YOU BOUGHT A JEEP?

The ad campaign has put the Jeep name on the map in Australia. It's clever, focussed, and highlights all the pertinent brand values associated with Jeep. There are several versions of the ad, all of them entertaining and effective, and they all leave the viewer with no doubt about Jeep's capabilities.

Sad to report however, Jeep, which is FiatChryslerAustralia’s cash cow, suffered a big drop in 2015, falling 19.7 per cent from 30,408 to 24,418 sales, after slowing interest in the Grand Cherokee.

This year Jeep has had a very poor start dropping 50 per cent January-March, compared with the same period last year. The Grand Cherokee’s slide has continued falling 37.5%.

So what's happening? Where's the love?

First, Jeep's capabilities. In a word - awesome! The Grand Cherokee featured here is a fantastic performer off-road, it can handle anything Aussie bush tracks can throw at it.

The simple, and intuitive controls for the All Wheel Drive system are thoroughly effective and there wasn't a bog or a grade we couldn't negotiate safely.

The ride is excellent, and the interior is trimmed beautifully, if quite conservatively.

I was delighted to find an intuitive and flexible touch-screen system, but quite surprised to find that this very capable system does not include GPS as standard! 
However, this is not a vehicle you throw at tight corners or roundabouts with gay abandon. At 2950kg it's no lightweight, and mounted on its chunky 295 x 60 x 18 multi-purpose tyres you certainly know you hauling around a lump.

In fact, by comparison with its more sophisticated competitors like Range Rover, Mercedes-Benz ML, Hyundai Santa Fe, and the excellent Ford Territory Diesel, the Grand Cherokee Laredo has the heft and driving feel of a truck!

Needless to say it's very capacious, with excellent load area - and the seats fold flat, which is a great feature. Visibility is generally good, but it has a very, very thick A-pillar which certainly impinges on your view.

As a family wagon it will achieve all you need from it. Picnics, beach trips, the school run and taking friends to dinner can all be easily accommodated, and the driving feel at surburban speed limits is calm and comfortable.

The 3 litre V6 diesel produces 184kW and 570Nm; and is an entirely suitable powerplant, especially mated to the excellent ZF 8HP70 8-speed twin clutch transmission.


I think the problem is that the ad worked too well! Once the campaign established that Jeep was a vehicle you took into the wild, traversing creeks, bogs and trackless desert, you are simply narrowing the field just to the macho men and women who see themselves as rugged, outdoor types.

So, apparently the rest of the large SUV market went out and bought a more domesticated animal.

Nice headlight detail, tracing Jeep's history, 'Since 1941'

DAIMLER CHAIRMAN SAYS AUTONOMOUS DRIVING A 'LONG WAY OFF'

In an exclusive interview with Australia’s leading automotive news publication, GoAuto News, Chairman of Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz, Dr. Dieter Zetsche, has said whilst committed to developing autonomous driving capabilities in Mercedes-Benz cars, the practical application was quite a long way off.

Dr Zetsche said open freeways and clearly defined areas such as housing estates were relatively easy places to achieve full driverless car travel.

He said that while Mercedes-Benz was committed to achieving accident-free driving from its cars within a decade, safely navigating crowded city streets could take years to master.

“On freeways, this (autonomous driving) is a relatively easy task,” he said. “We will soon – perhaps first with trucks – make it possible.

“Certainly the downtown area is the most complex and challenging, even though speeds are lower. There, driverless cars without restriction is certain to take a little more time.”

Dr Zetsche said some forms of autonomous driving should be ready by the end of the decade, and that his company was taking two parallel routes in the development of self- driving cars.

One was evolutionary, with Mercedes- Benz fitting successively more sophisticated driving assistance systems such as lane keeping assist and adaptive cruise control to its cars, he said.

“The other way is to go full autonomous, but only in clearly defined areas,” he said. Dr Zetsche gave an example where drivers could get rid of their home garages and park their cars at a nearby central location.

“When you leave your house and push your smartphone button, your car arrives fully autonomously, but in a very defined environment,” he said. “In these initial steps I definitely see this happening towards the end of this decade.”

But he cautioned that taking the step to “everywhere, anytime” autonomous driving would take “quite a time gap”.

Dr Zetsche said car companies needed to be careful to manage expectations and fears associated with such new technologies.

He said that on one hand, governments around the world “seem to be in a competition to have a test run of autonomous vehicles”.

On the other, many drivers were suspicious of autonomous driving, concerned that the fun aspect of driving would be taken away and that cars would become “like a shuttle bus”.

“What is surprising to me is, especially in Germany, when you talk about new technologies, 90 per cent of the people talk about the risks and the downsides and the problem it can create,” he said.

Dr Zetsche said that to be fully accepted, autonomous vehicles would need to be capable of “reducing accidents by a factor of 10 or something like that”.

JEEP DRIVING - A BIT LIKE ITS PARENT'S MARRIAGE!

In 2011 Chrysler climbed out of bankruptcy protection (Chapter 11), thanks to Italian-born Canadian Sergio Marchionne, CEO of FIAT Group.

 By 2015 Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) had plunged into a debt load estimated to be around USD$11 billion!

That’s the bare facts, now the background.

Marchionne, born in the Abruzzo region of Italy in 1952, moved to Toronto, Canada with his family in 1966. He has a Bachelor of Commerce degree, a law degree, and an MBA. He’s a pretty smart guy.

From 1983 until 2002 he held a number of senior executive positions in Canada and Europe, and in 2003 he was elected to the FIAT board in Italy. By 2004, he was appointed CEO of FIAT Group.

Marchionne is widely recognized for turning around FIAT Group to become one of the fastest growing companies in the automotive industry, returning it to profitability in 2006, less than two years after taking the helm.

In 2009, he was instrumental in FIAT Group forming a strategic alliance with the ailing US automaker Chrysler, with the support of the US and Canadian governments and trade unions.

Less than two years later, following its emergence from Chapter 11, Chrysler returned to profitability, repaying all government loans. In 2014, FIAT and Chrysler merged into a new holding company, FIAT Chrysler Automobiles.

Fine so far. However, to get there, and to realize his ambitious product plans for both FIAT and Chrysler takes a lot of money. So, currently FCA has a net debt load of more than USD$11 billion!

Whilst many Chrysler products, and FIAT Group products, have both increased sales and market share in the past couple of years,

the forward plan, based (hopefully) on continually-increasing sales and market share growth, plus realizing  synergies that exist within the Group, Sergio can only get there by one path – debt!

The savvy New York finance guys have looked at this scenario and see it as representing more risk, than rational thinking.

Never mind the Chinese high-rollers in Macau, Sergio may be the biggest gambler in the world right now.

Markets remain volatile; the auto industry likewise, and all of this debt has to be refinanced!

Most Americans, in fact most of the global community, rarely understands progress using debt. Sure, FCA is a big international conglomerate with global operations, but today its cash position, relative to most of its competitors is very shaky.

Borrowing money is a great way to grow your business, but to succeed you have to be sure of several things.

Maintaining  overheads at a manageable level; increasing sales; reducing interest charges; and managing positive cash flow. It’s a very complex game, in fact it’s just a balancing act; and even though Sr. Marchionne sleeps only  four hours a night, it’s going to be a huge pressure on him; and his minions, to achieve the outcome they are seeking.

Just his plans to elevate Alfa Romeo to a premium image in the car business is at risk, let alone all of the FIAT Chrysler marques.

I wish them all well (?)


In 1859 Charles Blondin successfully walked a tightrope across Niagara Falls, between Canada and the USA.

Is this what Sergio is doing? Hope he makes it!

CAUTION ABOUT SELF-DRIVING CARS? ABOUT TIME!

WASHINGTON (AP) — Engineers, safety advocates and even automakers have a safety message for federal regulators eager to get self-driving cars on the road: slow down.

Fully self-driving cars may be the future of the automotive industry, but they aren't yet up to the demands of real-world driving, several people told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration during a public meeting Friday (April 8).

This reminder to US regulators that the infrastructure and the community are NOT ready for driverless cars is a welcome note of caution.

Why the hurry? I cannot see any real world benefits in having driverless cars. Especially as no-one at this stage can assure the community that the computers on board driverless cars cannot be successfully protected from hacking.

Mark Rosekind, the NHTSA's chief administrator, said the NHTSA can't wait too long for appropriate regulations, because early self-driving technologies are already in cars on the road. Tesla's "autopilot" function, for example, enables its cars to automatically steer down the highway, change lanes and adjust speed in response to traffic.

Tesla's auto-pilot function

"Everybody asks, 'When are they going to be ready?' I keep saying they're not coming; they are here now," Rosekind said. Without federal instructions, "people are just going to keep putting stuff out on the road with no guidance on how do we do this the right way."

Spot on! Let’s not deviate from the laws we already have in place to ensure that if autonomous driving is coming, we legislate to ensure it works – properly!

There are major impediments to early introduction:

* Poorly marked pavement, including parking lots and driveways, could foil the technology (cameras/radar/gps), which relies on clear lane markings.

* Bad weather can interfere with vehicle sensors.

* Self-driving cars can't take directions from a policeman.

* Inconsistent traffic-control devices such as horizontal versus lateral traffic lights.

Until the technology has advanced beyond the point where ordinary conditions are problematic, "it is dangerous, impractical and a major threat to the public health, safety and welfare to deploy them," said Mark Golden, executive director of the National Society of Professional Engineers.

Self-driving cars simply aren't ready to safely manage too many routine traffic situations without human intervention. 

 

A legally-blind man drove a Google self-driving car in 2014!

What about blind people driving cars!

Now, here's another scary scenario: 

James Niles, president of Orbit City Lab, a New York think tank, told the meeting that there is a complete absence of federal regulations and standards to prevent self-driving cars from being turned into weapons by "bad actors."

"The concern that an autonomous vehicle could be used as a weapon has gone unnoticed by the general public and probably by the majority of government officials," he said.

Does the community at large (the global community) really want driverless cars?

The massive investment in autonomous infrasctructure (roadside sensors, line marking, radar units and embedded road sensors) will all be paid for by the public purse remember!

Then we have to pay to ride in these autonomous missiles! 

In Australia probably only the really amateur politicians – the Socialists and the Greens – will add them to their lists of unrealistic aspirations!

THE BIG THREE

No, not the left-overs in Detroit, with GM and Chysler now hanging on thanks to more debt, and being dug out of a big hole by the US Government; and some judicious cost-cutting (make that slashing) and rationalisation by Alan Mulally at Ford.

I’m talking about the Mercedes-Benz C Class, the BMW Three Series and the Audi A4.

As I said previously this is probably the hottest and most competitive sector in the Australian luxury car market – maybe even globally.

Currently the segment leader is the C Class; way out in front of the Three Series, with the also-ran from Ingolstadt bringing up the rear.

Having now driven all three cars recently, what’s the verdict?

In my mind it’s a no-brainer, in favour of the BMW 330i. It is an outstanding car in terms of driving dynamics. I think the C Class is better value; and although the Audi is a sharp-looking piece of kit, it’s stratospheric pricing pushes it out of contention. Nice car, great driving dynamics, fantastic technology, but still third!

Mind you, I also think the BMW Three Series looks a bit dated overall, and its technology needs an injection of further innovation, especially compared to Audi’s virtual instrument panel.

My Munich Mouse tells me that BMW’s next styling change will be dramatic.

BMW NEXT 100

BMW i8

Taking a lead from the Next 100 concept and the i8, BMW is desperately trying to break out of its current design signature.

BMW Grand Lusso

The Grand Lusso was a half-hearted attempt to shift perceptions, but the Gnomes of Munich recognize that to leapfrog the opposition they have to do something exceptional.

The problem is – all the BMW fan-boys and fan-girls out there. The customer research says they like the current shapes, and there will be an outcry if the design changes are too radical.

Now, is when we need Chris Bangle to come back and shake up the Munich design team and shatter the current conceptions.

Chris Bangle (right) perusing Peugeots

Come back Chris – all is forgiven.

Now we stop to think about it, we loved ‘flame surfacing’ – because it didn’t change the overall design theme ‘too much’.

God, success is a difficult mantle to wear, isn’t it?

However, to finish off - in my opinion, the BMW 330i is just
the best thing out there in this segment. Smooth, great ride and handling, terrific dynamics - and I can certainly live with the 'dated' interior (?). Wish I could forecast my luck in the lottery!