AD #2941 – Tesla Registrations Drop In CA; Honda Phasing Out Diesels in Europe; Holography Displays Improve Safety & Nav

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

TESLA REGISTRATIONS DROP IN CALIFORNIA
California is Tesla’s strongest market in the U.S. but registrations in the state dropped 13% in the third quarter compared to a year ago. That’s according to Cross-Sell, a research firm that collects title and registration data. The decrease is mainly due to a big drop in registrations for the Model 3, which were down 60%. It used to account for over half of the company’s registrations in California but the Model Y is cannibalizing 3 sales and passed it in registrations in Q3. But maybe the drop could explain the price cuts we’ve seen lately at Tesla. We’ll get a better idea where the company stands after it reports its third-quarter earnings, which is expected to happen tomorrow.

GM MAKING BIG EV ANNOUNCEMENTS TODAY
General Motors is making a major announcement in EVs today. It’s going to officially unveil the Hummer EV and will announce investments to convert several assembly plants to make electric vehicles. GM will start making EVs at its plant in Tennessee, and a plant in Mexico. GM already has two plants in Michigan dedicated to making EVs. Put them all together and GM will be able to make 1 million EVs a year. It will undoubtedly expand EV production in China as well. It’s all part of its $20 billion investment in EVs by 2025.

MAGNA GETS A NEW CEO
Magna, which is the third largest automotive supplier in the word, is getting a new CEO. Swamy Kotagiri was named the next CEO of Magna and will take over when the current CEO Don Walker retires at the end of the year. Kotagiri was the chief technology officer of Magna and helped steer the company into a leadership position in autonomy, electrification, electronics and connectivity.

MERCEDES PRICES MAYBACH GLS FOR THE U.S.
Mercedes set the price for its new range-topping SUV in the U.S. market. The Mercedes-Maybach GLS will carry a starting price of $161,600, including destination charges when it starts hitting dealerships later this year. While that’s more than double the price of a base GLS, you do get unique styling, sumptuous materials and a whole host of exclusive features. It’ll be pretty easy to spot one of these suckers out on the road. If the vertical grille slots, unique mesh pattern along the lower vents and massive 22-inch wheels don’t give it away, the Maybach logos on the rear pillars should. It’s also the first Mercedes SUV to have an upright 3-pointed star on the hood. Underneath that logo rests a turbocharged 4.0L V8 that cranks out 550 horsepower and helps this beast hit 60 MPH in 4.8 seconds. But, of course, the best place to experience any Maybach model is in the back seat. And if you do ever find yourself there, we think it’d be a great time to test out a nice glass of champagne in the cooled cup holders. But remember to lift that pinky finger up.

HONDA PHASING OUT DIESELS IN EUROPE
Honda is starting to phase out diesels in Europe. Autoexpress reports the automaker is no longer selling the diesel version of the HR-V in the UK, which was the last model in its lineup to offer one. And by the end of 2022, it will no longer produce diesel powered vehicles for the European market. That’s because it’s speeding up the electrification of its lineup in the region. Originally, Honda planned to electrify all of its mainstream models in Europe by 2025 but it will now do that by 2022. Instead of just adding BEVs to electrify its lineup, Honda will convert most of its models to hybrids.

HOLOGRAPHY WINDSHIELD DISPLAY IMPROVES SAFETY & NAVIGATION
Electrification, autonomy, connectivity and mobility are getting all the headlines these days. But how about windshields? There’s a company in England called Envisics that is developing holography to display information on windshields. And it can use the entire windshield, not just a small part of it like with most of today’s head-up displays. Not only can this make navigation information easier to understand, it can highlight areas that the driver needs to look out for, and even point out potential safety hazards by illuminating bicyclists and cars pulling into traffic. General Motors and Hyundai Mobis, which is the in-house supplier to Hyundai, have both invested in the company.

HOW NISSAN GAVE SENTRA AN UPSCALE INTERIOR
As we said in our review of the all-new Nissan Sentra last month, we’re really impressed with its interior. It has a lot of features you normally see in a premium vehicle, like its quilted leather seats with diamond stitching. So how did the company give it an upscale look without increasing cost too much? On last week’s Autoline After Hours, we were joined by Thomas Mally, the Associate Chief Vehicle Engineer at Nissan’s North American Tech Center, and he explained how they pulled it off.

Thomas Mally, Nissan Technical Center North America
“We set out to set a new standard of excellence in this compact segment. And as you mentioned it’s not easy but what we have to do is, we have to balance our deliverable end expectations to the customer. And balancing that cost, balancing that quality level, it’s not easy, it’s a fine line. But we did fight for it. Luckily, by using a common platform design, which the Sentra uses, we’re able to use some components from other vehicles that we produce on the same platform, such as the seat frame, the radiator, the fuel tank and steering member. So, by saving cost in those areas, we were able to then spend more money in other more visible areas that really entice the customer.”

MORE SIGNS OF AV LIFE
We’ll finish on some AV news today. Self-driving startup Aurora, which has worked with Volkswagen and Hyundai in the past, announced its first commercial product will be offered in the trucking industry. It says it chose that segment because it’s the largest market for AV tech right now, price is less of a factor for operators and the level of service requirements are more stringent. Interestingly, it also released this slow motion video of durability tests over speed bumps. And over in France, AV startup Navya and public transportation developer Keolis are testing Level 4 shuttles without a safety operator on board. While it’s great to hear of Level 4 autonomy being tested, we think it’s also important to note how these vehicles are being used. They’re running at a site with a 1.6 kilometer or roughly one mile road that has one stop sign and intersection and the vehicles don’t travel above 15 km/h, which is less than 10 MPH. There’s also special signs and traffic rules for the shuttles and there’s someone in a remote building that can shut them down if needed.

That’s a wrap. Thanks for watching and we hope to see you again tomorrow.