Ford – Page 1481 – I wish I had more to offer

Tesla electric pickup truck unveiling is still planned for next month

We haven’t heard much about Tesla’s plans to unveil its electric pickup truck prototype lately, but CEO Elon Musk insists that they are still planning to unveil it next month. While Model Y is Tesla’s next vehicle to come to market, the upcoming pickup truck is currently getting more attention ahead of a planned unveiling.… Continue reading Tesla electric pickup truck unveiling is still planned for next month

Wednesday Morning Auto News, Oct 09, 2019

Volkswagen increases stockpiles of cars in Britain ahead of Brexit – Reuters: Volkswagen increases stockpiles of cars in Britain ahead of Brexit
Renault May Follow Nissan With New CEO to Move Past Ghosn Era – Bloomberg: Renault May Follow Nissan With New CEO to Move Past Ghosn Era
Waymo is mapping L.A. in hopes of someday introducing driverless taxis – LATimes: Waymo is mapping L.A. in hopes of someday introducing driverless taxis
Nissan Demotes Former Ghosn Aide Hari Nada – Wall Street Journal: TOKYO- Nissan Motor Co. said it demoted a former Carlos Ghosn aide, Hari Nada, after board directors questioned Mr. Nada’s continued role at the …
Tesla’s Autopilot Could Save the Lives of Millions, But It Will Kill Some People First – Bloomberg: Tesla”s Autopilot Could Save the Lives of Millions, But It Will Kill Some People First

Tesla’s cell supplier hires battery expert for key Gigafactory job – Automotive News: Celina Mikolajczak, who left Tesla in early 2018 for short stint at Uber Technologies Inc., joined Panasonic this month as vice president of battery technology and will be based in Reno, Nev.
Ford starts Puma build in Romania | Automotive Industry News | just-auto – Just-Auto: Ford starts Puma build in Romania
Renault CEO Bollore may be ousted, reports say – Automotive News: Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard will ask the automaker’s board to look for a successor to CEO Thierry Bollore, Le Figaro said, citing unnamed sources.
The UAW officer leading talks with GM is from the assembly line and ready to fight – Freep: The UAW officer leading talks with GM is from the assembly line and ready to fight
Moving Uber and Lyft at SFO created chaos — at first. Can LAX avoid it? – LATimes: When officials at San Francisco International Airport moved Uber and Lyft pickups from the curbside to the top of a nearby parking garage, the new …
Specially-designed Toyota “Tokyo 2020 Version” e-Palette to provide automated mobility to Athletes – Just-Auto: Specially-designed Toyota “Tokyo 2020 Version” e-Palette to provide automated mobility to Athletes
Kodiak Robotics hires industry veteran from Lyft to lead hardware division – Just-Auto: Hoffacker was most recently the Director of Sense and Electronics at Lyft’s Level 5 Self-Driving Division. Prior to Level 5, where he was one of the …
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Renault plans bigger electric car to rival Tesla and VW – Automotive News: Renault plans bigger electric car to rival Tesla and VW
Renault chairman in no hurry to rebalance alliance with Nissan – Nikkei:

Ricardo unveils military-spec Ford Ranger pick-up

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Recognising slippery roads sooner with mobile networking: Pilot tests in the Zollernalb district: reducing the risk of accidents

09.

October 2019

Stuttgart/Balingen

Stuttgart/Balingen. In the coming winter, in cooperation with the district of Zollernalb, Mercedes-Benz will test how safety on wintry roads and the efficiency of municipal winter services can be improved with car-to-X communication. Car-to-X is the term used to describe communication between vehicles and the transport infrastructure. Mercedes-Benz passenger cars equipped with car-to-X technology, whose owners have activated the Live Traffic Service, will provide the necessary data for the pilot tests. Once the ESP® or ABS sensors of these vehicles have recognised slippery road conditions, this information including the GPS data is sent to the Daimler Vehicle Backend in real time, using the mobile radio network. This anonymised information is displayed on digital maps in the two road maintenance depots of the Zollernalb district in real time. In the future this will make it possible to deploy the winter service more effectively and optimise the use of de-icing salt.
In the next steps it will be possible to include public service vehicles, e.g. police cars, as well as vehicle fleets. The pilot test will start in January 2020 and continue until the end of winter. The Zollernalb district is in the administrative region of Tübingen in Baden-Württemberg and has around 190,000 inhabitants, many of whom are commuters.
“With car-to-X functions we can improve safety in various driving situations,” says Michael Hafner, Head of Driving Technologies and Automated Driving at Daimler AG. “This is because thanks to seamless integration of the car-to-X system into the vehicle systems, Mercedes-Benz passenger cars can automatically detect different hazards such as slippery roads.” Car-to-X technology significantly extends the coverage of onboard sensors such as radar or camera systems, as the sensors of other vehicles are used in addition. This enables a vehicle to look around the next corner, so to speak. In addition to improving traffic safety, the technology in the pilot project could also contribute to environmental protection, as less de-icing salt is used thanks to targeted application.
Mercedes-Benz already introduced mobile networking in 2013, establishing a technology that allows danger warnings to be transmitted and received. Car-to-X communication has been installed as standard in combination with navigation systems since 2016 – first in the E-Class and now in all Mercedes-Benz vehicles – and is available after activation by the user. To use the “Car-to-X” service the customer must also hold a Mercedes me connect account. Only then are data registered in the vehicle, and the vehicle-related car-to-X data are sent to the backend where they are anonymised. In addition, Mercedes-Benz drivers can simply object to their data being shared for the purpose of a resale to third parties via their user accounts on the Mercedes me Portal.
The Zollernalb district is challenging in terms of both topography and climate: the region has the highest hills in the Swabian Alb range. In 2018 no less than 82 frosty and 13 icy days were recorded[1]. With its two road maintenance depots in Balingen and Albstadt-Lautlingen, the district is responsible for around 150 kilometres of federal highways, 210 kilometres of country roads and 270 kilometres of district roads.
District administrator Günther-Martin Pauli is pleased about the partnership between his district and Mercedes-Benz in this innovative project. “We are jointly pursuing the same, clear goal of improving safety on our roads with new, digital technology. This cooperation perfectly fits into our strategy of performing our work even better with digital tools. This is in the interests of all those who live and work in the Zollernalb district, and therefore a contribution to a continued, high quality of life in the district.”
The Zollernalb district is a pioneer in municipal digitisation: on 01.10.2018 it was the first district in Baden-Württemberg to have a dedicated digitisation office. The employees here consolidate all matters relating to digitisation in the district, and support the technical and organisational implementation of different projects. This includes for example the expansion of the district's broadband network.
Background: car-to-X technology at Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz has been involved in research projects in this field for more than ten years: as one of numerous activities the company started a Europe-wide cooperation project in June 2019. In cooperation with HERE Technologies, Tom Tom and the transport authorities in six European countries, Daimler, BMW and Ford are testing how information about acutely hazardous situations can be passed on using car-to-X technology. The test phase is scheduled to last twelve months, starting in the Netherlands.
[1] Figures for Hechingen, source: www.wetterkontor.de

Press Contact

Georg Walthart

Communications Mercedes me

georg.walthart@daimler.com

Tel: +49 711 17 99474

Fax: +49 711 1779065617

Sarah Widmann

Intelligent Drive & Passive Safety

sarah.widmann@daimler.com

Tel: +49 711 17-97729

Fax: +49 711 17-79094388

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Southern Germany to test how Car-to-X Communication can be used to improve safety on wintry roads and efficiency in winter road maintenance.

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Oct 9, 2019

Tesla Model 3 Sales = 2× Ford Mustang Sales or BMW 3 Series Sales (USA)

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Published on October 6th, 2019 |

by Zachary Shahan

Tesla Model 3 Sales = 2× Ford Mustang Sales or BMW 3 Series Sales (USA)

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October 6th, 2019 by Zachary Shahan

Those of us very tied into Tesla news sometimes forget that 9 out of 10 people on the street know close to nothing about Tesla. Additionally, if anything comes to mind when they are asked about Tesla, it is probably misleading FUD that originated from a Tesla smear campaign. On the other hand, practically everyone in the US knows the marketed image of the Ford Mustang and BMW 3 Series. The Mustang is America’s most iconic “muscle car,” a relatively fast and sporty car with “cool dude” or “cool chick” written all over it. The BMW 3 Series is a sporty premium-class sedan from the German engineering geniuses over at BMW that professionals love to love. Both the Mustang and the 3 Series are widely regarded as highly successful vehicles.

Yes, many Tesla fans might find this comparison with the Mustang and 3 Series boring. The Tesla Model 3, an American car, is now so popular that it’s the top selling automobile in the Netherlands and Norway — the top selling automobile, not just the top selling electric automobile or top selling car. It’s so popular here in the United States that we’re often pitting it against best sellers like the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. Many, many Tesla owners actually expect the Model 3 to pass up those cars in time and become the top selling car in the country. However, I dare you to go survey people at Target and ask them which has more monthly sales, the Tesla Model 3 or the Ford Mustang (or Tesla Model 3 or BMW 3 Series). I think you can guess what the result would be. (Note: I am now inspired to go test my hypothesis out!)

Before I get into the numbers, though, it’s important to note that there are no official figures out there for US Tesla sales. Tesla reports quarterly sales and does not break them out by country or region. Eventually, we get registration data from Europe, China (educated estimates at least), and Canada and can then make a more solid estimate of US sales for the quarter, as well as monthly sales estimates. However, it’s a bit early for all of that since we don’t have September numbers from most countries yet. Even our data-loving friend and contributor Jose Pontes of EV Volumes didn’t want to venture out too far on a limb and provide an early estimate that he might have to walk back. That said, looking at previous months’ data, September figures from the Netherlands and Norway, and deeper historical data, I feel comfortable estimating Model 3 sales between 40,000 and 50,000 in the US in the third quarter. For this report, I’ve settled on 43,000.

With 9 months of Tesla US sales data collected and estimated, I thought it was a good time to revisit Model 3 vs. Mustang and Model 3 vs. 3 Series sales comparisons. As the title indicates, the Model 3 wins, but have a look:.

Note that the last chart above is interactive. You can click between Tesla Model 3 and Ford Mustang 2019 sales.

Note that the last chart above is interactive. You can click between Tesla Model 3 and BMW 3 Series 2019 sales.

As you can see in the charts, the Model 3 seems to have found its way to twice as many homes as either the Mustang or 3 Series in the first 3 quarters of the year. Even if my Model 3 estimate for Q3 is several thousand units off, the result is basically the same. The Model 3 has either seen twice as many sales, a bit more than twice as many sales, or a bit less than twice as many sales as the iconic Ford Mustang and BMW 3 Series.

Perhaps the most important question is: Why are people still buying new Mustangs and 3 Series? Honestly, why would you spend more money to get less? Why would you buy an inferior product in practically every regard that is similarly priced “at the register” but costs much more to operate and maintain? (Note that the Mustang base price is considerably lower than the Model 3 base price, but its operational costs as well as something that could very easily make it more expensive or even much more expensive than the Model 3.)

You know the answer: inertia and lack of awareness. If people are just in the habit of buying Mustangs and 3 Series, they may not give much thought to other options when it’s time for a new ride. If they’re buying one of these cars for the first time, they probably dreamt about it for years or decades beforehand, and had the inertia of that desire plaguing their mind. Furthermore, if they have no idea a Model 3 exists, have no idea it can cost less than $40,000 (or less than $70,000 for that matter), have no idea that it has huge driving quality and acceleration benefits, have no idea that it has the best NHTSA safety score in history, have no idea that you can watch Netflix, Hulu and YouTube in the car, don’t know anything about Autopilot, heard that Teslas catch fire and the company is on the verge of collapsing, or have simply never ridden in or driven a Tesla, they may just think the 3 Series or Mustang is a better vehicle.

No matter the cause of 100,000+ US sales of the Mustang + 3 Series, the news of the day is that the Model 3 now solidly outsells both of those models, and each car that gets into the hands of a new owner can reach many more mass-market consumers and show them why the Model 3 is such a compelling product even at $40,000+.

If you’d like to buy a Tesla — not a Mustang or 3 Series — and get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging in the process, feel free to use my referral code: https://ts.la/zachary63404. Or not.

About the Author

Zachary Shahan Zach is tryin' to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director and chief editor. He's also the CEO of Important Media. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao.

Zach has long-term investments in Tesla [TSLA] — after years of covering solar and EVs, he simply has a lot of faith in this company and feels like it is a good cleantech company to invest in. But he offers no investment advice and does not recommend investing in Tesla or any other company.

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