AD #2492 – Are Trump’s Tariffs Working? Germany to Electrify the Autobahn, Toyota Wants Dealers Involved in Mobility Services

On today’s show… who needs batteries if highways have electric power?… Toyota says it wants its dealers involved in ride sharing… and what the heck is this? Ford is going to make cars for Volkswagen and Audi? All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

This is Autoline Daily the voice of the automotive industry.

VW COULD TAP INTO FORD’S U.S. PLANTS
Ford and Volkswagen are getting closer to announcing a major collaboration effort. And VW dropped something of a bombshell yesterday, saying that Ford could make vehicles for Volkswagen in its U.S. plants. VW’s CEO Herbert Diess was at the White House yesterday, along with other European auto execs. They’re trying to persuade President Trump not to impose 25% import tariffs on passenger cars. After the meeting he told reporters that VW needs an assembly plant to make Volkswagens and Audis and that they may use capacity that Ford has to make those vehicles.

DID TRUMP GET CONFIRMATION TARIFFS ARE WORKING?
Here’s our Autoline Insight. This may be all the news that President Trump needs to hear to impose those higher tariffs. From his point of view that would mean the tariffs are working, that it’s forcing European automakers to move more production to the U.S. And that could lead to more European automakers taking over plants previously run by the domestic automakers. GM just announced it wants to close three assembly plants in the U.S. Would BMW and Mercedes be interested in taking one of those plants? Would they be willing to take plants that are organized by the UAW? Right now, none of the foreign automakers in the U.S. are unionized. One thing is for sure. This story is far from over.

Don’t forget to join us for Autoline After Hours later this afternoon when we’ll take a deep dive into the performance version of the Tesla Model 3. Henry Payne, gear-head, race driver, and car critic for the Detroit News just bought one, and he’s bringing it into the studio this afternoon. So why would a hard core enthusiast with gasoline running through his veins buy an electric? Find out later today when we go live at 3 pm eastern time, on the Autoline website and on our YouTube channel.

Germany is going to experiment with using overhead lines to power electric semis on the autobahn.

VW TO CUT MORE COSTS FOR EVs & AVs
GM and Ford have announced major restructurings. Now it’s VW’s turn. Volkswagen already announced it will cut costs by 3 billion by 2020 and now it plans to cut another 3 billion by 2023. It’s all-in an effort to speed up improvements in profit margins at the VW brand. VW will cut jobs, reduce trim lines and models and try to improve productivity at its plants by 30% by 2025. It’s doing this to free up money for developing electric and autonomous cars.

GERMANY TO ELECTRIFY THE AUTOBAHN
In an effort to improve emissions from big commercial vehicles, Germany is gearing up to test an e-highway to power trucks electrically. The vehicles connect to an overhead line, like an electric trolley or bus, with what’s called a pantograph, which deploys from the top of the truck. Scania is supplying 15 trucks for the test and Siemens developed the pantographs. The trial will be carried out over three phases next year, along different stretches of the Autobahn. Scania first tested the system in Sweden two years ago but this will be the first time it’s using the technology on public roads.

LINCOLN CUTS COST & WEIGHT WITH TREE FIBER
Automakers are under great pressure to cut costs, while improving the efficiency of their vehicles. And here’s how Ford was able to achieve that with the 2018 Lincoln Continental. It uses composites made from hybrid materials. It’s an Industry first application of combining tree fiber, or cellulose, with long glass fiber in a polypropylene matrix. The hybrid composites, reduced weight by 24% and cut costs by 13% or $2 million. It’s so impressive that the Society of Plastics Engineers named it a winner in its annual Automotive Innovations Awards Competition.

Coming up next, Waymo just launched its first autonomous ride sharing service that’s open to the public.

WAYMO LAUNCHES SERVICE FOR PAYING CUSTOMERS
Up till now Waymo has only been testing its driverless taxi service, but yesterday it launched Waymo One for paying customers in Arizona. Much like Uber and Lyft, you just have to download an app and provide a credit card number. There will still be a human behind the wheel to take over in case of emergency. Reuters reports it took a 15 minute, 3-mile ride that cost $7.59. That same ride would have cost $7.22 with Lyft. As of now the service is only available to a limited number of people, but Waymo has plans to expand. But we think if it’s truly going to expand the price has got to come down, because taking your own car on that trip would cost less than two bucks.

TOYOTA TO INVOLVE DEALERS IN MOBILITY SERVICES
Speaking of mobility services, Toyota says whatever ride sharing service it develops will involve its dealers. Speaking at the Detroit Economic Club yesterday, Jim Lentz, the CEO of Toyota Motor North America, said Toyota sees its dealers as true partners and will involve them in its mobility services. That sure makes a lot of sense. Toyota has dealers in about 1,500 communities across the country. They have acres of land to park ride sharing cars at night when they’re not being used. And they have all the service bays needed to keep those cars maintained and cleaned. All the other automakers getting into this business are buying startups or starting their own ride sharing companies. Toyota is the only car company talking about involving its dealers.

And here’s a picture of our own John McElroy who did the interview with Jim Lentz at the Detroit Economic Club yesterday. Can you come up with a caption for this? We’re looking for funny and clever captions, so try to keep it clean!

And that wraps up today’s report. Thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.