+++ The coupe SUV madness continues to spread inside the Volkswagen Group, and after unveiling the Audi Q8 recently, the Germans are now apparently working on a less practical version of the BENTLEY Bentayga. Unofficially called the Bentley Bentayga Coupe, it’s reportedly due next year. And if it turns out to be true, then expect the mandatory sloping roofline, which affects rear headroom and boot space altogether. The design changes won’t stop here, apparently, as the second body style of the brand’s luxury SUV might also preview the facelifted version. Thus, it could arrive with slightly reworked lighting units and bumpers on both ends, along with new trim inside. It’s unknown at the time what will power it. Still, given its unique character, we could be looking at the W12 gasoline engine, at first at least. The twin-turbo unit produces 608 hp and 900 Nm in the current Bentayga, helping it reach 100 km/h in 4.1 seconds, and a top speed of 301 km/h. The Bentley Bentayga Coupe isn’t the only model currently in development at the British firm, because they’re reportedly looking into a Speed derivative of the SUV. This model will likely get more power to battle it out with the 650 hp Lamborghini Urus, along with some design changes and other possible work carried beneath the skin. The Bentley Bentayga Speed will probably debut next year. +++
+++ LAND ROVER moves all Discovery production to Slovakia. But that is only one side to the story. True, Land Rover will soon stop making its Discovery in Solihull and, sadly, jobs will be lost. But let’s at least put this negative news in context. 2 hours up the road, Land Rover Halewood is in rude health, and employment prospects there have rarely been brighter. That’s due to the recent announcement that the more popular, affordable and accessible Discovery Sport will still be made in the north west. So contrary to the impression you may have been left with, world-class SUVs wearing Discovery badges will still be built in Blighty. And it gets better, because the company has also just confirmed that the new version of the even more affordable and accessible Evoque will be built at Halewood, too. Inexplicably, this great news has been downplayed or ignored by many media outlets. Yet as my man on the inside at Land Rover told me, if Nissan of Japan did something similar to this in Sunderland, it’d be a Financial Times front page story. Back at Solihull, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and its Indian owner Tata would be much wealthier if they sold the site for housing, then shipped more production to cheap, subsidised territories overseas. Instead JLR is staying put, dealing with its space limitations at Solihull and ensuring the acreage previously occupied by the outgoing Disco production lines will be transformed into a much-needed electric vehicle facility, where job creation will surely be a priority. Also, don’t forget that Solihull is set to build the current and future Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Velar and Jaguar F-Pace. If you still feel JLR is turning its back on Britain by building a relatively tiny number of Discovery models in Slovakia, consider my senior inside source’s well-chosen words: “If Solihull is to have a bright future we have to do the right thing now. We’ve already made huge investments there, enabling us to build 325,000 cars per year. And the right kind of investment must continue”. JLR has invested 25 billion euro in the past 10 years, he says. Put another way, its investments have been considerably greater than its profits, although it did achieve a healthy (not colossal) pre-tax profit of 1.7 billion euro in 2017/18. Now that JLR is joining the big league occupied by premium German firms, it has to be like them by building abroad as well as at home. If it’s okay for Audi, BMW and Merc to respectively make vehicles in places like Hungary, Thailand and South Africa, and it’s more than okay for Toyota, Nissan and Honda to build in England, why shouldn’t JLR establish a few overseas production lines for itself? +++
+++ The new RENAULT Clio will distinguish itself from rivals by being one of the most technologically advanced models in its class when it arrives next year. The move is part of a bid by the French car maker to keep its supermini at the forefront of the sector, especially in the face of increasing competition from compact SUVs, to which traditional small cars are starting to lose out. Now in the final stages of prototype testing, the 5th-generation Clio is set to marry a honed exterior look with a dramatic new interior dominated by a Tesla-style infotainment screen. It will also be capable of semi-autonomous driving. The exterior styling will be evolutionary, keeping elements such as rear door handles hidden in the door frames, albeit with a more grown-up look in line with its larger sibling, the Mégane. It’s also expected to take design cues from the Symbioz concept car, shown last year. The interior will echo the Mégane, taking a leap away from traditional hardware to a large digital dashboard and iPad-esque infotainment screen. This will set it apart from rivals such as the Ford Fiesta and Volkswagen Polo, which have smaller, more traditional screens. The new Clio is built on the CMF-B platform, an updated version of that used on the existing model and shared with the Nissan Micra. It will use 1.0-litre and 1.3-litre petrol units, the latter developed with Mercedes, as well as a 1.5-litre dCi diesel with up to 115 hp. A 48V mild-hybrid 1.5 dCi, badged Eco2, is planned but not from launch. A plug-in model is understood to be due in 2020. Last year, Renault boss Carlos Ghosn announced the French car maker would launch eight electric vehicles in the next 5 years. However, a purely electric variant of the Clio is not expected to be one of them. That’s because Renault executives are worried it would steal sales from its existing Zoe. The Zoe was the bestselling electric car in Europe in 2017. There will be a new Clio RS, though. The hot range-topper will be unveiled in 2020. The current model is on run-out, with Renault recently releasing the limited-edition RS18 as its swansong before the next generation arrives. The next Clio RS will adopt the 1.8-litre turbo petrol engine from the new Mégane RS, but with less power. Volkswagen followed a similar strategy by using a detuned Golf GTI engine in the recently launched Polo GTI. The other key advancement is autonomous technology, not often found in this segment. The Clio is due to feature Level 1 and Level 2 autonomy, shared with vehicles from partner brand Nissan. Level one means it will have the latest safety systems such as adaptive cruise control and lane assist, increasingly popular in larger cars, but level two is the biggest step change: the Clio will have hands-off capability (although using it remains illegal), being able to park and keep in lane by itself. The Clio is easily the bestselling supermini in Europe, despite being 6 years old. According to figures from analyst firm Jato, it sold 327,395 units last year compared with the 272,061 units of the second-placed Polo. Globally, the Clio is in 4th place, beaten by the Polo, Fiesta and Suzuki Swift, owing principally to more modest sales outside Europe. That can be partially explained by the popularity in developing markets such as Latin America and India of its cheaper sibling, the Dacia Sandero, which is 5th globally. Although Clio sales have held strong and the broader supermini market is still growing, its biggest threat comes from compact SUVs. With the arrival to the segment of VW Group brands such as Seat, Skoda and VW, as well as Hyundai and Kia, there will be increasingly more small SUV sales, which, in turn, will stall those of superminis. The new Clio is due to be revealed at the Paris motor show in October and go on sale next year. Prices are expected to rise over the current model, but remain cheaper than the Fiesta. The battle between the previous-generation Ford Fiesta, replaced last year, and the outgoing Renault Clio was always closely fought. Not least because of the Clio’s ability to transition from comfy cruiser to enjoyably adept back-road steer. Ford has recently updated the Fiesta and improved the recipe in several areas. How should Renault respond? When launched, the current Clio was unusually refined for its class and Renault would do well to prioritise the development of that particular characteristic. But surpassing the Fiesta as an all-round package would almost certainly involve firming up the suspension. Do they jeopardise the new Clio’s comfort to realise Fiesta-like dynamics, or are they brave enough to continue to plough their own very comfortable and refined furrow? That’s the conundrum facing Renault’s engineers. +++
+++ TOYOTA will launch sales of its Camry midsize sedan in Europe early next year to replace the discontinued Avensis. The Camry will go on sale in the first quarter of 2019 with a gasoline hybrid version only. Toyota will import the Camry into Europe from Japan. It will not replace Avensis production at the automaker’s factory in England. No wagon version will be offered. European sales in the non-premium midsize segment have been declining for years and last year Toyota sold just 25,147 of the Avensis, compared to 120,436 in 2005, according to figures from JATO Dynamics market researchers. Toyota said it saw an opportunity to import a model with a low-CO2 hybrid drivetrain, which the Avensis lacked. “Its main purpose is for fleet customers”, a company spokesman said. Low CO2 cars attract reduced company car tax in many European countries. The Camry hybrid combines a 2.5-liter gasoline engine with an electric motor. No CO2 emissions figure has been quoted for the European model but in Japan under a different drive cycle the car is rated as achieving between 70 to 85 gram / km of CO2. The Camry in Japan is 4.885 mm long, making it longer than the sedan version of Europe’s segment leading Volkswagen Passat at 4.767 mm. “Its rivals will be the likes of the Ford Mondeo, Passat, but it also has the potential to compete a bit more in the premium market, for example against the Audi A4”, the spokesman said. “The car will be a bit bigger with a good spec”. No prices were given for the model. The automaker did not disclose European prices for the Camry. The European Camry is the same global model that was updated last year. It has long been the best-selling passenger car in the U.S., excluding SUVs and pickups. The new version was introduced September last year in the U.S. The car is built using Toyota’s TNGA architecture that also underpins the Prius, CH-R, new RAV4 and next year’s Auris. The Camry’s introduction to Europe will bring Toyota’s hybrid lineup in the region to 8 models. The sedan will be launched at the Paris auto show in October, Toyota said. The model will be upgraded with different suspension settings and noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) tuned for Europe’s higher road speeds compared to Japan. Equipment available in the Japanese Camry hybrid includes a head-up display, rear cross-traffic alert with auto-braking (to prevent car-park collisions) and a blind-spot monitor. Toyota stopped selling its Camry model in Europe in 2004 after poor sales. The company currently sells and builds the Camry in Russia. +++
+++ The government of the UNITED KINGDOM must maintain the existing customs union membership and single market benefits as part of its Brexit negotiations or risk causing grave damage to the UK car industry, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) chief executive Mike Hawes has warned. Membership of the customs union and maintenance of the benefits the single market delivers is seen as crucial as the automotive industry relies on the seamless movement of goods around Europe, with more than 1.100 trucks from the EU bringing components to UK car and engine plants every day. Hawes said: “There is growing frustration in global boardrooms at the slow pace of negotiations. The current position, with conflicting messages and red lines goes directly against the interests of the UK automotive sector which has thrived on single market and customs union membership. There is no credible ‘plan B’ for frictionless customs arrangements, nor is it realistic to expect that new trade deals can be agreed with the rest of the world that will replicate the immense value of trade with the EU. Government must rethink its position on the customs union. There is no Brexit dividend for our industry, particularly in what is an increasingly hostile and protectionist global trading environment. Our message to government is that until it can demonstrate exactly how a new model for customs and trade with the EU can replicate the benefits we currently enjoy, don’t change it”. Hawes comments followed the release of industry figures showing record turnover among automotive businesses in the UK, which he said were the result of long planned investments which were now slowing as a result of uncertainty caused by Brexit. The UK Automotive’s 19th annual Sustainability Report revealed the manufacturing sector turned over a record 95 billion euro in 2017, marking an eighth consecutive year of growth. As a result, the sector’s direct economic contribution now stands at 23 billion euro. Estimates suggest the impact on adjacent sectors raises that contribution to 230 billion euro; around 10 % of the UK’s GDP. Employment in the automotive manufacturing sector also rose in the past year by 2.8 %, to 186,000, with employment across the wider industry reaching 856,000. However, in the first 6 months of 2018 production output has fallen in line with demand, while manufacturers including Jaguar Land Rover have announced job cuts and investment by manufacturers has stalled. To date 400 million euro has been earmarked for new models, equipment and facilities in the UK this year; around half the sum announced in the same period last year. +++
+++ VOLKSWAGEN took everyone by surprise earlier this year when they announced a convertible version of the T-Roc SUV. The open top model is due in 2020, with a few revisions over its fixed roof sibling, which will make it a bit heavier. VW was criticized for this decision, as convertible crossovers haven’t been a hit with buyers. Heck, even execs within the car firm admit that the T-Roc Cabriolet doesn’t make much sense. One of them is the brand’s sales chief, Jurgen Stackmann. “It’s a car we all wanted to make. There isn’t a huge market for it (that sort of car is only popular in a small number of countries) but we felt passionately we should do it”, said Stackmann. Volkswagen will start manufacturing the T-Roc Cabriolet in the second half of 2020. The vehicle will be put together at its Osnabrück plant in Germany, where the firm used to produce the Golf Cabriolet. The facility is currently in charge with assembling the Volkswagen Tiguan and Porsche Cayman, and to prepare for the new convertible crossover, it will receive an 80 million euro investment. By the time the T-Roc Cabriolet hits production, the current fixed-roof model will be 3 years old. Thus, we wouldn’t be surprised if Volkswagen decides to give it a mid-life cycle makeover. Until then, though, the German automaker will probably preview it with a concept at a future international auto show. +++