+++ ALPINE will have 2 convertibles in its line-up by 2030, with plans for drop-top versions of both its next-generation A110 sports car and its forthcoming Porsche 911-rivalling fastback GT. The Renault Group’s performance brand is in the process of building a line-up of 7 electric-only models by 2030. To that end it has already launched the A290 hot hatch and the A390 crossover. The second-generation A110 will arrive next year as an electric successor to the current 8-year-old petrol-engined model, sitting on the new Alpine Performance Platform (APP) and offering both coupé and roadster bodystyles. That bespoke sports car architecture allows the 2 new Alpine EVs to employ in-wheel motors, similar to those seen on the Renault 5 Turbo 3E mega-hatch, but the French firm hasn’t yet confirmed plans to put this technology (developed by British specialist Protean) into series-production cars. The APP will also be used for a fastback GT, which is tipped to be called the A310, and Alpine has now confirmed that the 4-seater will also be offered in both fixed- and folding-roof forms. While Alpine has offered no firm details of the A310, it is expected to be aesthetically very similar to the new A110, which is set to move away from the retro cues of the current model to a futuristic new look that’s more closely aligned with the A390. It will, however, be a similar size to today’s petrol car. Beyond the 2 sports cars, Alpine is working on an as-yet-unconfirmed 7th model that will arrive by 2030, which is set to be a large D- or E-segment SUV. +++
+++ JLR has axed design boss Gerry McGovern, sources inside the firm have told. It is understood that the brand’s chief creative officer was asked to leave the firm on Monday and his position was terminated with immediate effect. McGovern was “escorted out of the office”, although the exact details as to why are not yet known. Circumstances around the decision are light on detail, but it comes just a week after new CEO PB Balaji (formerly finance boss of Tata Motors) took over from the retiring Adrian Mardell, potentially signalling that JLR’s India-based parent could be angling for an even tighter grip on the British car maker. McGovern was considered a hugely influential figure on JLR’s board and was a favourite of the late Ratan Tata, former chairman of the wider Tata Group. It brings to an end a 21-year career at JLR for McGovern that has been filled with highlights. The Coventry-born designer is responsible for the modern-day reinvention of the Defender, helping to keep the four-car Range Rover line-up ever popular and reinventing Jaguar for its transition into an electric-only car maker, which includes creating the highly controversial Type 00 Concept. He was also key in JLR’s 2021 Reimagine strategy. Before JLR, McGovern worked on the MG EXE concept car, the MGF roadster and the first Land Rover Freelander while at British Leyland. He then moved to Ford in 1999 to head up the Lincoln‑Mercury brands, setting up studios in California. He returned to the United Kingdom to run a design consultancy in London before rejoining Land Rover in 2004. +++
+++ MERCEDES boss Ola Källenius is facing what some investor representatives call a “last chance” to put the German automaker back on track, a task that they say requires a fundamental, high-stakes reversal of the ultraluxury strategy he unveiled in 2022. Källenius announced the luxury-focused plan, “The Economics of Desire”, at a capital markets day in May 2022. He steered the premium automaker even more upscale, deemphasizing compact A- and B-Class models and giving more autonomy for the Maybach and AMG brands, as well as G-Class luxury SUVs. Analysts say Mercedes relied too heavily on the high end of its product range after the Covid-19 pandemic, and the benefits began to unravel as it could no longer keep prices high and faced increased competition. +++
+++ NISSAN is pledging to be “bold and impactful” with its future design direction, with the vice president of Nissan Design Europe Giovanny Arroba telling that it’s time for the brand to be a “leader” again. Having worked for Nissan since 2000, Arroba said he has “a similar feeling to when I started in the company, where we have to be bold and impactful to be a leader in the market”. Arroba said the new Micra is a car designed to bring more personality into the brand’s styling. He said that the rounded K12 Micra built until 2002 was a European-focused car, but its replacements were built for a more worldwide appeal and Micra “lost the purity of its personality” as a result. “It was time to bring that personality back” with the new car, which has just landed on European roads, although Arroba hinted that there is plenty more to come, in different ways, with the all-new Juke and Qashqai coming over the next couple of years. “I think that’s important at Nissan, that we don’t do a one design and then reshape it and size it on different segments and platforms”, he told us. “This really celebrates the personality of what we think the Micra is, and it gives us a bit of courage and audacity to do that on all the other products”. He pledged that the new Juke will be “bold” when it’s revealed in 2026. “That’s all about being super expressive and individualistic, I think we’re going to have those personalities in our line-up. And we don’t need to do cookie cutter design”. +++
+++ PEUGEOT could launch a new city car in the vein of the 108 if the EU’s new ‘E-car’ category is successful in making such models viable again. Peugeot withdrew the 108 (closely related to the Toyota Aygo and Citroën C1) from sale around 3 years ago and the larger 208 has been the brand’s entry model since then. The 108’s retirement brought an end to 3 decades of Peugeot city cars, a lineage that began with the 106 in 1991, and came as part of a mass exodus from the ‘A-segment’, where increased regulation and production costs had strangled margins to the point of unviability. The related Citroën was also axed, and rivals including the Ford Ka+, Opel Karl and Skoda Citigo bowed out at around the same time. But now, Peugeot CEO Alain Favey has given a strong indication that the company could return to the segment, if law makers sign off a new framework for small car regulation that helps manufacturers build them profitably. Asked about the potential for a model smaller than the 208 in the future, Favey told: “There was a 108, there was a 107 and there was a 106 in the past. We’ve sold more than 1 million cars in the A-segment in the not so distant past. So definitely, if there is this new category that allows us to produce smaller cars at a profit, then obviously there will be a space for Peugeot in that area, as there was in the past”. Favey was referring to the mooted ‘E-Car’ category that the EU could introduce in a bid to incentivise car makers to return to ultra-compact, affordable models like the old 108. Details have yet to be finalised, but the new framework would look to alleviate some of the costs of small car production by reducing the amount of legislation and mandatory technologies that must be factored in, so that more viable profit margins can be achieved from low list prices. The move has been welcomed by the industry as a potential harbinger of a new age of affordable city cars, with manufacturers including Dacia and BYD hinting at plans to launch tiny new entry models in the region. Peugeot sibling Citroën has also suggested that a more hospitable regulatory environment could pave the way for a successor to the 2CV, and it’s likely that any Peugeot equivalent would be a close technical relation, as was the case with the 108 and C1. But Favey emphasised that Peugeot would not consider re-entering the A-segment unless there was a new ruleset in place that meant it could make money. “As long as there isn’t, I would confirm what my predecessor Linda Jackson said, which is: ‘No, there is no space for an A-segment car today, as basically everybody is exiting that segment for the same reason, which is that there is no way to make such a car at such a low price profitable, as long as you have to put so much equipment on it’ “. Favey acknowledged the importance and relevance of the EU’s mandatory technologies and safety regulations but said they are incompatible with selling ultra-affordable cars. “The safety features and driving assistance systems – of course, they all make sense but you need to be clear that people need to pay for them”, he said. “So as long as people are ready to pay for them, it’s fine, but then nobody should wonder why the European market is 3 million [cars per year; lower than it was before Covid. “If you have to keep putting on equipment that increases the price of cars, there comes a point when the cars become just too expensive for people to buy. And that’s when you should really ask yourselves: does that all make sense, or is there not another way where, for a specific part of the market, like the entry accessible cars, you create different conditions to allow for better products?” +++
+++ RENAULT is close to signing off a 4-wheeldrive version of the 4 for production, having engineered a working prototype of the 4 Savane 4×4 concept car. The model already feels fresh from the factory and ready for a place in Renault showrooms. Few details of the prototype have been revealed since it was first seen at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris in the spring. However, the still-unspecified additional, rear motor is smaller than either the 120 hp or 150 hp units that normally power the 4’s front axle. The tracks are 20 mm wider, ground clearance is raised by 15 mm and there are wider, 215 mm tyres. A subtle bodykit helps to further distinguish the 4×4 Savane from the standard 4 on which it is based and the inside features some brown trim and fabrics. A driving mode selector allows you to engage a new terrain mode, the only mode this prototype has been optimised for, while the infotainment screen has a new display that indicates how much torque is being distributed between the front and rear axles. As for the model’s production chances, Renault says it is studying the market for 4-wheeldrive electric B-segment cars and believes it has found a niche, although demand and volumes remain to be considered. It sees most appeal for the 4×4 Savane in northern Europe and snowier central European countries such as Austria, Switzerland and northern Italy. The concept also acts as a further showcase for the capabilities of the Ampr Small platform for the Renault Group’s small EVs. Engineers say that while the set-up could feasibly fit on the Renault 5, the compromise to boot space would be too great, and if a production future for this four-wheel-drive EV lies anywhere, it will be with the 4. +++
+++ STELLANTIS boss Antonio Filosa is rebuilding the company’s North American staffing after former boss Carlos Tavares dramatically slashed head count globally. The automaker has hired hundreds of employees at its North America headquarters in Auburn Hills in recent months as it moves to boost U.S. manufacturing. It is adding nearly 2.000 direct, white-collar jobs in engineering, manufacturing, quality and other departments. The company has renewed focus on North America under Filosa, who took over for Tavares after a disastrous performance in North America. Under Tavares, the company had acrimonious relationships with parts suppliers, dealers and UAW officials, which Filosa’s leadership team has vowed to fix. Unlike his predecessor, Filosa is U.S.-based at the Chrysler Tech Center, signalling how seriously the company is taking the rebuild. For the first time in years, the automaker is adding white-collar employees in North America rather than conducting layoffs or buyouts. The company declined to say how many of the nearly 2.000 new employees have already been hired and how many roles it is still working to fill. +++
+++ TOYOTA is only days away from revealing its new V8-powered supercar. Picking up the mantle from the 2000GT and Lexus LFA, this new halo model isn’t just destined for the open road, but the race track too, with a GT3 racer having been co-developed alongside it. With its debut due on December 4, here’s what we know so far. In the latest teaser, the new supercar, potentially called the Toyota GR GT. shows off its long bonnet, short tail and muscular stance. This builds on what we’ve learned from prototypes seen at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, and confirms that it’ll be a striking, aggressively proportioned car which has more in common with a Mercedes-AMG SLS Gullwing than anything with a Toyota badge fixed to the nose. There has been almost no technical information released about the new supercar, despite the public appearances, but there is lots I can gather. Following the car’s rumble up the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Toyota revealed some audio of the engine sound as part of the build-up to the Japan Mobility Show. This undoubtedly confirms the supercar will feature a V8 engine, probably turbocharged and possibly even hybrid assisted in the case of the road car version. Power and torque outputs are purely speculative at this stage, but given that road-going rivals are now comfortably into the 700 hp arena, I suspect the Toyota won’t be far behind. I have also learned a lot from the car’s proportions. They suggest that the engine sits in front of the driver, but behind the front axle, creating a front-midengined layout as seen in the previous-generation Mercedes-AMG GT. It’s impossible to tell from the prototypes, but it’s also likely that drive from the engine will be sent through a transaxle incorporating a limited-slip differential and quick-shifting automatic transmission. I don’t yet know whether that gearbox will be a traditional automatic, a dual-clutch or even some other form of self-shifter. The car’s construction is also rumoured to be of carbon fibre, which should keep the weight down and increase structural rigidity. A similar choice was made for the iconic Lexus LFA, which pioneered the technology for the Toyota group back in 2011. Toyota’s decision to build a road-going supercar isn’t just for on-road bragging rights, though, as it also plans to enter the GT3 class with a racing version that’s been co-developed alongside the road car programme. The road-going car will homologate the racing car, in much the same way as the GR Yaris did for Toyota’s World Rally Championships entrant. GT3 is a racing class where the most important sports and supercar brands do battle, from Ferrari and Porsche to McLaren, BMW, Lamborghini and Aston Martin. It’s only now that we can be almost certain that it’ll carry the Toyota name, as Lexus is focusing on its electric models, including a potential sports car based on its Sport Concept that was shown off at Monterey Car Week in California in August, and then again at the Japan Mobility Show. This also effectively confirms that Gazoo Racing will be the named team running in the WEC GT3 championship. The good news is that we won’t have to wait long for either the road car or race car to be shown in full. +++
