+++ ALFA ROMEO boss Jean-Philippe Imparato has urged European politicians to focus on protecting jobs in the car industry, rather than the names of cars, following a spat that prompted the rebranding of the brand’s new crossover. The car was rebranded from Milano to Junior just 5 days after it was revealed, after claims by Italian industry minister Adolfo Urso that it violated an Italian law that geographical names can be used only on products that are produced in Italy. The crossover will be produced at a Stellantis plant in Tychy, Poland. The law is generally applied to products such as Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Urso’s claims followed comments by Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares at the unveiling of the Milano warning the Italian government against offering incentives to Chinese and other foreign firms to establish battery and car production facilities in the country. Later, Imparato said the decision to change the name of the Milano was made despite legal advice that the name didn’t violate the law and to avoid being drawn into a political row. “When they told me it was forbidden by law (it’s not), I said: ‘Calm down: I’m not here to play politics; I’m just here to make an Alfa Romeo that’s sustainable for the future’ “. Noting that the name change “created a buzz I could never have dreamed of”, Imparato said the Milano name was revealed in December and it had been known for years that the car would be produced in Poland alongside the Jeep Avenger and Fiat 600e, with which it shares the Stellantis e-CMP platform. “If I wanted to answer the question of Giuletta and Mito owners who have wanted a B-segment car since 2021, I didn’t have any other solution than to follow the platform”, he added. “I couldn’t invent a local solution”. Imparato also noted that when Stellantis was formed in January 2021, Alfa was losing “hundreds of millions of euros” but is now profitable and that the next-generation Stelvio plus Giulia, due in 2025 and 2026, would be built in Italy. He noted that Italy would be the only country in Europe that would produce cars on both the Stellantis SLTA Medium and Large platforms, adding that “of the 5 cars in my strategy, 4 are made in Italy”. Imparato suggested that European politicians should be more focused on the growing threat of Chinese car makers that are expanding their production into Europe, which he said represents the “core” risk to Stellantis and the European car industry in the future. “When you see MG launching a car priced at €16.000 in Spain, I’m sure they are losing tonnes of cash, but they are full of cash”, he said. “You see Tesla cutting €10.000 or more and dropping European margins from 18% to 7% or 8% and you see some of our German competitors in China working at minus-40% in terms of discount to save their asses. When you see that, you have to be firm on the total production cost of each car. “There are 2 categories of guys: the ones who understand they have to move, and the ones who don’t understand they have to move. Each and every week, you’re hearing from some guys, very big ones, saying ‘we have to give up’, and this is just the beginning of the bloodbath. But some guys don’t see that. They open the door and say ‘hey, welcome’. Good luck, my friend, because don’t think they will come alone: they will come with their suppliers”. Imparato estimated that 12 million people work in the European car industry, and with 1% of the market worth around 150.000 cars, he added: “Each time a competitor catches 1% of market share, you have a question mark on one factory; 10 points of market share, 10 factories. “So I can change the name of Milano because we aren’t Italian with the car, but 1 point of market share, 150.000 cars, is 1 factory. This is very concerning, because in this factory you have people, and I don’t even speak about the suppliers. The impact could be huge”. +++
+++ ASTON MARTIN ’s flagship has been spied testing once more and looks almost ready to take the fight to Ferrari in the front-engined supercar class. It could be called Vanquish or DBS, but we do know it’ll feature a bespoke exterior design to differentiate it from the rest of the Aston Martin range. This latest image shows less camouflage on the bonnet, indicating the presence of extra air vents needed to cool the engine. There’s also a new set of alloy wheels and a quad-exhaust set up to the rear with massive exhaust tips on display. Compared to the old DBS, I believe this new model will sport a bespoke body, cutting its aesthetic ties to the DB11. Instead, the new car will feature a larger body that’s not shy about accentuating its large overhangs, creating a much more dramatic shape. The bonnet is extremely long and sits low over the front wheels, with a large slatted front grille and upright headlights that look similar to those used on the new Aston Martin Vantage. The rear looks even more dramatic thanks to a far more blocky and muscular set of rear arches that emulate the original Ian Callum-designed Aston Martin Vanquish of the 2000s. As well as more width, they also now sit as one unbroken surface with the C-pillar, punctuated by a much squarer rear quarter window. As the tail extends beyond the rear screen Aston has given it a far more aggressive built-in lip spoiler, similar in shape to the one on the limited-run Aston Martin Victor. Don’t be fooled by what looks like a full-width rear light bar, that’s merely camouflage. The real rear lights sit beneath somewhere. Behind those 21-inch wheels are a giant set of brake discs and calipers, which should provide enough stopping force for what will be one of the most powerful Aston Martins ever made. As for what engine will find its home under the bonnet, that is still very much up for speculation, The AMG-sourced twin-turbocharged V8 engine is capable of producing some serious horsepower, but I suspect the DBS’ twin-turbocharged 5.2-litre V12 engine will be utilized given the new car’s lofty positioning in the Aston Martin line up. As for the rest of the technical side, we’ll have to wait and see. As the performance flagship, we expect it to feature more than a few chassis toys to contain the expected power outputs, while not compromising too much on its GT credentials. +++
+++ It’s official: the all-new CITROEN C3 AIRCROSS will be unveiled on 18 April. Set to be bigger than its predecessor and available as a 7-seater, the new C3 Aircross will rival the family-focused Dacia Jogger, as well as small SUVs like the Nissan Juke and Renault Captur. Citroën has previously confirmed that the new C3 Aircross will be available with either 5 or 7 seats, meanwhile a brief teaser video shared by the French brand shows how the new model will look. We can see that the Aircross will indeed sport the same chunky design and many of other features seen on the 4th-generation C3 hatchback that’s arriving this summer. We can see that the new C3 Aircross will wear Citroen’s new retro-inspired badge on its nose and the same light signature as its smaller C3 sibling. But I’ve been told that the Aircross will have a tougher look and, of course, a longer rear overhang in order to accommodate an extra row of seats. We’ve yet to get a glimpse inside the new C3 Aircross, but it should feature the same dashboard layout as the C3, which incorporates an ultra-slim head-up display (rather than a traditional instrument cluster) a 10.25-inch touchscreen and small bank of physical climate controls. The new C3 Aircross will use the same ‘Smart Car’ platform as the C3 and the upcoming Opel Frontera. This will allow the C3 Aircross to be offered with pure-petrol, hybrid and fully-electric powertrains. Entry-level models are likely to use the turbocharged 100 hp 3-cylinder 1.2 PureTech petrol engine from the base C3, paired with a 6-speed manual gearbox. Above this should be a choice of hybrid setups, potentially producing 100 hp or 136 hp, both using a dual-clutch automatic gearbox with a in-built 29 hp electric motor to help boost fuel efficiency and provide some spurts of electric running. Finally the electric version, likely to be called the ë-C3 Aircross, will probably get the same 44 kWh battery and 112 hp motor as the ë-C3, although Citroën may take advantage of the longer wheelbase on the Aircross to fit a larger battery pack down the line. +++
+++ HONDA has announced a new series of electric cars for China, 3 of which will be displayed at the Beijing motor show next week. Another 3 electric vehicles will join the new crossovers and sleek saloon later to complete the Ye Series, and all 6 will enter the market in China by 2027. Ye models will all wear a new flattened version of the traditional Honda badge, rendered in white, and its operations will be operated by the brand’s joint venture partners, Dongfeng Honda and GAC Honda. Both the P7 and S7 crossovers (which are due on sale by the end of this year) will offer the choice of a single-motor rearwheel-drive or dual-motor fourwheel-drive powertrain. Honda claims the RWD variants will offer “sporty and crisp handling”, while the 4WD ones will up performance and have slightly more responsive handling. The Japanese company hasn’t revealed the interiors of the cars but said they have an led instrument panel and an assistant powered by artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, the GT Concept has a “race driver” driving position, an extra-wide windscreen and “dynamic performance”. Honda hasn’t shared any powertrain details of the low-slung saloon but said the production version would go on sale before the end of 2025. It said the designs of its Ye models are based on the MM (Man Maximum, Machine Minimum) concept, with a driving style that refines “the joy of driving”. They will be sold alongside Honda’s existing e:N electric crossovers, the smaller of which is sold in Europe as the e:Ny1. Honda said its introduction of the Ye Series will help “accelerate its transformation in China where the EV shift is proceeding rapidly”. +++
+++ MASERATI is deciding whether the next-generation Quattroporte will use an extended version of the GranTurismo’s bespoke platform, its chief engineer has told. The electric luxury saloon was originally scheduled to arrive next year as Maserati’s first model not to offer a combustion model. However, the company recently announced that it would be delayed until 2028 due to “the need to take zero risks on the performance level”, a spokesperson told. Davide Danesin, chief engineer of the Quattroporte and GranTurismo, told that development was around halfway complete before the delay. It will not start from a clean slate but could make the switch to a new architecture. The Quattroporte was previously understood to be based on STLA Large, which makes its production debut under the new Dodge Charger Daytona. Highlights of STLA Large include claimed ranges of up to 800 km and potential 0-100 kph times of around 2 seconds. Asked whether it was still the platform of choice, Danesin said Maserati had “not yet decided”. He said: “I’m not saying it’s not STLA Large. I think that the optimisation we’re looking for is using of what is already available”. To that end, the brand is also considering extending the GranTurismo Folgore’s underpinnings. Danesin said it could “potentially” work for the Quattroporte, hailing 2 key benefits of its design: agility and a driving position comparable with that of combustion-engined sports cars. These are a result of the GranTurismo’s battery layout, which arranges cells in a T-shape through the spine of the car. This means the front seats are placed next to the pack rather than on top of it, lowering the driving position compared with an EV that uses a conventional skateboard architecture. The arrangement is also said to reduce body pitch and roll. Danesin described the GranTurismo as “Giorgio-inspired”, referring to the platform that underpins the existing Alfa Romeo Giulia and Stelvio, as well as the Maserati Grecale. He said: “There are not too many common parts. There are some new parts. But some of the basic concepts behind the design have been preserved, especially the geometry of the front suspension. It’s Giorgio-inspired. Internally, we call it Giorgio Sport because this is 60% aluminium, whereas Giorgio was only steel”, Danesin also reiterated that the Quattroporte’s performance was insufficient in its previous form, highlighting problems with weight and range. He told: “The Quattroporte is an important problem for Maserati. It has to be outstanding from any perspective: style, architecture, performance. There’s also a lot of improvement coming in on electrical development in the future. The new target for range also needs to be much stronger. These days, 600 km is good enough. Maybe for a new Quattroporte, we would like more”. In addition to range, the other key factor in the decision to postpone the Quattroporte was weight. “Modern electric cars are becoming heavier and heavier, and we need to stop this tendency”, said Danesin. He added: “Putting together all this stuff, we decided that we would need some more time to optimize the package, and this is why we decided to postpone it”, The postponement of the Quattroporte means Maserati’s next electric car will be the MC20 Folgore, arriving in 2025. It will be followed by a large luxury SUV in 2027, understood to replace the ageing Levante. Maserati has previously stated that its line-up will go all-electric in 2028. CEO Davide Grasso clarified in a press conference that this does not necessarily mean it will phase out sales of combustion-engined cars globally by that date. Grasso said: “We will stand by what we announced, which is that our range will be completely electrified. As the world is moving towards electrification, it’s moving at a different pace. It’s moving at a different pace because of consumers and regulation. We are a luxury brand. We want to continue to provide the ultimate luxury to our customers, which is to choose when there is an opportunity to choose. I don’t necessarily want to commit to a specific date right now. We know that the time horizon is 2028. We can and we will be able to do it. The days that we do it around the world may vary”. +++
+++ NISSAN will soon launch 5 new electric vehicles and heading up the revised range will be the all-new Micra. Due to be unveiled in full later on this year, the electric Micra has already been teased by Nissan ahead of its entry into the rapidly growing all-electric B-segment sector. Although Nissan hasn’t confirmed the Micra name will be utilized for its entry-level EV, it appears the Japanese brand will keep its strongest nameplates for this new electric car range with the Juke gaining electrification and the Leaf transitioning into a crossover. So it’s likely that the Micra will also continue. The Micra will have plenty of tough competition when it arrives with the likes of the Opel Corsa Electric, Peugeot e-208 and Mini Cooper already on the market plus new rivals in the shape of the Volkswagen ID.2 and Cupra Raval. The closest equivalent will be the Renault 5, however, because the 2 cars will share the same underpinnings thanks to Nissan and Renault’s ‘Alliance’ partnership. Previously known as CMF-B EV architecture, the new Ampère Small Platform of the Renault features a 52 kWh battery for a range of up to 400 km and I expect similar for the similarly-sized Nissan, especially given that the two will be built by Renault’s Ampere subsidiary. A smaller 40 kWh battery could be available for the Micra, which may allow for a range of around 300 km, but with a cost saving. Technical details on the Micra have yet to be revealed, but I suspect the Renault 5’s multi-link rear axle will feature on the Nissan due to battery packaging reasons. The switch to electrification confirms that the deleted fifth-generation Micra will be the last to be offered with an internal-combustion engine. Nissan’s official images of the car feature a rounder design language, more in line with the new Ariya than the angular Renault 5 with which the Micra will share its architecture. The costs involved in developing small combustion-engined cars for upcoming proposed Euro 7 emissions regulations look set to make them harder than ever to make money on, with Skoda boss Thomas Schäfer pointing out recently that the price of one of the Micra’s key rivals, the Fabia, could rise by as much as €6.000 if the most stringent EU7 proposals are adopted. Back in 2021, Nissan’s European boss Guillaume Cartier hinted that the firm could make a Micra successor. “The core business today and tomorrow is crossover (Juke, Qashaqi, X-Trail, Ariya) and the new car that we’ve spoken about (the Leaf-replacing crossover)”, he said. “That’s already 5 cars. Then for each car we have to make sure that we have the depth; enough powertrains to match the volumes we have. We want to make sure that this core, in terms of volume per model, is increasing”, Since then, Autointernationaal.nl has learned the first of these new all-electric vehicles will be the Micra. The Renault-Nissan Alliance claims that the Ampère platform’s overall cost of manufacturing is 30 percent lower than that of the electric version of the CMF-B that underpinned the Zoé, which ended production in March 2024. This means that small cars based on this tech can reach near price parity with combustion-engined superminis. +++
+++ Selling as many cars as possible is what the vast majority of carmakers want, but not all are interested in huge volumes that would rival Tesla, which sold around 1.8 million cars worldwide in 2023. POLESTAR offers models that compete directly with those of Elon Musk’s brand, such as the Polestar 2, which is targeting sales of the Model 3, but it wants to position itself as more upmarket and attract more customers used to high-end brands such as Germany’s Big 3 or Porsche. Graeme Lambert, the global communications manager for design, innovation and APAC (Asia-Pacific), explained the brand’s different directions. He notes that Tesla is “looking for volume” and that it was “a mass market player”, while explaining that Polestar is “a premium luxury brand with volume targets to match”. This is evident in Polestar’s much less ambitious annual sales target, which has been set at between 155.000 and 165.000 vehicles by 2025. This is considerably less than Tesla, which is expected to sell around 2.2 million vehicles this year, although in the first quarter of the year it made more cars than it could deliver and is now offering significant discounts to those who agree to buy from the remaining stock. Tesla is known for its unexpected and often large discounts, and this is another aspect of its business model that Polestar could not hope to match. Lambert mentioned one of Polestar’s new models, the Polestar 4, as a direct rival to the Tesla Model Y, at least in terms of size and range. However, he explains that Polestar is actually hoping to attract buyers of the Porsche Macan EV, which is another electric vehicle of similar size, but much more expensive. Although Polestar began life as a sports and electrified spin-off from Volvo, the Swedish manufacturer has announced that it has no intention of continuing to financially support the 100% electric brand. It is still owned by Volvo’s parent company, Geely, and the latter has announced that it has secured some of the funding needed to stay afloat. In the future, we are likely to see an even greater divergence between the vehicles sold by Polestar and Volvo, although they will still share platforms and technologies. The Polestar 4 electric SUV coupe starts at €64.500 on the Dutch market, but can go up to €72.500 with a dual-motor drivetrain. That makes it more expensive than the Tesla Model Y, whose base variant costs €43.990, but it’s less than the Porsche Macan with its starting price of €88.900 (or €121.000 in Turbo form). Polestar is also working on a rival to the Porsche Taycan, which will be called the Polestar 5, and should go into production by the end of the year. It should start at around €105.000 (just like the Taycan), and will offer almost 900 PS in top trim and a range of around 480 km with its 103 kWh battery. It will also be a rival to the Model S. +++
+++ TESLA has announced a large reduction in staff on the heels of a disappointing Q1 delivery report, following in the footsteps of legacy automakers and pure-play EV makers, per an internal memo. In an internal memo, CEO Elon Musk emailed staff confirming a “more than 10%” headcount reduction following prior reports that layoffs could hit as much as 20% of staff. “As we prepare the company for our next phase of growth, it is extremely important to look at every aspect of the company for cost reductions and increasing productivity”, Musk wrote in the memo. “As part of this effort, we have done a thorough review of the organization and made the difficult decision to reduce our headcount by more than 10% globally. There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done”. With Tesla’s headcount sitting at around 140.000 workers globally, the reduction is likely to affect at least 14,000 workers. Tesla stock sank in early trading following reports of the Musk layoff memo. For Tesla, the layoffs come following a disappointing Q1 delivery report that showed the company missed widely on consensus estimates and built up supply in excess of 46.000 vehicles. This implies that Tesla is feeling the impact of slowing EV demand, both in the U.S. and globally, after reporting its first year-over-year quarterly decline in deliveries since 2020. Wedbush Securities warned the layoffs were a negative sign for Tesla. “This is an ominous signal that speaks to tough times ahead for Tesla as Musk navigated this Category 5 storm”, Ives said. “Demand has been soft globally, and this is an unfortunately necessary move for Tesla to cut costs with a softer growth outlook”. Musk has complained in the past that high rates and higher overall prices are a hindrance to EV adoption and said lower prices are the key to driving growth. Investors and analysts believed part of Tesla’s big growth story would be its long-rumored next-gen vehicle that would start at around $25.000. However, reports last week suggested Tesla had canceled the vehicle. Musk responded to the report claiming it was false and revealed that a Tesla robotaxi debut would be coming on August 8. Tesla is expected to report earnings on April 23 and will likely provide more commentary on the layoffs, their impact on its financials, and the company’s near-term demand. Not all of the Wall Street community sees today’s layoff announcement as necessarily a bad thing, by the way. “Layoffs would be consistent with actions undertaken by other automakers (and particularly EV pure plays such as Rivian and Lucid) amid slowing EV growth rates”, CFRA analyst Garrett Nelson said. “We view the announcement as a sign of the times, but the fact Tesla is taking action to reduce costs amid the slowdown should be positive for the bottom line”. +++
