+++ Beyond launching the all-new RDX Prototype at the Detroit Auto Show, ACURA has revealed that it will revive its Type-S performance brand and produce a new turbocharged V6 engine. Starting with the Type-S brand, it will make its way onto multiple Acura models in the future and apply each with sporty styling touches, engine upgrades, and chassis modifications. The Type-S badge was last used in 2008. A new V6 is also on the cards for Acura. Set to be offered in a number of Acura models in the coming years, the turbocharged V6 will be performance-oriented but as it stands, no figures have been announced. However, the carmaker has confirmed that it will come paired exclusively with the latest-generation of Acura Super Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD), itself launching on the 2019 RDX. “We have made a major commitment to Acura to bring each element of Precision Crafted Performance to life through a new generation of products”, president and chief executive of American Honda Motor Toshiaki Mikoshiba said. “Acura will pursue a unique powertrain strategy that underscores the brand’s rightful place as the performance division of Honda”.
+++ BMW ’s i sub-brand will not necessarily replace its i3 and i8 models with next-generation models. The electric vehicles division will continue to offer its own bespoke models and produce electric versions of standard BMWs. The iX3, due in 2020, will be the first of 11 electric BMWs to arrive by 2025, in preparation for which BMW has patented a list of nine i names. This included i4, which is expected to be a variant of the future 4 Series GT. However, the bespoke i models will not form a complete range of cars, and the division will instead create individual vehicles to address a particular challenge or meet a specific demand. To that end, the range of ‘pure i cars’ built on bespoke architectures that are on sale at any given time could be just one model or many more than that. The determining factor will be which new technology BMW needs to showcase before applying it to its standard model range. The i3 served to showcase BMW’s method of making its first electric car and the i8 showed how electric power could enhance performance. At the end of their lifecycles, their jobs will be considered done, which is why replacements are not formally in development or in BMW’s product plan. “We’re still deciding about the i8”, said i boss Robert Irlinger. “We see a market for new kinds of sports cars. Whatever it’s called, or if it’s a new kind of sports car, is still in discussion”. BMW i design boss Domagoj Dukec compared the role of the i8 to the M1 supercar. He said: “It worked at the time, but why do it more than once? The i8 could be the M1: it doesn’t have to always be a name at BMW. We always give an answer to what people and customers are requiring at that moment in time”. As for the i3, Irlinger said it “would be decided by time” if the model remained a success, but it will continue to be developed in its present state for now. The production version of the i Vision Dynamics concept car, which is set to arrive in 2021, has the internal codename i20. The model will be built on a development of BMW’s rear-wheel-drive CLAR platform. This is one of only 2 modular architectures BMW will use in future. The other, called FAAR and for front-wheel-drive models, is a next-generation development of the existing UKL platform that underpins the first wave of front-wheel-drive BMWs and the current Mini range. All BMW models, built on either CLAR or FAAR, will be able to be equipped with a standard internal combustion engine, a plug-in hybrid system to electrify the axle that isn’t driven by the engine or a fully electric drivetrain. The configurations will include a single motor on the front axle for the front-wheel-drive models and an optional one on the rear axle for four-wheel drive; a single motor on the rear axle for rear-wheel drive, with an optional one on the front axle for four-wheel drive; and a further one on the rear axle for four-wheel-drive performance models to create a car with more than 800 hp. BMW will offer the electric motors in different ‘sizes’, with small 136 hp and medium 260 hp ones for entry-level electric vehicles and large 340 hp and extra-large 410 hp-plus ones for performance models. Range could stretch from 300 to 700 kilometers, depending on battery size. +++
+++ FIAT CHRYSLER Automobiles (FCA) boss Sergio Marchionne has put to bed speculation that Jeep could be sold off to raise money or that the whole group could be sold to a Chinese manufacturer such as GAC. “We have no intention of breaking up the company or giving it to the Chinese”, Sergio Marchionne, whose company builds cars in China with GAC, confirmed. “We have a very good partner in GAC. They have global ambitions, they want to come to the US and we’re talking to them about if and how they can accomplish that. None of that is designed to impact on the independence of FCA”. Marchionne, who will retire from his position in 2019, went on to confirm the importance of strong brands in a potential future of autonomous and electrified vehicles. He stressed that vehicles risked being reduced to ‘commodity’ status without the appeal of strong brands like Alfa Romeo or Maserati. He added that the success of Alfa Romeo’s renaissance, which he said remained in the “nursery” phase, was crucial to the technical credibility of Maserati going forward. One element of FCA that’s likely to be divested from the group, however, is automotive components supplier Magneti Marelli, with a sale to FCA shareholders possible by the end of the year, according to Marchionne. More generally, the charismatic CEO restated his reluctance to make the kind of ambitious pronouncements on EVs and driverless cars that have been made by competitors such as Ford, General Motors and Nissan. He said that hybrids and EVs will inevitably become ‘mandatory’ in a post-Dieselgate Europe, though, due to the stringent punishments that car makers will face for missing fleet-average CO2 emissions targets. “We will remain technology-neutral to meet regulatory demands”, Marchionne said, noting that diesel still had its place in meeting emissions goals. “I don’t know anyone who’s making money out of selling electric vehicles and I don’t think we’ve answered the CO2 issue with electric. We need to be realistic about what’s going on. It will eventually go in that direction, it will just take a lot longer than people think. Talk of electrification is not outlandish, but it’s premature”. By 1 June this year, which will mark the 14th anniversary of Marchionne taking charge of Fiat and eight years in charge of the unified FCA, the group expects to be debt-free and its plan for the years to 2022 will be announced. Soon after, the FCA board will reveal the identity of his successor. +++
+++ FORD has confirmed one of the worst kept secrets in Detroit, a new Mustang Shelby GT500 is coming to battle the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Described as the “pinnacle of Mustang performance”, the GT500 will be a fast-back coupe that is twice as powerful as the original 1967 model. Ford is keeping detailed specifications under wraps but the automaker confirmed the car is projected to produce more than 700 hp. Power will be provided by a supercharged V8 engine and it will enable the Mustang to become the most powerful street-legal production model Ford has ever produced. The GT500 will even surpass the output of the Ford GT which has a 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 that develops 647 hp. The outrageous performance won’t be limited to the engine as Ford says the Mustang has been “engineered to stand apart on roadways and race tracks”. That’s pretty vague but the company said we can expect “innovative track technologies, performance hardware, plus aggressive and functional track-tuned styling”. The Mustang Shelby GT500 will be launched next year and an assortment of leaks and rumors have suggested the car will have a supercharged 5.2-liter V8 engine that is paired to a dual-clutch transmission. We can also expect carbon-ceramic brakes, a speedometer that tops out at 344 km/h, and a dedicated Drag Strip mode, among other things. Ford declined to say when the car will be unveiled but we can expect to learn more about the model in the coming months. +++
+++ Ford CEO Jim Hackett doesn’t believe his company should follow GENERAL MOTORS and depart Europe, because of its depth of history here and the fact that “Europe has the second biggest GDP”. Hackett said: “We’ve made a big commitment in Europe, and it looks as if Brexit is reaching some kind of resumption. Jim Farley, who headed our operations in Europe, helped us learn many things about that region. Ford wants to be a leader”. Hackett also believes Europe’s position as an early adopter in the electrified and autonomous businesses creates another reason for Ford to stay. “The electric movement in Europe has helped us see the power challenges”, he said. Hackett explained that “new cars with no pedals and no steering wheel” have, in his opinion, proved to be less productive. He said: “There’s a likelihood of scaring people: they’ll feel they’re in there by themselves. It’s better to see driverless cars as robotic servants for delivery and co-ordination of lives”. Ford has partnered with pizza company Domino’s to produce an autonomous delivery car. Hackett said that “people loved the ease of taking their food from a machine”. He expects the rise of these cars to be “very good news for small businesses”. However, Hackett refuted that people will give up car ownership in large numbers anytime soon. “Many people have a passion for cars. I don’t see them giving up the joy of driving”, he said. On industry timescales, Hackett said he divides company affairs into 3 categories (now, near and far) those periods separated by 5 to 7 years. It means far may only be a decade away, but it entails at least 2 model changes. That’s why there’s very little time to lose. Hackett therefore believes the company’s One Ford plan, in which it produced global versions of its models rather than variants for regions, was right for the time, as a way if building scale for various platforms. But the company is now changing things “to give people in particular regions a little more control”. +++
+++ Joining the rest of the HONDA Civic range is the new diesel model, which will arrive at dealers next month. “The arrival of the diesel variant completes the lineup for the Civic hatchback. This 1.6-liter i-DTEC is the most technologically advanced diesel unit we have launched to market, and will deliver a very competitive offering for both the retail customer and the fleet market”, commented Honda European’s chief, Phil Webb. This version of the Civic uses a 1.6-liter unit that delivers 120 hp and 300 Nm of torque to the front wheels through a 6-speed manual transmission. It takes 10.4 seconds to reach 100 km/h from a standstill, and promises to return 3.7 liter/100 km, while releasing just 99 g/km of CO2 into the atmosphere. If you would rather have an automatic transmission paired with the Civic diesel’s engine, then you need to wait until early summer. +++
+++ The design and engineering for the MERCEDES-AMG GT 4-door has now been signed off ahead of the car’s Geneva motor show reveal, division boss Tobias Moers has confirmed. Moers said AMG “never stops with engineering development”, but that is is good to go as it is. He added that his personal opinion was that the 4-door AMG model will be more successful than the company anticipates. Previewed by the GT concept of 2017, the AMG GT 4-door will come available with a range of EQ Power-branded petrol-electric hybrid drivelines featuring differing battery capacities, outputs and electric ranges. The new Mercedes-AMG model has been conceived as an upmarket replacement for today’s CLS 63 and a rival to the Porsche Panamera. Sales are for the production model are scheduled to begin in September 2018. The car will be launched with the same 612 hp twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre petrol V8, 9-speed automatic gearbox and fully variable 4-wheel drive system as the latest E63 S 4Matic, upon which it is largely based. However, Mercedes officials say there are also concrete plans for it to be sold with hybrid drivelines from 2019 onwards. The decision to develop the car’s new hybrid driveline with 3 differing battery capacities will allow Mercedes-AMG to offer the car with varying power outputs and ranges. Although the finer details are still under wraps, the range-topping hybrid model is set to produce the same 815 hp and offer a similar 50 kilometer electric range as the GT Concept. The other versions under development are said to include a base hybrid driveline with 680 hp and a 30 kilometer range and a mid-range variant with 750 hp and a 40 kilometer range. Sources suggest these units’ modular nature will allow them to feature in other AMG models, including the successors to the GT Coupé and Roadster. The hybrid driveline for the production version of the GT Concept uses AMG’s twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 engine, mounted longitudinally up front, in combination with an electric motor sited within the rear axle. The engine can send power to all four wheels, while the motor delivers power exclusively to the rear wheels. AMG says the motor is networked with a combination of extremely light batteries. These have been developed in partnership with High Performance Powertrains, the British-based AMG sister company behind the 1000 hp petrol-electric driveline of the upcoming Project One hypercar. The operation of the new petrol-electric powerplant has been derived from the hybrid unit used by the Mercedes-Benz Formula 1 team, with the battery charged while the car is being driven through brake energy recuperation and the aid of the petrol engine. +++
+++ The ‘Oscars of the automotive industry’ have been handed over to the big winners. One of the vehicles that managed to stand out in the 2018 NORTH AMERICAN CAR OF THE YEAR awards, turning out to be more popular than the other 2 finalists (the Kia Stinger and the Toyota Camry), is the new generation Honda Accord. Unveiled last summer and launched a few months later, it has a more modern styling and higher-tech cabin with new technologies, including 4G LTE connectivity and wireless smartphone charger, and 3 powertrains, including a hybrid. Receiving top honors from the jurors is the new Volvo XC60, which walked home with the 2018 SUV of the Year award. The small luxury SUV faced the Honda Odyssey and Alfa Romeo Stelvio in the final, but it managed to impress the 60 jurors from the United States and Canada, who appreciated its “safety and driver assistance systems” in “a package that exudes Scandinavian design”, according to the NACTOY President, Mark Phelan. Last, but definitely not least, the Lincoln Navigator has been named 2018 North American Truck of the Year, being favored over the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 and Ford Expedition. This is the first time a Lincoln vehicle walks home with such an award, making the brand’s President, Kumar Galhotra, say that the team “is honored to be named the best among such a strong field of competitors”. +++
+++ VOLKSWAGEN reveals major investments in the United States and its goal to become a major player in one of the most important automotive markets in the world. Volkswagen brand boss Herbert Diess said: “By 2020, we will offer at least 2 new U.S. models annually, covering key segments in the United States”. Besides the all-new Jetta, the company will introduce will introduce the Arteon later this year. It will be followed by the redesigned Passat in 2019 and 2 cross-overs based on the MQB platform. Volkswagen’s MEB-based electric vehicle will arrive in the United States in 2020. It will be a cross-over and it will pave the way for future electric vehicles. 2020 is also the year that Volkswagen hopes to break-even in the North American market. This is an uphill battle so the automaker will invest more than $3.3 billion into North America over the next 3 years. Approximately $1.2 billion of this will go directly toward projects in the United States. Volkswagen even talked about the elephant in the room, the dieselgate scandal, by saying the company has made “considerable progress” in dealing with the issue and has retrofitted or bought back more than 80 percent of the 540,000 vehicles affected by the emissions cheating scandal. +++