+++ BMW has been readying a facelifted version of their X6 to be released some time in 2023 for the 2024 model year. Up front is where the majority of the changes are. For a start, there will be much slimmer, straighter headlights that are somewhere in between the current X6 and the iX electric SUV in terms of shape. It will be similar to that of the recently spotted X5 facelift prototype. What’s not similar to the X5, though, is the kidney grille. While the facelifted model’s grille looks to be nearly identical to the pre-facelift X6’s, it still retains its hexagonal shape to differentiate it from the X5’s rounded squares. That being said, the X5 M prototype spotted around 2 months ago was shown to have the same hexagonal kidneys. It’s been speculated that the rear lighting could receive an update in its design come the production model. I expect the powertrain options to carry over from the pre-facelift model. With that said, a plug-in hybrid variant is likely to be added down the line based on the bones of the X5 xDrive45e, as well as reports of a hydrogen-powered variant built on the same platform as the iX5 Hydrogen. As said, the facelifted X6 is expected to arrive sometime in 2023 as a 2024 model year, which would follow the facelifted X5’s expected arrival in 2022 as a 2023 model year. +++
+++ After a very short attempt at gaining a foothold in the Chinese market, HONDA has decided to pull its Acura premium brand vehicles from the country at the end of 2022. This comes just 6 years after the semi-luxury brand was introduced in 2016 in cooperation with its local joint venture GAC. Honda issued a statement saying that it will reallocate resources towards its new e:NP lineup for the Chinese market moving forward. GAC stands for Guangqi, one of many Chinese brands that Honda has partnered with to sell its products in the country. Once that day comes, GAC Honda dealers will continue to service GAC Acura vehicles across the country. Employees from the Acura side will be integrated into the Honda branch. China is one of the most important markets for automakers and represents a huge opportunity for growth. Despite that, GAC Acura’s best sales year was 2019 when just 14.701 vehicles made their way from the dealership to customer’s garages. Last year, the brand sold just 6.554 total units. In place of GAC Acura branded vehicles, GAC Honda will focus more heavily on its e:NP brand which promises affordable EVs for the market. The first car from that marque, the e:NS1 is the first of many EVs planned for the market over the next few years. Other luxury-orientated foreign brands are having a hard time too so GAC Acura isn’t the only brand to struggle in the burgeoning market. The Honda NSX was a sales flop as were both Infiniti and Citroen’s DS luxury brand. It seems that more established luxury marques like BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi have a much stronger foothold in the company. It’ll be interesting to see how the e:NP brand fairs against the likes of Tesla which is a very popular EV brand in the country. Sure, the Japanese-built cars won’t cost as much but that’s no guarantee of success. It should also be noted that Acura could make a return at some point in the future, especially once a number of models are all-electric. If you’re in China we’re willing to bet that there’s a good deal to be had on a new GAC Acura or two. +++
+++ The owners of 14.812 Range Rovers made between 2016 and 2017 may want to keep an eye out for a recall notice relating to their SUV’s seatbelts. That’s because the emergency locking retractors in their vehicles might not work, compromising the efficacy of their seatbelts in an accident. LAND ROVER must specifically recall 5.553 Range Rovers and 9.259 Range Rover Sports made between April 29 and October 17, 2016. This may sound familiar to some, because Land Rover has already recalled these vehicles for the same reason but it found that its service instructions contained a mistake, meaning that the vehicles have to be called back to be checked again. The problem relates to the safety belt assembly of the driver’s seat, whose emergency locking retractor isn’t to spec. That means that the part might not lock off at the correct g-force level, which could impact the operation of the seatbelt and make it less effective in an accident, increasing the risk of injury. Owners will be notified of the issue starting on June 3, 2022, and will be asked to bring their vehicle in to their nearest service center for inspection. There, a technician will inspect the seatbelt assembly and, where necessary, replace it with a new part that meets spec free of charge. +++
+++ The LAND ROVER DEFENDER SVR is currently being tested, packing a V8 with enough horsepower to make Mercedes-AMG G63 drivers a bit nervous at the drag strip. A V8 engine means we’re dealing with at least 525 hpfrom the standard-issue supercharged 5.0-litre mill. However, the rumours I’ve heard about the SVR suggest it will have 600 hp courtesy of a transplanted 4.4-litre twin-turbocharged V8 from BMW. So if the rumour is true, you’ll have a choice of two high-output V8 engines in a Defender. Emissions regulations? What emissions regulations? It will be riding on a new set of wheels as well, and the brakes behind the front wheels look absolutely massive. When the rumours first surfaced last year, I heard that Land Rover was keen to carve out a section of the luxury-performance SUV market for itself. A 600-bhp Defender SVR would most decidedly garner attention in a world where G63s are often seen cruising tarmac, challenging supercars to friendly contests of speed. If this is indeed happening, we don’t expect Land Rover will keep it a secret much longer. Stay tuned for a debut by the end of the year. +++
+++ The LUCID AIR luxury electric sedan launched with a headline-grabbing Dream Edition model that put out between 933 and 1.111 horsepower. But it was a limited-production model, capped at 520 units. They’re all sold out now. And as such, that would’ve left Lucid without a wild range-topper with available four-figure output. But the company has rectified the issue with a new Performance variant of the Grand Touring trim. At 1,050 horsepower, the Grand Touring Performance isn’t quite as powerful as the mighty Dream Edition, but we doubt most buyers will really notice the 61-pony deficit. We also doubt they’ll notice that the Grand Touring Performance is 0.1 second slower to 100 kph. Rather, they’ll surely be too distracted by getting to the 100 kph mark in just 2.6 seconds. These are all notable steps above the regular Grand Touring, which makes 819 horsepower and does the sprint in 3.0 seconds. The tradeoff for the extra performance is reduced range. The Grand Touring Performance, with its standard 21-inch wheels, has a range of 700 km, which is still a mighty long distance for an EV. But the regular Grand Touring will go 770 km on 21-inch wheels and 830 km when equipped with 19-inch wheels. Pricing for the Grand Touring Performance is set at $180,500, which includes the $1,500 destination fee. Deliveries of the new model begin this June. If you don’t need the power, the regular Grand Touring is already available, and it starts at $140,500. +++
+++ This is not the first time I’ve heard about BMW and MCLAREN looking to work together, but this new report says the 2 companies are close to signing an agreement to jointly develop a platform for electric sports cars. In parallel, Audi is also interested in acquiring part of the McLaren F1 team. McLaren and BMW have collaborated in the past, resulting in the creation of the McLaren F1 (designed by the former, powered by a V12 engine developed by the latter). However, it has to be noted that the modern-day McLaren Automotive (founded in 2010) is technically not the same company that built the F1 (built by McLaren Cars, founded in 1985). And unlike with the McLaren F1, where BMW only supplied the engine, this time it sounds like they will be working together on a platform that they plan to use to underpin many electric sports cars under both brands. I don’t have much to go on right now, but McLaren signed a memorandum of understanding with BMW on March 24 about the joint development of an architecture for electric sports cars. So if you are like me and want to see more exciting, fun electric cars, this is really good news. With the joint development, both companies will be able to also split costs, and in turn this could help McLaren possibly sell more affordable vehicles than it has been able to until this point. This is a very exciting development, even going on the very limited information provided by the source article, but we will certainly keep following this story and make a new post. BMW is certainly no stranger to splitting the development costs with another manufacturer (the Z4 and Toyota Supra share a jointly developed bespoke sports car platform) so I presume that it was BMW and not McLaren who initiated this deal. +++
+++ SOUTH KOREA ’s 3 smaller automakers GM Korea, Renault Korea and Ssangyong failed to turn around their fortunes again last year and lost money. GM Korea said last Friday that it suffered a W376 billion operating loss in 2021, even more than its W317 billion loss a year earlier (US$1=W1.229). Sales shrank W1.5 trillion to W8.5 trillion. Rising raw material costs and production crunches due to a global semiconductor chip shortage worsened the problem. Parent company GM’s global operating profit rose 1.5 times due to improved profitability, but that was not reflected in the Korean operation. Renault Korea suffered a W8 billion loss last year. Although losses shrank from W80 billion a year earlier thanks to exports of the XM3 compact SUV to Europe, domestic sales dwindled sharply. The automaker’s exports surged 254 percent but domestic sales dwindled 36 percent to just around 60,000 cars even as the Renault Group as a whole shifted into profit. Troubled SUV maker Ssangyong’s operating losses narrowed from W449.3 billion in 2020 to W261.2 billion in 2021. +++
+++ Any hopes that automakers once had that the semiconductor crisis might fade away this year seem to have evaporated. According to a senior executive from the VOLKSWAGEN GROUP , the company doesn’t expect the chip supply problem to be fixed until 2024. Volkswagen’s chief financial officer, Arno Antlitz, made the comments last weekend in an interview, claiming that supplies of semiconductors will improve this year and in 2023, but won’t be fully remedied until the middle of the decade. “We see a structural undersupply in 2022, which is only likely to ease somewhat in the third or fourth quarter”, he said. “The situation should improve in 2023, but the structural problem will not yet have been fully resolved”. Antlitz believes the problems will persist into 2024 because chip makers won’t be able to cope with increased demand. VW’s outlook tallies with that of BMW, which recently claimed that it expected the chip shortage to carry on through 2022. “I expect us to start seeing improvements at the latest next year, but we will still have to deal with a fundamental shortage in 2023”, BMW Group CEO, Oliver Zipse, told. And if Volkswagen and BMW’s prediction is right, that’s really bad news for automakers struggling to recover from 2 years of car production limited by a combination of Covid-19 restrictions, chip shortages, and more recently, problems getting wiring harnesses from suppliers based in war-torn Ukraine. Both BMW and Volkswagen have been forced to halt production for several days recently because of shortages of wiring harnesses. Antlitz says the supplier is operating on a single-shift, limiting supply and forcing VW to find alternate suppliers to meet demand, though claims this is only a temporary measure. German carmakers in particular are also facing the prospect of further complications in the form of massive potential increases in energy costs as European countries seek alternatives to imported fuels from Russia. +++