AD #2713 – DoJ Subpoenas Ford Over DCT Trans, C8 Corvette Production Delayed, Tesla to Reveal ‘Cybertruck’

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

TOYOTA UP IN DOWN MARKET
Even though the global auto industry is slowing down, Toyota just reported earnings for its most recent quarter and it’s solidly in the black. Toyota sold 2.3 million vehicles worldwide, up over 6%. Its revenue hit $70 billion, up 4%, and it posted a net profit of $6.5 billion, about the same as last year. Get this, Toyota has $56 billion in cash and securities, and that’s why in Japan they call it the Bank of Toyota.

ANOTHER UAW OFFICIAL CHARGED
Another day, another UAW official has been charged in the corruption scandal. This time it’s former union vice president and GM Board member, Joe Ashton. He is charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud. The U.S. attorney’s office alleges he conspired with other union officials to receive “hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks.” GM released a statement saying it was unaware of anything illegal until the investigation was made public. So far, 10 people have pleaded guilty in the corruption scandal.

DOJ SUBPOENAS FORD FOR TRANSMISSION INFO
In other legal news, I’m sure most of you remember the Detroit Free Press’ Phoebe Wall Howard’s very detailed report on Ford’s issues with the 6-speed dual clutch transmission in nearly 2 million Focuses and Fiestas. If not, we had her on Autoline After Hours to talk all about it. But the Free Press has learned that the U.S. Department of Justice has issued a subpoena to Ford for “all documents, communications and electronically stored information” relating to the company’s actions involving the transmission. The DoJ will look for material that might show whether the company knew the transmissions were defective and couldn’t be fixed or that it lied to federal safety regulators.

C8 CORVETTE PRODUCTION DELAYED
Those waiting for their C8 Corvette are going to have to wait a little bit longer. Production won’t start until February of next year due to the UAW strike at GM. The automaker also still has C7 orders to fill before it can start on the C8.

C8 CORVETTE OFFICIALLY THE FASTEST EVER
But we did just get official acceleration times for the car. The base C8 will do 0-60 in 3.0 seconds and 2.9 seconds with the Z51 package. Both do the quarter mile in 11.2 seconds. Those numbers confirm this as the quickest Corvette in Chevrolet’s history.

JAGUAR MAKES REPRODUCTION TOOLKIT FOR E-TYPES
The toolkit in a car that came from the factory can be the cherry on top of any classic car sundae, but they can be hard to find and some cost thousands of dollars. That’s why Jaguar is going to offer a reproduction toolkit for Series 1 and 2 E-Types. Using engineering records Jaguar made the complete kit with all the items needed for routine maintenance and put it in a period-correct leatherette canvas roll. Price is still a bit crazy at 732 pounds or roughly $940.

TESLA TO REVEAL ‘CYBERTRUCK’ THIS MONTH
Tesla will have a big reveal in a few weeks. Elon Musk tweeted “Cybertruck unveil on Nov 21 in LA near SpaceX rocket factory.” For those of you letting that information set in, that also happens to be the same time as the LA auto show. Anyone that has a big reveal planned for LA (cough) like that electric Ford Mustang, has got to be a bit disappointed because you know ‘Cybertruck’ is going to be stealing some headlines.

FIAT TO GET OUT OF THE MINICAR SEGMENT
Despite decent sales of the Fiat 500 and Fiat Panda in Europe, FCA CEO Mike Manley says the company will “move away from the minicar segment” to focus on higher-volume, higher-margin segments. Upcoming safety and emission regulations, which will drive up development costs, is also influencing the move. Some reports speculate it will happen around 2024.

Be sure to join us for Autoline After Hours this afternoon with Joe DeSimone, the CEO of a company called Carbon 3D, which has come up with a revolutionary way to do 3D printing. And Mike O’Brien, the head of product planning at Hyundai Motor America will also be joining the show. So here’s your chance to learn about what Hyundai has in store for its lineup. That’s today at 3 pm eastern time on our website, Autoline.tv.

STOLEN, WRECKED SEMA CAR STILL GETS SPOTLIGHT
Here’s a little bit of a crazy SEMA story. A custom-built 1,000 horsepower Dodge Challenger was stolen from a casino overflow parking lot. When the thief was eventually cornered, he rammed a Nevada Highway Patrol vehicle, crashed through a fence and then abandoned the car and fled. He was later apprehended. But with all the damage done to the car you might think it would be the end of the show. But the folks that made the car, Quintin Brothers Auto and Performance, displayed it in all its wrecked glory and seems to be one of the biggest hits of the show.

SPORTY SEGMENT DOWN, PERFORMANCE CARS UP
Sales of sports cars like the Mazda Miata MX5, the Nissan GTR or Audi TT are miserable. LMC Automotive reports the sporty segment the fastest shrinking segment in the market. And yet, sales of performance vehicles are going through the roof. But the ones that are red hot are pickups, SUVs and 4-door sedans, like the Ford Raptor, TRD Tacoma, or Dodge Challenger Hellcat. That’s because many customers want the thrill of owning a high performance vehicle, but they don’t want to squeeze into a small 2-door with practically no luggage room. Automakers love making performance versions of existing vehicles because they usually don’t have to offer sales incentives on them and they make a lot more profit.

SEAT TESTS PART DELIVERING DRONES
Spanish automaker SEAT has come up with a unique solution to make production more efficient. It’s testing delivering steering wheels and airbags with drones at its Martorell factory in Spain. Once an order is received at its logistics center, the part is loaded into a carbon fiber capsule and attached to the drone with an electromagnet. The drone then travels two kilometers or a little over a mile, to deliver the part to the assembly building. The flight only takes 4 minutes and the whole process can be done in 15 minutes. SEAT says it would like to expand the drone service and says it has the potential to reduce part delivery time by 80%.

But that wraps up today’s show, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.