+++ ASTON MARTIN began releasing estimated specs for the Valhalla supercar last summer. The figures described the thoroughly overhauled car, redrawn with just as dramatic yet smoother lines than the original concept from 2019, and repowered with a plug-in hybrid V8 sourced from technical partner Mercedes-Benz instead of the in-house straight-6. The quick summary describes a mid-mounted 750 hp flat-plane-crank V8 with an e-motor in back and another in front contributing 204 hp. The front electric motor can pull the coupe for up to 20 km of pure electric running, reversing is also done under electric power, not via the 8-speed dual-clutch transmission. Curb weight of 1.625 kilos pairs with a top speed of 345 kph, the firm hoping its charge can lap the ‘Ring in 6:30, which would be a record for a production car. Deliveries are expected to commence toward the end of next year. We still hadn’t seen the inside of the car last summer, though. Aston Martin finally lifted the dihedral doors on the show inside during the recent Monterey Car Week. Chief creative officer Marek Reichman described the cockpit as being “pure”, “about driver focus” and “concentration” and “dedicated to the mastery of driving”. So despite an exterior update that injected “a more mature” road-going road ambience into the Valhalla’s silhouette, the cabin makes strong ties to the F1-inspired and track-consuming Valkyrie. These are seats that emphasize the “bucket” in “bucket seats”, supporting driver and passenger such that their heels lie above the level of their hips. The driver grabs a square wheel that’s jettisoned the central display in the Valkyrie’s square wheel. In fact, for those decrying the explosion of screens lately, here is your safe space. A slim rectangle ahead of the driver serves as dash display, and the infotainment screen can be hidden away, which it is in the short Twitter vid. We can see it staying stowed more often than not, in fact. Even if the V8 doesn’t pour its 7.200 rpm flat-plane note into the cabin (along with roof scoop inhalations and rubber-band-thin Michelin thrumming), the passenger quarters cannot be the kindest space to design a stereo for. I’d been wondering about the production run, but it is expected Aston Martin won’t make more than 1.000 examples of the Valhalla. The potential good news for the few who’ll get to own it is that the carmaker might have reduced the price: instead of costing somewhere around €1.8 million in the Netherlands, new prices could fall to €1.1 million. +++
+++ Over the past couple of years, the Insurance Institute for Highway safety has been expanding its testing of AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING SYSTEMS . It has expanded from just testing car-to-car capabilities to testing car-to-pedestrian, as of 2019. Now it’s looking at how these systems work at night. As it turns out, they do quite a bit worse than during the daytime. This is important for 2 reasons. First of all, as the organization notes, pedestrian deaths have been on the rise since 2009. And from 2020 to 2021, deaths have risen by 13% to just over 7.300. Of those, 75% occur at night. The second reason is that, as shown by an IIHS study, automatic emergency braking systems with pedestrian detection make a difference in reducing traffic collisions with pedestrians. Though the study also showed the systems weren’t making a difference at night. The reason for this, after this battery of tests, seems to be the systems just aren’t particularly good at detecting pedestrians after the sun sets. The test involved using adult mannequins either crossing the street or walking parallel to the street. Child mannequins, used in daylight testing, were excluded due to very low rates of child pedestrian fatalities at night (Good news, Elon!). Each situation was run with the car at 2 speeds (20 and 40 kph for street crossings and 40 and 60 kph for parallel) and with headlights on low and high. The organization tested 23 midsize sedans, SUVs and pickups. In day light, 19 of them got the highest 2 ratings of Superior or Advanced. At night, that dropped to just 11, less than half. 4 cars, the Chevrolet Malibu, Honda Pilot, Nissan Altima and Toyota Tacoma did badly enough that they received no score. The top, Superior, performers were the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Nissan Pathfinder, Toyota Camry and Toyota Highlander. The Pathfinder even managed to avoid a collision with a pedestrian in all situations. The Advanced recipients were the Honda Accord, Hyundai Palisade, Hyundai Sonata, Nissan Frontier, Nissan Murano, Subaru Ascent and Subaru Outback. The good news is that there are systems that work well. Also, once the IIHS begins regularly testing safety features, automakers tend to make improvements to perform well on them. Examples of this include the organization’s small-overlap frontal crash tests and headlight tests. +++
+++ Several employees of FARADAY FUTURE have called on the electric-vehicle start-up’s board and shareholders to remove executive chairperson Susan Swenson. Representatives for a group of about 140 employees alleged in the letter dated August 23 that Swenson had organized attempts to “push the company into bankruptcy and restructuring”. Swenson did not respond to requests for comment, while Faraday Future declined to comment. The group also asked the board to make public the findings from an ongoing investigation of multiple whistleblower letters concerning 4 directors: Sue Swenson, Jordan Vogel, Scott Vogel and Brian Krolicki. The directors did not immediately respond to requests for comment. FF Top Holdings, California-based Faraday’s largest shareholder with a 36% stake, told it had received the letter but declined to comment further. Faraday Future and FF Top have been caught in a tussle over the investor’s demand to remove former chairperson Brian Krolicki from the board of directors, citing incompatibility with the needs of the company. FF Top said in a filing last week it had requested “certain books and records” for the purpose of one or more contemplated proxy solicitations. Faraday Future has been battling high costs and supply-chain disruptions that have delayed the production of its luxury electric car FF91 to the 4th quarter of 2022. Its shares have slumped about 90% since going public through a reverse merger with a blank-check firm in July last year. The company also delayed the filing of its quarterly report last year and said it had formed a special committee to review allegations of inaccurate disclosures, including claims made by short-seller J Capital. In February, Faraday Future said the review had identified certain inaccurate statements made by its employees to investors and announced changes to its leadership, including appointing Swenson to the newly created position of executive chairperson. +++
+++ China’s GEELY Automobile Holdings and an oil group are in talks about taking stakes in the fossil-fuel engine unit Renault plans to separate from its electric vehicle (EV) business, 2 sources close to the French carmaker said. But Renault’s alliance partner, Japanese carmaker Nissan, does not plan to take a stake in the combustion engine unit, the sources told. Renault and Geely declined to comment. Nissan did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The French carmaker is due to unveil this autumn plans for creating an EV-dedicated unit based in France and another one based abroad that will bring together all of its petrol and hybrid engine and transmissions production sites in Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Romania and Latin America. Renault intends to remain the majority shareholder in its “Ampère” electrical division, which will employ around 10.000 people and could list on the stock market in the second half of 2023. But it will only retain a minority stake in its “Horse” combustion engine business, which will have a similar sized workforce, but would remain a reference shareholder with significant clout in the unit. The 2 sources said Renault would hold a 40% stake in the fossil-fuel engine unit, while Geely would also hold 40% and an oil company the remaining 20%. But the plan is not finalized “and other tracks exist for partner manufacturers”, one of the sources said. That would not include Nissan, despite a proposal from Renault that it participate in the deal, the two sources added, a further indication that the strategy of the alliance partners continues to diverge. The alliance’s long-term future has been uncertain since the fall of former boss Carlos Ghosn in 2018. Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi say more than 80% of their models will be based on common architectures in 2026, but questions remain about plans for the 2030s. A deal with Geely would add to the Chinese carmaker’s burgeoning business. Geely owns Sweden’s Volvo Cars, British sports car maker Lotus and holds a stake in Mercedes. By sharing costs for diesel and gasoline engines that are set to decline as EV sales rise, Renault hopes to free up funds to reinvest in electric models, a technology it pioneered with Nissan and Mitsubishi, but where it has fallen behind the likes of Tesla. The participation of an oil company would also help the development of green hydrogen and the infrastructure required to make hydrogen fuel cell cars viable alongside battery EVs, one of the sources added. Hydrogen is categories ‘green’ when it is made with renewable power and is seen as key to help decarbonise industry. As part of a drastic restructuring to boost its finances, Renault has recently cemented new partnerships alongside its historical alliances with Nissan, Mitsubishi and Mercedes. In May the French carmaker sold 34% of its South Korean subsidiary to Geely. Renault will also develop hybrid vehicles produced at its plant in Busan with Geely. +++
+++ The POLESTAR 6 convertible electric sports car has sold out in its initial 500-car guise just 1 week after its public debut. Presented to crowds at The Quail and Pebble Beach in the US, the Polestar 6 will be launched in 2026. It appeared in the US in LA Concept edition guise, an exclusive first edition version of the car with a sky-blue exterior and other design features from the O2 concept, on which it is based. Polestar will open additional build slots before the end of 2022, and CEO Thomas Ingenlath lauded the importance of electric roadsters. “The high interest from our customers shows that a stunning electric roadster like the Polestar 6 has high relevance in the sportscar arena”, said Ingenlath. “The open-top-plus-electric combination is clearly one that appeals to even the most die-hard petrolheads”. When Polestar revealed its jaw-dropping O2 convertible concept in March, Ingenlath said that it would be “irresponsible” not to launch a production version of the convertible. Following an “overwhelming” consumer response, the firm is now doing just that. The production 6 keeps the concept’s folding hard-top and use the same bonded aluminium platform as the Polestar 5 grand tourer, which is due a year earlier. It also shares that car’s 800 Volt charging architecture and dual-motor, 4-wheeldrive powertrain, which produces 900 hp and 900 Nm for a 3.2 seconds 0-100 kph time and a 250 kph top speed. The 6 will arrive as one of just a handful of dedicated 2-seat sports EVs due in the coming years from brands including Alpine, Lotus, MG and Porsche, although it looks set to place more of an emphasis on long-distance refinement and luxury. As it’s based on an adapted version of the aluminium architecture that has been developed by Polestar’s UK engineering base in Warwickshire for the forthcoming 5, the 6 should offer comparable “supercar levels” of body stiffness. The O2 took design cues from the Precept concept (which previewed the 5) and Ingenlath said it was developed with two goals: further reinforcing the brand’s image as a “luxury sports brand” and pushing internal development. “The energy and vision that it brings into the company definitely drives us”, said Ingenlath. “We made the Precept a reality with the Polestar 5, and that’s the result of us daring to go out with that vision”. He added: “The propulsion of an electric drivetrain is great for a sports car. And then to do it when an open-roof concept, when everybody dreams about ‘the fresh air, the breeze, being closer to nature’ ; it’s a perfect fit to have that with an electric drivetrain, and not only have fresh air when you arrive at it, but you’ll leave it for the people behind you. “Electric propulsion is absolutely a perfect fit for a roadster, so I would love to put an exclamation mark that the future of driving an open roadster has to be electric”. +++
+++ SKODA is working on an entry-level electric model that will replace the Fabia, boss Klaus Zellmer has told. This new car will also be priced similarly to the Fabia, Zellmer said, which currently retails in the Netherlands at €22.575 euro in Ambition guise. Speaking at the launch of the Vision 7S concept car, which will itself hit showrooms in 2026, the Skoda boss said: “The Fabia with its price position will be succeeded by a battery-electric vehicle and we are working on that”. However, he added: “The biggest challenge at the moment is the cost of making battery-electric vehicles, especially when producing a car of the size of the Fabia. We will have to stay a little patient”. At the launch of the 7S in Prague, it was confirmed that the 7-seat electric SUV will be joined by an urban EV and crossover when it launches, followed by 2 other electric cars, one of which is expected to be the Fabia replacement. This would earmark it for a launch in the last quarter of the decade. The successor, it is thought, will look radically different from the Fabia when it launches with Skoda’s new design language (previewed as part of the Vision 7S) hinting more at SUV-style bodywork, rather than the Fabia’s hatchback styling. It is expected to be underpinned by the entry-version of Volkswagen Group’s MEB architecture, currently used by models such as the Volkswagen ID.3, and be one of the last in the group to use it before the introduction of the new SSP platform. This would allow the model to focus on city driving, which Zellmer hinted it would be positioned to do. It could also use a much smaller version of the Vision concept’s 89 kWh battery but still take advantage of its rapid 200 kW charging rates; a charging speed far quicker than any other mainstream VW Group car. The launch of this model, coupled with the reveal of the Vision 7S concept, means Skoda is expanding its reach to appeal to a wider audience, Zellmer said. “This puts us into a wider spread in terms of customers that we can bring to Skoda”, he said. “We are really trying to increase our footprint. Cars like the Vision 7S are potentially more profitable, and of course we are in a business to make money, but that is not the main goal. The main goal is to increase our footprint overall, to cover a bigger potential in the market”. +++
+++ Norway loves electric cars, like really loves them, and TESLA ’s reception in the country (perhaps best known for not being the one that built Saabs and Volvos) was largely a warm one, at least until a few missteps that landed the California EV giant in a bit of hot water. Now, a group of Norwegian owners has announced a hunger strike in an attempt to pressure the electric vehicle manufacturer into addressing ongoing issues their cars. The group believes that if it can get Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s attention, he will do something about it. “Help us get in touch with Elon” the group’s home page says. “We are a group of dissatisfied Norwegian Tesla owners. We believe that if Elon Musk is made aware of our troubles, he will solve the situation. Please help us get his attention”. Their compendium of grievances is rather extensive, but we can give you the basic gist: Some Teslas don’t work when it’s cold and some don’t work when it’s warm (it’s unclear from the info provided what shape this Venn Diagram makes). Some exhibit an “intense squeaking noise” (no context given) or appear to be genuinely terrified of speed bumps. Also, their hotspots don’t work well, which probably sucks in Norway, which is grey for something like 10 1/2 months out of the year*. Maybe that’s why they started slapping each other with fish. +++