+++ AUDI ’s second-generation R8 is approaching the end of its lifecycle, and it doesn’t sound like the V10-powered supercar will spawn a direct successor. The company hinted that it will send off the R8 by launching a limited-edition model that will benefit from track-bred updates. “What I can say is that we have plans to do more. There will definitely be more [cars]to come on this generation of the R8 platform. And, as you can see from the R8 with rear-wheel-drive we are trying to bring ‘fun to drive’ to the front of what we do”, said Sebastian Grams, head of Audi’s RS division, in a recent interview. “I can tell you we have enough ideas for the future”. Nothing is official at this point, but the GT nameplate last used on a limited-edition version of the first R8 could make a comeback. If that’s the case, the model’s final evolution would likely gain a specific body kit and more power while losing weight. For context, the last R8 GT weighed about 80 kilos less than the standard R8, and engineers added 35 horses to its cavalry. Audi offered the last GT as a coupe and as a Spyder; both were limited to 333 units globally. It’s too early to tell whether the next GT will have a fixed or a canvas top or if it will be based on the all- or rear-wheel-drive version of the car. However, it is scheduled to make its debut in fall 2022 and that it will be built for approximately 1 year. What happens after is up in the air. On one hand, the odds of seeing another Audi-badged two-door supercar powered by a mid-mounted, naturally-aspirated V10 engine are low. On the other hand, the R8 is Audi’s range-topping model, it’s hugely important for the company’s image, and the odds of seeing that slot empty for an extended period are seemingly low as well. “The icons of the past aren’t necessarily the icons of the future”, said Hildegard Wortmann, the carmaker’s global chief of sales and marketing, earlier in 2021. +++
+++ BMW announced its upgraded strategy in the Chinese market, with 3 new or upgraded plants to open in 2022. At its New Year media conference, BMW Group China said it is determined to continue its close cooperation with China’s automobile industry and attaches importance to Chinese market demands in new product development. “What moves China today will move the world tomorrow. It is a perfect place and a great partner for the BMW Group to drive transformation”, said Nicolas Peter, member of the board of management of BMW responsible for finance and China affairs. “Next year, 3 new or upgraded plants will open in Shenyang and Zhangjiagang. We will soon be launching the second BMW battery electric vehicle (BEV) from Shenyang. It is a fully electric 3-series, further enhancing China’s position as one of BMW Group’s top-3 new energy vehicle production bases in the world”, Peter added. Echoing China’s green initiative, the group is also accelerating its BEV product offense in China. In 2021, the sales volume of the all-electric BMW iX3 is expected to reach 20.000 units in its first complete sales year. In 2022, BMW will present 5 BEVs to Chinese customers, and by the end of 2023, the group will offer about 13 BEVs on the local market. By 2025, a quarter of the BMW Group’s sales in China will be BEVs, it added. The group said it has established its largest R&D and digital footprint outside Germany in China, with a team of over 1.650 employees, including around 600 software developers. +++
+++ Sales of new energy vehicles are expected to account for 60 percent of the total automobile sales in CHINA in a mild scenario or over 70 percent in an aggressive scenario by 2035, the Economic Information Daily reported. The judgment is based on the 2021 Annual Report on Energy Saving and New Energy Vehicle in China composed by the China Automotive Technology and Research Center. Reports say that by 2020 China had topped NEV sales in the world for 7 consecutive years. Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed that in November the production and sale of NEVs reached 457.000 and 450.000 respectively, up 1.3 times and 1.2 times year-on-year. The production and sales figure for the first 11 months of 2021 were 3.02 million and 2.99 million respectively, up 1.7 times from the figure a year ago. The report highlighted the importance of ensuring a steady supply of nickel, an important raw material for producing power batteries. In fact, even lithium and cobalt are required but rely heavily on import. A plan for sustainable material supply is an imperative development trend. The battery sector’s demand for nickel generated from ore is expected to rise by 500 percent or about 700.000 metric tons between 2020 and 2030, said Bao Wenjun, head of mining giant BHP’s metal and mining market analysis department. +++
+++ The HYUNDAI MOTOR GROUP replaced its top executives responsible for design and research & development (R&D) as part of a large-scale reshuffle, undertaking a generational change in management under the new leadership of chairman Euisun Chung. Peter Schreyer, a renowned former Audi designer who has led Hyundai’s design management since 2013, is stepping down and will serve as an adviser to the automobile company. Lee Sang-yup, head of Hyundai’s Global Design Center, was promoted to executive vice president and will take over Schreyer’s post. Albert Biermann, the head of Hyundai’s R&D division, will be replaced by Park Chung-kook, president and head of the hydrogen fuel cell division at Hyundai, the company said. Biermann will continue to serve as a technical adviser. Joining the automaker’s high-end Genesis brand as new chief brand officer is Graeme Russell, known for his long stint in luxury car marketing for Bentley and as brand ambassador for the Macallan distillery. Russell will lead Genesis’ global brand, product and retail communications. Hyundai also promoted 203 employees to senior executives, the largest number ever according to the company, which marks a generational change after chairman Chung, who succeeded his father Chung Mong-koo in October last year, took the helm of the country’s No. 2 conglomerate. The latest reshuffle signals that Euisun Chung (50) will further push his ambitious drive for future mobility, such as hydrogen-powered cars, self-driving cars, infotainment and other advanced information and communications technologies, to boost the automaker’s competitiveness. Choo Kyo-woong, head of the automaker’s electronics and infotainment development, was named executive vice president in charge of the development of in-vehicle intelligent systems. Kim Heung-soo, chief of the future growth planning and electric vehicle (EV) division, and Lim Tae-won, head of the advanced technologies and hydrogen and fuel cell department, were among those elevated to executive vice president positions. The company also hired Jin Eun-sook, former chief technology officer at NHN, as the new executive vice president and head of the ICT innovation division. About a third of the newly promoted executives are in their 40s, with about 37 percent of the R&D staff earning promotions, according to Hyundai. +++
+++ In JAPAN , automakers are looking for ways to catch up with European and U.S. competitors in China, which has grown to become the world’s largest car market. Around 2 million vehicles were sold in China in 2000, before the country joined the World Trade Organization. Sales have since grown over tenfold to about 29 million units at their 2017 peak, or 1.6 times those of the United States. Volkswagen was the first foreign automaker to enter the Chinese market, seeking to capitalize on its massive population. General Motors and other Western companies soon followed, while Japanese makers were late to join. Toyota made its own wholehearted foray into the Chinese market in August 2002, when it formed a comprehensive tie-up with the FAW Group. By then, Volkswagen had 50 % of the market. Although sales have been on a decline since 2018, China remains the world’s biggest automobile market. “There are more brands there than anywhere else, and competition is fierce”, a senior Mazda official said. Technology development is key to Japanese automakers catching up with their rivals as the Chinese government is rushing to promote new energy vehicles, including electric vehicles. Nissan plans to increase the proportion of electrified vehicles among its Chinese car sales to at least 40 % by fiscal 2026, which ends in March 2027. In China next year, Honda plans to release a vehicle with an advanced driving assist system. Toyota sold 1.8 million units in China in 2020, or about 20% of the automaker’s global total. While the proportion of sales in China is likely to increase for all automakers, a strong dependence on the Chinese market can also be disadvantageous as they face the risk of exposure to tensions between Washington and Beijing. “Our position will become extremely tricky if we get caught up in a political issue”, an official at a major Japanese automaker said. +++
+++ RIVIAN shares closed trading down 11 % after the electric pick-up maker’s first result as a listed company highlighted the challenges it was likely to face in ramping up production to take on EV leader Tesla. Shares in the world’s most valuable automaker after Tesla closed at $97.70, opening below the $100 mark for the first time. They have gained about 40% since the company’s blockbuster market debut in November. Rivian also announced plans to build a $5 billion plant to ramp up capacity, while flagging production challenges even as it receives about 2.000 pre-orders every week. “We don’t want to read too much into near-term issues, but it does highlight the risk that Rivian has a lot on its plate”, RBC Capital Markets analyst Joseph Spak said. The company expects production to fall “a few hundred vehicles short” of its 2021 target of 1.200 due to supply chain constraints. Increasing production of R1T truck, R1S SUV and Amazon’s delivery vans within a few months would be akin to “a really complex orchestra”, chief executive officer RJ Scaringe said. Construction of Rivian’s new Georgia plant will begin next summer and production will start only in 2024. The company plans to increase production by 50,000 vehicles at its plant in Normal, Illionis, which opened in September. “The strong order book provides support for the production ramp, though does add pressure to get vehicles to customers that may get impatient as current R1 orders won’t be ready until the end of 2023”, Wells Fargo analyst Colin Langan said. Rivian faces fresh challenges in building volume as demand rises while squashing doubts on whether a new electric vehicle company will be able to survive what Tesla CEO Elon Musk called “production hell”. Soon after Rivian’s IPO Musk said that high production and breakeven cash flow would be the “true test” for Rivian. +++
+++ 6 women have sued TESLA , alleging a culture of sexual harassment at the electric carmaker’s California plant and other facilities that included unwanted touching, catcalls and retaliation for those who complained. The harassment suits (filed almost a month after 2 others) add to the controversies centered on the Fremont factory in the San Francisco Bay area and which include a Black ex-employee being awarded $137 million in a racism case. “Tesla’s factory floor more resembles a crude, archaic construction site or frat house than a cutting-edge company in the heart of the progressive San Francisco Bay Area”, one of the suits claims. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the suits, which in at least one instance argued CEO Elon Musk’s explicit or provocative tweets influenced the tone at the workplace. The 6 separate new suits filed in a California court alleged that co-workers or supervisors made sexual propositions to the women, graphically commented about their bodies and, in some cases, inappropriately touched them. 5 of the women in the new cases work or worked in the Fremont factory facilities, while one was employed in service centers in southern California. Michala Curran was 18 when she started her job at the Fremont plant and within weeks, her supervisor and co-workers were making explicit comments to her face about her body. 1 male co-worker sexually propositioned her, saying plant employees often had sex in the parking lot. She quit after 2 months. “Curran saw other women experiencing the same environment and witnesses will testify that they observed the rampant sexual harassment at Tesla”, her suit alleges. The other cases were filed by Jessica Brooks, Samira Sheppard, Eden Mederos, Alize Brown and Alisa Blickman, who alleged in her lawsuit that she faced retaliation for reporting the misconduct. “She was denied certain privileges and benefits that were afforded to women who did not object to supervisors’ sexual advances and flirtations”, Blickman’s complaint says. Mederos, who worked in southern California Tesla service centers, said Musk tweets that reference sex or drugs inspired laughter and jokes among her co-workers. “When Tesla launched the Model Y, Elon repeatedly pointed out that when one reads the Tesla Models S, 3, X and Y together, it spells ‘SEXY’ “, her suit said. “Some of Ms. Mederos’ co-workers latched onto this, calling everything ‘sexy’ “. This new suit comes after a California jury ruled in October that Tesla should pay a Black ex-employee $137 million in damages for turning a blind eye to racism the man encountered at the Fremont plant. Last year, Musk feuded with authorities over the re-opening of the factory amid coronavirus restriction and threatened to move his headquarters out of state. Subsequently, Musk told investors in October that the leading electric vehicle maker is relocating its headquarters to Texas, where it is building a plant. +++
+++ TOYOTA is beefing up its electric vehicle lineup, offering 30 new fully electric models by 2030, its president, Akio Toyoda, said Tuesday. Toyota plans to sell 3.5 million electric vehicles globally in 2030, he said, up from its earlier plan to sell 2 million zero emission hydrogen and battery electric vehicles a year worldwide by 2030. Toyota now sells about 10 million vehicles globally a year. Toyoda promised a full lineup of electric models called the “BZ series”, short for “Beyond Zero”, coming in the years ahead, including SUVs of all sizes, pickups and sportscars. “We can leave a beautiful planet and bring about many smiles for the future generation”, Toyoda told reporters at a Tokyo showroom, standing on stage with more than a dozen EV models promised for the future. His comments underscore the company’s determination to reverse its reputation as a laggard in the industry’s shift toward electric vehicles. Toyota prides itself on its role as a pioneer in hybrid technology and more recently in hydrogen fuel cells for vehicles. The maker of the Prius hybrid, Lexus luxury models and Mirai fuel cell car wants to offer various options, Toyoda said. He stressed Toyota must respond to global fears about climate change and carbon emissions. The company’s Lexus luxury brand will become fully electric by 2035 globally, Toyoda said. It aims to achieve that by 2030 for the U.S., European and Chinese markets. Also Tuesday, the company raised to 2 trillion yen ($17.6 billion) its investment in battery research and development from the 1.5 trillion yen ($13.2 billion) announced earlier this year. When including other green technologies, like hybrids, Toyota is investing 8 trillion yen ($70 billion) by 2030, the company said. Earlier this month, Toyota announced plans to build a $1.3 billion electric vehicle battery plant near Greensboro, North Carolina, that will employ at least 1.750 people and start production in 2025. Toyota’s fully electric SUV called BZ4X is set to go on sale next year globally. Toyota is building a futuristic city near Mount Fuji, designed to try out and showcase automated driving, sustainable energy and robotics for housing. David Leggett, automotive editor at GlobalData, said Toyota was trying to prepare for the dramatic technological and societal changes that are coming. “Businesses have to think about how demand will look in 10 – 30 years’ time, and the pathways that come back to their business plans over a foreseeable time horizon”, Leggett told. Toyoda, an avid racing driver and the grandson of the company’s founder, acknowledged he had not been that interested in EVs in the past, viewing them as “commodities”. But he said he’s excited about the vehicles Toyota is developing. “They are safer, faster and more fun to drive. I can say that as a driver”, he said. Toyota’s luxury Lexus brand plans to have a full lineup of electric vehicles and achieve 1 million units in global EV sales. Lexus is aiming for EVs to account for 100 % of global sales in 2035. The company will increase investment in the production of batteries. Toyota is also considering installing fast-charging stations at all of its dealerships across Japan by 2025 to promote the spread of electric vehicles. “At present, the energy situation varies greatly from region to region”, Toyota president Akio Toyoda said at the media briefing in Tokyo on Tuesday. “That is exactly why Toyota is committed to providing a diversified range of carbon-neutral options for various situations and needs”. The rapid shift toward low or zero carbon-emission vehicles is increasing the possibility that fossil fuel-powered vehicles could become unmarketable in some major markets, such as Europe. In April, Honda announced a target of selling only battery-powered electric or fuel cell vehicles by 2040. Honda was the first major Japanese automaker to declare that it would stop manufacturing gasoline-powered vehicles, including hybrids, at some point in the future. In November, Nissan said it aims to sell 15 new electric models globally by fiscal 2030. Nissan’s strategy takes into account the differing conditions in various regions around the world, such as recharging infrastructure, and also places importance on the company’s hybrid vehicle technologies. The shift to electric vehicles has been even more pronounced among automakers in Europe, partly due to the European Union’s tougher emissions regulations. Mercedes-Benz plans to go all-electric by 2030, while Audi, part of the Volkswagen Group, has announced that all its new vehicles will be EVs from 2026. +++