Buick unveiled a new LaCrosse sedan with a 30-inch display and other features, but it’s for the China market only. Get all the latest auto industry news in the Executive Briefing.
Today’s headlines:
+ China’s Hozon New Energy Automobile will join with Bangchan General Assembly of Thailand to produce electric vehicles for the Southeast Asian market, a Thai official said. More at Reuters.
+ Wholesale prices for used vehicles in the USA fell last month the first time this year, slipping 3 percent in April according to the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index from Cox Automotive. More at CNBC.
+ Ford CEO Jim Farley says that unlike General Motors, Ford will continue to support Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in its products, saying it “lost that battle 10 years ago.” More at The Drive.
+ General Motors, which has partnered with Andretti Autosport in a potential Formula bid with its Cadillac brand, is considering becoming an in-house F1 engine supplier as well. More at Motor1.com.
+ Illustrator, author, and Car and Driver columnist Bruce McCall, best known for his brilliant parodies of Detroit auto advertising and witty New Yorker covers, has died at 87. More at Car and Driver.
+ The next-generation Mini Cooper Electric, to be built in Leipzig, Germany, will be offered in two available power levels and two battery sizes, reportedly doubling the previous model’s range. More at Autoweek.
+ Volkswagen is set to dismiss all but one of the executive board members at its software division Cariad next week to try to resolve development problems, according to insiders. More at World Auto Forum.
+ The United Auto Workers union is holding back its expected endorsement of President Joe Biden for 2024, seeking greater security for workers in the EV transition. More at the Detroit Free Press.
+ Buick has unveiled a new LaCrosse sedan with a 30-inch display and other features, but it will be sold only in China as the current USA product line consists only of crossovers. More at Autoblog.
+ NASCAR veteran Ryan Newman, who scored 18 Cup victories in 22 seasons and last drove in 2021, will return to the series to drive a Ford for Rick Ware Racing in selected events. More at Yahoo! Sports.
Photo courtesy of Buick.
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Regarding the new LaCrosse, Toyota called and the Camry wants its front end back.
I question the wisdom of GM’s decision to abandon Apple CarPlay. For those of us who use it, it ain’t pretty, but it’s familiar, simple, intuitive, and stable, and most of all it’s not terribly distracting to the driver, which is important. I only use it to take hands free calls and occasionally for navigation, and it runs, looks, and feels exactly the same on all vehicles. That means I can go back and forth between my three cars with it – not to mention rentals – without having to figure out how to link to Bluetooth or use the built-in nav system. It’s quite literally “plug and play.”
My suspicion is that GM will be monetizing a proprietary interface, and perhaps even charging a subscription fee to use it (by the way, in Europe BMW is requiring a subscription to have their cars allow the use of CarPlay, which is already built in). The problem, as a commenter mentions in the article that’s linked, is that GM and Apple have the same number of employees. One of those companies’ primary business is technology and user interfaces. Care to guess which one stands a better chance of succeeding?