Newsflash

+++ ASTON MARTIN has not yet seen a slowdown in its key markets and aims to more than double the number of cars it makes by 2025, its chief executive said. The British automaker is on target to produce 6,400 vehicles this year despite the pressures of slowing Chinese demand and worries over the impact of Brexit. The company is looking to manufacture 14,000 cars by 2025 with the size of the company growing four-fold from what it was in 2014, said CEO Andy Palmer. It will also become a very profitable company, he said. In 2017, Aston Martin made a pre-tax profit of 87 million pounds ($111 million), its first annual pre-tax profit since 2010. “The rich are getting richer, they want more personalization”, Palmer told. “On the other hand, the car industry is getting more and more commoditized because of technology”, he added. Palmer dismissed the notion that there was a slowdown in key markets. In the year-to-date the company saw turnover grow 185 % in the U.S; 133 % growth in Asia-Pacific and 118 % growth in China, he said. “The retail part is not in dispute. China was slow, but not for us”, he said. The company is confident it will achieve higher profits in 2018 over last year minus the one-off costs such as those related to its initial public offering in October. “If you focus on Ebitda, then yes we obviously will see growth. Excluding one-off costs, last 12 months, it all looks very healthy”, he said, without citing figures. Adjusted Ebitda more than doubled to 207 million pounds in 2017. The company is on track to launch its first SUV in late 2019. It is betting on existing Aston Martin customers who also have an SUV in their garage, Palmer said, adding that demand for SUV’s in the Middle East – North Africa region was similar in size to China. +++ 

+++ The switch to the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) testing procedure has caused some problems for most automakers who sell cars in Europe. However, some had it worse than others. For BENTLEY , the problems were “close to catastrophic” in the words of CEO Adrian Hallmark. The executive estimates the WLTP testing delays cost the company between 300 and 400 Bentayga sales. Bentley was too slow to prepare its cars for Europe’s new WLTP standard and its cars got stuck in the queue for testing as a result. “We were not quick enough unfortunately to book capacity or prioritize our derivatives within some of the group processes to get them certified on time”, Hallmark told. Consequently, Bentley was forced to push back the introduction of the Bentayga plug-in hybrid to March 2019 so it could test more of its volume models. WLTP also caused the brand to delay the launch of the new Continental GT. That was a pretty big deal, too, as the coupe is the brand’s second best-selling car after the Bentayga. According to Hallmark, they had to be “ruthless” in the prioritization of which models would get WLTP tested first. Bentley’s global sales fell 11 % to 6,643 vehicles in the first 9 months of this year compared to the same period in 2017 and the carmaker posted losses of €137 million in the first 3 quarters of 2018. VW Group’s financial report blamed the slow Continental GT launch and exchange rate problems for the British automaker’s loss. Many of the parts Bentley uses in its cars are imported from continental Europe, making them more expensive when the pound is weak; like it has been during the latest Brexit negotiations. Hallmark estimates the brand will post a profit in the fourth quarter, but that won’t be enough to offset the losses posted so far. +++ 

+++ When Cao Jun, 40, an engineer from the city of Pingdingshan (central CHINA ) takes his old, grey MG 3 car to be serviced, he always steals a few moments to pop into the Nissan and Honda dealerships next door. But the Civic and Sylphy sedans in the showrooms are just eye candy. Cao wants to upgrade his car, but he’s facing a steep loan repayment on his flat, medical bills for his wife and a tough local economy in his once-prosperous coal town. Cao is far from alone. China’s car market, the world’s largest, is on the brink of its first sales contraction in almost three decades, according to industry data, a signal of wider economic strains that are rattling the country’s leaders in Beijing. The slowdown, aggravated by a protracted trade war with the United States, is being most sharply felt in smaller, provincial cities like Pingdingshan, the engines of growth for Chinese consumption of cars and an array of consumer goods. China has long hoped to spur consumption in these provincial cities as a way of diversifying an economy long reliant on manufacturing. But a slump in consumption spending is already being seen in things like cinema ticket sales, online shopping and smartphones purchases. Part of the reason is that provincial city consumers like Cao are being squeezed tight. Cao said capacity cuts at his main employer, the state-owned coal and chemicals conglomerate Pingmei Shenma Group, meant his income this year had dropped sharply. He has taken up driving part-time for the ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing to make ends meet. On a salary of around 6,000 yuan ($864.40) a month, Cao said he puts at least 1,000 yuan towards paying off his house loan, 400 yuan on medical bills for his wife and another large chunk on his 2 daughters’ education. “All these things put together, they slowly start to turn the screw on your life”, he said. “I want to drive a better car, but my situation won’t allow it”. He added that the family had also cut back on luxuries like long-distance travel and fancy restaurants. Cutbacks on car purchases by Cao and others like him in China’s smaller cities, are hitting local car dealers and global automotive makers from General Motors to Volkswagen. “The main slowing markets now are those 4-6 tier cities in China”, said Xu Haidong, assistant secretary general at the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, referring to smaller provincial urban centers. “These were the cities leading China’s auto sales growth in the past few years”. Consumers and car dealers in Pingdingshan all painted a similar picture. The city, 150 kilometers south of the provincial capital Zhengzhou, went through boom years from the 1990s, buoyed by a flourishing coal industry. But amid a nationwide shift to cut reliance on polluting industries and a sharp shift away from coal, the city has suffered. Pingmei Shenma Group, one of the area’s biggest employers, has cut back coal capacity and seen profits fall; creating a ripple effect through the local economy. The group, like many state-owned firms around the country, reaches far into the community: it operates hospitals and schools, and provides pensions, subsidized housing for workers, water, heating and power. During the growth years, a family car became a symbol of status and success in the city, driving growth faster than the national average. That has now changed. “The situation here is really bad. We sold 40 % fewer cars in October than September”, said Zheng Shuke, a manager at an SAIC-Volkswagen dealership near a busy freeway outside Pingdingshan. “This is very unusual in the 6 years I’ve been an auto dealer. I think the biggest reason is that fewer and fewer people have enough money to buy cars. Our economy used to rely on natural resources. However now due to capacity cuts, fewer people can get the iron rice bowl”, a reference to state firms cutting cradle-to-grave welfare support that he said had underpinned spending confidence. The car market in the Henan province city had seen a sharp slump this year as consumers tightened their belts. The Henan province is one of China’s biggest by auto sales with over a million passenger car units sold this year. But growth has stalled sharply, according to data from local consultancy Daas-Auto. Henan auto sales dropped 18 % in October after a 25 % drop the month before, outstripping a fall in sales nationwide of almost 12 % last month, the fourth straight month of declines. In response, car dealers in Pingdingshan have cut prices to lure buyers, according to dealers and adverts circulated on local social media. “We’re offering discounts, but these just don’t seem to be working”, said Zheng, the car dealer. Across town at a 10 year old dealership for GM linked Wuling-Baojun cars, manager Jiang Long said customers had dwindled this year, especially since June. In front of the store 100 new cars waited to be sold, but customers were in short supply. Jiang said sales were down 40-60 % versus last year. “This is just part of our inventory, we have more in other places”, said Jiang. “We make many calls to old customers to attract them to buy new cars, but they just don’t seem enthusiastic this year”. The top-selling cars in the area are mostly no-frills, practical cars, industry data show, a trend mirrored in other provincial cities and rural areas. In Pingdingshan, the top-sellers are the compact multipurpose vehicle Wuling Hongguang, 7-seater people carrier Baojun 730, Great Wall Motor’s Haval H6, Volkswagen’s Lavida and GM’s Buick Excelle. Outside the city in nearby Lushan county another Wuling-Baojun dealer, Si Pengyuan, said local families used to take pride in having the best car, but had pulled back; cutting his sales in half versus 2017. “Rural people like to compete; when a family buys a car their neighbors will come and buy one too”, he said. “But this year people just aren’t coming. Families who have had cars for years aren’t replacing them”. Pingdingshan’s downturn has spooked business people and the local government, which says that young people have less buying power or are moving away entirely. The slowing economy has sapped consumer confidence even as access to credit has dwindled amid a crackdown on risky lending and high levels of debt. This credit had previously spurred car purchases, some dealers said. Zhang Yinlong, a local manager at an auto finance firm, told at a large second-hand car market near the city that it was a “bad time” to be in the industry. “I don’t see many customers are buying car these months”, he said. Ruan Pengfei, 33, who owns a children’s clothes shop, is one feeling the pinch. A self-confessed car nut with 2 kids, he bought a new Buick Excelle GT for 110,000 yuan less than a year ago and loves to drive it to work. But with sales at his shop slumping, he’s now reluctantly trying to sell the car for 85,000 yuan via an online platform and reverting back to his older Honda Fit. He said he’s struggling to sell the Buick, with few people willing to buy even at a discount. “My bottom price for this car is 80,000 yuan, but people who came all complained about the price”, he said. +++ 

+++ Can a DACIA Duster be compared with a Ford Mustang? It would be difficult to do so as these vehicles compete in different categories and segments, have different price points and different target markets. Moreover, in terms of power and performance, the Duster couldn’t be compared to a Mustang. Nonetheless, there is one person who believes that Dacia’s budget SUV is similar to the Ford’s legendary sportscar. This person is the chief of design for Group Renault: Laurens van den Acker. Dacia, the Romanian subsidiary of Group Renault, has been building the Duster since 2009, while Ford has been producing the Mustang since 1965. Despite the Duster being just a decade old, van den Acker told that the SUV is similar to the Mustang in a sense that it is already an iconic model with an identity stronger than the brand. Group Renault’s design chief believes that the identity of the Duster as a model is already larger than Dacia as a brand. This is similar to the iconic pony car; the Mustang as a model has a stronger identity than Ford as a brand. The Duster is iconic to Dacia just as the Mustang is iconic for Ford. Yes, in the perspective of people outside of the Dacia brand, the Duster cannot be compared to the Ford Mustang. However, for the Romanian brand, the Duster is a big icon comparable to how the American carmaker treats the Mustang. The Duster sits on top of Dacia’s vehicle offerings and is the brand’s best-selling model. It was first launched in 2009 as the first generation model, with the second generation unveiled at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show. In 2017, the Duster accounted for more than 30 % of Dacia’s vehicle sales around the world. In that year, Dacia sold more than 460,000 vehicles globally, 145,682 of which were Duster models. For this year alone, Dacia has already sold 130,885 units of the Duster in the first 8 months of 2018, which means that the budget SUV is on its way to surpassing its sales results in 2017. Dacia has already ruled out creating a new SUV that is larger than the Duster despite the increasing demand for utilities all over the world. This is because model larger than the Duster would be too expensive for Dacia’s low-cost product philosophy. The Duster is now effectively Dacia’s most powerful model after a new 1.3-liter TCe engine was recently introduced to its range. This new four-cylinder engine is offered in 2 versions: 130 hp and 240 Nm, as well as 150 hp and 250 Nm. +++ 

+++ 2018 has given us plenty of new cars, but in order to be eligible for the ‘EUROPEAN CAR OF THE YEAR’ award, they had to be up for grabs in at least 5 markets on the Old Continent when voting started. The previous list saw 38 candidates battling it out against each other for a spot in the grand finale, with 7 now selected to move forward, after securing votes from a total of 60 jurors. In alphabetical order, these are the Alpine A110, Citroen C5 Aircross, Ford Focus, Jaguar I-Pace, Kia Ceed, Mercedes-Benz A-Class and Peugeot 508. The next round of voting will decide the big winner, which will be announced on the eve of the Geneva Motor Show, on March 4, 2019. +++

+++ FIAT CHRYSLER (FCA) is expected to commit to producing a raft of new models in Italy, including Jeeps and an Alfa Romeo SUV, union sources said, as the carmaker strives to fill underutilized plants and lift profit margins in Europe. The plans, which the sources said would also include building a new Maserati sportscar in Italy, would deliver on the strategy outlined by the group’s late boss Sergio Marchionne. New European chief Pietro Gorlier will meet with unions to discuss the proposals and present them to journalists afterwards. FCA appointed Gorlier last month to tackle a region where profitability is below that of peers, thousands of workers are on temporary layoff schemes, and some plants run below capacity. In his last strategy unveiled in June, Marchionne vowed to keep converting Italian plants to churn out Alfa Romeos, Jeeps and Maseratis instead of less profitable mass-market vehicles in an attempt to preserve jobs and boost margins. FCA’s Melfi plant in southern Italy, which already produces the Jeep Renegade, is expected to also produce the Jeep Compass, the sources said. The Compass will replace the Fiat Punto, which was discontinued in August. The Pomigliano factory near Naples is set to keep the Fiat Panda, the most sold vehicle in Italy, the people added, dismissing earlier reports the model could return to FCA’s plant in Poland, where it was made until 2011. Pomigliano will also get the new Baby Jeep, smaller than the Renegade, which will be another model targeting European clients. Unions have been awaiting news of product plans to see whether workers, some of whom have been on temporary layoff schemes for years, would be brought back, Marchionne initially promised to fill all European plants by the end of 2018, but in June said that goal would likely slip to the end of the current strategy plan in 2022. The Fiat brand will be reduced to a few models such as the iconic 500 and the Panda. The 500 family in particular will become a big part of the company’s electric vehicle drive in Europe. The Mirafiori plant in Fiat’s hometown of Turin may be chosen to assemble the new electric 500, the sources said, but added the plans were not yet final, especially as the combustion engine version is currently made in Poland. Mirafiori may also be used to revive the 500 Giardiniera wagon, they added. Mirafiori already produces the Maserati Levante, but sales of the luxury SUV fell sharply in recent months due to weak Chinese demand. The Levante platform may also be used to produce a new SUV for the Alfa Romeo brand, bigger than the Stelvio SUV that was launched in 2016, the people said. Maserati’s sporty Alfieri model will likely be made in the brand’s hometown of Modena, the sources added. The world’s 7th largest carmaker in June outlined a global plan to ramp up production of SUVs and invest €9 billion out of a total spending plan of around €45 billion) in electric and hybrid cars in an effort to double operating profit by 2022. FCA’s operating margin in Europe recovered to 3.2 % last year, which compares with Europe-focused PSA Group’s global automotive margin of 7.3 %. FCA expects that margin to grow to between 5 and 7 % by 2022. +++

+++ GENERAL MOTORS said it will cut production of slow-selling models and slash its North American workforce in the face of a declining market for traditional gas-powered sedans, shifting more investment to electric and autonomous vehicles. The announcement is the biggest North America restructuring for the U.S. No. 1 carmaker since its bankruptcy a decade ago. GM plans to halt production next year at 3 assembly plants: Lordstown, Ohio; Hamtramck, Michigan; and Oshawa, Ontario. It will also stop building several models now assembled at those plants, including the Chevrolet Cruze, the Cadillac CT6 and the Buick LaCrosse. The Cruze will be discontinued in the U.S. market in 2019. Plants in Baltimore, Maryland, and Warren, Michigan, assembling powertrain components will have no products assigned to them after 2019 and are at risk of closure, GM said. It will also close 2 unidentified factories outside North America. “We are right-sizing capacity for the realities of the marketplace”, Chief Executive Mary Barra said, adding that GM will double resources dedicated to electric and self-driving vehicles over the next 2 years. Cost pressures on GM and other automakers and suppliers have increased as demand has waned for traditional sedans. The company has said tariffs on imported steel, imposed earlier this year by the Trump administration, have cost it $1 billion. Barra did not link the cuts to tariff pressures, but said trade costs are among the “headwinds” GM faces as it deals with broader technology change and market shifts. The biggest U.S. autoworker union vowed to fight GM’s plans. “General Motors’ decision today will not go unchallenged by the UAW”, said Terry Dittes, the union’s vice president in charge of negotiations with GM. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he spoke with Barra and expressed “deep disappointment”. GM said it will take pre-tax charges of $3 billion to $3.8 billion to pay for the cutbacks, but expects the actions to improve annual free cash flow by $6 billion by the end of 2020. “In contrast to times past, GM is trying to get ahead of a potential crisis by making cuts now”, said Michelle Krebs, executive analyst. GM’s North American salaried workforce, including engineers and executives, will shrink by 15 %, or about 8,000 jobs. The company said it will cut executive ranks by 25 % to “streamline decisionmaking”. Even as GM is moving to lay off salaried staff, the company is hiring. At GM’s Detroit headquarters, there were signs directing people to a “new hire orientation” meeting. Barra said GM can reduce annual capital spending by $1.5 billion and increase investment in electric and autonomous vehicles and connected vehicle technology because it has largely completed investing in new generations of pick-ups and SUVs. Some 75 % of its global sales will come from just 5 vehicle architectures by the early 2020s. GM plans to reduce annual capital spending to $7 billion by 2020 from an average of $8.5 billion a year during the 2017-2019 period. Unlike Japanese automakers Nissan, Honda and Toyota, which rely on a more flexible system where they make multiple vehicles at a single plant, GM has too many factories that make just a single model. With U.S. car sales lagging, that means several GM car plants have fallen to just one shift, including its Hamtramck and Lordstown assembly plants. A rule of thumb for the automotive industry is that if a plant is running below 80 % of production capacity, it is losing money. GM has several plants running well below that. Consultancy LMC estimates that Lordstown operates at just 31 % of production capacity in 2018. Through the UAW, workers at Lordstown have worked to improve quality, cut the number of union locals to make it easier for GM to negotiate and agreed to the outsourcing of some jobs, in a bid to persuade the automaker to add more models to its factory line. U.S. President Donald Trump won Ohio in 2016 campaigning on bringing manufacturing jobs back to America. “So far, President Trump has been asleep at the switch and owes this community an explanation”, Representative Tim Ryan, a Democrat whose district includes Lordstown, wrote on Twitter. Barra said the automaker is running at about 70 % capacity utilization in North America, and GM will provide an update on how the latest moves will improve utilization in January. “We need to make sure that we are well positioned to compete, not just over the next few years, but well beyond”, she said. Unlike its plants making passenger cars, many of GM’s plants producing its higher-margin trucks and SUVs are running on 3 shifts, with some running 6 and sometimes 7 days a week to keep up with demand. Rivals Ford and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles have both curtailed U.S. car production. Ford said in April it planned to stop building nearly all cars in North America. The industry-wide slowdown in passenger car sales worsened in 2017. U.S. consumers have swiftly shifted away from passenger cars to larger, more comfortable SUVs and pickup trucks, leaving automakers scrambling to readjust. As recently as 2012, passenger cars made up more than 50 % of all U.S. new vehicle sales. Through the first 9 months of 2018, that had fallen to a little over 31 %. While industry-wide passenger car sales were down 13.2 % through the first nine months of the year, pickup and SUV sales rose 8.3 %. As well as being roomier, the fuel economy on SUVs and crossovers has improved significantly. Sales of Cruze, built at Lordstown, fell 27 % through September 2018. Impala, which is built at Oshawa and Hamtramck, was down 13 %. Buick LaCrosse and Cadillac CT6, which are built at Hamtramck, were down 14 % and 11 %, respectively. +++

+++ The big 3 automakers in GERMANY (BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen Group) make no secret of their plans to launch tens of electric vehicles (EVs) by the middle of next decade. Still, they have very few electric cars on sale today. Furthermore, those that are available (or will be soon) haven’t become segment leaders. That’s something that seems to bother Peter Altmaier, Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy. More specifically, the official hates the fact that Tesla has got the upper hand on German automakers when it comes to EVs. At a panel on artificial intelligence, Altmaier asked the head honchos from Daimler and VW Group a brutal question. “I really wonder when you, Mr. Zetsche, or you, Mr. Diess, or Mr. Krüger of BMW will be able to get an electric car build, which is only half as sexy as one by Tesla”, Altmaier was quoted as saying. With regard to the design of German electric vehicles, Altmaier also told the executives they “could actually come up with some fresh ideas”. Present at the event held in Berlin last week, Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche and VW Group CEO Herbert Diess couldn’t (or didn’t want to) come up with an answer. As for BMW CEO Harald Krüger, he was lucky not to attend the panel. While styling is a matter of personal preference, Altmaier’s remarks are a bit unusual in a country where politicians and big business leaders rarely criticize one another publicly. The minister didn’t elaborate on the matter but his distaste of German EVs might have something to do with early models derived from combustion-engined cars. Vehicles like the VW e-Golf and Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive look almost identical with their conventional counterparts. The BMW i3 is the exception, but the minister doesn’t seem to like it either, even though the official abbreviation for the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy he runs is … BMWi. I’m curious whether Altmaier will change his opinion once models like the Audi e-Tron, Mercedes EQ C, and Porsche Taycan arrive in dealerships. +++ 

+++ Ousted Nissan chairman Carlos GHOSN denies the allegations of serious financial wrong-doing brought against him in the past few days, according to a Japanese media outlet. Ghosn hasn’t spoken directly to the media, and Nissan hasn’t commented on his reaction to the charges, but Japanese news outlet NHK learned from unnamed sources that Ghosn insists he is innocent. He allegedly “told prosecutors in Tokyo that he had no intention of falsifying the financial statements”, according to the website. The wording is interesting; Ghosn didn’t deny his statements were falsified but merely said it wasn’t intentional. The same report claims Greg Kelly, a Nissan executive closely linked to the charges brought against Ghosn, claims he acted legally when he reported Ghosn’s income. NHK wrote that Kelly, who was also dismissed from Nissan, “told people around him that he consulted other executive officers and outside accountants”. Kelly is detained in Tokyo, like Ghosn, and he hasn’t directly spoken to the media since his arrest. In a separate report, NHK claimed one of Ghosn’s former aides admitted Nissan’s accounting department arranged post-retirement payouts for him. Anonymous once more, sources reportedly told prosecutors that Ghosn would receive the roughly $72 million difference between what he earned and what he declared to the Japanese authorities after his retirement in the form of bonuses and consulting fees. Not enough evidence has been made public to tell what these new elements mean for Ghosn and his chances of getting exculpated. NHK notes Japanese law requires executives to report post-retirement payouts, something which Ghosn didn’t do. +++ 

+++ The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is reviewing an investigation petition alleging weld defects in the new JEEP Wrangler. The petitioner claims the JL-generation Wrangler suffers from a wide range of weld deficiencies including porous welds, excessive slag, lack of weld penetration, over penetration, overweld or weld drip, and weld splash. “The weld defects are allegedly located at a variety of locations on the frame assembly including the track bar bracket welds that have broken and resulted in steering concerns”, the NHTSA says, citing an existing recall for the bracket defect. “The petitioner alleges that the existence of the described weld defects could result in ‘catastrophic failure’ “. The agency is now evaluating the issue to determine if it will grant or deny the petitioner’s request for a formal investigation. +++

+++ A high-performance version of the Nissan LEAF was set to be unveiled on November 28. Thanks to the arrest of chairman Carlos Ghosn, that may not happen now. Nissan has “called off the launch of a high-performance Leaf, cancelling Nov. 28 events in Yokohama and Amsterdam”. The news outlet further reports that “A Nissan spokesman gave no reason for the postponement and said the company had yet to set a new date for the announcement”. This was likely a launch of the 2019 Leaf, which is set to have 200 horsepower and a longer range. With a new 60 kWh battery, the 2019 Leaf would increase output by 53 horsepower. Range is said to be over 320 kilometres; currently the 2018 models travels up to 240 kilometres. Ghosn was arrested after a whistleblower revealed he been under-reporting his income to Japan’s securities commission and had been misusing company funds. Among the accusations levied at Ghosn, he had used Nissan funds to establish an R&D office in the Amsterdam which did little more than apparently buy luxury homes for the head of the Renault-Nissan alliance. He is also alleged to have employed his sister as a consultant to the tune of $1.7 million, though she seems to have done little more than advise him on said houses. Nissan’s push towards electrification was one of its biggest achievements of Ghosn’s regime. +++ 

+++ In October this year, LEXUS revealed the LX Inspiration Series, which failed to inspire SUV consumers. We’re yet to see it in person at the Los Angeles Auto Show later this month and give our final evaluation, but a much more inspiring high-riding model from the Japanese manufacturer may be in the pipeline. Lexus is said to be working on a flagship SUV set to rival the mighty Lamborghini Urus. While that’s a pretty ambitious goal to say the least, in its base form the high-performance crossover will sport a twin-turbo 3.5-litre V6 engine supported by 2 electric motors for a combined output of more than 430 hp. What’s even more intriguing, a sportier F version could also be in the cards using a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 sourced from the LC F. In this new application, the motor is expected to generate no less than 670 hp or more than the Urus’ 650 hp. The flagship SUV will be based on the LF-1 Limitless concept from January this year, which was then revealed as a preview of a new SUV with the “potential to shape the future of a flagship luxury crossover”. The production version of the vehicle should use bits from the study’s platform. If a trademark from May this year is anything to go by, the production super-SUV could carry the LQ name. The new Lexus flagship SUV will undercut the Lambo Urus significantly. The Italian beast costs approximately $200,000, while Lexus is targeting a cost of around $150,000. The machine should debut in 2020 with sales kicking off sometime in 2021. +++ 

+++ Plug-in hybrid vehicles are increasingly the mobility of choice for many people. For short drives around the city or urban areas, plug-in hybrid can be switched to all-electric mode for a zero-emission driving experience. However, current plug-in hybrids can only offer up to 50 km of all-electric range. MERCEDES-BENZ is hoping to break the status quo by not just surpassing the 50 km barrier, but also offering up to 100 km in pure electric range. Quite a number of plug-in hybrids still offer 30 km of electric range, while there is an increasing number of models that are engineered to reach 50 km. As divulged by Ola Kallenius, head of Daimler group research and Mercedes-Benz cars development, the upcoming Mercedes-Benz GLE PHEV will be the first plug-in hybrid to offer a 100 km range, as per WLTP cycle. To achieve such range, a large-capacity battery would play a significant role. The third generation of Mercedes’ S-Class hybrid (the S 560e) comes equipped with a 13.5 kWh battery that offers up to 50 km of all-electric range. An increase in capacity doesn’t necessarily a larger battery, as the usage of more advanced materials, such as lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt (Li-NMC) cells, is also vital. When it introduced the all-new GLE SUV, Mercedes said a plug-in hybrid version would follow. Nonetheless, Mercedes has to hurry, as BMW is set to debut its fifth-generation eDrive system in 2020, allowing its plug-in hybrid to offer 100 km electric range. +++ 

+++ NISSAN ousted chairman Carlos Ghosn after a whistle-blower linked him to a diverse selection of financial wrong-doing, including under-reporting his income to Japanese authorities. Voices from within the company claim his dismissal was a coup staged by co-workers unhappy with how the executive handled Nissan’s quality scandal. The scandal, which only affects vehicles sold in Japan, broke out after Nissan realized faulty vehicles were allowed to slip into the hands of consumers. In some cases, the workers performing the final quality check on the assembly line weren’t properly trained. In worse situations, they ignored defects and sent the vehicles out of the factory for delivery. It continues to be the cause of massive headaches among Nissan’s top brass, but Ghosn allegedly ignored it and let other executives deal with it. “He thinks he is not at all responsible. I wonder which company he represents as chairman”, an anonymous Nissan executive told. The source added Ghosn refused to cut short a family vacation in Japan to attend an emergency meeting about a new outbreak of defects. These allegations build on an earlier report claiming the 64-year old executive was planning to merge Nissan and Renault, a move which drew heavy criticism in Japan. While many signs point to an inside coup, the Tokyo district’s public prosecutor office maintains that’s not the case. “When a crime is suspected and there is evidence, we will carefully judge if it warrants an indictment. We won’t do that with an agenda in mind”, said deputy chief prosecutor Shinji Akimoto. +++

+++ There’s yet more bad news for OPEL / Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port plant in the north of England, with a third round of job cuts in just over a year announced. Last October, Opel / Vauxhall owner PSA culled 400 jobs from the then 1,900 strong workforce at the factory, then a further 250 jobs were cut in January of this year. Now 241 more jobs will be lost at the factory as PSA continues to restructure the loss-making Opel and Vauxhall brands. “The restructuring is necessary to make it a competitive plant when compared to the benchmark”, Vauxhall said in a statement, adding that the job cuts were nothing to do with Brexit. The factory at Ellesmere Port currently produces the Astra Sports Tourer, but the model hasn’t  proved to be a huge sales success. In fact, sales of the car have fallen faster in the last year than the overall market decline in the UK. The Unite trade union is seeking urgent assurances over the future of the site following the news. “Unite will not tolerate the death by a thousand cuts of Ellesmere Port and will leave no stone unturned in securing the future of the plant and its skilled workforce”, said Unite’s regional coordinating officer Mick Chalmers. Ellesmere Port isn’t the only PSA site in Britain currently under threat. If demand drops considerably after Brexit, either it or the company’s factory in Luton could be forced to close. Luton makes medium-sized vans and will build the new Vivaro, and has already been the subject of a €100 million investment, meaning that of the two it is the more likely to remain open. A final decision will be made in 2020 and so far PSA is refusing to comment on its post-Brexit plans. “We do not want to comment at this stage on Brexit process and its assessment by Groupe PSA as it is not the final step for implementation”, Opel / Vauxhall said in a statement. “We are working in an agile mode, as usual, and we have several solutions to address different scenarios”. +++ 

+++ TESLA boss Elon Musk has announced that its upgraded Supercharger technology will not be ready until next year. The company’s current technology can charge a depleted battery to 50 % in just 20 minutes, 80 % in 40 minutes and completely full in 75 minutes. Musk promises the Supercharger V3 upgrade will be “much faster” than the current charging network, though the company has not specified exactly how much more power the next-gen tech will provide. Amid the problems ramping up Model 3 production, Tesla also appears to have been distracted from achieving its ambitious Supercharger buildout goal. The company currently operates 11,414 individual charging points, below its target of 18,000 Superchargers by the end of the year. Musk has set a new goal of doubling Supercharger capacity by the end of next year, covering 95-100 percent of the population in all active markets. +++ 

+++ The Awards season is quickly approaching and the finalists for the 2019 North American Car, Utility and Truck of the Year will be announced at the Los Angeles Auto Show later this month. Regardless of which models make the cut, they’ll all be better than the cars that made Consumer Reports’ list of Automotive Turkeys. Designed to shame the WORST of the worst, the list includes vehicles which had the dubious honor of having the worst overall score, the worst ride quality and the worst reliability ratings, among other things. Without further ado, let’s start by taking a look at the worst offender: the Fiat 500L. While the model is relatively affordable and fuel efficient, Consumer Reports says the car has a stiff ride, flat seats and a driving position that is “similar to sitting in an office chair”. These issues helped to give the 500L the worst overall score. Speaking of low scores, the Mitsubishi Mirage (Space Star) flunked the road test as its handling was described as weak and clumsy. That wasn’t the only major issue as the Mirage’s 80 hp 3 cylinder produces more noise than acceleration. The Ford Fiesta ST doesn’t suffer from the same issues as the Mirage, but the magazine says the car’s focus on sportiness kills the ride quality. As a result, the model suffers from a “very fidgety” ride even on smooth roads. While a rough ride can get annoying after awhile, it’s probably not as bad as a new car that needs constant repairs. If you want a worry free ownership experience, you might want to avoid the Ram 3500 as Consumer Reports says the truck has the worst predicted reliability. Among the issues cited by owners are problems with the suspension and steering as well as the fuel and emissions systems. Throw in cooling issues, leaks and noises and you’ve got plenty of reasons to head to your local Ford or Chevrolet dealer instead. Mainstream automakers weren’t the only ones to make the list as Consumer Reports noted the Mercedes GLA received the lowest owner satisfaction score in their survey. Just 44 % of owners said they would purchase another GLA. That’s should be worrying for Mercedes as the automaker is putting the finishing touches on the redesigned model. +++