+++ Volkswagen Group is looking at rehiring Opel CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann, possibly to lead its AUDI brand, a source familiar with the matter told, following a report that Neumann will quit Opel. Neumann plans to resign as General Motors prepares to sell its European business comprising Opel and Vauxhall to PSA Group. Neumann saw the sale as the right strategic step, but was concerned PSA under-estimated the growing importance of electric cars. The source said Volkswagen bosses were informally discussing giving Neumann, who quit VW in 2013 for the Opel top job, a prominent position, potentially as head of premium brand Audi. VW and Opel declined to comment. Audi CEO Rupert Stadler has come under fire for how he has handled the fallout from VW’s diesel emissions scandal. He only received a 5-year contract extension last month because of an agreement among supervisory board members that he would not serve out his full term, 2 sources have told. Pressure has built on Stadler after Munich prosecutors widened an investigation into the premium carmaker, and after Germany’s transport ministry accused Audi of cheating on emissions tests. In an interview, Stadler over the weekend defended his record: “The diesel crisis has consumed and is still consuming resources. I’m still convinced that we have initiated the right strategic steps”. Neumann, 56, planned to inform Opel’s supervisory board about his decision at its next meeting on June 22. He wants to stay on only until GM completed the sale of Opel to PSA, owner of the Peugeot, Citroen and DS brands. Opel this week said the 2.2 billion euros deal could be completed as early as July 31, pending regulatory approval from antitrust authorities. Neumann joined GM in 2013 to lead the U.S. automaker’s European operations after losing out in a management reshuffle at Volkswagen. In his former roles at VW, he was in charge of electro-mobility and head of China. Opel plans to appoint an internal candidate to succeed Neumann. Top candidates are sales chief Peter Küspert, finance boss Michael Lohscheller and marketing chief Tina Müller. +++
+++ The next generation of BMW M vehicles could see the introduction of performance-focused hybrid or full-electric technology, a representative of the company has hinted this week. Speaking with Australian media at the local launch of the new 530e iPerformance plug-in hybrid (PHEV), Alexander Kotouc, head of product management for BMW GmbH, hinted that the worlds of both the performance-oriented ‘M‘ and future-focused ‘i‘ brands could one day merge. “If you look at the plug-in hybrids, most of the cars we sell have the M Sport package”, he said, “people are willing to go into a car that is part-electric, but still want the looks and feel of an M Sports package. If we built something like a high-performance car or a supersports electric car, why shouldn’t it be something like an ‘iM’ car?” BMW has already delved into the electrified performance domain with the plug-in hybrid i8 sportscar, which teams a 231 hp / 320 Nm 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol engine with a 130 hp / 250 Nm electric motor to deliver combined outputs of 354 hp and 570 Nm. With that futuristic grunt, the i8 is capable of sprinting from 0-100km/h in 4.4 seconds, while using just 2.1 L/100km claimed on the combined cycle. Additionally, the company’s iPerformance models are more than capable of hot-hatch-beating straight-line acceleration, so the thought of a hybrid M car doesn’t seem like such a far-fetched idea. Kotouc added that, regardless of the powertrain, the company’s upcoming vehicles will always stay true to its ‘Ultimate Driving Machine’ heritage. “I promise you one thing, BMW will bring electric vehicles that have equal kind of acceleration that makes it a BMW, and you can take it through corners on a racetrack and it will behave like a BMW”, he said. +++
+++ MERCEDES continues testing the new generation A-Class, which, according to recent sources, will adopt the semi-autonomous technology from the facelifted S-Class. The system will use the lane keep assist and adaptive cruise control to allow the car to accelerate, brake, and steer itself up to certain speeds, just like the flagship saloon does. Joining the family later on to sit alongside the generous range of gasoline and diesel engines will be a plug-in hybrid variant. It’s expected to offer a zero-emission range of around 50 km, and it will be part of the brand’s electrified future, along with pure electric models. At the high end of the family will be the new AMG A45 that is believed to churn out as much as 400 hp. It’s still too early to talk about its design, but the upcoming Mercedes A-Class should be inspired by the Concept A Sedan, up to a point, whereas inside, expect plusher materials, along with the brand’s latest infotainment system in range-topping grades. +++
+++ The MITSUBISHI ASX may well play in the small SUV segment, and its new sibling the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross probably will too, but the company reckons it needs an even smaller model to slot beneath those vehicles. Trevor Mann, Mitsubishi Motors chief operations officer, said he thinks there’s space for a sub-ASX model on the company’s books. “I think there is. I think that’s what we are considering in terms of our future product plan”, he said, indicating that such a model is definitely on the cards. “Obviously the world is going more SUV, and segment-by-segment the SUVs are growing”, he said. “It’s something that obviously we will look at and we will embed in our program”. The question was raised as to whether the brand is looking to hold off on such a model, so it can take advantage of the Alliance’s existing platforms: a Nissan Juke based model, or a derivative of a Renault Captur, for instance, could make a lot of sense. But Mann said that even if there wasn’t a chance to share the greater cost with the parent company, Mitsubishi would address a vacant space in the market, if vital to its fortunes. “I think at the end of the day we don’t necessarily wait”, Mann said. “We wouldn’t say ‘we’ve got this really great idea, we’ve got this fantastic concept of a vehicle, but I’m going to wait 5 years for an alliance platform to be developed’. We wouldn’t do that. If we’re developing a vehicle because we think it’s the right vehicle, we would do it, because we’ve got our own stakeholders and shareholders that we need to continue to support. Then what you would do is, to look at, well, how we would align the platforms in the future. If it was for the sake of ‘if you wait 3 months, you can share the platform’, we would wait 3 months. If it was ‘wait 3 years and you can share a platform’, you’d say ‘no thank you’ ”. Perhaps we can expect to see something at the upcoming 2017 Tokyo motor show in October? Stay tuned. +++
+++ The next-generation versions of the Mitsubishi L200 and NISSAN Navara pick-ups will be a product of the alliance between the brands, with the strengths of each to be played off against one another to create a sort of mutant mega pick-up. But don’t expect a Mitsussan L2ara or Nisubishi Nav00… each of the vehicles will have their own distinct identity (even if they do share the same underpinnings and components, not to mention drivetrains and dimensions) when they’re eventually replaced. Trevor Mann, Mitsubishi Motors chief operations officer, told media this week that he has already assessed what needs to happen for the next-generation versions of each of the pick-ups with Renault-Nissan Alliance chairman and CEO, Carlos Ghosn. “From the alliance last October, what have we done since then? We’ve really gone into the low-hanging fruit: looking at how we can get competitive costs, how we can lever the scale volume to get lower cost parts”, he said. “You can make quick decisions on … cost competitiveness of platforms. The last time Ghosn was in the region we were in Indonesia and Thailand and we had a big review where we’d done a complete analysis on Navara versus L200, from a cost point of view, not from a product competitiveness point of view”, he said. “It actually showed the Mitsubishi had quite strong performance, surprisingly, given the difference in size and scale of the companies. Mitsubishi has done a great job with the L200, not only from a technical point of view, because as you know it is a really good pick-up, but also from a cost performance point of view in Thailand”. So, what does that mean for pick-up buyers? Well, probably that there’ll be a new-generation mish-mash model with distinct elements that will be favoured to each specific buyer type. “As far as what the customer sees, feels and touches, that will be Mitsubishi or Nissan. The advantage of the alliance, obviously it’s component sharing, platform sharing, this type of thing. It’s a necessary element for the alliance. What the body shape is, what the body style is, what the design will be, how it feels and drives will be uniquely engineered by Mitsubishi”, he said of the next-generation L200. “What we would do is say, first of all, which is the best. So, we could be talking about powertrains, we could be talking about platforms. So which technically will we say is the best platform, technically which is best in terms of performance. And obviously from a cost point of view, which is the cheapest. We’ll make this balance between best and affordable. “What Mitsubishi wants as its key attributes for its pick-up will be engineered by Mitsubishi. What Nissan wants for its key attributes for its pick-up will be engineered by Nissan”, he said. “I have a clear understanding of what our role is, and what Ghosn expects is that each brand punches above its weight”. That drive to ensure that the brands remain identifiable and undiluted was expressed by Ghosn earlier this week, when he told media he wants the distinct companies to remain distinct in their marketing and sales strategies. “Each brand is totally autonomous”, Ghosn said. “This is something that is very important to understand. Renault does its own strategy, its product strategy; Mitsubishi does its own product strategy; Nissan does its own product strategy. There is nothing harmonised when it comes to the white space”. Mann said that a L200 buyer will certainly put different emphasis on aspects of their new pick-up than a Navara shopper. “Certain manufacturers see certain things as important because of their customer base. This is what our customer likes, this is what we really want to do; that would perhaps skew some areas of the design: the size, the balance of the distribution of the size. What all that means for the next-generation L200 based Fiat Fullback (if there is one) and the soon-to-be-revealed Navara-based Mercedes-Benz X-Class pick-up remains to be seen. It could be a while. After all, the new-generation Navara/L200 models may not lob until 2021 or so. +++
+++ PORSCHE ’s Cayenne V6 TDI model exceeds permitted emissions, based on independent tests. German test institute TUV Nord checked emission levels for the popular SUV under normal driving conditions. According to the head of testing at TUV Nord Helge Schmidt, “Emissions in this test were higher than the limits for this type of car . With these values the car would not have been approved by the authorities”. Porsche said the publication’s test results were “not comprehensible” and that a variety of factors including engine load, speed and temperature all impact a vehicle’s emissions. Prior to this news, 2013-2016 Porsche Cayenne Diesel models with the VW Group’s 3.0-liter TDI had already been recalled as part of the ongoing dieselgate scandal. +++
+++ It looks like no one is allowed to use the name TJ Cruiser except for Japanese automobile magnate, TOYOTA . Yes, you read it right. The name TJ Cruiser is already trademarked by Toyota and will soon be used in the production version of the FT-4X Concept. The trademark, which was filed under the United States Patent Trademark Office, covers the “automobiles and structural parts thereof”, meaning, like all other patents, everything in the TJ Cruiser belongs to Toyota. The TJ Cruiser is actually a cheaper version of the FJ Cruiser which has been recently phased out. While the Toyota FJ Cruiser gained fans quickly after going into production (aside from being the successor of the also popular J40 Land Cruiser), after ten years, sales started to decline and a redesign wasn’t the most practical way to go. Of course, fans were bummed but nothing’s forever in this world, and so Toyota had to move on from the success that was the FJ Cruiser. Now, the Japanese automaker is bent on diverging from the “boring” cars and creating a more interesting vehicle such as the FT-4X. Toyota FT-4X Concept was unveiled at the New York Auto Show in April, and has caught a lot of attention ever since. With the FT-4X Concept’s design, Toyota aims to attract more attention especially from millennials. They succeeded at this during the aforementioned auto show as this concept had been one of the most intriguing vehicles there. Though fully functional, the FT-4X will not reach production as it was built to explore new ideas and possibilities; an experimental vehicle, we should say, while attracting the interests of people, especially millennials. The FT-4X is a combination of some level of ruggedness, a retro design and a range of “nifty” design features such as its rear hatch which can be opened in either horizontally or vertically. Cool, right? The FJ Cruiser was a successful vehicle, but Toyota was already tired of its “boring” lineup and felt that it needed to inject life into the lineup. The FT-4X aims to fulfill its role to add life to the Japanese automaker’s fleet. According to Toyota studio design chief in California, Ian Cartabiano, the FT-4X has currently completed 75% of its production. If in any case Toyota decides to put the concept vehicle into production, I’m betting there will be a lot of revisions in styling to be able to keep this small SUV practical for production. I’m a bit worried by this though and I hope that Toyota doesn’t really make too many revisions if it decides to mass-produce the FT-4X Concept. Reports say that Toyota might get the TJ Cruiser on its TNGA C-Platform which is also used by the Prius and mini Transformers lookalike that is the C-HR. For a Toyota fan, this idea is quite appealing, don’t you think? Now that Toyota has placed its stamp on the TJ Cruiser, we will have to wait for its next move. If it doesn’t give us a production version of the FT-4X Concept, I’m hopeful they stick to their promise to be less boring this year. Toyota, we’re counting on you! +++