+++ BMW will invest 800 million euros in the central Mexican state of San Luis Potosi to produce high-voltage batteries and fully electric “Neue Klasse” models, the carmaker said Friday. The expansion, set to add around 1.000 new jobs at its operations in the Mexican state, is BMW’s latest push into electric vehicles (EVs) as it looks to convert more than half of its sales into all-electric cars by 2030, it said. More than half of the funds to be invested in Mexico: 500 million euros are earmarked for the battery assembly center on the carmaker’s existing plant grounds, BMW said, and some 500 additional employees will work there. Another 500 jobs will be created in other areas, it said. The remaining 300 million euros will go to adapting and extending the body shop and building a new assembly line to install the battery packs, plant head Harald Gottsche told. “We will start building, constructing the extensions and the new battery assembly in the beginning of 2024, and we will start production at the beginning of 2027”, he said. The announcement follows several other major expansions from the automaker in recent months, including a $1.7 billion investment in the United States and a 2-billion-euro push to build an EV factory in Hungary. The plant in Hungary has been pitched as the first of BMW’s to be completely fossil-free. Gottsche added the Mexico plant was in the process of increasing its solar production on-site and swapping out natural gas for biomethane. “We want to beat the Hungary plant, of course”, Gottsche said. The push comes as manufacturers worldwide shift to comply with more stringent environmental regulations to mitigate their impact on climate change. Mexico has also increasingly made the push for EVs as it looks to turn half of auto production electric by 2030. While some industry leaders have cast doubt on that goal, Gottsche said BMW’s sales in Mexico were already 30% hybrid or fully electric. “We will need much more renewable energy” to make the switch, Gottsche said. +++
+++ The SUV could be on the verge of extinction as car makers focus more heavily on aerodynamic design cues in the hunt for range, according to Vincent Cobée, CEO of CITROEN . The French brand’s boss said designers are placing increasing emphasis on how slippery a car can be, with “anything which is high or squarish” more than likely not considered for reasons of aero efficiency. “The transition to electric vehicles is going to massively increase the importance of aerodynamics”, he said, calling it the “post-SUV world”. He added: “Because, to be honest, whether your car is aero or not, in the current world just increase the fuel tank and as long as your purchasing power ignores the price of petrol, which it does for 30-50% of the population, why bother? In the fully electric world, you lose autonomy because of aerodynamics, so the link is much stronger. So anything which is high or squarish will have immediate penalty to its autonomy in a battery-EV world”. Cobée also suggested new methods of vehicle taxation (perhaps designed to penalise heavier, larger vehicles) could further threaten the onward viability of SUVs. “There will be, I’m quite convinced, some form of regulation or directive or incentive cut on weights and battery sizes”, he said. “Now in France, if you buy an electric car and it weighs more than 2.4 tonnes, you’re not eligible for incentives”, he explained, suggesting that eventually this cut-off could fall to 1.8 tonnes. “So if you start talking about less than 2 tonnes and less than 60 kWh or 70 kWh, then SUVs will suffer massively”. Because of this, Cobée is confident car makers will instead look to design cars that sit lower and offer more efficient shapes, rather than shaving kilograms from bulky, straight-edged SUVs. “If I reduce weights by 50 kg, the impact is nearly zero. But if I improve aerodynamics, or powertrain efficiency, the impact on range is very, very quick”. he said. “So they have a much higher impact or level of impact than weight”. He added: “Fundamentally, so far the auto industry is: ‘Okay, you want less weight? Use aluminium instead of steel.’ That means the cost is higher. “I think the real challenge would be less weight for less cost, but it’s not impossible: we need to do it by design”. The lightweight treated-cardboard bodywork of the recent Citroën Oli concept was one example that Cobée cited. He said: “If you see Oli, you can stand on the bonnet or stand on the roof, and it’s a third of the weight and it’s recycled. When we do Oli, I want to say ‘you know what the common ground does not have to be a compromise’. It needs to be, and can be, fun and appealing”. He added this was better than imposing harsh laws, such as hypothetical limitations on the amount drivers could travel per day. “Of course I could tell you things you don’t like, like you can’t drive more than 400 kilometres in 1 go. So I wouldn’t get my education, I wouldn’t get my job, I wouldn’t get my family, I wouldn’t get my life if I was not having individual mobility. “And anybody thinking individual mobility is not important; you want to go back to confinement in Covid? In reality, at the time everybody was asking for [their freedom/mobility]”. He added: “You will not motivate 7 billion people by telling them you should not travel you should not eat you should not enjoy yourself. And by the way, it’s going to be sad and hard. But with a bit of luck you will survive. That does not work. +++
+++ Shares of FARADAY FUTURE soared about 28% in premarket trading on Monday after the company said it had raised enough funds to start production of its electric luxury car, the FF 91 Futurist, in March. Deliveries, originally slated to start in late 2022, will now begin before the end of April, the company said on Sunday. The development offered a spot of relief to investors who have seen the stock plummet 92% since listing in July 2021 as the loss-making startup grappled with a boardroom battle, governance issues and a dwindling cash balance that hurt its production plans. The company plans to hold an investor meeting on February 28 to vote on a proposal for increasing its outstanding stock, which it said will allow for future financing to support deliveries. Major shareholder FF Top Holdings, which has an 8.4% stake in the firm, has agreed to support such a proposal at the shareholder meeting, it said. Los Angeles-based Faraday has moved to save cash in recent months by slowing development of future cars. It had $22.5 million in cash as of November 30, down from $31.76 million at the end of the third quarter. In November, Faraday Future named its China head Xuefeng Chen as chief executive officer after Carsten Breitfeld was asked to resign following a review of the company’s performance since it went public in 2021. +++
+++ Consumer Reports (CR) polls its members on all sorts of topics related to how they buy and use products ranging from mobile phones to humidifiers for indoor plants. Cars are regularly one of CR’s most interesting topics, and its recent study on the LEAST SATISFYING VEHICLES to own offers insights into the cars people wish they hadn’t purchased. CR polled thousands of members with questions about what they liked and disliked about the vehicle they’d owned for a few years. When asked if they would definitely repurchase the same car, the following vehicles came back as the least likely to be purchased a second time (just models sold also in Europe are mentioned here): Jeep Compass: 46% would buy again, Mercedes-Benz GLA: 45% would buy again and Mercedes-Benz GLB: 39% would buy again. The lowest score was for the Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport (38% would buy again). It lagges rivals in driving excitement and interior quality. A number of recalls don’t help the Cross Sport’s cause much, either, as some models have more than a dozen actions by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Even the 2023 model already has 4 recalls. The annoyance of recalls and the hassle of just-average reliability ratings could have played into the Cross Sport’s place as the least satisfying vehicle. On the other end of the spectrum, the Chevrolet Corvette earned the top spot as CR’s most satisfying car. The Porsche 911, Rivian R1T, Ford Maverick Hybrid and Hyundai Ioniq 5 round out the top-five most satisfying vehicles to own. Given the rabid following the 911 has built over the years and the insane performance Chevrolet derived from the latest Corvette, it’s not surprising to see them in the top spots. +++
+++ Ever since Ola Källenius took over the CEO position at MERCEDES in 2019, the Swede has been hacking at, pruning and trimming the company’s structure and model portfolio. Another massive cull is about to commence. A journalist spoke to Mercedes managers at 2 primary locations in Germany, he wrote, “Based on what we’ve seen, of the 33 body styles Mercedes currently offers between Europe and the U.S., only 14 will survive”. As is always the case in these refinements to boost market share, ROI and brand expression, the front-line soldiers getting mowed down first are coupes, convertibles and wagons. One manager told Kacher: “At the end of the day, we simply don’t need estate cars [wagons]or underperforming 2-door offerings to boost volumes”. We knew the A-Class is toast, and the C-Class and E-Class coupe and convertible quartet will morph into 2 cars, a CLE-Class coupe and convertible. The CLS-Class has been on death row for three years and gets the guillotine in 2024. The AMG GT 4-door has spent less than5 years on the market and will apparently follow the CLS into oblivion in either 2024 or 2025. A new 4-door will arrive in 2026 powered by a battery instead of a big ol’ honkin’ hybrid V8, accompanied by a battery-electric AMG GT coupe, as well as a slightly roomier AMG SL in Mercedes-Benz and Mercedes-Maybach variants. Mercedes revealed the latest GLC last summer and the facelifted GLE a few days ago. They will get new generations as proper SUVs, but coupe will not be making the transition. And Europe can say goodbye to the C-Class wagon in 2028 and the E-Class wagon in 2030. The next-generation CLA-Class moves to battery power in 2025 and will offer the final shooting brake in the lineup. It’s possible 2 more entire product ranges among the B-Class, GLA-Class and GLB-Class will get the axe. The only niche models the brand will tolerate are the ones bringing in huge money, the so-called “Top-End” like Maybach trims and the Mythos run of limited editions. The traditionally facing Mercedes models, called “Core Luxury”, will focus on luxurious ease for occupants inside the car as well as out with features like larger batteries, faster charging capabilities, and longer ranges. A Mercedes manager said: “The most essential elements of sustainable contemporary luxury cars are space and time. That’s our No. 1 priority, not another fancy body style, a model that only works in Europe, or one last stab at a dying segment”. +++
+++ NISSAN expects that the solid-state battery technology it’s busily developing will be ready for mass production in 2028. Development work is ongoing, but the Japanese company believes it’s well positioned to launch pilot production in 2025 and gradually improve the technology. “We think we have something quite special and are in a group leading the technology. We want to get the cost down (compared to lithium-ion batteries) by 50%, to double the energy density, and to offer 3 times the charging speed”, David Moss, Nissan’s senior vice-president for research and development in Europe, told. Development work is taking place in Japan and in England. Nissan isn’t alone; numerous carmakers and suppliers are developing solid-state batteries. Moss explained the his team is working on a true solid-state battery that doesn’t require a liquid electrolyte. “Some solid-state batteries still have the liquid electrolytes, and this is an issue, as that liquid boils. The efficiency of that energy in storage and transfer and the power you put into it will be impacted”, he said. While solid-state batteries remain at the prototype stage, they promise to unlock several advantages compared to the lithium-ion batteries that power a vast majority of the EVs currently on the road. One is quicker charging: The logic is that driving range won’t matter as much if charging can be reliably done as quickly as refueling a gas tank. In turn, carmakers will be able to build electric cars with smaller battery packs and (hopefully) pass the savings on to buyers to reduce the price gap between an EV and a comparable gasoline-powered model. It’s too early to tell which model(s) will inaugurate the solid-state technology, though the car will need to ride on a new platform and likely be assembled in a new factory. Moss explained that the technology is not linked to a specific vehicle program to ensure that nothing else gets delayed if meeting the 2028 deadline isn’t possible. Nissan is still investing in lithium-ion technology to be on the safe side. Developing EVs has cost Nissan €7.8 billion so far, its first mass-produced electric car was the original Leaf unveiled in 2010, and executives plan to spend an additional €15.6 billion (approximately $16.8 billion) in the coming years. +++
+++ The PEUGEOT 508 is set to be reinvented for an electric-only third generation as the brand prepares to embark on its most drastic and wide-reaching shake-up in decades. From 2025, the French firm’s electric cars will switch from legacy PSA Group architecture to the new-era Stellantis STLA modular EV platforms that are being introduced to Peugeot and its 13 sibling brands. As previewed by the stunning Peugeot Inception concept last month, these platforms will bring about a step change in the technical make-up of Peugeot’s EVs, introducing trick new wireless steering hardware, advanced autonomous driving functions, much more powerful motors and longer-range batteries with faster (and potentially wireless) charging capacity. Peugeot was careful to clarify that it has no plans to build a production version of the Inception itself, but its sharp, squat propositions and low-slung silhouette naturally make it closest in conception to the Mk2 Peugeot 508, which has been on sale since 2018 and will therefore be due for replacement roughly when the first STLA-based EV arrives. The 508’s future has long been uncertain as sales in the traditional D-segment saloon and estate markets have plummeted in light of increased demand for SUVs, with rivals including the Ford Mondeo, Opel Insignia and Renault Talisman all recently bowing out. However, Peugeot CEO Linda Jackson said the brand has no intention of axing model lines as it reinvents itself. Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month, Jackson said: “We’ve got some great models, and we want to keep the same-sized range, the same number of models. So it’s all about refreshing each of our models as we come along”. Indeed, a subsequent preview of Peugeot’s next-generation EV line-up looks to include a low-slung fastback in the vein of the 508, alongside successors to the 208 and 308, as well as the trio’s SUV siblings. While the 508’s replacement is likely to keep the same name, it will be heavily restyled and subtly repositioned in a bid to bolster its popularity and link it more closely to its future stablemates, all of which will take heavy design inspiration from the Inception. Most obviously, the 508’s successor is likely to be higher-riding in order to account for the global market shift towards crossovers but will keep its conventional saloon silhouette. Jackson said this straddling of segments (first explored with the freshly launched Peugeot 408) will provide the best balance of efficiency and practicality for next-generation EVs. She explained: “I don’t think anybody is saying that SUVs are going to disappear, because they’re still as popular as ever, but we’re all looking for ways to make them more aerodynamic, and therefore you start to move into slightly different silhouettes”. Jackson acknowledged the higher driving position and enhanced ‘modularity’ offered by SUVs as chief factors in their appeal but said experimenting with new bodystyles in this segment could bring about improvements in efficiency, thereby boosting range and cutting CO2 emissions per car. Notably, fellow Stellantis brand Opel’s similarly conceived and sized Insignia will return with electric power (and more ground clearance) in around 2025, raising the possibility of it and the next 508 effectively being twinned. Peugeot product director Jérôme Micheron summed up the company’s vision for future product segmentation concisely by saying: “There’s life besides SUVs.” He acknowledged that Peugeot is “very successful” with its 2008, 3008 and 5008 but added that “low-roof” cars such as the 208 and 308 remain strong-selling mainstays of the line-up. “In the coming portfolio”, he said, “we will still have a balance between SUVs and other concepts. I’m not saying this is going to be exactly the Inception, but we want to have this balance”. +++
+++ RENAULT and Nissan on Monday formalized their reboot of a relationship that had grown rocky, culminating in the spectacular fall of top executive Carlos Ghosn, who had led successful turnarounds at both companies before his arrest and daring escape. The boards of both companies approved equalizing the stake each automaker holds in the other to 15%, bringing a better balance in the French-Japanese alliance, which also includes smaller Japanese carmaker Mitsubishi. The uneven shareholdings had been viewed at times as a source of conflict. Until now, Renault Group of France owned 43.4% of Nissan, while the Japanese automaker owned 15% of Renault. “We have been waiting a long time for this moment”, Renault board chairman Jean Dominique Senard said at a news conference in London, calling it a “new era”. Nissan intends to invest up to 15% in Ampere, Renault’s electric vehicle and software entity in Europe that Mitsubishi also will consider investing in. The automakers said they will collaborate in markets worldwide, including Latin America, Europe and India. The moves come at a time when the extremely competitive auto industry is undergoing a major shift toward electric vehicles and other environmentally friendly models. The long speculated changes to the carmaker alliance were announced a week ago. Shares equivalent to a 28.4% stake will be transferred to a French trust, according to the companies. Renault, whose top shareholder is the French government, and Nissan agreed on an orderly sale of that stake, although there will be no deadline. Nissan chief executive Makoto Uchida vowed to take the alliance to “the next level of transformation” to adapt to a new era. “This is not a choice but a need”, he said. In theory, partnerships are a good way for automakers to cut costs by sharing parts, production and technology, especially when the industry is going through such dramatic change with EVs. That also means that, once formed, ending an alliance can be difficult because the companies’ development, manufacturing and products get so closely tied together. Still, partnerships can stumble because of the different corporate cultures of the automakers, especially when it involves a meeting of the West and East. The Renault-Nissan alliance, which started in 1999, was plunged into scandal when Ghosn, the executive sent by Renault to lead a turnaround at the then-near-bankrupt Nissan, was arrested in Japan in 2018 on financial misconduct charges. Ghosn, who says he is innocent, jumped bail in a daring escape by hiding in a box spirited aboard a private jet and now lives in Lebanon, which has no extradition treaty with Japan. Renault and Nissan have been distancing themselves from the Ghosn scandal. In an interview, Senard emphasized that Renault is decidedly in the post-Ghosn era. “That is in the past. I mean, nobody in Renault today is talking about that subject”, he said, without mentioning Ghosn’s name. “They’re all concentrated, honestly, on the future, on what we’re doing”. With its Ampere project, Renault is scrambling to beef up its electric car lineup like other automakers, adding to an increasingly competitive field long dominated by Tesla. Senard said he’s confident about the French automaker’s chances. “You look at the new cars that are coming out from the Renault plants today. They’re just beautiful”, he said. “I mean, they have nothing to be jealous about when they look at Tesla and these other guys”. The Renault chairman acknowledged that Chinese electric car brands exporting to Europe have a “strong cost advantage” but that gives the French automaker extra incentive to compete. “It’s a bet, but as you understand, we have decided to win that bet”, he said. Executives at the news conference, including Renault CEO Luca de Meo, stressed that collaborations, cost cuts, model offerings and sales will grow, noting the companies’ relationship will look toward the future and become “normal”. Senard appeared to acknowledge the bumps along the way when he noted hopes that past misunderstandings will be fixed. “These frustrations are behind us”, he told reporters. Renault left the Russian market last year after the invasion of Ukraine, selling its majority stake in Avtovaz, a Russian car company best known for its Lada brand, and its Moscow factory for a symbolic single ruble. Senard told the AP that the door is still open for the company to return. “If one day we thought it made sense to come back in Russia in one form or another, that means that many things would have changed. If that happens, why not?” he said. +++