+++ The AUSTRALIAN new-vehicle market missed a gear last month, with sales slipping 5.1 percent on the corresponding month last year as buyers took a break. More than half of the top motor companies strayed into negative territory, with some down more than 20 percent on April 2016. The combined industry delivered 83,135 vehicles for the month compared with 87,571 units last year, although that was still a historically strong performance. The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) pointed the finger at the number of public holidays in April, with both Easter and ANZAC Day falling in the month, distracting potential buyers. FCAI chief executive Tony Weber said there were 2 fewer selling days overall in April this year compared with that month last year. “Added to this was the dampening effect that the holiday period had on dealership traffic as many families headed off to enjoy a final break before winter”, Mr Weber said. Year-to-date sales are now running 10,419 units or 2.8 percent behind last year’s tally, with the losses coming from traditional passenger cars, sales of which are down 9.2 percent. The industry will be hoping the sales dip is not a sign of cracks in the economy, rather an aberration caused by the holiday effect and major model changes for some high-selling models such as Hyundai’s i30. The good news is that the light truck segment remains on song, with business buyers driving up sales of pick-ups and vans by 3.1 percent for the month. Toyota’s evergreen HiLux again came out on top with 3.430 sales ahead of Ford’s equivalent, the Ranger, on 3.120 sales. With sales of the Hyundai i30 slumping by more than half as the Korean company makes its switch to an all-new model, the sub-$40,000 small-car segment (Australia’s biggest) slid 10.5 percent. Leading players in this segment, the Toyota Corolla (2.555 sales) and Mazda3 (2.313), were down 13.7 percent and 7.9 percent respectively. As ever, Toyota was the industry champion, although its 16.090 April sales tally represents a 2.9 percent fall over April last year. Second-placed Mazda fared better, scoring its best April with a 2.0 percent sales gain for a monthly total of 8.630 units, partly on the back of its just-released new CX-5 that, with 2.166 sales, was back as Australia’s number one SUV. Hyundai held on to third place, despite a 20.7 percent plunge in sales, to 6.850 units. This was entirely due to i30 which was caught between run-out and the introduction of the all-new model this week. Apart from i30, Hyundai had a stellar month, with models such as Tucson (1.530, +17.5 percent) and Elantra (452, +93.2 percent) pressing on. Traditional rivals Holden and Ford are back at it again, with Holden only just eking out a two-vehicle win over Ford, 5.804 to 5.802, for the month. For both of these companies, the demise of their local manufacturing operations is biting, with Holden Cruze sales down to just 4, compared with 808 in April last year, and Ford’s Falcon down to 7 units. Holden’s Commodore, which remains in production until October, still accounted for about a quarter of Holden sales, despite slipping 24.5 percent, to 1.441 units. Mitsubishi continued its renaissance with a 30.9 percent gain in volume, to 5.470 units, mainly thanks to a strong showroom performance by its ASX (1.451). Kia was another to make hay in April, with a 36.2 percent increase in sales thanks to across-the-board gains by its mainstream models (Cerato, Sorento, Sportage, Picanto and Carnival). Nissan is in danger of slipping from the top 10 for the first time in decades, with a 17.2 percent sales decline in April contributing to a 14 percent slide year to date. Volkswagen, Kia and Subaru all out-sold the Japanese company in April and are now queuing up behind it to take its 7th spot on the sales ladder. In the luxury segment, Mercedes-Benz was the only one of the big 3 German brands to make positive gains, up 0.3 percent, to 3.312 units, while rivals BMW (1.802 units, -26.6 percent) and Audi (1.391, -19.4 percent) took hits. Mercedes’ top-selling C-Class goes from strength to strength, with sales up a healthy 22.1 percent to 651 units. +++
+++ Despite the redesigned 7-Series failing to set a sales record or regain segment crown in 2016, BMW US executives still feel like the S-Class can be defeated. “All in all, we have very happy customers, and we clearly have a target to be a leader in that segment”, said Ludwig Willisch, head of BMW Group Region Americas. “But that doesn’t happen overnight”. Yet it’s possible it could still happen in 2017, according to Willisch, who pointed out that 7-Series sales were up by 10% in March. That said, deliveries through the first three months of 2017 declined 9.1% to 2,103 units, which still leaves the S-Class in first place, with 3,648 units sold through March. In 2016 (BMW’s first full year of redesigned 7-Series sales), the Bavarian automaker sold 12,918 units of their flagship model, whereas Mercedes sold 18,803 S-Class models. As for how Mercedes feel about this 2017 dogfight against the 7-Series, a spokesman for the Stuttgart-based automaker said: “We like our chances”. While Willisch didn’t presume to name a hard sales target for 2017, he did say that it would be great if BMW would sell nearly 13,000 7-Series models, as they did last year, this is because sales are typically highest early in a vehicle’s life cycle. Still, some people, like Kelley Blue Book senior analyst Rebecca Lindland, think that catching the S-Class will be a tough task for the 7-Series, at least this year. She says that the reason why the 7 wasn’t able to top the S in the 2016 was because “it wasn’t enough of a game changer” in terms of design. She also criticized the amount of money BMW spent on incentives, at an average of $12,544 per 7-Series for all of 2016, and an average of $11,095 through the first three months of this year, according to Autodata. These numbers are quite similar to what Mercedes spent for the S-Class: $12,998 in 2016 and $11,467 so far in 2017. “A useful goal is to spend the money on design, on researching consumer preferences, on recognizing market changes, and spending time with their dealers trying to understand how you’re going from incredibly high consideration to sales numbers that are not reaching what they ought to be. Trying to regain a sales title? Nobody wins in that”, added Lindland. Of course, now that Mercedes have come out with an updated S-Class, BMW’s 7-Series could be looking at an even tougher road ahead. +++
+++ CADILLAC is basking in the success of breaking into the Chinese market and just like it is for Buick, the country is on the road to be the American luxury brand’s largest. In December last year, more Cadillacs were sold in China than in the United States and in the first quarter of this year, sales have skyrocketed by 90 percent to around 39,400 vehicles. Cadillac is confident sales can continue to grow. By comparison, U.S. Cadillac sales from January through March were down 4.6 percent at 35,633 units. In the nation’s best-selling Cadillac dealership, the American automaker has affixed the names of some of its most famous customers to the showroom’s walls to reiterate the heritage and prestige of the brand. Included are the likes of Elvis Presley, Muhammad Ali, Queen Elizabeth II and none other than Barack Obama. It seems to be working. A 40-year-old Cadillac CT6 customer from China said that the culture of the brand is very important. “Cadillac is associated with historical figures like U.S. presidents. Cadillac represents my individuality. The culture is the deal sealer”, he said. Last year, the carmaker opened the doors to a plant in Shanghai which currently produces the CT6, XT5, CT6 Plug-In and Buick GL8. With this local facility, Cadillac has been able to skirt the nation’s 25 percent import tariff, allowing it to following in the footsteps of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. China is proving particularly important for Cadillac because of its burgeoning wealth. In 2016, 170,000 units were sold in the United States but perhaps most telling is that it was a 3 per cent drop over the year prior. China on the other hand accounted for 116,000 sales, 45 per cent up from 2015. +++
+++ FARADAY FUTURE , a California based company, usually pops up when the topic is about technology and electric vehicles. Though the company currently isn’t doing very well in terms of its production facility, they continue to stick to their mission, hoping that one day, things will turn out well for them. For those of you who aren’t updated, they had to shut down their Nevada factory earlier this year due to lack of funds. But now, Faraday Future is making some news and things seem quite promising. One of the patents from Faraday Future that caught our attention is called “System and Method For Operating Vehicle Using Mobile Device”. Basically, if you lose the key to your car, this technology will let you use your smartphone to open it, by sending a code to the car to open the door, without having to be connected to the Internet. Sounds cool enough? By looking at the patent that is in partnership with this, you might find it a little disturbing that the sketch looks almost like the Chevrolet Volt concept. But I promise that this isn’t a reinvention of the Chevrolet concept, and was taken from a Faraday Future patent application. So now, let’s just pretend you get to your car and you realise you’ve lost your keys, and the only thing you have with you is your smartphone. Yes, the only time we’ll return to the parking lot is probably after you realise that you left your wallet inside. But there are cases that are more urgent for instance, when a child is locked in the vehicle, or when you are late for you meeting, that will require you to open the doors as quickly as possible. This is where the concept of an electric door release system is needed to unlock doors when the primary power source is drained. Let’s say your car is drained, and you are locked outside. Now, Faraday Future’s technology comes in handy here (if your EV has this technology installed). Your electronic vehicle will be able to receive “a DC power from an external mobile device” by a power interface. So your smartphone comes to the rescue here. What’s even cooler is that Faraday Future filed for a patent wherein your car will wake up as you walk towards it with your smartphone in your pocket. You can even let family members access your car by sending to their phones the permission to use it. Moreover, the company plans to bundle cars like the Faraday Future 91 with a smartphone as a gift; it seems that they’ve thought of everything. +++
+++ FORD ’s global C platform underpins a variety of popular models and new details are starting to emerge about the next-generation architecture. The next-generation platform will be highly flexible and could be ready as soon as 2020. The platform is currently under development in Germany and early indications suggest it will be able to underpin a wide variety of vehicles including models with alternative powertrains. Ford is taking the latter idea into serious consideration as the company expects electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids to account for 30 percent of the global automotive market by 2030. As a result, the new C platform is being designed to accommodate an assortment of powertrains as well as high-tech electronics and large battery packs. Besides the greater flexibility, the new C platform will become one of Ford’s first architectures developed with autonomous driving in mind. There’s no word on specifics but the company has been testing autonomous driving systems for a couple of years and is already developing a Level 4 autonomous vehicle. Ford is also slated to launch to a fully-autonomous vehicle for ride sharing services in 2021. +++
+++ GENERAL MOTORS will be the first automaker to produce electric vehicles at a profit, Mark Reuss, GM’s head of global product development, has claimed. Reuss told reporters: “We know the customers would like to drive electric cars but are unwilling to pay any more for them. That’s why we’re going to be the first company to sell electric vehicles that people can afford at a profit”. Reuss refused to state when the company’s electric cars would become profitable. He did elaborate on how GM plans on getting to profitability, though. An important piece of the puzzle is economies of scale, with the company planning to launch 10 electric vehicles in China by 2020. Reuss also believes in the importance of owning the entire drivetrain design, including the battery chemistry, packaging, and electric motors. “The integration piece of that is something no one else has”, Reuss stated. Last year, GM began sales of the Chevrolet Bolt (Opel Ampera-e), its first pure electric vehicle since the ill-fated EV1 coupe. So far, during the first 3 months of this year, 3406 Bolts have found new homes in the US. That’s a long way behind the 10,300 Tesla Model S and Model X were sold in the US during the first quarter. It should be noted, though, the Bolt is currently only available in a handful of US states, including California, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Virginia and Washington. The Bolt is also available in Canada, and is sold in Europe as the Opel Ampera-e. +++
+++ LEXUS seems to have something green planned for the near future, judging by a new trademark filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Lexus has moved to protect the “LS-FC Concept” name from others, for use with “automobiles and structural parts thereof”. It likely hints at a fuel cell variant of the recently revealed LS flagship sedan. The “FC” suffix was previously used for the LF-FC Concept in 2015, which featured a fuel cell propulsion method and previewed the latest LS’ design language. Toyota’s signature fuel cell system thus far has been the Mirai’s, meaning an LS-FC concept could use said fuel cell stack to preview a production model to come. Back in 2015, Lexus was said to be using the then next-generation LS as a basis for its first fuel cell vehicle. Such a car would become the brand’s technological showcase, sporting both a lofty price tag and considerable engineering. If the LS-FC concept pulls even more from the previous LF-FC, all-wheel drive seems likely, thanks to electric motors at each wheel. Lexus has been eying a 2020 introduction date for a fuel cell flagship sedan, which parent company Toyota hopes will help celebrate its goal of 30,000 fuel cell sales by the same year. The year 2020 also happens to be important for Japan as it will host the Olympic games. A fuel cell-powered luxury sedan released at that time could earn Lexus some high-profile marketing on a global stage. We already know that Lexus will offer the fifth-generation LS as the LS 500 with a 415 horsepower twin-turbocharged V6, as well as the LS 500h, with 2 electric motors and a 3.5-liter V6 for a total of 354 horsepower. We also know that a second green LS is coming. The luxury brand inadvertently spoiled a surprise by sharing a photo showing an “EV Mode” for the 2018 LS, confirming a plug-in hybrid is right around the corner. A fuel cell variant would make a third green version of Lexus’ newly bold flagship sedan. +++
+++ NuTonomy, the startup that beat Uber Technologies to the streets with a robot taxi, will work with PEUGEOT to integrate autonomous vehicle software into the French auto maker’s 3008 for on-road trials. The 2 companies plan to have a small number of the SUV ready for testing in September in Singapore. “The ambition, if all goes well, we’ll have our software on hundreds if not thousands of Peugeot vehicles”, said Karl Iagnemma, nuTonomy co-founder, in an interview. “You can’t just put your software onto a memory stick and plug it into a USB port in the car and expect the car to drive itself. It requires a substantial amount of vehicle engineering”. The strategic partnership puts nuTonomy on a similar path as Waymo, the self-driving tech unit of Google-parent Alphabet, which began integrating its autonomous technology with Fiat Chrysler last year. The tech company announced last week it was increasing its test fleet of Chrysler minivans by 500 units as it lets hundreds of families try the vehicles in Phoenix. Cambridge, Mass.-based nuTonomy, which aims to put a revenue-generating fleet of robot taxis on the road in 2018, first began testing Renault and Mitsubishi vehicles in Singapore in August, days before Uber began its road tests in Pittsburgh. NuTonomy is nearing almost 20 vehicles on the road in Singapore, with plans to double that amount over the next six months, followed by the addition of several hundred cars next year, according to the company. It is also testing a small number of vehicles in Boston, where city officials recently expanded the geographical area that the cars may travel. Peugeot, officially known as Group PSA, joins traditional auto makers in trying to navigate the development of technology that may upend traditional car ownership. The French auto maker returned to the U.S. market in April after exiting decades ago, with car-sharing rental services in Los Angeles and San Francisco. +++