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Tesla offered nuclear plant in France, and more | Autoblog Minute

Longtime GM design chief Ed Welburn retires, Lincoln says it has high customer interest in Continental, and could Tesla build the Model 3 in France? Senior Editor Greg Migliore reports on this edition of Autoblog Minute. Show full video transcript text [00:00:00] General Motors' long time Vice President of design, Ed Welburn, announced his retirement this week. He joined GM in 1972 and he's just the sixth design chief in GM's 108 years. He's being replaced by Michael Simcoe who is Vice President of design for GM's international operations. Now Ed Welburn's time at GM dates back to when he was 11 years old. He wrote a letter to the company saying he wanted to be a designer. [00:00:30] Someone at General Motors got back to him and the rest is history. Lincoln already has 40,000 hand raisers for the new Continental. Now those aren't Tesla figures but it's still a very healthy number and shows a lot of interest for its new flagship sedan. The Continental will replace the MKS in Lincoln's lineup. Continental will be in showrooms this fall and it will offer a 3.0L V6 twin-turbo with 400 HP. Lincoln President Kumar Galhotra said, "No other Lincoln vehicle has [00:01:00] generated this much interest in this little time." This week in Tesla news, Reuters reports that a French government official has offered Elon Musk the site of a an old nuclear reactor to build a car factory. The reactor, which is located in the Alsace region of France, is set to close at the end of this year. Now this notion is not that far fetched. Musk says that he would consider it. Meanwhile demand for the Model 3 continues to be strong and has attracted hundreds of thousands of hand raisers. [00:01:30] Those are the highlights form the week that was. Be sure to come back this Saturday for my full recap where I'll have additional insights into the automotive industry. For Autoblog, I'm Greg Migliore. Autoblog Minute is a short-form video news series reporting on all things automotive. Each segment offers a quick and clear picture of what's happening in the automotive industry from the perspective of Autoblog's expert editorial staff, auto executives, and industry professionals. Lincoln Tesla Autoblog Minute Videos Original Video

Lincoln MKC crossover headed for Detroit

Fresh off the launch of the stylish new MKZ sedan, the newly named Lincoln Motor Company is reportedly preparing for a lineup expansion. According to TheDetroitBureau.com, the first new product joining the Lincoln brand is a small crossover based on the Ford Escape said to be called the MKC. We saw this machine testing a few months ago, and while we were hoping the name might be reserved for a future two-door model or even the diminutive Concept C hatchback, it looks like the "C" will stand for compact crossover instead.
The report also says that this crossover will be making its debut next month at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show, so we'll have to wait until then to see what the new model looks like. Unlike the MKX, which is based off the Ford Edge, we would expect there to be a lot more differentiation between the MKC and the Escape like Ford managed to do with the newest Fusion and MKZ.
In addition to the new MKC, the article states new MKS and Navigator designs are expected to debut by 2014.

BMW, Hyundai score big in JD Power's first Tech Experience Index

While automakers are quick to brag about winning a JD Power Initial Quality Study award, the reality, as we've pointed out before, is that these ratings are somewhat misleading, since IQS doesn't necessarily distinguish genuine quality issues. JD Power's new Tech Experience Index aims to solve that problem. The new metric takes the same 90-day approach as IQS but focuses exclusively on technology – collision protection, comfort and convenience, driving assistance, entertainment and connectivity, navigation, and smartphone mirroring. It splits the industry up into just seven segments, based loosely on size, which is why the Chevrolet Camaro is in the same division (mid-size) as Kia Sorento and the Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class is in the same segment as the Hyundai Genesis (mid-size premium). It makes for some screwy bedfellows, to be sure. Still, splitting tech experience away from initial quality should allow customers to make more informed and intelligent decisions when buying new vehicles. In the inaugural study, respondents listed BMW and Hyundai as the big winners, with two segment awards – the 2 Series for small premium and the 4 Series for compact premium, and the Genesis for mid-size premium and Tucson for small segment. The Chevrolet Camaro (midsize), Kia Forte (compact), and Nissan Maxima (large) scored individual wins. Ford also had a surprising hit with the Lincoln MKC, which ranked third in the compact premium segment behind the 4 Series and Lexus IS. This is a coup for the Blue Oval, whose woeful MyFord Touch systems made the brand a victim of the IQS' flaws in the early 2010s. But Ford and other automakers might not want to celebrate just yet. According to JD Power, there's still a lot of room for improvement – navigation systems were the lowest-rated piece of tech in the study. Instead, customers repeatedly saluted collision-avoidance and safety systems, giving the category the best marks of the study and listing blind-spot monitoring and backup cameras as two must-have features – 96 percent of respondents said they wanted those two systems in their next vehicle. But this isn't really a surprise. Implementation of safety systems from brand to brand is similar, and they don't require any input from users, unlike navigation and infotainment systems which are frustratingly deep.