Autoblog Minute: VW Q3 financial woes, 2015 Tokyo Motor Show
Fri, Oct 30 2015
[00:00:00] Consumer Reports pulls its Tesla recommendation, the U.S. copyright office offers a ruling that affects car owners and gear heads, VW gets hit hard with third-quarter losses, and lots of exciting news from Tokyo. I'm senior editor Greg Migliore and this is your Autoblog Minute Weekly Recap.
After a week away testing vehicles for Autoblog's Tech of the Year award, we're back in the office to recap the week in automotive news.
[00:00:30] One of the things you might have missed was Consumer Reports pulling its recommendation of Tesla's Model S sedan. The blemish for Tesla comes after a tally of reviews from customer surveys. The most common problem areas for the Model S as cited by survey takers included: the drivetrain, power equipment, charging equipment, body and sunroof squeaks, rattles, and leaks. So lots of stuff. Though they could not ignore a score of "worse-than-average", Consumer Reports still
[00:01:00] highlighted the fact that the Model S was "the best performing car" they've ever tested. Telsa CEO Elon Musk took to social media to defend his sedans saying: "Consumer Reports reliability survey includes a lot of early production cars. Already addressed in new cars." And, "Tesla gets top rating of any company in service. Most important, CR says 97% of owners expect their next car to be a Tesla (the acid test)."
In Financial news, Volkswagen took a hit and reported an operating loss of
[00:01:30] $3.84 billion. This is the first such loss for VW in 15 years. Toyota reclaimed the crown as the world's largest automaker as well. It's important that it's not all doom and gloom for VW though in Q3. Sales revenues were up and the company's automotive division boasts $30 billion dollars in liquid assets. It's a sizable war chest that will no doubt come in handy, as the company has yet to feel the full brunt of the diesel emissions scandal.
Good news for gear heads. The US copyright office
[00:02:00] ruled in favor of mechanics and car owners by granting an exception to existing copyright law. The law was originally meant to prevent software pirating and bootlegging of Hollywood movies. Automakers had hoped that the scope of the law could be expanded to include the complex software that now runs most vehicles on the road today. The answer for now, is no.
The 44th Tokyo Motor Show kicks off with tons of concept vehicles that we were excited about this week. Mazda introduced the RX Vision concept.
[00:02:30] The design itself is beautiful, but there's more to get excited about because it means a return to rotary engines for Mazda. It's calling this the next-generation Skyactiv-R rotary engine. Now Mazda wasn't the only automaker giving us a peek into the future. There were stunning concepts from Toyota, Subaru, Yamaha, and Suzuki. And that's just scratching the surface, there was a lot of great things to see in Tokyo.
Those are the highlights from the week that was. Be sure to check out my full recap this Saturday. With additional insight on the
[00:03:00] Porsche Macan GTS. For Autoblog, I'm Greg Migliore.
After a week away testing vehicles for Autoblog's Tech of the Year award, we're back in the office to recap the week in automotive news.
[00:00:30] One of the things you might have missed was Consumer Reports pulling its recommendation of Tesla's Model S sedan. The blemish for Tesla comes after a tally of reviews from customer surveys. The most common problem areas for the Model S as cited by survey takers included: the drivetrain, power equipment, charging equipment, body and sunroof squeaks, rattles, and leaks. So lots of stuff. Though they could not ignore a score of "worse-than-average", Consumer Reports still
[00:01:00] highlighted the fact that the Model S was "the best performing car" they've ever tested. Telsa CEO Elon Musk took to social media to defend his sedans saying: "Consumer Reports reliability survey includes a lot of early production cars. Already addressed in new cars." And, "Tesla gets top rating of any company in service. Most important, CR says 97% of owners expect their next car to be a Tesla (the acid test)."
In Financial news, Volkswagen took a hit and reported an operating loss of
[00:01:30] $3.84 billion. This is the first such loss for VW in 15 years. Toyota reclaimed the crown as the world's largest automaker as well. It's important that it's not all doom and gloom for VW though in Q3. Sales revenues were up and the company's automotive division boasts $30 billion dollars in liquid assets. It's a sizable war chest that will no doubt come in handy, as the company has yet to feel the full brunt of the diesel emissions scandal.
Good news for gear heads. The US copyright office
[00:02:00] ruled in favor of mechanics and car owners by granting an exception to existing copyright law. The law was originally meant to prevent software pirating and bootlegging of Hollywood movies. Automakers had hoped that the scope of the law could be expanded to include the complex software that now runs most vehicles on the road today. The answer for now, is no.
The 44th Tokyo Motor Show kicks off with tons of concept vehicles that we were excited about this week. Mazda introduced the RX Vision concept.
[00:02:30] The design itself is beautiful, but there's more to get excited about because it means a return to rotary engines for Mazda. It's calling this the next-generation Skyactiv-R rotary engine. Now Mazda wasn't the only automaker giving us a peek into the future. There were stunning concepts from Toyota, Subaru, Yamaha, and Suzuki. And that's just scratching the surface, there was a lot of great things to see in Tokyo.
Those are the highlights from the week that was. Be sure to check out my full recap this Saturday. With additional insight on the
[00:03:00] Porsche Macan GTS. 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.
By Autoblog Staff
See also: Autoblog Minute: Highlights from the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show, Autoblog Minute: Highlights from the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show, Autoblog Minute: Highlights from the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show.