+++ Williams Racing has a new Chief Executive Officer: Jost CAPITO , former head of Volkswagen’s R performance division. The struggling Formula 1 team, which finished last in the constructors’ championship for the third year in a row this season, has made the appointment as part of wider management changes, with the aim of becoming more competitive. Current acting team principal Simon Roberts will now be employed in the role on a permanent basis, the team has confirmed. He will report to Capito, who in turn will report to Matthew Savage, chairman of Williams and its new owner, private investment firm Dorilton Capital. Savage said in a statement: “We are excited to welcome Jost Capito as the new CEO of Williams Racing. He is an experienced and competitive individual, who has built winning teams and is a winner in his own right. He understands the Williams heritage and will work well with the team in pursuit of our objective to return to the front of the grid”. Capito, 62, stepped down from his role as head of Volkswagen’s R division in December. He has held a number of key positions in motorsport, too, including serving 3 years as director of motorsport for the Volkswagen brand, during which time he led the company to 3 FIA World Rally Championships. He also served a brief stint as CEO of McLaren Racing in 2016. Capito said it is “an honour to be a part of the future of this storied team, and one that carries such a poignant name in the sport, so I approach this challenge with great respect and with a huge amount of relish”. +++
+++ HYUNDAI is reportedly working on a new 2.3-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine that its future N performance models could use. Current N-branded models from the South Korean car manufacturer use a 2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder but a larger 2.3-liter mill is in the works. This new engine will rev through to 7.000 rpm. Unfortunately, limited details have been given about this new engine. Spy shots snapped back in April showcased an intriguing mid-engined Hyundai prototype with graphics on the side reading ‘MR23T.’ At the time, it was speculated this vehicle could have been running a 2.3-liter turbo with direct injection. Whereas current Hyundai N Performance models produce 280 hp, reports at the time indicated the larger capacity engine could be good for 320 hp. When supplemented by an electric motor, power could rise even further. While anyone who has driven a new Hyundai N model would likely agree that it has more than enough go, the idea of some added grunt will no doubt sound rather tantalizing to shoppers. After all, hot hatch rivals like the Audi S3 Sportback and Honda Civic Type R both have more than 300 hp, give or take a few ponies. It also feels as though the brand’s current N models could handle some added power without needing any other major alterations. When could we see this new 2.3-liter engine? If it does become a reality, we wouldn’t be shocked to see it land within the next 3 or 4 years. +++
+++ JAGUAR LAND ROVER chief creative officer Gerry McGovern is looking forward to helping make Jaguar “wonderful again” by modernizing the design of its future models. McGovern has been in charge of Land Rover’s design department since 2006, and now he oversees both Land Rover design boss Massimo Frascella as well as Jaguar design head Julian Thomson. “I’m savoring the thought of helping my Jaguar colleagues to bring Jaguar back to the position it deserves. It’s a unique brand with incredible pedigree and a lot of potential”, he told in an interview. “If it could be developed in a way that freed it from some of the constraints it has had in the past, I think it could be wonderful again”. During his time at Land Rover, McGovern managed to reinvent the brand’s image and played an important role in modernizing the iconic Defender. Next up, he’ll need to make sure that the all-new Range Rover stands out too. “The current generation moved the game on significantly and this next one will too”, he said while discussing the Range Rover brand. Jaguar however has been seen as more traditional in terms of styling, although the I-Pace did advance its design language. Still, the XE, XF and F-Pace could all use a boost; free from constraints, as McGovern himself put it. His role as JLR design boss comes a little over a year after the retirement of Ian Callum, who began modernizing Jaguar in the mid-to-late 2000s starting with the first generation XF and X351-generation XJ. +++
+++ Let’s face it, bonnet ornaments are slowly becoming a thing of the past. Whether it be Jaguar, Lincoln or even Cadillac, a number of automakers are axing these ornate automotive pieces, succumbing to modern safety concerns and automotive aesthetics. The latest front fascia adornment to bite the dust is from the MERCEDES-BENZ E-Class. Following a clean sweep of bonnet ornaments on the C-Class, SL-Class, and many others, the option is missing on the 2021 online configurator for the E-Class. While very unfortunate, we’d be remiss not to mention that there was foreshadowing of the events we see today. The E-Class vehicles were previously available in sport and luxury trim levels, with only the latter bearing an insignia on the bonnet. The first mention of flattening the German automaker’s insignia onto the grille came in 2009 with the introduction of the W211 model. It was the following W212 generation that first introduced the star-in-grille aesthetic that we see on nearly all Mercedes vehicles today. While the news could spark disappointment for most, it shows that the top-brass are committed to only allowing a bonnet ornament for its most exclusive vehicles; going forward, the only models lucky enough to keep the decoration are the S-Class saloon and Maybach GLS. Thankfully, if the star-in-grille design puts you off to no end, there’s still a 2021 E-Class available in European markets with the old-school variant. I think that would be a bit extreme though to order parts from Germany to elevate your automotive experience such a small amount. Until then, the only other manufacturers offering bonnet ornaments include but aren’t limited to Rolls-Royce and Bentley. +++
+++ MOBILEYE has revealed it could build its own lidar sensors in-house with plans to introduce a self-driving system in 2025. The Intel-owned company announced last month that it had selected Luminar to supply it with lidar units starting in 2022. This announcement sent the share price of Luminar sky-high. However, Mobileye chief executive Amnon Shashua has since revealed that for 2025, the company is developing its own lidar sensor. Mobileye’s lidar will use Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCV) technology which is different than the tech used by Luminar. Shashua revealed Mobileye’s solution will drive down costs to the point where its lidar can be used in consumer vehicles. “We believe the cost of an entire self-driving system can be in the few thousand dollar range, and that brings us into a consumer vehicle position”, he said. “If we can make this work, it will also be used for robotaxis. But we have time to make that decision five years from today”. The first lidar units that will be deployed by Mobileye and produced by Luminar will cost between $10,000 and $20,000 each and will be targeted at robo-taxis. Mobileye has deals to supply its current camera-based driver assistance systems to the likes of BMW, Volkswagen and Nissan. Shashua revealed that the company recently deployed a self-driving prototype onto the streets of Munich and with just a week of setup, the vehicle was able to navigate the city’s streets without driver input. “This is a critical milestone. This is what you need for scalability. If you want to have a system at the consumer level, it has to be able to drive everywhere”, he told. +++
+++ MOTIONAL , the Hyundai Motor-Aptiv joint venture, said 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 Hyundai’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. +++
+++ NISSAN has opted to ship an upcoming electric vehicle to Europe from Japan rather than produce it in the United Kingdom, where one of its largest factories faces existential risk from a hard Brexit. The battery-powered Ariya, a SUV, will be made at Nissan’s facility in Tochigi Prefecture and shipped to Europe and the U.S. from there, the company said. While the automaker had considered producing the model in Sunderland in northern England, it has repeatedly warned that its plant there won’t be viable if Britain is unable to reach a trade deal with the European Union. The decision underlines the risk a no-deal Brexit poses to the already-reeling British car industry. New-car registrations plunged 27 % last month and are down almost a third this year. Unless negotiators are able to reach an agreement on new terms of trade before the Brexit transition period ends on December 31, vehicles and components will be subject to tariffs that Nissan, BMW and PSA have said would be catastrophic for their factories. Nissan’s Sunderland plant has at times manufactured more than 500.000 vehicles a year, though output dropped below 350.000 units last year and will be much lower in 2020. About 80 % of the Qashqai and Juke crossovers and Leaf hatchbacks manufactured there are exported. The company earmarked £400 million ($543 million) for production of the new Qashqai in Sunderland and has invested most of that already, it said last month. As Nissan swiftly pushes out new vehicles (12 fresh models are scheduled in the 18 months through November 2021), a no-deal Brexit could mean that a greater number of Europe-bound cars are produced outside the United Kingdom. Nissan has stuck with stark warnings about the fate of its Sunderland plant as the deadline for a deal approaches, with chief operating officer Ashwani Gupta maintaining that Brexit-induced tariffs could render the company’s British business and Sunderland plant unsustainable. “You take many factors into account when deciding where it is most reasonable to produce a vehicle”, Nissan spokeswoman Azusa Momose said. +++
+++ TOYOTA will unveil a prototype equipped with an advanced solid-state battery pack in 2021 and plans to begin producing solid state batteries in the early 2020s. t is claimed that the electric vehicles being developed by Toyota with solid-state battery technology will have a range more than double that of an EV with a traditional lithium-ion battery. What’s more, it could take as little as 10 minutes to charge an EV with a solid-state battery. Solid-state batteries also have a reduced risk of fire compared with lithium-ion alternatives. Toyota has over 1,000 patents involving solid-state batteries and is leading the race to bring an EV with a solid-state battery to the market. To prepare for the influx of solid-state batteries, auto material manufacturers in Japan are establishing new infrastructure. For example, Mitsui Mining and Smelting, will start up a pilot facility that’s set to make solid electrolytes for the batteries. Other companies including oil firm Idemitsu Kosan and Sumitomo Chemical are also developing solid electrolytes. The Japanese government has been actively supporting the domestic development of solid-state batteries and is currently putting together a 2 trillion yen ($19.2 billion) fund to support decarbonization technology. The ultimate goal is to support the development of the necessary mass-production infrastructure. The government will also assist in procuring the materials needed for solid-state batteries, including lithium. Other car manufacturers are developing solid-state batteries, including Volkswagen that plans to produce the advanced batteries as soon as 2025 with a U.S. joint venture. +++
+++ Technologies used by VOLKSWAGEN to rig vehicle emissions tests should be considered illegal, the European Union’s highest court ruled, even if they contribute to preventing ageing or clogging up of the engine. The Court of Justice of the European Union was asked to rule in a French prosecution against the carmaker for allegedly deceiving purchasers of diesel vehicles. Volkswagen had argued in favour of a restrictive definition of devices used to rig emissions tests, limited to technologies and strategies operating only “downstream”, or after potential emissions are produced. However, the court found that the term should also apply to “upstream” technology. Use of so-called defeat devices to help a vehicle pass emissions tests is illegal under EU law. The French case concerned an exhaust gas recirculation (ERG) valve, which can redirect some exhaust gases back into the air supply for the engine to reduce final NOx emissions. The ERG was adjusted in tests using a device to allow emissions to remain below the regulatory ceiling, but according to an expert’s report the device would in normal conditions lead to the partial deactivation of the ERG and higher NOx emissions. Operation of the ERG would have made maintenance more frequent and expensive because, for example, the engine would clog up more quickly. Volkswagen said that the court’s opinion on the classification of the ERG had no consequences on legal proceedings regarding its diesel cars, in Germany or elsewhere. “In the legal disputes still ongoing outside of Germany, the outcome ultimately depends on the question of possible damage to the vehicle keepers concerned”, it said in a statement. Volkswagen announced recalls of almost 950.000 vehicles in France following the dieselgate scandal in which it admitted in 2015 to using illegal software to cheat U.S. diesel engine tests. The scandal has cost Volkswagen more than $30 billion in vehicle refits, fines and provisions. +++
+++ Chinese electric vehicle maker XPENG has begun its European rollout by delivering the first 100 units of its G3 crossover to customers in Norway. The G3 is priced from 358,000 krone, which converts to roughly $41,000. The Guangzhou-based company wants to enter other European markets as well, and will spend the next 12 months trying to figure out which country should be next as they lay the groundwork for sales, stated Xpeng president and vice chairman, Brian Gu. “In the long run, if you want to be a successful EV company, you have to be a global one”, said Gu. “We’re starting the effort to build our presence, doing limited testing in certain markets and treating this as a very long-term strategy”. Xpeng chose to enter Europe via Norway thanks to the latter’s supportive government policies, advanced charging infrastructure and high awareness for EVs. Also, even though Norway is a small market overall, nearly 80 % of vehicles registered there in the third quarter of 2020 were the kind you plug in. One of the factors that Xpeng needs to consider going forward is whether or not to work with local partners (in Norway they use a local distributor), or to just control its own destiny. “We’re still in the early innings of this European strategy”, added Gu. The Xpeng G3 was first unveiled in January of 2018, drawing comparisons to the Tesla Model X; not because of its styling (it’s quite different), but because of its massive portrait-style infotainment display positioned in the center of the dashboard. +++
+++ ZHIJI , an electric car startup by China’s SAIC Motor, Alibaba and Shanghai’s Zhangjiang Group, is to see its first model roll off the assembly line in late 2021. The carmaker, with an investment of over 10 billion yuan ($1.53 billion), said it will unveil 2 models in January, with another 1 to join them at the Shanghai auto show in April. The marque’s first showroom will open around May 2021 in Shanghai and mass production of its first model will start in the same year. Zhiji said SAIC’s expertise in car production and Alibaba’s advantage in big data and artificial intelligence will make its models more competitive in the market. The carmaker is also developing batteries in partnership with China’s CATL, saying that their energy density will be 30 % to 40 % more effective than current ones, and can run for 1.000 kilometers on one charge. It did not give a clear schedule when the batteries will become available, but Chinese reports say that they will be produced in 5 years. Zhiji said the vehicles will be capable of wireless charging at speeds similar to wired charging. Zhiji is also partnering with globally well-known artists including Thomas Heatherwick and Toshiyuki Inoko. Among other things, they will design charging facilities and images to be displayed exclusively on Zhiji models’ screens. China has been the world’s largest market for new energy vehicles since 2015. Sales of electric cars and plug-in hybrids are estimated to reach 1.3 million this year; up 8 % from 2018, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, said the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. +++