+++ EUROPE ’s car industry is still struggling under the impact of the pandemic and the semiconductor shortage, and growth has slowed recently, despite previous signs of recovery. There was a slight increase in electric and plug-in hybrid car sales in May and new car registrations increased by 13 % over the same period last year, according to the latest data from Jato Analytics. But demand is still far from pre-pandemic levels: the 1.268.683 vehicles registered across the 26 European countries during the month was 14 % down on June 2019. The total volume for the first half of 2021 reached 6.41 million units, which is up by 27 % year-on-year from 2020 but 23 % lower than in the first half of 2019. Jato said: “The conditions aren’t yet ideal and far from a total recovery. In the mid-term, it’s not clear whether the market will reach pre-Covid levels or not”. Electrified cars (EVs and PHEVs) performed well, making up 18.5 % of the market, up from 8.2 % in June 2020. EVs totalled 126.000 units, while 104.000 PHEVs were sold in the same period. Fiat, Tesla, Skoda, Volkswagen and Ford gained the largest market shares in the EV market, while Cupra, Jeep, Volkswagen, Renault and Seat posted the highest market share gains in the PHEV market. SUVs still dominate overall market share, claiming 44.2 % of all sales, although that’s slightly lower than the 44.6 % figure posted last month. The market has also been boosted by strong demand for individual models, such as the Volkswagen Golf and, most notably, the Tesla Model 3, which has risen 262 % from June 2020. This electric saloon also topped the EV ranking, while the Ford Kuga PHEV retained its spot as the best-selling PHEV. Here are the best-selling cars in Europe in June 2021: 1) Volkswagen Golf 27.247: +12 %, 2) Tesla Model 3 25.697: + 262 %, 3) Dacia Sandero 22.764: +10 %, 4) Renault Clio 22.254: -40 %, 5) Fiat 500 22.179: +64 %, 6) Toyota Yaris 21.698: +112 %, 7) Volkswagen T-Roc 21.576: +35 %, 8) Opel Corsa 21.124: +24 %, 9) Renault Captur 20.168: -9 %, 10) Volkswagen Polo 18.789: +16 %. +++
+++ The next-generation HONDA Civic Type R has been caught testing again ahead of its expected 2022 debut, revealing new details of the final production design. The Renault Mégane RS rival remains heavily camouflaged but it’s clear to see that it doesn’t appear radically different from its predecessor externally. The overall body shape, with its low, wide stance, saloon-style bootlid and big rear wing is familiar, while a more production-ready rear end bears distinctive triple-exit exhaust pipes and the red brake calipers provide another nod to its performance potential. A close look reveals the spoiler features a new raised mounting, while the smaller lip spoiler on the bootlid no longer appears to dissect the rear window. Further visible changes include a lower shoulder line, a lower bonnet line and lower headlights, as previewed by the reveal of the standard Civic hatchback last month ahead of its European market launch in 2022. A view of the interior shows what looks like different steering wheel and dashboard designs, alongside a dashtop-mounted touchscreen, although it’s difficult to draw conclusions from this early prototype. The next Civic Type R will receive a hybrid powertrain as part of Honda’s electrification plans, which were accelerated last year with the aim of making all the brand’s European sales electrified by 2025. It’s also suggested that it will use a powertrain linked in concept to that of the NSX supercar, which mates a twin-turbo 3.5-litre V6 with 3 electric motors. It’s unclear whether that means 4-wheeldrive, but it’s likely if Honda goes full-hybrid in this way. Such a development would also give Honda more performance potential, as engineers have previously hinted the current car is close to to the realistic limit in terms of power put through only the front wheels. One thing is for certain: the new Civic won’t be built at Honda’s Swindon plant, because that will close in 2021. It’s unclear where the Japanese company intends to produce the next-generation family car. +++
+++ JAGUAR LAND ROVER , after being badly hit by the global pandemic and related lockdowns, is now being hobbled by the global chip shortage. Between April and June this year, the company reckons it has lost around 30.000 sales due to the chip shortage. A source of no small frustration when it says it has an order bank of 110.000 cars, of which around 29.000 are for the new Defender. Even so, retail sales in the first quarter of this financial year were up by 63 % over the same period in 2020, the point where the lockdown really started to kick-in. North America was the company’s biggest market between April and June (selling 31.000 cars) followed by China and Europe. The UK was the 4th market at 24.000 sales. The Defender is really starting to make waves, selling a bit over 17.000 units in the 3 month period, not so far behind the combined 19.000 sales of the Discovery and Discovery Sport. Just over 29.000 Jaguars were sold. And talking of alternative power, JLR’s latest financial presentation reveals that 57 % of the last quarter’s output was mild hybrid, 6.5 % plug-in hybrid and just 2 % pure EV. The rest (34 %) was conventional ICE. The loss for this quarter was £110 million, though JLR admits it has spent nearly a billion in cash over the same period. However, £571 million of that was invested in machinery and capital investment and research and development. We can probably chalk that down to preparations for the new Range Rover and Range Rover Sport and the all-new MLA platform. It’s a cost that will repay itself handsomely. So, with the Defender booming and the market recovering well, JLR should be out of the woods, but the company says the second quarter of this financial year will be even tougher thanks to the chip shortage. The number of cars made for wholesale was up 73 % between April and June, but the chip shortage had reduced the expected jump by 27 %. In short, JLR production should have been up 100 % over the same period of 2021. And the company says it expects that the chip shortage will hit even harder in the current quarter of the this financial year. It had hoped that it could build 130.000 cars between July and September, but that total could be reduced by as much as 50 %. It doesn’t help either that JLR notes it will be seeing some “underlying structural capacity issues” over the next 12-18 months, likely related to the new Range Rover production line being installed in Solihull, a task of significant complexity. It’s been a rollercoaster year for JLR, which remains a relatively small player on the global automotive scene. However, the booming Defender may be the saving grace and JLR says it expects the red ink to switch to black in the second half of this year. The new Range Rover will arrive in the first half of 2022 and JLR should finally find itself on a winning run for sometime to come, global pandemics permitting. +++
+++ Nearly 11 years after its unveiling, the LAMBORGHINI Aventador is destined for retirement and the commemorative Ultimae edition will serve as Sant’Agata’s final non-electrified V12-powered production car; the last in a line of top-rung sports cars that stretches back to the 350 GT of 1964. The Aventador’s successor, launching in 2023, will retain the 12-cylinder motor, but it will make the landmark shift to plug-in hybrid power and be joined on sale by a raft of other electrified models, including an all-new, 4-seat pure EV in the coming years. I caught up with Lamborghini boss Stephan Winkelmann to hear how he will lead the Italian brand through this transformative era. Question: How do you feel about Lamborghini’s V12 becoming electrified? Answer: “There’s a lot of emotion attached to that. There is also one very personal reason: this, the Aventador, was the first car, back in 2011, which I pulled up from the very beginning. We started development of the car in 2007, so I have a very special relationship with the Aventador. It is the most successful V12 car we’ve ever produced, and it’s a car which has a lot of incredible versions. Yes, it’s tough to let go but I think the Ultimae is the last of a kind. It’s something very special. It’s limited so our customers will appreciate it”. Q: Is this the end of an era? A: “I wouldn’t speak in eras. We’ve been through an evolutionary process in the automotive business and now you have the revolution. It’s very different to what we had before. I think we have to have the capability to adapt. We need to change and this is something that is paramount to the success of tomorrow. You have to perform better than before. This is one of the rules of our business at Lamborghini. Every generation has to be better than the previous one. In terms of CO2 emissions, it is an important change, but we are convinced that this is going to work. The plug-in hybrid car which will follow the Aventador will have a V12 engine, and so the sound and the history will stay alive”. Q: Will drivers notice the extra weight in a PHEV supercar? A: “If we speak about weight, we have to speak about power-to-weight ratio, and this is the key element. It’s about the set-up, the brakes, the aerodynamics; a lot of items which have to work together. One of the most important is the power-to-weight ratio, and if this is greater, then the behaviour of the car has to be adapted and we are sure that this is going to work in a very smooth and positive way”. Q: Will it be closely related to the Aventador? A: “All the V12 cars before the Aventador, in total, sold less than the Aventador as a stand-alone model. I’m sure the success story of the Aventador is a good starting point for the follow-up, because we have a solid customer base, enthusiastic owners who are looking forward to what is coming next, and this will be a very positive surprise”. Q: Why not use supercapacitors, as in the Sián? A: “A supercapacitor, in our opinion, is a bridge technology which does not fulfil the needs we have for the future to reduce emissions. In 2023- 2024, we will hybridise all our product line-up to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 50 % by 2025. A capacitor would not be able to achieve this. I think hybridisation is a good solution”. Q: Will the Huracán’s V10 engine survive into the hybrid era? A: “It’s a bit early to talk about it, because this will happen in 2024. We are concentrating on the year 2021, when we will have another car next to the Ultimae with a V12 engine and a supercapacitor. In 2022, we will have 2 new launches, based on the Huracán and Urus, and then in 2023 and 2024 we will hybridise the complete line-up”. Q: Can you envisage Lamborghini using a hybridised V6? A: “Given that the V12 is our icon, this is very important to keep. All the rest, we will see down the road, and if there is an opportunity with other types of engines, we will look into it and take a balanced decision. But we will always have engines which surprise our fans and customers positively”. Q: Will the Urus be among the first to go fully electric? A: “The first step is hybridisation. Then we’ll see if synthetic fuels give an opportunity to continue to work with combustion engines, because it’s not about the type of propulsion: it’s about the emissions you generate. But on the other hand, we foresee a fourth model for the second half of this decade which will be the first full-electric car, and here we’re looking at a bodystyle which will not be the same as the Urus, but at least a 2+2, so a car that’s daily driven”. Q: Are you working closely with other Volkswagen Group brands on electrification? A: “We work together on platforms, for sure. We’re trying to see what is specific for Lamborghini. In general, a manufacturer always has a balance between ‘make or buy’: what is close to you as a DNA you make, and what is not that important you buy. Then you have to decide what you do best, and how fast you can achieve a positive result by doing one or the other. So the group, for us, is halfway between make and buy. We are part of the group, so we are also part of platform development, and on the other hand we have to pick the best fit in terms of cost and quality”. Q: How will an electric Lamborghini still be a Lamborghini? A: “Times change. New generations are stepping in. We have to divide the brand into two types of car: for the super-sports cars like the Huracán and Aventador, we want to keep the internal combustion engines alive as long as we can, and on the daily driver side, with the Urus and the new fourth model, we have to do an outstanding job – like we have with the Urus, which on first sight is not a Lamborghini to those who are used to looking at the Huracán and Aventador. But we are not always focused on super-sports cars. We had GT cars, 2+2 cars like the Espada and we had the LM002. So as a company, we also did lots of different stuff”. Q: Could synthetic fuel keep the non-electrified V12 alive? A: “In my opinion, no. We are stepping into hybridisation, which is a better combination than just a naturally aspirated engine, and we’ve entered the peak with naturally aspirated. The combination of the 2 (EV and combustion engines) is better than a stand-alone”. Q: Will you draw on your heritage in the future? A: “A brand like ours has to have strong roots, and they should build on the history of the brand. But you should learn about history. You shouldn’t repeat history until you fail”. Q: Which elements of the firm’s history would you repeat? A: “The success stories! One of the things about being small is that everything you do has to be successful and hit its targets, and this is what we have to be focused on”. +++
+++ Spy photographers have caught the next-generation MASERATI Granturismo lapping a private test facility in Italy, revealing more of its design than the official ‘spy shots’ released by Maserati earlier this year. Most tellingly, aside from showing how the Ferrari Roma rival’s design will subtly evolve, this newly spotted prototype sports a prominent quad-exit exhaust system, confirming the retention of a combustion-engined option alongside the new fully electric variant. Modena remains tight-lipped on what lies under the bonnet, but the new Nettuno V6, as fitted to the MC20 supercar, and the Ferrari-derived V8 used by the Quattroporte are likely choices. The Granturismo is also set to follow the Ghibli and Levante in adopting a hybrid option, but its positioning makes their mild-hybrid 2.0-litre 4-cylinder engine an unlikely fit. The new images confirm the Granturismo will retain the sleek silhouette of its predecessor, as well as its name. It looks to bear a resemblance to the long-awaited Alfieri concept, which was previewed as long ago as 2016 but has yet to be seen in public. The pictures follow the release of a clip last year in which Maserati previewed the sound of its first electric powertrain, which will be fitted to the 2022 Granturismo. Technical details remain unconfirmed, but the all-electric variant will no doubt be the quickest and most potent in the line-up. Maserati says that it’s working to ensure the EV’s powertrain has “a distinctive sound, already a unique attribute of all Maserati cars equipped with traditional combustion engines”. It’s not yet clear how this will be achieved, but it’s unlikely that the firm will artificially recreate the noise of its V6 or V8 engines. The testing is taking place at private facilities and on surrounding roads, meaning camouflaged prototypes will likely soon be seen in public, giving more clues as to what to expect of the new model. The announcement follows September’s confirmation that Maserati is to extensively upgrade its Turin production facility and launch a wave of new models, and, more recently, the unveilings of the Ghibli and Levante mild hybrids. +++
+++ VOLKSWAGEN has raised its profit margin target for the second time in less than 3 months, pointing to record earnings in the first half of 2021 that topped even pre-pandemic levels. Spurred by chief executive Herbert Diess’ vision to overtake Tesla as the world’s top electric vehicle (EV) player, Volkswagen has unveiled a string of targets and deals this year to meet that goal. They include a bid for Europcar, valuing the car rental firm at €2.9 billion, in a bet on mobility services which Volkswagen sees as a major source of future profits. “Yes, we did buy a car rental company, but it won’t be a car rental company probably in 5 to 10 years’ time. It can be a big mobility platform”, Diess told journalists. The 62-year old said he hadn’t finished. “Our electric offensive is picking up momentum and we will keep on increasing its pace in the months to come”, he said. Volkswagen said it now expected an operating return on sales of 6.0 – 7.5 % this year, up from 5.5 – 7 % previously, and nudged up its forecast for net cash flow at its automotive division, which is now expected to be much stronger than in 2020. First-half operating profit before special items reached €11.4 billion, above the previous record of €10 billion achieved in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on the global economy. The performance was driven in part by strong demand for high-margin luxury Porsches and Audis. Porsche SE, Volkswagen’s largest shareholder with a 31.4 % stake, also raised it financial outlook following the carmaker’s results, forecasting profit after tax of €3.4-€4.9 billion in 2021. The global car sector has been hit by a shortage of crucial semiconductors, with several rivals, including Daimler, BMW and General Motors, adjusting or halting production. Volkswagen accounted for that by trimming its forecast for deliveries to customers. “The risk of bottlenecks and disruption in the supply of semiconductor components has intensified throughout the industry”, it said. It now expects deliveries to be up “noticeably” in 2021 from the 9.3 million last year, having previously expected them to rise “significantly”. Volkswagen chief financial officer Arno Antlitz said the new outlook roughly corresponded to a 10 % increase. +++
+++ VOLVO will move away from its current model nomenclature convention by giving future models names, rather than numbers, company boss Håkan Samuelsson has confirmed. The Swedish manufacturer recently unveiled the Concept Recharge that previews the XC90 successor due next year. At that launch, Samuelsson said that Volvo would diverge from its long-running XC nomenclature for SUVs by giving the new car “a name, like a child”. Asked about Volvo’s model naming strategy, Samuelsson that next-generation models that follow the XC90 successor will also be given more ‘emotional’ names. “If you look at cars today, all of them are very ‘engineeredly’ named: XC, T8, All-Wheel-Drive, double overhead cams: it’s all specification on the rear of many cars”, said Samuelsson. “We’re talking about a totally new architecture, a new-generation of born-electric, all-electric cars with central computing. It’s good and clear to mark that this is a new beginning, and that’s why we’re not going to have numbers and letters, an engineering type of name. We’re going to give them a name as you give a newborn child a name”. Samuelsson said that the name for the XC90 successor had not been finalised and that “we have a very interesting and creative discussion going on”. With a few exceptions, Volvo has used a numeric or alphanumeric-based nomenclature throughout its history. It adopted its current system in 1995, using S for saloons, V for estates, C for hatchbacks and coupés and XC for SUVs, followed by a size-based number. Volvo’s switch to model names bucks an industry trend towards alphanumeric titles, which are considered easier to standardise worldwide. Volkswagen, for example, is using model numbers for its ID electric car range, instead of the names such as Polo, Golf and Tiguan used for its ICE models. Volvo sold 380.757 cars in the first 6 months of 2021, a 41 % year-on-year change from the pandemic-hit first half of 2020. More significantly, that’s almost 40.000 more than Volvo sold in the first half of 2019. Added to the final half of 2020, Volvo has a 12-month ‘rolling sales total’ of 775.000 cars, which the firm has targeted growing to 1.2 million sales a year by the middle of this decade. The firm reiterated that the growth will come from both finding new customers in its existing markets and through the expansion of its model range. Volvo working on a new small electric crossover (effectively an XC20, although set to adopt a different name) that will be based on parent firm Geely’s SEA platform. Samuelsson has said that “it’s very likely” this model will be built in China and noted that it will arrive some time after the XC90 successor, which is due next year. “Then there will be more cars to follow, and we should start thinking new body shapes: it’s not just sedans, wagons and SUVs”, said Samuelsson. “Electrificiation will also change the shape of cars. They need to be more aerodynamic, and we will surprise people a bit there in the future”. Volvo also said that it will consider opening another factory in Europe to add capacity. +++