AD #2381 – Blazer Back from the Dead, Toyota Upgrades the Century, Volvo’s Autonomous Technology for Boats

On today’s show…Chevy brings back the Blazer and the UAW is not happy…Volvo develops self-parking technology for yachts…and PSA thinks it can make big money in ride sharing. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

This is Autoline Daily the show for enthusiasts of the automotive industry.

GM SHAKES UP EXECUTIVE RESPONSIBILITIES
General Motors is giving two of its top executive’s new responsibilities. The Detroit News reports that its head of Global Product Development, Mark Reuss, will take over some of the product related responsibilities of President Dan Ammann, including Cadillac. The company is making the move to allow Ammann to focus more on GM’s self-driving efforts. GM plans to launch an autonomous ride hailing service next year. We recently interviewed Dan Ammann on Autoline This Week and you can learn more his plans for the company in that episode.

VW GIVES REGIONAL AUTHORITY TO BRANDS
Volkswagen is shaking up its organizational structure and giving regional responsibilities to its brands. Volkswagen is now in charge of North America, South America and the Sub-Saharan region of Africa. SEAT will take the lead in North Africa. Audi will be responsible for the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region, except for China, which will remain in the hands of the VW Group. And Skoda will be in charge of Russia and India. VW says this will allow it to develop products in different regions that better align with customers tastes and will ultimately make the company more efficient.

BLAZER BACK FROM THE DEAD
Chevrolet is bringing back the Blazer after a 14-year absence. The mid-size SUV gets modern Chevy design language with aggressive headlights like those on the Camaro and a rear “shark fin” creating a floating roof, which is popular in modern utility vehicles. And for all you haters of Lexus’ spindle grille, I’d love to know what you think of this front end design. Available engines include a 2.5L four-cylinder making 193 horsepower and a 3.6L six-cylinder making 305 horsepower. Both are paired to a nine-speed automatic transmission. On the RS and Premier trims, All-Wheel-Drive and a twin-clutch transmission are available. The Blazer will be made in Mexico and the UAW is not happy. The Union’s vice president slammed GM, saying that it pays its Mexican workers less than $3 an hour and that GM Mexico exports more than 80 percent of the cars it makes to the U.S. The new Blazer will be available in early 2019 and pricing will be announced closer to the beginning of production.

Would you pay $180,000 for a Toyota? We’ll have more about that, right after this.

VOLVO’S AUTONOMOUS TECHNOLOGY FOR BOATS
We’ve shown you self-driving technology from Volvo’s car and commercial truck units and now another part of the Volvo Group is showing off autonomous technology. Volvo Penta, which makes marine vehicles, just demonstrated self-docking technology in a 68-foot yacht. The system uses GPS and sensors, located on both the boat and the dock, to automatically “park” it. While it doesn’t look all that impressive, docking can be difficult, so to take the stress out of that maneuver is a big help. The company is aiming to launch the technology in 2020 but not just for new boats, it’s also developing a version that can be retrofitted into older models.

TOYOTA UPGRADES THE CENTURY
If you were a top executive or high-ranking government official in Japan chances are you’d be getting chauffeured around in a Toyota Century. It’s a high-end sedan that Toyota has produced since 1967, and while it’s been reworked a number of times, it’s getting its first full redesign in 21 years. Like any vehicle of this caliber, it’s all about the details. The Century-unique phoenix emblem is handcrafted over a 6-week period and the 7 layers of paint are wet sanded 3 times to ensure a mirror finish. The back seat features plush seating with a place to kick your feet up and a large display screen for viewing pleasure. While a number of Century models could be had with a V12 engine, the new 3rd generation is powered by a 5.0L V8 hybrid system, which combines for a total of 425-horsepower. Toyota says it only plans to build about 50 of these bad boys a month and they’ll retail for 19.6 million yen or about $180,000.

French automaker PSA thinks it can make big money in ride sharing and we’ll tell you why, right after this.

PSA THINKS IT CAN MAKE BIG MONEY WITH RIDE SHARING
French automaker PSA, the parent company of Peugeot and Citroen, is looking to return to the American market. Before it starts building or selling cars in the U.S., it wants to launch a ride sharing service called Free2Move. On Autoline This Week, we’re joined by Larry Dominique, the CEO of PSA North America, and he talked about why the company believes it can make big money with ride sharing.

(The ATW preview is only available in the video version of today’s show.)

For more about PSA’s return to the U.S. market, you can watch that entire episode right now on our website, Autoline.tv or you can find it on our YouTube channel.

But that wraps up today’s show, thanks for watching, have a great weekend and we’ll see you again on Monday.