AD #2569 – Easter Jeep Safari Concepts, BMW Faces Big Fine, Fiat Pools Fleet with Tesla to Meet EU CO2 Targets

This is Autoline Daily reporting on the global automotive industry.

BMW FACES BIG FINE
The European Union is cracking down on BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen for colluding to delay diesel emission technology. Last Friday, investigators revealed the allegations and it’s likely to result in heavy fines. BMW warned that it could get hit with a billion euro fine. But Daimler and VW don’t expect to be punished as severely. Daimler brags that it was the first to rat out the others, and VW says it’s singing like a canary. Here’s our Autoline Insight. EU authorities need to ignore any excuses and send these automakers a clear message: there will be severe consequences for breaking the law.   

FIAT POOLS FLEET WITH TESLA TO MEET EU CO2 TARGETS
And speaking of European emissions, Fiat is pooling its fleet with Tesla in order to comply with emission regulations. The EU allows automakers to combine fleets to meet targets. Currently, vehicles can emit 130 grams of CO2 per kilometer but that drops to 95 grams in 2021. But Fiat can’t hit that number. It’s facing fines of 2 billion euros in 2020 and 2021. Instead, the company will pay Tesla hundreds of millions of dollars to comply. That’s quite the cash bonanza for Tesla. But they’re not the only automakers joining forces, Mazda and Toyota are also pooling their fleets to meet the targets.

WEEKEND RACE RESULTS
In motor racing over the weekend, Takuma Sato took his Honda-powered Indy car to a dominant victory at the Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama. In NASCAR, Kyle Busch drove his Toyota Camry to finish ahead of his brother Kurt Busch in a Ford Mustang to win at the Bristol Motor speedway in Tennessee.

MYSTERY VEHICLE REVEALED
Last week we showed you this car which we found parked on the street in Uruguay and we asked you to guess what it is. Some of you thought it’s a BMW. But it looks like this was an easy one for David Hanbury, Ernie Krekewich, Richard Hinton, Jim Haines, Mark Tilton, Gordon Garside, BobD, Gary Susie and others. You all said it’s a Ford Anglia or Popular that was made in England in the 1940s and 50s. Sorry if we didn’t mention your name, but too many of you got it right!

FORD’S FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT…AT LEAST IN U.S.
There’s nothing like fresh products to help any car company turn its fortunes around. And Ford has a bumper crop coming. The new Ranger, a refreshed Edge, all-new Escape, new Explorer and a heavily modified Shelby Mustang that will bring gawkers into the showrooms. Lincoln gets a full year of production of the Nautilus, then launches the new Aviator, then gets a redone MKC now called the Corsair. Next year Ford gets the new Bronco, the F-150 gets redesigned and that electric crossover that looks like a Mustang will debut. So while Wall Street has Ford in the dog house right now, things will brighten up considerably by the end of the year, and next year will be even better, at least in the American market.

STUDENT ESSAY CHALLENGE
Do you know any college students who are really into cars and the automotive industry? Here’s a chance for them to make a thousand bucks for writing an essay. The Southwest Research Institute is sponsoring the contest. Undergrad or grad students need to write about how they “envision disruptive technologies impacting transportation systems to make them safer, greener, and/or smarter over the next 10 years?” And they need to submit it by April 14th. Click on the headline to this story in today’s transcript or look in the description box below to get a link for all the details.

EASTER JEEP SAFARI CONCEPTS
Every year to connect with its hardcore customers, show off some of the new parts in the parts catalog and have some fun, Jeep designers modify several vehicles to take to the Easter Jeep Safari in Moab, Utah. There’s always at least one like the Gravity. It’s a production Gladiator Rubicon with $8,000 worth of MOPAR accessories. The Scrambler was inspired by the 1982 version with its Pumpkin- and Nacho-colored stripes. Then there’s more extreme versions, like the Flatbill, which is supposed to appeal to the motocross world with its aggressive style and Bro Rated badge. And the Wayout is Jeep’s take on an Overland vehicle, featuring a 2-person roof tent and large swing out canopy. But there’s always a few that stand out and those are the FiveQuarter and J6. The J6 is a 2-door Gladiator that’s based on a 4-door Wrangler with a Gladiator bed extended to 6-feet and also features vintage badging. The FiveQuarter is an M715 military pickup that was purchased on Craigslist and then heavily modified. Its got 40-inch tires on beadlock wheels, a Dana 60 axle in the front, a Dana 80 axle in the rear, full coil-over suspension, Hellcat engine under the hood, the roof has been lowered by 3.5-inches and the center console is made from the case of a supercharger. And if that’s not enough to convince you that the designers are having a whole lot of fun, they decided to take the M715 into the wind tunnel because they thought the sight of it was hilarious and snapped this old-timey photo. That guy looking a bit like the Nutty Professor in the round glasses is head of design, Mark Allen.

And that wraps up today’s show, thanks for watching.