Fiat Chrysler to build Jeep in revived Detroit plantDetroit — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV plans to convert an idled engine plant in the city into an assembly plant as part of the automaker's plans to add a new three-row Jeep SUV to its lineup, The Detroit News has learned.
The Auburn Hills-based automaker plans to revive Mack Avenue Engine II, which has been idled since 2012, as an assembly plant building a new three-row Jeep Grand Cherokee for model year 2021, multiple sources familiar with the plans told The News. The move could add as many as 400 new auto jobs in the city.
The renovated Mack Avenue facility would be the first new auto assembly line to open in Detroit in 27 years, potentially cushioning the blow of General Motors Co.'s plans to stop production of four sedans at its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant by June 1. FCA's plans are the latest move by automakers in the waning days of the year before Detroit's automakers begin to renegotiate their contracts next year with the United Auto Workers.
Foreign and domestic automakers are under increasing pressure from President Donald Trump to boost production of cars, trucks and SUVs in the United States — even as his administration wages a costly trade war with China, Canada, Mexico and the European Union that is raising steel prices and threatening tariffs on imported vehicles.
FCA's plans for its Detroit plants come as GM CEO Mary Barra was on Capitol Hill for a second straight day to caucus with Michigan's congressional delegation and Ohio's two senators. They want the automaker to reconsider its plans to idle four U.S. plants next year, a request that Barra appears to have politely rebuffed.
When Mack II starts production of the three-row Grand Cherokee, FCA would begin retooling Jefferson North Assembly Plant — directly across the street from the Mack Avenue Engine Complex — to make way for the next generation of the two- and three-row Grand Cherokee. A public announcement is tentatively scheduled for the end of next week.
An FCA spokeswoman and the office of Mayor Mike Duggan declined comment.
“FCA is essentially out of capacity,” said Jeff Schuster, an analyst with LMC Automotive in Troy. “They’re kind of running up against being against full capacity. This is a very different situation than what GM is dealing with.”
Even as Fiat Chrysler officials mull decisions to prepare for a future expected to include expensive electric and autonomous vehicles, the automaker needs to invest in a new assembly line to build the profitable SUVs that will raise cash to fund that future. Fiat Chrysler’s plant capacity utilization in November hit 92 percent in North America.
The capacity crunch is not an accident. In 2016, FCA's late CEO, Sergio Marchionne, shocked the industry when he confirmed FCA would abandon car production in the United States and retool the plants to build profit-rich Ram pickups and Jeep SUVs. The plans to convert Mack II to build the Grand Cherokee are the latest move in that strategic realignment.
FCA also recently approved plans to spend six months next year retooling its Warren Truck Assembly Plant to prepare for production of a 2021 full-size three-row SUV, the Jeep Wagoneer. The automaker likely has delayed plans to repatriate from Mexico production of the Ram Heavy Duty.
Construction on Mack II, internally dubbed “Plant X,” likely would begin next year, as Detroit's automakers prepare to begin national contract talks with the UAW. To convert the old engine plant to a full assembly line, sources said, the automaker would need to add at least a body and paint shop.
Reviving the idled half of the Mack engine plant as an assembly operation would improve a worsening capacity problem for Fiat Chrysler. With strong demand for its Jeep and Ram products, the automaker has shuffled products from plant to plant in recent years while it retools for new vehicles — an attempt to avoid the significant financial hit of idling production of its most profitable vehicles.
Fiat Chrysler's North American assembly plants are currently running at 92 percent capacity, according to data compiled by LMC Automotive for The Detroit News. By comparison, GM and Ford Motor Co. were operating at 72 percent and 81 percent through November, respectively.
But FCA's Jefferson North plant, on the west side of Conner between Mack and Jefferson, is operating at 130 percent capacity. That means the automaker is running extra shifts to meet demand for the Jeep Grand Cherokees, Jeep Grand Cherokee SRTs and Dodge Durangos made there.
Only two of Fiat Chrysler's U.S. assembly plants are operating at below 80 percent capacity in 2018: the Toledo Supplier Park and Warren Truck Plant. Currently building only the Ram 1500 work truck, the Warren plant is operating at just 46 percent of capacity.
The new production line on Mack Avenue would also add a valuable new three-row product to Fiat Chrysler’s hot-selling Jeep lineup. The revamped line is expected to add hundreds of new jobs on Detroit’s east side and to bolster the city's tax base.
FCA's plans for its U.S. plants are a stark contrast to GM's. The Detroit automaker plans to idle five plants in North America next year, imperiling the jobs of 6,300 line workers in the region as it slashes some 8,000 white-collar jobs in a restructuring plan designed to save the Detroit automaker $6 billion by 2020.
Among the affected GM plants is Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly, staffed by nearly 1,350 union workers and one of only two vehicle assembly plants left in Detroit. Should GM's Detroit plant close as part of 2019 contract talks with the UAW, Fiat Chrysler’s Jefferson North Assembly Plant stood to become to final auto assembly plant in Detroit — until the Mack II project emerged.
Jefferson North, the last remaining automotive assembly plant located entirely inside Detroit's borders, completed construction in 1991 and produced its first Grand Cherokee in January 1992. GM opened Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly in 1985, after the city used eminent domain powers to seize a predominantly Polish neighborhood for the auto plant.
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Tag: Mobility
In race to IPO, Uber is bigger but Lyft is friendlier, survey finds
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Musk suggests Tesla’s new chairwoman won’t rein him in
Musk suggests Tesla’s new chairwoman won’t rein him inNew York – Tesla CEO Elon Musk dismissed the idea that the company’s new chairwoman can exert control over his behavior.
Robyn Denholm, an Australian telecommunications executive, was appointed chairwoman of Tesla’s board last month, replacing Musk as part of as part of a securities fraud settlement with U.S. government regulators.
But Musk said “it’s not realistic” to expect Denholm to watch over his actions because he remains the electric car company’s largest shareholder.
“It’s not realistic in the sense that I am the largest shareholder in the company,” Musk said in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” broadcast Sunday evening. “I can just call for a shareholder vote and get anything done that I want.”
Musk, who owns about 20 percent of Tesla, gave up the chairman role under a settlement with the Securities Exchange Commission, which had charged the CEO with misleading investors in August with a tweet that said he had “funding secured” for taking the company private.
The SEC settlement also required the company to vet Musk’s tweets and other comments about the company before they are released to the public. Musk also shrugged off that provision, saying none of his tweets have been censored so far and the company does not review his posts to determine beforehand whether they could potentially affect the company’s stock price.
“I guess we might make some mistakes. Who knows?” Musk said.
Musk said he does not respect the SEC, but when asked if he would obey the settlement, he said: “Because I respect the justice system.”
Denholm’s appointment in November drew a mixed response from corporate governance experts, who praised her financial expertise but questioned her ability to carve out an independent path for a board that has been dominated by Musk.
Denholm has been on Tesla’s board for five years. She is the chief financial officer and strategy head at Telstra Corp. Ltd., Australia’s largest telecommunications company, but will step down from that company after a six-month notice period and work at Tesla full-time.
Musk told “60 Minutes” interviewer Lesley Stahl that he had hand-picked Denholm.
The SEC settlement would allow Musk to return as chairman after three years, subject to shareholder approval. Musk said he would not be interested.
“I actually prefer to have no titles at all,” Musk said.
Amid its CEO’s erratic behavior, Tesla delivered on promises to accelerate production of its pivotal Model 3 sedan, progress seen as essential to the company’s ability to repay $1.3 billion in debt due within the next six months.
The company also fulfilled a pledge to make money during the third quarter, and Musk has said he expects the company to remain profitable. He said Tesla would consider buying any plant that rival GM closes as part of a restructuring plan that could cost up to 14,000 jobs.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Waymo’s driverless taxis are not free of labour costs
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Electric cars could spell end of front-wheel drive, VW exec says
Volkswagen ID Crozz concept
First it was Tesla, now Volkswagen.
Ever since British designer and engineer Alec Issigonis developed the original Mini Cooper for 1959, front-wheel-drive vehicles have been consolidating their hegemony on the car market.
Volkswagen itself was one of the main champions of front-wheel drive when it switched from the rear-wheel-drive Beetle to the front-wheel-drive Golf as its mainstream car in the 1970s.
DON'T MISS: Volkswagen details the foundation for 10 million electric vehicles
As it begins its transition to electric cars, Volkswagen's head of e-mobility in North America, Matthew Renna, said at a round-table discussion with journalists at the LA auto show last month that electric cars will mark the end of FWD, according to a report in Motor Trend.
Not that a front-wheel-drive electric car is inherently bad. Most electric cars today are FWD, including the VW e-Golf and the Nissan Leaf.
The advantages of FWD for gas cars included better space efficiency, less weight, lower cost, and better foul-weather traction with the weight of the engine over the drive wheels.
READ THIS: VW’s new U.S. CEO: The tipping point on EVs is already here
The relatively small motor in an electric car doesn't bring such a space or cost penalty and is easy to mount in the front or back or both for all-wheel drive. With AWD, electric motors give automakers more direct control of power or brake torque at individual wheels, which can be even more effective for snow or ice traction than focusing weight on one end of the car or the other.
With no compelling reason to put the motor in the front of the car and drive the front wheels, Renna said, “With the improved dynamics of rear-wheel drive, that lends itself to being a bit better for a rear-drive platform. If it's the same efficiency and the same cost, dynamics would prevail.”
CHECK OUT: Track Mode released to make more of Tesla Model 3 Performance
Furthermore, in an electric car with relatively even weight distribution (because it doesn't have a heavy engine hanging off one end or the other), the rear is where you want power to go, because that's where the body weight transfers when the driver accelerates.
The other reality is that in an electric car, batteries are the most expensive component, not motors. Adding a second motor up front to deliver all-wheel drive is likely to make all-wheel-drive cars more affordable than ever before.
University of Nottingham part of government-backed initiative to trial self-driving taxis in London
University of Nottingham part of government-backed initiative to trial self-driving taxis in London
NOTTINGHAM, 05-Dec-2018 — /EuropaWire/ — The University of Nottingham is part of a major new government-backed initiative to trial self-driving taxis around parts of London.
Led by Jaguar Land Rover, the ServCity pilot has won £11.15m from Innovate UK towards its £19.8m project to develop a bookable taxi service in the capital using six autonomous Land Rover Discovery vehicles.
The consortium, also comprising Addison Lee, the Transport Systems Catapult and the Transport Research Laboratory, will test and further develop existing JLR sensing and autonomy systems in Coventry and the Midlands before piloting a “premium mobility service across four Greater London boroughs”.
The trials will assess technical performance and include social behavioural research, led by the Human Factors Research Group at the University, to explore how driverless technology can seamlessly integrate into society, with the findings applied to the development for future autonomous service models.
Professor Gary Burnett, Chair in Transport Human Factors, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, said: “ServCity is an ideal opportunity for us to conduct world-leading research to understand the complex factors that will contribute to the public’s acceptance of connected and automated vehicles. We are particularly excited to be working closely with major industrial players in this field to ensure that the knowledge we acquire can have a direct impact on their design processes going forward and shape the experience for users of future autonomous mobility services.”
The project will also develop analytical models to understand and demonstrate the wider positive impacts of connected and autonomous vehicles on cities – from reduced air pollution to easing congestion.
The project is one of three new public trials announced late this week by Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark as part of efforts to ensure the UK is a world-leader in the development and testing of self-driving technologies.
The projects were selected following a competitive process and will share a £25m government grant through the fourth round of the Connected and Autonomous Vehicles Intelligent Mobility Fund.
Each pilot supports the government’s ambition to have self-driving vehicles on UK roads by 2021 through the modern Industrial Strategy and Future of Mobility Grand Challenge.
Future of Mobility Minister, Jesse Norman, said the UK market for autonomous vehicles was forecast to be worth up to £52bn by 2035. “This pioneering technology will bring significant benefits to people right across the country, improving mobility and safety, and driving growth across the UK,” he said.
“Autonomous vehicles and their technology will not only revolutionise how we travel, it will open up and improve transport services for those who struggle to access both private and public transport,” he said.
“The UK is building on its automotive heritage and strengths to develop the new vehicles and technologies and from 2021 the public will get to experience the future for themselves.”
Some £250 million, match-funded by industry, is being invested by the government, propelling self-driving technology in the UK.
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The University of Nottingham is a research-intensive university with a proud heritage, consistently ranked among the world’s top 100. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our 44,000 students – Nottingham was named both Sports and International University of the Year in the 2019 Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, was awarded gold in the TEF 2017 and features in the top 20 of all three major UK rankings. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia – part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement. We are ranked eighth for research power in the UK according to REF 2014. We have six beacons of research excellence helping to transform lives and change the world; we are also a major employer, proud of our Athena SWAN silver award, and a key industry partner- locally and globally.
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Report: Uber files preliminary papers for IPO
Report: Uber files preliminary papers for IPOSan Francisco – Ride-hailing giant Uber has filed confidential preliminary paperwork for selling stock to the public.
That’s according to a report late Friday in the Wall Street Journal.
Citing people familiar with the matter whom it did not identify, the Journal says San Francisco-based Uber Technologies Inc. filed the paperwork earlier this week. That would indicate it could go public within the first three months of next year.
Uber declined to comment on the Journal report.
The filing would come on the heels of a similar move by Uber’s smaller rival Lyft. The two initial public offerings could raise billions for the two companies to fuel their expansions, while giving investors their first chance to buy stakes in the ride-hailing phenomenon.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Firefly Raises $21.5M in Seed Funding
Firefly, a San Francisco-based digital advertising platform for rideshare drivers, raised $21.5m in seed funding. The round was led by NFX, with participation from Pelion Venture Partners, Decent Capital, Jeffrey Housenbold, Cross Culture Ventures, Muse Capital, StartX and others. Founded in 2017 by CEO Kaan Gunay, Firefly allows rideshare drivers to make money through digital… Continue reading Firefly Raises $21.5M in Seed Funding
Tesla patent application: GPS should be more precise with cameras and cars
Tesla wants with cameras, image recognition and the data of other cars as a reference the positioning accuracy of the Global Positioning System for autonomous driving. December 10, 2018, 9:20 am, Andreas Donath Tesla dashboard (Image: Stephen Pace/CC-BY 2.0) Where am I? Autonomous cars want to know this very well, but with conventional GPS data,… Continue reading Tesla patent application: GPS should be more precise with cameras and cars
BMW: New department head for autonomous driving
Vehicle manufacturer BMW uses Alejandro Vukotich as successor to Elmar Frickenstein. Until the year 2021 should be an automated BMW be made. There are a number of companies for that gathered around and soon more will be added. The statements about the degree of autonomy of the vehicle are not always consistent. It should be… Continue reading BMW: New department head for autonomous driving