Runtime: 7:30
0:27 Car Sales Rebound in March
1:37 EPA Hands Out Exemption to Large Refiner
3:00 CA Allows Driverless Tests W/O Human
3:48 Ford Escape Struggles in IIHS Passenger Test
5:20 Where Do Designers Find Inspiration?
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On today’s show…car sales rebound in March…small SUVs perform well in passenger side small overlap crash tests…and where do designers find inspiration? All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily the show for enthusiasts of the automotive industry.
CAR SALES REBOUND IN MARCH
Car sales got off to a slow start to begin the year in the U.S. but they rebounded in March, thanks to increased incentives and higher fleet sales. According to WardsAuto, automakers sold 1.65 million vehicles, which is a 2.6% gain compared to last year. The SAAR reached a solid 17.4 million units, the highest since December, and way ahead of last year’s 16.7 million figure. Amongst the full-line manufacturers, GM lead the way with an impressive 11% gain. Yesterday GM said it would stop reporting monthly sales stats, so I guess they wanted to end that practice on a high note. Ford and Toyota’s sales fell less than 1%, meaning both companies lost market share in March. FCA sales shot up 10%. And despite a 7% drop, Nissan handily outsold Honda. Passenger car sales continue to tumble, they were down 12% in March, while the truck segment posted a 12% gain. That’s a quick snapshot of March, but we’ll have more sales analysis in the days to come.
| U.S. SALES MARCH 2018 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Total | 1.65 M | +2.6% |
| SAAR | 17.4 M | |
| TOP OEMs | ||
| GM | 296,186 | +11.6% |
| Ford | 236,936 | -0.7% |
| Toyota | 222,782 | -0.2% |
| FCA | 214,834 | +9.9% |
| Nissan | 162,535 | -7.2% |
| Honda | 142,392 | +0.1% |
| Source: WardsAuto | ||
EPA HANDS OUT EXEMPTION TO LARGE REFINER
Yesterday the EPA announced that current fuel economy standards need to be revised. And now another fuel mandate looks to be in its crosshairs. Reuters reports that the agency gave Andeavor, one of the nation’s largest oil refiners, an exemption from the Renewable Fuel Standard, which mandates that refiners blend biofuels, like ethanol into gasoline. The exemption is usually reserved for small oil refineries that would be hurt financially by being forced to comply. Andeavor, which posted a net profit of $1.5 billion last year, is expected to save $50 million this year thanks to the exemption. The EPA is now receiving more exemption requests. Typically, it receives 12 to 15 a year but that’s now doubled. So, proponents of the standard are worried that the EPA will use the waiver to help larger oil companies skirt the regulation.
Automakers and suppliers are slow to snatch up permits for driverless cars in California. We’ll explain why, coming up next.
CA ALLOWS DRIVERLESS TESTS W/O HUMAN
California has allowed testing of autonomous vehicles on its roads as long as there is a human backup behind the wheel, but now companies will have the option to get rid of the human. New regulations, which were approved in February and went into effect on the 2nd, gives the state’s DMV the power to hand out three types of autonomous vehicle permits. The first is the same as before with a driver behind the wheel, the second will allow fully driverless vehicles to test and the third will allow companies to deploy the vehicles. You might think with the popularity of autonomous vehicles, automakers and suppliers would be running out to sign up, but only one company has applied to test driverless AVs and not a single has gone for deployment.
FORD ESCAPE STRUGGLES IN IIHS PASSENGER TEST
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety or IIHS just last year began conducting its small overlap crash test on the passenger side of the vehicle and the encouraging news is 5 of the 7 new small SUVs it tested received a “good” rating. Those include the BMW X1, Chevy Equinox, GMC Terrain, Jeep Compass and Mitsubishi Outlander. On the flip side, the Outlander Sport received a “marginal” rating, while the Ford Escape was the only one to score a “poor” rating. Part of the problem for both small SUVs is that the side airbags didn’t deploy. And the vehicle structure intruded 5 more inches on the passenger side of the Escape than on the driver side. The IIHS says Ford reinforced structure of the driver side of the Escape in 2017, but did not do the same on the passenger side. And it’s, “Disparities like this one are why we decided to formally rate the passenger side in the small overlap test after five years of evaluating only the driver side.”
Where do designers find inspiration for a new car? We’ll take a look at that right after this.
WHERE DO DESIGNERS FIND INSPIRATION?
Designers must be able to predict the future and identify styling trends years before a new car is launched. On Autoline This Week, we were joined by Chris Benjamin, a designer at FCA, and he shared where designers find inspiration to create new vehicles.
(The ATW preview is only available in the video version of today’s show.)
You can watch that entire discussion right now on our website, Autoline.tv or you can find it on our YouTube channel.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.
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John McElroy is an influential thought leader in the automotive industry. He is a journalist, lecturer, commentator and entrepreneur. He created “Autoline Daily,” the first industry webcast of industry news and analysis.
