+++ ASTON MARTIN would like to have you know it will not tolerate any customer attempting to sell his or her build slot for the upcoming Valkyrie hypercar. Flipping exclusive supercars has become a prevalent practice as limited-run cars become investment pieces rather than just toys. The Valkyrie is poised to be both a toy and investment, but Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer went on the record to say the company will cancel any reservations if the customer is caught trying to re-sell their build slot. The information surfaced after Palmer responded via Twitter to the news of an online ad proclaiming a Valkyrie build slot was available for purchase. Palmer said, “I doubt they have a slot, but if they do and we identify who flipped, they lose the car. If they flip, then they never get another special”. So, not only will you lose your car altogether, Aston Martin won’t think of you the next time a limited-run model is heading to production. However, Aston Martin hasn’t laid out any regulations for customers after they take delivery of their Valkyrie. In contrast, some marques (such as Ferrari) forbid the sale of their exclusive cars for at least 6 months. The Aston Martin Valkyrie will be limited to just 150 road-going cars and 25 for track purposes only. Although Aston Martin hasn’t actually revealed official performance figures, power is expected to register at more than 1,000 horsepower thanks to a 6.5-liter V-12 engine and some form of hybridization. Production of the Valkyrie will begin next year with the first customer deliveries expected in 2019. By then, though, Mercedes-AMG will have launched its own exclusive hypercar. +++
+++ An Ex- AUDI manager has been charged in the Dieselgate case. Giovanni Pamio led the team of engineers responsible for designing the defeat device, according to the DOJ. The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged a former Audi manager named Giovanni Pamio with conspiracy to cheat on emissions tests in the United States. 60-year old Pamio was head of thermodynamics within Audi’s diesel engine development department from 2002 to 2015. The DOJ explains he directed his engineers to develop Volkswagen’s infamous emissions defeat device when he realized designing a diesel engine that complied with U.S. emissions regulations and satisfied his employer’s demands was impossible. To legally comply with EPA and CARB regulations, the brand’s diesel-powered cars would have needed to carry a large amount of AdBlue fluid on-board. Engineers feared building vehicles with a bigger AdBlue tank would prevent them from fitting more attractive features like a high-end sound system. Consequently, the defeat device was baked into the 3.0-liter V6 TDI engine from the get-go, and it allowed the 6-cylinder to satisfy emissions regulations. The V6 equipped thousands of U.S.-spec cars built between the 2009 and 2016 model years, including the Porsche Macan, the Audi Q7, and the Volkswagen Touareg. The main defeat device consists of sensors that detect whether the car is driving on the road, or whether it’s undergoing emissions testing on a dyno. It injects more AdBlue into the exhaust system when it’s in testing mode to emit fewer pollutants. The DOJ points out a second defeat device disables the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system when the car is on the road, again resulting in higher emissions. Some of the engineers who worked on the systems knew they were illegal. In 2008, they sent a presentation to senior Audi managers (including Pamio) to warn them that the software was “cycle beating”. They concluded it was “highly problematic in the U.S.” because it could be considered a defeat device, and it could get discovered by regulators. Later on, an employee told Pamio that the software “is a plain defeat device and it is not certifiable”. The DOJ found out about Pamio’s involvement in the scandal from an anonymous witness who also worked in Audi’s diesel engine development department. The person has agreed to cooperate with investigators in exchange for immunity. The charges against Pamio include conspiracy to defraud the U.S., wire fraud, and violation of the clean air act. The DOJ stresses he has merely been charged, and he is innocent until proven guilty. +++
+++ Is Terrafugia the latest acquisition of Chinese automaker Zhejiang GEELY ? According to the South China Morning Post, Geely, fresh from its acquisition of Lotus, has agreed to buy the American flying car startup. One of the newspaper’s sources said Geely, which controls Volvo and Lynk & Co and has a major stake in Proton, has been looking to acquire Terrafugia since 2016. Terrafugia was formed in 2006 by a group of engineers at MIT. Their goal is to develop a vehicle able to meet the requirements for the FAA’s Light Sport Aircraft classification and double as a practical road car. (A pilot’s license for Light Sport Aircraft is relatively simple and inexpensive to obtain, as it requires only 20 hours of logged flight time). Terrafugia’s design, known as the Transition, features a 2-seat cabin and a foldable wing. The latter will allow the Transition to easily fit in a standard car lane, and unfolding the wings can be achieved in under a minute. The Transition is promised to deliver a 640 kilometer flying range and a top flight speed of 160 km/h. While it still requires a runway for takeoff and landing, Terrafugia has a more advanced design known as the Transition TF-X that promises vertical takeoff and landing and even better performance. Terrafugia is currently accepting $10,000 reservations for the Transition. The company has pushed back its deadlines on a number of occasions though at present is promising the Transition for delivery in about 3 years and with a starting price of $279,000. As cities become more congested, more and more companies are entering the race to develop safe, reliable and relatively affordable flying cars. Geely isn’t even the first automaker to be associated with flying cars. Toyota already has a skunk works team working on the concept. +++
+++ LAND ROVER has joined the list of European luxury brands crying out for a dual-cab pick-up. While executives are desperate to enter the booming pick-up market, especially given the impending launch of the Mercedes-Benz X-Class, Jaguar Land Rover spokesman Matthew Wiesner told: “There’s definitely nothing in the current cycle. “But when you look at what other premium brands are doing in the one-tonne space, it’s high on my personal wish list, absolutely. Especially given the premium-end of that space, and what people are paying for those high-spec, dual-cab, pick-ups it would be fantastic to hopefully one day have a Land Rover in that space, but it definitely won’t be in the current cycle”. The utilitarian Defender was killed off last year, with a new model (built off the same aluminium platform as the 2017 Discovery) heavily tipped to be unveiled in 2018, and JLR’s global executives have even spoken of plans for the new model to arrive as part of a “small family”, telling the press that a break from Defender tradition was definitely on its way. “You can’t run an industrial powerhouse for the traditionalist. We need to establish a viable industrial and financial footprint before we can create a viable Defender for the future”, said Land Rover design director Gerry McGovern. “Once we’re making money, we can afford to invest in a whole new Defender family. We don’t have to be supported by heritage. Our job should always be about looking forward and being relevant in a changing world”. Whether that includes a Defender-based pick-up is apparently up in the air. In spite of that, Wiesner says he won’t stop asking until he gets one. “It’s almost an annual flag I send up the pole. And when you look at the opportunity globally, its certainly a growing space around the world”, he says. “It would be a cracker, and I reckon we could build one of the best pick-ups in the market place. It’s certainly on the wish list, and I know I’m not alone. So hopefully one day we’ll be talking about it in detail”. +++
+++ LE ECO money troubles mount. The founder resigns as assets are frozen. Still, the company’s executive director and largest shareholder, Jia Yueting wants to focus his efforts on bringing Faraday Future’s FF91 to market. LeEco’s billionaire founder, Jia Yueting, has resigned from his role as chairman as the company continued to face financial uncertainties. Citing Chinese newspapers, Reuters suggests a Shanghai court recently froze $182 million in assets owned by LeEco or Jia. “Please give LeEco some time, please give LeEco car some time, we will pay back creditors, suppliers and any other debts”, he said. The controversial executive may have stepped down from CEO of the publicly traded company, however he will retain his position as executive director and remain its largest shareholder. “Resigning from listed company CEO job and many other important roles is all aimed at making FF91 go to production and hit the market as soon as possible”, he wrote, referring to Faraday Future’s electric vehicle. The move will undoubtedly raise even more questions as Faraday Future attempts to recruit investors to help fulfill its production ambitions. The company recently told the Las Vegas Review Journal that it needs to raise 1 billion dollar in financing to move forward with factory construction. +++
+++ MERCEDES is throwing itself head-on (with help from Nissan) in the disputed pickup truck segment, arriving July 18 with the first-ever X-Class. Mercedes-Benz is entering the pickup truck segment in most markets, but not the US. They are going to present the first-ever X-Class pickup truck on July 18, though we all know the posh or workhorse model (they have 2 versions) will actually be a close relative of the Nissan Navara. Manufacturing duties will actually be handled by Renault at its plant in Cordoba, Argentina and Nissan at the factory in Barcelona, Spain. In our view, the main rival for the X Class is the Volkswagen Amarok, so the Mercedes model will be using four- and six-cylinder turbodiesel engines linked to the proprietary 4Matic setup. +++
+++ RENAULT Renault Samsung Motors, the South Korean unit of the French automaker, said it aims to export 40,000 units of its QM6 (a SUV sold as Koleos in Europe) this year. Renault Samsung began to sell the flagship SUV in the markets, such as Latin America, Australia and the Middle East, in June last year. In September, the QM6 was launched domestically, a company spokesman said. As of the end of May, the carmaker sold an accumulated 20,000 units in overseas markets and a total 26,000 units in the domestic market, he said. As the company has just begun shipping the 2.0-liter diesel SUV to European markets, such as Germany, France and The Netherlands, it expects to export a combined 40,000 SUVs in 80 countries by the end of December. The QM6, all assembled in Renault Samsung’s plant in the southern port city of Busan, is sold as the Renault Koleos in overseas markets. +++
+++ Carmakers in SOUTH KOREA are likely to face worker strikes again this summer, as fears mount that the strikes will deal a severe blow to their already faltering businesses hit by poor sales, emerging protectionism and diplomatic disputes. Unionized workers at Hyundai Motor, the nation’s largest carmaker, said that an annual wage negotiation they had been engaged in with the management for the last 2 months had collapsed, and the group will hold a vote next week to make a decision on staging a walkout. The move came less than a week after another union at its sister company Kia declared a breakdown in negotiations, rejecting the management’s offer of a wage increase. The situation at General Motors Korea, the South Korean unit of General Motors, is also unusual. The labor union there has already requested arbitration from a tripartite labor dispute commission. But the union is likely to go ahead and hold a vote to ask members to go on strike, according to sources. GM Korea’s labor union has demanded the company raise workers’ monthly basic wages by 50,000 won ($43) and pay a 9 million won bonus per worker, which the company sees as an excessive demand. Separately, GM Korea said its CEO James Kim will step down from his post on Aug. 31, without naming a successor. General Motors Korea has also been facing rumors that it would withdraw its business in Korea as the carmaker no longer sees its operations in Korea as attractive due to rising labor costs and growing operations losses. Over the past 3 years, GM Korea has posted a combined 2 trillion won in net losses: 350 billion won in 2014, 986.8 billion won in 2015 and 631.4 billion won in 2016. GM Korea, which is 76.9 percent owned by General Motors, has 3 plants here capable of producing a combined 750,000 units a year. GM Korea’s sales accounted for 6 percent of the US carmaker’s global sales of 9.96 million units last year, the company said. It is common for labor unions to stage walkouts in South Korea. But companies and market insiders have raised concerns over the possibility of them taking more drastic actions or staging lengthy walkouts this year, believing the new administration led by President Moon Jae-in, a former human rights lawyer, could be on their side. The impact of labor unions’ industrial action is expected to be harsher this year, as the carmakers are finding no more room to increase pay. Both production and sales by carmakers operating in South Korea have rapidly declined, putting Korea’s title as the world’s 6th-largest automobile producer at risk. According to the Korea Automobiles Manufacturers’ Association, “made in Korea” cars took a 5.8 percent market share in the US, China and Europe on average in the first five months this year, down from 7.7 percent in 2012. The decline in global market share was largely due to poor sales in China, which Korean carmakers see as a result of retaliatory action over Seoul’s decision to deploy a US anti-missile system on the Korean Peninsula. Hyundai and Kia saw their sales in China halve in March, before falling further in April and May. The 2 plan to sell a combined 8.25 million units this year. In the first quarter, Hyundai and Kia sold 3.51 million vehicles, less than 40 percent of its goal, according to the company. “With the company facing difficulties in sales in US and China, as well as its reputation in the domestic market, the union staging strikes could worsen a near-crisis situation at Hyundai Motor”, said an industry source, requesting anonymity. +++
+++ The TESLA Model S has consistently ranked at the top of independent crash tests since its debut earlier this decade, leading to its reputation as one of the safest cars in production. However, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety only gave the electric sedan an “Acceptable” rating in 2016 for its small overlap front crash test. The tough test simulates an offset frontal collision at 64 km/h, a scenario the IIHS says is responsible for roughly 25 percent of deaths and injuries in frontal collisions. In the 2016 test, the IIHS said the Model S ran into problems when the seat belt allowed the driver’s torso to move too far forward. That allowed the driver’s head to hit the steering wheel hard through the airbag. Tesla responded by altering the seat belt on Model S sedans built from January 2017. Unfortunately for Tesla, the alterations made haven’t been sufficient as the IIHS’s latest round of testing has produced the same result, thus the Model S’s rating in this test remains as Acceptable, one off from the top rating of “Good”. Furthermore, the 2017 test resulted in greater intrusion into the driver’s space compared to the 2016 test, even though the structure of the Model S was unchanged. Due to this greater intrusion, the 2017 test produced an “Acceptable” rating for structural integrity while the 2016 test produced a “Good” rating. And finally, the IIHS gave the Model S a “Poor” rating for its headlights. Other large sedans that scored top marks in the IIHS’s latest round of testing were the latest versions of the Lincoln Continental, Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Toyota Avalon. Oddly, Tesla has responded by criticizing the IIHS and highlighting that the Model S has scored top marks in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s tests. “While IIHS and dozens of other private industry groups around the world have methods and motivations that suit their own subjective purposes, the most objective and accurate independent testing of vehicle safety is currently done by the U.S. government which found Model S and Model X to be the two cars with the lowest probability of injury of any cars that it has ever tested, making them the safest cars in history”, Tesla told. It should be noted that the NHTSA doesn’t actually perform the small overlap front crash test in its own testing. +++