[email protected] ®TechCenter News ® WARREN,MICHIGAN VOL. 44 NO. 41 Covers the Tech Center and the Immediate Area JUNE 24, 2019 Regrets From Failed FCA Renault Deal by ELAINE GANLEY Associated Press PARIS (AP) – Renault’s chair- man on June 12 expressed his frustration with the French gov- ernment for resisting a merger 2019 Ford Ranger 2019 Dodge Challenger 2019 Chevrolet Equinox deal proposed by rival carmaker Fiat Chrysler, and at a critical time – ahead of what he views as a coming “tsunami’’ from China’s auto industry. Detroit OEMs Beat Europe’s in Quality Study Jean-Dominique Senard told a by Jim Stickford “This was the first without an gent said. If a part or system oper- “Think about it,” Sargent said. shareholders’ meeting in Paris PPV industry average improve- ates exactly as designed, but new “You’ve just gotten a new car. that “I have rarely seen a merger The Koreans led the way in the ment since 2012-2014,” Sargent buyers have problems with it, You want to take it home and proposal that could give so 2019 J.D. Power Initial Quality said. “So this kind of thing is un- then there’s nothing to be done. show it off. You don’t want to sit much positive synergy, incredi- Study (IQS), but Detroit automak- usual, but it’s not unheard of.” “I always say, you shouldn’t in it at a dealership while some- bly validating and robust.’’ ers took four of the top 10 quality The survey found two kinds of have automotive engineers de- one shows all the systems.” He said that at a board meet- rankings. problems, Sargent said. They sign for other automotive engi- Advanced Driver Assist ing convened to discuss the Dave Sargent, vice president of could be broken down into a “de- neers. They’re not normal people Systems (ADAS) are gaining plan, everyone had approved Global Automotive at J.D. Power, fect” category and a “design” cat- when it comes to cars,” Sargent consumer interest, but more the plan “with enthusiasm’’ ex- spoke to the Automotive Press egory. They saw a lot more de- said. “So having an entertain- vehicles with ADAS means there cept one. Board members from Association at a special gather- fect category issues – like paint ment system or a GPS system are more systems out there Renault’s alliance member, Nis- ing in Detroit on June 19, present- dents, noisy brakes and such – that is too complicated for peo- where things can go wrong. san, abstained but in a “very ing the results of the 2019 IQS. this year. ple to use is a problem – and it’s ADAS is improving, but its positive way.’’ He said that once again the Ko- “These are what we call ‘tradi- not something that the dealer- popularity is almost working Senard said the French gov- rean brands – Genesis, Kia and tional’ defects,” Sargent said. “As ship can fix, like a paint chip.” against it. ernment, which is Renault’s Hyundai – took the top three to why we saw more, we can’t There’s only so much that a “Our survey shows that cus- biggest shareholder with a 15 spots. Ford and Lincoln brands prove this, but given the fact that dealer can do in a situation like tomers want these systems,” Sar- percent stake, had not shared finished fourth and fifth, the first there was a sales slowdown, the that, Sargent said. People refuse gent said. “The OEM who can de- his analysis of the benefits of the time those two brands were in sales turn rate was longer, it to read the operating manuals liver them in a way that works merger “at this stage.’’ the top five spots in the same makes sense to consider that and having them sit through a and has the trust of drivers will “I can frankly say that disap- year. Chevrolet took the sixth having a car sit out longer can three-hour demonstration of how be the winner in ADAS.” points me,’’ he said. spot and Dodge took the eighth cause thinks like paint chips.” every system works is not some- Sargent said that, traditionally, Senard opened to the possibil- spot. As to the concept of design de- thing most people want to do These results put these four fects, that’s something else, Sar- when they get a new car. American brands ahead of both CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 Toyota and Lexus, Sargent said. The survey methodology was the same as in past years. J.D. Ford Creates Local Information and Community Center Power surveyed about 76,000 by Jim Stickford place where people in the neigh- 2019 model year new vehicle borhood can go to learn about buyers about the quality of their Ford is working hard to be a the progress of Ford’s efforts in vehicles 90 days after initial pur- good neighbor. Corktown. chase. The rankings were broken That, according to Lucia Soto, It is also meant to be some- down into problems per 100 vehi- acting spokesperson for Ford at thing of a community anchor, cles (PPV) to get a score. the opening of the company’s said Soto. “We covered just about every “Michigan Central Information “We want this to be a place major brand in the auto indus- Center” at 1907 Michigan Avenue where people can go to get infor- try,” Sargent said. “The lower the in Detroit. mation, not just on the progress PPV, the better. The industry av- The office had its debut on of Ford’s construction, but on erage was 93 PPVs. The Buick June 19, exactly one year after events and people who are in the brand had a PPV of 92, finishing Ford announced that the Dear- neighborhood,” Soto said. “If ahead of the industry average. It born automaker was purchasing someone has anything to an- placed 11th on our list.” the old Michigan Center train sta- nounce, they can come here and Genesis’ PPV was 63, Kia 70, tion for the purpose of refurbish- we can put it up as sort of a com- Hyundai 71, Ford 83, Lincoln 84, ing. munity bulletin board.” Chevrolet 85, Nissan 86, Dodge The information center is lo- John Vincent, a technical spe- 90, the same as Toyota and cated in a building known as The Lexus. Factory and is meant to be a Corktown residents check out Ford’s new local information center. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lawrence Tech Engineering Students Win Design Event For the third consecutive year, ing to the effort were a pair of Lawrence Technological Univer- Ann Arbor high-tech firms. Soar sity has won first place in the Technology Inc. provided a LI- Self-Drive Challenge event at the DAR (laser-based radar) unit to 27th annual Intelligent Ground help the vehicle find its way, Vehicle Competition. while Realtime Technologies Inc., LTU was crowned champ on a simulation technology firm, June 10 after four days of compe- and the auto supplier Denso pro- tition at Oakland University in vided cash donations for on- Rochester, said LTU spokesman board computers and other Matt Roush. parts. Veoneer, a spinoff of the The winning vehicle is called Swedish auto supplier Autoliv, ACTor, for Autonomous Campus provided a 3D LIDAR as well as Transport/Taxi. The two-seat Po- automotive radars. laris Gem electric vehicle was The win included a $3,000 donated to the university prize and plaque. through a gift from Hyundai MO- Embry-Riddle Aeronautical BIS, the parts and service divi- University of Daytona Beach, sion of the Korean automaker. Fla., finished second in the event, Dataspeed Inc., a Rochester while Bob Jones University of Hills engineering firm specializ- Greenville, S.C., finished third. ing in mobile robotics, converted Other competitors in the Self-Dri- the vehicle to a drive-by-wire These LTU engineering students carried on a school tradition by winning a ground vehicle design contest. system, Roush said. Also donat- CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 View This Week’s Edition at http://TechCenterNews.com PAGE 2 TECHCENTERNEWS-WARREN JUNE 24, 2019 TechCenter News ® Ford Creates Corktown Information Center 31201 Chicago Road South Warren, Michigan 48093 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 586-939-6800 cialist mobility researcher at Ford, was also at the information Contact us: center’s debut to show how Ford [email protected] is using the latest technology to Deadline: Thursday 5:00 p.m. try to mitigate any traffic prob- for the next edition of Monday lems in the neighborhood as a re- sult of new businesses visiting as William Springer II, publisher a result of the Michigan Central Lisa A. Torretta, operations project. Jim Stickford, editor “Ford is investing in new forms Tech Center News is a registered of mobility,” Vincent said. “So we trademark of Springer Publishing Co. need to monitor how these vehi- www.TechCenterNews.com cles perform across the city’s eco-system, and how they move and how they interact with the neighborhoods. We need to know LTU Team Wins what impact they will have on the city.” Ground Vehicle To that end, Ford is using com- puter modeling and computer Design Contest simulations as part of the compa- ny’s research, Vincent said. Some CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 of the work was shown on table ve challenge included Oakland and wall displays to people visit- University, the University of De- ing the information center. troit-Mercy and the U.S. Military “The table display shows our re- Academy at West Point. search and the progress it has Coached by C.J.