+++ CITROEN has just launched the 4th generation of its C3, but the company has bigger, bolder plans for the forthcoming all-new C3 Aircross, which will count not only the Nissan Juke and Renault Captur as rivals, but also larger seven-seaters like the Dacia Jogger when it arrives next year. The French brand has resharpened its focus on “affordable mobility for all” with the new C3 and ë-C3, delivering a car that’s 25 percent faster to make than the outgoing generation and likely to be priced from as little as €20.000 in base petrol spec. Clearly tasked with carrying parent group Stellantis’s fight to value king Dacia, Citroën will use the C3’s new ‘Smart Platform’ architecture and many of its build techniques with the second-generation C3 Aircross. The firm teased the new SUV model at the recent launch of the C3, and revealed that it will be available with either 5 or 7 seats. Citroën’s director of Product and Strategy, Laurence Hansen said: “You will see the C3 Aircross early next year and you will see that there will be no question of the C3 and C3 Aircross competing against each other”. Citroën’s head of design, Pierre LeClercq, admitted that the SUV influence on the C3 (which sits around 10cm taller than most of its conventional rivals) has allowed his team to give the next C3 Aircross more of an overt off-roader look: “The next car is super-cool and we’re looking forward to presenting it”, he told. “It’s a great family of products, in fact, really complimentary”. The next C3 Aircross will be offered with petrol, hybrid and full-electric powertrains, although Citroën may step up its entry-level petrol model from the C3 supermini’s base 75 hp normally aspirated unit, most likely to a turbocharged 100 hp 3-cylinder PureTech 1.2-litre. Above this, the Aircross could also be offered with a choice of hybrids, featuring either the same 100 hp unit or a 130 hp unit, paired up with Stellantis’s newly developed dual-clutch automatic gearbox, incorporating a 29 hp electric motor to boost fuel economy and allow spells of zero-emissions urban running. The electric version, meanwhile, will get the same 44 kWh battery and 112 hp motor as the ë-C3, although Citroen may elect to use the Aircross’s longer wheelbase to offer a larger pack in due course. Inside, it’s almost certain to feature the same dashboard layout as the C3, with all versions getting an ultra-slim instrument display, designed to be viewed above the steering wheel, and a 10-inch infotainment system. The Smart Platform has its roots in the Indian market, although it does adopt some components from the CMP underpinnings used by the likes of the Citroën C4 and Opel Corsa. It also incorporates significant modifications to both the front and rear crash structures to comply with tougher European legislation. The architecture is flexible in lengths of front and rear overhangs, as well as wheelbase. Stellantis’s head of Smart Platform, Renaud Tourte, told that the C3 is “towards zero” on the sliding scale. In fact it’s understood that up to 7 cars will use the set-up, including Fiat’s forthcoming Panda, which would be the only model in the group shorter than the baby Citroën. Tourte admitted that the Smart Platform could conceivably support cars “at the smaller end of the C-segment”; this could mean that the C3 Aircross could stretch to beyond 4.4 metres in length, allowing the third row of occasional seats to give Citroen a rival for the Dacia Jogger, as well as the next-generation Dacia Duster. Citroen’s push to make its smaller models more affordable means it is now adopting a similar approach to that of Dacia when it comes to safety: complying with regulations and aiming for good crash protection, but not necessarily asking customers to foot the bill for the electronic safety aids required to secure strong star ratings in the Euro NCAP test procedure. On the topic, Laurence Hansen said: “When you ask a passenger car customer to talk about NCAP, they don’t care. It’s just for B2B clients to tick the box. So we are not running after stars; it’s no longer the story. The new C3 would be at the same level as the current C3; I don’t know, if you crashed a current C3 today, how many stars it would have. And I don’t care, because I know the car is safe”. +++
+++ First it was Ford, then Stellantis and now a GENERAL MOTORS factory has been added to the growing list of highly profitable plants where the United Auto Workers union is on strike. About 5.000 workers walked out at GM’s factory in Arlington, Texas, that makes big, high margin SUVs such as the Chevrolet Tahoe and Cadillac Escalade. The strikes in Texas, as well as at a Stellantis plant that makes lucrative Ram pickups in Michigan, are aimed at getting the companies to capitulate to union demands for richer wages and benefits than the automakers so far have offered. But judging from statements out of Detroit, the companies are at or near the limit on how much they’re willing to budge to end a series of targeted strikes now involving 46.000 workers that began on September 15. About 32% of the union’s 146.000 members at the companies are on strike, and the automakers are laying off workers at other plants as parts shortages cascade through their systems. In announcing the Arlington strike, UAW President Shawn Fain noted that GM posted big earnings on Tuesday, yet its offer to the union lags behind Ford, preserving a 2-tier wage structure and offering the weakest 401(k) contribution of all 3 automakers. “It’s time GM workers and the whole working class get their fair share”, Fain said. But General Motors’ CEO Mary Barra told investors on the company’s earnings conference call that the automaker already has made a record offer and won’t sign a contract that jeopardizes the company’s future. “We will not agree to a contract that isn’t responsible for our employees and for our shareholders”, she said. “We need to make sure we have a contract that is going to allow us to compete and win in what is a challenging market for EVs and also allows us to support the business that we have with strong margins in our internal combustion engine business”. After the union took down the pickup plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan, north of Detroit, Stellantis said it was “outraged” by the escalation because it improved its offer to include a 23% wage increase over 4 years. Both automakers have said they won’t stick themselves with high labor costs that would make their vehicles more costly than nonunion competitors. Talks continue with Stellantis with new offers from the union either coming or delivered at both companies. The status of talks with GM wasn’t clear. Early on, the union struck at plants that didn’t make the companies’ most expensive and profitable vehicles. But as the strikes dragged on, Fain has targeted truck and SUV plants in an effort to empty the companies’ wallets. At the same time, workers are getting by on $500 per week of strike pay, hardly enough to pay the monthly bills. The payments also are making a dent in the union’s strike fund, which was $825 million when the strikes began. Fain said it was still healthy. Thomas Kochan, a professor of work and employment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said adding the General Motors SUV plant means the negotiations are at a pivotal point. “The pressures for reaching an agreement that everybody can live with are immense on both the company and the union,” he said. “The effects of an expanded strike across the 3 companies and prolonged over time would be profound, and would have very serious negative effects on the companies and on the workforce”. The companies, he said, are close to the limits on their offers and the union is close to what it legitimately can expect to get. “There comes a time where the parties have to have very private conversations in negotiations”, Kochan said. “It’s time for the public rhetoric to stop”. On the picket line in Texas, Ethan Pierce, a material handler with more than 23 years at GM, said workers sacrificed, making concessions to help save GM when it was in dire financial trouble around the 2008 financial crisis. “We started asking for some of our stuff back. They didn’t want to give it to us”, Pierce said. Now, with inflation driving up prices, workers are struggling, he said. Among the sticking points is GM’s refusal to let workers go on strike over plans to close factories, Pierce said. “If you’re being treated unfairly, sooner or later you have to stand up”, he said. “When we get treated better, everybody else gets treated better”. The addition of the Arlington plant came just after GM announced strong third-quarter financial results. The SUVs are among GM’s most profitable vehicles. The company on Tuesday posted a net profit of just over $3 billion for the quarter, down 7% from a year ago. But the company reported strong demand and prices for its vehicles. GM later said that it’s disappointed in the escalation at Arlington, calling the strike “unnecessary and irresponsible” and said it will have negative ripple effects on dealers, suppliers and communities. Because the striking plants supply or get parts from other factories, the automakers say they’ve been forced to lay off another 7.672 workers. And shares of General Motors are down more than 14% this year, touching lows that haven’t been seen since 2020 during the pandemic, when the company’s sales growth tumbled almost 11%. Last week, GM made an offer that increased its previous one by about 25% in total value, the company said. Barra said GM has made a record offer to the union that will raise top factory pay to $40.39 per hour, or roughly $84,000 per year in 4 years. The company also said the strike is expected to cut pretax earnings by $800 million this year, and another $200 million per week after that. And those estimates were made prior to the Arlington strike, GM said. +++
+++ HYUNDAI on Thursday reported its third-quarter net income of 3.3 trillion won ($2.4 billion), up 134 percent from a year earlier. The company said in a regulatory filing that it posted 3.82 trillion won in operating profit for the quarter, compared with 1.55 trillion won a year ago. Sales rose 8.7 percent to 41 trillion won. The earnings exceeded market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 2.87 trillion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm. +++
+++ Automakers from JAPAN and car buyers have earned a reputation for being slow to embrace the shift to electric vehicles, but an unlikely domestic winner offers a hint of how EVs can evolve to suit different markets. Introduced last year, Nissan’s Sakura jointly developed with Mitsubishi, which sells it as the eK X, is the best-selling EV in Japan this year. The models jointly won Japan’s Car of the Year award in 2022 and account for roughly half of all EV sales in the country, with 35.099 units sold so far this year, data by auto industry groups shows. “We launched a ‘kei’ EV as it suits Japanese people’s everyday needs and road conditions here”, said Keiko Kondo, Nissan’s chief marketing manager for Sakura’s domestic business, in an interview. The dimensions of the small, boxy EVs put them squarely in a class of minicars known as kei (which means “light” in Japanese) making them ideal for navigating the country’s narrow roads. With better fuel economy and lower taxes, they’re popular among workers and families living outside major cities, where public transportation is sparse. With an electric motor providing greater acceleration and speeds surpassing other minicars, the Sakura delivers a zippy driving experience that’s more like a regular-sized car. While the battery offers a more limited range of about 180 kilometers, it can be fully charged overnight plugged into a household outlet. A salesman at a Nissan dealership in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, said many customers buy it as an extra car to run errands around town. Takatoshi Ehara, 59-year-old resident of Saitama Prefecture, bought a Sakura to replace the hybrid vehicle his family used as a second car because their children were older, and they no longer needed a big car.”My wife’s commute is only 6 kilometers, so we switched to the Sakura”, he said. “I also drive it and we are quite satisfied”. The Sakura and eK X are leading the way in an otherwise still subdued EV market. Fully electric cars made up just 1.5% of new-car sales in Japan last year. The minicar’s price of around ¥2 million ($13,300), which includes government subsidies, makes it “an EV accessible to all”, Kondo said. A decline in the number of gas stations in suburbs and rural areas is also contributing to the spread of the EVs, because they can easily be charged at home. Among domestic manufacturers, Suzuki, Toyota and its subsidiary Daihatsu are introducing a commercial minicar EV aimed at the business market by March and Honda is scheduled to introduce one in 2024. Still, not all carmakers are on the minicar bandwagon, preferring instead to focus on producing larger EVs that can generate bigger profits; that’s clear based on the models they plan to show at the Japan Mobility Show this week. It’s also hard to translate success in Japan into overseas sales: the Sakura and eK X aren’t sold globally for various reasons, including their inability to meet the collision standards of other countries, or regulations that apply to engine displacement or top speeds. The Sakura and eK X have a top speed of around 130 km/h. Kei minicars can’t drive on U.S. roads, while Mercedes-Benz has been in the segment with its Smart cars, first with gasoline-powered engines and now as an electric car with Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. Nissan will continue to have an edge when it comes to EV sales, according to Kondo, because of its dealership network and experience in selling EVs, especially with the Leaf, the first EV made by a major global manufacturer, since 2010. Nissan had reached the milestone of selling more than 650.000 units of the Leaf worldwide as of July 25. “Being the pioneer in Japan’s EV industry, we aim to keep Nissan as the No. 1 EV seller next year and the year after that”, she said. Nissan plans to launch 19 EV models by fiscal 2030, and also begin using solid-state batteries by 2028. More broadly, it is still a challenge getting drivers in Japan to shift to EVs. High price tags, lack of charging infrastructure and the availability of more hybrid options in Japan are the main reasons why fully electric cars haven’t been embraced, according to Yoshiaki Kawano, associate director at S&P Global Mobility. Hybrids accounted for about half of total cars sold in Japan during September, according to data by the Japan Automobile Dealers Association and a kei vehicle industry body named Zenkeijikyo. “As far as battery EVs are concerned, we may see a big market in China and some European nations”, said Koji Endo, managing director at SBI Securities, adding that U.S. uptake won’t be as much as the previous 2 markets. For Japan, “we probably will never see EVs taking 50% of market share at least for the time being”. Yoshinori Suwa, a 41-year-old Sakura owner, said the subsidy and Nissan’s help in installing a charging system at his home in Fukushima Prefecture brought down Sakura’s cost to as low as a second-hand car. “Its running costs are cheap”, he said. “More than anything, I’m most happy about being free from the hassle of refueling gas and changing the oil”. +++
+++ Flying cars, 4-legged walking robots and car windshields that double as movie screens are among the innovations dazzling visitors to the JAPAN MOBILITY SHOW . A total of 178 companies (including automakers, NTT, Panasonic, Sony and Japan Airlines) are participating in the show’s Tokyo Future Tour, an exhibition presenting a vision for future types of mobility. The tour features 4 themes (life, food, play and emergency) and more than 100 different forms of mobility, including flying cars and vehicles to provide assistance after a disaster. Major glass manufacturer AGC has revealed window glass that lets users adjust the brightness inside a vehicle by allowing more or less light in. Nippon Sheet Glass has shown tech that enables movies and other images to be projected on the windshield. These innovations aim to make the vehicle interior more comfortable for passengers as autonomous driving becomes more widespread. Joby Aviation, a U.S. company developing flying vehicles, will present a model of an aircraft it plans to operate in Japan. This will be the first time the vehicle has been publicly displayed outside the United States. “We want to show this could work well with other vehicles”, said an official in charge of Joby’s Japan operations. The mobility show, which was formerly known as the Tokyo Motor Show, also features a business pitch contest for startups likely to grow quickly in fields including new technologies and app development. Gone is the monopoly on the show by automakers and their subsidiaries. Now promise lies in original ideas born of broad collaboration. The 2023 edition of the Japan Mobility Show clearly illustrates the once-in-a-century transformation taking place in the auto industry, as start-ups and companies from other fields comprise a significant portion of this year’s record number of exhibitors. Will Japanese automakers be at the forefront of next-generation mobility, with automobiles at the core? At the gate to the event visitors are welcomed by a large screen presenting the futuristic concept that “driving” will become a time to rest. The person in the video on the screen is not actually driving. Instead, they’re relaxing as their vehicle discharges negative ions into its interior, making them feel like they’re spending time in a tranquil forest. Major automakers are exhibiting electric and other types of vehicles that are under development, giving them a next-generation feel by doubling their cruising range or featuring automatic driving and other cutting-edge technologies. Subaru, which has an aerospace division, is showcasing a flying car that the company has been developing. “I’m sure that our exhibits alone will show visitors the difference between the Tokyo Motor Show and the Japan Mobility Show”, said president and chief executive officer Atsushi Osaki. This year’s show is the first to use the new name. When the event was called the Tokyo Motor Show, automobiles took center stage. In contrast, the Japan Mobility Show is focusing on convenience, comfort and entertainment in traveling, turning the event into an opportunity to promote the value of mobility itself. “I think you’ll feel that the latest edition of the show isn’t just about changing the event’s name. We’re grateful that a lot of companies have gathered here”, said Akio Toyoda, chairman of the Toyota and chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association. +++
+++ Hyundai and KIA have overhauled their design units to launch an overarching design management for the 2 brands. The move represents the global automotive giant’s desire to compete in the design of future electric vehicles and advanced mobility such as purpose-built vehicles (PBV), robotics, urban air mobility and regional air mobility. The group’s 2 subsidiaries have merged their design centers to introduce the Global Design Headquarters. The new headquarters has 2 sub-offices: Hyundai Genesis Global Design Center and Kia Global Design Center. The former is split further into Hyundai Design Center and Genesis Design Center. The reshuffle has equipped the group with better working environments for design work dedicated to each of its sub-brands by maximizing their uniqueness, the group said. The design motto for Hyundai, for example, is “sensuous sportiness”, while Kia’s design direction is “opposites united” and Genesis’ is “athletic elegance”. The overhaul has taken place in leadership as well. Luc Donckerwolke, chief creative officer of Hyundai Motor Group, has been given new responsibility as chief design officer for the new headquarters. Lee Sang-yup, executive vice president of Hyundai Motor Company and head of Hyundai Design Center, has been charged with leading the Hyundai and Genesis Global Design Center. Karim Habib, executive vice president of Kia, has become head of the new Kia Global Design Center. Donckerwolke said the group’s latest organization reshuffle will lead to development of innovative designs for future mobility to be introduced by Hyundai and Kia. “Amidst today’s fast-paced mobility market, we will broaden our path for communication with our consumers by tackling more design challenges”, he said. +++
+++ Hyundai has secured a foothold in car manufacturing operations in the Middle East through the planned construction of a $500 million automated vehicle manufacturing plant in SAUDI ARABIA . Hyundai has signed a joint venture agreement with the Public Investment Fund (PIF), a Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, to establish a complete knock-down (CKD) plant in King Abdullah Economic City, the center of the Middle Eastern country’s car industry. King Abdullah Economic City is located 100 kilometers north of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s No. 2 city. CKD refers to the assembly of vehicles after being shipped to another country as kits. The signing ceremony was held on the sidelines of the Saudi Arabia-Korea Investment Forum, attended by Hyundai Motor Group executive chair Chung Euisun, Hyundai Motor CEO Chang Jae-hoon, PIF Governor Yasir bin Othman Al-Rumayyan and PIF Deputy Governor Yazeed A. Al-Humied. After groundbreaking in 2024, the new factory is expected to begin production in 2026 with an annual output of 50.000 automobiles per year, including both internal combustion engine and electric vehicles. PIF will hold a 70 percent stake in the joint venture, while the Korean carmaker will own the remaining 30 percent. Hyundai said the new factory will be equipped with facilities tailored for the region. The carmaker plans to diversify the factory’s product lineup gradually and establish it as a manufacturing base for the Middle East and North Africa. In addition, the new plant will create thousands of jobs and enable the transfer of production technology, according to Hyundai Motor. The localization of its vehicles is also expected to accelerate the development of Saudi Arabia’s automotive and mobility ecosystem and attract further investments to the sector and the wider economy. “We are excited about the potential of this venture to drive significant advancements in vehicle production, fostering a sustainable and eco-friendly automotive future in the region”, the CEO of Hyundai said. “Our joint efforts will create opportunities for innovation and environmental progress”. Saudi Arabia has been seeking to reduce its reliance on the petroleum industry and foster various growth engines for the future. The latest partnership is part of that plan. “Partnering with Hyundai is another significant milestone for PIF in successfully enabling and accelerating the growth of Saudi Arabia’s automotive ecosystem; 1 of our 13 priority sectors”, the PIF deputy governor said. “Our investment in vehicle manufacturing with Hyundai Motor is a pivotal milestone, aligning closely with our existing stakes in Lucid and Ceer Motors, and amplifying the breadth of Saudi Arabia’s automotive and mobility value chain”. The completion of the joint venture agreement is subject to obtaining customary approvals from the relevant authorities and satisfying certain conditions. +++
+++ STELLANTIS said it will buy a 20 percent stake in Chinese electric car maker Leapmotor, making it the latest European brand seeking a foothold in the country’s highly competitive market via partnerships with local Chinese manufacturers. Hangzhou-based Leapmotor only produces electric vehicles and is relatively unknown in Europe, despite selling 10.000 cars a month in China, while Stellantis is one of the world’s largest carmakers, owning popular brands including Fiat and Opel. Under the deal, the Netherlands-based firm will spend 1.5 billion euros on the stake in Leapmotor. The 2 firms will also establish a Stellantis-led joint venture, called Leapmotor International, which will hold “exclusive rights for the export and sale, as well as manufacturing, of Leapmotor products outside Greater China”, Stellantis said. “As consolidation unfolds among the capable electric vehicles start-ups in China, it becomes increasingly apparent that a handful of efficient and agile new generation EV players, like Leapmotor, will come to dominate the mainstream segments in China”, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said in a statement. “It’s the perfect time to take a leading role in supporting the global expansion plans of Leapmotor, one of the most impressive new electric car players who has a similar tech-first, entrepreneurial mindset to ours”, he said. With 200 cars on French roads since last spring, Leapmotor is seeking to clear regulatory hurdles from the European Union in order to deploy more widely in France; its first target market in Europe. The start-up offers a compact model, the T03, priced at 26.000 euros, aimed at meeting market demand for entry-level electric cars. Leapmotor told in September that it was ready to ally with a European group, though it did not confirm rumors about a potential alliance with Stellantis. The company’s CEO, Zhu Jiangming, hailed the partnership with Stellantis as a “great milestone” in the firm’s history. Stellantis already has a presence in China, via a tie-up with the Chinese group Dongfeng Motor to sell its Peugeot and Citroen cars in the world’s second-largest economy. But it has struggled to gain a foothold, announcing last week that it would sell the 3 factories owned by that joint venture to Dongfeng Motor in line with a “strategy of reducing our assets in China”. And a joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group filed for bankruptcy last year. Other European manufacturers have also stepped up partnerships with Chinese companies to win over local customers. In July, German car giant Volkswagen announced it would invest more than 600 million euros in Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer XPeng. +++
+++ Berkshire-based firm TWR will reinvent the Tom Walkinshaw Racing name to produce what it calls “bespoke high-performance automobiles” as it seeks to “preserve and perfect the analogue driving experience”. Tom Walkinshaw Racing will be a familiar name to motorsport fans from the eighties and nineties. Established in 1975, the company specialized in creating some iconic touring cars like the Rover Vitesse and Volvo 850 Estate. But away from the track, TWR helped develop cars like the Aston Martin DB7 and Renault Clio V6, showcasing the firm’s breadth of ability. Arguably the most well-known work TWR did was the V12-powered Jaguar XJR that won Le Mans in 1988 and 1990. Fast forward to 2020 and the name was revived as a new company by Tom Walkinshaw’s son, Fergus Walkinshaw. TWR is now a separate entity to the original Tom Walkinshaw Racing, but the firm stresses it will share “much of the DNA and spirit that helped the original brand to become a world leader in performance and motorsport engineering”. Not much has been announced about TWR’s new project, but a shadowy teaser image suggests at least one full model has already been designed. TWR says it will blend modern materials with “innovative design concepts”, aiming to create a car with “performance, style, functionality and quality”. TWR says more details of its project will be published soon. Fergus Walkinshaw spoke on the announcement: “High-performance engineering runs in the blood of the Walkinshaw family, and ever since the original TWR closed its doors I have longed to find a way to continue the family legacy”. +++
+++ What you’re about to witness is a tale of the good, the bad and the undrivable. A couple of weeks ago I received a friendly ‘Hej’ (hello in Swedish, apparently) from my usual contacts at VOLVO , who reminded me that I hadn’t driven any of its cars for a while and would I like to? “Yes please” was my immediate response. The following week came a message that a Volvo ‘Brand Ambassador’ would be handing me an XC90 Recharge Ultimate T8 AWD plug-in hybrid from the press fleet the following morning. During the early part of the delivery process, Volvo did and said all the right things to demonstrate its efficiency and cool professionalism, while at the same time creating exactly the right mood prior to my week-long test drive in its expensive (€101.695) SUV. After a brief phone conversation with the company’s appointed ambassador, we agreed to meet 45 minutes later. Then the good started to turn to bad as he phoned me again from a nearby motorway service area and suggested we might have to put the proposed meeting/handover on temporary hold. “Why?” I asked. “The car’s now as dead as a dodo”, he explained. We agreed that he’d need to call out the ANWB or whoever to diagnose and fix the problem(s), before getting back to me with a progress report. Some 90 minutes later came the update that, after receiving technical assistance and checks by a professional at the roadside, the car had been brought back from the dead and was again on the road, heading my way. But not for long. Since 2004, I’ve been sent well over 1.000 test cars. And I’ve never known one of them to die en route to me. The XC90 was the first. As you can imagine, during the days since the unfortunate incident, I’ve repeatedly asked Volvo and its in-house tech experts to formally explain why and how its car suddenly and scarily achieved “dead as a dodo” (the ambassador’s words, not mine) status. The only official word from the company’s HQ has been: “The cause of the issue is still being investigated. Sorry to say that we don’t yet know what it was”. But as soon as Volvo diagnoses the technical problems with its car and sends me some detailed explanations for them, I’ll get back to you, dear reader. Not least because you’re probably as baffled as me over how a brand-new, €101.695 car can fail so spectacularly. And if anyone ever tells you press test cars are specially fettled for our benefit, think again. +++
