Vehicle infotainment systems are nothing new. Over the last decade we’ve seen improvements to dashboard systems that control information and entertainment trickling down from luxury vehicles to economies of scale. Infotainment systems are now almost a commodity but in real-life testing proprietary automotive solutions are usually found lacking and deficient in common sense. Can Apple once again improve on the benchmarks and break the mould of vehicle infotainment?

During the keynote, Apple Senior Vice President Eddy Cue promised a system that will play your music, display maps and your text messages, and even read them with Siri. Most importantly, it replaces whatever infotainment operating system is built into the car with iOS. Say what you want about Apple’s products, but they are generally intuitive and easy to use. Nearly any child or computer illiterate person can pick up an iPad and figure things out fairly quickly – that has always been one of the manufacturer’s greatest strengths.

Apple is enhancing iPhone integration in cars with its latest software update, iOS 7. But not every new car will benefit from the added functionality. Starting in 2014, a dozen vehicle manufacturers will offer Apple’s new iOS in the Car. Brands that will offer iOS in the Car include Acura, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, Jaguar, Kia, Opel, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Volvo. Exactly which models will get iOS in the Car and whether the feature will be standard or optional has not been announced.

While interesting news, this doesn’t necessarily put Apple ahead of the pack in the race to your vehicle dashboard. Several companies have been publicly going at it for some time now, including those bullish enough to put out proprietary solutions, like Mercedes and its gesture-based, augmented reality known as DICE. It remains to be seen how vehicle manufacturers react to the news, and whether they will accept conceding this much control of the infotainment system and related navigation profits. Short OS lifecycles are a major issue for vehicle manufacturers. The main issue is that car brands are not in the consumer technology business; they are in the transportation business.

But if there is one thing Apple is able to achieve time-and-time again is success. Providing customers with a very clear idea of how to use a relatively new product or service until it becomes an industry standard. That, along with the ubiquity of the iPhone, could mean that iOS in the Car has a real shot at transforming automotive infotainment as we know it. Nevertheless Google’s Android open-source infotainment system is more than capable of keeping up with Apple’s iOS in the Car.

High-efficiency LED lighting became one of Audi’s design signatures. The brand was hardly alone in using LEDs, but no one has adopted them as widely and successfully as Audi, which uses them to give every model a branding advantage.

New techniques in lighting design are adding to the dramatic presence of luxury cars, while also providing real-world functional benefits. The Cadillac XTS now contains more than 20 separate light sources that ‘greet’ the driver in a carefully choreographed sequence when the key fob is pressed.

Naturally, when Mercedes chose to produce such an accessory for their cars, they wanted to refrain from adding something that could be seen as garish and keep it decidedly simple. The Illuminated Star is a simple LED-infused Mercedes-Benz logo that illuminates the radiator grille of the vehicle; however we are still doubting the good-taste factor.

Notably, the system is never active when the car is in motion. Instead, it lights up only when the car is unlocked, its engine is turned off or its doors or trunk are opened, and remains on for 15 seconds. Presumably to ensure passers-by are well aware that they in the presence of an almighty Mercedes, and hence seriously consider stealing it.

Those looking to push the boundaries of illumination, brand recognition and good taste can purchase the emblem. But as a trend ‘OEM Signature Lighting’, as opposed to aftermarket signature lighting, is here to stay. Our bet is that the Shanghai Motor show in April 2014 will be packed with illuminated logos.

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We are sure the decision by Project Better Place to file for liquidation, which was announced on Sunday, wasn’t an easy one. We loved the ideals, mantra, and people at Better Place – although we always doubted the business acumen surrounding the concept. We guess Israel just wasn’t the promised land for Better Place.

Revolutionary ideas take hold if they are simple. Better Place sold a business model more than a car; moreover, the car it offered was unenthusiastically reviewed by the automotive press and consumers.  Customers were being asked to buy a mediocre car with uncertain resale value, a nascent network of swap stations, and an unfamiliar contract for battery power.  Customers said – no thanks.

The vision of a pioneering electric vehicle infrastructure with a system of quick-service battery swapping stations was ambitious. Regrettably Better Place was hobbled by problems and delays, and the company’s idea failed to gain traction, with fewer than 1,000 cars on the road in Israel and another few hundred in Denmark. It’s a humbling end for a bold project.

Financial difficulties had left the company no option but to file for liquidation in a district court and to request the appointment of a provisional receiver to find the best way to minimize the damage to its employees, customers and creditors. Some 200 employees will be dismissed immediately. Some 100 employees will stay on to continue operating the existing service system, but are to be laid off at a later period.

To all of them we wish the best of luck in future endeavours.

It’s not all coming up green in the electric car industry. Sure, Tesla is making money, for now! If you have invested in Tesla Motors, you can stay in bed today. The Silicon Valley electric carmaker’s shares zoomed past $100 this morning for the first time as Tesla rides a good wave. With a market cap of $12 billion, the company is worth about one-quarter of General Motors. A bit superficial for a decade-old company that sells just one model.

But what goes up can (will) come down, and Tesla’s stock has been volatile since the company’s 2010 initial public offering. Those wild swings have attracted short investors. We are still hesitant to believe the full Tesla hype. We agree that Tesla accomplishments aren’t just plain luck. Tesla has managed to convince part of the market. Competency in technology is migrating to engineering, manufacturing and marketing. However Tesla has to develop a second generation business model to convince us. With only its current goals and business strategies Tesla will face a very doubtful future. Tesla bull investors should at least consider the following simple business questions:

- Is long-term demand sustainable for Tesla?
- How real are presented profit margins when credits are taken out of the equation?
- How will warranty costs be absorbed in future?
- Will Tesla be able to afford residual value guarantees on leased cars going forward?
- Will economies of scale ever be achieved?
- Will Tesla continue a premium business model even on lower vehicle segmentations?

Now add the old journalistic cliché that questions should always contain answers to these six questions – Who, What, Where, Why, When, How – mix in a generous amount of automotive industry know-how to the recipe and the very talented Elon Musk might have to dig deep for some answers. Elon Musk is an inspiring pure-bred 3.0 entrepreneur that created a benchmark product/service, obviously with the support of a very gifted team, which sparked a sense of astonishment upon the old-guard competition. Although at CARNORAMA we still have a little hint of anxiety towards Tesla’s business model.

TO ALL…SHALOM!

Today countless innovative automotive business models are emerging. Entirely new automotive technologies and supply chains are forming as old ones crumble. Automotive startups are challenging the old guard, some of whom are struggling feverishly to reinvent themselves. How will automotive business models look like in two, five, ten, or even twenty years from now? Who will be among the dominant automotive players? Who will face competitors brandishing formidable new business models? Which trends can make automotive business more challenging? Or, which trends are being missed right now?

The scale and speed at which innovative business models are transforming the automotive industry landscape today is unprecedented. For entrepreneurs, executives, consultants, and academics, it is high time to understand the impact of this extraordinary automotive evolution. Now is the time to understand and to methodically address the challenge of automotive business model innovation. Ultimately, business model innovation is about creating value, for companies, customers, and society. It is about replacing outdated models.

But how can we systematically invent, design, and implement these powerful new automotive business models? How can we question, challenge, and transform old, outmoded ones? How can we turn visionary ideas into game-changing business models that challenge the establishment – or rejuvenate it if we ourselves are the incumbents?

At CARNORAMA we constantly look in to these issues. There isn’t always a right or wrong answer. However, CARNORAMA can evaluate your wish list and break down requirements. Subsequently systematically create, deliver and capture value. At its core, CARNORAMA has a minimalism approach, removing from our research stuff that doesn’t add automotive value so that we have more time, energy, and resources to spend on things that do.

CARNORAMA is a group of original thinkers, creative problem-solvers, and inspiring leaders who care about creating lasting value within the automotive industry. As social entrepreneurs, corporate intrapreneurs, and solution-minded activists, we are the cutting-edge R&D department of our automotive society. We celebrate individual contribution, and more importantly, we recognize that our collective impact transcends the accumulation of knowledge and expertise to embody a lifestyle commitment emblematic of the CARNORAMA psyche. Our work at CARNORAMA gives us unique insights and access so we can continuously expand our capability in making automotive innovation actionable and prevalent.

For-value is the new black. Our work isn’t just a gentle nudge for automotive action; rather, it’s an urgent call for creating automotive value. We are changing the rules of the game every day by forging meaningful partnerships to increase our collective impact. CARNORAMA is a for-value company. We don’t waste time debating whether we should be for-profit or non-profit; we simply focus on creating shared automotive value for all.

Size is no longer a guarantee of success in the automotive industry. Only those automotive companies that find new ways to create value will prosper in the future. The purpose of this article was to present a short opinion of automotive consulting today and highlight the need to constantly create value.

We were thinking about how automotive consulting provided by CARNORAMA is different than any other automotive consulting in the world today. For example, where as with other consultancies is all about showing up, putting in the time, being seen, attending meetings, perhaps doing paperwork, managing teams, pleasing executive committees, forcing sales numbers and all the rest. At CARNORAMA our recipe for success is simple; from the get-go is all about creating value.

As an automotive consulting firm if you provide generic, off-the-shelf, recycled services and no one buys them – then you must pivot, re-calibrate, or create another service. When we decided to launch CARNORAMA, we reflected about our lives and our next steps, and we became excited as we realised that it has always been about asking ourselves how can we create value for others? As an individual or as a company all you should care about is adding value. That value might not always be financial, but it translates into momentum, and the rest follows.

Although we also develop independent automotive research projects, we mostly serve clients who want to infuse more value into their business. 21st century automotive problems need 21st century solutions. We are not a traditional consultancy, in the common sense of the word, as we don’t just map out an automotive strategy and walk away. We are catalysts for added automotive value. We use our own knowledge, resources, and network of automotive experts to build solutions just for you. By helping you solve complex problems with the most effective approach, we walk the walk of promoting automotive innovation through meaningful projects. Instead of describing our expertise in traditional automotive categories such as strategy, supply, and technology, we’d like to say that we simply excel in ROI (return-on-investment).

But it all starts with: How can we create value for our clients? No matter the automotive topic. We are not satisfied providing consultancy services unless we have created value for someone, somehow, somewhere. We get up every morning looking for ways to create meaningful value within the automotive industry.

Consider for a moment. How can you create value?

The automotive industry has developed into a complex network of interrelations across the entire value system, where decisions at any level often impact various other levels. Today’s tough challenges in the automotive industry require players to find new ways to create value if they are to prosper. To successfully adapt, players need to be able to respond to changes with focus, responsiveness, variability and resilience. Players can accomplish this by leveraging strategic areas to transform to an on-demand-value automotive environment. Please don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss how CARNORAMA can help you plan and prepare for an on-demand-value future.

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True factory-installed automotive infotainment platforms always struggled to find momentum and match consumer demands and expectations (for example consortiums like GENIVI and CCC). The automotive industry has been forced to adopt modified smartphone platforms like Android to compensate for the existing gap between automotive hypothesis and consumer reality. Standard automotive lifecycles simply struggle to maintain infotainment systems up-to-date and relevant during the lifecycle of a vehicle.

Volvo and Neonode have come together to launch a new in-car infotainment system powered by none other than the world’s most popular mobile operating system right now – Android. This new infotainment system is called the Sensus Connected Touch and it looks just about ready to truly usher in the era of networked smart vehicles.

The Volvo infotainment system uses a seven-inch touchscreen that runs the Google Android operating system. That seven-inch screen uses Neonode Multisensing technology to create an advanced touch interactive infotainment system that is easy for drivers to use. Volvo and Neonode note that the system is specifically designed and developed to fulfil strict safety regulations.

The goal during development was to create an infotainment system that delivers lots of capability while minimizing distraction to the driver. Neonode says that the technology used provides a 100% transparent no-glare interface that is undisturbed by electrical interference and other light sources, including sunlight. The technology is based on infrared light enabling touch control using any type of object including gloved fingers, car keys, styluses, or ordinary pens.

Sensus Connected Touch users will be able to do all sorts of things that require an Internet connection, including surfing the Web with a full HTML web browser, listening to songs and other types of audio via radio and podcasts, getting the latest weather updates in real time, and gaining easy access to all types of data and information. It also offers a number of useful extras like an option to turn the car into a Wi-Fi hotspot, and a feature that lets drivers locate the nearest Volvo service center based on their current location.

And speaking of location, the Sensus Connected Touch also has a connected GPS system which serves as the built-in tool for navigation. That, along with the built-in maps, should be enough to help drivers stay on track and on schedule wherever they go.

As it is, the Sensus Connected Touch infotainment system is already quite impressive. It isn’t ground-breaking by any means, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction. And it will undoubtedly be even better in the future – as long as Volvo provides vehicles with regular system updates.

Need our help? Please don’t hesitate to contact us should you need any assistance regarding this subject. We can provide data, forecasts, reports, and advisory services specific to your requirements. Click here and contact us now! We will reply within 48 hours.

Two of the most basic terms in the automotive Eco-Design field are ‘Cradle to Grave’ and ‘Cradle to Cradle’. They relate to the product life cycle from the raw materials (Cradle) to disposal (Grave).

• Cradle-to-Grave
  • A term used in life-cycle analysis to describe the entire life of a material or product up to the point of disposal

   

• Cradle-to-Cradle
  • A model of industrial systems in which material flows cyclically in appropriate, continuous biological or technical nutrient cycles. All waste materials are productively re-incorporated into new production and use phases.

Cradle-to-Cradle is a manifesto asking for a radical change in the automotive industry. Discouraging downcycling, and encouraging the manufacture of products with the goal of upcycling in mind. This automotive vision of upcycling is based on a system of ‘lifecycle development’: after vehicles have reached the end of their useful life, they are dismantled and become ‘technical nutrients’.

Upcycling is the opposite of downcycling, which is the other half of the recycling process. Downcycling involves converting materials and products into new materials of lesser quality. Most recycling involves converting or extracting useful materials from a product and creating a different product or material.

Automotive components and systems offer a special case when it comes to recycling time; often not accepted by local garbage collection services because of their weight, size and composition. Old car parts can present a real recycling hassle. Instead of focusing energy on disposing the materials, people and businesses are setting their sights instead on what those parts could become.

Automotive upcycling completely reuses materials in ways that do not degrade their quality. The upcycling approach is ‘eco-effective’, as opposed to the ‘eco-efficient’ approach of conventional recycling. With more and more automotive corporations considering their products’ complete life cycles, the application of the cradle-to-cradle model could have profound implications not only for the environment but also for investors. Eco-effective automotive companies can potentially lower their raw material costs and generate more sustainable returns.

While traditional environmentalism chants a reduction mantra (reduce, reuse, recycle), the cradle-to-cradle theory is rooted in capitalism, which encourages growth. Environmentalists often focus on how products degrade the environment. Reconciling growth with environmental preservation, and by envisioning products that are in harmony with the earth’s cycles of regeneration is the secret.

The cradle-to-cradle theory almost conveys a sense of inevitability for the automotive industry. Automotive investors with foresight can support the transformation from an economy that presages its own funeral (cradle-to-grave) to an economy that celebrates its perpetual reincarnation (cradle-to-cradle). And these investors can profit financially while encouraging the adaptation of a truly sustainable form of automotive capitalism.

Need our help? Please don’t hesitate to contact us should you need any assistance regarding this subject. We can provide data, forecasts, reports, and advisory services specific to your requirements. Click here and contact us now! We will reply within 48 hours.

The following criteria should be utilised by clients to measure the quality and effectiveness of an automotive consultancy:

• Quality of consultant team:
  • Did the consultant team bring the requisite level of automotive experience as well as industry and functional expertise?

   

• Consultant value delivered:
  • Did the consulting firm exceed the automotive value proposition articulated in their proposal or in the original project objectives?
  • Did it bring automotive industry-leading solutions and leverage their tools, techniques, methodologies, and bank of intellectual capital?
  • Was there an effective automotive knowledge transfer embedded into the client base?

   

• Consultant service levels:
  • Did the consultant exceed client service level expectations in terms of proactively resolving issues, delivering quality proposals, and managing the change control process and overall delivery process throughout the engagement lifecycle?

   

• Timeliness of delivery:
  • Were milestones met and deliverables provided in a manner consistent with the requirements articulated in the statement of work?

   

• Cost-effectiveness of delivery:
  • Were actual costs less than budget?
  • Did the consultant focus upon controlling and reducing costs where possible?
  • Were invoices submitted in a timely and accurate manner?

Currently having doubts regarding the automotive consultant you are working with? Are you looking for a feasible alternative? Searching for a better solution? Look no further, CARNORAMA should always be your preferred automotive consultancy choice. CARNORAMA’s success recipe is quite simple – we combine timely, quality, and cost-effective delivery with trusted advisor relationships with key executives across the client organisation.

CARNORAMA Advisory – our automotive consulting team – explores emerging trends and accurately predicts the future direction of the automotive industry. Requested by clients, assembled by our team of automotive experts, and backed up by analysis of our extensive market data. You get in-depth intelligence and expert analysis, trend overviews, detailed reports, and accurate forecasts. Our custom-made Advisory services are the perfect roadmap for your creative and commercial teams.

The relevance of automotive cycles is changing. CARNORAMA gives you a greater confidence in your product decisions, the ability to shorten your lead times and be more responsive to market shifts. Our Advisory service is essential for the next generation of automotive elite executives around the world. Enabling them to remember the past, absorb the present, and imagine the future.

When you require greater focus on a specific automotive issue than may otherwise be available from syndicated research services, CARNORAMA provides targeted automotive research solutions. These efforts utilise our intelligence gathering infrastructure but are custom designed to fit your requirements. For example:

• Analyst Advisory Sessions
  • Our analysts are available to conduct advisory sessions for your board, sales force, clients, prospects, etc.

• Custom Research Reports
  • Perform due diligence on a particular automotive market segment, examine automotive trends, survey your clients, etc.

• Tailored Forecasting
  • Assess the automotive market opportunity for product launches, expansion with market sizing and segmentation, etc.

• Executive Presentations
  • Distill the top line research into summaries, presentations, etc.

Need our help? Please don’t hesitate to contact us should you need any assistance regarding this subject. We can provide data, forecasts, reports, and advisory services specific to your requirements. Click here and contact us now! We will reply within 48 hours.

Whatever the result of this school-yard quarrel, the bad publicity around EVs remains. In the interests of balance, you can read the NY Times article that kicked it all off.

Professionally I am less worried about the EVs technology limitations, but personally freaking out about the virtues of data logging technology. The connected car is already the third fastest growing technological device after phones and tablets. However the public knows little, or nothing, about this technology.

]]> http://www.carnorama.com/858/tesla-vs-ny-times/feed/ 0 http://www.carnorama.com/834/sergio-nostradamus-marchionne-european-doomsday-prophecies/ http://www.carnorama.com/834/sergio-nostradamus-marchionne-european-doomsday-prophecies/#comments Thu, 17 Jan 2013 21:30:38 +0000 Anthony Spark http://www.carnorama.com/?p=834 The US market is now riding high, therefore the concern is still Europe and Fiat’s boss, Sergio Marchionne, had some words of warning at the Detroit Auto Show. Marchionne, who also heads up American car firm Chrysler, drew parallels with what happened in the US industry when the economic crisis hit in 2007.

The boss of Italian car giant Fiat wants the EU to step in and help rescue Europe’s beleaguered automotive industry. As brands struggle with falling sales, Sergio Marchionne called for intervention on a European level and stop individual companies and countries making unilateral decisions which are not in the interests of a single market. Vehicle sales in Europe slumped from 16 million a year to just 10 million and the government stepped in to bail out automakers.

Marchionne, as chairman of the European carmakers’ association ACEA, has been lobbying the EU but said he is being ignored.

With sales forecast to decline for a sixth year in 2013, it is obvious that the industry needs to embark on significant retrenchment to better match the weakened state of demand from drivers. Marchionne argued that the absence of any co-ordination by the European Commission will lead to cuts being made in a ‘haphazard’ way, which will see governments put their national interests above the greater good of Europe’s car industry.

Marchionne reckons that ultimately the whole thing will unravel. If there are no cars to be bought, you can’t make cars. You don’t need to go to Harvard Business School to figure this out. Marchionne also said that Europe is ‘broken’ and its leaders are ‘fundamentally maiming’ the European automotive industry’s ability to recover.

Marchionne concluded by saying that he did not see the markets rebounding for some time, and certainly not in 2013.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU TOO SERGIO!

Unfortunately you are spot on. But please stop trying to please greeks and trojans. Italians need you more than Americans.

While the new Corvette dominated the headlines, there was more than two dozen new concepts and production vehicles unwrapped, most to good reviews. Yet away from the glamour and lustre executive performances, not every new model stood up to close scrutiny.

The show really kicked off fittingly with the unveil of the latest version of an American icon, the seventh generation Chevrolet Corvette. Ford was keeping a pretty low profile with the Blue Oval brand leaving its traditional big press conference in the Joe Louis Arena next door until the second press day. Even then, I am certain the big focus was all about commercial vehicles, strange but true.

The talk was generally about rebuilding sales volumes and relief that the US didn’t fall off the fiscal cliff. Eyes were warily caste across the Atlantic however and at the dark economic clouds hanging over Europe. Time now to start preparing for another battle closer to home – the 2013 Geneva Motor Show.