Monthly Archives: May 2010

Maybach 57S Coupe – Conversion by Xenatec

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New Maybach 57S coupe Did you think Maybach was dying? Were you feeling sorry for the car maker? Then, cheer up, for we have some good news. The car maker is getting back to life. A custom car body manufacturer in Weinsberg, Germany, has developed a new coupe body for the Maybach limousine. The car body, though, looks nothing like the Maybach Exelero concept that everybody had seen five years ago. The Xenatec Group is going to have some kind of a loose collaboration with Daimler to produce their version of the new car.

All of us are aware that Maybach is not a leader and is nowhere close to being one as far as sales figures are concerned. However, this model which may turn out to be an exotic one will be limited to just 100 units. The looks may differ. But don’t expect too many changes in the performance. The new Maybach 57S coupe will use the same 603 bhp twin-turbo V12 motor that normal Maybach models are usually strapped with. Just like the other Maybachs, this car too will have a 3.39-meter-long wheelbase. There’s not much of a surprise as the newcomer will sport the regular two-tone exterior too and the highly-customizable four-seat interior.

But, hold on! The new Maybach 57S coupe is not really going to be that boring. The front doors have been drawn a little longer and this change has pushed the B-pillar back about 20 centimeters. And yes, you’ve guessed it right; there will be no rear doors.

The rear fascia of the new Maybach 57S is also more interesting. The addition of a redesigned rear bumper with LED daytime lights gives a sporty look to the car and the 20 cm wider rear only puts the accent on this athletic character. To sum up the rear, the exhaust along with the bumper and the lighting has been changed. The dazzling car flaunts 20-inch alloy wheels that come standard, but optional 21-inchers also fit in the larger arches.

Anxious to know if the car is still pricey? Well, the coupe starts at €650,000 and comes with options like sport seats. But, that’s excluding import duties and taxes. The coupe will be sold in Asia, the Middle East, the United States and Russia. Yes, there’s Asia in the list. We just hope India is included as part of their Asian market. But, there’s one thing for sure. The quality of materials used in production will be great and the car comes with a four-year warranty that will be respected by all Maybach-authorized service facilities across the globe.

New Maybach 57S coupe Rear

Getting back to the Xenatec Group; if successful, the custom job might boost Maybach’s sales numbers enough to eliminate rumors of the brand being shut down for good. For all you know, the Xenatec coupe might rock the road. Each model will be converted into the coupe specification individually, built with key information direct from Daimler, Maybach’s parent company.

Engineered, designed and built completely in-house at Xenatec, the company promises a two-door, four-seat coupe layout with a fully coachbuilt, individualized theme for each customer, as it was done in the twenties and thirties. Isn’t that going to be amazing? A customized Bentley Mulsanne, then the customized Volkswagen Phaeton, and now, a customized Maybach coupe! Whoa!

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VW Confirms Buying 90.1 Per Cent Stakes in Italdesign Giugiaro

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Giorgetto-Giugiaro First we had Renault and Mahindra exchanging goodbye kisses. After that, we had the newlywed global auto majors Volkswagen and Suzuki starting their synergy search in India. Now, one of the partners has some more news for everybody. The Volkswagen Group and Italdesign Giugiaro S.p.A. (IDG), Turin will soon strengthen their victorious collaboration, putting it on a new footing. The Volkswagen Group will take a 90.1 per cent stake in IDG, including the brand name rights and patents.

The shares are being acquired by AUDI’s Italian subsidiary Lamborghini Holding S.p.A. The remaining shares will stay in the possession of the present owner family Giugiaro. “With this shareholding in Italdesign, we are participating in one of the most renowned design and development companies with one of the richest traditions in the automobile industry.

Italdesign is the flagship for creative Italian automobile design and has been instrumental in shaping the face of the automobile industry worldwide. As the creator of the Golf I, Giorgetto Giugiaro laid a new foundation for Volkswagen design in the 1970s,” Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, commented in Turin.

VW and IDG have been jointly enjoying success for many decades now. It is not just the Golf I that made Giugiaro famous. Concepts for prominent models like the first Volkswagen Passat, Scirocco or the Audi 80 have also earned enough fame. A comprehensive development framework agreement was concluded in 2008. Volkswagen and IDG have also teamed up for the Volkswagen Up! model family project. Implementation of the agreement is also subject to the standard approval by the relevant authorities.

“A new era in the strategic partnership between our companies begins today. Italdesign becomes a permanent member of the global Volkswagen family,” Winterkorn said. “The Volkswagen Group will be continuing its model initiative over the coming years and will benefit from the capacity and competence of Italdesign. The company will therefore be making an important contribution to our 2018 global growth strategy,” Winterkorn continued.

Prof.-Dr.-Martin-Winterkorn-Chairman-of-the-Board-of-Management-of-Volkswagen-Aktiengesellschaft

Giorgetto Giugiaro and Aldo Mantovani had set up IDG in Turin in 1968 and the two are heralded as pioneers of modern Italian automobile design. Italdesign has also acquired a reputation worldwide as a highly-competent development center. Currently, Italdesign generates sales of over €100 million and is equipped with an intelligent 800-employee staff.

“Every drop becomes the sea when it flows oceanward. In the last few days I ran into this sentence while I was reading Sophie`s World by the Norwegian novelist Jostein Gaardner. We are the drop. Becoming part of the Volkswagen Group means revaluating ourselves and our strength. Entering Volkswagen means to open up a promising perspective for the company,” Giorgetto Giugiaro said.

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Land Rover Celebrates the 200,000th Production of Freelander 2

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2010_Land-Rover-FreelanderII-Sport It is raining celebrations, isn’t it! Just yesterday, we celebrated the 5th year anniversary of the Maruti Suzuki Swift, which also coincided with the production of 4.5 lakh units of the same. And today we have another celebration. Only this time it is the Tata Motors owned British brand, Land Rover.

Land Rover is celebrating a production breakthrough. Yes, the 200,000th Freelander 2 has been rolled off from the company’s award-winning plant in Halewood, Liverpool plant, three years after the first Freelander 2 rolled off the production line. The vehicle we are talking about is a TD4_e wrapped in a Biscay Blue colour. The proud vehicle would stylise the garage of a customer in the UK, which happens to provide the largest market for the car manufacturer. Land Rover has a history of manufacturing the best SUVs in the world and so it does not sound very surprising.

Land Rover equipped the Freelander 2 with a stop-start system in early 2009, which made it the first SUV in the world to feature an intelligent stop-start technology. From there onwards, the stop-start technology has been adopted as a standard feature of all the diesel manual Freelander 2 vehicles. This accounts for almost half of the total global sales of the SUV.

“This achievement is thanks to the Halewood workforce, which has continuously driven improvements since the launch of Freelander 2 to maximize customer satisfaction. I’d like to congratulate the Halewood workforce on this team achievement,” said Michael Straughan, Halewood Operations Director.

The Land Rover Freelander 2 TD4_e is equipped with an enhanced consumption of 0.8 litres (4.5 mpg). Even the CO2 emissions are very less and emit 8 percent lesser than any standard EU2 drive cycle. The stop-start system featured in the SUV contributes immensely to its fuel efficient reputation. The system shuts the engine off when the vehicle is stationary and starts when the clutch pedal is pressed.

2010 Land Rover Freelander 2 Sport 1_2 The system utilises a special starter motor which is also used as a generator to recover energy through regenerative braking. This results in generating electric current which gets stored in the capacitors, which is later utilised to start the engine, thereby minimising the stress on the car’s electrical system.

Land Rover has witnessed a positive trend in its global sales with sales up 29.7 per cent for April and 35.2 per cent year to date. The UK, however, remains the largest market for the Freelander 2 SUV with sales up 79.3 per cent year to date.

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China – The Land of Opportunities

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aptopix-china-auto-show-2009 Car sales in China reached record numbers last year and zoomed ahead of the US. Total vehicle sales stood at 13.6 million units in 2009, which was way of the country’s projected score of 10 million units.

It wasn’t decades ago that cars were considered to be the fancy of the country’s rich elite, and hotels or taxi companies as chauffeured vehicles. While they still make for a major part of the key market for new cars, over the past 15 years or so, there has emerged a new category, the rising middle class, which is giving impetus to car manufacturers.

And car makers have realised that young working professionals are buying new cars. And while the coastal cities, like Shanghai and Beijing, in China have matured over the years, there are still a number of inland cities which still hold a lot of potential for the car manufacturers.

So it does not come as a surprise that industry experts are expecting double-digit sales growth in China for at least the next five years.

used car market in China

“The numbers are incredible,” says Tim Lee, president, GM International Operations. “We’re going to exceed two million units this year, which is five years sooner than we ever predicted in our own growth pattern curves. And we’ll be to three-million units by 2015, which is 10 years sooner than we thought it would be.”

Last year, which was the biggest nightmare for US and Europe, witnesses record of a sort in new car sales when the Chinese and Indian markets were concerned. China, with total sales of 13.6 million vehicles, surged well past the US where about 10.4 million vehicles had been sold.

The astounding sales number in China was prompted by a number of factors, the prime one being the $586-billion Chinese stimulus package that created millions of jobs for infrastructure projects and investment.

While in US about 800 out of 1000 people own a car, the Chinese figure stands at 80 out of 1,000. This highlights the growth potential of the Chinese market. Many, however, predict that the sales will cool down this year as the stimulus dollars work their way out of the system. But the first three months have worked their magic and China continues to outpace the world.

Car manufacturing brands, like General Motors and Volkswagen, which were smart enough to foresee this trend in China, are reaping great benefits now. Quite in contrast, Ford decided to enter the Chinese market about seven years ago, and has to be content with about 3 per cent of the market.

“We will grow as the market grows,” Robert Graziano, chief executive, Ford Motor [China] Ltd. Ford is planning to launch four new vehicles into the Chinese market in the next three years. It will also grow its dealership network by 70 outlets from the 240 it currently has.

china-auto-show-2009

Another important point is that China is the second largest consumer of oil in the world. And as the number of vehicles increase in the country, the import costs of fuel will also skyrocket.

But the Chinese population is ready for that. According to a recent Ernst & Young survey, 60% of Chinese consumers would consider buying a plug-in hybrid or electric cars, which is about five times more than the number of respondents in the U.S., Japan, Germany, the U.K., Italy and France.

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Yetival – The Yeti Festival where Online Met Offline

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Yeti at Tweet Up New and pre-owned car sales and services, excellent ads to promote the new cars, massive discounts and much more has been done to draw the attention of the Indian car enthusiast.

What more can one do? How about a social meet? That’s exactly what SkodaAuto India did. A fully owned subsidiary of SkodaAuto a.s., Czech Republic (Volkswagen Group), SkodaAuto India hosted the first ever Skoda Tweet up session. That was something interesting as online bloggers, car fanatics, active tweeters and social networkers got together in an unusual online meets offline. In high spirits, everybody shared ideas about India’s most eagerly awaited SUV, the Skoda Yeti.

Yetival was bubbling with life. Yes, that was the name given to the first-of-its-kind tweet up session for automobile enthusiasts held at Arshia Motors, Connaught Circus in India’s capital. The session offered bloggers from different walks of life an excellent opportunity to meet each other offline. Skoda enthusiasts were even happier. They had more reason to smile as they surveyed SkodaAuto’s upcoming SUV Yeti.

Ms. Megha Verma, Head of New Media, SkodaAuto India said “I am thrilled by the overwhelming response to the first Yetival; it reflects the nation’s growing excitement for our upcoming SUV Skoda Yeti. It gives me immense pleasure to bring our online friends together at this offline meet for a sneak preview of the Yeti.”

Fellow Blogger Anamit Sen at Yetival

The firsthand touch and feel of the soon to be launched Skoda Yeti took the spirits of the car fanatics to a whole new level. Everybody’s favorite SUV, the Skoda Yeti was and was meant to be the topic of discussion. Earlier at the Auto Expo 2010 the Skoda Yeti had already spawned great amount of curiosity and the Yetival stood as proof for the SUV’s huge fan following across India.

Bharat Iyer, a passionate Skoda buff who is apparently an online blogger too said, “I am excited with this first ever online users meet organized by Skoda – it is a great platform to meet likeminded online bloggers and discuss our passion for cars. I just cannot wait for the Yeti to be launched in India. I fell in love with the Yeti on display. I was one of the first ones to catch the glimpse of Skoda Yeti at AutoExpo 2010 and this event helped to further understand the vehicle in-depth, it is the SUV I have been waiting for.”

Skoda Yeti displayed @ Tweet Up

If you missed the meet or if you do not stay in the capital city, worry not. The Skoda Yeti will be touring across India where Skoda enthusiasts can get a first hand touch and feel of their favourite SUV. Just be prepared. The SUV, which offers a unique combination of design, safety, functionality and comfort, has been extremely popular in the international car market, especially in Europe.

Having smarter-looks and being less bulky than the traditional SUVs, the Yeti combines smooth city driving with harsh off road capabilities. Its long suspension and high ground clearance makes it competent for rougher tracks. The Skoda Yeti, indeed, is one of the most eagerly awaited mid size SUVs to be launched in India later this year.

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Maruti Suzuki To Celebrate The 5th Anniversary of Swift in Style

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The baby is celebrating its 5th year anniversary today. Which baby we are talking about? Yes, we are talking about the Maruti baby, well known as Swift. The Maruti Suzuki Swift was launched in India on May 25, 2005. The car got the best responses from the Indian car buyers. The car got 16000 advance orders even before it was unveiled and its price made public.

In these five long years, Maruti Suzuki has sold more than 4.5 lakh units of Swift cars. Initially, the company manufactured nearly 5,000 Swift cars every month. But over the years, the production capacity has been increased to meet the growing demand for the car, with a result that Maruti Suzuki now manufactures over 12,000 Swift cars in a month (including the diesel versions).

According to the ARAI certified fuel efficiency, the Swift Diesel with its compact 1.3 litre DDiS engine gives an unmatched 21 kmpl, while the Swift Petrol with next generation K Series 1.2 litre engine offers a fuel economy of 17.94 kmpl.

Maruti Suzuki adopted a new design concept for the Swift and it became a landmark model for the company. Indian car buyers responded well to the bold, aggressive, sporty and curvy design of the car. The Swift was so much different from the former cars offered by the company in India.

Maruti Suzuki’s Managing Executive Officer (Marketing and Sales), Mayank Pareek said, “The Swift has captured the imagination of Gen-next. It symbolises Maruti Suzuki’s efforts to be in step with a changing India. Its sporty styling and peppy performance made it an instant hit, and these attributes remain unsurpassed even today.”

Prior to the launch of Swift, it was believed that the Indian car buyers would not be willing to pay a premium price for a small car. Swift proved it wrong and introduced the concept of premium A2 segment in the Indian car industry.

While Swift petrol was getting all the adulations, MSI launched the car in diesel variant in 2007. This was aimed at attracting the customers which demanded refinement and performance that had the added advantage of fuel efficiency of a diesel car. The diesel Swift got a DDiS engine and labelled the company’s re-entry into the diesel car segment.

Let’s take a look at Swift’s journey so far. Swift achieved the one lakh unit sales in less than 2 years from its launch. The next one lakh units were sold in less than thirteen months, which is a record in itself. Apart from that, Maruti Suzuki Swift is the only car in its segment to achieve over 1 lakh unit sales per year consecutively for last two years.

MSI is celebrating the 5th year anniversary of Swift in a unique way. On May 30, Maruti Suzuki will set a new world record by congregating the largest number of Swifts in three Indian cities – Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Sriperumbudur at Chennai – simultaneously. This will be the first of its kind in India and of its size in the world.

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Indians Find Green Cars Expensive

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Hybrid and electric cars are the new age technologies that car makers are increasingly resorting to. And India, as it gains prominence on the global automotive map, is becoming a major spot of attraction for car manufacturers. In the beginning of this year, Toyota launched Prius, its best selling hybrid, in India. And the first batch of 80 Prius hybrid cars reached in India last week.

The Toyota Prius flaunts a price tag of a whopping Rs 27-lakh tag. A sales executive from the company says that the car is cool as well as the pricing. “It’s an aspirational product and so people will want to own one and be seen driving it.” The Prius looks a little pricey to us. And with special edition launches from BMW and Mercedes, Prius hybrid may not find a lot of customers for itself.

So, the question arises, will the rich in India buy a Prius hybrid instead of a luxury BMW or a Mercedes, just because it is hybrid and fuel efficient.

Some time back Honda had launched the hybrid version of the Civic. But it failed to make a connection with the Indian car buyers. The Honda Civic hybrid had all that it takes for a car to click with the customers, great performance, mileage and gorgeous looks. But it fell flat, and the prime reason for that was the price of the car. The hybrid Civic was priced almost double of the normal Civic at around Rs 23 lakh and, at that price, people didn’t find it value for money.

Toyota had to cut the price of Prius to almost half to handle the high inventory. Prius was, that is until the recall crises hit it, one of the most favourite cars among the American celebrities and they loved to be flaunting their Prius at most social dos. Having a stylish electric car was considered to be cool and smart. And many gave up on their limos just to be driven around in an eco-friendly hybrid Prius.

Over the past few years, electric and hybrid cars have found themselves quite a fan following in the form of movie stars, sportspersons and activists. Indians have given their nods to CNG and electric cars in India, but when it comes to electric cars, the story is quite different.

Even the home-made REVA failed to make an impression on the Indian car buyers’ minds. So what exactly prevents Indians from buying an electric or hybrid car? Is it the cost factor or is it something that is yet to dawn upon the car makers?

“One of the biggest factors for me when buying a new car is the comfort and then the price. Prius is a car which has been priced two segments above its actual position. I don’t mind paying 20-30% extra on a hybrid car but the heavy taxes levied on these cars make it an impractical purchase,” says Kunal Ramchandani, managing director of Fahrenheit Automobiles, one of the largest dealers of Skoda in North India.

“Till the government comes up with some subsidies for these kinds of car they will be priced way above what they should be and even the technology applied would be defunct,” says Raj Kapoor, vice-president, Northern Motorsports and the man who organises the Desert Storm rally. “If I have three cars then won’t mind my third being a hybrid, but as the primary mode of transport it’s a big NO. Even today we don’t have a full size car that is completely electric. If I get a small car that is decently built, has good enough space and runs about 150 km on a full charge, I’ll definitely go for it.”

Quite possibly, the biggest problem is a lack of general awareness about clean fuel technologies in India. The Indian government has done nothing to educate its citizens about the advantages of electric and hybrid cars.

Additionally, Indian customers are price sensitive and are always looking for cheaper deals.

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Nissan Micra – Production Started and Bookings Open

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The week started off well and we had some very good news from Nissan. The Japanese carmaker has finally started commercial production of its much-awaited small car ‘Micra’ from its plant in Chennai. Nissan plans to make this facility a global export center. The Micra will be on the Indian roads in July. So, in case you are looking to own one, you may order your Micra right away. Bookings open today. As for the exports, production would start in July and delivery will begin in September.

In case you want to have a look at the Micra, it is already being displayed in Nissan’s showrooms across India. The bookings will be against an initial amount of Rs 50,000. “The start of commercial production of Nissan Micra is the beginning of a new chapter for us in India. In an exponentially growing and challenging Indian automobile industry, we are introducing a product that has been specifically designed keeping in mind the discerning consumer needs of India,” Nissan Motor Company Chief Operating Officer Toshiyuki Shiga said in a statement. This made-in-India car will be exported to “strategic markets” like Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Nissan has plans of selling the Micra in over 100 countries.

The to-be global export hub of Nissan in Oragadam, near Chennai was inaugurated earlier in March. The two partners of the Franco-Japanese auto alliance, Renault and Nissan will together invest Rs 4,500 Crore to produce 4 Lakh units by 2015. Great plans! Nissan says that they always had a clear strategy for India and this has been clearly reflecting in the investments in the first manufacturing plant for the alliance in Chennai. Renault-Nissan has made an initial investment of Rs 2,900 Crore in the 640-acre Chennai plant for production of 200,000 units a year, which can be scaled up to 400,000 units. It plans to produce about 80,000 units in the first year.

The plant operates in full compliance with Alliance global manufacturing processes and quality standards. Its production management system, launched for the first time at any plant of Renault and Nissan, is based on mutual knowledge sharing and the best practices from both companies. The new manufacturing process allows the plant to seamlessly mix production of both Renault and Nissan products on same line.

Ford has marketed its Figo real well. VW has some very creative ads for its Polo. And now, it’s Nissan’s turn. To boost sales, the company will aggressively market the Micra and it will be supported by a comprehensive print, digital, radio and TV campaign shortly. The Micra has been pitted against the Maruti Swift, Hyundai i10 and i20. Let’s wait and watch who wins.

Nissan’s new car, Micra will come strapped with a 1.2-litre petrol engine and will have 85 per cent localization in components. The car was designed on the new ‘V’ platform, the versatile platform. The Chennai plant currently employs 1,900 people, and this is expected to go up to 3,000 employees in the next two years. The company, along with its supplier park in Chennai, estimates a total of 6,000 jobs to be created in the region. The Micra will be produced in Thailand, India, China and Mexico. A fifth location is yet to be decided.

The Nissan Micra has been designed to have broad appeal to customers across the globe. The compact car was designed and tested in Japan and fine-tuned to meet the tastes and desires of customers worldwide. Like the Maruti Suzuki Swift, Hyundai i10 and i20, the Micra too is believed to be an ideal car for everyday travel. Coming from Nissan’s stable, there’s no doubt that the car is chic, reliable and eco friendly.

The compact hatchback not only has pleasing looks, but is also engineered for smooth handling and agile performance. It is going to display the best-in-class fuel efficiency figures too. As mentioned earlier, over 85 per cent of Micra’s parts have been obtained through local vendors, 96 in total, and 50 per cent of them are located within Chennai. So, that’s what we call a made-in-India car.

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Are Women Dominating the Indian Car Industry?

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Since time immemorial, it had been believed in India that the kitchens belonged to women and the offices were for men. The man earned bread for the family while the woman cooked and served meals. Times have changed and it is time once again to rethink. Now, who does the automobile industry belong to; men or women? Remember, times are changing and we now present to you the facts.

Honda is very busy getting its small car ready for launch next year. The Japanese car maker flew several women employees of its Indian subsidiary, Honda Siel Cars India to the Tokyo headquarters. Wonder why? The engineers there wanted to study how women in saris slipped in and out of a car. It certainly looks like Honda has been working very hard to dig deep into the Indian woman’s mind and attention for detail. But, why is all this happening?

Research says that Indian women have begun fancying automobile and technology products. The two industries were, till recently, dominated by men. Marketers and industry experts say the Indian retail setting is drastically changing as more and more women are taking up jobs and seeding a surge in the average household income.

The facts and figures are here: Women made up nearly 16 per cent of Accord buyers and 12 per cent of Honda Jazz customers in India last fiscal. Over 15 per cent of General Motors India’s buyers are women. The same figures hold good for Maruti Suzuki India. It is estimated that the number of women car buyers in India has grown threefold in recent years.

A December 2008 study states that women are increasingly either buying or playing a crucial role in the decision-making process across the automobile and technology categories. The study showed that over one third of all car purchases in India were influenced by women. The increasing number of women buyers is driving car and technology companies to cajole the ladies with products suiting their tastes. No wonder Honda is trying so hard!

Companies are customizing products to meet the expectations of women consumers. Indeed, Honda’s choice of placing a vanity mirror on the sunguard to the driver’s seat in its new cars is also reflective of this trend. It is also learnt that women are high on the minds of company bosses pushing compact cars into the market. It all begins with colour. Nearly 30 per cent of General Motors India cars bought by women are red.

While a man would focus on the composition the product, a woman views it in a more integrated style; in terms of colour, style functionality and handiness. Isn’t that so true? When it comes to automobiles, women are being pampered so much these days. Did you know that market leader Maruti Suzuki is looking to set up a driving school dedicated exclusively for women? And also, don’t you think women looking for compact cars are getting spoilt with so much of a choice these days? In two years, a flurry of these cars has hit the market. Again, that’s just what women want!

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Ford Hires Virtual Employee Santos

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fordsantos There’s a new employee at the Ford Motor Company assembly line. What’s so special about that? Well, this inexhaustible macho guy has the perfect military and academic qualifications. Let’s introduce him. The tough guy’s name is Santos, a highly realistic virtual worker who doesn’t just do the work, but also records the actual physical strains of reaching, lifting and stretching. Surprised? He can execute tasks all by himself. He can walk, talk and answer questions.

Santos was actually created for the U.S. Department of Defense at the University of Iowa as part of the Virtual Soldier Research (VSR) program to lessen physical strain on soldiers. Ergonomists consider Santos as a breach in digital modeling. Now, he has moved from the virtual battlefield on to the virtual new car assembly line. Hopefully, he will help improve ergonomics at Ford’s manufacturing plants.

“Creating the safest and most ergonomic way to build a vehicle is a trial-and-error process – in recent years technology has allowed this process to happen in the virtual world,” said Allison Stephens, ergonomics technical specialist with Vehicle Operations Manufacturing Engineering. “Santos takes this to a new level. He can perform a task and tell us whether over months and years it will cause back strain, for example, and we can make adjustments until we find the optimal way to get the job done.”

Santos builds on the company’s use of digital avatars, dubbed Jack and Jill that help Ford test ergonomics and safety on the assembly line in the virtual world. Santos is much ahead. With his help, Ford will now be able to understand the true strain on the body when working on the job. He is still in the testing phase, Stephens said, but when he does come on board, he will help Ford move much ahead in the field of ergonomics.

When Stephens heard about the research being done with Santos in VSR program, she was immediately intrigued. “The same issue is at work at Ford as in the military – how to analyze human limits with dynamic motion. Santos, with his capability in predictive dynamics, will aid in increasing efficiency as well as safety and quality.” Santos is the result of years of study in modeling, multi-body dynamics and robotics, said Jay Johnson, CEO of SantosHuman Inc., which works in union with the University of Iowa.

“Our software uses a physics platform,” Johnson said. “We can change things and see the effect; that’s what predictive dynamics brings to the table.” Predictive dynamics uses general rules of human body movement combined with complex mathematical models and robotics to help Santos provide feedback on fatigue, speed, strength and torque, even as the parameters of the virtual environment change.

Santos has been outfitted with an absolute biomechanical muscular system that makes him obey all the laws of physics. The software is a new experience where Ford can see body strength in real time. Fatigue can be observed. With the ability to see and predict motion, Ford can work that into its designs and programs.

Ford began working with the University of Iowa three years ago. Stephens formed a partnership with GM and Chrysler to share funding, with each automotive group paying $500,000 over the past three years. The federal government has put in approximately $10 million towards development. But, we only hope that Santos never suggests eliminating humans as the best way to accomplish any of the tasks.

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