Heavy Duty Trucking, January 2019

HDT JANUARY 2019 28 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM GM Ford VW prepare for disruptive future Jack Roberts Senior Editor jroberts@ truckinginfo com Making a major restructuring move now while the company is doing well GM officials argue is the logical thing to do in preparation for the massive changes it predicts are coming to transportation markets Jack has become known for his reporting on advanced technology such as intelligent drivetrains advanced driver assist systems autonomous vehicle technology truck platooning and alternative fuels He can be reached at jroberts@ truckinginfo com or 310 533 2521 t the end of November General Motors announced a major restructuring of its global business model which included shuttering five manufacturing plants in the United States and laying off 15 of its salaried workforce This report was followed by reports that Ford and Volkswagen may be expanding the scope of their earlier announced exploration of a partnership of some sort in order to capitalize on each others strengths and remain competitive in todays rapidly changing global car truck and bus markets Both stories highlight broad trends that are reshaping the automotive industry right before our eyes The GM announcement was a bit of a surprise as it comes at a time when the company has been doing particularly well here at home However news reports indicate the companys sales are slipping in the increasingly important Chinese market and the company continues to struggle in the highly competitive European market Making a major restructuring move now while the company is doing well GM officials argue is the logical thing to do in preparation for the massive changes it predicts are coming Those changes are reflected in GMs new corporate motto Zero Crashes Zero Emissions Zero Congestion This is about as radical a departure from the companys 100 year old business model as its possible to get without venturing into the flying car business But it acknowledges the stark realities facing vehicle manufacturers today New automated safety focused low emissions vehicles are the wave of the future This is true for both passenger cars and trucks although its likely trucks will continue to burn petro based fuels in greater numbers for far longer than most passenger cars The Ford Volkswagen news isnt as dire but it follows along much the same logic path as the news from GM Broadly speaking both Ford and Volkswagen hold firm respectable shares in both their core markets the U S and Europe respectively But neither company has made significant inroads in China and each struggles to gain ground in the others home court And crucially analysts say both companies are having a hard time getting ahead of the coming technology curves particularly when it comes to electric vehicles Ford announced earlier in the year that it would cut back on the production of sedans a move GM is now emulating and focus on smaller vehicles electric vehicles and vans and trucks And Volkswagen has long been intent on knocking Toyota out of the No 1 spot as the largest vehicle manufacturer on the planet only to shoot itself in the foot with a financially crippling diesel emissions scandal But VW appears to have rallied in the wake of the scandal As VW executives boldly proclaimed at the 2018 IAA Commercial Vehicle Show in Hannover Germany in the fall it is actively seeking global partnerships to both complement and expand its current vehicle portfolio and move confidently into new markets The news concerning these three global manufacturers signals clearly that all of them understand that simply producing the same old cars and trucks in the same old way isnt going to cut it moving forward There are simply too many new players both here at home and abroad doing things in too many new ways to take that risk How and when these moves will eventually affect the trucking industry is impossible to say at the moment although I would expect disruption and changes coming to the medium duty market fairly soon Heavy duty trucks are a tougher nut to crack But in a future focused on logistics it seems logical to assume that whatever moves GM Ford and VW make in the future will eventually have an impact in that market segment as well FUTURE FLEET A