+++ The new AUDI A8 will not be offered with an all-electric variant, with the German premiumbrand instead choosing to focus on its traditionally fuelled line-up as well as a plug-in hybrid to be introduced next year. Audi’s large cars boss, Peter Fromm, said: “For this model, we do not plan an electric A8. But in future, yes”. Based on current product lifecycles, that means it’s unlikely there will be an all-electric A8 until 2024. However, a flagship A9 e-tron electric luxury liftback is due to be added to the line-up in that time. Audi’s first foray into electric vehicles will be the Q6 e-Tron SUV next year, which will have a range of 500 kilometers. Another 2 electric models will be introduced in 2019 and 2020 respectively. Talking about the Q6 e-Tron, Fromm said: “We might not have been first to market but we will have the best EV on the market. It’s not going to be huge-volume from the beginning”. Talking about the recently announced plans to make all cars electric in France by 2040, Fromm said he believed this was a reasonable timeline: “By 2040, we’re going to make it all electric”. +++
+++ The 2018 North American Car Of The Year competition has no Detroit model. This is the first time in the history of the award for the passenger car segment when one of the BIG THREE have no model in the running list. The eligibility list for the well-known 2018 North American Car of the Year award has now been made public, with a single Detroit car nowhere to be found. This will lend much discussions on the subject, so we can start with the logical measurements, the eligibility requirements. Aside from actually being a good car, the model needs to be new or substantially updated for the model year, and sifting through the General Motors, Ford, or Fiat Chrysler Automobiles roster I’m left unable to find anything of the sort. It might be owed to the hugely popular market of SUV and cross-over vehicles, which are killing off the traditional passenger cars. If we switch to the North American Truck and Utility of the Year Award, we’re going to have ample North American options: Chevrolet Equinox and Traverse, Buick Enclave, GMC Terrain and Jeep Compass. The traditional passager Car of the Year list is being made up of Japanese and German brands: Honda Accord and Clarity, Subaru Impreza, Toyota Camry, Lexus LC500, Audi A5 Sportback, BMW 5 Series, Porsche Panamera, Mini Clubman, Alfa Romeo Giulia, Hyundai Ioniq and Kia Stinger. Last, but not least, an American producer is present still, thanks to the hugely anticipated Tesla Model 3. +++
+++ BMW Group sales achieved their best ever June, with sales in the month totalling 232,620, a 2.1% increase year-on-year. It was also a record first half-year with sales of the BMW Group’s 3 premium brands, BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce, increasing by 5.0%; a total of 1,220,819 vehicles have been delivered to customers around the world so far this year. “June rounds off our best ever first half-year and the BMW Group remains the world’s leading premium car company”, commented Ian Robertson, Member of the BMW Board with responsibility for Sales. “We’ve already sold more than 1 million BMW vehicles this year, which is a new first-half-year record. June also saw our successful electrification strategy expand still further to include the Mini brand, meaning customers can now choose from 9 electrified BMW Group vehicles. With sales of these models up by 80% compared with the first half of last year, we’re looking forward to celebrating delivery of the 200,000th electrified BMW Group vehicle later this year”, he continued. The BMW brand achieved its best-ever first half-year, topping the million mark for the first time ever by this point in the year. Global BMW sales totalled 1,038,030 units, an increase of 5.2% on the same period last year. Sales of BMW brand vehicles in June totalled 192,873, up 2.0% compared with the same month last year. A wide range of models throughout the range contributed to this growth. Sales of the X1 increased 45.2% (136,748) in the first half-year while deliveries of the X5 increased by 10.6% (89,958). BMW 1 Series sales grew by 6.5% (91,802) in the first half-year, while deliveries of the flagship 7 Series increased during the same period by 26.9% (32,290). June saw the arrival of the Mini Cooper S E Countryman ALL4 in the dealerships, the 9th electrified vehicle from the BMW Group which is available to purchase today. The popularity of the BMW Group’s premium electrified vehicles continues to grow at a rapid rate: in the first 6 months of the year, a total of 42,573 BMW i, BMW iPerformance and Mini Electric vehicles were delivered to customers, an increase of 79.8% on the same period last year. First-half-year production of electrified vehicles totalled 51,725. The BMW Group is well on track to achieve its target of selling 100,000 electrified vehicles in 2017. +++
+++ If you look at today’s trends, people seem to be leaning more towards small crossovers instead of mini MPVs, which means that automotive companies should be developing more of the former. That is what KIA has planned with the brand new Stonic that they unveiled on June 20, a week after the Hyundai Kona’s launch. The Kia Stonic is quickly becoming popular, and is looking like the perfect car to attract new and young customers, as well as current Kia owners that are looking for an upgrade. The Korean automaker even said that almost a quarter of their buyers are upsizing from a hatchback to something with a little more height. Having said all that, it has also been confirmed by Kia’s top manager that we will no longer be seeing a successor of the Venga MPV. As the SUV segment grows with the new Stonic, it is time to say goodbye to good old MPVs like the Kia Venga. But to make things clear, the Stonic is not a replacement for the Venga. Kia’s European Chief Operating Officer Michael Cole said that the Stonic’s arrival made it “difficult to justify a next generation” for the Venga. And for the record, MPV segments have been in decline for some time now. He added that as the MPV segment shrunk, “it has created an opportunity for us and sales are going fine for us now”. However, Cole did say that there has been no final decision made on a replacement, as it will still run for a few more years. The thing is, they might limit production as consumers are getting what they want in a cross-over or an SUV, over an MPV. In 8 years, over 210,000 examples of the Venga were delivered to customers worldwide. And based on last year’s figures, the company delivered just over 26,000 units of the said model in Europe. That makes up 6 percent of the brand’s total sales (430,945 units) around the continent. The company is confident that the Stonic will be one of its top-selling cars worldwide, as well as the fastest growing model in Europe. By 2020, they expect to sell 2 million units of the Stonic in Europe alone. +++
+++ Sales of MINI brand vehicles achieved a new record for June with 39,443 units delivered to customers around the world, an increase of 3.0% compared with the same month last year. June rounded off the brand’s record first half year, with sales totalling 181,214 (+3.6%). “Mini continues to achieve sustainable growth in sales around the world”, said Peter Schwarzenbauer, Member of the BMW Board responsible for Mini. “Sales of the new Countryman are particularly pleasing and I’m delighted that with the launch in June of the Cooper S E ALL4, electric mobility is now available on a large scale from the Mini brand. Customer interest in this car has been extremely high and I’m confident we will see continued growth across the brand in the second half of the year”, he added. +++
+++ The PSA Group, which makes Citroën, DS and Peugeot cars, has confirmed it is purchasing the OPEL / Vauxhall brands for 2.2 billion euro; a deal which will be complete by the end of August. The move, which is expected to be complete by the end of the year subject to various conditions, will make PSA the second largest manufacturer in Europe after Volkswagen with a 17% market share. A Vauxhall spokesman confirmed that the deal would reach completion by the end of August, or September at the very latest. This latest confirmation follows the announcement that the European Union’s antitrust authority “unconditionally approved” PSA’s plans to buy the European arm of General Motors (GM), concluding that “the transaction would raise no competition concerns”. Globally, PSA sold 3.5 million units last year, while Opel/Vauxhall sold 1 million. Taking on the GM brands means PSA’s volume will be 4.5 million at the current sales rate. PSA said the decision allowed it to support worldwide profitable growth, while General Motors, current owners of the Opel/Vauxhall brands, said it “advances GM’s transformation and unlocks shareholder value through disciplined capital allocation”. In a press release confirming the purchase, PSA Group boss Carlos Tavares said PSA would respect existing brand identities and “help accelerate Opel’s turnaround”, referring to its recent struggles; last year, it lost 226 million euro. “We are proud to join forces with Opel/Vauxhall and are deeply committed to continuing to develop this great company and accelerating its turnaround. We respect all that Opel/Vauxhall’s talented people have achieved as well as the company’s fine brands and strong heritage. We intend to manage PSA and Opel/Vauxhall capitalizing on their respective brand identities. Having already created together winning products for the European market, we know that Opel/Vauxhall is the right partner. We see this as a natural extension of our relationship and are eager to take it to the next level. We are confident that the Opel/Vauxhall turnaround will significantly accelerate with our support, while respecting the commitments made by GM to the Opel/Vauxhall employees”, continued Tavares. +++
+++ In the first half of 2017, the Goodwood-based ROLLS-ROYCE brand delivered 1,575 (-6.5%) motor cars to customers. The same period in 2016 was particularly strong due to the popularity of the newly introduced Dawn. This base effect, and the absence from the market of the Phantom pending the introduction of the new Phantom later this year, account for the decrease in sales year-on-year. Despite considerable ongoing headwinds in the luxury sector in several regions, Rolls-Royce continues to strive for long-term sustainable growth. +++
+++ The SEAT Cupra brand could launch electrified performance cars in future, as it seeks to stand out from its competitors. The idea is still at the concept stage but is being debated internally at the firm’s headquarters in Spain and pushed by UK managing director Richard Harrison. “How we could use the capability of electricity on Cupra is interesting”, said Harrison. “I’d like to see more done with the Cupra and Seat Sport brands, and one interesting opportunity could be for an electric Cupra. There are no fully formed plans yet, but I’d be keen to explore the different opportunities between hybrid and full electric. If we did it, we’d pick one or two vehicles and do them properly; Cupra isn’t a badge to put on everything”. Seat’s global boss, Luca de Meo, has long talked up his desire to make more of the Cupra brand, to build desirability and customer loyalty and to drive profits. The move to electrification could allow Seat to tap into its relatively low age of buyer (the lowest in the VW Group) and to circumnavigate the fact that it has relatively little motorsport heritage to draw on to underpin its efforts. “If we did it, we’d need to have the debate on whether to go into motorsport to prove the quality of our products, or to let the quality of the products speak for themselves”, said Harrison. “Tesla has come from nothing to something with no heritage, so it is possible. But if we chose the former option, it would be another opportunity to do things a little differently again; there are different types of motorsport now, and it doesn’t have to be about Nürburgring lap records. There are exciting, shareable goals that could capture the imagination of a younger generation of buyers that could prove interesting. Whatever we do, though, we won’t just do Cupra for the sake of brand building. There has to be a commercial reason for it”. Renault Sport has already begun tests on a Zoe RS prototype with a view to putting it on sale at the end of the decade, while Volvo’s Polestar offshoot is also preparing a range of electrified performance cars. A Seat Ateca Cupra is set to join the Seat Leon Cupra in the firm’s line-up next year, with electrified Cupras likely to be launched after 2020. +++
+++ VOLKSWAGEN thinks we’ll run out of EV batteries. That’s unless 40 new assembly facilities are being constructed by 2025. I say the VW Group should get going and sign deals with contractors to start excavations if they think we’re in such a dire situation. It seems the German automaker, who is looking at a green future with an eye on the Dieselgate past, has calculated the cost of the electric revolution and concluded the automotive industry group alone needs a combined capacity of 150 gigawatt-hours of electricity. As Elon Musk said it well during a presentation at the Paris climate change summit (the one Trump is trying to get rid of), the electric revolution is coming, and those against it can only delay it. According to Ulrich Eichhorn, head of R&D at the company, “an enormous purchasing volume” would be needed in 2025 when cells with a combined capacity to deliver 150 gigawatt-hours of electricity would have to be produced. And now his projections have actually increased to “more than 200 gigawatt-hours” as the previous figure was pushed out last year. According to research done by the company, if every traditional producer will reach 25 percent EV and HEV/PHEV sales by 2025, the overall need for the entire industry would be of more than 1.5 terawatt-hours. And doing the extrapolating math it would result the industry needs no less than 40 gigafactories like the one Tesla already has. Another simple solution would be to see better battery technology, and according to automakers and suppliers, progress is made on a daily basis today, so in about 15 years we could see the next generation of batteries. +++