+++ Is something grand coming from AUDI in the waning days of internal-combustion performance? There’s a fresh rumour of the R8 gaining an RS badge as a swan song to the series, called the V10 Performance RS Final Edition. It could pack a 660 hp punch, and we might see it by the end of this year. It must be noted that this is an unconfirmed rumour at this point. The R8 RS Final Edition is a rumour for now, but it’s not without some merit. In January, my spy photographers captured an R8 testing in Sweden and it was … different. The car wore no camouflage and didn’t have notable design changes, but it was awash with winglets and other aerodynamic titbits. A massive rear wing with Audi branding sat on the tail. The front lip spoiler was a bit bigger. Curiously, the latest rumour does mention aero upgrades as part of the RS Final Edition, in addition to power. Speaking of which, the prototype appeared to have wires running from the engine bay to the interior, perhaps gathering information on the V10. Add it all up, and there’s certainly a strong case to be made for something grand in the R8’s near future. Whether it will be 660 hp remains to be seen, as that would be a notable upgrade from the 610 hp currently offered in the V10 Performance. It would also best the Lamborghini Huracan STO and recently announced Huracan Tecnica, which uses the same V10 to develop 640 hp. Of course, the Huracan and R8 have been linked since the very beginning, sharing platforms and powertrains. Would Lamborghini be content to let the R8 have a power advantage for its final hurrah? Possibly, but who says the Huracan won’t go out with some grand final edition of its own? +++
+++ BMW has ambitious plans for electric vehicles, projecting that at least 1 of every 2 sales by 2030 will be fully electric. As its sales grow, the German automaker intends to challenge Tesla’s dominance of the US electric vehicle market. As a reminder, Tesla ended the Bavarian company’s reign over the US luxury car market last year. This year, BMW aims to sell 200.000 EVs globally, doubling last year’s deliveries. While that’s still far from Tesla’s more than 930.000 sales in 2021 and likely 1 million+ sales in 2022, BMW executives appear confident that Tesla will lose its competitive advantage. Speaking to US journalists at a press event, BMW Group sales chief Pieter Nota said the company will focus “on a very strong and fast ramp-up of electric vehicles”. “Tesla had a unique selling point for quite some time. That’s over”. He added that EV customers in the past couple of years were very much early adopters, while EVs are now attractive to a much broader audience. BMW has two fresh weapons against Tesla, the Model 3-rivalling i4 fastback and the iX SUV, which targets the Model X. Nota described the i4 as the “ultimate electric driving machine” and the “electric product that customers expect from BMW”. The order books are already full for the i4 and iX, with dealers having hundreds of orders for those 2 vehicles. Furthermore, the order time now at around 6 months, Nota said. The i4 and iX are just the beginning of BMW’s electric offensive. 3 more BMW Group EVs will be coming over the next 2 years: the i7 flagship saloon later this year, followed by the i5 large sedan and all-electric Mini Countryman in 2023. Pieter Nota’s optimistic statements were echoed by BMW boss Oliver Zipse. “We will push the company to the limits of production capability. Demand will be surging. We already see that with the iX and with the i4”. +++
+++ Just as the car factories affected by a Covid shutdown in Shanghai are starting to reopen, so the knock-on effect of the broader restrictions in CHINA is beginning to hamper automotive production elsewhere. Renault announced that it had temporarily stopped production of the Mégane E-Tech Electric at its plant in Douai, northern France, citing the “semiconductor crisis accentuated by the lockdown measures in several regions of China”. Renault’s actions are a reminder that the automotive supply chain, particularly when it comes to EVs, is still reliant on Chinese parts makers. It means the country’s very different method of dealing with the Covid threat (lockdowns to halt the spread rather than relying on mass vaccination) has a delayed effect on production elsewhere as suppliers are forced to pause production. Companies are concerned that the plant closures that affected the likes of Tesla and the Volkswagen Group in Shanghai will spread because of a lack of parts. “If supply chain companies could not find a way to resume operation and production, it’s likely all Chinese OEMs may have to suspend production in May”, the CEO of electric vehicle maker Xpeng, He Xiaopeng, posted on his personal social media accounts last week. Parts supply, meanwhile, is being hampered by logistics disruption as lorry drivers are subject to strict Covid testing and ships are finding it difficult to load and unload at affected ports. The Chinese government is trying to find a way to allow key industries such as automotive and semiconductor makers to restart production, even as restrictions continue. The government said it had “white listed” more than 600 companies that it had targeted for early reopening. Of those, 251 were in the automotive industry, including Volkswagen, its partner and MG owner SAIC Motor, and Tesla. Tesla’s Shanghai plant, which currently supplies much of Europe with the Californian brand’s Model 3 and Model Y cars, reopened on Tuesday. Tesla had initially tried to operate a ‘closed-loop’ system whereby employees were tested and allowed to sleep on site, but that proved impractical, according to reports. The lockdowns have hit car sales in China, with March figures down slightly on March 2021, halting a surge in demand through January and February. Car showrooms were shut in Shanghai from 1 April, while across China dealerships in 25 of 90 cities were forced to shut in March, according to data from China Passenger Car Association. China’s March lockdowns have also hit the semiconductor industry, with chip production In China falling 4.2% in the first quarter, according to the country’s National Bureau of Statistics. The slowdown in production brings further bad news for car makers, who have been suffering from a shortage of chips for the past 12 months. +++
+++ Most ELECTRIC VEHICLES on sale today run on 400 volts, but that may change by the middle of the decade, according to one report. Right now, only a handful of automakers, namely Audi, Porsche, Hyundai and Kia, which have entered a partnership with Rimac Automobili, are the only ones selling EVs that run on an 800-volt architecture. The only exception is the Lucid Air that has a 900 volt architecture created with proprietary tech. Running on such a high voltage gives all these EVs unmatched charging speeds and lower charging times that make them attractive for potential buyers. All the vehicles sold by the aforementioned established manufacturers can potentially charge at 350 kW, but currently none of them do and again the Lucid is the odd one out. The Porsche Taycan peaks at a claimed 270 kW (around 260 kW peak in our own charging test), while the Kia EV6 tops out at 240 kW (I saw 233 kW during my charging analysis). The Lucid Air may go up to a claimed 350 kW, but during my own testing, it only just nudged past 300 kW; that is impressive and it makes the Air the fastest-charging EV ever and also the fastest I’ve ever tested. But things won’t stay like this for long. Industry supplies are already working on 800 volt technology, which they plan to start offering to automakers as of 2025. It quotes Dirk Kesselgruber, the boss of the electric drivetrain division of GKN, a major automotive industry supplier, as saying In 2025, the majority of applications coming into the market will be 800 volt. We think it’s going to be the mainstream, and Hyundai has proved that it can be competitive on price. Putting everything together, 800 volt is a really big deal. According to the source, this is confirmed by another high ranking industry official, Alexander Reich, head of innovation power electronics at Vitesco, as well as BorgWarner, whose chief technical officer, Harry Husted, said that ’the 800 volt sector’ has grown faster than was expected several years ago, and we are seeing a lot of interest from our customers. The obvious advantage offered by 800 volts is a theoretical 50 percent reduction in the time it takes to get energy into the battery. Alexander Reich explains simply that By doubling the voltage and having the same current, you get 2 times the energy into a vehicle. There is no need for 1.000 km of range in an EV if charging times are fast enough. It seems there is a consensus both among automaker and suppliers that the future of EVs is 800 volt, although some manufacturers are looking at battery swapping as a means to cut wait times for EV owners. But if in the not too distant future, you will be able to put meaningful miles back into your EV in the same time it took you to fill up, then even battery swapping will be unnecessary… +++
+++ While the MINI hatchback will remain relatively similar in its next generation, there’s a more extensive shake-up planned at the larger end of the range. Somewhat surprisingly, the 5-door hatchback won’t get an electric version and the Clubman is unlikely to be directly replaced. For those after a more practical Mini EV, there will be a new electric-only compact crossover to sit beneath the Mini Countryman. This smaller high-riding model is due to be revealed later this year and will also be built in China as part of the Spotlight joint venture between the BMW Group and Great Wall Motor. It is likely to take a much more radical design than the retro-inspired production Mini models seen to date. This smaller crossover will allow the Countryman to grow in order to better serve buyers with families, as well as buyers in the US, who are traditionally predisposed towards larger cars. Contrary to earlier reports, the plug-in hybrid version of the Countryman is set to disappear. Like the rest of the future Mini range, the new Countryman will be powered by either petrol or electric drivetrains. A diesel version is in development but won’t be offered in the Netherlands. Countryman production will move from its current home in the Netherlands to Germany as Oxford focuses on the hatchback and convertible and the new Chinese plant handles the electric cars. +++
+++ When BMW first revealed the new 2 Series Active Tourer, there was a glaring omission in the cabin: a ROTARY CONTROLLER for the iDrive system. And it’s expected that the next-generation version of the X1 (based on the same platform) will also resort to touchscreen-only infotainment. However, with the new flagship 7 Series and i7 models the iDrive controller is present and correct, and when asked about the future of the rotary controller at a preview event for those cars, BMW’s Stefan Frick explained that the part’s inclusion will be model specific; it’s all down to the driver’s proximity to the screen. “You have to think about the architecture of the car and the ergonomics. If the screen is not close enough it makes no sense to remove the rotary controller, he said, adding, “In the 2 Series Active Tourer it’s a different architecture and the screen is pretty close: it’s quite convenient to control with touch”. BMW, much like most other premium manufacturers, has made big strides in both touchscreen and voice command technology, so you’d be forgiven for wondering if the brand would be looking to move away from this now-ubiquitous feature. It’s certainly something that Auto Express readers have been vocal about, many feeling that when on the move, physical controls are usually easier and less distracting to operate than touchscreens. However, it would appear that larger BMW models will continue to use the rotary dial. “We still stick with the iDrive controller, especially with this model (the 7 Series). We have a 20-year history of iDrive controller”, concluded Frick. +++
+++ TESLA clocked another record quarter in the first 3 months of this year, delivering more cars, recording higher profits and posting its biggest operating margin in 13 years of production. The EV firm’s latest financial report reveals profits of $3.3 billion; up $700 million on the final 3 months of 2021. Earlier this month, Tesla revealed that it had delivered a record 310.048 cars over the period; a 68% year-on-year increase, with the Model 3 accounting for the vast majority of those. That’s despite the ongoing effects of the global supply chain crisis and a government-imposed lockdown in Shanghai in line with China’s zero-Covid policy, the effects of which CEO Elon Musk has described as “exceptionally difficult”. Detailing its financial performance for the first quarter, Tesla noted that “a continuation of global supply chain, transportation, labor and other manufacturing challenges” restricted its production capacity, most significantly in Shanghai, but it has now begun production at its long-awaited Berlin gigafactory and the Tesla Model Y crossover is now running down the lines at its site in Austin, Texas. Limited production is now back under way in Shanghai, but Bloomberg reports that workers will have to sleep at the site in accordance with local social distancing restrictions. Tesla also cites the rising cost of essential production materials as an inhibiting factor, and as a result of these has repeatedly increased prices of its cars in an effort to preserve margins. But this has not impacted demand, and Musk expects a 60% year-on-year sales increase over the course of 2022. The firm’s revenues climbed 81% in the first quarter to $18.8 billion, chiefly as a result of the higher delivery volume, raised costs per unit and “growth in other parts of the business”, Tesla said. Once again, the brand affirmed its commitment to expansion of its production capacity over the introduction of new models: the long-awaited Cybertruck and Roadster, for example, have not been given a concrete launch date, but Musk did provide an update on his plan to launch an autonomous ‘robotaxi’, previously planned to be on the roads by 2020. The self-driving vehicle, details of which have not yet been given, is expected to be put into production by 2024, according to Musk, and is planned to have the lowest cost per mile of any ride-hailing proposition. Musk said it will be “a massive driver of Tesla growth”, but added that he does not “want to jump the gun” on revealing another product. He said details will likely be given at an event in 2023, when he has also previously said the Roadster and Cybertruck will finally launch, as Tesla will not launch any new models in 2022. +++
+++ TESLA has already ramped up its new Gigafactory in Berlin, Germany, to produce 350 Model Y crossovers per week. Local reports suggest that the company’s goal is to be at 1.000 vehicles per week before the end of April 2022. Tesla has said that it hopes to ramp up the Berlin Gigafactory to produce around 5.000 to 10.000 units per week by the end of 2022. Tesla aims to produce about 30.000 cars at the new factory this year, and more cars per year in 2023. Tesla’s Gigafactory in Germany just officially opened after many months of delays. As usual, Tesla held a delivery party at the factory to hand over the very first Model Y crossovers produced at the plant. Musk has been cautious when talking about the new factories in Germany and Texas, making it clear that the ramp-up will likely take plenty of time. Looking forward, there will be a three-week factory pause at Giga Berlin in the fall of 2022. During this time, Tesla will be changing battery cell chemistry and/or format for the electric crossover. Teslarati suggests that it’s likely Tesla will transition the factory to make the Model Y with the new 4680 battery cells. German-made Model Ys currently use 2170 cells. Tesla likely delivered the first Model Y crossovers with the new battery format at its grand opening party for its Gigafactory in Austin, Texas. Tesla is in the process of building a battery cell factory at Giga Berlin. Reports suggest the factory is coming together quickly, and it could potentially open sometime soon. This makes sense if Tesla is planning to begin producing German-made Model Ys with 4680 cells after the factory shutdown this fall. +++