This industry is alive with innovation |
“Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.”
That was the way Henry Ford saw it in his day. If he were still with us, he’d likely be pleased with Monday’s issue. It’s full of examples of companies trying to tackle problems head-on.
Among them:
■ Transient Plasma Solutions of Los Angeles is working on a new way of igniting fuel in internal combustion engines. The innovation would replace the traditional spark plug in order to enable cleaner-burning fuel and lower CO2 emissions.
■ Denise Gray, president of LG Energy Solution Michigan, is searching for ways to build electric vehicle batteries better, design them for faster production and lower their cost. The industry’s goal: $85 per kilowatt-hour in the next few years, down from about $1,000 per kWh two decades ago.
■ Pangea (shown above), the company formerly known as GST AutoLeather, has adopted the Toyota Production System and developed a number of other improvements as it recovers lost ground from its bankruptcy three years ago. The company now is in innovation mode, offering 3D graphic representations of seat coverings to let customers select from a much wider variety of prototypes before any leather is cut.
■ More than a year into the pandemic, a second wave of innovation around digital retailing is transforming auto retailing. Dealership technology companies are now scrambling to expand into spaces where they didn’t compete before. We recap the high-profile developments, partnerships and acquisitions that have unfolded at CDK Global, Reynolds & Reynolds, Cox Automotive and others.
We’ll also profile six of the finalists for the 27th annual Automotive News PACE Awards program for innovation. One of them is a turbocharger.
But turbochargers aren’t new, you say. They are for hybrid powertrains. In fact, Garrett Motion now offers one. And its first customer has been around since well before Henry Ford began tinkering with cars.
It’s Mercedes-Benz.
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