+++ At Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in 2022, the tech company teased a version of APPLE CAR PLAY that would take over every screen in a vehicle: infotainment, digital gauge cluster, passenger display, you name it. A carmaker would work with Apple to create a brand-appropriate skin, a vehicle’s gauge cluster showing a series of gauges built in that skin atop Apple CarPlay. This would extend to radio tuning and adjusting the HVAC controls in vehicles without physical knobs, and it would mean true phone projection to vehicle displays instead of the phone needing to communicate with an in-car version of an app. At the time, Apple said integration would begin “late next year”, an eventual roster of potential partners including Audi, Ford, Honda, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Polestar, Porsche, Renault and Volvo. It’s now late next year, mockup images revealing that Aston Martin and Porsche will lead the way with this. Behind the skin, the new CarPlay integration gives an iPhone access to the vehicle’s sensor suite in what Apple calls a “privacy-friendly way” that doesn’t track or store vehicle info. This is how the app can put the vehicle vitals on show like the speedo and tach, fuel level gauge and coolant temp. The rendering makes clear how this could be differentiated. It looks like it could be a regular manufacturer setup running CarPlay. 2 digital gauges in the cluster suggest Aston Martin’s ornate analog dials, separated by an album cover for the current media. The infotainment screen is broken into a familiar partition of 3 areas. The Porsche example hints at what’s possible thanks to greater widget integration. Set in a German-market car, it doesn’t reflect any Porsche vehicle interior we’re aware of. We’re going to guess this is a battery-powered model as well, the large speedo readout in the center placed inside a gauge circle that isn’t a tachometer. On the left inside the cluster, a German speed limit sign sits inside an analog-look dial showing kilometers per hour; to the right, details about trip information. The infotainment screen in the center shows a standard CarPlay layout against Porsche’s heritage houndstooth background. Further right, in front of the passenger, there’s the Apple calendar app, media info, navigation info, and the weather. The layout of the infotainment screen and the number of widgets in the passenger display indicate there are going to be a lot of options. Aston Martin apparently plans to roll this out with its updated range of cars coming in 2024. Porsche is less specific about a debut, spokesperson Calvin Kim telling The Verge the integration will “go one level further” than currently done in Porsche vehicles. Of note, the latest Cayenne already lets owners control HVAC and ambient lighting by using the MyPorsche app in CarPlay. I might expect this next-level evolution with the delayed but imminent battery-electric Macan. +++
+++ China’s economy may be spluttering, with growth faltering and big property developers collapsing, but one industry has continued to rev harder. China is the world’s electric vehicle leader, with 64% of total production and 59% of global EV sales in 2022, according to the World Economic Forum. One of its biggest EV producers, BYD , looks set to topple Tesla’s position as the world’s top seller of electric cars. BYD sold just 3.000 fewer EVs than Elon Musk’s company in the 3 months to September 30. Analysts say it’s highly likely to overtake Tesla when fourth-quarter data are released sometime in early January. Tesla sells just 4 cars: the Model S and Model 3 sedans and the Model X and Y crossovers. They all have premium price tags. In contrast, BYD focuses on affordability, which has helped it win a wider range of customers and foster a new generation of EV drivers. “What BYD have done is try to serve a broader market base with more affordable vehicles, in addition to some entry-level luxury vehicles”, Seth Goldstein, a Morningstar equity strategist, told. “They take the approach of offering vehicles to where there are the largest number of customers as a strategy to grow volumes. We see through the results, that’s worked pretty well”. Goldstein said demand for Teslas remained strong, but argued Musk’s company would have to “offer an affordable vehicle to compete with BYD” if it wanted to keep its crown as the global EV sales leader. Tesla sold 1.3 million cars worldwide last year, and Musk says he wants that number to hit 20 million by 2030. Chinese companies have also benefited from China’s control of EV battery supply chains and the government’s drives to build charging networks. Batteries account for around 30% to 50% of the cost of an EV. China has developed a significant advantage in the field partly thanks to its control of the supply chains needed to make the batteries, Ilaria Mazzocco, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, previously told. Chinese companies now “dominate labor and manufacturing infrastructure, as well as mining of critical materials required to make EVs”, Morgan Stanley wrote in a July research report. According to the report, “up to 90% of the EV battery supply chain relies on China”, while China’s two largest battery makers, CATL and BYD, control more than half of the market. Competitors such as the US have been hamstrung by China’s early moves in the sector, and they are now “more concerned about globalization-integrated supply chains” that were not an issue for the Chinese government, Mazzocco said. China’s government has also paid attention to a crucial piece of the EV jigsaw, according to Morningstar’s Goldstein. “China has the largest charging infrastructure network in the world in any highway system. Essentially every 50 km along major highways there’s going to be a high-powered charger and this goes a long way in overcoming roadtrip anxiety”, he told. Norway also has a similarly comprehensive network and Goldstein says such infrastructure encourages drivers to buy EVs, even without government subsidies. The Norwegian numbers speak for themselves: EVs account for 87% of new car sales, with plug-in hybrids at 6%. Beijing axed a EV subsidy scheme that’d been running for 11 years in 2022, but sales have still held up. China logged record EV sales in October and is expected to close out the year with another 2 strong months, according to Rho Motion data. “2023 is set to be another banner year for China in terms of EV sales”, the data company said. Seeing BYD overtake Tesla in the EV race may not bring any festive cheer for Elon Musk this holiday season. But perhaps he should be grateful the Chinese company only sells electric buses in America but not its cars; not yet anyway. Stella Li, BYD’s North American chief, told the company “doesn’t need to go into every market, just ones it feels are ready for its offerings”. +++
+++ Unveiled earlier in 2023, the LAMBORGHINI Lanzador concept previews the Italian brand’s first series-produced electric car. It features a 2+2 interior, which isn’t new for Lamborghini (the company built 2+2 GTs for decades), but it’s characterized by a rather unconventional design pegged at the intersection of crossovers, coupes, and station wagons. Here’s why designers and engineers chose to straddle segments. “We were scouting opportunities in our portfolio and there are 2 segments that we are not covering. One is the sedan segment and the other is the 2+2 segment”, Federico Foschini, Lamborghini’s chief marketing and sales officer, told. His team quickly ruled out taking Lamborghini into the sedan segment for the first time, as the body style had at least 2 strikes against it. “One, it was already clear when we decided to do the Urus instead of the Estoque that the sedan segment is declining, while the SUV segment is picking up. The second point is that, when it comes to sedans, it’s a very regional discussion. In China, which is one of the main sedan markets, you need a long-wheelbase car: a chauffeur-driven car. This is not Lamborghini. This can’t be Lamborghini”, he said. Meanwhile, the 2+2 body style is more closely aligned with the firm’s image in terms of design, performance and heritage. And yet, the Lanzador eschews the usual GT proportions defined by a low ride height and a long hood. Mitja Borkert’s design team did that on purpose. “It is the volume of a super-sports car in a higher position. It’s as simple as that”, Borkert, Lamborghini’s head of design, told. Instead of looking toward the past, or taking a peek at what rivals are doing, he drew inspiration from the firm’s current range of models. “We were working on the Huracán Sterrato, where you have this higher seating position. There’s the exterior cladding, and it looks quite rugged. I said that a cleaner version of the Sterrato could work perfectly for the 2+2. It’s a spaceship with a higher position”, he summed up. As for the proportions, Borkert cited the electric drivetrain as one reason to think beyond the classic definition of a 2+2 gran turismo. “The tradition of having a long hood is giving you the impression that there’s a huge engine, and that is not the case when you have an electric car. An electric car is different, and we don’t want to follow what others are doing. It would have been a follower of what some of our competitors have been doing for years. We tried stuff like this, but we decided it’s not authentic”, Borkert noted. Speaking of the drivetrain, it’s too early to tell precisely what the Lanzador will be powered by. All we know is that it will be fully electric, so a V12-powered variant of it isn’t in the pipeline. For context, the concept used a pair of electric motors for through-the-road all-wheel-drive, and it put 1.300 horsepower under the driver’s right foot. The production model isn’t due out until 2028, so Lamborghini has time to fine-tune it. +++
+++ The next dish on LUCID ’s plate is the Air Sapphire. The dish after that is the Gravity, a SUV entering production late next year if the horrors and the situations can stay out of the way. The dish after that will be a more affordable vehicle than either the Air sedan or Gravity and Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson is out to ensure the public understands what this third dish is and when it will be served. He told: “After the Gravity we’re going to do Tesla Model 3 and Model Y competitors. We think around €65.000 (Dutch pricing); something like that. It’s too early to say, but that’s the vision”. He stresses the €65.000 mark is a goal, adding, “don’t hold me to that”. However, he also stresses how important an affordable car is to himself and the company in saying, “That is exactly why I go to work. I am not here to build an expensive car that only rich people can afford”, and, “we’re going to compete in that market: high-volume family car”. The due date is “mid-late decade.” Let’s say 5 years, as a placeholder. As many have pointed out, an EV that starts at €65.000 is only competing with the flagship Tesla Model 3 Performance trim. I do know that the plan is for many OEMs to be either entirely EV or EV-only for new models by then, a transition that could provide a more balanced landscape for Lucid’s entry or obscure it in a mosh pit of competitors. What won’t change for Rawlinson is the quest for efficiency, the CEO saying what every serious EV player says, “The biggest impact on the mass market car will be with smaller battery packs”. He doesn’t talk up solid-state batteries or alternate chemistries, though, only extracting more gains. “How can we compete? Because we’ve got the most advanced technology, which means we can go farther with less battery, and the battery is the most high-cost item of an electric car. So if you can go a certain distance with less battery, you can make that car more cheaply than anyone else”. “My vision is could we get to 10 km per kWh?”, he asked, noting that Lucid’s at 8 km with the Air. “If we could get 10 km per kWh and you only need 240 km range, that’s a 24 kWh pack. That’s $4,000, particularly with a bit of industrializing scale and battery manufacture. That’s what we need to make a €33.000 car and that’s what the environment and the world needs urgently to get masses into electric cars. You need the €33.000 car”. I agree with the efficiency and inexpensive car, but I’m not sold on Rawlinson’s other comments about how much range future drivers will “need” from a charge, numbers like 240 and 400 km far too low. But it’s too early to dice that up, let’s get to the Gravity and see what the world looks like then. +++
+++ NIO will rival Mercedes-Benz’s upmarket Maybach brand with the ET9, its new flagship coupe-crossover arriving in 2025. The dual-motor 4-wheel drive car acts as a technological showcase for Nio’s electric platform and drivetrain and sets new standards of efficiency, luxury, space and safety for production electric cars, said CEO William Li. Launching in its home market at the start of 2025, the 160.000 euro ET9 is not only Nio’s most advanced but also its most expensive model to date. It’s also its largest, too, with a length of over 5.300 mm, width of 2.016 mm and height of 1.620 mm making it over 199 mm longer, 29 mm wider and 115 mm higher than the Nio ET7 saloon launched in 2022. Riding on the largest version of Nio’s new ET3 electric car platform, it has an ultra-long wheelbase of 3.250 mm, some 190 mm longer than that of the ET7 saloon. During the presentation of the ET9 at the brand’s annual Nio Day in Xi’an, China, Li referenced the Mercedes-Maybach S-class, Audi A8, BMW 7-series and Porsche Panamera, providing an insight into the sort of luxury car competition the new Nio model is aiming to unseat. Li describes the ET9 as a “landjet”; a term first coined by Audi for a futuristic electric concept unveiled in 2020. It combines the lines of a traditional saloon with those of a modern-day SUV and rides on wheels up to 23 inch in diameter, and with up to 200 mm of ground clearance. Inside, the bold crossover receives a luxurious cabin with seating for 4. The rear seats have been developed specifically for the ET9 and offer 18-way electric adjustment together with a reclining function, giving a seat back angle as low as 45 degrees. A pair of 14.5-inch OLED are also attached to the rear of the front seats. Li says the elevated seating combines with the high riding attributes to provide occupants with “a reassuring and calm experience” that is further enhanced by a full-length glass roof. The interior is divided down the middle by a so-called executive bridge. It provides the rear seat occupants with fold-out tables and a 10-litre mini refrigerator. The rear also receives up to 7 electric sunshades. At the heart of the new 4-seat crossover is a newly developed 900 volt electric architecture combined with a proprietary 1200 volt silicon carbide (SIC) power module. It permits battery charging at up to 600 kW and peak charging curve of 765 amps; sufficient for a 400 km+ top-up in electric energy in 5 minutes, according to Nio. The adoption of the new electric architecture has seen Nio further reduce the size and weight of the electric motors and wiring harness in the ET9 compared to the existing 800-volt system used by the ET7. Further developments incorporated on the big crossover include Nio’s new NX9031 AD chip set. The 5 nm, 32-core automotive grade processor has over 50 billion transistors and is claimed to be capable of running over 6 trillion commands per second at speeds 75 percent faster than the automotive industry average, says Li. This allows concurrent processing for sensing, computing, planning and control. Power for the ET9 is supplied by 2 newly developed electric motors. Included is what Nio describes as the world’s first 925 volt W-Pin motor. Capable of operating at up to 20.000 rpm, it is mounted at the rear and develops up to 340 kW. The front houses an induction motor with a power density of up to 2.6 kW/kg and a peak output of 180 kW. Electric energy is provided by a swappable 120 kW lithium-ion battery. It uses Nio’s new 46105 cylindrical cells and has a cell energy density of 292 Wh/kg. The new range-topping Nio model is fully compatible with the Shanghai-based company’s new fourth-generation Power Charger and Power Swap Station; the latter of which is claimed to support up to 23 batteries, a maximum of 480 battery swaps per day and operate 22 percent faster than existing stations. The technical advances brought to the ET9 extend to its newly developed chassis, which Nio says operates fully by-wire. The operation of the throttle, gear shift, steering, suspension and brakes are all controlled electronically instead of mechanically. The ET9’s fully active SkyRide suspension system is claimed to be more advanced than that adopted by the third-generation Porsche Panamera, providing individual wheel control, wheel travel of up to 220mm and four-wheel steering.+++
+++ The TESLA MODEL Y is reportedly up for a refresh in 2024. The Model Y will initially get its updates in China, but doesn’t detail when similar changes will make their way to the European version. People familiar with the matter say the refreshed Model Y could reach mass production as early as mid-2024. As for the contents of the refresh, the sources say we can expect “much more obvious exterior and interior changes than the most-recent update in October”. In case you missed the news on the Model Y update a couple of months ago, it consisted of minor changes like adding ambient lighting, a new wheel option and small tweaks to both range and acceleration figures. These changes were officially announced for China. Th incoming refresh will be similar in scope to the refresh we saw for the Model 3 earlier this year. That means the Model Y could be getting a fresh look on the outside, a new interior design, suspension enhancements, more interior tech and general refinement improvements. There’s no telling exactly what or how Tesla will change the Model Y for its refresh, but news of one incoming is a big deal considering how well the crossover sells across the globe. We’ll hopefully have more news on the Model Y next year when the changes are expected to be announced. +++
+++ The battery-electric VOLKSWAGEN ID.GTI is three years away. We’re talking about the hot hatch that will be based on the coming ID.2all supermini said to arrive in 2025, the automaker targeting a price around 27.500 euro in the Netherlands. Andreas Mindt, VW’s head of design, posted a sketch of the ID.GTI alongside the vintage GTI with the caption, “The Golf GTI was first unveiled at the 1975 Frankfurt Motor Show with a production run of 5.000 units. To date, we have sold more than 2.8 million. In 2026, we will introduce an electric version of this iconic model”. That’s likely for a debut, however. As for when it goes on the market, brand CEO Thomas Schäfer told the ID.GTI won’t come to market until early 2027, roughly priced somewhere around 33.000 euro. The concept’s length and wheelbase are virtually identical to the Polo GTI, although it’s actually 4 cm taller than the Golf GTI. Cargo space is similarly a little smaller than the Golf GTI. There’s a little more space overall, perhaps due to its greater height, with the back seat folded. The VW R&D team is already behind the wheel of a drivable prototype, team lead Kai Grunitz telling the prototype is a tiny bit smaller than the show car. As for range, the standard ID.2all is expected to offer 2 batteries of either 38 kWh or 56 kWh, the larger one returning a predicted range of 450 km on Europe’s WLTP cycle. The ID.GTI is sounding more like a foil for the Mini Cooper SE John Cooper Works, which is rated at 400 miles of range from its 54.2 kWh battery on the European cycle. The few details we have on it predict more than the 223 hp in the ID2.all, front-wheel-drive only, a locking front differential, a “GTI Experience Control” mode selector shaped like a golf ball between the seats and able to tweak steering and throttle responses as well as manufactured sounds, and wireless charging pads that feature magnetic locking. If none of this tantalizes you, the Golf is making the electric transition, too. Although it might lose its rights to the GTI name, we know VW has plans for tuning. The R division’s been dreaming up all-electric scenarios for a while now, and the GTX nameplate is reserved for all-wheel-drive performance trims, a perfect way for the Golf to differentiate itself. +++
