+++ BENTLEY is working on alternate materials that will allow the British brand to sell to well-heeled vegan customers, the head of design has revealed. The Crewe manufacturer is known for its luxurious interiors, which can feature up to 20 animal hides in their leather upholstery and trimming. Bentley’s Director of Design Stefan Sielaff revealed that customer demand has persuaded the design team to investigate alternatives to the traditional materials. “You can’t sell an animal-containing product like a Bentley, with 20 leather hides, to someone with a vegan lifestyle”, Sielaff said. “We’ve been talking to these customers, in California especially, and they’re asking us what can we give them. We do a lot of custom-made and coach-built solutions, in conjunction with our colleagues at Mulliner, and therefore we want to satisfy these customers because they are the peak of a trend. We will shortly present a Bentley with a vegan interior; it’ll give you a luxury sensation but with a different way – protein leather, mushroom leather, jellyfish material”. A Bentley spokesman declined to give an estimated arrival date for the new interior materials but admitted, “This is something the design and colour and trim guys are interrogating.” Sielaff said his team are also investigating how electric powertrains will influence the future design language of Bentley. “We are working on exploring at the moment what will be the Bentley design language of the future, “ he said, “when we do this big step. It’s a nice philosophical discussion because we have certain elements in Bentley proportion – short front overhang, long rear overhang – and we are asking how much we can change these proportions, and whether it still be recognisible as a Bentley?” +++
+++ BMW has officially confirmed the return of the 8 Series. The short lived, but iconic badge will return in 2018 on a new large coupe to rival the Mercedes S-Class Coupe, and BMW will present a glimpse of the future reborn model at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este later this month with the reveal of a new concept car. To accompany the announcement, BMW has revealed that the upcoming 8 Series concept will have a long, low, rakish profile. The ducktail lip on the boot and strong haunches at the rear hint at the new 8 Series being more than just a large luxury coupe too; BMW promises “uncompromising dynamics” and a flagship M8 version could be on the cards. According to BMW chief executive Harald Kruger, the 8 Series will build on the Munich marque’s “tradition of luxurious sports coupes and add a genuine dream car to our line-up; a slice of pure automotive fascination”, adding “It will be a genuine sports coupé. We are reinforcing our claim to leadership in the luxury class”. We’ll see the 8 Series concept in just over 2 weeks when it breaks cover on 26 May. Trademark applications with the global intellectual property regulators showed that BMW had already started the basic prep work. In late March it applied to strengthen its control of a string of 8 Series-related names, including 825, 830, 835, 850, 845, 860 and M850. A BMW insider has confirmed that the move was not merely a case of the company ring-fencing the badges for possible future use, and that it reflects an imminent rejig of BMW’s GT line-up. BMW’s decision to bring back the 8 Series is due to a change of heart on what the 6 Series needs to be. The Bavarian manufacturer has not considered a rival to the Porsche 911 sports car before, preferring its 6 Series to be a larger, heavier GT. But the arrival of the Mercedes-AMG GT in the same market as the Porsche 911 has signalled new conflict between the big German premium brands, and now BMW wants the 6 Series to be its contender, as a more agile two-seater sports car. It’s that move which will make room for the new 8 Series. BMW has also applied to register M8, signalling the potential arrival of a production car that was originally considered back in the early nineties. BMW created prototypes with a V12 engine (the motor that would ultimately end up in the McLaren F1) in the original 8 Series, but canned the project due to a perceived lack of customer demand. The new M8 would give BMW a rival for the likes of the Mercedes-AMG S63 Coupe. M division would probably choose to use the twin-turbocharged 4.4-litre V8 engine, producing around 450 hp, allowing the 7 Series’ V12 engine to be used in high-designation ‘regular’ 8 Series models like the 850 and M860. Spy shots of the new M8 have also emerged, showing it testing at the Nurburgring. +++
+++ A CADILLAC executive has said the new New York headquarters “working very well”. Most of the current Soho staff were hired locally, helping bring a fresh perspective as the brand continues to evolve. Cadillac executives suggest the decision to relocate the brand’s headquarters to New York City is working as designed. After hiring Johan de Nysschen to lead the brand, General Motors in 2015 agreed to move Cadillac’s home base from Detroit to the trendy Soho district in New York. The top floors at 330 Hudson now house 120 workers, most of whom were hired locally rather than transferred from Detroit. The company has sought a mix of local talent, inviting automotive veterans and outsiders from aviation, fashion or other industries. The team is said to be young and well educated, with 75 percent holding a masters degree or higher. “I can say that we were able to attract talent from the luxury automotive space as well as the luxury non-automotive space”, says Cadillac marketing chief Uwe Ellinghaus. As sales continue to show signs of trouble in the US market, De Nysschen cautions that Cadillac’s deeper transformation will take more than a decade to complete. The brand is attempting to reposition itself in its home market, hopefully attracting younger buyers who are willing to spend as much on a Cadillac as they would on a Mercedes-Benz or BMW. “The plan is on track”, he told in an interview. Despite seemingly lackluster delivery numbers this year (down 1.3 percent through the end of April), average sale prices have jumped by $5,000 to more than $55,000 and shipments in China have skyrocketed. +++
+++ EUROPE will have to develop next-generation ‘dry’ battery technology if it wants to build a supplier industry for electric car cells. Roberto Vavassori, the head of Europe’s car supplier body Clepa, said: “We need to go to the next-generation for post-lithium wet batteries. This is a 50gW battery industry, and one Chinese company has 40% of the market”. Vavassori believes that China is so far ahead of Europe in battery cell technology that the industry currently has no chance of catching-up. However, the opportunities for Europe’s automotive industry is around the corner as the growth in electric cars will double demand to 100gW. “If just 1% of global car sales go electric, we will need another 70 factories like Tesla’s Gigafactory”, said Vavassori. He estimates that 80% of that production will come from China, for ‘wet’ cell lithium ion batteries. Calling for Europe to respond and develop its own cell manufacturing industry, he warned: “Do we want a shift in our geopolitical power on cells from Europe to China?”. +++
+++ The FORD Kuga, Explorer and Transit will receive electrified variants badged as Energi in 2020, according to a recent trademark filing. In January, Ford CEO Mark Fields announced the advent of F-150, Mustang, Transit hybrids and an all-electric SUV. However, given the three new trademarks’ European origins, these are likely to be Europe’s end of Ford’s electrification push, while the Mustang will come later. A C-Max Energi hybrid was previously sold in Europe, so the latest models’ addition to the Energi range suggests at least a hybrid from each. Fields’ announcement of an electric small SUV along with the trademark suggests that a standalone model will sit alongside the Kuga, the Energi variant of which will be a plug-in hybrid (PHEV). A Ford Mustang hybrid, as well as Transit and F-150 hybrids will arrive by 2020, as will an all-electric small SUV, in the brand’s renewed electric vehicle push. The models will be built at Ford’s Flat Rock assembly plant in Michigan, US, and is the main thrust of Ford’s $4.5 billion investment in electrified powertrains, which has now been extended by $700 million. Two new hybrid police cars and a hybrid autonomous car also feature in the plans. Ford has not yet disclosed which engines the hybrid vehicles will be powered by, but the Mustang will offer “V8 power and even more low-end torque”, suggesting a smaller engine (perhaps the 2.3-litre Ecoboost petrol) will be bolstered by electric power. The Mustang hybrid will go on sale in other markets, including the UK, after its introduction in 2020. The PHEV Transit will go on sale in Europe in 2019. Ford’s first all-electric SUV, which “will be nothing like anything we build today, and will be built in Flat Rock”, according to Ford CEO Mark Fields, and will have a range of 500 kilometers. The SUV will be available in Europe, North America and Asia. Ford is also developing a wireless charging method, also announced at the press conference in January. “We at Ford plan to be a leader in electrification, autonomy and also connectivity”, said Fields. The other prong of Ford’s electrification strategy is the hybrid, fully autonomous car to be used for mobility schemes. The car will not have a steering wheel or pedals, reflecting the level of control given to the car. This car, based on a Ford Fusion (Mondeo in Europe), is was shown at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in prototype form. +++
+++ Though the LAND ROVER Defender went out of production last year, the iconic off-roader isn’t quite dead yet: Land Rover is planning an all-new version of its iconic, boxy 4×4, which will continue to use the legendary Defender name and we could see it for the first time at some point in 2018. The new Defender project has been discussed openly by Land Rover bosses, but confirmation aside, the company is still fairly coy regarding its upcoming off-roader. My most recent update came in September last year, when Jaguar Land Rover chief execituve Ralf Speth told us that early development mules have already been driven by company bosses. The JLR boss promises that the new car will be “even more capable” than the old Defender when the going gets tough. New versions of cult classic cars are never easy: Land Rover has to built a new 4×4 with off-road capability and versatility on par with the brand’s DNA, while ensuring it can still make money on a car likely to sell in small numbers. Jaguar Land Rover boss Ralf Speth has admitted that the basic design and engineering work is now settled enough for him to have tried the new Defender. “I have driven test mules already”, he told last year, “and also tried the car against competitors, in on- and off-road environments. It’s sensational”. Speth declined to put a timeframe on the Defender’s debut (it’s widely tipped to be 2018 at the earliest) but he said, “It is coming. We are working an authentic successor of the predecessor. I have to say it was one of my saddest moments in my career at Jaguar Land Rover, when we stopped the production line of this vehicle, because I just love it. But we will make a successor to this vehicle and you can be sure it will be even more capable. Nevertheless it will have the DNA of the current car”. When asked if the Defender could be genuinely profitable, or if Land Rover is considering building it at a slight loss to ‘legitimise’ the brand values that sell thousands of Range Rovers, Evoques and Discovery Sports, Speth said, “The new vehicle, as with all our vehicles, has to make money. It will be a sensational vehicle and I think there will be a lot of demand for it”. Speth indicated that the Defender will share components with other Land Rovers in a bid to cut costs, and that this will extend to being built alongside other cars. “We’re already doing this now”, he said. “We used the modular architecture and elements of our chassis for weight reduction to make the new Discovery a better-handling car. We will do so also in the future because we always learn”. When asked if the Defender would go down the production line with other models, he replied: “Yes, you can assume that”. Beyond the launch of the basic model, Land Rover is planning to introduce an entire new family of Defenders, and design boss Gerry McGovern has hinted that a performance SVR version of the forthcoming 4×4 could also be on the cards. Such a car would be developed by Jaguar Land Rover’s newly formed Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) division, and would allow the brand to tap into demand in Russia and China for powerful and luxurious rugged off-roaders, currently dominated by the Mercedes G 63 AMG. It’s also likely that a hardcore off-road Defender SVX will join the range at some stage and we could even see a luxurious SVA version in line with the Range Rover SVAutobiography. “The beauty of SVO is that it allows you to play. It lets you take vehicles and heighten their essence”, McGovern told. “We can do that with all of them, whether it’s a Range Rover, Discovery or a Defender”. +++
+++ PININFARINA has signed a 35 million euro deal with Iranian automotive company Iran Khodro to produce a new platform that’ll underpin at least 4 vehicles. The deal will see Iran Khodro, which manufactures vehicles for Iranian brand Samand, Peugeot and Renault to be sold in Iran, produce a medium sized passenger car, likely a saloon or small SUV, first. Pininfarina will be involved in the entire process of getting the car to production, from concept design to physical validation of the final product. It will even support the start of production. Silvio Pietro Angori, Pininfarina Group CEO, said: “The agreement with Iran Khodro represents another important step in the growth strategy of Pininfarina on markets of the new Silk Road and the Middle East. We are happy to contribute to the development of the Iranian Automotive industry through a very significant style and engineering programme for our company”. The partnership, which is planned to last 3 years, isn’t the first of its kind for Pininfarina. The former design house has expanded its portfolio to include full engineering projects such as the recent Hybrid Kinetic Group turbine cars and Pininfarina Fittipaldi EF7. It is also planning an electric supercar, with links to parent company Indian automotive giant Mahindra’s involvement in Formula E. +++
+++ RENAULT head of electric vehicles believes models like the Zoe will cost about same as similarly sized, conventionally-powered cars by the year 2020. Gilles Normand, senior vice-president for electric vehicles at Renault, said that sales of the Zoe have jumped 90 percent between 2016 and 2017, thanks to the introduction of a larger battery capacity. And he believes that as more manufacturers and suppliers invest in battery development and manufacturing, the prices of electric vehicles will take only a couple of years to reach the same level as petrol-engined cars. Normand said, “We are moving faster than we expected. When we introduced the first Zoe back in 2012, we didn’t think the new battery capacity would come in 2016; we expected it by 2018. There’s now a huge amount of money being invested by suppliers. This will bring further technology breakthroughs in battery tech. And then it’ll further help sales, because it’ll be more affordable. So we mustn’t forget that the prices of combustion-engine cars will go up, and electric vehicles prices will come down. If you go for B-segment cars like the Clio, by early next decade we consider the prices of electric vehicles will be on par with combustion-engined cars. With the C-segment cars like the Mégane, it’ll be the middle of the next decade. And in industry terms, the year 2020 is like tomorrow morning at 8am, right? And this will be another trigger point for more and more adoption”. +++
+++ The VOLKSWAGEN Group will invest around 8 billion euro into developing electric and alternative drivetrain cars in the next 5 years, with plans to launch more than 30 battery-powered models by 2025. Speaking at the Group’s annual general meeting, CEO Matthias Müller also launched a staunch defence of diesel engines, saying that they will remain ‘indispensable’ for the foreseeable future. The 8 billion euro investment is part of the Group’s plans to become the market leader in e-mobility as part of the Together – Strategy 2025 plan. Volkswagen has already invested 3 billion euro in developing alternative drive technology over the past 5 years. Speaking about the investment plan, Müller said: “This is how we will be rolling out more than ten new electrified models by the end of 2018. By 2025, we will be adding more than 30 more battery-electric vehicles”. The Volkswagen Group has established a centre of excellence at its Salzgitter factory in Germany tasked with developing battery cells and modules, and is also negotiating with potential partners in Europe and China. “Volkswagen is becoming faster, more focused and more customer-driven”, added Müller. “We are transforming Volkswagen from an automaker into a globally leading mobility provider”. While Müller believes that “the future is electric”, he said that conventional petrol and diesel-engined cars remain hugely important to the Group. Despite the ongoing fallout from the Dieselgate scandal and current controversy over diesel emissions, Müller said: “Diesel will remain indispensable for the foreseeable future”. He added: “This applies also and especially to the Euro 6 diesel, despite the current heated debate. The internal combustion engine is primarily part of the solution, not part of the problem. 124 years after it was invented, the diesel engine still has plenty of potential, and we intend to exploit that potential. By 2020, we will have made our internal combustion engines between 10 and 15% more efficient, and therefore also cleaner. This will help protect the environment and conserve resources”. +++