Automotive News - January 14, 2008 - (Page 3) JANUARY 14, 2008 • 3 82nd year — No. 6290 GPS that shares tips, and other show gizmos Leslie J. Allen lallen@crain.com Nissan-Chrysler team up Chrysler LLC and Nissan Motor Co. on Friday signed a deal for Nissan to supply Chrysler with a small car based on the Nissan Versa sedan to be sold in South America in 2009. Under the plan, Nissan will supply about 20,000 vehicles a year and build the cars at its plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico. That plant currently produces a 1.8-liter Versa for the United States. The car is badged the Tiida in Mexico and elsewhere overseas. The agreement is smaller than some had speculated. It will cover only one model and does not address Nissan’s gap in pickups. Chrysler’s strength in SUVs and pickups was seen as an area where Nissan might tap that company’s expertise. — Hans Greimel LAS VEGAS — Facebook comes to the car. Social-networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace have been the hottest thing on the Internet for the past few years. Now the concept is moving into the vehicle with a pair of technologies unveiled last week at the International Consumer Electronics Show. The Dash Express navigation system updates wirelessly. When traffic is congested, it suggests up to three alternate routes. The system also “learns” how long a driver normally takes to reach a certain destination so that it delivers realistic estimates of arrival times. And it lets you bookmark favorite locations, such as restaurants. Dash Express users can share their favorite locations with other Dash users. But Dash goes beyond that to create a mobile online Dash community. Users can share their favorite locations with other Dash users. Dashequipped vehicles also recognize traffic slowdowns and pass the word along to other Dash units traveling the same road. The technology comes from a Silicon Valley startup called Dash Navigation Inc. in Mountain View, Calif. More information is available at www.dash.net. A similar technology from Belgium’s TeleAtlas NV that’s found on TomTom navigation units allows map sharing. Users can enter updates directly into their navigation units to reflect changes in road conditions or construction. The system then makes those updates available to other TomTom users when they sync their devices online. “There is a true community of users out there who want to share their day-to-day experiences with others. TomTom gives you a forum where you can share photos, read newsletters, read tips and tricks, and much more,” says the TomTom Web site. TomTom is a Dutch company. Map Share, which became available last year, comes installed on several TomTom models. Some older models can upgrade to the software. The Consumer Electronics Show wasn’t all about communities, though. There were plenty of standalone new technologies to excite geeks behind the wheel. Here are a half-dozen other cool automotive gadgets that were at the show. see GIZMOS, Page 38 NANO TECHNOLOGY Tata Motors worked to keep costs down on the Nano minicar it rolled out last week in New Delhi. High roof: 6-footers can wear hats Work stops on plant Construction has been suspended indefinitely on a $530 million Chrysler LLC-Getrag Corp. dual-clutch transmission plant in Kokomo, Ind., because of a contract dispute between the two partners. Chrysler spokesman Dave Elshoff declined to comment on the nature of the dispute but said the company hopes it will be resolved so that Chrysler can stay on schedule to have the transmissions available by mid-2009. Chrysler is betting on the transmissions, which will replace conventional automatics on many six-cylinder, front-drive models. The transmissions can be teamed with Chrysler’s new Phoenix V-6 engine family. Dual-clutch transmissions offer better fuel efficiency and movement of vehicle power to the pavement than conventional automatics or manuals. Getrag is a Germanybased maker of transmissions. A company spokesperson could not be reached for comment. — Bradford Wernle 2-cylinder, rear mounted engine has one balance shaft to save cost and weight A single wiper blade Functional side air scoops Twenty-three inches shorter than a Honda Fit Continuously variable transmission is lighter than manual or automatic gearbox Tiny 12-inch wheels need just 3 lug nuts How Tata built the $2,500 car ‘Zealous’ suppliers may have assembled new way to design low-cost cars here Jesse Snyder jsnyder@craincom.de HOW TO REACH US Web site: www.autonews.com Editorial staff: 313-446-0361, e-mail autonews@crain.com or fax 313-446-0383 Advertising: 313-446-6790 or fax 313-446-8030 To locate information that has been published in Automotive News, call 313-446-1662. To start or renew a subscription or to report an address change or a delivery problem, e-mail subs@crain.com or call 888-446-1422 (in the U.S. or Canada) or 313-446-1662 (in all other locations). CORRECTION A story on Page 17 of the Dec. 3 1 issue incorrectly stated Ford Motor Co.’s sales rank in Britain. It was the top-selling automaker in Britain in 2007. NEW DELHI — Tata Motors’ celebrated $2,500 minicar — rolled out here last week to global fascination — pools the clean-sheet, cost-cutting ideas of dozens of suppliers, and might be a blueprint for how to design low-cost cars in America. This is not a doorless, motorized rickshaw with canvas top — the kind of ultracheap transportation some cynics expected to see Tata show at the Auto Expo here. Instead, the Tata Nano is a stylish four-door, five-passenger vehicle, about 23 inches shorter than a Honda Fit. And Tata Chairman Ratan Tata says the company nailed its now-famous price target. How? With a concept some analysts describe as “Gandhian engineering” for its extreme frugality. The Indian Ratan Tata may go global with his Indian minicar. automaker turned legions of eager suppliers loose on a challenge, using an unconventional but highly focused process. “Everybody is unusually zealous,” said Mohan Narayanan, head of application engineering for FederalMogul Goetze (India). After years of secrecy, details of the vehicle emerged last week. As expected, Tata left no cost-cutting stone unturned. For example, the 33-hp, 50-mpg Nano has a single windshield wiper; and the base model has no radio, power steering, power windows or air conditioning. The instrument panel is rudimentary — just speedometer, odometer and fuel gauge. The 12inch wheels need just three lug nuts. To save cost and weight, the Nano’s 624cc, two-cylinder gasoline engine has a single balance shaft instead of one per cylinder. Ratan Tata said that the base price to dealers would indeed be 100,000 rupees (1 lakh), or about $2,554 at current exchange rates. But he said that didn’t include the car’s 12.5 percent value-added tax or delivery charge. And Tata expects to sell better-equipped versions for a lot more. The Nano would not pass U.S. emissions or safety standards and will not be shipped to the United States. But Western automakers could mine its cost-cutting ideas and philosophies. Tata and its parts makers, including several Western companies, ignored a host of assumptions about how to design, build and source vehicles. Indeed, suppliers stepped up, getting involved early and innovating from the ground up. “We had about 100 suppliers on the project that made as big a contribution as our own development team,” said Girish Wagh, head of Tata’s 500person Nano development group for the past four years. Art of the possible Tata Motors CEO Ravi Kant said it was easy to pick Nano suppliers. “Some get the target challenge, and some say it is impossible,” Kant said. “Bosch Automotive CEO Bernd Bohr see TATA, Page 38 http://www.dash.net http://www.autonews.com
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