AD #2431 – Kia Reveals Telluride SUV, Mercedes Unveils Wild Concept, Shareholders Sue Volkswagen

On today’s show…Geely postpones plans to take Volvo public…Kia shows off its new, large SUV…and the supplier ZF shares it thoughts on the future of autonomy. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

This is Autoline Daily, the voice of the automotive industry.

GEELY POSTPONES VOLVO IPO
Chinese automaker Geely is postponing plans to take Volvo public. The two companies planned an IPO, valuing the Swedish automaker between $16 and $30 billion, but they’re delaying that plan due to trade tensions and a drop in auto stocks. The companies say a listing could still happen in the future but there’s no timetable for that now. And speaking of Volvo, the company extended the contract of its CEO, Hakan Samuelsson, for another two years to 2022. He became CEO in 2012 and has led the company to record sales and profits during his tenure.

EARTHQUAKE DISRUPTS TOYOTA PRODUCTION
An earthquake last week in Hokkaido, Japan forced Toyota to stop production at a transmission plant. And that led the automaker to suspend production at 16 of its 18 plants in the country, due to the disruption in the supply chain. However, it will only be temporary. The transmission plant is resuming production today and by Thursday, the company says all plants will be back online.

SHAREHOLDERS SUE VOLKSWAGEN
Volkswagen can’t seem to shake its diesel scandal. The company went to trial on Monday in Germany because it’s being sued by investors for $10.6 billion over its emission cheating. The shareholders argue that VW should have told them about the scandal sooner and they’re seeking compensation for the drop in the company’s stock price. So far, VW has paid over 27 billion euros in fines and penalties.

Still to come…Kia shows off a big new SUV.

JLR OFFERS INFOTAINMENT FOR CLASSIC VEHICLES
Owners of classic Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles can now bring them into the 21st century. JLR is offering classic-looking head units that have modern technology, like navigation, Bluetooth, smartphone integration and a digital radio. They come in 4 looks, a black or chrome faceplate for Jaguars and black or silver brushed aluminum for Land Rovers. The Classic Infotainment Systems are available now for 1,200 pounds or about $1,550.

KIA REVEALS TELLURIDE SUV
Now that we’ve talked about the past, let’s move into the present. Kia showed off its all-new Telluride, which will arrive early next year. The 8-passenger SUV will be powered by a V6 engine and is several inches longer and wider than the Sorento. It’s a muscular-looking vehicle with a large, upright grille that wraps around the sides and LED taillights that curl in at the top. The Telluride will be made at Kia’s manufacturing plant in Georgia.

MERCEDES UNVEILS WILD CONCEPT
And now we go into the future with Mercedes’ Vision URBANETIC. The wild-looking pod is autonomous and electric and would be used for on-demand mobility. The chassis was developed so it could switch bodies, either for transporting people or goods. It has enough space to carry 12 passengers or 10 pallets. The Vision URBANETIC also has an intelligent, self-learning system that analyses local information to send out the vehicles only when and where they’re needed. With a vehicle like this, Mercedes says it could transport more people and goods with fewer vehicles on a virtually unchanged road infrastructure.

Coming up next, the supplier ZF says the rollout of autonomous vehicles is going to be tougher than expected.

ZF’s OUTLOOK ON AUTONOMY
On last week’s Autoline After Hours we were joined by Christophe Marnat from the supplier ZF. And he talked about what the first applications of autonomous technology will be and how many of those vehicles we could see on the road in the next decade.

(The AAH preview is only available in the video version of today’s show.)

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