+++ BMW says its future models will see a more distinct design language that should see bigger visual differences between most models, whilst also taking the next step in the brand’s overall design evolution. The company’s vice president of BMW group design, Adrian van Hooydonk, said it is now time to take the brand’s design to a new level. “We want to differentiate more within the BMW brand, to pull the cars a little bit further apart”, Hooydonk said. “We are going to launch 6 or 7 new cars; we wanted to take this opportunity to do a next step, a big step in design language too and you can see that in these 2 concepts (X7 SUV and i Vision Dynamics) and also the Z4 concept. It’s a design language that is cleaner, simpler, fewer lines, the lines that we do have are sharper and crisper”. The showcase of its concepts at the Frankfurt motor show, including the BMW X7, i Vision Dynamics as well as Z4 and 8 Series coupe, will set the design tone for the brand in the coming years. “Each new car going forward now, we believe has to have fresh character of its own. The new 3 Series will be part of this new form language, but also will have a couple of characteristics that are unique to that car”. Hooydonk acknowledged that the brand’s current evolutionary design philosophy is perhaps no longer in pace with the times and its fast moving competition. “We actually used to have a philosophy that every second-generation BMW should take a bigger step and roll that out over the whole vehicle generation, but times have changed. We live in a much faster-paced time now and of course the competition is stronger, and we need to make sure that each car is the most dynamic looking in its segment, and we want to use every new car as an opportunity to push the brand forward in terms of design”. The changes, Hooydonk says, were not brought on out of necessity however, but more so a willingness for the company to accept change. “In our company, and I have been with BMW for nearly 25 years, we tend to initiate change when we are successful, not when it’s the opposite, because then you’re in a lot of stress and you need to act quickly. So we were quite happy with the way things were going 4 to 5 years ago. We had just launched BMW i, we had just created the i sub brand and done things like the i8 and then we felt that it was time for the BMW brand to take the next step. And that takes some preparation, so we did an advanced design project where we were quite experimental and we did that across our studios across the globe and we settled on this, what we are now rolling out, and it took a few more year to put that into production”, Hooydonk said. “Because if you’re going to do sharper detailing, you can do it without the production side; and all the cars coming now you will see a lot of details that prove that, not only we from a design point of view took a step, but also the company in terms of production fit and finish”. Overall, Hooydonk says the new design language should help take the brand’s design philosophy to a more sophisticated form and lift BMW in terms of luxury feeling. The upcoming changes to BMW’s design come at a time when German brands have been criticised for designing models across the range that look too similar. +++
+++ If you haven’t heard of GKN, that’s okay. It’s a company that supplies parts, not actually an automaker. But even if you’re not familiar with GKN, you probably know several cars that use its products. For example, the Ford Focus RS gets its famous drift mode thanks to a GKN-sourced all-wheel-drive system. And both the Porsche 918 Spyder and BMW i8 get their electrified front axles from GKN. For Frankfurt this year, GKN has something else to show off: a new ELECTRIC drivetrain that it says is the most advanced in the world. Called the eTwinsterX, the new driveline offers several advantages, according to GKN. First, it’s significantly smaller than other units that make equivalent power. That means it should be able to fit into a wide variety of cars, from full electrics to plug-in hybrids. It can be used in front-, rear-, and all-wheel-drive layouts, and it’s also designed to be used with off-road-capable vehicles. To improve efficiency, the eTwinsterX gets a two-speed transmission that GKN says is better than typical single-speed units. Plus, its torque-vectoring capability should improve handling. Don’t look for the eTwinsterX to go into production for the next few years, though. GKN plans to install it on demonstration vehicles later this year, but it still has to go through winter testing early next year. “eTwinsterX will deliver unrivaled capabilities for the next generation of electric vehicles”, said Peter Mölgg, GKN’s head of electric drivetrain s division, in a release. “It takes multiple award-winning elements from our GKN driveline portfolio and applies the principles in a single state-of-the-art electrified system. GKN is unique in being able to deliver an integrated e-motor, two-speed electrified transmission and torque vectoring within a complete eAxle system. GKN’s capability as a complete systems integration partner will also allow us to calibrate eTwinsterX to deliver fully brand-aligned experiences for our OEM customers around the globe”. +++
+++ LAMBORGHINI is set to announce a limited-edition model to customers shortly, which will showcase a number of new techologies for the brand. Director of research and development for Lamborghini, Maurizio Reggiani said that this ‘one-off’ model is likely to be sold out by the time it’s revealed. “Soon we will present to our most important customers a new version of what we call a one-off. For us a one-off is a small number of cars where we make scouting of a new design trend, like we did with the Centenario and not only that, we introduce some new technology”, Reggiani said. “It was also the case with the Centenario where we revealed rear-wheel steering that came into production (with the Aventador S). We will announce it with our loyal customers that wait for this, we don’t need to do more, we arrive at the motor show and the production is already sold out”. “We did it with the Reventon, the Reventon Roadster, the Concept J, Veneno Roadster, Sesto Elemento, it’s something of the perception we will land on”, Reggiani added. While Reggiani wouldn’t be drawn on exact details, I do know the Urus will be revealed in early December. The one-off is likely to be announced to customers later this year and shown to the public alongside the Urus at the Geneva motor show in March 2018. Like the Centenario, the one-off is expected to pave the way for future Lamborghini design, potentially showing an idea of what the Aventador replacement will look like, which is due to be released around 2020. I know that the Urus will use hybrid drivetrain technology and the one-off could be a sample of how hybrid technology would interact with Lamborghini’s naturally-aspirated V12 and V10 engines. When quizzed about whether Lamborghini will do a Mercedes-AMG Project One-esque hypercar, Reggiani insisted that Lamborghini was first and won’t be a follower. “Lamborghini first of all was the one that invented this kind of car with the Reventon around 10 years ago, more or less. We are the ones that did this. For this reason we are not the followers with this”, Reggiani said. +++
+++ MAZDA has taken a swipe at the media’s role in propagating the benefits of electric cars for the environment, which Mazda says is blinding the public about the true CO2 emissions of such vehicles, in favour of a new-generation of Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) technologies. The Japanese company’s head of powertrain development, Ichiro Hirose, said there needs to be more serious and honest discussions about electric vehicle emissions and their total ‘well-to-wheel’ measurement, and not just tailpipe emissions. “When you talk about the overall CO2 emission, we talk about Electric Vehicles having an image. But if you look at where the power generation is coming from, and how it’s generated, it’s still producing a lot of CO2 before it gets to that EV. Of course, power generation with coal is giving of a lot of CO2, so you need to think about it in a very comprehensive way”, Hirose told. Speaking about the media’s role in the promotion of electric vehicle, Hirose said the discussion is not taking all the facts into account and is pushing the government debate in the wrong direction. “If you take Japan, for example, the media is harking on about EVs having zero CO2 (as if that is the absolute truth) it’s almost like they are controlling the minds of the media to make them believe this. I think the basis of the discussion must be first, what is the truth and where to do we go from there?” As far as Hirose is concerned, the ICE still has a lot of life left, with the possibility of using renewable liquid fuels in the coming years to reduce current levels of CO2 emissions by up to 90 percent. “It’s not the end of the internal combustion engine, because we have the potential to use other types of fuels. For example, let us take artificial photosynthesis, basing on fuel-based matter, micro algae; make that and refine that into the oil to use for ICE. If we were able to achieve this, we would be able to offset some of these CO2 emissions. “What we intend to do is really polish up on the ICE and once we are able to do that we will intelligently combine it with electrification devices so that we can get in terms of efficiencies, in regard to CO2, best efficiency in terms of a mobility device”. Hirose said the discussion about the true emissions of EVs needs to take place before governments around the world start banning the ICE. “If you look at some of the regulations that are due to come in the major European countries, where we would have no ICE in certain areas, if we can have an appropriate discussion to have the appropriate right values, then there is no need to use the technologies as a tool to impose such a blanket regulation”. Mazda’s answer to electrification? Its new range of SkyActiv X powertrains and platforms that seek to combine the best of the diesel and petrol engine for efficiency and CO2 emission improvements of 20-30 percent. Backing up Hirose, Mazda’s director and senior managing executive officer of research and development, Kiyoshi Fujiwara, added that Mazda is not the only one still heavily invested in the internal combustion engine, with many other manufacturers still actively working on improvements, albeit out of the public’s and media’s eye. “Mobility requires liquid fuel; renewable fuel itself, that’s the best way”, said Fujiwara. “Most of the manufacturers, especially German brands, now they are saying that Electric Vehicles are important but under the brand, they are still developing the ICE. Now, they cannot say ICE because they having big problems with cheating device, and also now they are facing political elections, they are coming”. +++
+++ BMW has slammed MERCEDES ‘, its chief rival, efforts in the pick-up market as appalling and disappointing, while also confirming it too has studied the idea of producing its very own pick-up. Hendrik von Künheim, senior vice president of the company’s Asia, Pacific and South Africa region, said he expected more from Mercedes-Benz. “When you look now at our German competitor from Stuttgart, I think that X-Class product is appalling. You would have expected something more serious, this is for me very cheap, very plastic, not very much Mercedes-like”, von Künheim said. “I saw that car at the Geneva motor show and I was very disappointed. They can do better. They build fantastic cars but this one was a disappointment”. The Mercedes-Benz X-Class, which shares its architecture with the Nissan Navara, was the German brand’s first entry into the light pick-up market, even though, unlike BMW, it has a very strong presence in the trucking scene. Despite his criticisms of the X-Class, von Künheim admits the market has now shifted enough that building a pick-up is no longer an image issue for BMW, much like how it controversially entered the SUV segment many years ago as one of the first players. “The fundamental question is now segments, how are the segments developing. I remember heated discussions twenty-something years ago when, we said: ‘does an SUV fit to a BMW brand?’ Now we have an X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6, X7 and who knows what else is coming? So the market and customer demand is changing. Nonetheless, von Künheim feels BMW is now at a crossroads where it has to consider its investment very wisely, for it is at a tipping point of technological change both with electric mobility and autonomous driving, so it cannot commit to every opportunity, even one as large and potentially profitable as a pick-up. “At the moment, manufacturers make the money in the cars, you see. We need to continue as manufacturers to invest in diesel and petrol engines but we also need to invest in hybrid cars where there is enormous engineering expense and we need to invest in electric cars which, if you look at Tesla, is not really much of a profit opportunity. “We need to invest in autonomous driving and fuel cells, but we are currently making money only on traditional petrol or diesel cars, so the financial cost of any company in the car business at the moment is definitely the highest it has been in the last 100 years. “Traditionally, we used to only invest in diesel and petrol, but now we invest in all the other sectors where the stream of revenue is years and years away, so you need to prioritise yourself. From all the priorities, the pick-up is maybe not number 1 or number 2 program”. Though it may not be at the very top of the priority list, von Künheim admitted that BMW Australia boss, Marc Werner, is pushing the German brand for a pick-up. “Mark is working for this very hard, and my team is fighting for this very hard. My team made a phone cover to remind me what is the priority in my region: there is a photo of a pick-up on my phone cover, just to remember: when I talk to the board, these are my priorities”. The issue seems to be that the medium-sized ute market is limited to countries such as Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Brazil and South Africa, with North Americans preferring the larger pick-ups and Europe having no love for the light pick-up whatsoever. “In all honesty, there is no pick-up market in Europe. If you look at the Volkswagen Amarok, it has terrible sales”. +++
+++ The new NISSAN Leaf was styled to attract a wider audience, packed with a bigger battery to wipe out range anxiety, and blessed with a chassis design that the company reckons will make it a more exciting drive. Good start. But, Nissan admits there are still 2 significant hurdles to increasing sales: infrastructure and incentives. Speaking in Tokyo this week at the global unveiling of the new Leaf, Nissan’s head of sales and marketing for the Asia and Oceania region, Vincent Wijnen, told that some markets still have a ways to go in coming around to electric vehicles. “The volume is linked to the question of infrastructure and incentives, that’s very clear. That’s been the case in every market where we’ve launched this car in the past 6 or 7 years, it’s been the same story”, Wijnen said. “There have been markets where it started very small, and then the change happened and it accelerates. It depends a lot on the acceleration of infrastructure”. Wijnen added that the company has been surprised in some markets, such as China, where Electric Vehicles (EVs)are becoming increasingly popular as the nation works to combat major emissions issues. “We are seeing though that, in some markets, say in China, we didn’t expect so significant, such rapid expansion, but there it is. So maybe it could happen. And it can start with big cities, sometimes. It doesn’t have to start with the national government. It can be cities that incentivise buying electric cars. But also, it’s not just governments, it’s also other stakeholders, like energy companies”. More and more energy companies are investing heavily in renewable energy and contributing to the establishment of vehicle charging networks, Wijnen said, noting that the initial push towards EVs can happen without government. “So there are different ways of doing this, but it’s very hard to predict how it will work, it’s really dependant on those elements”. “We will promote this technology (not just EV, we have other technologies) and we need to promote this very heavily for the simple reason that this type of technology will come in other cars as well, and therefore it makes sense to use this (the Leaf and other tech) as a driver or halo to push the brand forward”. And while Nissan considers itself a pioneer in the EV space, Wijnen says the company will welcome other players into the market. “It’s not just Leaf. If it were only Leaf, I don’t think it would ever happen. We are not afraid, actually quite happy, if other manufacturers also come with EVs, because they would make the story much stronger than if there’s one or two brands trying to establish this change”, he said. Wijnen appears resolute that an electric vehicle revolution is coming with or without government action, because the technology is becoming more appealing as its capability grows. As with any market, consumer demand will eventually force action. “Ultimately, I don’t think anybody has a choice: the world will move this way. At what speed, and there’s many other political matters behind it, but for us the best way to do it is to prove that it works. And by extending the range to 400 kilometres (which is the Japan measurement) just about everybody in day-to-day life can now drive an EV”, he said. “But to really grow, you need the infrastructure. I think the volume will grow, naturally it will grow. And I think probably the underlying pressure of people liking this type of technology will also put pressure on government and other stakeholders. That’s what we’ve seen in markets where this change has already happened”. So, while it might be the future third-generation Leaf that finds big volume sales and not this new second-gen model, Wijnen says its role in the company’s line-up is clear. “This car has a very specific role. The role is to further strengthen the brand in all the markets we launch this car, but volume is dependent on those elements discussed before. “If we would only launch cars based on whether we could sell lots of those types of cars, that would be very stupid”. +++
+++ The United States’ National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) has released its final findings on the fatal crash involving a TESLA Model S operating in semi-autonomous Autopilot mode. The crash occurred in Florida in May 2016, when Joshua Brown’s Tesla Model S collided with the underside of a tractor-trailer as the truck turned onto the non-controlled access highway. Tesla’s Autopilot system is a Level 2 semi-autonomous driving mode, which is designed to automatically steer and accelerate a car while it’s on a controlled access motorway or freeway with well-defined entry and exit ramps. According to the NTSB, Tesla’s Autopilot functioned as programmed because it was not designed to recognise a truck crossing into the car’s path from an intersecting road. As such, it did not warn the driver or engage the automated emergency braking system. The report said the “driver’s pattern of use of the Autopilot system indicated an over-reliance on the automation and a lack of understanding of the system limitations”. The NTSB’s team concluded “while evidence revealed the Tesla driver was not attentive to the driving task, investigators could not determine from available evidence the reason for his inattention”. It also noted “the truck driver had used marijuana before the crash, his level of impairment, if any, at the time of the crash could not be determined from the available evidence”. Tesla did not escape blame, with the NTSB calling out the electric carmaker for its ineffective methods of ensuring driver engagement. In issuing the report, Robert L. Sumwalt III, the NTSB’s chairman, said: “System safeguards, that should have prevented the Tesla’s driver from using the car’s automation system on certain roadways, were lacking and the combined effects of human error and the lack of sufficient system safeguards resulted in a fatal collision that should not have happened”. Tesla has since made changes to its Autopilot system, including reducing the interval before it begins warning the driver that their hands are off the steering wheel. As part of its findings, the NTSB also issued a number of recommendations to various government authorities and car makers with ‘Level 2’ self-driving features. These NTSB called for standardised data logging formats, safeguards to ensure autonomous driving systems are used only in the manner for which they were designed, and improved monitoring of driver engagement in vehicles fitted with autonomous and semi-autonomous safety systems. Joshua Brown’s family issued a statement through its lawyers earlier this week in anticipation of the NTSB’s report. “We heard numerous times that the car killed our son. That is simply not the case”, the family said. “There was a small window of time when neither Joshua nor the Tesla features noticed the truck making the left-hand turn in front of the car. People die every day in car accidents. Change always comes with risks, and zero tolerance for deaths would totally stop innovation and improvements”. +++