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The next steps automakers could take after sales drop again in April

DETROIT (Reuters) - Major automakers on Tuesday posted declines in U.S. new vehicle sales for April in a sign the long boom cycle that lifted the American auto industry to record sales last year is losing steam, sending carmaker stocks down. The drop in sales versus April 2016 came on the heels of a disappointing March, which automakers had shrugged off as just a bad month. But two straight weak months has heightened Wall Street worries the cyclical industry is on a downward swing after a nearly uninterrupted boom since the Great Recession's end in 2010. Auto sales were a drag on U.S. first-quarter gross domestic product, with the economy growing at an annual rate of just 0.7 percent according to an advance estimate published by the Commerce Department last Friday. Excluding the auto sector the GDP growth rate would have been 1.2 percent. Industry consultant Autodata put the industry's seasonally adjusted annualized rate of sales at 16.88 million units for April, below the average of 17.2 million units predicted by analysts polled by Reuters. General Motors Co shares fell 2.9 percent while Ford Motor Co slid 4.3 percent and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV's U.S.-traded shares tumbled 4.2 percent. The U.S. auto industry faces multiple challenges. Sales are slipping and vehicle inventory levels have risen even as carmakers have hiked discounts to lure customers. A flood of used vehicles from the boom cycle are increasingly competing with new cars. The question for automakers: How much and for how long to curtail production this summer, which will result in worker layoffs? To bring down stocks of unsold vehicles, the Detroit automakers need to cut production, and offer more discounts without creating "an incentives war," said Mark Wakefield, head of the North American automotive practice for AlixPartners in Southfield, Michigan. "We see multiple weeks (of production) being taken out on the car side," he said, "and some softness on the truck side." Rival automakers will be watching each other to see if one is cutting prices to gain market share from another, he said, instead of just clearing inventory. INVESTORS DIGEST BAD NEWS Just last week GM reported a record first-quarter profit, but that had almost zero impact on the automaker's stock. The iconic carmaker, whose own interest was once conflated with that of America's, has slipped behind luxury carmaker Tesla Inc in terms of valuation.

Basic Continuously Variable Transmission explained with Legos

In recent years, the search for better fuel efficiency and smoother shifting has produced automatic transmissions with double-digit gears. Alternatively, the same quest has boosted the popularity and usage of a different type of automatic transmission without any fixed gears, the continuously variable transmission, or CVT. YouTuber Sariel's Lego Workshop recently took the time to build a CVT demonstration model out of Legos to help explain how they work. Sariel begins by showing the model's input and output shafts that are parallel to each other. Each shaft has a cone attached to it, and they are inversely placed so that the large part of one cone is next to the small part of the other cone. The two cones are connected using a rounded rubber band.  By shifting the rubber band up and down the cones, the machine changes the effective ratio between the cones. So, a 1:4 ratio can be smoothly transitioned to 4:1. No clutch is required to operate the mechanism, and it eliminates hitches or pauses between gear changes. CVTs are also advantageous over 9- or 10-speed automatics in that they are far less complex and weigh less.  To demonstrate how the CVT operates in a vehicle, Sariel used a joke about Top Gear. The original Top Gear is represented by a faster-moving car that has the rubber band around the large part of the cone on the input shaft. Top Gear without former hosts Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson, and James May is represented by a slow-moving car with the rubber band around the large part of the cone on the output shaft.  For an even more detailed explanation of how CVTs work — albeit one that doesn't involve toys — you can click here. Technology Toys/Games Nissan Subaru

Renault plans to sail — literally, sail — on new class of cargo ship

Going green on the ocean may take another step toward reality in about two years, when Renault is expected to load automobiles aboard wind-powered ships for delivery around the world. The partnership between the car maker and Neoline, a French-based company, aims to reduce Renault’s global carbon footprint by eliminating many of the emissions from traditional fuel-powered cargo ships. Neoline officials said that, when propelled solely by the wind, their sailing ships' total emissions drop by as much as 90 percent. The roll-on-roll-off ships will use solid sails that are 50 meters tall. The company says it will start testing the program in 2024 by transporting vehicles to North America and other locales from Saint-Nazaire, in western France. Renault has pledged to achieve zero carbon in Europe by 2030 and worldwide by 2050. Renault, now part of an alliance with Nissan and Mitsubishi, hasnÂ’t sold cars in the U.S. market under its own brand name since 1987. A U.S. return as been considered for years, and the partners are now in talks that could reshape the alliance. The shipper's intent to deliver vehicles to North America is an intriguing wrinkle to those talks. The firm says that about 300 to 400 vehicles can be shipped on each Neoline vessel, although the loading will take longer that it would using a traditional cargo ship. A demonstration vessel shown was 446 feet in total length and had more than 45,000 square feet of sail. The partnership between Renault and Neoline was first announced in 2018.   Green Mitsubishi Nissan Green Culture