+++ It’s more misery for CITROEN owners as the French brand has extended its ‘code red’ recall programme for an additional 10.000 models, despite reports that it is struggling to cope with the current influx of vehicles to be repaired. In June, Citroen’s parent company Stellantis issued a ‘stop-drive order’ for almost 100.000 cars manufactured between 2009 and 2019 after fears their airbags could potentially be lethal if detonated. This meant that owners were instructed not to use their cars. The original recall concerned particular examples of the Citroen C3 and DS3. It has now been extended to the C4 (2010-2011), DS 4 (2010-2011) and DS 5 (2010-2013). In a statement, Stellantis reassured customers that: “The company’s focus remains on completing the replacement of airbags in affected vehicles as swiftly as possible”. While owners were originally advised to get the necessary fix completed at Citroen dealerships, Peugeot garages are now also doing the work to help cope with demand. At the time of writing, Stellantis says it has already fitted over 66.000 vehicles with replacement airbags, although it is worth noting that there have been several claims of wait times as long as 2 months or more. Citroen has reportedly been paying affected drivers compensation as they wait, but some are being given as little as €25 per day; well below the cost of car hire. Such a situation couldn’t come at a worse time for Stellantis which is also dealing with the fallout of another recall, this time concerning models across several brands including Opel, Peugeot, Jeep, Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Citroen. The somewhat ubiquitous 1.2-litre PureTech turbo petrol engine fitted to the likes of the Opel Corsa, Peugeot 2008 and Jeep Avenger has the potential to leak fuel into the engine. This could, in Stellantis’ own words: “potentially lead to higher fuel consumption and, in a worst-case scenario, to occurrences of fire in the engine”. As is the case with the airbag recall, owners are urged to book in with their local official Stellantis dealership in order to get the problem rectified free of charge. +++
+++ FORD ’s $2 billion plan for its Kentucky assembly operations in Louisville carries the weight of a new way to build EVs along with a far cheaper platform for as many as 8 marques. It puts enormous pressure on CEO Jim Farley and his team to deliver the goods without a major quality hiccup. We’ve been hearing about Ford’s skunkworks team working on a secret project for several months and this is what emerged. “We have all lived through far too many ‘good college tries’ by Detroit automakers to make affordable vehicles that ends up with idled plants, layoffs and uncertainty”, Farley said in a statement. “So, this had to be a strong, sustainable and profitable business. From Day 1, we knew there was no incremental path to success. We empowered a tiny skunkworks team three time zones away from Detroit. We tore up the moving assembly line concept and designed a better one”. Ford said the first product to roll off this potential game-changing “assembly tree” production line will be a midsize, 4-door electric pickup set to launch in 2027 with a price around $30.000. It’s too early to tell how car buyers will embrace an affordable EV in 2027 with no federal tax incentives on the hood. +++
+++ MERCEDES is putting the finishing touches to a new generation of its smallest SUV, the GLA. The all-new model will share its underpinnings, including its cutting-edge MMA platform and hyper-efficient electric or hybrid powertrains, with the new CLA. The new GLA will go on sale within the next 12 months. It will get a lot of new design details that’ll draw from the forthcoming GLC we’ll see at the Munich Motor Show in September. They include a big illuminated grille and sleek headlights that bleed into them. The rear end will feature dramatic new lighting, likely connected by a thin lightbar with three-pointed elements at the centre of each unit. The body’s size, though, won’t grow much because the new GLA will also in effect act as the replacement for the A-Class; there’s no new hatchback in Mercedes’ development plan. Inside, expect a similar glossy black dash face to the CLA, with the same 14 inch touchscreen, plus an optional passenger display and 10 inch driver’s display. But the bits that will really change the GLA are largely under the skin. That’s because the new GLA will use Merc’s new MMA architecture, which has brought the German brand’s EVs right up to the cutting edge of technology. This platform features things such as an 800V architecture and a 85 kWh battery that in the CLA250+ saloon is capable of over 770 km. I don’t expect the GLA to quite hit that range figure due to its higher driving position and extra drag, but it won’t be far off if fitted with the same battery and electric motor combo. But this will be just one option in a range including dual-motor variants, as well as an entry-level 58.5 kWh battery pack. AMG will also likely get involved with a high-performance variant of its own. If you’re not into EVs, the new GLA will also be available with a 1.5-litre 4-cylinder hybrid powertrain, connected to an 8-speed dual-clutch transmission and the front wheels. A plug-in hybrid will also be added to the range later on to give buyers a wide range of options to suit their circumstances. As the final confirmed bodystyle within the MMA family, the GLA will join the CLA saloon and Shooting Brake that are on sale now, plus the new 7-seat GLB due to be revealed towards the end of the year. +++
+++ POLESTAR will step up its fight with Tesla, Audi and BMW in the coming years with the launch of the new ‘7’. The premium compact electric SUV will firmly target the Tesla Model Y, Audi Q4 e-Tron and BMW iX1 when it’s launched in 2028. The Polestar 7 will be built in Volvo’s new plant in Slovakia, which is currently under construction, and will be based on the brand’s next-generation electric car platform. The new platform includes new e-motors developed in-house and ‘cell-to-body’ construction where the battery pack forms part of the car’s structure. I suspect the Polestar 7 will use the new SPA3 scalable architecture that will underpin the Volvo EX60 being revealed early next year, although this hasn’t been confirmed. One benefit of this platform is to bring down the cost and complexity of production, because key components will be shared among all the cars based on it. However, Polestar is keen to emphasise that it will be making changes to whatever platform the 7 uses, in order to “create the driving experience and performance characteristics that Polestar is known for”. The Polestar 7 was initially thought to be a replacement for the brand’s current entry point, the ‘2’, but CEO Michael Lohscheller confirmed to Auto Express this isn’t the case. “At some stage we will announce a successor for the Polestar 2. There will be a like-for-like replacement”, he told, suggesting that the car will continue to target big sellers such as the Tesla Model 3 and BMW i4. Instead, the Polestar 7 is therefore expected to dive head-first into the hugely competitive C and D-segment electric SUV market, which is currently dominated by models such as the Tesla Model Y and Audi Q4 e-Tron. However, while the Polestar 7 will undoubtedly have its sights set on those rivals, Lohscheller explained that the car will sit “between the Volvo EX30 and EX40; this is where the heart of the market is”, suggesting that a smaller crossover is in the works. “Actually, very few real premium companies are there; there are obviously lots of mass-market manufacturers, but we feel this is perfect: this is a big-profit pool, this is a big-volume pool”, Lohscheller added. “I want more volume, more profit, so this product is perfect”. The boss suggested the 7 will bring fresh customers to Polestar, by making the marque more accessible. “The 7 has a really important role for us in terms of the size, but also as an entry into the brand”, Lohscheller said. “The existing models are exciting, but the starting price is also relatively high. I want to broaden that, and I think that’s where 7 could play a good role”. His comments about the 7 being a “premium compact SUV” that sits between the EX30 and EX40 would suggest a starting price of around €44.000 on the Dutch market. Indeed, it would need to undercut the Polestar 2, which currently starts from €44.950 in base Standard Range Single Motor guise, and the Model Y, which has a starting price of €45.995 . The Polestar 7 will go on sale before the forthcoming Polestar 6 electric sports car, which makes sense, Lohscheller explained, because the 6 will sell in really small volumes. “While everybody loves it”, he said, “I also need to make money, right?” Philipp Römers, the firm’s head of design, said earlier this year: “Polestar is known for its progressive design, with each car standing out and creating its own buzz, so too will Polestar 7. It is incredibly exciting to bring Polestar’s design ethos to a new segment; 7 will be everything our customers expect from us, both in terms of design and performance”. Building on this, Lohscheller told me he wants Römers and his team to “highlight the performance element even more, because that’s where the Polestar brand is coming from. I want to also show it in a bit more confident way; I think Polestar sometimes is a bit too modest, and a bit too humble”. As such, I expect a tall but relatively streamlined shape, with coupé-like elements to the rear, disguising a practical 5-door body. The boss did also warn us to “not expect a radical change” and that the Polestar 7 would be a “continuation” of the company’s current line-up”, suggesting a family design lineage will be evident, despite the car’s cutting-edge underpinnings. A practicality-boosting closed-off rear window, like the one found on the Polestar 4, is also a possibility. Lohscheller said he expects 2025 to be the “strongest year in Polestar’s history”, despite a resolute commitment to remaining an electric vehicle-only marque. “We have 3 outstanding cars on the road and a growing, passionate customer base”, he said. “We are building on the strong Polestar brand with design and performance at its core. But significant changes are needed to make this well respected progressive brand a successful and viable business. We are speeding up our retail expansion and commercial transformation, whilst adjusting our future model line-up and significantly reducing our cost base”. The business is said to be targeting 30 to 35 percent growth in annual retail sales volume by 2027, and a profit in 2025. The Polestar 2, 3 and 4 are on sale, and the 5 flagship saloon will arrive this year. It will be based on Polestar’s “in-house developed bonded-aluminium platform” and will be the company’s first model to use an 800 volt electrical architecture. Lohscheller said the car will be the highest-priced Polestar ever, with “nearly 900 hp”. It will comfortably surpass €120.000 in its fastest and most lavish specs, according to the company’s CEO. The company will also look to challenge Tesla with its Polestar Energy home energy solution. It says it makes home charging “smarter, more efficient, and cheaper”, and can cut home top-up costs by up to 30 percent via the Polestar Energy app. +++
+++ A ground breaking, mid-size electric RANGE ROVER will go public in early 2026, bringing JLR’s 4-year new model drought to a spectacular end. This Range Rover EV (not to be confused with the electrified version of the flagship Range Rover, which comes to market at a similar time) will introduce a fresh design language and tech plumbed into a brand-new vehicle architecture known as EMA (Electric Modular Architecture). Think of it as a pure-electric 4×4 to sit alongside the current Velar, which will continue in production at JLR’s Solihull plant. But the EMA-based car will not be called Velar, underlining its differentiation, and it’ll be built on a revamped, hi-tech production line at the Halewood factory on Merseyside. The electric Rangie, which is set to rival the new BMW iX3 and Audi Q6 e-tron, will be similar in size to the existing Velar. JLR has pumped €300 million into Halewood to prep it for EMA, adding a new electric body-assembly building and ensuring the circa 4.8 meter-long SUV can be trimmed and painted on revised production lines. The company has boosted its paint shop’s capacity to deliver more contrasting roof colours, for instance. The facility will paint a car that introduces a new-generation Range Rover design. Photos of prototype test vehicles reveal a form that’s even sleeker than the Velar’s. The relatively low roofline slopes dramatically downwards and the glasshouse is thin relative to the sheet metal, creating a coupé-SUV look. Industry whispers say the design (which ups the ante for Range Rover modernism and minimalism) is quite distinct from the Velar’s. It’s a dramatically different vehicle under the skin as well. “EMA is our next architecture for medium-size vehicles”, said former JLR CEO Adrian Mardell when the firm announced the chassis in 2023. “Originally conceived to be hybrid, it’s now only going to be fully electrified. At least 3 different vehicles, maybe 4, will come off the EMA platform”. But much of what goes into EMA (the battery, electric drive units, thermal management system and clever software) emanates from the flagship Range Rover Electric. Sources say the size of hardware will shrink on smaller SUVs, but its fundamentals will “plug and play” across the range. The batteries (initially to be prepared in the Midlands but later assembled at JLR parent company Tata’s £4billion Gigafactory in Bridgwater, Somerset) are a case in point. The prismatic cells fit snugly together, enabling them to be packed into rectangular modules and scaled up in batches to create a range of powerpacks. Their ‘cell-to-pack’ design cuts some of the framework housing the battery, which saves weight and cost, and enables more cells to be crammed into each module. But unlike some Teslas and BYDs, the pack is not ‘cell-to-body’, where it doubles up as the floor structure to shave off more mass and boost rigidity. The upcoming Range Rover Electric has a 118 kWh battery: the EMA SUV will need downsized battery packs of around 80 kWh and 100 kWh if it’s to match the long and standard-range offers of premium rivals. These should endow the mid-size EV with ranges comfortably topping 300 and 400 km, aided by sophisticated thermal management. JLR reckons its new system offers a 40 percent efficiency boost over its first EV, Jaguar’s 2019 I-Pace. It can recover heat at –15 degrees Celsius to warm the cabin, and clever software continuously evaluates and manages battery temperature, bringing it to the optimum level for charging. And the 800 volt electrical system should enable ultra-rapid DC peak charging of 350 kW, to top up the battery from 10-80 percent in as close to 20 minutes as possible. JLR says its electric motors were developed in-house, after scouring suppliers for 18 months and failing to find tech suitable for both low-speed off-roading and high on-road efficiency. The Electric Drive Units (EDU) are permanently excited synchronous motors, linked to a highly efficient, heat-resistant silicon carbide inverter that rapidly switches the battery’s direct current into AC for the EDUs, then reverses to harvest energy from regenerative braking. One EDU spinning each axle (with a combined output of 550 hp and 850 Nm of torque) provides the optimum propulsion for the flagship Range Rover, the engineers say. Such high outputs would be near the top end of the EMA performance spectrum. It’s not clear yet whether the EMA Range Rover will be strictly all-wheel drive, or whether JLR might introduce a long-range, single-motor version which would dovetail nicely with the car’s sleek, road-biased silhouette. Carefully honed aerodynamics will help extract every mile of range, and a single-pedal driving mode will maximise regenerative braking. Nonetheless there won’t be any compromise with the brand’s off-road performance. The Range Rover Electric has the firm’s customary Terrain Response to optimise the all-wheel drivetrain and chassis to tackle sand, grass, gravel and snow, plus crawl over rocks, and wade to the combustion car’s 900 mm depth. Since the advent of the electric development programme more than 5 years ago, JLR’s engineers have been excited by the precise control offered by electric motors, which can instantly deliver high revs, with braking at each individual wheel to control slip. The firm’s Integrated Traction Management software can detect and eliminate slip 100 times quicker than a mechanical system, with an EDU’s fast response so much better at getting on and off the power than a combustion engine. An all-new electronic architecture, bristling with sensors and computing power, is critical to this off-road performance. And it will bring on-road benefits too, with the Electric Modular Architecture primed for Level 2+ assisted driving. That will likely include hands-off motorway driving and sophisticated autonomous parking support. Connectivity enables Over The Air (OTA) updates and features to be added to the car. EMA is said to be optimised to maximise interior space and comfort despite the sloping roof, with the driving position offering Land Rover’s trademark commanding view. Production is scheduled to start in spring 2026. Since the pandemic, JLR has been quietly prepping for a new-model offensive. The exciting introduction of EMA means things are going to get very loud, very soon. +++
+++ If you thought paying out for Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ was bad, VOLKSWAGEN is now forcing owners of the ID.3 to pay extra if they wish their car to deliver the full performance it’s capable of. Yes, you read that correctly: while the Volkswagen ID.3 Pro and Pro S are listed on the configurator as producing 204 hp, buyers must pay a subscription fee to reach the car’s full potential of 231 hp. This subscription currently stands at €19.95 per month. That’s almost 3 times the price of a ‘Standard with Ads’ Netflix subscription (following a one-month free trial). Owners can also choose to select a lifetime subscription for the grand total of0 £649, with this being attached to the car rather than the individual, meaning the upgrade will remain if the vehicle is sold on. Volkswagen says that while selecting the performance upgrade increases net power by 27 hp and the maximum torque from 265 Nm to 310 Nm, it does not affect range. As the car is registered at 231 hp from the factory, owners won’t need to inform their insurance company, either way. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen what would happen if an owner were to hack their car (also known as ‘jailbreaking’) in order to manually switch on the extra power for free. This potentially could invalidate the warranty or even lead to legal action from VW, but Autointernationaal.nl is waiting to hear back from the firm on this. To be clear, Volkswagen is not the only car company asking customers to pay in order to get the maximum capability out of their cars; BMW received a lot of criticism a few years ago when it offered up a subscription service to activate features like heated seats. Owners of the Polestar 2 can also purchase a similar performance pack to that of the VW. +++