AD #2638 – Tesla’s Amazing New Wiring Architecture, BAIC Buys Stake in Daimler, Volvo Could Add More SUVs

This is Autoline Daily reporting on the global automotive industry.

TESLA’S AMAZING NEW WIRING ARCHITECTURE
Manufacturing vehicles is hard. I think Tesla has learned that. But the EV maker has gotten much better and soon will reach its goal of more automated production. Tesla filed a patent for a completely new wiring architecture that not only greatly reduces the length of the wiring harness but it’s also much more rigid so robots can manipulate it. How much shorter is it? Well, there’s about 3 kilometers of wire harness in the Model S and about 1.5 kilometers in the Model 3. The new system will bring that down to 100 meters and first be seen in the Model Y. To get to that length, Tesla created a number of wiring subassemblies that control multiple components. Those subassemblies are then connected to the main harness. To reduce that much length from the from the harness is amazing on its own, but adding in the subassemblies, it’s absolutely incredible.

CHINA’S BAIC BUYS STAKE IN DAIMLER
Last year, Chinese automaker Geely sent a shockwave through the German auto industry after it announced it bought a nearly 10% stake in Daimler. But now another Chinese automaker is buying a stake in the German automaker. BAIC, Daimler’s joint venture partner in China, bought a 5% stake in the company to help strengthen their alliance. But unlike last year when Daimler was caught off guard by Geely’s investment, Daimler put out a press release saying it welcomes BAIC’s investment.

DAIMLER & BOSCH GET LEVEL 4 AV APPROVAL
And in other Daimler news, it, along with Bosch, just won approval to operate their SAE Level 4 automated parking feature without a driver in Germany. The system will be used daily as an automated valet parking service at the Mercedes-Benz Museum parking garage. Once you drive in the garage and get out of the car, you just use a smartphone app to send the car to a parking space. And once you return, the vehicle will pick you up at the same drop-off point. While it’s only being used in a limited area, it’s still a big step for the deployment of autonomous vehicles.

HYUNDAI REVEALS NEW SONATA HYBRID
Hyundai is showing off the new Sonata Hybrid. The styling is a bit different than the regular model. A couple of unique features include Hyundai’s Active Shift Control technology which improves acceleration, fuel economy and durability of hybrid vehicles. Check out last Friday’s Autoline Daily from July 19th to learn more about the system. And the company’s solar roof system also debuts on the Sonata Hybrid. It recharges the battery to boost the vehicle’s range while preventing unnecessary battery discharge. With 6 hours of daily charging, the system is expected to increase travel distance by 1,300 kilometers or more than 800 miles annually. But that’s only .36-miles per hour of charging. The Sonata Hybrid is powered by a 2.0L direct injection gasoline engine that’s mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission. It gets 47 MPG combined based on Korean standards.

VOLVO COULD ADD MORE SUVs
We all know crossovers and SUVs are hot. At Volvo, they’ve accounted for 61% of sales so far this year, which is up 10% from last year. And speaking with Auto Express, CEO Hakan Samuelsson says Volvo is “not excluding the idea of additions, especially in very core segments like the SUV” and “You should not exclude the idea that there might be a bigger one, but maybe also a smaller one.” That means there could be something below the XC40 and above the XC90. And we could see the latter. Ever since the 2nd-gen XC90 launched in 2014, Volvo has tried to be more luxurious. But most its luxury competitors offer SUVs bigger than the XC90, which can generate big profits.

STRUGGLING EV STARTUP HIRES FORMER GM EXEC
Last week, we reported on how Seres, an EV startup formerly known as SF Motors, is struggling. It cancelled the launch of its electric SUV, the SF5, in the U.S. And it laid off 90 employees, nearly one-third of its workforce, because of a slowdown in China. But to help turnaround the company, it just hired former GM executive Jim Taylor as its co-CEO. Taylor was in charge of Cadillac while at GM. He said he plans on meeting with other U.S. automakers to discuss cooperating on developing electric vehicles. Maybe a partnership makes sense for Seres but it’s hard to imagine the Detroit automakers being interested.

ELECTRIC F-150 PROTOTYPE TOWS 1 MILLION POUNDS
It seems if you want to get the word out about a new vehicle, the best way to do that is to tow something really heavy. And Ford is the latest with a prototype version of the electric F-150 towing 1 million pounds worth of train cars loaded with trucks. The F-150 Hybrid goes on sale next year, which will be followed by the all-electric version.

And be sure to join us for Autoline After Hours later this week for some of the best insider discussions in the auto industry. That’s this Thursday at 3PM eastern time on Autoline.tv.

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