+++ AUDI claims it has “something special planned” on Instagram. According to the automaker, “It’s the R8’s Last Lap”. The debut of whatever the brand is teasing is on 12 September. Audi makes no secret about retiring the R8 for the 2024 model year. The post on Instagram suggests there might be a few even more exclusive vehicles. Although, no specific details are available yet. A journalist did a Last Drive Review of the R8 in August. He told the story of his first time driving the original generation and transitioned that into being behind the wheel of the latest one. “The subtle steering, palpitating V10 soundtrack and crazy grip of this send-off car all track with my fond memories of R8s past. And of course my smile after getting out of the car, 1.5 laps and half a career after that first ride, was as big as ever”, he wrote in that story. The R8’s future is very uncertain. There are rumors about Audi developing an electric version. However, the new model might have a completely different appearance. It could share a platform with the 718 Boxster’s upcoming EV replacement. Unlike the previous generations of the R8, Lamborghini plans to make the Huracan successor its own product with no relation to the Audi counterpart. Lambo is making so much money from the Urus that it doesn’t have to share parts with the German automaker for the upcoming supercar. +++
+++ According to a new marketing campaign launched by JEEP , there are no such things as dents or scratches on a car but only memories. The carmaker hopes that this message will help to reverse declining sales in the United States. The first commercial released through this campaign is aptly titled ‘Dents’. It follows the owner of a WK-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee who is in the process of packing up his belongings from the SUV before passing it on to his daughter. In the process, he starts to notice the dents and immediately recalls the memories that caused those dents. They include a scratch on the roof he caused while trying to drive under a low-hanging tree and a rip in the rear seat caused by the family’s dog. Jeep says it has launched the campaign at a strategic time, right when many young college students are heading to university and receiving the keys to the old cars of their parents. “Dents’ follows our Grand Cherokee through the various stages of its family’s life, making meaningful memories through the dents and scratches it receives over the years”, Stellantis North America senior vice president Marissa Hunter commented. “For our owners, their Jeep Grand Cherokee is much more than a mode of transportation, it is a member of their family playing a pivotal role in their own life journey. This emotional connection has been built and fortified over decades and now with the expanded lineup, we truly have something for everyone. In our film, as we usher in the electrified model, careful consideration is given to keeping traditions alive as the keys and the memories are passed down to the next generation”. Stellantis marketing chief OIivier Francois said the focus of the commercial is to build brand loyalty. That’s something the brand needs as company sales are down 12% this year in the United States despite a 13% gain across the industry as a whole. +++
+++ Chinese electric car startup LEAPMOTOR has confirmed that it is seeking foreign partners to license its technology to and that it will need to significantly increase sales if it is to survive an EV industry that is becoming increasingly consolidated. Leapmotor has little presence outside of China where it sold almost 111.000 EVs last year, a significant increase from the 44.000 it sold in 2021. Chief executive Zhu Jiangming revealed the firm is working on 5 new models underpinned by a unique platform that’s currently in development. The brand will also target exports in markets like Europe, Australia and New Zealand. “For us, to survive, we have to achieve at least 500.000 to 1 million units of annual sales globally”, Zhu said. “It would take at least 2 to 3 years for us to achieve that. The auto industry has to be consolidated. The top 10 automakers in the world all have annual sales of more than 4 million units. It is hard to achieve such a scale in China alone. Therefore, globalization is a must”. Zhu added that Leapmotor is speaking with foreign car manufacturers to license its EV platforms as well as battery and motor technologies. While he did not state which manufacturers the brand has spoken with, recent reports indicate that it has held serious discussions with both VW and Stellantis. In early August, industry insiders revealed that VW is looking to revitalize its ailing Jetta brand in China through a partnership with Leapmotor. It is understood the German firm could purchase a platform of EV technologies from Leapmotor. Meanwhile, separate reports indicate that Stellantis is also interested in working with the Chinese startup to expand its presence in China. +++
+++ In October 2017, MERCEDES bid adieu to the V12 powered G-Class with a G 65 Final Edition. Fast forward to June 2023, the G 500 V8 Final Edition marked the end of the road for the non-AMG 8-cylinder model. While the G 63 is still available, the legendary off-roader is not immune to the downsizing bug. Come 2024, there will be a G-Class flavour with no combustion engine at all. Shown in prototype guise at IAA Munich, the electric G is inching closer. 2 years after introducing the Concept EQG at the same show, the German luxury brand is exhibiting a near-production prototype of the zero-emission SUV. An official announcement from Mercedes says IAA attendees can get up close and personal with the electric G “months before its world premiere next year”. Additional details are not available, but we do know the conventionally powered model is sticking around. Mercedes has been tight-lipped about the technical specifications, although the EQG is expected to have a quad-motor setup and an optional high-density battery pack benefiting from silicon anode chemistry. That should bring a boost in energy density of 20 to 40 percent to hit 800 Wh/l at the cell level and provide a “significant amount” of extra range. However, the longer-range EQG isn’t due until 2025, so roughly a year after the standard electric variant. It’s worth noting that the EQG won’t be the first electric Mercedes with 4 motors as the SLS AMG Electric Drive had a quad-motor setup way back in 2012. It’s estimated the electric go-anywhere SUV will weigh about 3.000 kilo or even more. Taking into consideration its boxy shape giving it a less-than-ideal drag coefficient, it’s going to need that advanced battery tech to deliver a decent range. The EQG will utilize a modified version of the steel ladder-frame chassis that has underpinned the petrol/diesel G-Class (W463). Mercedes has said it’ll give it a double-wishbone front and trailing arm rear suspension. The battery will be housed within a steel case and wrapped in a carbon fibre-reinforced polymer compound to protect it while going off-road and wading through deep waters. Aside from the usual driving modes (Eco, Comfort, Sport), it’ll have Trail, Rock, and Sand, plus a creeper mode for going off-road at a pre-established speed. Another party trick will be the G-Turn, which is Mercedes speak for a 360-degree tank turn after using the shift paddles to select whether to go left or right. It’ll be built by Magna Steyr alongside the ICE model in Graz, Austria. The electric G-Class might be among the first Mercedes EVs to drop the “EQ” branding but nothing is official yet. +++
+++ Carmaker STELLANTIS aims to develop lighter electric vehicle batteries, cutting weights in half to improve sustainability, the group’s technology chief said on Friday. Ned Curic said current electric vehicle (EV) batteries were “just too heavy”, making vehicles “not compatible” with sustainability purposes. “So what I have in mind and a very hard goal for my team by 2030 is to change the battery weight to at least 50% lighter battery”, Curic said during the inauguration of the group’s Battery Technology Center in Turin, Italy. He said, however, that he really had “no idea” what the “battery of the future” will look like. “We will have to think about completely new materials, new chemistry, new way of replacing this heavy, heavy, heavy materials to something much lighter”, he said. As part of its long-term efforts to improve batteries, the world’s third-largest carmaker by sales, whose brands include Fiat, Peugeot and Jeep, said it had invested 40 million euros in its Turin’s Battery Technology Center, which will be focused on in-house testing and development of EV battery packs for upcoming group vehicles. A similar facility for North America was being built in Windsor, Canada, it added. During the presentation Curic also said Stellantis would launch later this year a “very affordable” vehicle. “A vehicle that just about any member of our societies can afford to buy”, he said, without giving an indication of the price. +++
+++ Although the SUBARU Impreza and WRX are intimately linked to the World Rally Championship in the minds of many enthusiasts, the automaker hasn’t actually competed in the FIA’s top rallying series since 2008. That may soon change, though. On hand at the Acropolis rally in Greece, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem suggested that Subaru may soon rejoin the primarily European racing series. It may do that with the help, and under the aegis, of Toyota, which owns a share of the company. “It’s not a secret I had a good meeting with Mr Akio Toyoda and I ask him what we can do about enticing more manufacturers into the WRC and I listened to someone who is passionate. And he mentioned Subaru”, said Ben Sulayem, per Dirt Fish. “I hope that some of that will come. I feel more manufacturers are good”. The support of Toyota will be important for Subaru because designing a car to race in the WRC may be difficult for it. To start, it would need to make a new chassis, since all teams are required to use bespoke space frames that are not related to a road car for crash safety purposes. That means that it likely won’t be able to borrow much from the recently unveiled WRX rally car that is competing in the American Rally Association Championship this year, and is ultimately based on the production car. Moreover, the other cars in the WRC are hatchbacks, making Subaru’s historic competitor an awkward fit for the championship. Another issue is the engine. The WRC requires automakers to use a 1.6-liter turbo engine with a mandatory hybrid unit, and Subaru doesn’t really have anything that matches that description. However, Toyota does. “I see positive signs from the chairman of Toyota in convincing Subaru to come back and providing the engine, where Subaru’s issue is with the engine”, said Ben Sulayem. “It’s not with the car, it’s with the engine they have. And I can see some signs of optimism there, really”. While there are still some questions to answer, and no official timeline on when they will be provided, it will no doubt lift the spirits of many Subaru fans to hear that a WRC challenge is possible. +++
+++ Despite years of promises, TESLA boss Elon Musk hasn’t always prioritized the game-changing $25,000 electric car. Musk has instead been hung up on developing an all-new robotaxi, Walter Isaacson, Musk’s biographer, shared in an excerpt of his upcoming book; but company executives have since convinced Musk to prioritize both that and the inexpensive EV. The Tesla chief told company executives in November 2021 that someday, he’d want to build 20 million self-driving robotaxis annually and predicted owners would earn upwards of $30.000 a year giving driverless rides to others. For over a year, Musk wanted these robotaxis to forgo mirrors, pedals, and steering wheels despite protests from his leadership team and concerns over whether Tesla’s Full Self-Driving tech would be ready. Eventually, those executives set Musk on track to build both the robotaxi and the affordable EV offering under the premise they could share the same assembly lines. In a design review session earlier this year, mockups of both the robotaxi and the $25,000 EV had a futuristic design not unlike the long-awaited Cybertruck. But Musk has a complicated history regarding his promises about building a $25,000 EV. In Tesla’s early days, Musk’s first Master Plan was to use money earned from more expensive models like the Roadster and Model S to fund cheaper ones. The Model 3 was intended to be Tesla’s most affordable option, but it debuted at $52,000 instead of the initially anticipated $35,000. In 2018, Musk said it would take his company about 3 years to get to $25,000. In 2020, he again promised an EV at that price (this time, one that was fully autonomous) in another 3 years’ time. By early 2022, Musk told investors that the company wasn’t actually working on it. He said at the time Tesla had too many other things on its plate, including a humanoid robot. That wavering has paved the way for other EV makers to race to meet that target price point. Electric cars have largely, on average, been more costly upfront than internal combustion engine ones, one major barrier to widespread adoption for many consumers. In July, EVs saw an average transaction price of $53.469, according to Kelley Blue Book, down significantly from $65.108 a year earlier, though higher than the $48.334 average for vehicles overall. EV prices are coming down as automakers scale, and there are some affordable plug-in models out there (not to mention, the used EV market is starting to take off) but it’s still top of mind for many to reach the coveted $25,000 mark. EV affordability is becoming more and more crucial as the industry shifts from selling to early adopters to targeting a less enthusiastic wave of buyers. Tesla rival Lucid has discussed similar plans as Tesla to scale enough in order to bring costs down for buyers. Volkswagen unveiled a close contender, the roughly $26,000 ID.2all concept, but that won’t ever make its way to the US. More recently, experts said Tesla’s plans to build in Mexico could be its golden ticket to bringing a $25.000 car to the masses. +++
+++ The production version of the VOLKSWAGEN ID.GTI concept is already in development within VW’s R&D team and its boss, Kai Grünitz, said the new MEB Entry platform on which it will be based “offers enough power and acceleration to give you the GTI feeling when you drive this car”. Grünitz confirmed that a drivable prototype already exists, and it is only marginally smaller than the Munich show concept car revealed earlier this week, and not quite as aggressive in its styling. The VW engineers are working on giving the GTI production car “an agile steering feel and a very smooth way of driving it through the curves” and an electronic differential to boost handling. Grünitz added: “We want to make it agile, really direct and so you can feel the road with the damper settings. It’ll be fast but smooth and it’ll need more power than the ID.2all”. It will use the same-sized battery as the ID.2 on which it is based, but there will be hardware changes to ensure the right voltage and cooling is delivered. The motors will be upgraded and given more power. The model will be given its own bespoke sound inspired by the internal-combustion-engined GTIs of today, but the driver will have the option of turning this off. However, it will not be given a simulated gearbox feel, as has featured on the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N hot hatch. Grünitz added that VW is also working on 2 or 3 special gadgets and features that will be bespoke to the GTI that will “put a smile on your face”. The production GTI will be one of the first new-era VWs created using the firm’s new ‘love brand’ mantra, and when asked if there were any other models that Grünitz would like to see reinvented for the electric era, he ruled out a reborn Beetle, because that car would have limited long-term market appeal. However, he hinted that a “dream car” as a “shining star” at the top of the VW range was under consideration and that this would be a “sporty model”. Design sketches already exist of this project, said Grünitz. A headliner at the 2023 Munich motor show, the hot hatch variant of the upcoming ID 2 is earmarked to head Volkswagen’s new entry-level electric car line-up with a front-mounted electric motor, specially tuned sport suspension, traditional GTI design elements and a price expected to start at around €30.000. “Production has already been decided as part of our electric offensive”, said Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schäfer, in a clear statement of intent for the first-ever electric GTI model. “It remains sporty, technologically progressive and accessible but now has a new interpretation for tomorrow’s world: electric, fully connected and extremely emotive”. Schäfer said the production version of the ID.GTI would be revealed in 2026 and be on sale in early 2027. Confirmation of the hot ID.2 comes after Schäfer told that he was seeking to ensure long-standing Volkswagen names like GTI are retained on future electric models. “We have iconic names”, he said. “It would be crazy to let them die and slip away”. However, the 2-year-old GTX branding will not be scrapped amid the move to retain GTI, as it will continue service on 4-wheeldrive sporting models. The R badge will be reserved for only the most rapid all-paw performance models, Volkswagen said. The basis for the ID.GTI is the same shortened version of Volkswagen’s existing MEB platform as the standard ID.2, dubbed MEB Entry. It houses a front-mounted electric motor and what Schäfer describes as a “large” battery (likely the larger 56 kWh pack that will be available in the ID.2). Technical details are yet to be made public. However, the development of the baby GTI has been twinned with the range-topping version of the upcoming Cupra Raval, which is claimed to develop up to 231 hp, sufficient to provide it with 0-100 kph time of 6.9 seconds and a range of up to 430 km; figures which would stand the ID.2 GTI in good stead against hot hatch rivals including the Abarth 500e, the Alpine A290 and the new Mini Cooper Electric. As with the original Golf and its genre-defining GTI sibling, the standard and hot ID.2 share the same body-in-white. Inspired by the simplistic, Giorgetto Giugiaro styling of the original Golf, the new concept has been imbued with a number of classic GTI design touches, signaling Volkswagen’s intent to uphold the legacy of its most revered models. +++