AD #2843 – Nissan Could Cut 20,000 Jobs; Geely Wants Deeper Daimler Ties; Toyota Highlander Hybrid Impressions

This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.

PRESIDENT REMOVES MASK FOR THE CAMERAS
Earlier this week we asked will he or won’t he? Would President Trump wear a mask when he visited one of Ford’s plants that is making medical equipment for the virus crisis? Ford is following CDC safety procedures that mandates anyone going into its plants has to wear a mask. When the President showed up at the plant, Bill Ford told him it would be great if he wore a mask. So the President put on a black mask with the presidential seal. And he wore it while Bill Ford took him on a private walk around of several historical and new Ford GTs. There’s even a picture of President Trump wearing the mask. We don’t have the copyright to that photo so we can’t show it to you here, but the Detroit Free Press has that photo and you can take a look by clicking on the show notes in today’s script. But the President took the mask off when he toured the plant out where all the tv cameras were.

NISSAN COULD CUT 20,000 JOBS
Nissan is in a profit and sales slump and needs to downsize the company. Last year, it announced plans to lay off 12,500 employees worldwide. But now with the coronavirus adding to its woes, Japan’s Kyodo news reports that the automaker will cut 20,000 jobs, mostly in Europe and developing countries. To help weather the storm, it will focus on strengthening its alliance with Renault and Mitsubishi, to share technology and consolidate production. Nissan is also likely to cut its annual sales target by 1 million vehicles, but we’ll learn more when it updates its mid-term plans next week.

RENAULT COULD DISAPPEAR WITHOUT GOVERNMENT LOAN
How much danger is Renault really in? The French Government is considering giving Renault a 5 billion euro loan to help it through the current crisis. And the French finance minister warns that if the automaker does not get that loan soon “Renault could disappear.” While the loan has yet to be signed, it’s hard to imagine the French Government letting Renault and that many jobs just go away.

GEELY WANTS DEEPER TIES WITH DAIMLER
Back in 2018, Chinese automaker Geely stunned the auto industry when it announced it became Daimler’s largest shareholder with a nearly 10% stake in the German automaker. Since then the two companies have strengthened that relationship. They formed a joint venture based in China to build electric smart cars, created a separate ride-hailing company and invested in Volocopter, a passenger drone company. And earlier today, Geely’s Chairman, Li Shufu said he’s exploring even deeper ties with Daimler. With the pandemic hurting automakers around the world, we expect to see more collaboration like this between companies.

AUTOMAKERS NEED TO CUT NUMBER OF BUILD COMBINATIONS
GM is going to slash the number of powertrain build combinations it offers. They’ll go from 555 today for its ICE powertrains to only 19 combinations with its EV propulsion systems. And according to J.D. Power we need to see more consolidation like that. In 2019, of the 13.6 million retail sales in the U.S. 600,000 came from unique configurations and that does not include color. Some of those specific build combinations will generate sales of 50 or fewer units and can sit on dealer lots well past the time of profitability. Without naming the model, J.D. Power says there’s one example that sits on the dealer lot for over 80 days, brings in under $100 of profit to the dealer and makes up less than 25% of that vehicle’s total sales. That’s why J.D. Power is urging automakers not to build these so-called ‘Unicorns,’ especially in our current environment.

MINI EXPANDS ITS OXFORD EDITION
Mini is expanding its value-oriented Oxford Edition to everyone. Previously 2 Door and 4 Door Hardtops were equipped with thousands of dollars worth of options for free and made available to only college students and military personnel. Now anyone can get an Oxford Edition Mini, which also now includes the Countryman. It comes with upgraded 18” wheels, anthracite headliner, heated front seats, automatic climate control, and a choice of six exterior colors, which would normally cost $5,500 at no additional charge. Hardtop models are available now, while the Countryman Oxford Edition will arrive in July.

AUTO INDUSTRY PLAYS MAJOR ROLE IN THE ECONOMY
We keep saying that the auto industry plays a major role in the economy. And if governments want to restart their economies as they start to come out of the corona virus crisis, they need to get their auto industry back on its feet. In the U.S., for example, the auto makers, their suppliers, and dealers and other automotive related businesses employ 10 million people. And if you add up all the money generated from selling and servicing cars as well as all the income those people earn and the taxes they generate, it comes to $953 billion a year. Let’s just call it a trillion. So the economy will not get going again until the auto industry gets going again, and vise versa.

BENTLEY PICKS RAINBOW-THEMED DESIGN WINNER
Bentley held a competition for employees and their families to design their own Mulliner Bacalar and it’s picked an exterior winner. This rainbow-themed paint scheme is the design of Eleanor and uses colors that have been used on all of Bentley’s different models. It will be turned into a production model and limited to just 12 examples.

BENTLEY’S FLYING BEES
What is it about British luxury cars and honey bees? Bentley, like Rolls-Royce, is also helping to increase the honey bee population. It’s had two hives for several years and those bees recently returned from hibernation to the company’s headquarters to start making honey again. Bentley will add three more hives, which will increase its population from 120,000 bees to 300,000. The colonies are expected to produce about 200 jars of honey this season.

MAZDA CREATES NEW VIDEO GAME CONCEPT CAR
There’s a lot more virtual racing going on these days and now gamers will have a new car to select. Mazda debuted the RX-Vision GT3 Concept for the Gran Turismo Sport video game. We see a lot of inspiration from the MX-5 Miata in the concept but it’s much wider, sleeker and has a fixed hard top. Mazda says it hopes to gain new fans of the brand with the car and anyone who uses Mazda vehicles in the game will automatically be granted rights to participate in the Gran Turismo Championship this season.

TOYOTA HIGHLANDER HYBRID PLATINUM IMPRESSIONS
This past week I’ve had the pleasure of test driving the Toyota Highlander–a pleasure because it is such a plush and comfortable vehicle. I drove a loaded Platinum model that seemed to have every conceivable option, and the price certainly reflected it. More on that in a minute. Open the doors and your eyes rest on a warm and inviting two-tone interior with a dark brown background accented by seats and door inserts trimmed in a color that Toyota calls Glazed Caramel. I tell you, just looking at the interior brought my stress level down and made me feel more relaxed. And it’s not just a visual trigger, it’s a sensory one too. The wide seats and armrests are upholstered with supple, soft padding. The rear seats have good thigh support and there is plenty of headroom, legroom, elbow room and cargo room.

The dashboard is dominated by a 12.3 inch touch screen that looks even larger because it sits above the radio and HVAC controls that all fit into one large black panel. And it comes with what Toyota calls Safety Sense 2.0 which includes all the latest safety tech, from automated emergency braking with pedestrian detection to rear cross traffic alert.

Under the hood the hybrid packs a 2.4 liter 4-cylinder engine and an 8-speed automatic. The transaxle has two electric motors that, interestingly, are coaxially connected with a parallel shaft instead of a planetary gearset. All together the package puts out 243 horsepower, which produces more than adequate acceleration for a vehicle of this class. When you put your foot in the throttle it all produces a different kind of sound than you’d expect, sort of a back-of-the-throat growl. It’s not a performance sound, it’s just different. It delivers 36 miles to the gallon, through with all wheel drive it drops by one mpg. That’s an impressive 7 miles to the gallon more than the outgoing hybrid.

So let’s talk price. The base model starts around $35,000. But as I said, I drove a loaded all-wheel-drive platinum edition that was $52,500 including destination charges. That’s a lot of money, but you get near Lexus levels of luxury.

And that wraps up this week’s reports. We’ll be off Monday for the Memorial Day holiday and we’ll be back here on Tuesday.