+++ CADILLAC sales have continued to grow abroad and shrink at home in the United States, barely maintaining a 14-month positive trend despite dropping nearly 22 percent in the US last month. China is cementing its position as Cadillac’s top market with more than 12,000 sales in July, up more than 37 percent compared to the same period last year and contributing to a 69 percent jump in the world’s largest automotive market for the first 7 months of the year. The XT5 continues to be the brand’s best seller globally, with 75,569 units delivered worldwide in 2017. The crossover also experienced its second-best month in the US with more than 5,500 units sold. Consumer preference continues to benefit crossovers and SUVs, but the CT6 sedan is up by 62.6 percent globally for July with market-share gains in the US and China. The ATS also rose by 7.9 percent for the month. Despite lackluster raw sales numbers in the US, the company highlights a strong average selling price above $54,000 and a younger buyer profile than in previous years. “Cadillac is attracting youthful and affluent buyers that have never experienced the brand. This resulted in fourteen consecutive months of global sales growth”, said brand chief Johan de Nysschen. +++
+++ The European Union said it had no plans to introduce quotas for ELECTRIC cars for an automobile sector seeking to recover from the Volkswagen diesel scandal, a spokeswoman for the EU executive said. “Generally speaking, the Commision is looking into ways to promote use of low carbon energy and transport, but none of them includes quotas for electric cars”, the spokeswoman told reporters. “We do not discriminate between different technologies”. The Commission was reacting to a report in a German newspaper that cited EU sources as saying the European Commission wanted to accelerate the retreat from combustion engines by setting a quota for low emission cars such as electric cars from 2025. +++
+++ FARADAY FUTURE has secured a $14 million ‘rescue’ loan from Innovatus Capital Partners. The company put up its Los Angeles corporate headquarters as collateral for the loan, which could give the troubled startup a bit more time to keep its head above water for another round of fundraising. A separate report in Business Insider claims FF is also shuffling its executive roles amid the ongoing cash crisis. CFO Stefan Krause is said to have taken the role of COO and marketing chief, while the controversial Chinese billionaire who apparently founded the company, Jia Yueting, will be appointed chairman of the company’s global executive committee. Krause is expected to be responsible for critical business decisions until Faraday names a formal CEO, unnamed sources told Business Insider. His marketing duties are also said to be temporary until a formal CMO is hired or named. Faraday Future emerged as a mysterious company with unclear backing and leadership, until media reports identified Jia Yueting as the apparent primary investor. Jia is best known as founder of LeEco, aka “the Netflix of China”, a company which has also experienced financial trouble in recent months. Without enough funding to move forward with plans to build a billion-dollar factory in the Nevada desert, Faraday Future is now looking for a smaller facility that can be adapted to build vehicles. “We will secure an existing facility that we can lease or buy at a low cost and then bring in our equipment and be faster to market with the FF91”, Krause said. The company has not said how much investment capital it still needs to pull off its downsized production plan. +++
+++ 2017 is looking great for FERRARI as they have just announced a 24 percent profit increase in the second quarter of the year. Apart from that, they have also shipped 5.3 percent more cars within the period and recorded €920 million of revenue. That is 13.5 percent more than last year’s figures. The company would like to give thanks to the LaFerrari Aperta and the GTC4Lusso for breaking their own record. In the second quarter alone, the company shipped a total of 2,322 cars; or 118 more cars from the year before. Another contributor to the profit increase would be the V12 based models, these cars took account for another 36 percent sales increase. Besides the LaFerrari Aperta and the GTC4Lusso, the F12berlinetta and the F12tdf were also some of the faster moving models. If you didn’t know, these models have already been phased out as the new 812 Superfast makes its way to the market. Other models from the 488 family, the GTC4 Lusso T from 2016 and the California T, are still going strong. The company feels that by the end of 2017, they will reach over €950 million in profit, while CEO Sergio Marchionne suggests that it could reach about €1 billion. This is possible as the company continues its domination in the Unites States, as well as with the anticipated success of the new Hong Kong dealership. The US has already seen a 3 percent increase. It gets even better from there. Sergio Marchionne has implemented a 5-year plan that’s supposed to start next year. This will include a “utility vehicle”, as well as hybrid versions of new and upcoming Ferrari models starting 2019. The said utility vehicle will have the same platform as that of the successor of the GTC4Lusso, paired with an all-wheel-drive setup and a hybrid powertrain. The company’s utility vehicle will probably rival Aston Martin’s DBX or the Lamborghini Urus. The Italian company is quite confident about their new utility vehicle, as they say that it will more than double the profits of the company by 2022. Ferrari’s utilitarian vehicle is expected to make its debut by 2021, with a price tag of a little over €300,000. When this model comes out, they expect to sell around 2,000 examples in China alone, and a whole lot will be delivered to the United States as well. +++
+++ Fuel-saving Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) technology has been in development for decades but could soon make an appearance in a production car. Early this year, it was reported that MAZDA was looking to introduce an HCCI engine in 2018. The first recipient will be the redesigned Mazda 3 which is due in 2018, as a 2019 model. Mazda will reveal details of its HCCI engine in August and that a concept previewing the redesigned Mazda 3 will be presented in October at the 2017 Tokyo auto show. Much like diesels, HCCI engines rely on sparkless ignition via compression, but they run strictly on gasoline. Their efficiency comes from burning a homogenous mix of and air and fuel at lower temperatures, which ends up reducing much of the heat energy lost in a normal gasoline engine and can see fuel consumption reduced by as much as 30 percent. The process also produces much fewer emissions. The main problem is the specific temperature needed for smooth operation. Too cold and it affects the performance of the ignition system. Too hot and you end up with engine knock. HCCI engines also tend to wear out faster. To get around the temperature problem, Mazda’s HCCI engine is expected to be capable of conventional sparkplug ignition when necessary, such as during cold starts. As for the redesigned Mazda 3, it will be a substantial update of the current model introduced for 2014. Mazda employed a similar strategy for its redesigned CX-5 introduced for 2017. In this way, the automaker only needs to develop a new platform for every 2 vehicle generations. +++
+++ The market penetration for MINI ’s John Cooper Works (JCW) performance models in Australia sits at about double the global average; a similar situation to that enjoyed by parent company BMW Australia’s M Division. Mini’s JCW sales are currently running at about 10 percent of its total in Australia, equal to about 230 units (from a year-to-date brand tally of 2.318 units, up 6 percent). That’s a higher proportion than any market worldwide of a similar, or greater, volume scale. Moreover, sales of JCW products worldwide are running well ahead of target, meaning production is maxed-out and supply issues are becoming a factor, despite “really bullish” initial targets, according to visiting Mini global senior vice-president Sebastien Mackensen. Mini offers JCW derivatives of its Hatch and Convertible, and recently Clubman wagon and Countryman crossover SUV derivatives, all with 231 hp turbo engines with between 320 Nm and 350Nm of torque. Not cheap. It’s another example of European performance sub-brands performing well above average in Australia, despite our low speed limits. BMW M, Audi Sport, Mercedes-AMG, Renault Sport and Volkswagen’s GTI/R products all enjoy proportional success here that makes other regions around the globe weep. The success of Mini’s JCW product offerings prompted us to ask Mackensen if a dedicated standalone Mini sports car could materialise. The company axed the Coupe, Roadster and Paceman a few years back because of cannibalisation, but could a range expansion of a different sort work? For example, who could forget the already iconic Mini Superleggera Vision bespoke roadster concept from the 2014 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. “Tricky question”, Mackensen said. “I would say we are always looking at what could be options in the market, I wouldn’t like to close ourselves out to anything. Is there any plan to do the Coupe and Roadster again? I would say no, but that doesn’t mean we have to stand still for the next 10 years”, he said, though adding that any theoretical production Superleggera would be super low-volume. +++
+++ MITSUBISHI has confirmed the American death of the tiny i-MiEV. Built on a kei car platform originally designed for the Japanese market, the i-MiEV was the electric car with the lowest range on the United States market. The announcement hardly comes as a surprise. Mitsubishi sold just 2,108 examples of the i-MiEV in the United States since the 2012 model year. A full 50 percent of those were sold in 2013, and another 25 percent found homes in 2012. In other words, sales have been nothing short of dismal for the past 4 years. A spokesperson for Mitsubishi told that there are no more i-MiEVs in its American inventory, so it’s too late to buy one new. You’re not missing out on much, though; I wasn’t thrilled with the i-MiEV when I drove it back in 2012. “I would be hard-pressed to recommend the i-MiEV to anyone. Its design, execution, and specifications are a generation behind the latest crop of EVs”, I wrote after spending a week with the car. Mitsubishi remains committed to electrification, but it hasn’t revealed when it will introduce another battery-electric car. It’s also committed to SUVs, so its next EV could boast off-roading genes. +++
+++ RENAULT said it has signed a new joint venture deal in Iran following an initial partnership agreement struck last year, which Renault said would boost its growth in the country. Western companies, including Renault and rival PSA, returned to do business in Iran last year after an international deal to lift sanctions in return for curbs on Tehran’s nuclear activities. Renault will be the majority shareholder of the new joint venture company, formed with Iranian partners IDRO (Industrial Development & Renovation Organization of Iran) and Parto Negin Naseh, an importer of Renault products in Iran. The company had struck an initial deal with IDRO in September 2016. The new joint venture company will include an engineering and purchasing center to support the development of local suppliers as well as a plant with an initial production capacity of 150,000 vehicles a year, supplementing Renault’s existing capacity of 200,000 vehicles a year in the country. The first vehicles to be produced at the plant will be the new Symbol and new Duster cars, added Renault. ‘We are happy to sign this agreement with IDRO and Parto Negin Naseh Company. In a rapidly expanding Iranian market, it was vital to implement plants, engineering and purchasing center”, said Thierry Bolloré, Member of Groupe Renault Executive Committee and Chief Competitive Officer. “This joint venture will enable an acceleration of our growth in this country”, he added. Both Renault and PSA reported last month strong first-half sales numbers from their formal return to the Iranian market. +++