AD #3225 – Hyundai Could Axe Two Top Executives; Diesels Dying in Europe; Citroen Considers Off-Road Ami

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

HYUNDAI COULD AXE TWO TOP EXECUTIVES
According to a report in the Korea Times, Hyundai is going to get rid of two of its top executives; Peter Schreyer and Albert Biermann. Biermann is the guy Hyundai hired away from BMW’s M Division. He established Hyundai’s N Division and now heads up all R&D. Schreyer has been with the Group since 2006 and deserves credit for completely turning the design department around. So, why would Hyundai want to move such successful executives out of the way? Reportedly it’s because Hyundai wants top executives with different skill sets as it transitions away from being ‘just an automaker’ and into a mobility provider. (Pictured: Peter Schreyer – Top; Albert Biermann – Bottom)

HYUNDAI SHOWS SMALL MOBILITY PLATFORM
Speaking of the Hyundai Group, check out this small mobility platform it’s going to show off at CES. It sees a lot of uses for the MobED, as it’s called. It features a 2 kWh battery pack, which allows for about 4 hours of operation and it has enough power to go up to 30 km/h or over 18 MPH. To make sure it stays stable the wheelbase is able to extend and the suspension system can articulate with the conditions. Hyundai says there could be both manned and unmanned versions.

FRANCE COULD LOSE 1/3 OF WORKFORCE IN EV TRANSITION
The French auto industry could lose one-third of its workforce as it transitions to electric vehicles. That’s according to a study done by Alix Partners for the French auto lobby. It says 52,000 jobs could go away since EVs are simpler to make. It predicts that EVs will account for half the market by 2030, but says new car sales will fall 10% below what they were before Covid.

DIESELS DYING IN EUROPE
The diesel engine is on its deathbed in Europe. As recently as 2016 almost half of all new cars sold in Europe were diesels. In the luxury segment, three out of four cars had a diesel. But then came the diesel emission scandal. And now EVs are taking Europe by storm. And thanks to all that LMC Automotive reports that diesels probably accounted for only 18% of sales last month. And it says that BEVs may outsell diesels in Europe this month for the first time ever.

F1 DRIVER LEWIS HAMILTON KNIGHTED
​​That’s Sir Lewis Hamilton now. The seven-time Formula 1 champion was knighted yesterday by Prince Charles at Windsor Castle in England. Hamilton, who narrowly missed out on winning his record setting 8th championship over the weekend, is the fourth F1 driver to receive the honor, joining Sir Jackie Stewart, Sir Stirling Moss and Sir Jack Brabham.

EFFICIENCY OF NEW EVs
We have more info on the battle of EV driving ranges. The EPA is rating the Long Range single motor version of the Polestar 2 at 270 miles from its 75-kWh battery pack. That translates to an efficiency of 3.6 miles per kWh. Meanwhile, Kia announced that the EV6 is rated at 310 miles with a 77.4 kWh pack and rear-wheel drive. That puts its efficiency at 4 miles per kWh. And that’s kind of the average in the EV industry right now–around 4 miles per kilowatt hour.

CHEVY OFFERS UPDATE FOR OLDER BOLT OWNERS
GM is rolling out a software update that lifts restrictions for Chevy Bolt owners. It limits the state of charge to 80% which allows owners to charge indoors overnight, park indoors after charging and use the car with less than 70 miles of range. The update is for 2017 and 2018 model year Bolts, 2019 model year vehicles got the fix last month and GM says all Bolt owners will get the update within the next two weeks. Owners will have to wait until they get their battery modules replaced before they can charge up to 100% again. By the way, the Bolt delivers about 3.4 miles per kilowatt hour.

FORD HELPS FLEET OPERATORS WITH CHARGING
Ford is getting into a new line of business. It wants to sell EV charging services to fleet operators. And it believes this is a billion dollar opportunity. Ford Pro is the name of the company’s new business unit that handles commercial trucks and vans. It will sell vehicles, provide the software and hardware, offer the financing and even design and build charging stations for fleets. Even more intriguing, these stations will accommodate any brand of commercial vehicle, not just Fords. The system will prioritize which vehicles need to get charged first, how much they need to be charged to run their route the next day, and do it all at the cheapest electric rates. Ford Pro expects this to generate a billion dollars a year in revenue by 2030.

BRONCO MISSES TOP SAFETY AWARD
And speaking of Ford, the new Bronco just missed out on receiving a Top Safety Pick award from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety. That’s because its head restraints failed to provide good protection in whiplash injuries and its headlights do not provide adequate illumination on curves. In order to receive the award, a vehicle must earn good ratings on six crashworthiness evaluations, the Bronco got good ratings on five out of six tests.

CITROEN CONSIDERS TAKING AMI OFF-ROAD
Citroen is answering a question that I didn’t know I wanted to be asked. What would happen if you mixed an Ami with an off-road buggy? Well, you get the Ami Buggy Concept, sans doors, and upfitted with knobby mud tires, bumper bars, rock rails, roof rack and even little grilles over the headlights. Surely, I’m not the only one that would want one of these.

MERCEDES AIMS FOR NEW FRONTIER OF EFFICIENCY
Mercedes’ all-electric VISION EQXX concept vehicle is going to make its digital debut early next year and then go on display at CES in Las Vegas a few days later. It calls this a software-defined research vehicle that aims to explore new frontiers of efficiency. You may remember from a previous report, Mercedes is tapping its Formula 1 powertrain experts to help develop it. And through the use of advanced software, a cutting-edge drivetrain and lightweighting, they’re shooting for a single digit figure of kilowatt hours used per 100 kilometers, or over 6 miles per kilowatt hour while traveling at highway speeds. We also wonder if it will have active aero? Its shape looks similar to the Concept IAA that debuted in 2015 and that car featured a rear end that extended to improve aerodynamics.

GMC TEASES SIERRA ELECTRIC
And speaking of electric teasers, have you noticed that all these electric pickup trucks have really bold and distinctive lighting signatures? The Rivian R1T sure does. As does the Ford F-150 Lightning. The Hummer EV likely fits in the category. Same for the Tesla Cybertruck. And now we can add the GMC Sierra electric to that list. Here’s a teaser of that truck, which launches only in the Denali trim and after the Hummer EV Pickup and SUV hit the market.

Man, do we have a great Autoline After Hours for you this afternoon. First we’re going to dive into this revolutionary engine we’ve been teasing all week long. The stats are incredible. 160 horsepower with a 25,000 rpm redline, and yet the whole package only weighs 35 pounds. We’ve got Matthew Riley and Chris Theodore from Astron Aerospace coming on to tell us how they achieved this breakthrough. Then in the second half of the show we’ll try to figure out who’s going to win the North American Car Of The Year award. Will it be the Honda Civic, Volkswagen Golf GTi or Lucid Air? On the truck side the finalists are the Ford Maverick, the Hyundai Santa Cruz and the Rivian R1T. And the SUV finalists are the Ford Bronco, Genesis GV70 and the Hyundai IONIQ5. We’ve got Jack Nerad and Matt DeLorenzo joining us for that segment, and one thing’s for sure. There’s going to be a lot of arguments about which one is better than the other. So join John and Gary when the action gets going at 3 pm eastern time later today.

But that’s a wrap for today. Thanks for tuning in.