AD #2278 – Porsche Is On A Mission E, Munro Tears Into A Tesla, Daytona 24 Sets New Record

On today’s show…German automakers are rocked by accusations of testing exhaust emissions on monkeys and humans…we’ve got more details on Porsche’s Mission E electric car…and we’ll show you some never seen before details on Tesla’s Model 3. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

This is Autoline Daily the voice of the automotive industry.

BREATHE DEEP
The German diesel scandal just won’t go away. The New York Times reports that Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler commissioned experiments on monkeys, exposing them to diesel fumes. As if that was bad enough a report from Germany revealed that the same group performed similar tests on humans. About 25 people had to breathe diesel exhaust during a study conducted by Aachen University in Germany. The university defended the trial and said it was approved by an independent ethics board. However, a number of politicians have condemned the tests and are calling for an investigation. It’s not known if the automakers were aware of the tests but they have promised to perform internal investigations into the allegations.

WANT AN EV? GET A CHECK!
To boost sales of zero-emission vehicles, California Governor Jerry Brown proposed a $2.5 billion-dollar plan to extend subsidies for ZEVs and expand the state’s network of EV and hydrogen stations. By 2030, California aims to have 5 million ZEVs on its roads. That means 40% of all vehicles sold will need to be emission free, up from 5% today. The proposal still needs to be approved by the legislature.

FORD EARNS PEANUTS IN CHINA
Even though the Chinese market is booming, the Ford Motor Company is struggling there. Last year sales were down and it lost market share. And now Reuters reports that Ford’s top executive in China, Jason Luo, is leaving his post after only 5 months on the job. Ford says it has to do with personal reasons, and not his performance or business results. In the fourth quarter last year, Ford sold 452,000 vehicles in the Asia-Pacific region, mostly in China. But it only made a $5 million profit. To put that in perspective we calculate that Ford makes that much profit in one shift, at one assembly plant making F-series trucks.

Coming up next, more EV news from Porsche and Mercedes.

PORSCHE IS ON A MISSION E
Porsche is tapping into knowledge gained from its hybrid Le Mans race car for its upcoming all-electric car, the Mission E. Like the track car, it will have an 800-volt system, which is double that of current systems and will feed into lithium-ion batteries. When paired with a new accumulator-type 800-volt charger, which is still in the prototype phase, Porsche claims the car can get 400-kilometers or about 250-miles of range in just 20 minutes. The Mission E is scheduled to come out sometime in 2019.

MERCEDES ELECTRIFIES COMMERCIAL VANS
And speaking of electrified vehicles, Mercedes says it will electrify its entire commercial model lineup. You can already order an electrified version of the Vito van, which will be delivered in the second half of this year and the automaker just announced the third-generation of Sprinter van will also be electrified and should come out in 2019. We’ve only seen one teaser shot for the new Sprinter, but it will make its official debut in less than a week. Mercedes will also unveil the new A-Class in just a couple of days and here’s a teaser to give you an idea what the front-end styling will look like.

DAYTONA 24 SETS NEW RECORD
Car racing junkies were jubilant the winter break was over with the 52nd running of the 24 Hours of Daytona. Despite running into problems, Cadillac took first and second overall in the prototype class and set a new distance record, going 2,876 miles in 24 hours, 116 miles farther than the previous record. Ford GT’s dominated the GT Le Mans class, finishing 1-2 and a lap ahead of their competitors. And Lamborghini won the GT Daytona class, the first-time Lambo ever won a 24-hour race. We say congratulations to all, but especially to Lamborghini, which had to beat out Acura, Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Lexus, Porsche and Mercedes to get the win.

Coming up next, Munro & Associates is tearing down a Tesla Model 3 and we’ll show you what they’re finding under the hood.

MUNRO TEARS INTO A TESLA
A lot has been written about Tesla’s Model 3. But those reports mostly come from EV enthusiasts and owners. By all accounts they love the car. But so far no one with deep experience in design, engineering and manufacturing has evaluated it, at least not publicly. That’s why we were excited to get an invitation from Sandy Munro to visit his shop and take a look at a Model 3 that he’s about to test and tear down for a competitive benchmarking study. And Sandy found a number of issues that he really doesn’t like about the car, which he pointed out to Autoline’s John McElroy. Take a look.

(The Tesla Model 3 analysis is only available in the video version of today’s show.)

Sandy has also presented us with tear downs he did with the BMW i3 and the Chevrolet Bolt EV. He’s actually quite bullish on battery electrics and called the i3 the most important car since the Ford Model T. So he’s not one of those anti-EV people, but he does have some issues with the engineering of the Model 3. All this week we’ll be showing what he has uncovered, so don’t miss tomorrow’s installment.

But that wraps up today’s report, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.