+++ BMW will soon change the name of its high-performance models. The Munich-based company has trademarked the CSL nameplate, a historic designation used twice before. In Germany, BMW moved to protect the names M1 CS through M8 CS in November of last year. It registered the names M1 CSL through M8 CSL just a few months later, which adds credibility to the rumors that claim the GTS moniker (recently used on a limited-edition M4) will enter retirement. The trademark filings extend beyond BMW’s home country. The M2 CS, M4 CS, M2 CSL, M4 CSL, and M8 CSL nameplates were all registered in the United States and Canada. Whether that means we won’t get BMW’s full arsenal of performance cars in North America isn’t clear at this point. It’s important to note trademark filings don’t guarantee a new model will see the light that awaits at the end of a production line. Cars equipped with what’s known today as the competition package could receive the CS nameplate. CSL will be reserved for more hardcore models, like the aforementioned M4 GTS. Resurrecting the CSL nameplate will help BMW stand out from the crowd; Porsche, Maserati, and Aston Martin also use GTS, while Mercedes-AMG markets the GT S. Nothing is official yet, but we believe the next BMW to revive the CSL nameplate will be the M2. A more track-oriented model will make its debut soon; I wouldn’t be surprised to see it unveiled in a few weeks at the Tokyo Auto Show, or next month in Los Angeles. +++
+++ Panasonic said it will start manufacturing lithium-ion batteries for ELECTRIC cars in fiscal 2019 at its plant in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, expanding domestic production to meet growing demand for green vehicles across the globe. The batteries for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids will be produced for shipment to domestic automakers, Panasonic said. The Osaka-based electronics maker is likely to spend tens of billions of yen on setting up production lines there. The Himeji plant currently manufactures small and medium-size liquid crystal display panels for vehicles and medical equipment. To make the batteries, it will use the space left unused at the plant after withdrawing from LCD TV panel production in 2016 amid fierce production from foreign rivals. Panasonic has been expanding its lithium/ion battery production both at home and abroad. The Japanese electronics maker supplies lithium/ion batteries to U.S. electric-car maker and energy company Tesla, and the 2 companies also jointly run a plant in Nevada named Gigafactory that mass-produces the batteries. Within Japan, Panasonic already has 5 other lithium/ion battery production plants. Automakers are shifting toward low-emission vehicles amid tighter emissions regulations across the globe. The British and French governments have said they will ban sales of gasoline-driven cars and diesel-powered vehicles by 2040. China, the world’s biggest car market, is also tightening rules to push the move toward electric cars. +++
+++ The next-generation Range Rover Evoque will carry the electrification torch lit recently by LAND ROVER , according to a report from England. Jaguar – Land Rover (JLR) pledged every new model it develops after the end of 2019 will incorporate some form of electrification. To that end, the second-generation Evoque will be offered with a gasoline-electric plug-in hybrid powertrain built around a brand-new 1.5 liter turbocharged 3 cylinder engine. Technical specifications are still few and far between. The setup will rely on a 48 volt electrical system, and it will be capable of powering the Evoque on electricity alone for short distances. It will be enough to grant it access to the upcoming zero-emission zones intimidating companies from all over the automotive spectrum. Land Rover’s hybrid Range Rover Evoque will arrive in 2019. Specifications (such as the system’s output and performance) are still under wraps. It sounds like the Evoque will inaugurate the 3 cylinder / electric motor combination. It’s too small for bigger models like a Range Rover or a Jaguar XJ, but it’s safe to bet the powertrain will spread to other relatively compact JLR models like the Jaguar XE, and possibly even the next Defender. +++
+++ Japanese auto giant Toyota said it is teaming up with MAZDA and parts-maker Denso in a new joint venture to develop electric vehicles. The move came as Toyota, producer of bestselling hybrid vehicle Prius, steps up efforts to develop clean technologies, including electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid systems that use both petrol and electricity as energy sources. Joint research (sharing cost, engineers and knowledge) is necessary to meet increasingly stringent but varying environmental standards around the world, the 3 firms said in a joint statement. “With electric vehicles yet to find widespread market acceptance, the huge investments and time required to cover all markets and vehicle segments is a pressing issue for individual automakers”, the statement said. Toyota will take a 90-percent stake in the venture, to be launched next month in the central city of Nagoya, near the automaker’s headquarters. Toyota and Mazda agreed in August to a capital tie-up to facilitate joint development of electric vehicles. +++
+++ NISSAN said Monday it was recalling some 1.2 million cars in Japan that had failed to meet domestic rules on final vehicle inspections. The announcement came after Nissan’s shares slumped in Tokyo Monday on reports that tests were performed by staff who were not certified to check the vehicles to Japanese government standards. Nissan fell by more than 5 percent in early trade before ending the day down 2.69 percent at 1,084.5 yen. Nissan president Hiroto Saikawa said junior inspectors were performing tasks they were not certified to do, calling it a “very serious problem”. “Rather than officially certified inspectors, those supporting them performed the task”, he told reporters at the company’s headquarters in Yokohama near Tokyo. “They were not one-off, accidental incidents”, he added. The affected vehicles were built between October 2014 and September 2017, Nissan said. “When and where and how these things started happening, even someone in my position cannot say”, Saikawa said. “I want to get to the bottom of this myself”. While the inspections did not meet the requirements of Nissan’s home market, “we’re sure the vehicles that were shipped were safe and secure”, he added. The costs of the recall were likely to be about 25 billion yen ($222 million), Saikawa said. Nissan said in a statement that a team including an independent third party “is currently investigating the causes and measures to prevent recurrence”. “Nissan regrets any inconvenience and concern this has caused to its valued customers in Japan”, the statement added. Nissan is already among a group of global automakers, including Toyota, General Motors and Volkswagen, hammered by a massive recall of airbags made by scandal-hit parts giant Takata. Tokyo-based Takata has recalled about 100 million airbags globally, including about 70 million in the US, because of the risk that they could improperly inflate and rupture, potentially firing deadly shrapnel at the occupants. The defect has been linked to at least 16 deaths and scores of injuries globally, and the issue has led to the biggest car safety recall in history. Takata in February pleaded guilty to fraud for hiding the defect, and paid a $1 billion fine. The company filed for bankruptcy in June. +++
+++ BMW became the latest carmaker to weigh in on the Brexit debate as an executive warned that the introduction of any tariff would have repercussions for the German firm’s business. A day after Toyota and PSA expressed disquiet with the U.K.’s planning for exiting the European Union, BMW’s head of purchasing, Markus Düsmann, called Brexit a “very uncomfortable scenario”. The concern of the world’s second-largest maker of luxury cars is that Britain’s divorce from the EU will result in tariffs and other trade barriers being imposed on its cars and parts. World Trade Organization duties on autos currently average about 10 percent. Munich-based BMW builds Mini-brand and Rolls-Royce models as well as vehicle components for the group at plants in England, and its exports from the U.K. total about £2.4 billion ($3.2 billion). “Anything beyond zero level of duty will possibly lead to us changing our value chain”, Düsmann said in an interview at the Frankfurt auto show. “We’re extremely concerned that the Brexit talks have been so piecemeal and slow so far”. Even if Britain negotiates a trade deal which keeps duties at zero, there will still be a “significant” effect on trade from other customs rules, he said. “We’re already revising the logistics channels for the U.K. so that we’ll be able to manage the coming border, whichever duties will be in place in the end”, Düsmann said. “We’re enabling our suppliers so they’ll be able to export to the U.K”. He spoke a day after Toyota Executive Vice President Didier Leroy told Reuters that there was a “strong need” for clarity on the shape of Brexit and that there could eventually be a “big question mark about our future investment in the country”. Carlos Tavares, CEO of PSA, told reporters at the Frankfurt show that he’s impatient to get guidance on Brexit to make investment decisions. Brexit was already preventing spending and by the end of the year, the Paris-based company will pick 2 scenarios for the split on which it will base decisions, he said. In addition to its established Peugeot, Citroen and DS marques, PSA now owns the German car brand Opel and its sister U.K. nameplate Vauxhall after taking them over from General Motors Co. in August. +++
+++ “Assume the worst”, the typically optimistic executive says. “Now I need to get back to work”. TESLA CEO Elon Musk has attempted to manage the first signs of impatience among the hundreds of thousands of reservation holders for the Model 3. Just days after a third-quarter financial report mentioned September production of just 260 Model 3 sedans (far below the initial target of 1,000 units), Musk said the Tesla semi unveiling will be delayed as the company is diverting resources to address Model 3 ‘bottlenecks’ and increase battery production for hurricane-affected areas. Customers and journalists took to Twitter for clarification on revised Model 3 delivery estimates. Musk repeated the inherent uncertainty during “production hell” but refused to back away from the company’s estimate of late-October customer deliveries despite the third quarter trouble and no expectation of an online design studio for non-employees for another 6 to 8 weeks. “Bear in mind that the production ramp is an exponential curve”, he said. “Late October is possible but not certain. Literally every day makes a big difference”. The superstar executive showed rare signs of frustration in a Twitter exchange with a journalist who kept asking questions about the significance of the design studio timing. “Assume the worst”, he said. “Now I need to get back to work”. +++
+++ TOYOTA has announced a 374 million dollar investment at 5 U.S. plants to support production of its first American-made hybrid powertrain. The upgrades at Toyota’s factories in Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee and West Virginia are part of a previously announced 10 billion dollar in U.S. spending by the Japanese automaker. It “underscores Toyota’s confidence in the capability and global competitiveness of our North American manufacturing”, Jeff Moore, Toyota North America’s senior vice president of manufacturing, said in a statement. Toyota said 2.5-liter engines made in Kentucky and transmissions produced in West Virginia will be used in North American-made hybrid vehicles, such as the Highlander SUV manufactured in Princeton, Indiana. Toyota will create 50 jobs at its Huntsville, Alabama, plant, which will build engines for its cost-saving New Global Architecture production strategy to share common parts and components among different vehicles. None of the other upgrades announced will result in immediate net job gains. The investment includes 106 million dollar at the Huntsville plant, a 121 million dollar expansion of a 2.5-liter engine capacity at Toyota’s Georgetown, Kentucky, plant, and 115 million dollar to add hybrid vehicle transmission production in Buffalo, West Virginia. Toyota also is investing 17 million dollar to increase production of 2.5-liter cylinder heads at its Bodine Aluminum facility in Troy, Missouri. A 14.5 million dollar upgrade at a Bodine plant in Jackson, Tennessee, will accommodate production of hybrid transmission cases and housings and 2.5-liter engine blocks. “This investment is part of our long-term commitment to build more vehicles and components in the markets in which we sell them”, said Toyota North America CEO Jim Lentz. +++