Newsflash: Aston Martin wapent zich tegen vijandige overname

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+++ The unmistakable AC COBRA , the 2-seat British-made roadster known to most Americans as the Shelby Cobra, is to be reborn next year with a V8 motor generating 645 horsepower and a new name: the AC Cobra GT Roadster, so says AC Cars, which claims to be Britain’s oldest (122 years) automaker, and says it’s nearing the end of a 3-year development phase on the car. Though details are sparse, AC says the lightweight sports car will be fitted with a Ford 5.0 Coyote V8 with the option of a supercharged engine that produces 645 horsepower and 850 Nm of torque, sufficient to send it from 0 to 100 kph in around 3.8 seconds. It will be paired with either a 6-speed manual gearbox or a 10-speed automatic. With an extruded aluminum space frame chassis and hand-finished manufacturing process developed by Icona Design Group and Cecomp Spa in Italy, the Cobra GT roadster is the largest AC Cobra to date. The powertrain is housed in a redesigned body shell larger than that of the existing Cobra: 432 centimetres long (35 centimetres longer) with a wheelbase of 256 centimeters (28 centimetres longer). The car will weigh around 1.400 kilos. The new model, the company says, won’t sacrifice modern touches, and will include air conditioning, electric windows, sophisticated in-car entertainment and the option of a removable hardtop. The car was originally launched as the AC Ace in 1953 until Carroll Shelby teamed up with AC and jammed a Ford V8 into it to create the Cobra for 1962. Shelby had originally approached Chevrolet for a motor, but they passed. Next up for Shelby was Ford, which welcomed the opportunity to market a car to compete with the Corvette. Countless replicas and many iterations of the Cobra have been built over the years, but first original car still exists and was auctioned in 2016 for more than $13 million. The AC Cobra GT is expected to be revealed in the spring in London. No word on U.S. availability, but more details are supposedly forthcoming. +++

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+++ Corporate intrigue is going on at the highest levels at ASTON MARTIN , whose largest investors have purchased up to £50 million ($60.6 million) worth of shares in recent months to significantly increase their stake in the company. The move may be an attempt to block China’s Geely from taking over. The stock buy up, led by the company’s executive chairman, Lawrence Stroll, and his cadre of billionaire investors working under the Yew Tree investment group banner, have increased their stake in the automaker from 19 percent to 28.29 percent in 2022. That buying spree is moving Yew Tree closer to the most they can buy without triggering a mandatory buying offer. If an investor owns 29.99 percent of Aston Martin, they must make an offer to buy the remaining shares under the takeover code of practice. Insiders, though, strenuously deny that Yew Tree is trying to take the automaker private. Instead, industry experts suggest that the investment group is trying to block a takeover bid from Geely, which spent about £66 million ($80 million) earlier this year to buy 7.6 percent of the company. Soon after, Bloomberg reported that Geely’s owner, Li Shufu, was looking to increase his stake in the company to 10 percent, in an attempt to foster a closer relationship with the company. The initial Geely purchase was made when Aston Martin issued around £654 million ($794 million) in shares in an effort to pay down debt. At the time, Stroll revealed that he and his partners had turned down an offer of £1.3 billion ($1.57 billion) in capital from the automaker and Invest Industrial (a private equity house and former major Aston Martin shareholder). He described the move as an attempt to take the company over “on the cheap”. “They were really just trying to make an offer, in the banks’ and our opinion, to buy the company on the cheap, coming through the back door rather than going through the front door and paying a premium”, said Stroll. “We believe it was a disguised approach”. Following its recent round of purchases, Yew Tree would not comment on Geely. Instead, they said that they are investing in the company, which is currently valued at £1.2 billion ($1.46 billion), down from the £4 billion ($4.8 billion) it was valued at when it first went public in 2018. “As a group of investors we share a firm belief that Aston Martin is undervalued and that, despite the recent supply chain challenges, it is well set to continue its growth trajectory in the ultra-luxury high performance automotive business”, said Stroll of Yew Tree, last month. “Our collective confidence in the medium and long term success of the business is driven by the strength of the order book, the exciting portfolio of new products that are set to come to the market and Aston Martin’s incredible global brand awareness”. +++

+++ Last year, AUDI announced plans to go electric-only as the company will exclusively launch electric vehicles starting in 2026. The automaker will then begin gradually phasing out ICE-powered vehicles with the goal of eliminating them by 2033. While that’s widely known, Audi dropped a few hints about their electric lineup in a production-focused announcement. In particular, the automaker reiterated the Q6 e-Tron will begin rolling off the assembly line in Ingolstadt next year. The company went on to say production of electric vehicles will then “gradually start in Neckarsulm, San José Chiapa, and Győr as well”. In 2029, all assembly plants will be producing at least one electric vehicle. More interestingly, Audi seemed to hint at the A4 e-Tron and A5 e-Tron. The company didn’t say much about them, but stated “the new Audi Q6 e-tron, for example, will initially be made in Ingolstadt on the same line as the Audi A4 and A5. The electric models will then gradually replace the combustion cars on the lines”. Speaking of production, Audi wants to cut annual factory costs in half by 2033. As part of this effort, the company wants to reduce the complexity of its vehicles. While this normally means offering less options and equipment combinations, Audi is aiming to eliminate complexity that “does not benefit the customer”. In order to do this, “vehicle development will take a streamlined production process into account from stage one”. The impacts remain to be seen, but other cost cutting moves are focused on digitalization. As the automaker explained, they want to use their Edge Cloud 4 Production solution, which uses locals servers, to replace “expensive industrial PCs, reducing IT efforts such as software rollouts and operating system changes”. In the future, the company also aims to use virtual assembly planning and cycle-independent modular assembly to simplify work with high product variability. +++

+++ Limited to 10 examples globally, the heritage-laced Centodieci has left the BUGATTI range and entered the pantheon of automotive history. The company built the final car in its Molsheim, France, factory and delivered it to its anonymous new owner. Sold-out before its debut in August 2019, the Centodieci is a tribute to the EB110 released in 1991. It’s related to the Chiron under the skin, but it’s different enough that it was put through a series of tests before executives signed it off; hot weather testing notably took place in the American desert. Production of the first prototype began in August 2021 and Bugatti started building the 10 cars planned shortly after. Customers were invited to work directly with Bugatti to personalize their Centodieci’s design. The last example is finished in Quartz White with Black Carbon accents on the lower part of the body and Light Blue Sport paint on the massive brake calipers. Light Blue Sport paint on the rear wing adds a finishing touch to the look, and Bugatti notes this color is inspired by one that was offered on the EB110. Light Blue Sport leather dominates the interior: It’s on the seats, the door panels, the dashboard, and the headliner. The trim is either bare carbon fiber or black, and the door sills feature “Centodieci 10/10”-branded plates to underline the limited-edition car’s serial number. Power for the Centodieci comes from a quad-turbocharged, 8.0-liter W16 engine tuned to develop about 1.600 horsepower (that’s roughly 100 more than the Chiron’s version of this engine) and 1.600 Nm of torque. Mid-mounted, it spins the 4 wheels via a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. Bugatti quotes a 0-to-100 kph time of 2.4 seconds and a top speed that lies north of 370 kph. The last Centodieci closes a chapter of Bugatti’s history that also includes 40 units of the Divo and the one-off La Voiture Noire. Bugatti isn’t out of cars to build, however. It’s now shifting its focus to wrapping up production of the sold-out Chiron and it also needs to build the 99 planned examples of the Mistral (its last street-legal W16-powered model) and 40 units of the track-only, 1.824 horsepower Bolide. +++

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+++ In 1999, the 175-year-old German company Siemens spun off its semiconductor arm into an entity called Infineon, based just outside Munich. Infineon has done nothing but grow since then. When it purchased U.S. chip maker Cypress Semiconductor in 2020, Infineon says it became one of the world’s top 10 chip makers, having the automotive industry as its No. 1 client. Ex-Volkswagen Group boss Herbert DIESS would have understood Infineon’s inner workings at the time of the Cypress purchase since he was a member of Infineon’s supervisory board from 2015 to 2020. Diess found himself out of the VW job in September of this year. HIs management style and clashes with the labor works council, plus the continued expense and missteps on an ambitious road to electrification, got to be too much for the board and controlling families to support. Now, Diess will be elected chairman of Infineon’s supervisory board come February 16, 2023. Over the past 3 years, we have all learned how vital chip making is to almost everything. Infineon’s not only expanding geographically, planning a new factory in Germany to follow new factories in Hungary and Singapore, it’s expanding inside the transport industry. The German firm signed a multi-year deal with Stellantis potentially worth more than $1 billion, on top of the business it already has with OEMs like Hyundai and BYD and suppliers like ZF Friedrichshafen. VW has been an Infineon customer for more than a decade, both parties touting the ties. In 2019, Infineon put out a release titled, “Volkswagen relies on Infineon for its electric future”. In August last year, VW put together a U.S. cross-country drive of the ID.4 to showcase EV charging potential, the ID.4 alone reported to contain 50 Infineon chips. Diess taking the position is contingent on a confirmation vote at Infineon’s shareholder meeting in February. This seems a formality barring revelations between now and then. Outgoing chairman Wolfgang Eder said, “Given the highly challenging environment in which Infineon is active, I am pleased to welcome Dr. Herbert Diess as the ideal candidate to become my successor. He has excellent knowledge of the company and of the industry landscape”. He joins other another recent hire in CEO Jochen Hanebeck, who took that position in April. In related news closer to home, an Infineon rep said the company sees the chip crisis easing around summer 2023. +++

+++ The KIA NIRO is probably not the first vehicle that comes to mind when speaking of performance-oriented models. It’s not even among the sportiest in the crossover segment but that doesn’t mean it can’t do the moose test and exceed all expectations. This is exactly what happens in the latest moose test. Let’s start with the dry numbers. This particular Kia Niro is from the hybrid version (not full EV and not PHEV), which has a 1.6-litre engine under the bonnet mated to a 6-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. It’s not exactly powerful with its 141 hp at 5.700 rpm and a peak torque of 265 Newtonmetres at 4.400 rpm. But, as we all know, power is not the most important factor in the moose test. Whether it’s the suspension tuning, the electronic stability system, or the tyres, I don’t know, but the Kia Niro registers a speed of 81 kilometres per hour in the test. I believe the combination of all 3 factors above makes this superb result possible, turning the South Korean crossover into one of the best-performing vehicles in the test. This conclusion isn’t only based on the numbers, though. The test driver says the vehicle has very predictable reactions and at no point feels uncontrollable around the cones. In fact, the Niro is able to change its direction at the final section of the test course, unlike any other car. This is quite surprising to hear as we’ve never thought about the Niro as a driver’s car. +++

+++ LUCID MOTORS is officially expanding in Europe with a new retail presence. It opened one of its first stores across the pond, which will deal with sales, deliveries, and service. Not surprisingly, the new Lucid store is located in The Netherlands, a country that’s near the top of the list of markets that are highly supportive of EV adoption. The Lucid retail and service centre is situated in Hilversum, Netherlands, in very close proximity to the much more well-known, Amsterdam. It’s important to note that this isn’t a little startup boutique we’re talking about. In fact, the store itself measures 2.232 metre. Lucid will continue to move forward with its expansion efforts in Europe. The electric automaker aims to open more stores in key markets on the continent, though it just made sense to move into The Netherlands early. Senior vice president of Product and Chief Engineer Eric Bach shared: “The Netherlands is a key market for Lucid because of its high adoption of EVs and very mature charging infrastructure. With industry-leading range and charging efficiency combined with its elegantly aerodynamic exterior design and spacious, luxurious interior, Lucid Air offers Dutch customers something truly unique, which is reflected in the design of the Studio space in Hilversum”. The senior vice president also mentioned Lucid’s recent safety successes. Following suit with a growing number of new electric cars, the flagship Lucid Air electric saloon earned a 5-star overall rating in Euro NCAP’s official crash testing. He went on to add that safety has been a top priority for the US EV maker, and the recent test results have proven it successful. According to Bach, the Lucid Air has not only been engineered for impressive passive safety, but also comes packed with advanced driver-assist systems. Moreover, the DreamDrive Pro features a 32-sensor suite that the Lucid executive calls “one of the industry’s most comprehensive active safety systems”. Tesla CEO Elon Musk continues to suggest that Lucid likely won’t make it. However, reviewers across the globe are beyond impressed with the Air saloon, which tops the Tesla Model S in a number of key categories. Automakers are all facing tough times right now, so we’ll have to wait and see what the future holds for Lucid. +++

+++ According to reports, Chinese automaker NIO is planning on launching a full-sized luxury saloon that will rival the Lucid Air and Mercedes EQS. The saloon will be NIO’s new flagship model and will cost in excess of €140.000 in the Netherlands. Currently, NIO produces 5 models: 3 crossovers/SUVs and 2 saloons. The ET7, a Tesla Model S-sized saloon capable of up to 1.000 km per charge, sits at the top of the NIO lineup for now. However, this new flagship will trump it. Although information remains scarce, the model will reportedly be revealed in 2024 and will be sold globally. Founded in 2014, NIO has been incredibly successful in the Chinese market with over 300.000 EVs sold to date. The firm launched in Norway in late 2021 and is focused on expanding into the rest of Europe. NIO began deliveries in Germany several weeks ago and is now looking to launch in the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark by early 2023. Meanwhile, the automaker also wants to expand to Japan and Australia in the coming years. +++

+++ The owners of the fancy-pants POLESTAR 1 may have something to worry about if they’re charging their plug-in hybrid coupes in the garage right now. A supplier issue means that a number of owners don’t want their vehicles to be fully charged, lest it catch fire. Polestar is recalling the 1 for a production issue in the high-voltage battery system. The fault was committed by the automaker’s supplier, China’s Forever Energy, and was initially caught by Volvo, which warned its sister company of the trouble in September. Although the root cause of the problem is not described in detail in documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the fault is linked to the battery cells, and the result is that, when the Polestar 1 is fully charged, its high-voltage battery can overheat, potentially leading to a fire. NHTSA documents suggest that no Polestar 1 cars have caught fire yet, but that the issue may be related more generally with plug-in hybrids based on the Scalable Product Architecture that underpins a number of Volvo vehicles. Using manufacturing records, Polestar has narrowed down the range of vehicles included in this recall to those made between September 11, 2019, and May 12, 2021, meaning that all affected vehicles are either from the 2020 or the 2021 model year. Polestar started getting in touch with owners of the plug-in hybrid coupe on December 19 with both an interim solution and a permanent fix. To begin with, Polestar 1s will have new software installed that will prevent them from being fully charged. Although that will mean that the all-electric range of the PHEV may be reduced, it should mean that owners can charge their cars without worrying about a fire. In the longer term, owners will be asked to return their vehicle to a nearby service location in order to have more major work done. In order to fix the vehicles, all defective hardware will be removed and replaced. It does not expect to be able to start doing that work until the summer of 2023. +++

+++ The impact of Elon Musk buying Twitter on TESLA is getting scarier for investors. For the third time, after saying in April that he had “no further share sales planned”, filings made on Wednesday revealed Musk sold 22 million more shares of Tesla, valued some $3.6 billion. That brings the total amount of Tesla stock that Musk has sold this year to $23 billion. Just a few days ago, Musk promised that in the long haul, Tesla would benefit from his ownership of Twitter. But there’s growing skepticism from analysts that will happen. Twitter remains a nightmare for investors because Musk has been using “Tesla as his own ATM machine to keep funding” the social network. Tesla’s falling electric vehicle sales as countries around the world face their own recessions amid the ongoing fall out of the pandemic isn’t necessarily a shock. But it does present a problem for Tesla and its owner, who continues to use its shares to fund his refashioning of Twitter for his ventures to build out ’the everything app’ that he refers to under the name “X”. Ultimately, Elon promised Tesla shareholders they’d benefit from Twitter. He also promised he wouldn’t sell any more Tesla stock. It’s up to Tesla investors to decide whether he plans to keep his promise. “Elon is Tesla’s brand. He needs to pull it together”, Loup Ventures’ Gene Munster told earlier this week. Some, like major Tesla shareholder KoGuan Leo, have gone so far as to suggest that Musk has “abandoned” his duties at the carmaker, and called for a new CEO to replace him. Meanwhile, there is a slate of problems for Twitter that include: advertisers that have suspended their activity on the platform; the failure of Elon’s reimagined Twitter Blue; growing concern around the rise of bigotry on the platform; and Elon’s troubling political tweets that seem to be adding to the non-stop swirl of controversy around the company. In his note to clients, Ives maintained an outperform rating for Tesla, indicating that he expects Tesla’s rate of return to do better than its peers despite signs that it won’t be the best performer in the batch. Munster, for his part, further admonished that Elon would cause long-term damage if he does nothing about the number of issues arising from the billionaire’s purchase of Twitter. The broader market is also worried. Tesla’s stock has dropped 31% since Musk bought Twitter at the end of October. When you track how the stock has held up since Musk’s offer to buy Twitter in mid-April, it’s down 52%. It should be noted that tech stocks lost trillions of dollars in value this year due to a drop in consumer demand, inflation, and the overall market correction from the astronomical multiples seen the year before. Tesla faces other issues besides Musk’s Twitter problems. The company is no longer the main electric car maker on the block in multiple countries. Since new entrants have carved out their own market share and traditional automakers have successfully launched a series of hybrids and their own EV models, Tesla has seen a rise in competition in the US, China and parts of Europe. It was only earlier this month that Bloomberg reported that Tesla was slashing some of its production output in China by 20% to 30%, a sign that the reality of sales didn’t live up to what they were projected to be. It’s been also reported that the EV maker lowered the cost of its cars in China in an attempt to boost sales. It worked, but Tesla ultimately lost out to its Chinese competition, BYD. “More activism and growing investor frustration will force the Board of Tesla to confront some of these issues head on in the near-term. This is a moment of truth for Musk and Tesla”, wrote Ives. +++

+++ The first VINFAST VF8 cars arrived in the United States over the weekend and now the electric crossover has received all the necessary certifications to be sold in America. That was the last major hurdle and it means the first vehicles will be delivered to customers by the end of the month. The first 999 units are VF8 City Editions, which have a dismal EPA range of 288 km. That’s far from competitive as the VF8 has far less range than similarly priced competitors. In particular, the rear-wheel drive Cadillac Lyriq is only $4.000 more expensive and has 502 km of range. Customers can also opt for the Audi Q4 50 e-Tron Quattro, which starts at $55.200 and can travel 380 km between charges. It’s also impossible to ignore the Tesla Model Y Dual Motor Long Range, which begins at $65.990 and offers 531 km of range. Needless to say, the VF 8’s range of 288 km doesn’t cut it. However, that didn’t stop the company from trying to put a positive spin on things as they stated “this range is several times better than the average daily range of a typical driver in California”. VinFast also promised the range will be improved with a software update and we should learn more in January. That being said, first impressions matter and VinFast’s website still lists the crossover’s targeted range as “up to 470 km* ”. The asterisk notes the listed specifications are for pre-production vehicles and “may differ slightly”, but a 182 km difference is downright shocking. +++

 

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