Tag Archives: Magna

Magna’s Massive Reach

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By Gary S. Vasilash

When the phrase “the company started in a garage” is used, odds are the conclusion is that the company in question is based in Silicon Valley, which is somewhat an odd mental leap because, well, garages tend to be places where work is done on steel not silicon.

Magna had its start in a garage in 1950. Yes, bending metal.

But today it is a $36-billion company with 161,000 employees who work in 34 countries around the world.

While it still works metal, it is one of the leading technology suppliers to the auto industry, whether this takes the form of electrified powertrains or digital radar systems.

Yes, it also works with silicon.

Surround-view system developed by Magna deployed in 2022 Toyota Tundra. (Image: Magna)

And one of the more fascinating aspects of Magna is that not only does it supply components and systems for use by OEMs to produce vehicles, but it manufacturers complete vehicles for those OEMs, having built more than 3.7-million vehicles. The forthcoming Fisker Ocean? It will be built by Magna. (And Magna is deeply involved in the engineering for that EV, as well.)

On this edition of “Autoline After Hours” we are joined by Boris Shulkin, executive vp and Chief Digital & Information Officer, at Magna.

Shulkin, whose job ranges from identifying companies to work with (or invest in) to cybersecurity, has a broad view of the auto industry, given that Magna has operations that make everything from automotive seats to cameras.

He provides a fascinating look at a company that is involved in an array of facets of the auto industry.

Shulkin talks with “Autoline’s” John McElroy, Craig Cole of EV Pulse, and me.

And you can see it all here.

It is a started-in-a-garage company unlike those you’re probably more familiar with.

Toyota, Subaru and “Ever-better Cars”

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A new 86/BRZ is being launched. But this is about a different approach

By Gary S. Vasilash

Toyota and Subaru developed a car that is tailored for each brand’s character, the 86 for Toyota and the BRZ for Subaru. The collaborative vehicle, which was launched in 2012, is built by neither, but by Magna in a plant in Austria.

The companies have introduced the new version of the vehicle, the GR 86 for Toyota and still BRZ for Subaru.

Toyota GR 86 (Image: Toyota)

What is interesting to note about this is that the companies have developed the rear-drive vehicle with a bigger engine—no surprise there—but they’ve gone from a 2.0-liter to a 2.4-liter that produces 232 hp.

Yes, bigger, but not in the least bit like the mill that would be likely installed in an American performance vehicle.

(Performance? According to Toyota, 0 to 100 km/h (this is a global intro, so km) in 6.3 seconds. This is an improvement from the previous car, which was 7.4 seconds.)

This is a lithe vehicle: it weighs just 2,800 lb.

If it is like the previous generation—and it probably is—then when you’re behind the wheel you feel like you’re wearing it, not just driving it.

This is a sentence from the press release that is worth pondering: “Going forward, Toyota and Subaru intend to further ally their respective strengths, deepen their relationship, and so pursue the possibilities of making ever-better cars.”

It isn’t often you hear car companies about creating “ever-better cars.”

Strange that they don’t.

Laudable that Toyota and Subaru do.

Will Apple Get into the Automobile Business?

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Although it is no secret that Apple had been operating a secret “Project Titan,” which was imagined to be its electric—and probably (at least semi-) autonomous—vehicle program, although it was said to have been disbanded, although it was said to be restarted after Doug Field was rehired, a Reuters’ report has gotten legions of Apple fanboys—to say nothing of the investment community—giddier than they already are when it comes to all things Apple.

The vehicle is back, it seems. Launch date: 2024.

Could this happen?

Apple CEO Tim Cook. (Image: Apple)

If so, they’d better start rethinking the Genius Bar and figure out how to install hydraulic lifts in the back of the stores.

As Elon Musk discovered—and it should be pointed out that he has Tweeted that he once wanted to sell out to Apple but couldn’t get a meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook—building cars is hard.

And this is a challenge whether you’re a long-time manufacturer or someone who has just started within the past few years, trying to take advantage of the “simpler” production requirements of an electric vehicle, compared to one that has an internal combustion engine.

However, as Darren Palmer, global director, Battery Electric Vehicles, a Ford recently told me, “80% of a car is not the drivetrain.” Meaning that it is a challenge to make sures the doors fit, the plastic materials on the inside have consistent coloring, the fascias don’t fall off. And on and on.

Yes, hard.

Apple doesn’t manufacture its products. That is done for it by companies including Hon Hai Precision Industry (a.k.a., Foxconn), Wistron, Pegatron and so on.

So the likelihood of it building its own vehicles is non-existent.

It would have to work with a company that knows how to make things.

In the auto industry there are companies like Magna, which produces vehicles for companies including BMW, Mercedes, Toyota and Jaguar—and for Jaguar it manufacturers the electric i-Pace. Magna has recently entered into an agreement with Fisker. It is working on the engineering of the Fisker Ocean right now and will be performing the manufacturing when it is ready to go.

What’s interesting about Magna is that most people have no idea that it has manufactured so many vehicles.

That is the kind of company that Apple would need to work with.

It knows that building cars is hard (you can see an interview with Magna’s just-retired CEO Don Walker here, where he talks about how tough the task is). It knows how to build them with the highest levels of quality. And it does so while remaining discrete.

Let’s face it: It is one thing if someone has a problem with an iPhone that bends as it shouldn’t or a battery that doesn’t have the life it should and it would be something else entirely were that to be a full-size car or SUV.

Will Project Titan come to fruition?

If it does, Tim Cook will have his hands full. Just ask Elon.