+++ FERRARI has claimed the International Engine of the Year (IEOTY) Award for the second year in a row with its twin-turbo 3.9-litre V8 fending off challenges from the likes of Porsche’s 3.0-litre twin-turbo flat-6 found in the 911, and the 2015-winning BMW 1.5-litre 3-cylinder hybrid powerplant underpinning the i8. Also taking the crown in the 3.0- to 4.0-litre engine and Performance engine segments, the F154CB donk was commended as “probably the best turbocharged engine ever” by IEOTY Awards co-chairman Dean Slavnich. “This blend of heart-thumping performance on both road and track, with a glorious V8 Maranello rumble and an ultra-sophisticated design that’s loaded with advanced technologies, makes the Ferrari V8 unbeatable for another year”, he said. Under the hood of the 488 GTB and Spider, the stonking force-fed V8 produces a hefty 492kW/760Nm, while in the slightly less potent California T, output is lowered to a still-formidable 412kW/755Nm. The Italian V8 tallied 251 total votes in the Engine of the Year segment, ahead of the Porsche flat six (216), BMW hybrid three-pot (151), Audi’s aluminium block 2.5-litre turbocharged five-cylinder (139), and Ford’s 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine (136), which took out 3 consecutive titles from 2012 to 2014. Engine awards were also split into sub-categories, sorted by displacement as well as categories for the best pure electric powertrain, electrified engine, performance engine and best newcomer. The sub-1.0-litre title was won by the Ford EcoBoost unit, which made IEOTY history by not only winning the segment for the 6th consecutive year, but by also becoming the first ever powertrain to win its category every year that it has been nominated. With 254 votes, it pipped the 1.0-litre VW Group turbo three-pot from the Audi A1 (241) and 0.6-litre two-cylinder engine in the BMW i3 94Ah range extender (123). The 1.0- to 1.4-litre category was won by the PSA Group 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbo unit seen in a number of Peugeot and Citroen models including the 308 and C4 Cactus, winning in a canter with 239 votes. Claiming its third straight segment title, it trumped the BMW Group 1.2-litre three-pot from the Mini One (154) and 1.4-litre VW Group TFSI four-cylinder used in multiple models (115). The i8 hybrid unit took out the 1.4- to 1.8-litre class with 157 votes, marking the Bavarian unit’s third consecutive triumph since launching in 2015. Runners up were another BMW engine – the 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbo found in BMW and Mini models (128), and Audi’s 1.8-litre TFSI engine (103). After winning the 1.8- to 2.0-litre category last year, Mercedes-AMG’s 2.0-litre turbo-four was trumped by compatriot Porsche’s 2.0-litre unit in the 718 Boxster and Cayman by just six votes (182 to 176), followed by the VW Group 2.0-litre TFSI (164) found in a multitude of models including the Golf R. Audi continued its absolute domination of the 2.0- to 2.5-litre class with its updated 2.5-litre turbo five-pot tallying 357 votes for its eighth win since launching in 2010. Porsche’s 2.5-litre turbo-four, found in the 718 Cayman S and Boxster S, finished second (276), while Ford’s 2.3-litre EcoBoost engine in the Focus RS rounded out the top three (172). The 2.5- to 3.0-litre class was easily won by Porsche and its 3.0-litre twin-turbo flat six from the 911 with 310 votes, after narrowly winning the segment in its debut last year. BMW’s twin-turbo inline six cylinder in the M3 and M4 finished second with 135 votes, while the 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 under the hood of the new M3-hunting Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio finished in third place (114). Ferrari’s overall winner finished first in the 3.0- to 4.0-litre engine category with 345 votes, followed by the Mercedes-AMG 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 found in a range of AMG vehicles (204) and Porsche’s highly-strung aspirated 4.0-litre six-pot boxer engine found in the 911 GT3, GT3 RS and R (174). The above 4.0-litre category saw more success for Maranello, with its 6.3-litre V12 in the F12 eking out its second consecutive victory in the class, which would have been five straight if not for the Prancing Horse’s 4.5-litre V8 which won in 2014 and 2015. With 203 votes, it trumped Audi’s 5.2-litre aspirated V10 from the R8 and Lamborghini Huracan (152), and Lamborghini’s massive 6.5-litre V12 powering the Aventador (75). Tesla’s innovative fully-electric powertrain from the Model S and Model X won the electric powertrain segment with 325 votes, marking the first year IEOTY has dedicated a class to purely electric models. It beat out the BMW i3 with 212 votes, with General Motors’ all-electric powertrain used in the Chevrolet Bolt rounding out the top three (169). The Green engine category, which includes fully electric and hybrid powertrains, was again won by Tesla for the fourth consecutive time with 202 votes, followed by the i8 engine (143) and Bolt powerplant (105). To no-one’s surprise, the Performance engine category was won by the Ferrari 3.9-litre V8 for the third year running with 247 votes, trumping the Porsche 4.0-litre boxer (159) and Mercedes-AMG’s 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 (85). The final category, the best new engine, was won by Honda’s high-tech 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 hybrid found in the NSX supercar, which tallied 143 votes. In second place was Mercedes-Benz’s 2.0-litre turbo-diesel unit in the new E-Class (116), which beat Alfa’s 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 by a single vote. +++
+++ Is FIAT CHRYSLER Automobiles (FCA) about to resurrect the Cuda name for a modern-day muscle car? FCA has renewed its trademark for ‘Cuda’ with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on June 16. It follows the renewal by FCA of the trademark for ‘Barracuda’ in 2015. Before you get too excited, recall that automakers routinely renew trademarks with such filings in order to prevent other firms from using the names. Then again, we’re getting awfully close to the end of production of the current Dodge Challenger. The last we heard, the replacement will arrive for the 2020 model year. There’s mounting speculation that FCA is planning 2 models to succeed the Dodge Challenger. One is expected to be a direct replacement keeping the Challenger name, while the other is thought to be a lighter, smaller convertible model called a Barracuda or Cuda. Whatever the outcome, expect the next generation of Dodge’s rear-wheel-drive muscle cars to use the brilliant Giorgio platform developed by Alfa Romeo. Worryingly, the switch to the new platform might coincide with a switch to downsized engines. Talk of the Barracuda’s return dates back to even before Plymouth’s demise at the start of century. The rumors never really got serious until Dodge rolled out its Challenger-based Barracuda concept at the 2007 SEMA show. +++
+++ For a second straight year, KIA has taken the top spot in one of the auto industry’s most closely watched quality surveys. The company is part of South Korean conglomerate Hyundai, and, as if to underscore its success, another Hyundai corporate brand, luxury maker Genesis, took second place in the J.D. Power Initial Quality Study, which J.D. Power’s Initial Quality Study ranks brands by the number of flaws found by owners in their new cars in first 90 days. Genesis is a relatively new stand-alone brand, having been established in an announcement from Hyundai in late 2015. Detroit’s Big 3 (General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler) all showed improvement, J.D. Power said. For the second year, the 3 collectively had fewer problems reported in their vehicles than import brands. But it was the double win by Kia and Genesis that could get the most attention. South Korea’s best-known nameplate, Hyundai, came in 8th out of 32 (5th if ties are taken into account); a respectable showing. Together, it marks a huge rise by the South Korean brands. Hyundai and Kia both got off to rocky starts when they first showed up in the U.S. decades ago because of quality issues. Recognizing that quality had become a top issue with buyers, they embarked on improvement, including a better warranty to reassure buyers. “Our back-to-back chart-topping performances reconfirm Kia’s status as today’s world-class automaker and reflect the exacting standards and craftsmanship our team members instill into every car, crossover and SUV Kia builds”, said Michael Sprague, chief operating officer of Kia Motors America. The study is based on responses from nearly 80,000 purchasers, said J.D. Power. The study found that technology in cars, particularly infotainment systems, is improving, but still remains a trouble spot. Issues like voice-recognition systems that can’t understand drivers and smartphones that won’t pair with the car have been an ongoing issue. The study also found that some key high-tech safety systems like collision avoidance and lane departure features, also draw complaints. “An increasing number of consumer-reported problems sounds warning bells for automakers and suppliers”, the study said. On points, Kia has 72 problems per 100 owners in the first 90 days, down from 83 last year. Genesis received a score of 77. After Porsche came in third place with 78 points, the Ford and Ram brands tied for fourth with 86. Ram had a spectacular rise in the rankings, coming up from 20th place in last year’s study. It was Mini that received the distinction of the most-improved brand, jumping 17 spots from 29th place to 12th. Toyota, by contrast, fell from 5th place last year to 14th this year. In this year’s study, quality improved across 7 of the 8 categories measured, with 27 of the 32 brands in the study improving. Now, new-vehicle quality is at its highest level ever, improving 8 percent from last year. “The Initial Quality Study continues to demonstrate the critical importance of automakers responding to consumer feedback regarding vehicle quality”, said Dave Sargent, vice president of global automotive at J.D. Power, in a statement. “Any automaker that stands still will quickly start to fall behind. For consumers, the great news is that significant improvements are occurring in all model segments, meaning that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get a quality vehicle”. The study was designed to provide automakers with customer feedback on the quality of new vehicles so that they can benchmark that against their competitors, and to provide consumers with information to help them to make informed car-buying choices, according to the J.D. Power. +++
+++ Combining their understanding of cameras and radar, German automotive suppliers Hella and ZF have entered into a strategic partnership that they say will pave the way forward for their efforts in teh field of SELF-DRIVING cars. The 2 firms made their announcement in Bratislava, Slovakia, where they emphasized their individual strengths. Hella says the partnership will allow it to share its knowledge of short-range radar and 360-degree camera technology, while ZF will bring its mid- and long-range camera understanding to the table. While neither firm makes cars, both are Tier 1 suppliers to nearly every major global automaker. The announcement represents the largest partnership on the road to self-driving cars yet, and ZF CEO Dr. Stefan Sommer told the media that it is the result of considerably increased demand from automakers for high-function self-driving car technology. “We underestimated the speed of self-driving car development,” Sommer told the media. “What we anticipated for 2025 has arrived today”. Both companies say that they intend to rely on third parties for software and will instead continue to focus on developing hardware for self-driving cars. About 80 percent of Hella’s business is automotive, split about evenly between light technology and a unit that focuses on cameras/radar, while much larger ZF handles everything from transmissions and shock absorbers to electric car componentry. Sommer told reporters that much of the demand for self-driving cars has come from automakers looking to do well in Euro NCAP and IIHS crash testing, which place increasing emphasis on autonomous driving tech like automatic front and rear emergency braking. +++
+++ TESLA has parted ways with Autopilot software chief Chris Lattner after just 6 months. Tesla had lured Lattner from Apple in January. Lattner said: “Turns out that Tesla isn’t a good fit for me after all. I’m interested to hear about interesting roles for a seasoned engineering leader!” In a statement, Tesla confirmed Lattner was leaving: “Chris just wasn’t the right fit for Tesla, and we’ve decided to make a change. We wish him the best”. Lattner’s position will be filled by new hire Andrej Karpathy, who will be director of artificial intelligence and Autopilot Vision, as well as Tesla hardware division chief Jim Keller, who will add software to his responsibilities, according to a Tesla spokesperson. Karpathy has expertise in deep learning, and is a veteran of Alphabet Google and most recently worked as a research scientist at OpenAI. +++
+++ I’m really hoping the California legislators somehow pull a utopia on us and their rules become global, because they’re showing us nothing gets past them when it comes to making life better for us and the planet. Case in point, according to a recent report the legislators this week decided to come up with a bill tightening the rules against VOLKSWAGEN ; you know, the automaker that cheated on pollution rules and thought it can get away with it. The new bill part of a budget package agreed with Governor Jerry Brown will require the German automaker to use part of its settlement-agreed clean car infrastructure funds in disadvantaged communities. The company’s Electrify America project is part of the agreement to spend a total of 2 billion dollar nationally, with no less than 800 million dollar in California, as atonement for its misconduct. Critics were quick to point out the strategy laid out by Volkswagen unit Electrify America for the first 200 million dollar in California would have actually assisted them in gaining a competitive advantage over other vehicle and charging station makers, while also ignoring poorer communities. The bill now pressures Volkswagen by allowing the Air Resources Board to “ensure to the maximum extent allowable” at least 35 percent of investment funds go to low-income and disadvantaged communities. +++
+++ VOLVO ’s performance car arm, Polestar, is set to go electric under its own global stand-alone sub-brand to take on the likes of Tesla and BMW’s iPerformance. The Chinese-owned Swedish company promises that Polestar’s new range of “bespoke” and “world-beating” electrified vehicles will continue to deliver high performance in the Polestar tradition, although it has not said when the first model will be delivered. I presume “electrified” includes hybrids as well as full-electric variants, and that “bespoke” means greater styling differentiation from mainstream Volvos, courtesy of Volvo Cars design vice-president Thomas Ingenlath who has been named founding chief executive officer of the new-look Polestar division. Announcing Ingenlath’s appointment, Volvo Cars president and chief executive Håkan Samuelsson said the appointment showed Volvo’s commitment to establishing Polestar as “a truly differentiated stand-alone brand within the Volvo Car Group”. “Polestar will be a credible competitor in the emerging global market for high performance electrified cars”, Samuelsson said. “With Polestar, we are able to offer electrified cars to the world’s most demanding, progressive drivers in all market segments”. The company says it will make further announcements about the Polestar transformation in the (northern) autumn, which could point to a Frankfurt motor show publicity blitz in September. The new road-going Polestar cars will not carry the Volvo badge but will be based on Volvo mass-produced models under the skin. Says Volvo: “Polestar will enjoy specific technological and engineering synergies with Volvo Cars and benefit from significant economies of scale as a result of its connection to Volvo. These synergies will allow it to design, develop and build world-beating electrified high performance cars”. Polestar becomes just the latest automotive sub-brand under the ownership of China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group which acquired Volvo from Ford in 2010, in the depths of the global financial crisis. Since then, Geely has founded a new brand, Lynk & Co, which is set to take Geely’s Chinese-made products to the world. As well, it recently snapped up a large slice of Malaysia’s Proton and its English niche sports-car-maker, Lotus. Apart from these car brands, it also owns Drive Systems International (DSI), the Australian transmission company formerly called Borg Warner. DSI now makes its transmissions in China for a wide range of Chinese vehicles, but the engineering work is largely still done in Australia at DSI’s research and development centre in Springvale, an eastern suburb of Melbourne. +++