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Some Things About the Peugeot 308 SW

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A new vehicle with some interesting characteristics

By Gary S. Vasilash

Peugeot has rolled out with a new vehicle, the 308 SW with, given the profile of the vehicle, the “SW” standing for “station wagon,” although that is probably not the case given that station wagons aren’t called “station wagons” in France or other parts of Europe where the 308 SW will be sold.

All that said, it looks like a station wagon.

New Peugeot 308 SW. (Image: Peugeot)

There are several interesting things about this vehicle that Peugeot thinks is important to know.

For example, there are several places to put things on the interior of the vehicle, places that are “entirely dedicated to well-being and practicality.” That’s one way of describing those places that often end up being sticky on the bottom surface and full of random debris.

The vehicle can be purchased entirely on line (depending on the country, of course: something that wouldn’t happen in the U.S. unless a dealer is involved, the vehicle is a Tesla or it is a used car).

The 308 SW can be equipped with an array of powertrains, ranging from gasoline engines to hybrids to, yes, even diesels.

The steering wheel is, for some reason, compact. Outside of a school bus or a Class 8 truck, are there really oversized steering wheels in vehicles?

And then there’s this: the 308 SW offers a cargo volume that can accommodate “608 litres of water and up to 1634 litres of water with the seat fully folded.”

To be sure, there are many ways of measuring cargo space, from luggage to Amazon Prime boxes to jellybeans (sweepstakes use, only).

But water?

Is It About the Drive?

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People are spending more on things related to their vehicles

By Gary S. Vasilash

Taken all together, automotive loan or lease payments, insurance and gas had a collective increase of 18% in May compared to the start of the year, according to Morning Consult.

What’s more, the research firm found that when faced with cutting back on car travel—including such means as using public transport—or paying more to stay in one’s own vehicle, U.S. consumers opted for the latter approach.

In its monthly survey of household finance data, Morning Consult looks at 11 categories of spending, ranging from gasoline to utilities.

While the percentage increase from January to May for medical care was 19% and 17% for restaurants, the increases for gas and car insurance were 27% and 16%, respectively.

When it comes to monthly spending averages, the car lease/loan payment in January 2021 was $140 and it saw a marginal increase of $18 through May. Car insurance was $105 and got a $17 bump. Gasoline had a notable comparative increase, from $91 in January to an add of $24 through May.

But the spending for public transportation was $59 in January. And there was a $0 marginal increase through May.

Is this an issue of people liking the drive—or simply not wanting to share transportation space with strangers?

Alfa in America

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How the brand will move forward in an important market

By Gary S. Vasilash

Alfa Romeo has been around since June 24, 1910, or for 111 years (as of then).

The brand, especially in Europe, has been widely known for its performance vehicles, performance not like a Dodge Charger Hellcat, but as something that is more at home powering through twists and turns.

There are solid enthusiasts for the brand—the “Alfisti”—with some two million active on Facebook and Instragram, lauding what it stands for and what it produces.

In the U.S., however, the numbers of sales aren’t particularly large. In the bizarre pandemic year of 2020 Alfa sold a total 18,586 vehicles in the U.S., which is just a couple thousand more than the number of Chrysler 300s sold—16,653—but realize that that car is 10 years old.

Still, Alfa’s 2020 U.S. sales were up 2%–and that it the only brand in the Stellantis lineup with a plus sign in front of its sales in 2020 vs. 2019, which is saying something.

For Q1 2021 Alfa is showing considerable strength (relatively speaking, of course), which a gain of 25% compared with Q1 2020, with 4,646 sold.

Giulia Quadrifoglio (Image: Stelllantis)

So if it is a good year, and if there is availability of product, then the brand is probably looking at sales of about 20,000 vehicles, primarily the Stelvio crossover, the Giulia sedan, and a smattering of Alfa 4C sportscars.

Larry Dominique was named senior vice president, Alfa Romeo Brand – North America in March 2021. He’s the guy in charge in the U.S. (as well as Canada and Mexico).

Prior to that he was the president and CEO of PSA in North America. In that role he didn’t bring Peugeots to the streets. But he helped launch Free2Move, a carsharing service that originally launched in Washington, DC, and has expanded to Portland, Oregon.

Dominique had been the president of ALG, the company that is largely responsible for establishing residual values for vehicles. And during that same period—2011 to 2015—he was the executive vice president of OEM, Data and Analytics for TrueCar.

His most notable stint, from 1989 to 2011, was at Nissan. His last position there was as vice president for Product Planning. While at Nissan he met Carlos Tavares, who was with the Renault-Nissan Alliance at the time—and who is now the first CEO of Stellantis.

On this edition of “Autoline After Hours” Dominique spends the hour talking Alfa with “Autoline’s” John McElroy, Joe White of Reuters and me.

He talks about the challenges and opportunities of the brand.

One of the things that he emphasizes—a thing that is highly important not only for vehicle brands but for brands of any type—is that they have a clear understanding of what Alfa is—and what it isn’t.

He explains that his brief is not only to protect what “Alfa” is, but also to grow the brand without sacrificing that identity.

Dominique, who has a degree in engineering, is very methodical in his approach to boosting the brand.

But what is absolutely evident that he, too, has a passion for Alfa Romeo, which an important complement as he helps move it forward.

And you can see the show here.

NACTOY Announces Initial List

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These are key cars, trucks and utilities being made available in the U.S. this year

By Gary S. Vasilash

At the risk of turning this into the non-official site of The North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year (NACTOY) Awards™, it is worth noting that the organization* announced its list of 38 cars, trucks and utility vehicles will be eligible for the 2022 awards.

That’s 12 cars. Eight trucks. And 18 utility vehicles.

“Utilities of all types and sizes continue as the largest and most popular vehicle category, so the large number of them comes as no surprise. However, the number of eligible pickups is the most we’ve seen in several years,” said NACTOY president Gary Witzenburg.

So, what are they?

Car of the Year

  • Audi A3
  • Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing
  • Genesis G70
  • Honda Civic Sedan
  • Karma GS-6
  • Lucid Air
  • Maserati MC20
  • Mercedes-Benz EQS
  • Mercedes-Benz S-Class
  • Subaru BRZ
  • Toyota GR 86
  • Volkswagen Golf Mk VIII (Golf R/Golf GTI)

Truck of the Year

  • Ford F-150 Raptor
  • Ford Maverick
  • GMC HUMMER EV
  • Hyundai Santa Cruz
  • Nissan Frontier
  • Rivian R1T
  • Tesla Cybertruck
  • Toyota Tundra

Utility Vehicle of the Year

  • Acura MDX
  • Buick Envision
  • Chevrolet Bolt EUV
  • Ford Bronco
  • Genesis GV70
  • Hyundai IONIQ 5
  • Hyundai Tucson (HEV/ICE/PHEV)
  • Infiniti QX60
  • Jeep Grand Cherokee (ICE, PHEV, L)
  • Jeep Wagoneer/Grand Wagoneer
  • Kia Carnival
  • Lexus NX
  • Mazda MX-30 electric
  • Mitsubishi Outlander
  • Nissan Pathfinder
  • Toyota Corolla Cross
  • VW ID.4
  • VW Taos

*The organization consists of 50 jurors from print, online, radio and broadcast media across the U.S. and Canada.

GM to Spend More Billions on EVs (and AVs)

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Why spend $20 billion when you can spend $35 billion?

By Gary S. Vasilash

Yesterday General Motors announced that spending $20 billion between 2020 and 2025 on electric and autonomous vehicular tech, as it said it had intended to in March 2020, isn’t enough.

It announced that spending $27 billion during the same period, as it said it had intended to in November 2020, just doesn’t cut it.

So now GM says that it will spend $35 billion by 2025.

In other word, a 75% increase in spend from what it originally intended just 15 months ago.

Why?

Said Mary Barra, GM chair and CEO: “We are investing aggressively in a comprehensive and highly integrated plan to make sure that GM leads in all aspects of the transformation to a more sustainable future.

“GM is targeting annual global EV sales of more than 1 million by 2025, and we are increasing our investment to scale faster because we see momentum building in the United States for electrification, along with customer demand for our product portfolio.”

The Bolt EV is presently the GM electric vehicle. In the first quarter GM sold 9,025 of the compact electric vehicles.

Yes, that is a 53.7% increase over Q1 2020, but that was Q1 2020.

The increase in Corvette sales Q1 to Q1 was 73.1%. While only 6,611 of those vehicles were delivered, odds are GM makes more on each Corvette than Bolt.

GM does have more EVs coming, like the HUMMER EV pickup and the Cadillac LYRIQ crossover. And there will be an electric Silverado and other vehicles to boot.

GM will be building two EVs for Honda, one for Honda brand and one for Acura. And it is supplying Navistar with its HYDROTEC hydrogen power fuel cells for heavy trucks that are to be launched in 2024.

And while it doesn’t get a whole lot of attention compared to EVs, Cruise is continuing its efforts to achieve higher levels of autonomy. It has been given the go-ahead to provide a public service sans driver in California. It has been named the exclusive autonomous rideshare provider in the city of Dubai. It will be receiving Cruise Origin vehicles—jointly developed by GM and Honda, and scheduled for production in GM’s Factory ZERO Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Center in 2023.

No question that GM is making a huge commitment.

A thought

Here’s something that needs to be taken into account. According to the U.S. Dept. of Energy, as of approximately right now there are 42,664 charging stations in the U.S. and 103,654 charging outlets available to the public.

People who live, say, in southeast Michigan tend to travel up I-75 to northwest Michigan every holiday in numbers that make a chain out of the vehicles, trailers, boats, etc. Somehow, unless there is access to chargers that are going to allow recharges in minutes, not large fractions of an hour (or more), it is going to take one EV-intensive holiday weekend to have some exceedingly sour people.

When people are used to spending a quick time at a gas station, sitting in a long line waiting for access to a plug may have a big effect on the overall acceptance of EVs.

That Old Vehicle Is Now. . .Older

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Yes, another consequence of COVID

By Gary S. Vasilash

During 2020 probably one of the last things on anyone’s mind was buying a new car or truck unless, of course, they had a feeling of being locked in and locked down so they wanted to get out there and do something with the money that they were not spending on cruises or long weekends in Las Vegas.

Light vehicle sales went down.

And according to research from IHS Markit, a consequence of that is that the age of vehicles in people’s driveways went up.

Up by almost two months.

According to the research firm the average age of a light vehicle is 12.1 years old.

(Image: IHS Markit)

Another thing happened, IHS found. The number of vehicles that were taken out of active service went up. Known as “scrappage,” some 15+ million vehicles—or 5.6% of all vehicles in operation—were, well, scrapped.

One would think that this would have made the average age go down, but the reduced overall sales and a drop in vehicle miles traveled caused, in the words of Todd Campau, associate director of Aftermarket Solutions at IHS Markit, “a radical departure from the norm.”

On the subject of vehicle miles traveled, they were down over 13% in 2020.

One result of that is that people may have allowed their registrations to expire because they weren’t going anywhere.

And if they kept it, they may be in for a happier 2021.

Campau: “The microchip shortage and subsequent inventory levels for new vehicles have created a situation in which used vehicle values have gotten extremely high, so a vehicle owner who may have kept a vehicle in the garage that they were not using in 2020, now instead may take advantage of the opportunity to either reduce the number of vehicles in their garage, or trade up to something newer while the demand and value is extremely high on their used vehicle.”

Of course, this means being able to find a vehicle that they may actually want if said vehicle isn’t a high-end SUV or loaded pickup, which is what OEMs are focusing on building as they meter out their silicon to vehicles that provide them with the highest margins.

IHS anticipates that the aging fleet will, however, get younger, as more people get in the market in 2021.

Not a fountain of youth. But a move in the right direction.

NACTOY and DADA Donate $40,000

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Automotive organizations helping out the community

By Gary S. Vasilash*

Although automotive journalists, in some circles, have a reputation of being first in the buffet line, it is worth knowing that the 50 jurors who make the selections for the North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year (NACTOY) Awards™, along with the Detroit Auto Dealers Association (DADA), have just made $40,000 in charitable contributions.

$10,000 each were presented to:

Noted Gary Witzenburg, NACTOY president, “As automotive journalists, we are privileged to drive, test and evaluate the finest new cars and trucks each year, and for the second consecutive year, we have been able to give something back with these charitable donations.”

Added Rod Alberts, DADA executive director, “NACTOY has always supported the Detroit auto show by announcing its annual awards at our show. We value that partnership and are thrilled that we were able to help make these charitable donations possible once again this year.”

Alberts is referring to the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), which, like other auto shows, has been on something of a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The NACTOY awards were established in 1994 and the winners were first, and have been subsequently announced, in the building still widely known as “Cobo” during NAIAS events.

*Full disclosure: I am a NACTOY juror

How the Automotive Supply Base Is Being Transformed

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Yes, there is still a need for some of yesterday’s tech in the auto industry today. But there is a greater need for tomorrow’s tech right now. And here’s what suppliers are doing to realize that

By Gary S. Vasilash

When people say that the auto industry is “undergoing the biggest transformation since its very beginnings,” they generally mean that the OEMs are having to vigorously change the product offerings that they are producing, putting plugs where they once had fuel filler ports, putting in drive motors where they once had engines, putting batteries in a place where there were once fuel tanks.

And that is just for the electric vehicle part of the change.

There are a variety of other factors that are driving change in automotive, such as the addition of automated driving capabilities and the need to address heightened expectations on the interiors of vehicles, whether this takes the form of things like comfort or infotainment.

By and large, the changes seem to be challenges for the OEMs.

Which is not entirely the case.

Let’s face it: most of what is assembled into a given vehicle is not produced by the OEM. It comes from suppliers.

So the transformation of the auto industry is having arguably a greater impact on the supply base as not only must it provide OEMs with what they want now, but what they will want in the future.

ZF ProAI automotive-grade supercomputer. (Image: ZF)

On this special edition of “Autoline After Hours” my colleague John McElroy and I talk with Martin Fischer, member of the Board of Management of ZF and president of ZF North America, and Phil Eyler, president and CEO of Gentherm.

ZF is one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers, and while historically—and currently—known for such products as its nine-speed transmissions, the company is undergoing a change as it focuses on domains including autonomous driving, electromobility, integrated safety, motion control, and digitalization and software.

Yes, the company has even developed an automotive supercomputer, the ProAI.

Then there’s Gentherm, which is a specialist in thermal electric devices. In 1996 the company launched its first heated and cooled car seat and in the subsequent years has taken a strong position in that market area.

Yet recently it has invested in technology for thermal management of electric vehicle batteries.

McElroy and I talk with Fischer and Eyler about how their companies are working through—and ahead of—demands—today’s and tomorrow’s—they are addressing as automotive suppliers.

Their approaches range from organizing skunkworks to create new products to taking existing technologies from other market segments, like medical, to apply to automotive applications.

You can see it all here.

Audi Race Car Sets Sales Record

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It has only taken 5.5 years to achieve. . . .

By Gary S. Vasilash

The 138th GT3 model of the second-generation Audi R8 LMS has been produced.

That near-production race car (i.e., it share half of its components with the “regular” R8) has been on sale since the end of 2015.

So this means about 5.5 years.

138 cars.

(Photo: Communications Audi Sport customer racing / Bildagentur Kräling)

Audi notes that the first-gen version, which was in production from 2009 to 2015, had total sales of 137 cars.

Of all of the GT3 cars built by Audi (a total of 275 so far), there have been 13 vicoctires in 24-hour races, eight in 12-hour races, and a whole bunch more vicotires in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

Speaking of the second-generation besting the first, Chris Reinke, head of Audi Sport customer racing, said, “As we see in our competitive environment, it is by no means a matter of course that a successor is as commercially successful as the predecessor model or even surpasses it.”

Still: One car?

Fisker: Passionate About Clean Transportation

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It is about engagement at Fisker. . .

By Gary S. Vasilash

“Our corporate vision is ‘A cleaner future for all,’ and one of our brand pillars is ‘Designed by people, for people.’ So this is not about just making a toaster on wheels by a computer, but we really have people here which are engaged and excited. I’m personally involved in every single design that we make, and I think that’s going to be one of the main differentiators of Fisker.”—Henrik Fisker, co-founder, president, chairman & CEO, Fisker Inc., June 8, 2021

Fisker, as in the man, is the designer of vehicles ranging from the Aston Martin DB9 to the Karma. Clearly the man knows how to pen a vehicle.

So the company apparently has a mission to make vehicles that are affordable across the board, whether this is for someone who wants something in the lux space or something that is achievable by someone who might otherwise buy something that resembles, well, a toaster.

Sometimes people talk about the importance of having a “car guy” in charge of a car company.

This is one better.

Maybe more than one better.