+++ ALFA ROMEO is firming up plans for a new electric roadster as part of a wide-ranging electrification strategy to expand and revamp its line-up. Following the launch of the 33 Stradale supercar, which offers Alfa’s first-ever electric powertrain, the Italian firm will introduce an electric small SUV in 2024, then electric replacements for the Giulia and Stelvio, and lastly a larger saloon and SUV, aimed at the Chinese and American markets. Even so, Alfa’s performance heritage remains central to its positioning, bosses have said, and long-mooted plans for an electric Spider are taking shape. Future rivals would include the next Alpine A110, next Porsche Boxster and reborn Lotus Elise. Alfa Romeo product boss Daniel Guzzafame has already given some vital clues to the new roadster, suggesting that it could inherit the Spider name because of the strength of its heritage and association with the Alfa brand. “There are some items from Alfa Romeo that we don’t kill: one is the Spider, the other is a love of cars”, he said. “We do want to continue them because that’s the brand. And that’s in our ideas, so let’s see if we can make that a plan”. The new Spider is likely to be badged the 4E as a nod to its electric powertrain and to strengthen its billing as a replacement for the 4C, which was built from 2013 to 2019. However, this has yet to be confirmed, as a model’s name is typically decided “very late” in the development process to ensure that it doesn’t leak, according to Guzzafame. Asked about the viability of such a car, he said: “Alfa Romeo is Spider, and when you think about Spider, you think about Alfa Romeo. At the moment, we’re stable enough and we do have the right basis. The main point is to make sure that when we do it, we are credible, are sustainable and don’t just throw something on the market for the sake of it”. As for a possible arrival date, he said that once Alfa has five cars in its line-up, the Spider will be “within reach”, meaning it won’t arrive until after 2027. The 4E will feature design cues that draw heavily on those of the 33 Stradale, namely in its new-style shield grille, elliptical bonnet and light signature and bluff ‘coda tronca’ rear end. The 33 Stradale was designed in such a way as to maximise aerodynamic efficiency, which will no doubt be just as important for the 4E. As such, it will feature a raft of wind-cheating cues, including air channels from the headlights through to the side panels, miniature spoilers atop the wing mirrors to feed air into the intakes and a grille that can change shape according to wind speeds to optimize the airflow into each cooling duct at the front. Guzzafame confirmed that it could also take some influence from the Pininfarina-styled ‘Duetto’ Spider of the 1960s, which featured a Kamm tail and prominent beltlines. To be electric-only, in line with Alfa’s plan to phase out internal combustion by 2027, the 4E is likely to be based on the STLA Medium platform, like the new Peugeot e-3008 and forthcoming Giulia EV. This will accommodate a battery and drivetrain that offer impressive performance: charging at up to 35 km per minute, a 0-100 kph time as quick as 2.0 seconds and a range of more than 800 km. There has been no indication of what the 4E’s output will be, but Alfa is using a 100 kW battery pack for a 800 km range in the next Giulia and it’s promised to have up to 1.000 hp in its hottest form. The 4E will no doubt share elements with the new saloon, but it is likely to get a smaller battery in pursuit of a lower kerb weight and more compact proportions and less power, given its positioning as a sports car rather than a supercar. It’s possible that, like Alpine, Lotus and Porsche, Alfa could look to emulate the dynamics of today’s mid-engined sports cars by locating its battery in the centre of the chassis, which would also facilitate a traditional cab-forward shape. It has been suggested that Alfa will attempt to emulate elements of the 4E’s combustion-engine forebears in a bid to emphasise the emotional appeal, and the firm is exploring ways to differentiate the driving experience of an electric sports car from that of its mainstream EV models. Guzzafame explained: “It’s not what you hear, it’s what you feel. We’re working on how to transfer that into a vibe, more than sound, and something that will resonate in your ear, because you need to get something from your gut. If you feel that, then that will be the future of Alfa Romeo. If I think about the next-generation Spider, I would love to be in a completely noiseless environment, in nature and at the seaside”. The 4E’s cockpit, meanwhile, will be designed completely in line with Alfa’s push to make its interiors “driver-focused”, with a traditional double-cowled instrument panel and a central infotainment screen that gives the driver important information but doesn’t also deliver a host of potential distractions. Pointing to the 33 Stradale, which features a retractable touchscreen, Guzzafame said: “This is the extreme, but we’re working on concepts like that. It will not be on the next car, because we need to cater to different users; the B-segment SUV is a family car, so you need to have certain stuff always there. But there will be an interpretation of what you see in this interior, for sure”. Alfa has committed to launching one car per year for the next five years, the first being the baby SUV that recently surfaced online. These mainstream cars should increase its profitability, making continued development of the 4E more feasible. It’s important for Alfa to wait before introducing a halo model, said Guzzafame, having learned lessons from the preceding 4C Spider. “It’s completely useless to do it now”, he said. “We went to the dealers a few years ago and they had the 4C, Giulietta and Mito, and that was all they had. First you need to have a solid line-up and then, of course, the Spider has to be the cherry on the cake. If the Spider is the cake, that’s a problem, because then you can’t be sustainable”. +++
+++ It’s been a long road for the ASTON MARTIN VALHALLA , but it’s a road that has light at the end of the tunnel. We’ve seen the exterior, the interior, and we know about its V8 hybrid powertrain. Now Aston Martin is sharing a bit more about the Valhalla’s development process. And it probably comes as no surprise that the company’s Formula 1 experience is well and truly exercised throughout the mid-engine carbon fibre supercar. “It is a great advantage for a car manufacturer to have access to the unique skills and knowledge of a Formula 1 team”, said Claudio Santoni, Aston Martin Performance Technologies engineering director. “F1 engineers are constantly pushing the boundaries in the pursuit of performance and have developed rapid problem-solving tools. With this knowledge ‘in-house’ we can seamlessly bring F1 expertise to road car development”. What exactly does that mean? For Valhalla, it starts with simulations. The company says a full 90 percent of Valhalla’s dynamic characteristics and set-up is all simulation, with just 10 percent coming from practical testing. That certainly tracks with the car’s lengthy development time; it was first announced way back in 2019 as a hybrid V6, then upgraded to a hybrid V8 in 2021, and as of now, a road-going version still isn’t, well, on the road. That will soon change, as Aston Martin says a Valhalla will be operating by the end of the year. Aerodynamics account for a significant portion of the simulation, and F1 experience again serves as the foundation. The design of the underbody is key, as that’s where a majority of the downforce will come from. Combined with fully active aero features (something not allowed in F1) Aston Martin says the Valhalla will have over 600 kilograms of downforce at 240 kph. It will utilize active wings at both the front and rear similar to the AMR23 race car, as well as small louvres in front of the rear wheels that pull air from beneath the car, effectively sucking it to the ground. A video from 2022 showed us Aston Martin’s interior design process, and now we learn that F1 influence is here as well. The company builds a false floor for the driver, so heels are raised while the carbon bucket seats are reclined. The goal is to create a performance-oriented driving position while still maintaining comfort. It’s something we’re surely interested to check out ourselves, as F1 cars aren’t necessarily known for being comfortable. F1 cars are known for being fast, and on that front, the Valhalla shouldn’t disappoint. You already know about the twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8, built specifically for this car with a flat-plane crank design. You also know about the 3 electric motors working with it: 2 at the front and 1 integrated into the transmission. Aston Martin now says the combo makes more than 1.000 hp, which is a bit more than last I heard. The electric motors up front will allow torque vectoring to be possible, and here’s an interesting titbit. To save weight, there’s no reverse gear in the transmission. Those front motors will handle reversing duties, and that raises the possibility of hilarious front-wheel-drive donuts in what will be a very rare, very expensive supercar. “The knowledge and experience of the AMF1 team personnel at Aston Martin Performance Technologies combined with the skills and know-how of our road car development teams has enabled us to bring direct F1 learnings to sportscar development”, said Carlo Della Casa, Aston Martin product development director. “Our target for Valhalla is to produce a supercar that will set best-in-class standards for performance, dynamics, and driving pleasure”. 999 Valhallas are slated for production, and if things stay on schedule, that will commence next year. +++
+++ So how many billions of dollars did the world’s largest car companies make in post-tax profits during the last financial year, after you might have shopped with them for your cars, finance, vehicle parts, accessories and more? BMW (including Mini) did best with a lovely jubbly $18.9 billion. Following closely behind were Toyota and Lexus with $18.1 billion, then the Stellantis clan ($17.7 billion), Mercedes ($15.3 billion), Volkswagen Group ($15.2 billion), Tesla ($12.6 billion), General Motors ($9.9 billion), Hyundai ($5.7 billion), Honda ($4.8 billion) and Kia ($4.2 billion). Not only does BMW beat every other car manufacturing group in terms of profitability, it now ranks as the 30th most profitable company in the world, period. The likes of Toyota and VW Group have to be deeply miffed by this, not least because they each put in more work by designing, making and selling far more cars than BMW, and, in turn, rake in almost twice as much revenue. Yet they can’t match, never mind overtake, the Munich firm for profitability. Something to do with the fact Toyotas and VWs are much more reasonably priced than BMWs? Undoubtedly. Tesla is another company following the same highly lucrative BMW route of concentrating less on how much cash is raked in over the counter, more on making fat, ever-rising profits. Despite it being a comparatively tiny outfit with a few cottage industry tendencies, Elon Musk’s company now sits 6th in my car manufacturer league table of highest profit earners. And the icing on the cake is the Tesla enterprise he fathered has just become the 60th most profitable firm in the world. For so long GM was the number one car company on the planet (a position it will never regain, I’d not so politely suggest), but The General must now be scratching his corporate head wondering how a disruptive upstart called Musk and his Tesla brand was allowed to embarrassingly sneak in and overtake the GM empire in the profitability stakes. Hoping to move into the top 10 are second-tier firms such as Volvo, which made $3.3 billion last year, BYD ($2.5 billion) and SAIC (owner of MG, $2.4 billion). In time, all stand a chance. Nissan and Suzuki on $1.6 billion apiece, Dongfeng ($1.2 billion), JLR owner Tata Motors ($0.3 billion) and Beijing Automotive Group (also $0.3 billion), I’m not so sure about. In terms of rising annual profits, no vehicle maker has done better lately than BYD, whose profit during the last financial year increased by a jaw-dropping 423 percent. Tesla improved by 128 percent, Hyundai was up 32 percent and BMW 29 percent. So it seems a simple case of motor manufacturers sitting back and watching their profits roll in, at the expense of customers like you, of course. But then there are unfathomable exceptions to the rule. Renault raked in $50 billion last year, but somehow managed to convert that not-unreasonable gross revenue into a loss of almost $0.4 billion. Hmm! And things go from bad to worse at Ford, which grossed $158 billion over the same 12-month period, but reckoned it made annual losses of $2.0 billion. If Uncle Henry continues to lose money at this disastrous rate, his entire business might not be long for this world. +++
+++ An “urgent plea” has been made to the European Commission by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, to prevent new taxes putting up the price of electric cars exported and imported between the United Kingdom and the European Union. If EU’s parliament fails to comply with its request, ACEA warns a 10 percent tariff will be placed on electric vehicle exports to the UK, its largest trading partner, from January next year. ACEA has calculated this could cost its members €4.3 billion over 3 years and could potentially reduce EV production on mainland Europe by almost half-a-million vehicles. The tariffs will apply under ‘rules of origin’ regulations negotiated as part of the BREXIT arrangements, which state that all battery parts and some battery raw materials must be locally sourced within the EU or UK. The ACEA says that achieving this is “practically impossible” today. “Driving up consumer prices of European electric vehicles, at the very time when we need to fight for market share in the face of fierce international competition, is not the right move, neither from a business nor an environmental perspective”, commented Luca de Meo, ACEA President and CEO of Renault Group. “We will effectively be handing a chunk of the market to global manufacturers”. The ACEA and Renault boss argues that Europe should be supporting the transition of industry to net-zero, and “not hindering it”. ACEA is calling for a 3-year extension to the phase-in period for the new regulations, with de Meo urging the European Commission “to do the right thing” as industry needs more time to build up the kind of scale required to meet the rules of origin regs. The UK government and UK car makers have both said they’re optimistic that a new agreement can be reached before the January 2024 deadline, but there have been reports from across the Channel that political consensus for such a move is not universally acknowledged. Thierry Breton, the EU’s internal market commissioner, recently told “if something has been negotiated, it shouldn’t be changed”, while ACEA sources have acknowledged that the Brexit arrangements are “politically very sensitive” within the European Commission. +++
+++ MERCEDES has introduced a new payment system whereby drivers can pay for commodities such as fuel via a fingerprint sensor. While fingerprint sensors have appeared in cars before, Mercedes said this was the first implementation of a dedicated payment system in a car. The Mercedes Pay+ system, which it has formed in partnership with Mastercard, allows drivers to pay for several products quickly with secure biometric 2-factor authentication. Mercedes cars with an MBUX infotainment system built from 2020 onwards will be able to access the system. Others can order the sensor as an optional extra. The software will initially only be available in Germany at more than 3600 fuel stations, but Mercedes said the technology will make its way to other European markets in the future. It works by automatically connecting to the “connected service station”, where the system automatically calculates the maximum total spend based on current fuel prices and how much the tank needs to be refilled. Once a driver has topped up on fuel, they’re able to get back into the car and pay using the fingerprint sensor. A receipt is also sent to the driver. Mercedes says that, according to German market research company GfK, around half of 18- to 39-year-olds would use “would order and pay for services and goods directly via the infotainment display”. It looks like the system might be extended to support electric car charging in the future too, as the same survey showed that “60% would pay their gas bill or electric vehicle charging directly via the car”. While the system will be the first in a car to allow drivers to make native in-car payments, it’s not the first time car makers have delved into the world of fingerprint sensors. Way back in 2002, the Audi A8 was offered with a fingerprint sensor that could be used to start the car. This was available up until 2007. Meanwhile, the Citroën C6 was also available with a fingerprint sensor that could be used to access emails in 2008. In 2018, Bentley introduced secure biometric storage compartments in the Bentley Bentayga and Mulliner models. And Hyundai has offered fingerprint unlocking on the Hyundai Santa Fe in China. +++
+++ Electric vehicles, especially those that offer a decent amount of range, are undeniably heavy. Big batteries add a lot of weight, and that doesn’t bode too well for handling, as the suspension components and tires need to work a lot harder compared to a light vehicle. Case in point: the MERCEDES-BENZ EQS SUV in its 580 trim has a dual-motor setup that’s good for a combined 544 hp, as well as a 108.4 kWh battery pack that enables an estimated range of 615 km, but (at the same time) weighs a hefty 2.825 kilogram, which limits the SUV’s ability to tackle high-speed direction changes, even with the help of electronic safety systems. While the EQS SUV (with real-wheel steering) passed the slalom course with ease, the moose test at speeds of over 66 km/h proved to be too much for the German luxury EV, going over the exterior cones like a Super Mario player hungry for in-game coins. Even going less than 1 kph over the aforementioned limit made the EQS SUV understeer and go over the course limits, which would translate to the car going off the road in a real-life situation. One of the model’s rivals is the Tesla Model X, which costs a lot less and managed to pass the moose test at 69 kph in 2016 without rear-wheel steering. The American EV is, however, lighter than its German alternative, tipping the scales at roughly 2.400 kg for the dual-motor version. +++
+++ When TESLA unveiled the facelifted Model 3 at the end of August for Europe, China, and other markets around the world, there was one notable trim level missing from the lineup, the range-topping Model 3 Performance. Tesla did not mention it at all in the press release, and the online configurator launched in those markets with only the single-motor RWD and Long Range Dual Motor AWD trim levels. On top of that, in some markets like Australia, customers who had ordered the Model 3 Performance reported that Tesla cancelled their orders shortly after the sales launch of the facelifted Model 3 in the country. Understandably, this contributed to the emergence of rumors that Tesla might not offer the Model 3 Performance anymore. Well, it looks like the Model 3 Performance will probably return, as suggested by a European Type Certificate from the RDW, the Netherlands’ vehicle authority. If genuine, the document issued in July proves not only that the facelifted Model 3 Performance is on the way but also that it’s coming with some interesting powertrain updates. More specifically, the vehicle’s VIN has the letter “T” in the 8th position, which typically corresponds to the type of motor in a vehicle. Since the outgoing Model 3 Performance has the letter “L” in the same position, this suggests that the facelifted variant will feature a different type of motor. Tesla has reportedly used the “T” designation on the VINs of the European Model S Plaid and Model X Plaid, which feature a tri-motor powertrain. Does this mean that the Model 3 Performance is also getting 3 motors? That’s unlikely because a tri-motor Model 3 Performance would probably outperform the Model S Plaid, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has categorically dismissed that possibility in an interview earlier this year. There’s a higher likelihood that the “T” in the VIN indicates that the Model 3 Performance may adopt one of the Plaid rear motors. This would give M3P owners not only bragging rights but also increased performance. For now, this is just an assumption, and it will be interesting to see how (and if) Tesla improves the Model 3 Performance. The 0-100 kph time and top speed would be the most obvious targets, but that won’t be easy seeing as the outgoing version does 0-100 in 3.3 seconds and tops out at 261 kph. +++
