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2018 has not been kind to Holden. Sales have been stagnant and the brand saw its worst monthly sales of 3,927 cars in July. Market share has also been dropping to below five percent during the year. Now, the brand has halted production of the Commodore and Equinox in an effort to reduce a massive stockpile of vehicles. According to Wheels, Holden ordered way too many vehicles before it ceased local manufacturing in late 2017. But the past year has proven to be difficult with sales dropping and causing vehicles to sit in paddocks and holding yards, gathering dust. “The sales were going like that,” said Holden chairman Dave Buttner, motioning to the ground. “… and the tap hadn’t been turned off, so the production’s still coming towards us - and that horrified me as an old [product] planner.” How bad is it? Holden has only sold 3,621 Equinoxes through the first nine months of 2018. Competitors sell a similar amount in a timeframe of six weeks. “You have to be able to turn production down, but the idea is that you don’t have to do that often. This is a fairly unique situation where we allowed the stock to keep coming towards us. Being an old manufacturing guy I’m fully cognoscente of the burden that puts on a manufacturing plant," said Buttner. “We’ve had good cooperation from the plants but it wouldn’t be something I’d like to repeat on a regular basis because from a credibility point of view you don’t build it by doing that.” Holden has asked the Opel factory in Germany (now owned by PSA Group) to not build anymore Commodores until next year. It is unclear if Holden asked the same for the timeframe to the GM factory that builds the Equinox. How is Holden planning to reduce the massive backlog of vehicles? Motoring.com.au says it will not be through a fire sale. “I’m confident we can finish the year strongly. There is not going to be any fire sale. Or any increase in demonstrators. If we do that then we’ll get what we deserve. We want to start next year with a clean slate, start rebuilding and get on with the job,” Buttner told the outlet. We wouldn't be surprised if Holden does provide some offers to help move models. Source: Wheels, Motoring -
2018 has not been kind to Holden. Sales have been stagnant and the brand saw its worst monthly sales of 3,927 cars in July. Market share has also been dropping to below five percent during the year. Now, the brand has halted production of the Commodore and Equinox in an effort to reduce a massive stockpile of vehicles. According to Wheels, Holden ordered way too many vehicles before it ceased local manufacturing in late 2017. But the past year has proven to be difficult with sales dropping and causing vehicles to sit in paddocks and holding yards, gathering dust. “The sales were going like that,” said Holden chairman Dave Buttner, motioning to the ground. “… and the tap hadn’t been turned off, so the production’s still coming towards us - and that horrified me as an old [product] planner.” How bad is it? Holden has only sold 3,621 Equinoxes through the first nine months of 2018. Competitors sell a similar amount in a timeframe of six weeks. “You have to be able to turn production down, but the idea is that you don’t have to do that often. This is a fairly unique situation where we allowed the stock to keep coming towards us. Being an old manufacturing guy I’m fully cognoscente of the burden that puts on a manufacturing plant," said Buttner. “We’ve had good cooperation from the plants but it wouldn’t be something I’d like to repeat on a regular basis because from a credibility point of view you don’t build it by doing that.” Holden has asked the Opel factory in Germany (now owned by PSA Group) to not build anymore Commodores until next year. It is unclear if Holden asked the same for the timeframe to the GM factory that builds the Equinox. How is Holden planning to reduce the massive backlog of vehicles? Motoring.com.au says it will not be through a fire sale. “I’m confident we can finish the year strongly. There is not going to be any fire sale. Or any increase in demonstrators. If we do that then we’ll get what we deserve. We want to start next year with a clean slate, start rebuilding and get on with the job,” Buttner told the outlet. We wouldn't be surprised if Holden does provide some offers to help move models. Source: Wheels, Motoring View full article
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There is a right way and a wrong way when it comes to testing autonomous vehicles on public roads. Uber has demonstrated the wrong way. Yesterday, the company launched eleven driverless Volvo XC90s in San Fransisco as part of a pilot program. But by late morning, two of the eleven vehicles were running amok. The San Fransisco Examiner got their hands on a dash cam video showing one of the XC90s running a red light at 10:37 A.M. Later that morning, a freelance producer and writer tweeted “Just passed a ‘self-driving’ Uber that lurched into the intersection on Van Ness [Avenue], on a red, nearly hitting my Lyft.” “It was close enough that both myself and the driver reacted and were like, ‘Shit. It stopped suddenly and stayed like that, as you see in the photo,” said Annie Gaus to the Examiner. Because of these incidents, the California Department of Motor Vehicles ordered Uber to halt the program. In a statement obtained by The Truth About Cars, Uber said the incident on video was due to human error and not the technology. “This incident was due to human error. This is why we believe so much in making the roads safer by building self-driving Ubers. This vehicle was not part of the pilot and was not carrying customers. The driver involved has been suspended while we continue to investigate.” Not the most reassuring statement considering said vehicle looks like one from the pilot program. At the moment, Uber has drivers in the self-driving vehicles to control them in case of an issue. But there is a bigger problem at hand. Uber did not have the permit to legally have their autonomous vehicles on the road. A press release on Uber's Newsroom announcing the program said they didn't need one. Here are the paragraphs in question, "Finally, we understand that there is a debate over whether or not we need a testing permit to launch self-driving Ubers in San Francisco. We have looked at this issue carefully and we don’t believe we do. Before you think, “there they go again” let us take a moment to explain: First, we are not planning to operate any differently than in Pittsburgh, where our pilot has been running successfully for several months. Second, the rules apply to cars that can drive without someone controlling or monitoring them. For us, it’s still early days and our cars are not yet ready to drive without a person monitoring them." Unsurprisingly, the California DMV is not happy with Uber and threaten legal action if Uber did not halt the program and obtain the permit. “If Uber does not confirm immediately that it will stop its launch and seek a testing permit, the DMV will initiate legal action,” wrote DMV attorney Brian Soublet in a letter sent Anthony Levandowski, who heads Uber’s autonomous car program. This isn't the first time Uber's autonomous program has found itself in hot water. Back in September, Quartz reported on the issues Uber was having with their autonomous program in Pittsburgh from a vehicle going the wrong way down a one-way street to a minor accident. Source: San Francisco Examiner , (2), The Truth About Cars , Quartz, Uber Newsroom Pic Credit: Uber View full article -
There is a right way and a wrong way when it comes to testing autonomous vehicles on public roads. Uber has demonstrated the wrong way. Yesterday, the company launched eleven driverless Volvo XC90s in San Fransisco as part of a pilot program. But by late morning, two of the eleven vehicles were running amok. The San Fransisco Examiner got their hands on a dash cam video showing one of the XC90s running a red light at 10:37 A.M. Later that morning, a freelance producer and writer tweeted “Just passed a ‘self-driving’ Uber that lurched into the intersection on Van Ness [Avenue], on a red, nearly hitting my Lyft.” “It was close enough that both myself and the driver reacted and were like, ‘Shit. It stopped suddenly and stayed like that, as you see in the photo,” said Annie Gaus to the Examiner. Because of these incidents, the California Department of Motor Vehicles ordered Uber to halt the program. In a statement obtained by The Truth About Cars, Uber said the incident on video was due to human error and not the technology. “This incident was due to human error. This is why we believe so much in making the roads safer by building self-driving Ubers. This vehicle was not part of the pilot and was not carrying customers. The driver involved has been suspended while we continue to investigate.” Not the most reassuring statement considering said vehicle looks like one from the pilot program. At the moment, Uber has drivers in the self-driving vehicles to control them in case of an issue. But there is a bigger problem at hand. Uber did not have the permit to legally have their autonomous vehicles on the road. A press release on Uber's Newsroom announcing the program said they didn't need one. Here are the paragraphs in question, "Finally, we understand that there is a debate over whether or not we need a testing permit to launch self-driving Ubers in San Francisco. We have looked at this issue carefully and we don’t believe we do. Before you think, “there they go again” let us take a moment to explain: First, we are not planning to operate any differently than in Pittsburgh, where our pilot has been running successfully for several months. Second, the rules apply to cars that can drive without someone controlling or monitoring them. For us, it’s still early days and our cars are not yet ready to drive without a person monitoring them." Unsurprisingly, the California DMV is not happy with Uber and threaten legal action if Uber did not halt the program and obtain the permit. “If Uber does not confirm immediately that it will stop its launch and seek a testing permit, the DMV will initiate legal action,” wrote DMV attorney Brian Soublet in a letter sent Anthony Levandowski, who heads Uber’s autonomous car program. This isn't the first time Uber's autonomous program has found itself in hot water. Back in September, Quartz reported on the issues Uber was having with their autonomous program in Pittsburgh from a vehicle going the wrong way down a one-way street to a minor accident. Source: San Francisco Examiner , (2), The Truth About Cars , Quartz, Uber Newsroom Pic Credit: Uber -
General Motors will be putting a halt on production of the current Volt starting next month. According to The Detroit News, General Motors will put the Detroit-Hamtramck on a six-week break to not only get the plant ready to build the next-generation Volt, but also reduce the amount of Volts sitting on dealer lots. “First-generation Volt will stop building at the very end of May to get ready for model change,” said GM spokeswoman Michelle Malcho. According to Wards Auto data, Chevrolet dealers currently have a 210-day supply of Volts. A 60-day supply of a vehicle is considered healthy. Through the month of March, GM has only moved 1,784 Volts, a 48 percent drop when compared to same time last year. Source: The Detroit News View full article
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General Motors will be putting a halt on production of the current Volt starting next month. According to The Detroit News, General Motors will put the Detroit-Hamtramck on a six-week break to not only get the plant ready to build the next-generation Volt, but also reduce the amount of Volts sitting on dealer lots. “First-generation Volt will stop building at the very end of May to get ready for model change,” said GM spokeswoman Michelle Malcho. According to Wards Auto data, Chevrolet dealers currently have a 210-day supply of Volts. A 60-day supply of a vehicle is considered healthy. Through the month of March, GM has only moved 1,784 Volts, a 48 percent drop when compared to same time last year. Source: The Detroit News
