+++ The next AUDI TT will be much lighter, more efficient and better to drive than ever. Engineers working on the third-generation TT want to close the handling gap to the Boxster (produced by Audi’s fellow VW Group brand, Porsche). But they aim to do so without affecting the Audi’s reputation for style, luxury and everyday usability. This will be achieved in a number of ways. Firstly, Audi plans to cut the TT’s kerbweight, which has knock-on benefits for the dynamics, fuel consumption and performance. Under the skin will be the VW Group’s new MQB platform. It uses high-strength hot-formed steel and allows thinner-section members to be employed, giving a stiffer and lighter basic chassis. Add in a bodyshell made predominantly from aluminium and the new model should be over 60 kg lighter than the current car. That brings it down to around 1,200 kg; just 35 kg more than an A1 1.6 TDI. Audi recently revealed the TT Ultra Quattro Concept at the Wörthersee show in Austria. Based on the current-generation TT, it slashes an incredible 300 kg from the kerbweight through extensive use of lightweight materials such as carbon-fibre, magnesium, aluminium and titanium. Audi has already hinted that it could point towards a extremely low volume production car, but its unclear whether that will be a run out model for the current car, or use the new 2014 TT as a basis. Another benefit of the new MQB platform is that the front wheels are moved forward, while the engine stays in the same place. This creates a longer wheelbase, which should improve the ride, plus a shorter front overhang. And it means the engine will be mounted further back between the wheels. The result is better weight distribution and more predictable handling. Although the overall teardrop silhouette will be retained, the styling will be sharper and more aggressive than the MkI and MkII TTs. Inspiration comes from the e-Tron and e-Tron Spyder concepts seen at 2010’s Detroit and Paris Motor Shows, as well as more recent show cars such as the Crosslane Coupe 'Q2' concept shown in Paris at the end of last year. Slimmer headlights and a three-dimensional grille sharpen up the front end, while full-width LED tail-lamps will emphasise the wide, muscular haunches. The TT will also be offered as a Roadster; and this will stick with a lightweight fabric roof. Inside, Audi is expected to push the boundaries of quality yet again. There will be tactile leather and chunky aluminium trim, while the dashboard will be dominated by an eight-inch touchscreen. Although it’s a bit smaller than an iPad (which has a 9.7-inch display), owners will be able to swipe through the various menus in the same way. Four-cylinder engines will again form the bulk of the line-up, with most TTs sold featuring 1.8 and 2.0-litre TFSI engines ranging from 180 hp to 220 hp. There will also be a cleaner, 184 hp version of the 2.0-litre TDI diesel. It’s unclear whether Audi will offer the cylinder deactivation technology seen on the 140 hp A1 Sportback 1.4 TFSI on the larger 1.8 and 2.0 engines, but an engineer told it was a definite possibility. At the top of the range, the TT-S will get an all-new 2.0-litre turbo, producing 300 hp and 380 Nm of torque. But the TT-RS will stick with a reworked version of its 5-cylinder 2.5-litre TFSI, boosted to around 380 hp. The new TT is expected to go on sale in early 2014, although we’ll get our first glimpse of the car some time in late 2013. +++ BMW will invest a total of 3 billion euro for its range of “i” Electric Vehicles by the end of this year. The money comes from profits BMW makes in booming markets like China. Around a third of the group’s 2012 EBIT earnings of 7.6 billion euro came from sales in China. BMW is pushing for the launch of its i3 electric city car before the end of this year, as it is aiming to meet stricter emission rules in the European Union, United States and China. The report says BMW’s fleet currently has average emissions of 138 grams per kilometer in the EU, with standards for new cars being set at 95 grams per kilometer by 2020. One effective way to comply with the standards is to make electric cars. The production version of the BMW i3 will be unveiled at the Frankfurt auto show in September, with launch scheduled for the fourth quarter this year. In early 2014, BMW will also launch the i8 plug-in hybrid sports car. Prices have not been announced yet, but the i8 is expected to cost more than 100,000 euro, according to Ian Robertson, BMW’s sales boss. As for the i3, even though EV sales have failed to meet targets so far, BMW is optimistic it will earn money with every i3 sold. +++ FORD will launch more than 15 new vehicles in Europe within the next 5 years, with most of them being powered by British-built engines. That was the pledge made by executive vice president of Ford Stephen Odell. He also said that engines built by Ford in the UK could potentially power one third of all Fords globally. Odell issued a call to create better market conditions that would enable manufacturers to flourish. To help face the challenges of the modern marketplace Ford will invest in new technologies to drive product appeal and seek out better-qualified engineers for its operations. Odell spoke about the skills deficit in the UK and emphasised the importance of a workforce with the right skills and qualifications in the industry. He called on the motor trade to “do more in the interests of schoolchildren” to help encourage more careers in engineering and science. Despite tough economic conditions, Odell is confident that European and UK manufacturing could survive under the right business conditions: "We expect Europe’s volume car makers, preferably encouraged and aided by Brussels, to follow the hugely successful American example and do what everybody knows needs to be done: to restructure, to cut excess manufacturing capacity and to reinvigorate their product range. And to develop industry-leading technology for the world”. Odell issued a “wide-ranging call to European politicians, business leaders, academics and regulators to create market conditions that enable manufacturers to flourish”. He warned that without help from policy makers, the European car industry would continue to struggle, on the back of total European car sales being down 22 per cent in the past 5 years. Odell added that current EU regulations “make an average car approximately twice as expensive as it otherwise would be”. However, Odell stopped short of directly attacking any single piece of legislation, nor mentioned exactly the factors to blame for ramping up prices, but did criticise European free trade agreements with South Korea, and did state that Europe should follow the US’s example in order to help boost the car market:“We expect Europe’s volume carmakers, preferably encouraged and aided by Brussels, to follow the hugely successful American example and do what everybody knows needs to be done: to restructure, to cut excess manufacturing capacity, to reinvigorate their product ranges. And to develop industry-leading technology for the world”. Odell vowed that Ford of Europe’s restructuring efforts (regardless of any political intervention) would deliver “sustainable profit margins of 6-8 per cent in the medium term”. +++ LAND ROVER ’s plans to replace the ancient Defender with a new range of super-rugged, relatively basic off-roaders have been scrapped, according to sources close to the company. Outline plans to build the new model in India, probably alongside a related Tata SUV, have also been dropped. A further consequence of the surprise move is that the planned JLR engine factory in India has also been put on ice. Although a replacement Defender is currently in the works, John Edwards, Land Rover’s global brand director, has been quoted as saying the new Defender will not go into production in 2015 as originally envisaged. The current Defender will still be retired in 2015, however, partly because of the impossibility of meeting future legislation. It is thought that the latest plans for the new Defender, which is certainly 3 years away, are to create a more premium-level product and build it on a version of JLR’s new, all-aluminium PLA architecture. Land Rover’s aluminium body shop can currently handle 95,000 vehicles per year on 3 shifts, but there is already existing room for expansion to 180,000 units. Even so, Land Rover has started work on a further extension of the body shop, suggesting it expects to roll out more than 4 models based on the PLA platform. The upshot is that it’s highly likely that a new ‘premium’ Defender will be a sister car to the next-generation flagship model of the expanded Discovery range, with both models based on a new, marginally smaller version of the PLA architecture. Sources say Land Rover is confident of being able to buy aluminium at a highly competitive price from its new joint venture in Saudi Arabia. This, and premium pricing, means building the car in the UK would be cost-competitive. The decision to shake up plans to replace the Defender has been prompted, at least in part, by the fact that the health of the automotive division of parent company Tata is in question. After suffering a sales humiliation with the super-budget Nano, the company has also seen its new Aria SUV massively undershoot sales expectations. New car sales in India have gone into freefall in the past 6 months. Without Tata Motors making significant sales progress, any planned co-operation with Jaguar Land Rover on a back-to-basics Defender is not financially viable. The product development boss hired to oversee the new Defender argued strongly against using a separate chassis construction and trying to compete globally, particularly with Toyota, in the market for commercial SUVs. +++ A LEXUS IS coupe, based on the new IS saloon, will go on sale in 2014. This 3-door coupe will look very similar to the LF-CC concept that appeared at the 2012 Paris motor show. The LF-CC previewed various styling elements on the new IS, including its large trapezoidal front grille, plus it was equipped with the 2.5-litre petrol-electric hybrid drivetrain that is available in the new IS saloon. Lexus is also considering a high-performance IS F version of the new IS to act as a halo model for the range. If it goes into production, this will use a V8 engine, similar to the outgoing IS F. What won't be introduced any time soon is a diesel engine. A diesel was considered when the IS was being developed, but the company would have had to engineer the engine from scratch, and it felt that the hybrid would offer lower emissions and fit better with the Lexus brand. Lexus has suggested that it would be easy to do a plug-in hybrid version of the IS. However, it says this would only be launched if there is sufficient demand, and there are no plans to do so just yet because sales of the Toyota Prius Plug-in have been disappointing. +++ The all-new NISSAN Qashqai will go on sale in 2014, before the new X-trail, despite being revealed after the bigger SUV. We’ll see the X-Trail at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show in September. The Qashqai will be unveiled a month later, before going on sale at the end of 2013. The X-Trail will then reach showrooms in the early part of 2014. Key to the appeal of the new Qashqai will be a more upmarket interior, more boot space and improved fueleconomy and CO2. Prices aren’t expected to be too much higher than for the current car, though.The new Qashqai won't have a seven-seat +2 version when it goes on sale. Global product planning boss Andy Palmer confirmed that the Nissan will have a 7-seat cross-over, but said: “We won’t do it in the same way”. And an insider explained what this means. “The Nissan X-Trail will get 7 seats; the Qashqai will only be offered with 5”. The current Qashqai+2 is a lot more expensive than the standard car, but the rearmost seats are small and suitable for children only. The new Qashqai will be built in Sunderland and will be charged with building on the massive sales success of the current car. It was the 6th best selling car in Britain in 2012, with 45,675 finding homes. “The future Qashqai will be innovative with both styling and technology”, Palmer told. “Don’t expect it to look like the current car with a few extra radiuses”. The new Qashqai will be built on a new, modular platform that will underpin medium-sized Renault and Nissan cars, from the next X-Trail to the forthcoming Mégane. This has been engineered to accept plug-in hybrid technology, and the Qashqai is first in line. Palmer confirmed that a plug-in hybrid version will be introduced in showrooms in Europe in 2015. The hybrid’s CO2 emissions will dip under 50 gram/km, while a 115 hp 1.2-litre supercharged engine will replace the current 1.6-litre petrol. The new 1.6-litre diesel, carried over from the current car, will have its CO2 cut to below 100 gram/km. High-end versions will still be offered with four-wheel drive. +++ The TESLA Model S is undeniably one of the stars of the electric car segment, but it is also marketed as a luxury car. So, while people expect it to sell well for an EV, when it comes to luxury cars, the competition is so tough than many don't give the Model S a chance. Well, it looks like they were wrong, as Tesla’s electric sedan has outsold the benchmark of the luxury segment, and the soon-to-be-replaced, Mercedes-Benz S-Class. It happened in the U.S. in the first quarter of this year, with Tesla selling 4,750 Model S sedans. Mercedes-Benz sold 3,077 S-Class vehicles, BMW delivered 2,338 7-Series sedans and Audi sold 1,462 A8 models. The statistics show that more people bought a Tesla Model S than any of the similarly priced gasoline-powered cars from the top3 German luxury brands. The comparison may be found exaggerated by some, as actual selling prices for the Mercedes S-Class start toward the upper end of the Tesla Model S price range, while prices for the other cars are at the lower end. On top of that, the Model S qualifies for a $7,500 federal tax credit, while the other cars don’t. But the fact remains: Tesla’s only model at the moment is selling well, with Model S sales estimates for this year having been raised from 20,000 to 21,000. Add to that is the praise the Model S received from Consumer Reports and it’s pretty clear that times are good for Tesla Motors. +++