AD #2521 – Ford Uses VR In Design Process, VW #1 Automaker in The World, F&I Sales Up Last Year

On today’s show…the head of Maven, GM’s mobility company, is leaving the automaker…Volkswagen is once again the top selling automaker in the world…and Ford is using virtual reality to help with its design process. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

This is Autoline Daily the voice of the automotive industry.

VW #1 AUTOMAKER IN THE WORLD
The Volkswagen Group is once again the number one automaker in the world in terms of sales. The company sold 10.8 million vehicles in 2018, a gain of nearly 1%. It’s the fifth year in a row the automaker has come out on top. VW’s numbers include both light and heavy-duty vehicles. But if you take out those heavy truck sales, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance was number one with 10.7 million sales. The group doesn’t sell heavy-duty vehicles. And Toyota rounds out the podium with about 10.6 million vehicles sold in 2018. That number includes its Daihatsu subsidiary and Hino, its heavy-duty trucks division.

JULIA STEYN LEAVES GM
The head of GM’s mobility company, Julia Steyn has left the company. It’s not known why she left Maven but it’s not related to the automaker’s plan to reduce its salaried workforce by 15%. Steyn joined GM in 2012 and became the head of its mobility efforts in 2015.

UPCOMING AUTO SHOW TEASES
There’s a couple of significant reveals coming up that you may want to keep your eye on. Toyota teased this image of the 2020 Tacoma pickup, which will debut in Chicago on February 7th. Mitsubishi will pull the wraps off the Engelberg Tourer EV concept at Geneva on March 5th. And Skoda is giving a peak at future design with these sketches of a new small utility vehicle, called the KAMIQ.

Still to come…a breakdown of the largest supplier in the world, Bosch.

BREAKING DOWN BOSCH
At Autoline Daily we like keeping you up to date with the supplier side of the business, since suppliers generate 80% of the value of every car and truck. Let’s focus on Bosch, the largest automotive supplier in the world. It is a privately-owned corporation that is 92% owned by a charitable organization, called Robert Bosch Stiftung. Being privately owned means it does not have to report its earnings. So when some information does come out, it’s news. Bosch just reported that last year its sales came to nearly 80 billion euros, which is bigger than Mazda and Subaru put together. Over half of that revenue represents its automotive business. The company employs 410,000 people worldwide, which is greater than General Motors and Ford put together. Bosch is investing heavily in Level 4 and 5 autonomy and has 4,000 engineers devoted to the technology. It also has 4,000 engineers working on artificial intelligence. So not only is it a major player, these investments ensure it will remain a leader for years to come.

F&I SALES UP LAST YEAR
Car dealers are seeing their profit margins getting squeezed. They don’t make much money selling new or used cars anymore. So their only opportunity to grow is with service and warranty work, and by selling finance and insurance, or F&I as it’s called in the business. Protective Asset Protection is the name of a company that provides F&I programs, and dealer-owned warranty programs. It surveyed nearly 160 dealers and found their F&I sales were up 10% last year. But that was mostly from vehicle service contracts that customers bought when they purchased a used vehicle. As the cost of new cars and trucks climb, many consumers are turning to used vehicles. Last year there were 17.2 million new vehicles sold, while used vehicle sales came to 39 million.  

Coming up next, Ford takes part making and automotive design into the future.

FORD MAKES LARGEST 3D PRINTED METAL PART
Ford says it has produced the largest 3D printed metal part for a working vehicle in automotive history. The aluminum intake manifold sits on top of the engine of Ken Block’s Hoonitruck, which is a modified Ford GT engine that produces over 900-horsepower. The manifold could not have been made using traditional methods and took 5 days to build.

FORD USES VR IN DESIGN PROCESS
And speaking of Ford, it’s taking a unique approach to aid its design process. It’s the first automaker to work with Gravity Sketch, which is billed as a 3D virtual reality tool that enables designers to come up with more human-centric designs. Traditional design starts with a 2D sketch, which is then scanned, producing a high-quality rendering. Several of these are evaluated and a few get turned into 3D models using computer-aided design. The models are finally transferred into a virtual environment for further evaluation. With Gravity Sketch, designers are able to skip the 2D stage and move right into 3D modeling. Michael Smith, Ford’s design manager, says seeing all angles of a vehicle, as it is being drawn, truly unleashes creativity. Designers can even add in passengers to adjust different aspects of their design. Dozens of Ford interior and exterior designers are now experimenting with Gravity Sketch to see if it will speed up the design process and if designers can work together in real-time no matter where they are in the world. Now, if we only had a well-respected designer coming in the studio to get their take on this.

Oh yeah, be sure to tune into Autoline After Hours this Thursday. Our special guest is Ed Welburn, the former head of design at General Motors. The company is starting to come under some heat for its recent styling, and you can be sure Ed has something to say about that. That’s tomorrow at 3PM eastern time on our website, Autoline.tv.

But that brings us to the end of today’s show, thanks for watching and we’ll see you tomorrow.