytime soon. Batteries, which are sourced from LG Chem, likely will be shared between the two makes, and the models share similar drive motors.
For now, engineers consider electrified vehicles to be one line of a multifaceted approach to propulsion. Gas, diesel, 48-volt mild hybrid, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, EV, and fuel-cell powertrains are all on Kia’s menu around the world.
“It’s just a question of where the products will go,” said Winkler.
EV sales percentages are single-digit for nearly all markets. In the U.S. it’s around 1 percent and in France it’s just about 2 percent—although there are anomalies such as Norway, where EV sales add up to more than a third of the new-car market. Friendly regulations toward electrified powertrains (and unfriendly policies for diesel) may vault EV demand in the short term to keep Kia scrambling to satisfy the rush.
2018 Kia Niro Plug-in Hybrid
Winkel is eager to temper that kind of enthusiasm with the reality that EVs may not be suited for every application. Internal combustion may be a better fit for bigger vehicles meant to go long distances for now. EVs may be best suited for city dwellers with sufficient access to charging stations, plug-in hybrids if they don’t. Diesel still figures heavily into the plans for now, although not in the U.S.
Europe and America seem ripe for multiple electric models from the same automaker, and it seems fairly certain to predict a rising demand.
“All I know about forecasting is, it will be wrong,” Winkler said.