Sci-Fi Sounds of the BMW i4; Ford Faces Huge Payout - Autoline Daily 2788

this is Auto line daily the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry the UAW former president Gary Jones was officially charged with embezzling a million dollars and with racketeering and income tax evasion reports indicate Jones will plead guilty and that is cooperating with the government authorities are still investigating current president Rory gamble and former president Dennis Williams and they're considering a government takeover of the Union because they don't think the UAW is doing enough to clean up its own house Ford is facing a whopping big bill because of defective dry clutch DCT transmissions that it put in the focus in Fiesta a federal judge approved a class action settlement that will force Ford to buy back thousands of vehicles the Detroit Free Press reports that the lawyers who created the agreement say owners will receive up to twenty two thousand dollars apiece which could cost the company as much as five hundred million dollars owners claimed that the DPS six dual clutch transmission in 2011 to 2016 fiestas and 2012 to 2016 focuses were prone to shuttering slipping and delays in changing gears and accelerating to receive compensation a customer can either get it through state lemon laws or if they've had four transmission repairs within five years for 60,000 miles is uber giving up on developing autonomous cars on its own the CEO of the company said it's willing to use self-driving technology from its competitors and is already in discussions with third parties uber temporarily shut down its autonomous program after one of its vehicles killed a pedestrian in Arizona in 2018 the company has now resumed tests but Reuters reports investors are becoming wary of the amount of money it's investing in the program now that it looks like the technology won't be ready for ride-hailing applications for at least several more years there hasn't been much good news coming out of China lately but Tesla score to win the Eevee maker received government approval to sell longer range model threes made in China current China made threes have a range of 400 kilometers but the long-range models have 600 in normal times automakers who have the least amount of inventory on dealer lots are in a great position there's not as much pressure on dealers to move the metal so they don't have to resort to discounting or other sales gimmicks but with the coronavirus threatening production those with the lowest inventory will be the first ones in trouble and that means Kia could be the first into the frying pan it only had 29 days of supply at the end of February according to Ward's intelligence Subaru has 37 days BMW has 43 Mercedes 44 and jlr 48 our suggestion is that if you're in the market for one of those brands better buy now at the opposite end of the spectrum Ford has the highest with 95 days supply of inventory Hyundai has 87 and honda has 83 this world sure has gone crazy what used to be a good way to run your dealership is now bad in what was bad is now good [Applause] [Music] that dreaded time of the year is upon us again when we have to spring forward for daylight savings the Sunday not only do we lose an hour of sleep a recent study from the University of Colorado Boulder found it causes more car crashes researchers looked at more than seven hundred and thirty thousand accidents from 1996 to 2017 and found fatal car accidents increased 6% the work week after the time change which results in about 28 extra deaths a year and the farther west someone lives in their time zone the risk is even higher crashes increase after the time change because of darker morning commutes and people aren't as well rested so be careful out on the road next week it's never a good feeling when you park your car open the door and nearly have it ripped out of your hand by a strong gust of wind well here's another one of those simply clever solutions from Skoda we've talked about in the past that will take some of the worry away even if the door does slip free of your grip its door edge protection automatically pops out when the door is open and folds itself back in when the door is closed by using pre-loaded Springs not only will this help protect your car but possibly the car next to you the feature is available on the Skoda kami in Kodiak but we wish everybody had these and now it's time for some of your feedback there were a couple of good comments about us saying that the first electric Fiat 500 was a sales disaster GM veteran says the Fiat 500e was an intentional flop it was a compliance car to satisfy the rules of the California market and the other states that adopted their rules they only sold enough of them to maintain their ability to sell all of their IC e powered vehicles in those states the ones they make money on in NC adds the CEO told people not to buy it hmm I wonder why sales sucked GM made a big new splash announcing it's easy stress and we had a lot of positive and negative feedback but space reptile had this to say issue with the pouches is the cooling I'm looking forward to how GM is solving that issue we responded that GM is using liquid cooling for its batteries which is all the info we have at the moment but space reptile wants to know if GM will fully submerge the pouches or have cooling channels we're with you though we look forward to learn more about GM's electric skateboard and a lot of you seemed encouraged by the power dense permanent magnet electric motor we reported on Aussie to you summed it up pretty well that equip make electric motor weighs only 22 pounds but can make nearly 300 horsepower insane and thank you for all your feedback in comments it really does help make this a better show auto line daily is brought to you by Bridgestone tires you're a journey our passion Cadillacs logo has gone through a lot of different looks over the years from the first one with swans in the crest that it used in 1905 which for some reason or another was changed to ducks in 1908 the Ducks came and went over the years and they were gone by 1957 when Cadillac went with this one with a stylized V under the crest today the Ducks the V and the wreath are all gone and it looks like Cadillac is getting ready to change its logo again or at least with its battery electric vehicles on the future models that GM showed us at its battery day presentation the electric Cadillacs had this illuminated badge which lights up in an animated way notice that all the color is gone no more black red blue or gold and establishing a brand image can take many different forms besides badges and logos automakers are trying to figure out how to brand their electric cars by creating specific sound signatures BMW brought hans zimmer into the recording studio to develop a signature sound for its electric eye for car Zimmer is a music composer for films and even won an Oscar for his score on the Lion King so he came up with this sound clip which to our ear sounds like a symphony score for the open of a science fiction movie [Music] so what do you think does this exudes analogy emotion and depth of character or would you just turn it off finally be sure to join us for a special live webcast of auto line this week tomorrow automakers are equipping cars with all kinds of advanced driver assistance systems or what they call a TAS this includes radar sonar and video cameras to make car safer with blind spot detection automatic emergency braking and lane keeping but if your car gets bent up in an accident who's going to make sure those sensors are properly aimed and calibrated that's what this show will be all about we're collaborating with Ike are the independent collision auto repair Association to interview three automotive repair experts on what the industry needs to do to make sure this a test technology is properly repaired we'll be going live at 11 a.m. Eastern Time on our youtube channel but that's it for today thanks for watching have a great weekend we'll see you back here again on Monday [Music] you ward's is the industry leader for news data and analysis that's why companies across the globe subscribe to our premium service maybe even your own login for subscriber access now check your company's intranet for details and rely on wards Auto comm to keep you informed