+++ To say that Jeremy Clarkson is opinionated would be an understatement; after all, we’re talking about the man who has managed to cause diplomatic incidents – in a car show! Although the public seems to disagree with him, as they flock to buy SUVs, Clarkson is not a fan of the genre and thinks they are a waste of money. “I loathe all the current crop of so-called SUVs, except those I dislike intensely”, he wrote on his latest article on The Sunday Times. “I cannot see the point of driving around in a car that’s slower, more expensive and thirstier than a normal saloon or estate. It just seems idiotic”. So when he was invited by ALFA ROMEO to Tuscany to test drive the new Stelvio, he was already negatively predisposed, not least because it was an SUV made by Alfa, which he compared to Armani making carrier bags. But then he got to like the design, both inside and out, and when he drove it had a change of heart in spite of it being a diesel, and yes, he hates diesels, too, but he did appreciate the mid-range surge provided by the engine. As he piled on the miles, he found more positive things to say, though he didn’t like the Giulia-derived direct steering which, unlike the suspension, wasn’t tweaked specifically for the Stelvio, resulting in it being too sharp. At the end, though, he proclaimed the Stelvio “the only SUV that’s quite tempting”, adding that the QV version, with its petrol 510 hp V6, “might even be irresistible”. +++
+++ FORD has started testing a prototype of an Kuga Plug-in Hybrid, and may have the model ready for the public as soon as late 2018. The last time the Blue Oval went down this road, it was presenting a small batch of PHEVs for a California utility to try out about a decade ago. This version, however, would be for the general public. No details have been released about the price, range, or performance of the prospective Kuga PHEV, but the SUV would likely replace the C-Max Plug-in Hybrid in Ford’s lineup. Ford will likely start selling the new plug-in in time for the 2020 model year. Ford may also be working on plug-in hybrid versions of the Explorer, Focus, and Transit. Ford has already picked up some momentum with its green vehicles this year, so adding a plug-in SUV makes sense. Through May, Ford sold almost 41,000 hybrids and plug-ins, including 4,350 Fusion/Mondeo Plug-in Hybrids and 3,444 C-Max PHEVs. In all, Ford’s green-car sales have surged 56 percent this year. For those keeping track, Ford through May sold almost 130,000 Kugas/Escapes in the United States, up 2.7 percent from a year earlier. In fact, the Escape is the Blue Oval’s second-best selling model, trailing only the world-beating F-Series pickup. +++
+++ LOTUS new owner considers China-built sports cars. Geely has finalized the deal to acquire stakes in Proton and Lotus. Future Lotus cars could be built in China, says the company’s new majority stakeholder. Li Shufu, the chairman of Geely, told that he would consider producing the iconic British sports cars in his home country. Geely, the Chinese automotive giant, finalized the deal this week to acquire both Lotus and its parent company, Malaysian automaker Proton. In the deal, Geely will buy 49.9 percent of Proton and 51 percent of Lotus. Geely ostensibly made the deal to gain a foothold into southeast Asia, where Protons are popular, but having a well-known high-end brand like Lotus is also a nice feather in their cap. While traditionalists may fear that the colonies have overtaken the empire, there is cause for hope. Geely also owns Volvo, and has given them the freedom to design what are arguably some of the best products in the Swedish company’s history. Proton, on the other hand, bought Lotus in 1996, but never realized the full potential of the brand. “The deep regional knowledge we gain from Proton and Lotus through this transformative partnership opens the door for Zhejiang Geely to become a major player in the Asean market”, Li said. “We will work together to make the most of our respective strengths”. Geely hopes to sell 3 million cars by 2020. +++
+++ The American Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDA), a part of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, conducted a study to find out if there is any connection between legal recreational MARIJUANA and more car crashes. The organization compared the 3 states (Colorado, Washington, and Oregon) that were the first to legalize recreational weed with neighboring states (Nebraska, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Nevada, and Montana) that have more restrictive laws prior to November 2016 regarding the drug. Overall, the study showed that the states with legalized marijuana had 3 percent higher rates of crashes than the other states. This number came from comparing the 3 weed-friendly states with the control group. When each state with legal marijuana was compared with its direct neighbors, the increase in crash frequency was even greater. Oregon’s rate was 4.5 percent higher than Nevada, Montana, and Idaho. Washington saw 6.2 percent more crashes than Idaho and Montana. Colorado had the greatest difference with 13.9 percent more collisions than Nebraska, Utah, and Wyoming. It is worth noting that this is an early study of just a few states, and of course, correlation doesn’t necessarily imply causation. The HLDA also notes that there is very limited data on connections between marijuana use and actual car crashes. Some studies have contradicted each other as well. AAA performed a study that showed an increase in driving fatalities in Washington, while another study looked at multiple states and found a reduction in fatalities. So more research is needed to get a clearer picture. Nonetheless, as the organization also mentions, studies have shown that THC, found in marijuana, does affect reaction time and driving ability negatively. The safest bet is to treat marijuana like alcohol, don’t drive under the influence of either, regardless of state legalization. +++
+++ The NISSAN and RENAULT alliance plans to launch driverless ride-hailing and ride-sharing services in coming years, as the automakers look beyond making and selling cars to survive an industry being quickly transformed by new services. Automakers are leveraging expertise in automated driving functions for mass-market cars to develop mobility services, as they compete with tech firms such as Alphabet Inc and Uber in the fast-growing “pay-per-ride” market which threatens to hit demand for car ownership. Ogi Redzic, head of Nissan-Renault’s Connected Vehicles and Mobility Services division, said the alliance would begin self-driving services based on its electric cars “certainly within 10 years”, though not likely before 2020. “We think that the big opportunity for us is in automation, electric vehicles and ride-sharing and hailing together”, Redzic said in an interview. Nissan and Renault join a small group of automakers aiming to enter the ride-hailing market, which Goldman Sachs last month estimated would grow eightfold by 2030 to be five times the size of the taxi market. Redzic said the Japanese and French partners were testing self-driving vehicles, and that any service would run on pre-mapped courses with predetermined pick-up and drop-off points. The 2 automakers are developing the system with Japanese game software maker DeNA and French public transport operator Transdev. German rival BMW is also testing autonomous vehicles for use in ride-hailing services, while Uber has been developing self-driving technology. U.S. tech firm nuTonomy and ride services company Lyft, which counts General Motors as a major shareholder, this month announced they would begin piloting an autonomous vehicle ride-hailing service in Boston. Redzic said to market a self-driving service, regulations need to change to allow driverless cars on roads. At the moment, most global jurisdictions do not expressly authorise vehicles to operate on regular roads without a driver. “It doesn’t just depend on us”, he said. “To become fully driverless you need laws to change”. +++
+++ American dealers are abandoning the SMART brand after a shift to electric vehicles because going electric-only doesn’t make sense in certain markets. The American arm of Daimler’s smart brand will sell exclusively electric cars by the end of the year. The shift is hailed as a step towards an idyllic, emissions-free future by executives, but not all of the company’s dealers are on board. “Electric Smart vehicles make sense in certain markets, but don’t make much sense in other markets. So it might make some sense for some dealers to become service-only dealers”, Ken Schnitzer, the chairman of the Mercedes-Benz Dealer Board, told. Currently, 83 Mercedes-Benz dealers across the United States also sell and service Smart branded cars. The company’s top brass understands why certain dealers want to walk away from the brand, and it’s asked them to make a decision by the end of the month. Mercedes-Benz USA CEO Dietmar Exler told that dealers who operate in markets where electric cars are popular (like New York and California) have welcomed the brand’s new direction. The gasoline-powered Fortwo is relatively popular in big European cities, but it’s largely failed to gain traction in the United States. Annual sales peaked at 24,622 in 2008, the year the diminutive city car was introduced in our market. Just 6,211 cars found a new home last year, and this year looks even worse. The fate of the Smart brand in the United States, and, arguably, globally, depends on whether the Fortwo Electric Drive finally meets expectations. However, the 2-seater might be a tough sell because in the United States, it starts at $24,550 before shipping and incentives are factored in, which makes it nearly $10,000 more than the outgoing gas-burning model. +++
+++ The next-generation SUBARU WRX and STI are unlikely to appear until 2020. The current Impreza is already built on Subaru’s new platform architecture, but engineers are still working on a high-performance powertrain. Subaru is still at least a few years away from releasing a next-generation WRX and STI. Both will be underpinned by the new Subaru Global Platform, which already made its production debut in the basic Impreza for the 2017 model year. Speaking at a recent launch event for the second-generation XV, Subaru Australia managing director Colin Christie said a new WRX and STI won’t be ready for at least 30 months. Engineers are said to be spending the next 2,5 years working on powertrain development for the high-performance variants. Whenever the next-generation WRX and STI do arrive, they will benefit from a more rigid platform and presumably get a few suspension improvements alongside upgraded powertrains. In the meantime, the 2018 WRX and STI were refreshed with a more aggressive body styling, suspension refinements and new headlights on certain trim packages, among other tweaks. The STI received a few extras including Brembo 6-piston front calipers with drilled rotors and a revised all-wheel-drive system that benefits from an electronic center differential. +++
+++ TESLA opts out of the JD Power quality survey. Tesla apparently declined to share its ownership registration data, preventing JD Power from sending surveys to customers. Tesla has apparently declined to participate in JD Power’s surveys, preventing the marketing firm from comparing the Model S and Model X against vehicles from established rivals. JD Power relies on voluntary submissions of customer registration data to distribute surveys. The latest Initial Quality Study reflects customer-reported problems experienced in the first 90-days of vehicle ownership. California is among states that do not release registration data without explicit permission from automakers. JD Power says all major automakers approved the release, except for Tesla. The firm still had approximately 30 percent of customer data, but declined to release any figures due to the small sample size. “I don’t know that they’re hiding anything”, JD Power’s VP of global automotive, Dave Sargent, said. “They just don’t want to participate”. +++
+++ VOLKSWAGEN has agreed to buy back diesel cars equipped with illicit emissions control software after deciding not to appeal a German court ruling backing plaintiffs’ calls for compensation. Consumer agencies across Europe have been pushing for compensation for Volkswagen (VW) drivers who bought diesel cars on the strength of their green credentials. Despite VW’s admission of wrongdoing in the United States, it says it has not broken the law in Europe and sees no need to compensate European consumers. The carmaker has committed to fixing all affected vehicles by autumn. But first-instance rulings by the regional courts of Arnsberg and Bayreuth published in May which upheld plaintiffs’ calls for compensation have now become legally binding after VW decided to waive an appeal, the plaintiffs’ lawyers at Duesseldorf-based law firm Rogert & Ulbrich said by email. “In future the injured parties may have justified hope that they will be able to enforce their claims in only one instance”, lawyer Marco Rogert said. VW played down the significance of the ruling, saying its decision to forego an appeal was an exception and stemmed from the low value of the vehicles in question. The carmaker does not expect the two rulings to have any bearing on other ongoing cases and, if necessary, will use its right to appeal unjustified customer complaints in future, it said in emailed comments. The law firm said VW decided not to appeal 3 compensation court cases including a verdict published in April by a regional court in Wuppertal, whereas VW said its course of action only affected the two cases at Arnsberg and Bayreuth. +++