+++ The FORD PUMA will gain an electric variant in 2024 to rival the Opel Mokka-e and upcoming Mini Aceman, and new details have emerged of its technical make-up. Due to enter production early next year alongside the regular Puma in Craiova, Romania, the Puma EV (a name for which hasn’t yet been confirmed) will share its platform and powertrain with the freshly revealed Ford E-Transit Courier van. Introducing the new Courier, which uses an electrified version of the Puma’s front-driven B2E architecture, Ford said it had “engineered the electric powertrain together for Puma and Courier at the same time”, suggesting the 2 will share broadly similar specifications. Ford said it’s working on only one battery for the smallest electric Transit, which, based on the fact that a 100 kW charger will give a 10-80% top-up in less than 35 minutes and can add 86 km of range in 10 minutes, is expected to be around 55 kWh in capacity. This would be enough in theory for a competitive range of around 370 km in the Puma EV. For comparison, the Peugeot e-208 GT has a 56 kWh battery and can cover 420 km per charge. If the Puma EV uses the same 136 hp motor as its van sibling, it should near enough match the e-208’s 8.5 seconds 0-100 kph time. There are other motors available to Ford, though, including the 184 hp and 270 hp units used in the biggest E-Transit, so a multi-powertrain Puma offering could be possible. Ford of Europe boss Martin Sander is keen to position the Puma as the “utility version” of the Fiesta, saying that it will remain on sale “for many years” following the introduction of the EV version, suggesting a 2029 end-of-sale date. It will be priced above the current Puma. However, in keeping with the Puma’s value billing and compact footprint, it’s expected to sit at around the €39.500 mark; similar to rivals. The Puma was Ford’s bestselling car for the past 2 years running, having dethroned the soon-to-retire Fiesta, which suffered a drop in sales when heavily impacted by semiconductor shortages and factory closures. The Puma’s electrification is the latest step in Ford’s electrification strategy, which will involve an investment of $22 billion through 2025. The firm has already electrified several of its most important vehicles, including the Mustang, F-150 and Transit, and recently revealed the new Ford Explorer: a mid-sized crossover based on Volkswagen’s MEB platform. A more rakish crossover, based on the same architecture and set to be called the Ford Capri, will enter production in 2024. +++
+++ GENESIS , Hyundai Motor Group’s premium auto brand, unveiled its first coupe sports utility vehicle, the GV80 Coupe Concept, at the Genesis House in New York on Monday. The carmaker said the GV80 Coupe Concept is developed to fit various lifestyles by combining practicality and sportiness based on the design philosophy of athletic elegance. +++
+++ HYUNDAI ’s Ioniq 6 won the prestigious World Car of the Year, World Electric Vehicle and World Car Design of the Year. The World Car Awards revealed the results at a ceremony held at the New York International Auto Show (NYIAS) Thursday. A jury of 100 automotive journalists from 32 countries chose the Ioniq 6 from the top 3 finalists, all launched in 2022. This is the second time that Hyundai has secured consecutive triple honors at the World Car Awards. Last year, the jury named the Ioniq the winner in the same categories. “We are thrilled to receive this prestigious honor two years in a row, which recognizes the tremendous talents and unrelenting efforts of everyone at Hyundai to bring EVs like the Ioniq 6 to market”, Chang Jae-hoon, CEO of Hyundai Motor said. “This honor reinforces our commitment to being a global leader in vehicle electrification and will serve to embolden our efforts as a smart mobility solutions provider”. The Ioniq 6 is the second model in Hyundai’s dedicated all-electric lineup brand. It takes full advantage of a bespoke Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP) architecture to offer 800 Volt, ultra-fast charging capabilities for a 10 to 80 percent charge in just 18 minutes and a spacious interior. With an ultra-low drag coefficient of just 0.21, the Ioniq 6 is one of the most aerodynamic and energy-efficient EVs on the market. The Electrified Streamliner’s WLTP-rated range on a single charge is 614 km. The standard 2WD model with 18-inch tires achieves WLTP-rated energy consumption of 13.9 kilowatt-hours per 100 kilometers. The Ioniq 6’s many features include Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) technology, driver assistance systems and advanced connectivity with over-the-air (OTA) software updates, which offer the ultimate in-car experience. +++
+++ The Chief Creative Officer of the HYUNDAI MOTOR GROUP, Luc Donckerwolke, has received the Disruptor Designer of the Year award at the Newsweek World’s Greatest Auto Disruptors 2023 award ceremony, a company official said. Donckerwolke won the award for his industry-leading vision overseeing Hyundai Motor Group’s extensive portfolio of automotive brands, namely Hyundai, Kia and Genesis, and the transition to mobility, urban air travel and robotics. “Is there anything better than to receive such prestigious recognition for doing what you love to do?” Donckerwolke said while accepting his award at the ceremony at One World Trade Center in New York, on Tuesday, where this year’s honorees were celebrated for their distinguished contributions. “I feel honored and privileged to been acknowledged as a Newsweek disruptor”, Donckerwolke added. “I strive to inspire, innovate, disrupt and challenge the status quo. This is only made possible by the trust of our board members and the hard work from my incredibly talented team and their leaders”. He was lauded for instigating creative and idea-pushing designs, as well as for his work utilizing concept cars in traditional ways (albeit with untraditional designs) to preview the future of the brands, while other companies have seemingly left the practice behind. The awards program highlights agents of change in the automotive industry across nine categories. To be considered, candidates had to be employing vision in a way that is driving fundamental, transformative change in the automotive market. Last year, at the World’s Greatest Auto Disruptors inaugural event, Hyundai Motor Group’s Executive Chair Chung Euisun was recognized as Visionary of the Year. The program continues to award and recognize leaders in the automotive industry who are pushing the boundaries of innovation. Newsweek also recognized the marketing activities of Genesis House New York, a flagship luxury lifestyle destination under the Hyundai Motor Group brand, as Disruptor Marketing of the Year. Hyundai Motor Group is a global enterprise that has created a value chain based on mobility, steel, and construction, as well as logistics, finance, IT and services. With about 250,000 employees worldwide, the Group’s mobility brands include Hyundai, Kia and Genesis. +++
+++ KIA said it is targeting to sell 1 million electric vehicles in 2026 as it seeks to morph into a “sustainable mobility solutions provider”. Kia plans to launch the all-electric EV9 flagship SUV in the domestic market during the first half of this year and gradually fill its EV lineup with 15 models by 2027, the company said at this year’s CEO Investor Day. The maker of Sportage and Sorento SUVs plans to add the EV9 GT-line and the performance EV9 GT models to the EV lineup later this year. The GT-line model adopts the design of the performance GT model to meet diverse customer demands. The EV9 is Kia’s second model equipped with Hyundai Motor Group’s dedicated EV platform, called E-GMP, after the EV6 launched in 2021. Kia plans to apply its connectivity services to most new vehicles to be launched after 2025 to keep them constantly updated by upgrading the vehicles’ digital features and services without taking them to dealerships. The company also plans to complete a purpose-built vehicle (PBV) plant in the Autoland Hwaseong factory by the end of 2024 and start producing midsized PBVs in July 2025. PBVs can be used as robot taxis, unmanned cargo carriers, movable offices or for other purposes. In 2025, the company said it will launch a midsized PBV and gradually introduce a PBV-based robot taxi with an autonomous driving technology and large PBVs later. In the long term, Kia plans to invest 32 trillion won ($24.4 billion) in future mobility in the next five years and aims to sell 1.6 million EVs in 2030. In 2030, the company has set a sales goal of 4.3 million vehicles, including the 1.6 million battery-powered ones, to achieve an operating profit of 16 trillion won on sales of 160 trillion won. The business targets are sharply higher than the goals of an operating profit of 9.3 trillion won on sales of 97.6 trillion won for this year. In 2023, the company set a sales goal of 3.2 million units, including overseas sales of 2.6 million. From January to March, its vehicle sales rose 12 percent to 767.700 units from 685.738 in the same period last year. +++
+++ POLESTAR ’s model expansion is in full swing. Just a few months after the Volvo-backed brand unveiled the 3, its first entry into the lucrative luxury SUV segment, it will travel to the biennial Shanghai auto show to introduce a more stylish high-riding electric model called 4. The preview image released by Polestar shows part of the 4’s front end viewed from above. It’s not much, but it’s enough to tell that parts like the headlights fall in line with the firm’s design language. Polestar promises some of the model’s other defining styling cues will draw inspiration from its concept cars, though it stopped short of revealing what’s making the jump from the show floor to the showroom floor. Although this is our best look yet at the upcoming crossover, we’ve seen it under a sheet before and we know it will be characterized by a fastback-like silhouette; Polestar calls it a coupe. It’s too early to tell what’s under the sheet metal. The only thing certain is that the 4 will be entirely electric, it won’t spawn a gasoline-powered variant, and that it was designed as the fastest production-bound Polestar to date. “Polestar 4 is not simply a modified version of our first SUV. Instead, we reconsidered the entire design to create a new breed of SUV coupe”, pledged company CEO (and former Volvo designer) Thomas Ingenlath in a statement. An unverified report claims that the 4 will ride on a platform called SEA, that it will be smaller than the 3, and that it will offer a relatively spacious interior in spite of its swoopy roof line. The Polestar 4 is scheduled to make its official debut in Shanghai on April 18, and more details will emerge in the coming days. The 2 high-riding models will likely play a significant role in helping Polestar expand its footprint in the United States and abroad, but executives aren’t forgetting about other segments. The 2 sedan switched from front- to rear-wheel-drive as part of a major update being rolled out for the 2024 model year, and the Precept concept unveiled in 2020 will reach production as a flagship sedan called 5 before the end of 2023. +++
+++ SMART delivered 12.697 units in China in the first quarter of 2022, with 5.911 units in March alone. Nowadays, Mercedes-Benz and Geely own it jointly, each with 50% equity. The Smart #1 model has sold 21.909 units since deliveries started in September 2022. The Smart #1 is 4.270/1.822/1.636mm in length, width and height. The wheelbase is 2.750 mm and it is a small SUV. It has a single rear motor with a maximum horsepower of 272 hp, a maximum torque of 343 Nm and a capacity of 66 kW NMC battery. Moreover, in March 2023, Smart launched the #1 with a 49 kWh LFP battery for 400 km of CLTC range. The car has a 12.8 inch central display and a 9.2 inch LCD monitor with a 64-color ambiance light. The Smart #1 standard Edition offers a range of 535-560 km. Moreover, in March 2023, Smart launched the #1 with a 49-kWh LFP battery for 400 km of CLTC range. It can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 6.7 seconds. It also has got a Brabus version with 4WD and 2 electric motors for 428 hp. The Brabus version only needs 3.9 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h. It takes 7.5 hours to charge 80% of the power in AC slow charging mode (7.2 kW), 40 minutes to charge 80% in DC fast charging mode (100 kW), and half an hour in overcharging mode (150 kW). The car uses a front McPherson and rear multi-link independent suspension. Smart recently underwent an OTA upgrade to push smart OS version 1.1.8 CN for all car owners. It is also developing a car data center with NVIDIA and a cockpit computing platform with Ecarx and AMD. Smart has expanded its sales and service network, with more than 200 sales service outlets covering more than 60 cities in China by the end of 2022. It has already set up 300 sales service outlets in Europe in 13 markets. The Smart #1 has been launched in Germany, and it has been delivered to the consumer. Smart is also looking to expand into the Southeast Asian market, with Smart #1 expected to launch it in Malaysia in the 4th quarter of 2023. +++
+++ According to the latest insurance registration records released in the first quarter of 2023, THAILAND registered 14.777 new electric vehicles (EVs), and BYD delivered 5.579, accounting for 37.8%. BYD became the bestselling EV in Thailand for the first time in January. Then, BYD continued to rank first in February and March. Of BYD’s sales, 5.542 were the Atto 3 model (and 6 BYD e6 and 31 BYD T3), an electric SUV with a range of up to 400 kilometers on a single charge. Neta came in second with 2.502 vehicles registered in the first quarter, followed by MG with 2.477. Tesla started mass delivering new cars in Thailand in February, registered 2.263 vehicles and ranked 4th. In terms of specific models, the top-10 EV registrations in Thailand in February were the BYD Atto 3 with 5.542 registrations, followed by the Neta V with 2.502, the Tesla Model Y with 1.593, the Ora Good Cat with 990, the MG 4 Electric with 872, the MG EP with 837, the MG ZS EV with 768, the Tesla Model 3 with 670, the Volvo XC40 with 325 and the Volvo C40 with 200. Many exhibitors received orders at the recently concluded 44th Bangkok International Motor Show 2023. The MG received the most orders, with 2.750 units. The second place is BYD, with 2.737 vehicles; the third is ORA, with 1.678 cars. It is worth noting that considering that Chinese companies have acquired both MG and Volvo, the top-5 are all Chinese companies. In 2020, Thailand sold 1.056 EVs. In 2021, Thailand sold 1.935 EVs. In 2022, 9.729 vehicles were sold, a 4-fold increase. In 2023, it was even higher, with 14.777 EVs sold in Q1 and 2023 alone, surpassing the entire year of 2022. +++
+++ Russia said on Friday Japanese carmaker TOYOTA ’s factory in St Petersburg had been handed over to state entity NAMI, snapping up more assets from global automakers leaving Russia over the conflict in Ukraine. “Toyota’s production site in St Petersburg has at this stage been transferred to the state”, Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade said in a statement. “The agreement implies a full handover of ownership rights of the plant building, equipment and land”. NAMI, Russia’s Central Automobile and Engine Research and Development Institute, has already taken on up plants from Renault and Nissan. There was no immediate comment from Toyota. The carmaker earlier this month said it was considering what to do regarding the plant, having decided last year to end vehicle production in Russia after suspending production in St Petersburg last March. Toyota said in September it had decided to stop vehicle production in Russia due to the interruption in supplies of key materials and parts. The Russian ministry said it was working on resuming production at the plant as soon as possible. +++
