+++ BENTLEY and Rolls-Royce occasionally engage in some friendly competition but it appears the pleasantries are over as Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös has dismissed the Bentley Bentagya as a poser. Müller-Ötvös said: “We are not using mass-manufactured body shells. That limits what you can do on the design side and it undermines exclusivity massively”. The executive then went for the jugular by saying “You don’t want a camouflaged Audi Q7 in that segment. You want to have a true Rolls-Royce”. According to Müller-Ötvös, the fact that the Cullinan rides on a Rolls-Royce specific platform makes it far more prestigious than the Bentagya which is underpinned by the MLB Evo architecture that is shared with the Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne, and Lamborghini Urus. Müller-Ötvös declined to elaborate on the company’s first SUV but it will likely be powered by a twin-turbo 6.75-liter V12 engine that produces 572 hp and 900 Nm. The SUV could also come equipped with laserlight headlights and a self-leveling air suspension that makes millions of calculations every second and reacts to steering, acceleration, and camera inputs. +++
+++ Former FIAT CHRYSLER Automobiles financial analyst Jerome Durden has reportedly submitted a guilty plea for his role in the alleged embezzlement conspiracy involving the United Auto Workers. The charges included a felony count of conspiracy to defraud the US government and a misdemeanor charge for failing to file a tax return for a few thousand dollars he allegedly received in 2013. Prosecutors are said to be continuing an investigation into alleged theft of millions from a joint FCA-UAW training center across several years starting in 2009. The scheme allegedly involved FCA’s former head of labor relations, Alfons Iacobelli, and Monica Morgan, the wife of the late UAW official General Holiefield. FCA and the UAW both denounced the conspiracy and claimed to have no prior knowledge of the alleged wrongdoing. The indictments came to light a week before the UAW faced a critical unionization vote at Nissan’s Canton, Mississippi, factory. It is unclear if the negative attention played a significant role in the nearly two-to-one rejection of the UAW at the factory, marking yet another setback as the union struggles to gain a foothold in the traditionally anti-union South where an increasing number of foreign automakers have established their US assembly facilities. +++
+++ A configurator website indicates that when the 2018 NISSAN Leaf goes on sale, it will be offered in 3 different guises: Visia, Acenta and Tekna. Prices for the Leaf Visia will start at 29,990 euro, rise to 32,490 euro for the Leaf Acenta and top out at 36,200 euro for the Leaf Tekna. All 3 trim levels will feature the same 110 kW 150 hp and 320 Nm motor reportedly paired to a 40-kWh battery pack. No range has been published but according to reports, it might be up to 550 km if owners opt for a larger but yet-to-be-confirmed battery pack. Other interesting takeaways from the configurator is the fact that the ProPilot Assist self-parking system will only be available with the 900 euro Technology Package. The pack also includes Intelligent Cruise Control, Automatic Emergency Braking, Electric Parking Brake, High Beam Assist and Intelligent Lane Intervention, making it well worth the money. Nissan says the new Leaf will debut on September 6 but if leaks like this continue, we may know every detail about the new Electric Vehicle well before that. +++
+++ SSANGYONG isn’t a car company renowned for its classic design language. But the next-generation Rexton will be designed by famous styling studio Pininfarina, SsangYong’s CEO Jong Sik Choi has confirmed. Internally codenamed C300, development of the new SUV is already underway. Initial design work started in autumn 2016, and it is scheduled to be launched in late 2021/early 2022. Both Korean car maker SsangYong and Italian design and engineering specialists Pininfarina have a common owner. Both companies are part of the Mahindra Group, which acquired Pininfarina in 2015 in a deal thought to have been worth around 150 million euro. This doesn’t necessarily mean the next Rexton is going to look like a Ferrari 250 LM Stradale Speciale or an Alfa Romeo 2uettottanta, mind. But it stands a good chance of looking a bit more desirable than the outgoing model. That said, Pininfarina doesn’t always get it right – Daewoo Tacuma, anyone? +++
+++ Construction at TESLA ’s battery Gigafactory is far from finished but outspoken chief executive Elon Musk claims the site is already the largest battery producing factory in the world. Speaking during a recent conference call with bondholders, Musk made the audacious assertion that battery production at the site is higher than any other single factory but refused to disclose just how many Gigawatt hours (GWh) of lithium ion batteries are being built. What we do know is that as of late June, roughly one-sixth of the Gigafactory was complete and that production of battery cells for the carmaker’s Powerwall and Powerpack commenced in January. Meanwhile, battery production for the Model 3 started in June. When Tesla first announced the Gigafactory in 2013, it said that the facility would eventually produce more lithium ion batteries than the rest of the world combined. While that may prove true for 2013 figures, by the time production is increased to capacity at the factory, it is unlikely to be the case. As a matter of fact, China wants to increase their current 55 percent share of global lithium-ion production to 65 percent in 2021 and intend on easily eclipsing Tesla. +++
+++ Times are changing in the automotive industry when traditional automakers begin to view disruptors, such as Tesla, as true competitors. The latest such comments come from the world’s largest automaker by sales: the VOLKSWAGEN Group. Volkswagen brand CEO Herbert Diess told it officially views Tesla not as an underdog, but a legitimate competitor. Not only that, but he alluded to the electric-car maker as a true threat. Asked about Volkswagen’s direct competitors, he replied, “In the old world it is Toyota, Hyundai, and the French carmakers. In the new world, it is Tesla”. This is despite Volkswagen selling close to 6 million cars last year. How many cars did Tesla sell? About 76,000. The chief executive went on to say Volkswagen lacks abilities that Tesla currently possesses. Specifically, Tesla operates an expansive network of electric-car charging stations, produces good electric motors, and has begun to dabble in self-driving technologies with Autopilot. Clearly, Volkswagen is a tad envious, based on these comments. The brand continues to reinvent itself following VW Group’s disastrous diesel scandal, still unfolding after 2 years. From now on, diesel is dying and electric powertrains will rule the future at VW Group. Part of the reinvention will be an onslaught of new electric cars coming by the end of this decade, with a major focus on Europe and China. The U.S. market will be treated to electric cars as well, but a leaked product roadmap pegs the U.S. as more of a late adopter. At least 3 electric VWs should eventually arrive in the U.S., however. Diess closed by saying the brand “deliberately” continues to measure itself against Tesla and that it must “significant improve” on multiple facets to take on the ever-shifting auto industry. Tesla is no laughing matter these days. +++
+++ Volkswagen’s top labor representative in WOLFSBURG has urged the carmaker’s management board to assign a new vehicle model to Germany to boost flagging capacity utilization or risk missing hard-fought productivity goals. The carmaker’s powerful unions are concerned that a 3.8 percent drop in first-half group vehicle output in Germany, fueled by waning demand for the Golf and Passat models, could inspire further cuts in Volkswagen’s (VW) high-cost home market. Europe’s largest automaker last November agreed with unions to cut thousands of jobs through natural attrition, weed out red tape and cut R&D costs under a so-called future pact to revive the core namesake brand. To counter any weakening at Wolfsburg, VW’s core plant employing over 60,000 people and grappling with low demand for the aging Golf, management should overhaul assembly lines to be able to build an extra 40,000 Tiguan SUVs, VW’s most sought-after model at present, works council chief Bernd Osterloh said. “A high capacity utilization of German plants is crucial for the success of the company and the jointly agreed future pact”, Osterloh said. “Only by means of a high capacity utilization we can achieve the productivity targets”. VW couldn’t be reached for comment outside business hours. The carmaker plans to raise productivity at its German factories by 7.5 percent this year and next, and a further 5 percent in 2019 and 2020, counting on fixed-cost cuts and fine-tuning of R&D, procurement and production operations. Investors have said a turnaround at the long-struggling VW brand is key to reviving the group’s fortunes following a costly diesel emissions test-cheating scandal. Osterloh, a member of VW’s supervisory board, said the carmaker has earmarked another 500 million euros in cost savings on top of the 1.5 billion of efficiency gains already budgeted this year, without providing details. Volkswagen’s works council want the new model to be assigned to one of the threthree auto-making plants in Wolfsburg, Emden and Zwickau, Osterloh said. Wolfsburg has already been chosen to build an SUV model of VW’s Spanish division Seat in 2018, using the German group’s cost-saving MQB AO modular platform that underpins the Ibiza. VW’s powerful unions, whose members occupy half the 20 supervisory board seats, threatened to withhold support for mid-term group spending plans on models, plants and technology due to be discussed by the board in November without a production roadmap from management, Osterloh said. “It’s completely clear that the workers will only approve the budget round if the German plants are utilized as agreed under the future pact”, he said. +++