+++ AUDI isn’t shy when it comes to performance SUVs. We’ve already seen the the RS Q3 add some serious pace to the lower end of its Q SUV range and and with an RS Q8 on the way to operate as a flagship, there’s a conspicuous gap in the middle. That is, literally, where the new Audi RS Q5 comes in. We won’t have long to wait until the RS Q5 makes land-fall. In the engine bay i expect to find the 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 from the Audi RS5 Coupe with power being channeled to all four wheels via a quattro all-wheel-drive system, as is the Audi way. The Audi RS Q3 utilised the engine from the RS3 hot hatch but in detuned form so that it produced 360 hp against the RS3’s 400 hp. Although it shares an engine with the RS5 Coupe, a similar reduction in power is not on the cards for the more premium RS Q5. It should make the same 450 hp as the RS5 Coupe. The RS Q5 will inevitably be heavier than the RS5 Coupe it shares an engine with but a 0-100 km/h time well under 5 seconds seems likely. We’ll also see a top speed limited to 250 kmh. We can expect the usual bold Audi RS styling treatment with sculpted air intakes, LED headlamps and large wheels shod with low profile tyres. Inside, the Audi Q5 interior with be raised up a notch or two with sports seats and steering wheel along with carbon fibre trim inserts and a high level of equipment as standard. Rivals for the RS Q5 are plentiful, and it’s expected that the performance SUV sector will expand further in the coming years, but alternatives that match the RS Q5’s output are harder to come by. The hot Audi will primarily do battle with the new BMW X3 in 360 hp M40i guise and the Mercedes-AMG GLC 43 with its 367 hp performance. You’ll need the Porsche Macan Turbo with the optional Performance Pack to get up to the 450 hp benchmark Audi will set with the RS Q5, though. +++
+++ Imports of supercars and bespoke vehicles are being slowed into CHINA following the enforcement of strict new environmental legislation. A change in law means low volume cars such as supercars produced by McLaren and bespoke models made by Morgan will now have to be retested, to see if they conform to emissions limits after 160,000 km. Low volume vehicles had been exempt due to the fact they only cover an average of 5,000 km per year. But China’s government has added these car types to the legislation as part of its Clean Air Act, which aims to cut pollution. A McLaren spokesman told that the retesting process it has caused was pushing back the delivery times of the first customer 720S models, which were due in the country by the end of summer, by “about 2 months”. They said apart from the delay, no issues were expected and that the 720 hp supercar conformed to all legislation. The same was said for the upcoming 570S Spider, which will also be affected. Morgan has 3 customer cars that have had deliveries halted as the company moves through retesting, and quotes another, unnamed brand spokesman explaining that the backlog means the company has “missed getting cars into the market for second and third quarter sales”. Low volume British sports car maker Ariel told that it expects not problems with the rule change. Company boss Simon Saunders said: “All new vehicles are being designed to high volume Type Approval and legislation standards, so we’re confident that future Ariels will meet China Vl legislation”. The brand is also looking at alternative technologies to power its models, ensuring it “surpass any minimum requirements to demonstrate the low volume industry’s intention to lower automotive emissions”. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, which represents brands in Britain, has requested that China’s regulators create laws that align more closely with those in regions such as Europe and the US. In these areas, low volume models are continually allowed to bypass the strictest emissions limits due to the small number of these cars and limited mileage they cover. +++
+++ The long-rumoured FERRARI SUV is still on the cards, according to auto analyst Max Warburton, who claims the future model is being called an FUV (Ferrari Utility Vehicle) and does not have visible rear doors. Last month, Ferrari’s commercial boss Enrico Galliera told: “We are not producing an SUV, because an SUV is not a sports car; it can be fast, but it’s not a sports car. We are not producing a four-door because, while a four-door can be fast, it’s not a sports car”. He added: “Ferrari has to remain consistent, doing what we know to do, which is delivering cars that are able to deliver emotion. Sports cars”. However, Warburton claims it is a “question of semantics”, stating that while Ferrari management continues to tell investors that it will not build an SUV or a model with four doors, the rear doors will not be visible and will instead “use a clever hidden arrangement”. The model, expected to launch in 2021 and cost about 375,000 euro in The Netherlands, would rival cars such as the Lamborghini Urus, Rolls-Royce Cullinan and Aston Martin DBX. Warburton estimates that 2,000 to 3,000 units would be sold per year. While Ferrari continues to be evasive on the topic, a more practical model has huge potential for the Italian brand, given the trend for high-riding vehicles and the popularity of ultra-luxury SUVs worldwide, and particularly in the growing Chinese market. Competitors Lamborghini, Rolls-Royce and Aston Martin are already far into development of their respective SUVs, while Bentley’s Bentayga accounts for a significant portion of its sales. +++
+++ FORD shoots down the Lucid Motors buyout proposition. The startup is said to be moving forward with its fundraising push to pay for a factory in Arizona. Lucid Motors is reportedly looking to Detroit for help as it attempts to bring an electric car to market. The startup reportedly sought buyout talks with Ford senior management, unnamed sources told. The Blue Oval is said to have dismissed the proposition as it continues a 100-day strategic review under new chief executive Jim Hackett. Lucid is believed to be seeking around $700 million in new funding to pay for a factory in Arizona, where it hopes to build the Air EV by 2019. Unlike some other China-backed EV startups, Lucid earlier this year promised it would not break ground at a factory site until it has a clear “financial runway” to execute its plans “professionally and with absolute integrity”. The company is currently in its fourth fundraising round and has already demonstrated its Air prototype on the track with an impressive 377 km/h run. +++
+++ GENERAL MOTORS keeps its Orion plant idle as sales of small cars languish. GM’s Orion, Michigan, plant builds the Sonic and Bolt EV. GM will keep its Orion facility shuttered longer than expected due to softening sales of its small cars, particularly, the Chevrolet Sonic subcompact. The Orion plant builds the Sonic alongside the company’s new Bolt EV, and while spokespeople claim the latter is still on track for a full production run this year, Reuters reports that Bolt inventories have also crept up in recent months. Year-over-year Sonic sales have declined more than 35% thanks to slumping overall sales and customer shifts toward small CUVs and SUVs. The Bolt EV is new for this model year, so no similar comparison yet exists. A possible contributor to slow Bolt EV sales may be the imminent arrival of Tesla’s Model 3 compact EV, which is slated to compete with the Bolt on both price and range. GM is also extending downtime at several other facilities, all of which produce sedans. +++
+++ PORSCHE builds its first 800-volt chargers for the new Mission E model. The system promises to fill a drained battery to 80 percent in just 15 minutes. Preparing for the Mission E launch, Porsche has installed its new fast-charging system at its new Berlin-Adlershof technology center. Four customer parking lots are equipped with quick-charging columns, supporting Porsche’s unique 800-volt technology that provides up to 350 kW of power. The extremely high voltage and amperage is claimed to fill a Mission E’s depleted battery to 80 percent in just 15 minutes. In contrast, Tesla’s Supercharger network runs at up to 480 volts and 120 kW of power. Owners can expect to achieve a 50 percent charge in 20 minutes, or 40 minutes to 80 percent. It is unclear if Porsche has developed a technical solution to overcome the inherent tradeoff between battery longevity and charging rate. Tesla limits peak charging speeds after a certain number of fast-charging sessions at its Supercharger sites, minimizing battery degradation that could limit driving range. The Mission E aims to be the first production car with 800-volt technology when it arrives toward the end of the decade. +++
+++ SEAT is plotting a range of electric cars as part of a whole host of new models that will be launched between now and early in the next decade. Seat’s R&D boss, Matthias Rabe, confirmed that the company has 6 new cars planned for launch by 2020. 3 will be all-new models without a direct predecessor, and at least one of these will be electric, with one other a new 7-seat SUV powered by an internal combustion engine. The new models are part of Seat’s ‘Phase 3’ recovery plan. Phase 1 started in 2012 with the launch of the Leon and Phase 2 included the launches of the Ateca, Ibiza and Leon and was crowned last week with the reveal of the Arona crossover. Seat recently showed off an electric version of the Mii city car, which will be its first EV. It’s parent, the Volkswagen Group, has developed a new modular electrification toolkit, known as ‘MEB’, specifically for building EVs across the group’s brands. Although MEB was recently unveiled under Volkswagen’s own ID concept car (which will make production in 2020) Seat has a history of being the first brand to use new VW Group platforms. Therefore it’s possible Seat’s own first MEB-based electric production car, likely to be a 5-door family hatch, could be launched first in 2019. It would be followed by an electric SUV as the third of the 3 all-new Seat models due by 2020. The first of the all-new models will be a 7-seat SUV. Seat’s version of the Skoda Kodiaq, it is described by Seat boss Luca de Meo as “the flagship of the brand”. Design work on the model is complete, according to design chief Alejandro Mesonero, and it will be launched late next year. Seat is holding a public naming contest for the model and will announce the result in October. “It’s a cool design, with an impression of quality and coherent in size”, Mesonero said. “It’s very much a Seat and quite different to Arona and Ateca. The execution is different, with a different attitude for the front end, a new rear treatment and more precise lines”. Of the three replacement models that Seat will launch between now and the end of the decade, the Leon is the most significant. The Leon will also herald the next generation of Seat’s design language, according to Mesonero. He said the design would be “a bigger step” than the company has taken since the relaunch of the brand with the current Leon in 2012. “Sometimes you need to take a bigger step so as not to be obsolete. We’re ready very soon for the next, bolder step in design”, he said. The new Leon and Seat’s electric cars will usher in new cabin technology for the company as it looks to increase its suite of connectivity options and become a market leader in high-tech interiors. There won’t be a pure electric version of the forthcoming Leon, said Rabe, but it is likely to be offered with plug-in hybrid options. The other Seats due to be replaced by 2020 are the Mii, Toledo and Alhambra. The Toledo is likely to be axed, but are likely to adopt attributes that are more distinct to the brand. Rabe said Seat no longer planned to simply put its badge on another VW Group ‘shared’ product, as is the case with today’s Mii and Alhambra. He also said the three all-new models are actually “more like three and a half”, with the Alhambra undergoing a radical transformation to become a large crossover. The Cupra brand will also grow next year with one new model, an Ateca Cupra, which will have four-wheel drive and about 300 hp. “There are no other competitors in that segment that have driving performance”, said Rabe. “It would be a nice car”. However, an Ibiza Cupra remains off the table for now. De Meo said Seat “hasn’t found a technical set-up yet for the Ibiza Cupra with a sound business case”. He said demand for hot hatches was waning. Rabe added that Cupra versions of future electric Seat models were highly likely to be made. +++
+++ When VOLKSWAGEN boss Matthias Müller vowed to reform the carmaker after its diesel-emissions cheating scandal, decentralizing power from its German headquarters here was a top priority. That commitment is now being put to the test in one of the company’s most important international projects: building a low-cost car for India. Müller said in March he was giving the job to the group’s Czech brand Skoda, which is now leading partnership talks with India’s Tata Motors. Skoda has been authorized to take “incremental” decisions, while keeping VW Group’s Wolfsburg headquarters informed, a source at the brand said. The move, the first major international project led by Skoda since VW Group took full control of it in 2000, is a sign of how the different divisions and regions within the group’s 12-brand empire are gaining influence, the source added. Müller’s 9-member management team has also started to hold regular meetings outside of its northern German home. The first one was held in Shanghai in April. Sharing power is important because many people both inside and outside VW Group believe the company’s traditional authoritarian management structure created the environment that led to engineers installing illegal software to cheat diesel-emissions tests in millions of cars worldwide. With staff focused on meeting targets set by remote bosses and too fearful to highlight problems, VW Group was plunged into the biggest business crisis in its 80-year history when the cheating was exposed in September 2015: a crisis that has so far cost it more than $25 billion in fines, compensation and vehicle refits. Some VW Group investors say there were other causes of the crisis, in particular that the company was not open to outside scrutiny. They want it to appoint more independent directors to oversee executives, and hire more managers from outside the group, rather than filling top jobs with company veterans. So far Müller, who has been at VW for 40 years and became CEO a week after the emissions scandal erupted, has rejected calls to overhaul its supervisory and management boards. VW also has not, as originally promised, published the report it commissioned from a U.S. law firm into the emissions scandal, saying there are no written findings and it is unable to do so under the terms of a settlement with U.S. authorities. But Müller’s decentralization drive may help to win over some investors; particularly if the change boosts financial results. Analysts say Wolfsburg’s grip over the world’s biggest carmaker has been responsible for some of its failings in key markets. These include the United States, where VW has struggled to adapt to local tastes, and also building a budget car for emerging markets, where Wolfsburg engineers steeped in technical excellence missed cost targets, VW sources have said. VW’s low-cost Lupo model was dropped from production after less than a decade due to weak demand worldwide, while a small car partnership with Suzuki Motor collapsed. Skoda, which built cheap runabouts during the Czech Republic’s Communist era, is studying whether it can adapt a low-cost production platform developed by Tata Motors, a Skoda source said. The firms are also looking at potential joint development of components, he added. A Tata Motors spokesperson said the companies were “evaluating the potential cooperation”, without elaborating. If it can succeed, a budget car for India would tap into a lucrative part of one of the world’s fastest-growing auto markets, and would be a big boost in VW Group’s battle for global industry leadership with Toyota. But it’s too soon to claim victory because the project won’t be easy. Rival General Motors recently announced it would stop selling cars in India due to cut-throat competition. There are also questions on whether VW Group has entirely cast off its old centralizing habits. For example, when the company’s U.S. factory in Tennessee had problems ramping up production of its new SUV, the Atlas, Wolfsburg vetoed a contract extension for the head of the plant, according to one VW source. VW last month said only that the executive was returning to Germany after completing his assignment. The biggest hurdle on Müller’s decentralization drive may come from VW’s home state of Lower Saxony and powerful labor unions, which together dominate the supervisory board that decides on plant closures, asset sales and executive posts. Home to 6 VW plants with more than 100,000 workers, Lower Saxony has the most to lose from a dispersal of power to VW’s regions. Its leadership supports Müller’s reforms, but with reservations, saying employees should be involved and changes should not be implemented in a top-down way. “A culture change can only succeed together with all participants”, Lower Saxony Prime Minister Stephan Weil told Reuters. Many of Müller’s reforms are aimed at engaging and empowering staff, while breaking down barriers with executives. Some changes have been symbolic, such as selling VW’s corporate Airbus jet or opening up the executive dining room at Wolfsburg to factory workers; others, more fundamental, such as empowering senior engineers to control budgets and deadlines, according to company sources. Müller is also reducing the number of the group’s corporate committees by a third, and staff members have noticed a difference. “Before the crisis, top management was aloof”, said an employee who has worked in administration at Wolfsburg for 15 years. “Now there is a refreshing sense of normality”. To encourage innovation and risk-taking, VW is considering raising the pay of its 20,000 managers worldwide, said group human resources boss Karlheinz Blessing. Blessing himself is trying to lead the change in culture by shunning the executive car park and riding a bicycle on factory grounds. “We encourage people to take responsibility”, he said in an interview. “But that will take time. First there needs to be confidence that you won’t be raked over the coals if you make a wrong decision”. There are hopes this more hands-off management style will also improve company performance. Elmar-Marius Licharz, one of four new model line chiefs at the VW brand, said designers and engineers working on the new-generation Golf, due in 2019, were about 2 months ahead of target, suggesting the pace of product development had picked up with fewer top managers intervening in the process. “Involving the CEO in development of each model creates a lot of time limitations”, he said. “It’s all about collaboration and self-reliance now”. For all of Müller’s reforms within VW, however, corporate governance experts say there has not been enough progress in opening up the company to outside scrutiny. The executive hired for a newly created management board position for integrity and legal affairs quit in January after only a year in the job, with VW citing unspecified differences with management. A new appointment has been made. That compares with GM which, after its own scandal over safety defects, appointed a vice president for vehicle safety and publicly stated that if there were any obstacles to solving a safety issue the executive “has the authority to clear them”. A labor union source said VW’s compliance efforts were in their infancy, with only about 65 compliance officers and 25 or so integrity experts at a new unit responsible for the group’s 620,000 workers. That compares with the several hundred compliance officers and experts that German industrial group Siemens has employed since it face a corruption scandal in 2006. For Christian Strenger, a supervisory board member at Deutsche Bank’s retail asset management arm DWS, VW’s reforms will fall short until it improves the oversight of top executives and brings in new leaders to replace the executives such as of Müller and Chairman Hans-Dieter Pötsch, another VW veteran. Strenger has filed a lawsuit against VW’s management and supervisory boards to try to reverse the 2016 appointments of Pötsch and 3 other supervisory board members. He wants them replaced with independent directors. “Without substantial changes, neither customers, investors, the public nor the media will be convinced by this cultural change”, Strenger, a former corporate governance adviser to the German government, told Reuters. There is no sign that VW’s leadership, backed by the group’s Porsche-Piech founding families that own a controlling stake in the business, is ready to comply. “We consider this lawsuit to be completely unfounded”, a VW spokesman in Wolfsburg said. So, the battle over reform at VW looks like it will continue. “The cultural overhaul is a Herculean task and will take 10 to 15 years to materialize”, predicted Stefan Bratzel, head of the Center of Automotive Management think-tank near Cologne. +++