+++ Along with new engines and a new design direction, AUDI Sport boss Stephan Winkelmann says he is committed to producing electric RS models, as well as more SUVs under Audi’s high-performance sub-brand. “Electrification is absolutely paramount for the success of tomorrow, but the point is when? At the moment, we are preparing a line-up that is bigger than before, because we need to go into those segments and body styles that are the most popular with buyers. That means in 3 or 4 years, it will likely be feasible for us to do an electric car. But there are a lot of factors we need to get right for that to happen. It’s about the weight of the battery, the packaging, the roominess, the body style and the power-to-weight ratio”, he said. “These things will likely matter much more in 4 of 5 years that they would in 10 years when we’ll have an entirely different technology with lighter batteries and more power. For us that means either an SUV or limousine, as this makes more sense”. Winkelmann also talked about the importance of delving deeper into the SUV world with Audi Sport’s willingness to build on the RSQ3, the brand’s only RS badged SUV. “We want to go more into the SUV segment with different sizes, and we’re working on that, as I think it’s the right place to put our investment given the continued growth of SUV sales on a global scale. “In my opinion there are two things; one is battery technology and there’s going to be another boost for the SUVs, because it’s about the packaging and the roominess, where the SUV is more forgiving than in, say, sedans. And the fact is, I’m a big supporter of SUVs within the RS model range”. +++
+++ BMW ’s high-performance M division has conceded its future hot rods will be electric. In an exclusive wide-ranging interview, the CEO of BMW M, Frank Van Meel, admitted the long-term future of fast cars will align itself with advances in battery technologies to the point where all vehicles will be electric, including future variants of its iconic M3. He wouldn’t put a timeframe on when the changeover would occur, as the weight penalties associated with lithium/ion batteries at the moment are counter productive to the performance ethos of the brand. But Van Meel said that his division is constantly plugged-in to developments achieved by BMW’s i brand, enough to know how and when to start integrating electric technology. “We see that all cars in the end will be electric, including the M vehicles”, Van Meel said when asked if BMW M was being pressured to develop hybrid systems into its next-generation M3/M4 twins. “And we have a chance to look at what Project i is doing within the BMW Group, especially regarding power density and weight of the batteries because our biggest issue is the power to weight ratio issues they bring. And it is the opposite of what our cars stand for and what racing stands for. “For us, we’re still looking at the right time to get it into our cars but we don’t have any dogmas. There is nothing against it but we don’t have the push to get it on such short notice because then the cars will be too heavy”. Despite BMW’s heavy push towards electric vehicles, Van Meel said the M division is under no immediate pressure to adopt hybrid technologies nor develop a smaller powerplant, even against stricter emission output regulations or competition from its direct rivals, AMG and Audi Sport, both of which have high-performance four-cylinder hot hatches. Currently, the smallest engine in a dedicated BMW M car is a 3.0-litre turbo charged straight 6 cylinder, a single-turbo version in the M2 and a unique twin-turbo unit in the M3 and M4. “For the pure M vehicles, we don’t have any pressure to downsize our engines”, he said. “As a matter of fact, the 6 cylinder engine is a perfect one as it is iconic engine. Of course, in the future you never can tell what is going to happen because you never stick to any one technology just for the matter of it. Currently it is our main engine and we’re happy with that”. +++
+++ MERCEDES-AMG ’s four-door GT will the most powerful series production model in its line-up when it goes on sale in 2018. The future Porsche Panamera rival is predicted to have around 805 hp in its most powerful form, making it about 220 hp more potent than AMG GT R. Only the 1000 hp Project One will beat it for output, but that car will be a limited-run model. The GT four-door is currently being put through its paces at the Nürburgring, where chassis hardware and software settings are being tested to the limit in the run up to its market launch in September 2018. Its design will take heavy influence from the GT concept of this year’s Geneva motor show, with LED headlights that are clearly inspired by the concept’s, as well as a similarly slim glass line. At the back, it’s likely that the same swooping lid leads into thin taillights that resemble those of the GT coupé. Despite the link to the GT sports car in its name, the 4-door is actually more closely related to the E-Class. It sits upon a heavily reworked version of that car’s structure with a stretched wheelbase. Like the GT concept, the body is expected to be longer, wider and shorter than the E-Class, giving the car a more sporting stance. The concept was 5.065 mm long, 2.046 mm wide and 1.405 mm high, making it larger and lower than the Panamera; emphasising the car’s aggressive design. The car’s drivetrain layout will also be closely related to the E-Class, meaning it will locate its gearbox up front, rather than in a rear-mounted transaxle position like the GT sports car. At first, the four-seat GT will be offered with a twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 petrol engine, but it is not yet known if it will be the dry-sump M178 unit of the GT or the wet-sump M177 used in the AMG E 63. Drive will be sent to all four wheels and power is expected to exceed 600 hp, ranking the four-door’s unit above even that of the hardcore GT R track-focused model. But this output will be eclipsed in 2019 when a hybrid version is launched. That car’s drivetrain was previewed in the concept which mated an electric motor to AMG’s 4.0-litre V8 to produce 805 hp and enable a sub-3sec 0-100 km/h time. Mercedes Formula 1 battery technology was used to warrant recharging through brake energy recuperation and input from the combustion engine. Mercedes may not name its four-door GT model the GT 4, because it already produces a GT4 racing car that’s based on the GT road car. However, GT could be used in some way to distance the model from the four-door CLE, which will replace the CLS, to emphasise the car’s powerful performance. When order books open, the GT four-door will likely be priced slightly higher than the Porsche Panamera Turbo. The hottest hybrid version could command significantly more. +++
+++ Tesla is set to begin production of its first MODEL 3 all-electric sedan on Friday July 7th, earlier than expected, according to the company’s chief executive, Elon Musk. The vehicle has “passed all regulatory requirements for production two weeks ahead of schedule”, Musk said. In March, Tesla said it was on track to begin making the first Model 3 cars in July and to deliver them to the first customers at the end of the year. Once begun, the Model 3’s production rate should ramp up “exponentially”, with 100 sedans to come in August and more than 1,500 in September, he added. “Looks like we can reach 20,000 Model 3 cars per month in December”, Musk said. The Model 3 (described previously by Musk as a smaller, more affordable version of the Model S) is expected to cost $35,000, compared with around $70,000 upwards for earlier Tesla electric cars. The rollout of the mass-market vehicle is key to Tesla’s goal of boosting total production to 500,000 by the end of 2018, from 84,000 in 2016. A party to mark the first Model 3 sedans for 30 customers will be held on July 28, Musk indicated. At least 400,000 people have put down a $1,000 deposit to reserve the all-electric car, according to a report by Electrek, though Tesla has not confirmed this. That would mark a big step up for the Palo Alto based car maker, which delivered just over 25,000 vehicles in the first quarter of 2017, beating analysts’ estimates and a comeback from a production target miss for the fourth quarter of 2016. Tesla shares been on a tear over the past 12 months, up 67% compared with a 15% gain for the S&P 500 SPX. +++
+++ There’s nothing like sibling rivalry. PORSCHE and Lamborghini are the most driver-focused brands in the Volkswagen Group, building sports cars like the 911 and Huracan that offer thrills on road and track. The German marque senior executives aimed thinly veiled jabs at their Italian cousins. Lamborghini set social media alight in March when its ultra-light Huracan Performante eclipsed the Nurburging production car lap record held by Porsche’s 918 Spyder. Scepticism surrounding the considerably less powerful Lambo’s 6 minutes 52 seconds lap time provoked the Italian brand to reveal detailed data surrounding Marco Mapelli’s run. Porsche’s top brass do not seem convinced. Speaking at the launch of the new GT2 RS, Porsche GT boss Andreas Preuninger told the new machine “really is a beast”. “We call it King Kong internally, and it’s really the upmost performance that the 911 platform can offer at the moment. We wanted to show the world we are very interested in lap times. We wanted to stay on pole position and this is a car that will definitely crush the competition on the track regarding lap times”. The obvious question, then, is whether Porsche has had a crack at wrestling its Nurburgring time back from Lamborghini. “We haven’t had the chance”, Preuninger says. “This is the first series production car’the main work dialling the car in will start now, it will go all summer long. “There’s a lot to be done to get the last 10 percent out of it: 90 percent of the work is done in 10 percent of the time. For the rest of the 10 percent you need 90 percent more”. Pressed as to whether it can beat the Huracan’s sub-7 minute run, the Porsche man says “if both cars are coming straight from the dealership, I’m sure we can”. That could be interpreted as a stab at Lamborghini’s contender, suggesting the car Mapelli used was somewhat perkier than what Huracan customers can expect. Porsche motorsport boss Frank-Steffen Walliser appears to agree with that notion. “Let me make one remark on the Nordschleife”, he says. “If we go to the Nurburgring we use the tyres we sell to the customers, we use the engine the customer will have in his car. It’s the Porsche approach. “I’m not going for laptimes that the customer cannot achieve. Full stop. It’s no comparison to competitors, but this is how we do it”. While Porsche does not know exactly how fast its new car will be around the world’s toughest circuit, it’s clear that the brand is confident in its performance. “This is the 7th generation of the 911, it’s all about the 7, such as 700 horsepower”, Walliser says. “It’s no 7 on the Nurburgring. Maybe it’s a 7m 06s. “Maybe we’ll see”. +++
+++ TESLA has introduced a handful of updates across its Model S and Model X ranges this week, namely improving the acceleration of its non-performance variants. Headlining the changes is the significant improvement in terms of straight-line performance for the Model S 75 and 75D, which both can now accelerate from 0-100 km/h a full second quicker than before: 4.6 seconds and 4.4 seconds, down from 5.8 seconds and 5.4 seconds respectively. The same goes for the larger Model X 75D (available only in dual-motor ‘D’ guise) which can now sprint from 0-100 km/h in a claimed 5.2 seconds; down from 6.2 seconds. The performance improvements have been achieved through a combination of software and hardware updates, meaning the changes apply to new vehicles from the factory rather than current examples already on the road. Additionally, the Model S 100D and Model X 100D cut the benchmark 0-100 km/h sprint time to 4.3 seconds and 4.9 seconds respectively; down from 4.4 and 5.0 seconds. Meanwhile, the Model X also sees the introduction of a new 7-seat option that allows the second and third rows to fold completely flat. +++
+++ Everybody knows the auto industry is a huge source of UNITED STATES manufacturing employment. Now here’s a less-known fact: The auto sector is today also a prime driver of U.S. clean-tech development. Research by Brookings recently released shows that the focus of clean-energy innovation activity is shifting, and making transportation and battery technologies relatively more important. For one thing, innovation in solar, wind, and most other technologies slipped last year, according to our analysis of patent data. Likewise, a related look at venture-capital investments in clean tech revealed similar pullbacks continuing a multiyear decline. By contrast, auto-company patenting and investment in transportation and energy storage ideas are now driving some of the strongest momentum in clean tech. Nearly one-fifth of all clean-tech patents since 2011 were granted in the transportation sector, and another 15 percent in energy storage. Transportation reached a new high of 7,433 patents in 2015 and storage hit its all-time high in 2016 with 5,774. In each area, auto makers and their suppliers were players. Auto-sector companies dominated the list of the largest receivers of patents in the years 2011 to 2016, with General Motors, Ford, Tesla, Toyota and Delphi all registering more than 100 patents each over the time period (General Motors and Ford each registered more than 1,400). At the same time, no category of clean tech attracted nearly as much VC funding as the transportation sector, where companies have locked in fundings of 5 billion dollar or more in each the past 3 years to set new highs. What’s more, while conventional VC firms have been pulling back as investors, automotive firms like BMW have been stepping up to fund innovative startups on their own. Since 2011, auto companies have done 18 VC deals. As a result, while the pace of innovation has appeared to slow in other categories, the action has picked up on transportation categories and related battery, storage and advanced materials categories. Some of this action reflects continued interest in such key areas as engine efficiency, drivetrain electrification, and the cheap battery technology needed to ensure electric cars catch on. More recently, patenting and VC activity have surged as both traditional auto companies like GM and Ford and their suppliers like Delphi have thrown themselves into an innovation battle with new high-tech competitors like Google, Apple and Qualcomm over newer categories like ride/vehicle sharing, fleet-tracking apps, transportation software and more recently autonomous vehicles—all areas that promise emissions savings and that have technology foundations closely related to the traditional software-based focus on VC investment. As a result, transportat ion and batteries are now the two hottest zones of innovation in clean tech, along with green materials and energy efficiency. All of which is a very good thing. Last year, power-sector carbon dioxide emissions fell below transportation-sector emissions for the first time since 1979, meaning that decarbonizing the transportation sector now looms as perhaps America’s top challenge, as the world tries to reduce emissions to fend of severe global warming. Given that, it’s very good to know that America’s once bloated and obtuse auto sector is all over it. +++