Elon Musk, Michael Cole, Jim Lentz.
“One thing I should mention here that frankly has been quite disturbing to me is the degree of media coverage of Autopilot crashes – which are basically almost none – relative to the scarcity of media coverage of the 1.2 million people that die every year manual crashes.”
Elon Musk here complains about the media’s selective math regarding crashes with Tesla’s semi-self-driving EV. He went on to say journalists are effectively “killing people” through biased reporting as it dissuades people from using safer technology.
electrek.co
“By 2020, Kia will offer 14 alternative-fuel vehicles globally. They will include EVs, hybrids and plug-in hybrids, as well as a fuel cell model.”
Kia’s European boss, Michael Cole is ready to go all-in as the Korean carmaker will soon offer the full scale of electrification with a Kia FCV to be expected by 2020.
autocar.co.uk
“The Prius family was the right idea at the right time. But I think as hybrids have become more mainstream, they are becoming more like another powertrain in a series.”
So Jim Lentz, CEO of Toyota North America does not see an SUV or crossover being added to the Prius family but a hybrid drive to a Toyota SUV rather.
freep.com
“The burden resulting from the diesel issue has not been relieved.”
“What’s clear is that today we have expertise in hugely complex areas, like developing engines and gearboxes, that start-up companies will not have to worry about, because electrical powertrains require a different kind of complexity. There could be a race between the hardware and software makers to find out who emerges on top in the car industry.”
“The first pictures of the Model 3 will be end of March. I am being a little coy here, we are not gonna show everything about the Model 3 until a lot closer to production time.”
“Battery costs are not coming down fast enough to democratise it.”
“Air pollution has no physical boundaries. By limiting the ULEZ to only the most central areas, everyone outside the zone will be left to suffer.”
“I lost drive. Tell me what to do.”
“When it comes to zero emissions, we’re absolutely religious. We’ll be the absolute No. 1 leader in zero emissions. No doubt. That’s our positioning.”
“We could react rapidly but currently there’s no intention.”
“We are starting to see a change in the EV marketplace, helped by the fact that BMW have arrived, Volkswagen are about to arrive. Kia showed an EV at Geneva. For one thing, the media acceptance of the technology is starting to mature.”