What benefits do you provide your customers, so they’ll open their wallets and spend more?

By Wendy Eichenbaum

There are many ways that you could improve your customer experience (CX). For the product, you could redesign a current feature or add a new feature. For support, you could expand your phone hours, or shorten the response time to email. For marketing, you could refresh your website, or open a new social media channel. But you only have a certain amount to spend on the improvements, so what do you address?

You have to find out what your customers value. If you add a new feature, will they flock to the product? Or is the feature irrelevant when it comes to their purchasing decision?

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The Detroit Bureau

Chinese automaker Great Wall Motors is expected to make a formal bid to acquire all, or at least some of the assets of, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, according to several reports out of Asia Monday morning.

The news comes a week after initial reports surfaced that FCA had rejected an earlier bid from an unspecified Chinese automotive manufacturer.

At the time, there was speculation several of that country’s native carmakers might seek such a deal with the spotlight focusing on both Great Wall and Guangzhou Automobile Group, which currently has a joint venture with FCA to produce Jeeps.

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CityMetric

President Donald Trump’s decision to exit the Paris climate agreement reaffirmed what was already clear: The federal government is no longer leading American efforts to shrink our carbon footprint.

But many state and local governments – along with businesses and consumers – aim to help fill this policy void.

At least a dozen governors have joined the United States Climate Alliance, committing their states to achieve emissions reductions consistent with President Barack Obama’s Paris pledge. More than 200 mayors are promising their cities will follow suit.

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Reuters

BMW and Daimler, the world’s top luxury carmakers, have announced alliances with suppliers, talking up the virtues of having a bigger pool of engineers to develop a self-driving car.

But another motive behind these deals, executives and industry experts told Reuters, is a concern that robocars may not live up to the profit expectations that drove an initial investment rush.

Carmakers are increasingly looking to forego outright ownership of future autonomous driving systems in favor of spreading the investment burden and risk.

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NerdWallet

Investors sank more than $1 billion into auto tech companies in 2016 alone.

With that kind of funding, the question isn’t whether self-driving cars will change everything about how we get around, but how soon.

Experts also predict a shake-up in the auto insurance industry, with self-driving cars leading to fewer accidents. Does this mean you can stop paying for car insurance as soon as your autopilot-enabled Tesla rolls off the line? Not quite.

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Detroit Free Press

Hyundai Motor said Thursday it plans to launch early next year a second-generation hydrogen fuel cell vehicle that will travel more than 580 kilometers (360 miles) between fill-ups under Korean standards.

If delivered as promised, the new fuel cell vehicle will travel 40 percent farther than its first generation fuel cell SUV, the Tucson ix FCEV, launched in 2013. Under European standards, Hyundai said the new vehicle can drive 800 kilometers (498 miles).

Fuel cell cars, emission-free like pure electric cars, can be refueled in two to three minutes unlike electric vehicles that can take several hours to fully recharge. But the dearth of hydrogen fueling stations is an obstacle for mass adoption.

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The Detroit News

Some cash-strapped states are considering taxing self-driving cars as they look for ways to replace revenue lost from gas tax collections that have dwindled as cars have become more fuel efficient.

State lawmakers in Massachusetts have introduced legislation that would impose a 2.5 cents-per-mile tax on self-driving cars.

A similar measure that would establish a 1 cent-per-mile fee for self-driving cars, and a 2.6 cent-per-mile fee for autonomous trucks that have more than two axles has been approved by the state Senate in Tennessee.

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SF Gate

The auto industry is on the cusp of a huge transformation, with self-driving cars and ride-hailing services fundamentally changing the way society moves.

Jim Hackett’s job is to find a place in this future for Ford Motor Co. And help shape it.

In May, Ford tapped Hackett as the storied company’s new CEO. The former top executive of the Steelcase office furniture business, Hackett joined Ford’s board of directors in 2013 and last year became chairman of Ford Smart Mobility, a subsidiary focused on business models that don’t revolve solely around building and selling cars.

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By Art Liggio, President and CEO, Driving Dynamics

Anytime your drivers hit the road, they are surrounded by any number of people with diminished operational control.

Distractions, speeding, fatigue, aggression, DUI—it’s a minefield out there. Faced with the “other driver” and their poor decisions and actions it’s certainly no easy job to manage your fleet’s risk exposure but together we prepare your drivers to steer clear of the oncoming danger.

One area that’s a serious cause for concern is the rapidly growing abuse of prescription opioids. It’s has reached epidemic levels. The latest research shows a seven-fold increase since 1995 in the number of drivers killed while under the influence of prescription opioids. And it doesn’t appear to be getting any better as Researchers at Columbia University’s Center for Injury Epidemiology and Prevention expect a continued increase in the percentage of fatal crashes related to opioid usage.

So what should you be communicating to your fleet?

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The Detroit Bureau

The Volkswagen Microbus was an icon of the Hippie era.

Could the German maker score again in an age when the youth generation is focused on environmental issues? It’s certainly hoping so, as it confirmed widespread rumors that it will put a modern version of the Microbus, the Volkswagen I.D. Buzz, into production.

First shown at the January 2017 North American International Auto Show, the I.D. Buzz Concept picked up on many of the classic microvan’s design cues, starting with the relatively blunt nose and flat roof. But instead of the rear-mounted engine of the classic Microbus, the I.D. Buzz will rely on a pure battery-electric drivetrain.

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