AD #2443 – Daimler Names New CEO, EV Sales Soar in Europe, Warren Buffett’s BYD Bet Pays Off

On today’s show…Daimler announces its next CEO…Volvo shows off a new version of the V60…and why Tesla could have a hard time maintaining its EV dominance. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

This is Autoline Daily the voice of the automotive industry.

DAIMLER NAMES NEW CEO
Daimler’s long time CEO, Dieter Zetsche, is stepping down from that position next year. The company announced that its head of Research and Development, Ola Kallenius will replace him. But Zetsche, age 65, isn’t leaving the company altogether. The plan is to name him Chairman of the Supervisory Board in 2021. But this shakeup shows just how much the auto industry is changing. Not only is Kallenius, a Swede, the first non-German CEO in the company’s history but unlike past Daimler CEO’s, he doesn’t have a background in engineering and has never spent time at its commercial truck unit. It shows the company believes a more tech savvy person is better off leading it into a new world of autonomy, connectivity and mobility.

EV SALES SOAR IN EUROPE
European customers are turning toward electrified vehicles more than ever before. Sales of hybrids, plug-ins and battery electric vehicles during the first half of 2018 in the region were up 37% compared to last year. By contrast, diesel sales fell 16% during the same period and lost nearly 8.5% market share. If automakers are able to maintain the same pace through the end of the year, sales of electrified vehicles will hit nearly a million units, which would set a new record.

VOLVO INTRODUCES V60 CROSS COUNTRY
Volvo has been making its slightly more off-road focused Cross Country range of vehicles since 1997 and it just introduced the new V60 version. Ground clearance has been raised by as much as 75 millimeters or nearly 3-inches, which comes from a specially developed chassis and suspension. The seating position has also been raised. Every V60 Cross Country comes with all-wheel drive, as well as off-road aids, like Hill Descent and Electronic Stability Control. Overall styling remains the same, but you will notice black cladding on the lower fascia, rocker panels and over the wheel arches. Volvo says it will add mild- and plug-in hybrid variants at a later date.

Still to come…Bob Lutz explains why it’ll be hard for Tesla to maintain its dominance in the electric vehicle market.

WHY TESLA’S EV DOMINANCE COULD BE SHORT LIVED
As we reported earlier in the month, electric vehicle sales would be dropping like a rock if it weren’t for Tesla. The company accounted for 70% of all electric cars in August. But on last week’s Autoline After Hours, Bob Lutz, said it’s going to be hard for Tesla to maintain that market dominance.

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

You can watch that entire interview right now on our website, Autoline.tv or just look for it on our YouTube channel. And speaking of After Hours, there won’t be a new show this week, but John and Gary will be back on Thursday, October 4th with some of the best insider discussions in the automotive industry.

Warren Buffett’s bet on BYD has really paid off. We’ll tell you more about that, right after this.

VW ADOPTS VIRTUAL TESTING
We’ve talked about testing assistance systems in the virtual world and now Volkswagen is adopting the process. The automaker is using virtual validation as a way to make the next-generation of driver assistance systems production-ready even faster. A virtual library of situations can be stored and then passed on to the next system. This software will first be used for teaching assistance systems on the I.D. family of vehicles.

BRINGING CONNECTIVITY TO OLDER MODELS
AT&T and HARMAN have partnered up to offer connectivity to vehicles without that capability. It’s a device called the Spark, which plugs into your car’s OBD II port and you control the features with a smartphone app. Spark works with most models 1996 and newer. Some of its features include roadside assistance, Wi-Fi hotspot and a virtual mechanic. Spark is available starting this week and costs $80.

BUFFETT’S BYD BET PAYS OFF
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s bet on Chinese automaker BYD has paid off and then some. Back in 2008, his company Berkshire Hathaway, bought around 25% of BYD stock for $232 million. And since that time, Bloomberg reports BYD’s shares have soared 500%, which makes Buffett’s stake worth around $1.6 billion now. And because of that, BYD is his most-valuable holding in a publicly traded company that’s based outside the U.S.

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