AD #2434 – New Aston Martin EV Details, Volvo Trucks Develops Cab-Less AV, Repair Shops Not Following OEM Guidelines

On today’s show… Volvo Trucks reveals a bizarre electric, autonomous commercial vehicle… a new study finds that new vehicles depreciate by more than $3,000 a year… and Aston Martin shares more details about its upcoming first ever electric vehicle. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

This is Autoline Daily the voice of the automotive industry.

ASTON MARTIN EV DETAILS
Aston Martin is sharing details about its first electric vehicle, the Rapide E. Twin electric motors that produce about 600-horsepower and 700 lb-ft of torque drive the rear wheels through a limited-slip differential. Aston is projecting 0-60 in under 4-seconds and a top speed of 155 MPH. A 65 kWh battery pack gets mounted where the engine, gearbox and fuel tank used to sit in the gasoline-powered version and it’s expected to return over 200-miles of range. Only 155 Rapide Es will be built and deliveries are expected to start late next year.

PORSCHE EXPANDS SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES
Remember Porsche’s Passport program? $2,000 a month gets you access to 8 different Porsche models. $3,000 bumps it up to 22 cars. The automaker is now building on those services with Porsche Drive and Porsche Host. The Drive program allows people in Atlanta get get behind the wheel of a Porsche for a few hours, a whole day or up to a week. They can be booked online or by phone and are delivered by a concierge. Pricing ranges from about $270 for a few hours to nearly $3,000 for a week, depending on time and vehicle. Porsche Host is a ride-sharing program that allows current Porsche owners to rent out their vehicle for a day, week or month. Only available in LA and San Francisco, customers can book their ride using car-sharing provider Turo’s app or website. Porsche Host launches October 8th.

DAIMLER TAKES STAKE IN HEYCAR
Daimler has acquired a stake in a company that has developed a unique platform for selling used cars. heycar was founded in 2017 by the financial arm of Volkswagen AG. It’s a single online source where customers can shop for used cars from multiple brands and do everything from purchase the vehicle to finance and insure it. Only authorised dealers can list vehicles and they have be no more than 8 years old with up to 150,000-kilometers. As of now the platform represents over 1,000 dealer groups and over 300,000 vehicles, but heycar says it’s open to add more brands.

Still to come… Volvo reveals a commercial truck with no cab.

VOLVO TRUCKS DEVELOPS CAB-LESS AV
Volvo Trucks revealed a wild autonomous, electric trailer-hauling vehicle called Vera. As you can see, there is no cab. But it’s not meant for the open road, instead it’s been designed to transport goods in highly repetitive, short distance areas, like at ports, factories or logistic centers. The vehicles operate through a network and are connected through a cloud based service and a management center. They have been designed to work with existing trailers and can operate 24/7. Volvo says Vera offers more flexibility for companies and can deliver cargo in a more timely fashion.

HYUNDAI READIES FUEL CELL SEMI
And in other commercial truck news, Hyundai revealed a sketch of a fuel-cell semi that will launch next year in Europe. The truck will make its official debut at the 2018 IAA Commercial Vehicles show in Germany that kicks off at the end of the month. Hyundai will reveal its specs and its plans for the truck in the European market at the show.

NEW VEHICLES DEPRECIATE BY THOUSANDS
When consumers are looking to buy a new car, they consider purchase price, monthly payments and fuel and maintenance costs. But the AAA says new car buyers need to factor in another cost of ownership…depreciation. It just released a study that found that the average new vehicle depreciates by more than $3,000 a year. On top of that, the study revealed that the average cost to own and maintain a new vehicle in 2018 is $8,850 per year, based on driving 15,000 miles annually. AAA says the best way to minimize depreciation costs is to keep your car a long time and well maintained or look at buying a quality, used car.

Most collision shops aren’t following OEM procedures when fixing a vehicle. And we’ll have more about that, right after this.

REPAIR SHOPS NOT FOLLOWING GUIDELINES
Today’s cars are made out of many different grades of steel and aluminum, as well as different kinds of plastics and even carbon fiber. So, when a new vehicle is in an accident and needs to be fixed, you can’t repair it using traditional methods. And that’s why it’s critical for repair shops to follow OEM guidelines. Recently on Autoline This Week we were joined by John Van Alstyne, the President and CEO of I-CAR, an organization that helps educate shops on collision repairs. And he told us that there aren’t many shops following OEM guidelines.

(Clip from ATW #2229 can only be viewed in the video version of today’s show.)

You can watch that entire show right now on our website, Autoline.tv or just look for it on our YouTube channel.

And don’t forget to tune into Autoline After Hours this afternoon. Gary Vasilash will be hosting a reporter roundtable with his fellow journalists, to discuss the latest developments in the global automotive industry. That’s at 3PM eastern time on our website, Autoline.tv.

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