AD #2662 – Honda Invents New Airbag, China Hits American Imports, Tesla Looking for German Gigafactory

This is Autoline Daily reporting on the global automotive industry.

CHINA HITS AMERICAN IMPORTS
Wow, we start out this week with the global automotive industry coming under intense pressure. China ramped up its defiance of President Trump’s trade war by slapping a 25% import tax on American made vehicles. China already had a 25% tax on imported vehicles, so means American made vehicles now get hit with a 50% tax. Last year the US exported over 160,000 vehicles to China, mainly from BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Lincoln, Ford, Tesla and General Motors. BMW and Mercedes export a lot of American made SUVs to China.

VW DIGS DEEPER INTO CHINA
Meanwhile Volkswagen is looking to solidify its position in China by forming joint ventures or buying stock in Chinese suppliers. It is mainly looking at suppliers that make components for electric cars, especially batteries. This is a smart move by VW. By integrating itself even more deeply into the Chinese auto industry it’s protecting itself in case this trade war continues to escalate.

GERMAN ECONOMY SINKING
Another reason why Volkswagen is doubling down in China is that it looks like Germany is headed into a recession. Tomorrow Germany will release its GDP figures for the second quarter and, at the best, the numbers are expected to be very weak. And with Germany being the economic powerhouse of Europe, this doesn’t bode well for the EU overall.

TESLA LOOKING FOR GERMAN GIGAFACTORY
Even so, reports out of Germany say that Tesla is looking for locations for a new assembly plant there. Tesla did not comment but Elon Musk tweeted earlier this year that building a Gigafactory in Germany made sense.

HONDA INVENTS NEW AIRBAG
To help improve the safety of its vehicles, Honda R&D Americas developed a new airbag along with airbag supplier Autoliv. It’s designed to reduce the potential for injuries in a wider variety of frontal accidents, particularly front passengers in angled crashes. Unlike conventional airbag systems that have a single inflatable compartment, the new system utilizes four major components: three inflated compartments, a center chamber and two outward-projecting side chambers that create a wide base across the dash, along with a “sail panel” that stretches between the two side chambers at their outermost edge. Similar to a baseball catcher’s mitt, the sail panel catches and decelerates the occupant’s head while also engaging the side chambers, pulling them inward to cradle and protect the head, mitigating the potential for injury. Honda will start equipping the new airbag in its vehicles next year.

CONTINENTAL MAKES SMART BELT
Last week, we told you how the supplier Continental is getting involved in smart farming. And now the company has partnered with agricultural machine manufacturer CLAAS to test a new smart power transmission belt for combine harvesters. A sensor monitors the belt, which transmits data to a receiver in the machine, that data is then sent to the Continental Cloud and interpreted by an algorithm. This allows farmers to be more proactive in maintenance. Currently, it’s only possible to check the belt at specified periods, not while it’s in operation. The new smart belt allows for on-the-fly inspections.

MOPAR TO UNLEASH A NEW BEAST
Every couple of years Mopar makes its own muscle car, which lately has been based on the Dodge Charger or Challenger. And on Thursday, Mopar is about to unleash its newest beast. Thursday is also when we do Autoline After Hours, and so we’ve got Mark Bosanac, the head of Mopar’s North American operations bringing that car into the studio. What is it? Well, you’re going to have to tune in to find out, because we’re not even sure exactly what it is. So join me and Gary Vasilash for some of the best gearhead insights you can find.

OLDIES BUT GOODIES
In racing news over the weekend Takuma Sato took advantage of some mighty timely yellow flags to power his Honda powered Indy Car to victory. A week ago, Sato was savaged by his fellow competitors for causing a major pileup at Pocono speedway, so winning this week sure helped make up for that fiasco. Ed Carpenter brought his Chevy powered Indy car home in second only 3/100ths of a second behind. Tony Kanaan finished third in his Foyt-Chevrolet. The interesting part is that those three are the oldest drivers in the series. Sato is 41, Carpenter is 38 and Kanaan is 44.

So you see? Every once in a while, years of experience wins out over the exuberant adrenaline of youth.

And on that note, we wrap up today’s report.