AD #2694 – Cullinan Drives Rolls-Royce Growth, BMW Boosts Gas Cars to Pay for EVs, How Drones Can Improve Safety

This is Autoline Daily reporting on all aspects of the global automotive industry.

GHOSN WHISTLEBLOWER DEMOTED
We have a follow up to a story from earlier this week. We reported that Nissan wanted to oust the executive who blew the whistle on former CEO Carlos Ghosn; senior vice president, Hari Nada. It was reported he was being pressured to resign over being implicated in a scheme where he was paid more money than he was supposed to get. However, after an investigation, Nissan didn’t find any evidence of wrongdoing by Nada. Because of that Nada will remain with the company but he’s being demoted to a senior advisor “to avoid undue suspicion.”

RENAULT LOOKING FOR NEW LEADER
Earlier this week, Nissan named a new CEO and now its alliance partner Renault is looking for a new leader. Reports out of France say that the automaker will replace chief executive, Thierry Bollore. Bollore was once Carlos Ghosn’s right-hand man and Renault wants to distance itself from the former executive’s financial misconduct. A proposal to oust Bollore could happen as soon as next week.

CONSUMER REPORTS CRITIQUES TESLA FEATURE
Consumer Reports tested Tesla’s Smart Summon feature that launched at the end of September on its own Model 3 and it has several critiques of the system. CR said the feature only worked intermittently for them, sometimes getting confused about where it was and shutting down or shutting down for no obvious reason. When it did work, the car moved slowly and would drive more toward the center of the parking lot isle, weaving back and forth, and one time it went the wrong way down a one-way isle. Like other features Tesla has launched previously, customers are essentially beta testing the Smart Summon feature for the company. Working out the kinks and fine tuning the technology for the final end product. As Consumer Reports says, “this is a work in progress.”

CULLINAN DRIVES ROLLS-ROYCE GROWTH
Rolls-Royce is on the rise. It set a sales record in 2018 and it’s on pace to top that this year. Rolls has sold more than 2,500 vehicles in the first half of 2019, which is up over 42% from the same time period last year. Part of that success can be attributed to the new Cullinan SUV that didn’t start reaching customer hands until late in 2018. According to Wards, 400 Cullinans have been sold through the first 5 months in the U.S., which happens to be Rolls’ biggest market. The company says it has another 6 months worth of Cullinan orders and could have more if all five of the models it offers weren’t built at the same plant in the UK. The manufacturing line is running at full capacity. And with an average price of $410,000 in the U.S., Rolls is making a nice profit on each Cullinan it sells.

LEXUS TEASES NEW BEV CONCEPT
Is the Toyota group realizing that fuel cells may not have been the right path to take with its electric vehicles? Lexus is teasing a battery electric concept that will debut in Tokyo later this month. It looks to have pretty radical styling and is said to “offer a glimpse into Lexus’ future vision.”

BMW TO PAY FOR EVs WITH GAS POWERED CARS
Well here’s a bit of an oxymoron. To help pay for its shift to electric cars, Bloomberg reports BMW will double sales of the X7, 7 Series, 8 Series and M8. The company plans to introduce 25 new electric and hybrid vehicles by 2023 and is cutting costs by $14 billion to help pay for them. The company’s profits have also taken a hit this year. Its second-quarter operating profit dropped 20%, so to raise the cash it needs, BMW is going to boost sales of its profitable gasoline powered vehicles to pay for its EVs.

SEAT SHOWS HOW DRONES CAN IMPROVE SAFETY
Spanish automaker SEAT, which is part of the VW Group, is showing how drones can help improve safety. In its demonstration, a drone flies ahead of a connected vehicle and sends back information about what’s ahead. The drone captures and sends a picture via the cellular network to a Multi-Access Edge Computing or MEC server, which scans the image for things like bicyclists or other cars. If something is detected, an alarm is sent to the instrument cluster in the vehicle, so the driver can be ready to take action. According to the 5G Automotive Association, the implementation of 5G cellular technology can reduce the risk of accidents by 69% due to the fast speeds at which it can transfer data.

WHAT YEAR IS THIS CORVAIR?
We’re hoping there’s a big Chevrolet Corvair fan somewhere out there. Autoline viewer Matthew Gamcsik saw this car at the side of a hiking trail he frequents. It’s clearly a Corvair, but is there anything that gives away the year of this car or has it all been bashed away by those rocks? Let us know in the comments.

And a programming note. There isn’t a new Autoline After Hours today. But John and Gary will be back next week and it’s a show you won’t want to miss because our special guest is none other than Bob Lutz. GM’s former Vice Chairman, isn’t afraid to share his opinion and we can’t wait to get his insight as to what’s going on in the global automotive industry.

But that’s it for today, thanks for watching.