AD #2354 – OEMs Should Merge Powertrains, Japanese OEMs Hiring More Women, Kia Stinger’s Structural Audio

On today’s show… GM, Ford and FCA could save billions merging their powertrain operations… Japanese automakers are hiring more women to help deal with Japan’s labor shortage… and we’ll show you how Kia uses the Stinger’s body structure to make a killer sound system. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

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

OVER SATURATION OF CROSSOVERS COMING
Ford is getting rid of most of its passenger cars because it can’t make money on them. But Ford is going to face another problem in just a few more years, because around 2020 the crossover segment will be saturated. Every automaker will have lots of them. That’s when the incentives will come out and prices will start to drop. It happens every time. So while Ford made a logical decision to get rid of most its passenger cars because it can’t make money on them, it’s going to face the same problem with its crossovers. We figure that Ford has a small window of opportunity to figure out how it can make money on crossovers when prices start to drop.

AUTOMAKERS SHOULD MERGE POWERTRAIN BUSINESS
One way Ford could significantly cut costs is by merging its powertrain operations with another automaker. For example, Ford makes a 2 liter, 4-cylinder engine. So does FCA and so does General Motors. And yet there’s no advantage for each of them to develop their own 2-liter engine. They have other engines and transmissions that overlap, too. Collectively, GM, Ford and FCA make over 20 million engines and transmissions a year. If they spun that off as a separate powertrain company it could save them billions of dollars in investment. And maybe it could keep them in the passenger car business.

Still to come… a simple, clever device to help block sun glare.

SUN VISOR SUPPLEMENT
Dealing with sun glare can be very annoying while driving. Sun visors help but sometimes they can’t completely block out the sun on the side window. We just stumbled across this clever device that helps deal with problem. Called the TuckVisor, you just press it flat against the window, slide it into position and tuck it into place. And you can move it around as needed. It’s held in place between the window and trim. It starts at $12 and is currently available at 200 TA/Petro stations across the U.S. or you can order it on Amazon.com. Very simple, but pretty neat stuff.

JAPANESE OEMs TURNING TO WOMEN
Japan’s population is shrinking so is it’s workforce. It’s estimated to drop by 8 million people over the next two decades. To fill the gap, Bloomberg reports that Japanese automakers are trying to hire more women. But there aren’t many female engineers. And those women aren’t really sure they want to join the auto industry, which is so male dominated Toyota and Honda have recently opened more daycare centers near their factories and offered flexible hours to working mothers. It’s a good first step they’re going to have to do a lot more than that. Just 2% of Toyota’s managers are women and it’s less than 1% at Honda.

Autoline After Hours is this Thursday and our guest is Jon Walker, an automotive specialist at EOS, a company known for 3D printing. They’re making everything from turbine blades to the whole front structure of a Volkswagen Caddy. We’ll look at other applications for the technology in the automotive industry and find out where this is all headed in the future. That’s this Thursday at 3PM eastern time.

Coming up next, how Kia uses the body structure of the Stinger to make one banging sound system.

KIA STINGER’S TRICK SOUND SYSTEM
It was a cold and rainy day when we drove a dripping wet Kia Stinger into our studio. But we didn’t let a dirty car stop us, because we wanted to show you something pretty unique about its sound system. Take a look.

(Video for Kia Stinger audio system can only be viewed in the video version of today’s show.)

I’m still Sean McElroy and that wraps up today’s show. Thanks for watching and we hope to see you again tomorrow.