+++ A number of companies are embracing electric vehicles and it appears ALPINE could jump on the bandwagon. In an interview , Renault’s executive vice president of engineering suggested the company’s CMF-EV platform could be used to underpin high-performance electric vehicles from Alpine. Details are limited, but Gilles Le Borgne confirmed Alpine is considering using the architecture. He also suggested Alpine EVs would have more powerful electric motors, but said it’s too early to talk about specifics. The CMF-EV platform was developed with Nissan and will be used to underpin an assortment of upcoming electric vehicles including the production version of the Megane eVision concept. The architecture was designed with flexibility in mind and it will reportedly be able to accommodate vehicles that measure between 4.000 mm and 4.700 mm long. To put that into perspective, the platform could underpin everything from the Zoé to the Mégane. The platform will reportedly be offered with three different battery packs that have capacities of 40 kWh, 60 kWh and 87 kWh. The mid-size battery is slated to allow for a range of 450 km in “mixed driving” or 300 km when traveling at highway speeds of 120 km/h We’ll learn more next year, but Le Borgne suggested vehicles based on the architecture will be more expensive than their internal combustion counterparts as he doesn’t believe EVs will reach cost parity for at least another decade. That being said, battery prices are dropping and using the platform across the Renault – Nissan – Mitsubishi alliance should help to reduce costs. +++
+++ CHINA ’s automobile exports reached 128.000 units in November; up 17.4 % year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Commerce (MOC). A total of 107.000 cars were imported last month; down 12.3 % from one year ago, MOC spokesperson Gao Feng told a press briefing. In the first 11 months of the year, the country’s automobile exports fell 15.8 % year-on-year to 955.000 units, narrowing the decline from the first half of the year (H1) by 7.8 percentage points, said the ministry. During the period, 821.000 cars were imported; down 15 % year-on-year, a pace of decline 17.5 percentage points slower than H1, MOC data showed. China’s auto market, hit hard by Covid-19, began to recover in April thanks to unleashed pent-up demand and supportive policies, with sales rising 4.4 percent year-on-year, ending a 21 month contraction streak, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. +++
+++ There was a time in which ELECTRIC VEHICLES and combustion-engined cars fought for customers’ preferences. If you think that is now, you either forgot or do not know that EVs were among the first automobiles. As Sandy Munro said a while ago, what killed them back in the day was their range and the electric starter. With lithium-ion batteries and electronics, they were almost one in ten vehicles sold in Europe in November, according to Schmidt Automotive Research. If you realised that it is less than 10 percent of the market, you are very right. In fact, it is 8.9 %. Regardless of how little this seems, that’s the largest market share pure EVs have had in Europe in modern times. EVs may have had larger market shares in the Old Continent in the early days of the automotive industry, but we are not sure about that. The curve of market share gain was ascending discreetly from January 2018 until March 2020, when it started to pick up more aggressively. By coincidence or not, that’s when the Covid-19 pandemic started hitting most European countries. Why that was the case is something analysts may try to investigate in the future, even if it is only a correlation. Schmidt Automotive Research said that the CO2 emission fines in Europe were the main driver for that market share increase, aided by more generous government incentives to sell electrified cars. Perhaps these governments pushed incentives precisely when the car market was more depressed due to the pandemic. Germany would lead the pack and would currently have a plug-in car fleet of more than 500.000 cars. The German government wants 1 million plug-in cars in the country by the end of 2021. The best selling EV in Europe is the Renault ZOE, as I have already told, but the Volkswagen ID.3 may soon overtake the French contender. If you consider all the European Union countries, battery electric vehicles sold 82.100 units in November, corresponding to the percentage of sales we mentioned above. Until the end of that month, 562.000 electric cars were sold in Europe. PHEVs also went well but had smaller numbers: 499.000 units. +++
+++ Unionized workers at GENERAL MOTORS Korea agreed Friday to accept the company’s revised wage proposals amid the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic. GM Korea workers voted in favor of the second tentative wage and collective agreement deal in a 2-day vote that ended on Friday. The workers rejected the first tentative deal earlier this month. In the second deal, GM Korea agreed to drop a damage suit filed against the union for strike-driven output losses and provide 4 million won ($3.600) per worker in performance-based pay and bonuses within this year, a company spokesman said over the phone. The company and the union have had 26 rounds of negotiations since July, and union members staged several rounds of partial strikes starting October 30, demanding an end to a wage freeze and a new vehicle production plan at its Bupyeong plant in Incheon, west of Seoul. The South Korean unit of General Motors said it will maintain production of the Trax compact SUV and the Malibu midsize sedan, currently being assembled at the No. 2 Bupyeong plant, as long as possible. Partial strikes cost GM Korea about 25.000 vehicles in lost production. The company already suffered production losses of 60.000 vehicles in the first half due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Detroit carmaker has 3 Korean plants (2 in Bupyeong and 1 in Changwon) whose combined output capacity reaches 630.000 units a year. General Motors owns a 76 % stake in GM Korea, and the state-run Korea Development Bank and SAIC Motor hold a 17 % stake and 6 % stake respectively in the Korean unit. From January to November, its sales fell 15 % on-year to 321.736 vehicles from 378.408 units in the year-ago period. +++
+++ In GERMANY , a court on Friday ruled Tesla could partially proceed with clearing a forest to build a manufacturing site near Berlin. Environmentalists had gone to court in the eastern city of Frankfurt an der Oder in an attempt to stop Tesla from clearing the forest, arguing that cutting down more trees could endanger hibernating reptiles. A temporary halt in clearing had been in force while a regional court studied the matter. In Friday’s ruling, the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court said it would ban clearing by Tesla in peripheral areas of the site, ruling in favor of environmentalists. But the court said the stoppage for the rest of the area could not be justified. Tesla in Europe and the environmental groups did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of normal business hours. +++
+++ HYUNDAI said Friday it seeks to raise its stake in its plant in Turkey by acquiring a 27 % stake held by Kibar Holding in preparation for the post-coronavirus recovery. Early this month, Hyundai submitted documents to the Turkish authorities to buy most of Kibar’s stake in its local factory, a company spokesman said over the phone. The South Korean carmaker currently holds a 70 % stake in the 230.000-unit-a-year plant in the northwestern city of Izmit, and Kibar owns the remaining 30 % stake in it. Hyundai produces compact models, such as the i10 and i20, in the Turkey plant and most of the vehicles are exported to European markets. The Korean carmaker said it will invest €170 million in the plant to meet growing demand for electrified vehicles. Starting in 2030, Hyundai said it plans to gradually shift its EV lineup forward in key markets, such as Europe, China and the United States, while maintaining internal combustion engine vehicle (ICE) production capacity in emerging markets, such as India and Russia, but which will be limited to less than 50 %. Hyundai expected sales of electric vehicles to rise further due to tightened regulations on carbon dioxide emissions, particularly in Europe. Hyundai has 7 domestic plants and 10 overseas plants (4 in China and 1 each in the United States, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Russia, India and Brazil). Their combined capacity reaches 5.5 million vehicles. +++
+++ So far, we’ve only seen prototypes of the 5-door Defender 110 testing with a V8 engine under the hood, but LAND ROVER will also launch an 8-cylinder variant of the shorter Defender 90. One distinctive feature is the quad exhaust layout, with 2 squared tailpipes on each side, which we’ve also seen on the Defender 110 V8. The air suspension is expected to be a standard feature on both the 90 and 110 versions of the Defender V8, alongside an upgraded braking system. Nonetheless, the biggest unknown revolves around the engine, with some reports claiming that it might use JLR’s supercharged 5.0-liter unit, with around 450 hp available on tap, while others believing that BMW’s 4.4-liter V8 could find its way under the hood instead. Whatever engine it will rock, one thing is certain: this version of the Defender will be the most agile yet, and since it is expected to premiere in the first half of 2021, we won’t have to wait that long to find out what will power it. +++
+++ MOTIONAL, the Hyundai Motor-Aptiv joint venture, said Thursday it has partnered with U.S. ride-sharing firm Lyft to launch driverless robotaxi services in major U.S. cities in 2023. Motional said it plans to deploy fully autonomous vehicles, which are based on the Korean automaker Hyundai Motor’s platform, in Lyft’s ride-sharing network in the United States. Lyft has the second-biggest ride-sharing network in the world’s most important automobile market after Uber Technologies. The business partnership comes amid growing demand for driverless transportation options amid Covid-19 concerns. Recent U.S. research showed that 70 % of Americans said the risk of coronavirus infection affects their transportation choices and 1 out of 10 Americans are more interested in driverless vehicles than they were before the pandemic, Motional said. In October, Motional partnered with U.S. on-demand shuttle startup Via to launch a shared robotaxi service in the United States next year. In the partnership, Motional’s self-driving vehicles will serve as on-demand, shared robotaxies based on Via technology that covers booking, passenger and vehicle assignment and identification, and fleet management. In March, Hyundai set up the 50:50 joint company with Ireland-based self-driving technology startup Aptiv in order to test fully autonomous vehicles for ride-hailing services later this year. There are 5 levels of driving automation defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers International. At Level 4, a vehicle can drive itself under limited conditions and will not operate if all required conditions are not satisfied. At Level 5, a vehicle’s automated driving features can drive under any conditions. Motional, headquartered in Boston, plans to develop a self-driving vehicle platform with Level 4 to 5 autonomous technology by 2022 and supply it to global carmakers. +++
+++ In a somewhat surprising move, SKODA has announced the all-new Fabia coming in 2021 will be limited to the hatchback body style for the time being. While the more practical Combi body style has been confirmed for a next generation, it’s going to be a long wait since it won’t be unveiled alongside the supermini. The disclosure was made by the company’s boss, Thomas Schäfer. In an interview, he revealed the plan is to keep the current Fabia Combi on sale until the end of 2022 and launch its replacement at the beginning of 2023. It means Skoda will sell 2 generations of a nameplate at the same time for nearly 2 years in a move that reminds us of the time when the first generation based Octavia Tour peacefully co-existed with the second generation Octavia for a while. It looks like Skoda will be taking its sweet time renewing the long-roof Fabia, and while this decision will upset fans of small yet practical cars, we should see the glass half full. After all, the Czech brand is among the very few automakers to still have a subcompact estate on sale after Renault phased out the Clio Estate, Dacia the Logan MCV and Seat the Ibiza ST. With no big rivals to worry about, Skoda can afford to stick to the existing Fabia Combi for a couple more years. In the same interview, Schäfer revealed the Mladá Boleslav brand will launch the next generation of its pint-sized Citigo with a combustion engine. It will go up against the recently spotted new Toyota Aygo and other tiny city cars part of an endangered A-segment in Europe due to stricter emissions regulations. Aside from the Fabia hatch, 2021 will also see the launch of a coupe-esque Enyaq GT fully electric SUV and I’m also expecting the Kodiaq large SUV to go through a nip and tuck. +++
+++ Mike Manley, the CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, will be in charge of the Americas region when his company merges with PSA Peugeot in early 2021. That’s according to an open letter sent out to employees. The letter, written by FCA chairman, John Elkann, was sent to employees to alert them to Manley’s new post. “Mike Manley will play a fundamental role in the future success of Stellantis”, wrote Elkann. He “will be asked to take up the role of Head of Americas, working alongside Carlos Tavares and continuing to bring his great experience, energy, and drive to making Stellantis the extraordinary company we know it will be”. When the 2 automotive groups merge, they will be called Stellantis. The company will be run by Carlos Tavares, CEO of Peugeot. Neither Manley nor Tavares were named to the Stellantis board of directors. Shareholders from both companies will vote on the merger on January 4. If it passes the vote, Stellantis will be the 4th largest automaker in the world. With the capacity to produce 8.7 million vehicles per year, its will come in just shy of the Volkswagen Group, the Renault – Nissan – Mitsubishi alliance and Toyota. The new automotive group will include FCA’s Chrysler, Fiat, Dodge, Ram, Jeep, Alfa Romeo and Maserati brands, along with PSA’s Peugeot, Citroën, Opel, Vauxhall, and DS Automobiles. With marques like Jeep and Ram being highly profitable, Tavares has made no secret of his desire to merge with FCA. Another key facet of the coupling will reportedly be the sale of PSA vehicles in the large American market. Selling European cars in the US will not be simple, though. Former FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne’s efforts to introduce Fiat to the US were rocky, and Volkswagen has similarly struggled to gain a proportion of the market comparable to its successes in Europe, China, and South America. Manley, who took up the mantel of chief executive officer 2,5 years ago following the passing of Sergio Marchionne, will have his work cut out for him. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and the PSA Group are reportedly pushing to finalize their merger ahead of schedule due to disruptions in the car industry. Their goal is to have everything sorted out by the end of January 2021, as per people familiar with the matter. With EU antitrust approval expected by the end of this year, the 2 companies remain on track to form the world’s fourth-largest carmaker under the Stellantis umbrella. Even if that timeline changes for whatever reason, the companies still expect to hold meetings on January 4 in order to get the shareholders to sign off. According to sources, both companies are in a rush to get on with squeezing the 5 billion euros ($6.1 billion) of annual savings from cooperating as one entity, and with Tesla having emerged as the world’s most valuable carmaker, it’s easy to understand why FCA and PSA would be eager to move things along. Officially though, the target for Stellantis being “powered up” remains Q1 of 2021. The 2 companiess, which boast a combined market value of roughly €42 billion, said in a regulatory filing last month that their parent company will be listed on Paris’ Euronext, Milan’s Borsa Italiana and the New York Stock Exchange. +++
+++ Fresh off the new SUBARU BRZ being unveiled to the world, an intriguing prototype has been spied testing in Japan. Most notably, the BRZ prototype has a revised front bumper that includes a subtle splitter complete with winglets on either side, adding some aggression to the sports car. The car also includes some additional winglets on the side skirts and the rear bumper. There are a few possibilities that would explain why Subaru is testing the BRZ with these new components. The first possibility is that Subaru will sell these aero parts as optional accessories for the standard BRZ model, giving customers something to make their cars look that much sportier. Alternatively, it is possible that Subaru is working on a tS variant of the car, as it did with the previous-generation BRZ. Indeed, the black winglets of this prototype are very similar to those featured on the old BRZ tS. The final possibility is that we are looking at an early prototype of a full-blown BRZ STI model but unfortunately, we think that is very unlikely. In standard form, the new BRZ features a naturally-aspirated 2.4-liter flat-4 engine that revs to 7.000 rpm and delivers 228 hp and 250 Nm. A potential tS model would likely benefit from suspension and braking upgrades while an STI variant would inevitably go down the forced induction route. +++
+++ TESLA has started building the Model Y at its Gigafactory located near Shanghai, China. While the car manufacturer itself has yet to officially confirm the news, drone footage from the factory shows dozens of freshly-produced Model Ys at the factory. The footage comes after Tesla asserted that it was planning to begin producing the Model Y in Shanghai in early 2021. Evidently, it’s kicked things off a little earlier than that. The first Model Ys built at the factory will be delivered to local Tesla employees, likely in a bid to ensure the automaker can iron out any quality control issues before commencing deliveries to the wider public. Model Ys produced in Shanghai are thought to be largely the same as those currently being built at Tesla’s main factory in Fremont, California. By comparison, European-market Model Ys that will be produced in Berlin will feature new front and rear single-piece castings and, more importantly, utilize the company’s new ‘4680’ battery cells that are said to achieve 5 times more energy capacity while also improving range by 16 %. These battery cells are unique in that they are tabless, meaning Tesla has removed the tab that is usually used to form a connection between the cell and what it is powering. The Model Y is expected to be the company’s best-selling model in China. In fact, one analyst has suggested that Tesla could sell as many as 30.000 units per month once sales of the entry-level variant start. +++
+++ TOYOTA is on track to introduce an electric prototype powered by state-of-the-art battery technology in 2021, but its chief executive warned that banning the internal combustion engine too quickly is a short-sighted decision. He explained that blanket bans could trigger job losses and electricity shortages while making cars more expensive. “When politicians are out there saying, ‘let us get rid of all cars using gasoline’, do they understand this?”, said Toyota president Akio Toyoda during a Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association news conference. He’s the organization’s chairman. He added that Japan would run out of electricity in the summer, when many homes and businesses use their airconditioning systems, if every car on Japanese roads ran on batteries. Alternatively, he noted making the infrastructure upgrades required to support an all-electric fleet would cost between $135 and $358 billion. Even if the grid was suitably improved, he continued, electrifying Japan’s fleet wouldn’t necessarily reduce emissions. Most of the nation’s electricity comes from natural gas and coal. “The more EVs we build, the worse carbon dioxide gets”, Toyoda said during the conference. He then turned his attention to the ramifications that a ban on the internal combustion engine would have on the car industry, and on motorists. “The current business model of the car industry is going to collapse”, he predicted without going into details, adding that draconian government regulations threaten to make car ownership “a flower on a high summit”, so out of reach for many motorists. Although electric technology is getting cheaper annually, and government incentives help make battery-powered cars more affordable, the price difference remains sizable. Toyota has long elevated hybrid technology, which it has over 2 decades of experience in, as the best way forward. It has also made significant investments in hydrogen technology, notably through a productive joint-venture with BMW. It’s nonetheless planning on releasing at least 6 electric vehicles. Its Lexus division has entered the segment already with the UX 300e. Toyoda’s comments come a few weeks after Japanese officials announced they were considering banning the sale of new gasoline- and diesel-powered cars at some point in the middle of the 2030s. Lawmakers haven’t made a decision yet. The United Kingdom announced earlier in 2020 that it will implement a ban in 2030, much sooner than expected, while California and Quebec both set 2035 as a target. So far, a vast majority of carmakers have (publicly, at least) stated their intention to comply with these regulations instead of speaking out against them. +++
+++ VOLKSWAGEN has become the first volume carmaker to offer an augmented reality head-up display system for the compact segment, through its ID.3 and ID.4 fully-electric models. The system is able to superimpose certain symbols onto the outside world and display them on the windshield in a dynamic fashion. Usually, this type of system would first end up on high-end models exclusively; just ask Mercedes. “We have introduced a genuine innovation in series production”, says Frank Welsch, Volkswagen development board member. “And we have done this not in a premium vehicle, but in the compact models of the all-electric ID family. Making pioneering technologies available to a large number of customers is a core competency of Volkswagen”. Here’s how it works: the information being projected onto the windshield is separated into 2 fields and levels. There’s a large window for the dynamic displays in the driver’s field of view at a virtual distance of around 10 meters, with a diagonal measuring roughly 1.8 meters. This far-range window holds information from the assist and navigation systems. The close-range window on the other hand is located as a flat band under the large far-range window, showing the driving speed, road signs and assist plus navigation symbols as static images. These appear to “float” roughly 3 meters in front of the driver. “All displays are positioned perfectly in line with the real world outside the vehicle and are shown dynamically. When the vehicle approaches a junction where it should turn off according to the navigation route, the driver sees two indications: in the first step, an advance notification on the road level, and then three arrows located at the junction. The closer the driver gets to the junction, the larger the arrows become. At the same time, their textures fade in order to ensure a clear view of the road”. Also, don’t worry about the system projecting all types of symbols and warnings onto other cars or infrastructure while you’re doing all the driving (that would have been distracting). The symbols appear as an aid only when the Adaptive Cruise Control or Travel Assist is activated. Volkswagen ID buyers can specify the augmented reality head-up display as part of the Infotainment Package Plus, which also includes the Discover Pro navigation system with touch display. +++