AD #2929 – Shelby GT350 Discontinued; Farley Wastes No Time Shaking Up Ford; Could Hyundai Race at Le Mans?

This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.

FARLEY WASTES NO TIME SHAKING UP FORD
Ka-bam! Well that didn’t take long. Today is Jim Farley’s first day on the job as the CEO of the Ford Motor Company and he kicked off the morning by getting rid of his Chief Financial Officer and Chief Information Officer. Tim Stone, the outgoing CFO, was only on the job 16 months. He was brought into the company by retiring CEO Jim Hackett. Jeff Lemmer, the outgoing CIO, was a Ford lifer who had reported directly to Farley, and a search to replace him is underway. Joy Falotico, who was running Lincoln and was the Chief Marketing Officer of the Ford Motor Company will give up her CMO role and concentrate exclusively on Lincoln. A new CMO will be announced soon. Here’s our Autoline Insight. Jim Farley is sending out a clear signal that he is now in charge of the Ford Motor Company. And he’s not messing around, demonstrating that he’s not going to continue with Hackett’s legacy, a time during which the company drifted aimlessly. Think about it. This is just Day 1 and we can’t wait to watch and see what else rolls out as Farley rolls up his sleeves.

COULD VW SPIN-OFF LAMBORGHINI?
Could Volkswagen spin-off Lamborghini? It sure looks that way. Reuters reports that VW executives are discussing plans to give Lamborghini more independence and are looking into long term supply deals that could make it easier to list Lambo on the stock exchange. Lamborghini could be partially listed with Volkswagen retaining a controlling stake in the high-performance brand. VW has also approached bankers and investors about a possible Lamborghini IPO. While nothing is official at this point, VW CEO Herbert Diess said yesterday that the automaker will announce “important steps” about the company’s future by the end of the year. Volkswagen needs to free up cash to pay for its shift to electric vehicles and to develop connected and autonomous technology. But it doesn’t have the resources to electrify low-volume brands, like Lamborghini.

Say, have we got a great Autoline After Hours for you this afternoon. Over the course of his career our guest reported directly to Elon Musk at Tesla, later on to Carlos Ghosn at Nissan and then to Mike Manley at FCA. He also worked directly for Andy Palmer at Aston Martin. Earlier in his career he worked at Ford and later at Jaguar Land Rover. We call him the automotive man of intrigue and we’re talking about Simon Sproule, one of our favorite people in the industry.  So if you want to get a true insider’s view of what’s going on in the auto industry join John and Gary when we go live later this afternoon at 3 pm Eastern time. You can find it all on our website or YouTube channel. 

GM MOVES CLOSER TO RENEWABLE ENERGY GOAL
By 2030, GM wants all of its plants and facilities in the U.S. to be powered by 100% renewable energy. And to help fulfill that goal, the company has partnered with First Energy to source 180 megawatts of solar power from a new solar field in Arkansas. The deal will be used to power three of the company’s manufacturing sites, its Wentzville, Missouri and Lansing Delta Township plants will be fully powered by solar energy and the remaining power will be allocated to its Lansing Grand River plant. The company also has the option to store energy for future use. GM says once the project goes online in 2023, it will be 60% of the way towards its goal of sourcing 100% renewable energy for its U.S. sites.

FORD BEEFS UP EUROPEAN TRANSITS
Ford is making a beefier version of its Transit van for Europe. The 5.0-tonne Transit features upgraded suspension, hub assemblies, wheels, rear brakes and panel vans also get a reinforced body structure. There are 3 wheelbases, 4 frame lengths and customers can choose from single- or double-cab setups. The vans are fitted with a bigger rear axle from the American version of the Transit and models equipped with a 10-speed auto feature a bigger front axle as well. Aside from the 10-speed auto, a 6-speed manual transmission is also available. Both only drive the rear wheels and are mated to a 2.0L diesel engine that makes about 170 horsepower and nearly 290 lb-ft of torque. So what does all this extra stuff get you? Payload increases by an additional 300 kilograms or roughly 660 pounds. The 5.0-tonne Transit will start hitting dealerships in November.

SHELBY GT350 DISCONTINUED
Speaking of Ford, it’s taking a little venom out of the Mustang lineup. The automaker confirmed that production of the Shelby GT350 and GT350R would come to an end this fall. That leaves the Shelby GT500 as the only snake wearing vehicle in the Mustang’s stable. But there’s still a chance for a comeback tour. As we reported more than two years ago, the next-gen Mustang is scheduled to go into production in 2022. Will the GT350 and its awesome 5.2L flat-plane crank V8 make a comeback then? Will it get electric power? Only time will tell. 

COULD HYUNDAI RACE AT LE MANS?
Could Hyundai be headed to the 24 Hours of Le Mans? We think that is more than a distinct possibility. In an interview we did earlier this week with Jose Muñoz, the Chief Operating Officer of the Hyundai Motor Company, we asked him if Hyundai would consider stepping onto the world stage of motor racing as a way to market its brand and technological capabilities. Specifically, we asked him if Hyundai would consider Formula One, or the World Endurance Championship of sports cars that race around the world, including Le Mans. Here’s what he had to say.

“Are you going to see us in Formula One? I don’t think so. Are you going to see us race in a global race competition series? I’m very confident you will, and maybe sooner than we expect. So definitely we love it and we see it as a really very great place not only to experience our best engineering and technology but also to connect with the consumers. I think this is really something that we want to continue to expand and as the company grows we’re going to continue to invest in racing.”

Hyundai is already racing in the World Rally Championship and winning races, so Jose Muñoz wasn’t referring to that. We believe that Hyundai is going to enter the new Hypercar category for hybrid prototypes in the World Endurance Championship. And it’s fascinating to hear him say we’re going to hear what their decision is “sooner than we expect.” So, you heard the sound bite. What do you think is going to happen?

OLD DRIVERS NOT AS DANGEROUS AS WE THINK
Older drivers were once considered some of the most dangerous out on the road, but maybe it’s time to change the way we think. According to a new study from the IIHS, fatal crashes for licensed drivers in their 70s has dropped significantly since 1997 and is now lower than drivers that are between 35 and 54 years of age. And it’s not like older people are driving less. The number of licensed drivers in that age range is the highest it’s ever been and the average number of miles driven has increased too. The IIHS cites better health and safer cars as reasons for the role reversal as well as other possible factors, such as improvements to the infrastructure and changes to licensing policies. 

IIHS CREATES FUN LEGO STOP MOTION VIDEO
In other IIHS news, if you’ve got 1:40 of spare time, check out this video from IIHS Senior Research Engineer Becky Mueller. She made a fun little Lego stop motion video that recreates many of the procedures used in one of the agency’s crash tests. We appreciate the time it took to take the 1,500 pictures that were required to make the short video.

And with that we wrap up today’s show, thanks for watching.