+++ ALPINE ’s electric successor to the A110 will make its global public debut at the upcoming Goodwood Festival of Speed, marking a significant milestone for what the brand calls the “world’s first true EV sportscar”. Following up the World Rally Championship-winning A110 of the seventies and the current A110 sports car, Alpine’s third generation will be shown off at Goodwood in development mule form every day of the event. While the Alpine A290 uses a tweaked version of the Renault 5’s AmpR small architecture and the A390 rides on a painstakingly overhauled version of Renault Group’s AmpR-Medium architecture, the A110 EV will be the brand’s first model on the Alpine Performance Platform (APP). It’s claimed that APP will allow the A110 EV “to remain true to Alpine’s DNA while outperforming the best of today’s combustion sports cars”. Alpine says the new model will be faster than a petrol-powered Porsche 718 Cayman around the Nürburgring race track; no mean feat given an EV drivetrain’s weight penalty over a combustion car. The French sports car maker revealed its Nürburgring simulations at Renault Group’s strategy day, claiming its zero emissions coupé will have the beating of petrol-powered rivals, helped by its weight-saving aluminium architecture and clever torque management of its high-performance motors. Alpine previously confirmed that the electric A110 will have two battery packs, to chase the ideal weight distribution and keep the roofline as low as today’s combustion A110’s. The primary powerpack will be sited behind the driver like the power unit in a classic mid-engined coupé, with a smaller pack set back in the nose. Alpine CEO Philippe Krief also doubled down on his statement that the future A110 could be petrol-powered too. “Yes, the platform is designed to accommodate internal combustion (ICE). That doesn’t mean we will do it but we are ready for it. The most important thing is to offer an excellent product. People don’t buy sports cars because they need them but because they want them. So we need to create something exceptional; it doesn’t matter if it’s EV or combustion”. But Krieff did add that ICE would open up markets outside Europe. Alpine says the electric car will have a 40:60 front : rear weight distribution. It also confirmed that the A110 will be powered by a 3-in-1 e-axle, which will package dual in-wheel motors with a silicon carbide inverter, a crucial component which manages the motors’ performance delivery and regenerative ability, and is critical for thermal management. The result is “exceptional torque and performance with ultrafast control”, claims Alpine. In addition, Alpine Active Torque Vectoring will manage power to each rear wheel, altering torque loads left and right every 10 milliseconds to deliver the best blend of performance and traction. Insiders say this results in a car that can compete at the ‘Ring while feeling true to Alpine’s lightweight DNA, experienced from a low-slung seating position behind a vertical steering wheel. “The A110 is the foundation of our brand”, said CEO Philippe Krief. “Showcasing our commitment to delivering high-technology products, we will offer the first true EV sports car to the market. It will be true to Alpine’s DNA and outperform the best of today’s combustion sports cars, thanks to the Alpine Performance Platform”. +++
+++ The forthcoming second model in the Land Rover DEFENDER line-up will offer hybrid powertrains in addition to battery-electric. It will be a smaller sibling to the existing Defender and it will be underpinned by JLR’s new EMA platform. The model’s name has yet to be confirmed, but it has been widely reported as the Defender Sport. JLR today said EMA “will now include the option of HEV hybrid as well as BEV battery-electric in the future”. Mark Cameron, managing director for the Defender and Discovery brands, previously told that work on the new Defender was “well advanced”. However, he wouldn’t give a timescale for the launch, or confirm if it would use the Sport name. Cameron promised it will be “class-leading in the attributes that make it a Defender”. Notably, the new model will be the first entirely new product since Defender was turned from a Land Rover model line into a brand (along with Range Rover and Discovery) under JLR’s ‘House of Brands’ approach. It will also be the first in an expanded range of Defender products. Cameron said the 3 years since the new plan was announced have been spent developing new products and establishing what Defender stands for. He added: “Over the past couple of years, our design and engineering teams have created that red line, the circle that every Defender had to have. That’s the DNA”. The Defender is currently offered in 90, 110 and 130 body styles, along with the hot Octa variant and the commercial Hardtop. Cameron said the focus was on making Defender “a luxury lifestyle brand”, adding: “We’ve got a portfolio of 1 model with several variants, but I’m working 7 to 10 years ahead to build this whole brand portfolio. We’ve got to make sure everything we do as Defender has the DNA of the brand: epic built-to-last, go-anywhere capability”. The Defender Sport is an entirely new product rather than an attempt to create an electric equivalent of the current Defender 90; a decision driven by the design differences required by the use of a bespoke ‘electric-first’ platform. Tipped to be just over 4.5 meter long, it sits on JLR’S EMA platform, which will underpin many of the company’s future EVs, including the Range Rover Evoque and Velar. The more premium-focused Range Rover and Defender will use the firm’s MLA platform, while Jaguar has developed its own bespoke EV architecture, named JEA. Using a platform with underfloor batteries creates “vehicle constraints”, said Cameron. He added: “The size of the vehicle and platform will probably reduce wheel travel and articulation compared with a current Defender”. But while that means the Defender Sport won’t offer the same level of off-road ability as the current Defender line, Cameron has vowed that it will still be designed to offer substantial off-road capability. “What matters to us is that a Defender has to be class-leading in the attributes that make it a Defender”, he said. That means it will retain four-wheel drive, suggesting a dual-motor set-up. Cameron said the emphasis on efficiency for EV design (vital for maximising range from the battery or fuel economy from a hybrid) created challenges “given the silhouette of what most people would know a Defender to be: very upright, sharp window angles, a bluff rear end”. He added: “The capability we have in our vehicles carries a penalty that works against you when you think about range for an EV. My job is to make sure we retain Defender’s DNA, otherwise we become another SUV brand and there are plenty of those”. He also noted that the firm had put a focus on “maintaining our test cycles”, rather than trying to chase a faster development cycle in order to keep up with Chinese rivals. “What has disrupted our industry hugely are shrunken test cycles due to some of the Chinese brands”, he said. “Their speed to market is just incredible. But we have always maintained that we need to have at least 2 winter test cycles and 2 hot weather test cycles for a Defender. We’re looking at ways to shrink our product development time, but we don’t want to compromise on quality and longevity and all the things you have to deliver as a luxury brand”. Cameron also indicated that JLR has put a focus on where it can best add value, saying: “As a business we’re looking at where do we partner, and where do we build in-house, You’ve got to work out your core competencies. If you look at the EV world, the actual battery pack and the electric drive units have, to some extent, become commodities. But do they give us the torque characteristics and off-road drivability that Defender has to have? Those are big decisions: the quickest way to market is to buy all that in, but that’s not necessarily the right answer for Defender”. Cameron wouldn’t be drawn on specific product plans beyond the brand’s first EV, but when asked how big a potential Defender line-up could become, he said: “Huge”. That is likely to include multiple powertrain options given what Cameron called “the complexity of EV adoption”, which results in the level of customer demand lagging behind the expectation of legislators. That’s a challenge given Defender’s global footprint: a majority of its UK sales are currently diesel, while its biggest market is now the US, where electrification is firmly on the back burner. The importance of the US market is likely to have steered the addition of hybrid power to EMA. “Our strategy is to offer as much choice for as long as we can”, said Cameron. “Clearly with the Defender, because of the capabilities, toughness, the weight and the geometry of it, as long as we can keep selling petrol and diesel with hybridisation and other forms of interim technology, we’ll continue to do so”. The Defender is currently offered with a plug-in hybrid powertrain, but that is built around a 4-cylinder engine and has a limited electric range, because the D7 platform wasn’t designed for the technology. Cameron hinted that would change in time, saying: “We’re going to be relying on future generations and different architectures to expand those sorts of technologies”. Notably, Cameron said Defender’s growing international focus could Influence its line-up: “Beyond the UK there are vehicle types that are absolutely suitable for Defender in certain geographies. The US is now our biggest market and there are product categories popular there we can absolutely bring Defender into”. That suggests a revival of previous plans to develop a Defender pick-up given the size of that market in the US, although Cameron wouldn’t expand on specifics. But he noted that growth could also come at the other end of the range, because “in Europe they need small cars for tight streets”. He added: “The red line we’ve got to draw is that any future versions of Defender still have to have the same characteristics that every Defender needs. There’s no reason you can’t go smaller, bigger, longer, higher and still cover those bases. The biggest challenge is that we don’t want to be all things to all people, so we’ve got to work out where to focus and it’s not about volume for us. It’s about building a good, profitable, margin-led business and satisfying customer needs in segments and markets that don’t exist today. If you look at JLR as a business, we’ve always been at our best when we create segments. Range Rover is a great example. The Evoque was a great example. Today, the Defender is a good example: it reimagined the rugged SUV segment. So we’re going to look carefully at those white spaces in the market where we can credibly have a Defender product. But we won’t copy something just to chase volume, because that’s not what our business plan is”. +++
+++ The EUROPEAN UNION is considering adding Chinese-built plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) to its elevated tariff structure for EVs from the country after sales of the drivetrain soared in recent months. The European Commission, the main executive body of the EU, is preparing proposals for similar countervailing tariffs on PHEVs for member states to vote on “in the coming weeks”. +++
++ MASERATI has confirmed it is working on a limited-run supercar fitted with a manual gearbox. The head of the Bottegafuoriserie bespoke division, which was responsible for the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale, Cristiano Fiorio, told journalists: “Mainly 50% of our Bottegafuoriserie customers demand a manual gearbox and a petrol engine. We can say they are retro-seekers. The day we will be ready to present a new program for Bottega for Maserati, I hope will be one day soon in the future. The answer is yes: I believe we will have to have a manual gearbox as well in our offering for a Bottega product”. Autointernationaal.nl previously reported that the new top-rung Maserati will be the most exclusive and powerful combustion-engined car it has produced since the MC12, launched in 2004. It was tipped to be based on the Granturismo, twinned with an equivalent Alfa Romeo model. At last year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, Santo Ficili, who is CEO of both marques, said: “We have infinite possibilities to customise products for our customers, for the entire range of Maserati. I’m imagining to do something like we did in the past, also considering Alfa Romeo”. Ficili referenced previous collaborations between the two firms, highlighting that the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione was based on the previous Maserati Granturismo and built alongside that car at Maserati’s plant in Modena, where the later 4C sports coupé was also produced. More recently, Alfa Romeo turned to Maserati to provide the basis for the 33 Stradale supercar, which shares its basic monocoque chassis and twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 engine with the mid-engined MC20 (now rebadged MCPura). “We built the 4C and 8C in Modena, so why not?” said Ficili of the prospect of another limited-run supercar tie-up. “We can imagine a ‘few-off’ Maserati. It’s easy, because you can look at the past of these 2 brands, and you can find a nice car like the 33 Stradale, and we can invent something like this”. Ficili stopped short of describing in more detail his vision for a new bespoke creation but suggested the aim is to use the new flagship to celebrate Maserati’s Nettuno V6 engine, as used in the Granturismo, Grecale and MCPura. “It’s a masterpiece”, he said. It is likely that any V6-powered limited-run special would ramp up the Nettuno’s output beyond the 630 hp of the MCPura, in line with a price that would be well in excess of that car’s €305.617 (Dutch market), but the firm is unlikely to use electrification to achieve that power boost. Maserati engineering boss Davide Danesin said: “There are customers looking for pure mechanical cars”. He added that there is a “bad feeling” about having a battery on board a supercar, due to the heightened complexity and extra weight it brings. The Nettuno’s advanced pre-chamber combustion technology and twin injection system help to cut emissions and boost performance, he said, and the engine is “getting to 210 hp per litre with very efficient combustion”. That figure is why the MCPura can remain a pure-combustion car and it means Maserati can keep the V6 in production with the same power once Euro 7 regulations are in force. Giving further clues to what a limited-run Maserati supercar could look like, Danesin dropped a hint that it could reintroduce a manual gearbox to Maserati’s ranks for the first time in years. He said: “A manual gearbox is an opportunity. I don’t see that in big series production, but why not do a special version with a manual gearbox? No reason to say never. It could be the right choice for a limited edition of a car”. He added that a manual gearbox would emphasise the ‘pure’, analogue ethos of a Maserati supercar. “By doing a purely mechanical car, it does make sense to have a mechanical gearbox with a shifter”, he said. “So why not? It fulfils perfectly the brand. It fulfils perfectly our approach and the mindset. So honestly, I think one day we’ll do it”. Ficili said he plans to emphasise Maserati’s Italian heritage going forward, adding that the company’s headquarters in Modena (“the middle of Motor Valley”) is “the right place” to build sports cars. Neither Danesin nor Ficili gave any indication of when this new supercar could break cover. Alfa previously confirmed it will reveal a second supercar this year from the new ‘Bottega’ division for limited-run cars, which launched with the 33 Stradale. +++
+++ MITSUBISHI was tinkering with electric cars before it was cool. In 2009, it rolled out the i-MiEV: a quirky, egg-shaped hatchback that hit the streets just as the original Nissan Leaf hit the streets. The Leaf became a household name, but Mitsubishi somehow let its head start slip through its fingers. Rather than riding the i-MiEV wave, Mitsubishi wandered off in another direction. Now, as 2026 approaches, the brand’s electric game plan looks nothing like it once did. Sure, more EVs are coming, but Mitsubishi isn’t planning to do all the grunt work this time. Mitsubishi’s current EV playbook is all about teaming up. The Eclipse Sportback headed for North America is basically a Nissan Leaf in a new suit. Europe gets the Renault-based Eclipse Cross, while in other parts of the world, Mitsubishi is partnering with Foxconn and Foxtron to roll out more electric models. For now, it’s all about partnerships, and there’s a good reason for that. At Mitsubishi’s annual shareholders meeting, CEO Takao Kato laid out why the company is pumping the brakes on going all-in with EVs. Kato admitted that EV growth is losing steam in a bunch of markets. Mitsubishi is still working on the important tech behind the scenes, but throwing piles of cash at a full-blown EV push right now looks like a risky bet. “As for BEVs, the reality is that their growth has indeed been slowing down globally”, Kato told shareholders. He also said Mitsubishi is quietly sharpening its own skills, ready to jump in solo if the EV market finally takes off. Until then, teaming up is the name of the game. Kato pointed out that for a company like Mitsubishi, betting the farm on one tech (and getting the timing wrong) could spell disaster. Beyond trends, Mitsubishi seems happy to let the big players do the heavy lifting while it keeps its eyes on delivering cars people actually want. Mitsubishi’s cautious stance comes as plenty of other automakers are reworking their EV game plans. Honda, for example, just revealed a jaw-dropping $15.7 billion write-down thanks to scrapped projects and a shifting market. Honda’s not the only one feeling the heat. Ford, GM, Nissan and a bunch of others have hit pause or tweaked their EV plans as demand slows down. Across the industry, hybrids are getting more love while everyone waits for the EV wave to pick up speed again. In this climate, Mitsubishi’s slow-and-steady approach looks more like smart risk management than cold feet. The brand still plans to beef up its electric line-up with the Eclipse Sportback, the European Eclipse Cross, and whatever Foxtron cooks up next. But instead of burning through billions to go it alone, Mitsubishi is happy to run this leg of the EV race with some company. +++
+++ Automakers have a wide range of powertrain options to choose from, including internal combustion engines, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, range-extender electric vehicles (EREVs) and battery-electric vehicles (BEVs). Selecting the right strategy can significantly influence a company’s success or failure, as seen in automakers such as Stellantis, which has incurred billions of dollars in EV-related write-downs. PORSCHE is also facing challenges in its electrification journey, with the all-electric 718 running into delays. There is still plenty of uncertainty, but as long as the 911 avoids going fully electric, enthusiasts may agree that the brand’s core identity remains intact. Now, the automaker appears to be done juggling separate electrification paths and is instead exploring a way to combine them into one powertrain, as suggested by a patent. This patented powertrain would theoretically allow Porsche to deliver a car capable of operating as an EV, EREV or hybrid. That’s because the engine features 2 distinct banks: one focused on performance and the other on efficiency. Depending on driving conditions and power demands, either bank can operate independently, both can work together, or the engine can remain off entirely. Unlike the cylinder deactivation system found in many modern engines, including Ferrari’s V12, the 2 banks in Porsche’s patent feature different internal components. The performance bank uses conventional internals, while the efficiency-focused bank incorporates ceramic bearings and one fewer piston ring to reduce friction. In practice, an EV-like driving mode would mean the engine remains off. An EREV-like mode would see the efficiency-focused bank running to generate electricity and recharge the battery. For more spirited driving, the entire powertrain comes to life, with the performance bank engaging and the engine sending power to the wheels. One apparent concern, however, is weight, which is particularly important for Porsche given the brand’s reputation for balanced handling. A battery large enough to provide meaningful EV range would likely account for much of the added mass, while the combustion engine and electric motors would add even more. But then again, this is only a patent, so Porsche is not necessarily committing resources to bring the concept to production. Still, it highlights how automakers are trying to navigate the electrification era, as emissions regulations continue to tighten and compliance becomes increasingly challenging. +++
++ RANGE ROVER is getting into the EV game and a full-size Range Rover Electric is coming very soon, followed up by a replacement to the current Range Rover Velar. The latter car was going to be EV-only, but Jaguar Land Rover has now announced it’ll also be available as a hybrid. In an investor update, JLR revealed it would increase propulsion flexibility by providing a full-hybrid variant. The platform underpinning the Velar’s replacement is called EMA (Electric Modular Architecture) and was originally intended to be electric-only. Back in 2023 when JLR first revealed the EMA platform, the then JLR CEO Adrian Mardell said: “EMA is our next architecture for medium-size vehicles, 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”. Explaining its switch to provide a combustion-engined mid-size SUV to sit alongside the EV, JLR said the move “recognises demand for increased choice in global markets”, and that it also “reaffirms JLR’s commitment to the future of the UK car industry”. The timing of the announcement comes just days after reports that the UK government is looking to backtrack on ZEV mandate sales targets for EVs. JLR is keeping its cards close to its chest when it comes to the details surrounding its mid-size Range Rover EV, but we know that it will be a similar size to the existing Range Rover Velar. As a result, rivals will include the likes of the new BMW iX3, Audi Q6 e-Tron and Porsche Macan Electric. Having a hybrid version means the Velar replacement will continue to compete with rivals like the BMW X3, Audi Q5 and Mercedes GLC. The new mid-sized Range Rover EV and full-hybrid variant will be built on a revamped, hi-tech production line at the Halewood factory in Merseyside, which has been upgraded to specifically cope with the new EMA platform. JLR has pumped almost €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 new Range Rover EV might be similar in size to the current Range Rover Velar, but 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. 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 €5 billion 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 but fit within the shorter wheelbase, the EMA SUV will need downsized battery packs of around 100 kWh and 80 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 500 and 650 km, aided by sophisticated thermal management, which should give it just enough juice to compete with 800 km EVs like the BMW iX3 and Volvo EX60. JLR reckons its new system offers a 40 percent efficiency boost over its first EV, the 2019 Jaguar I-Pace. The new system 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) 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. The baby Range Rover EV does not yet have a name and there has been no hint or speculation around what it could be called. While the mid-size electric Range Rover will sit alongside the Range Rover Velar, the baby EV will not take this name. The Velar will continue in production at JLR’s Solihull plant, providing the petrol alternative even after the new car is launched. +++
+++ The RENAULT 5 E-TECH could soon get even cheaper, thanks to battery tech straight from the smaller Twingo. A spokesman said: “LFP technology plays a part in our future product roadmap, including in the Renault 4 and 5”. Currently, both models utilise NMC (Nickel Manganese Cobalt) battery chemistry which, while offering superior energy density and cold-weather performance than Lithium Ferro Phosphate (LFP), is more expensive and material-intensive to produce. “The benefits of LFP are clear“, the spokesman added. “One of them is in terms of cost, and that’s part of our strategy to make electric mobility more accessible for more people”. LFP tech will “play a role in the Urban Range” versions of the 4 E-Tech and 5 E-tech, likely replacing the 40 kWh NMC unit currently offered; Comfort Range cars with the larger 54 kWh battery will retain NMC chemistry. Switching to LFP tech while maintaining the same capacity as the current Urban Range car could allow Renault to lower the 5’s already-strong starting price. Introducing a shorter-range model could also slash the price of the 4 E-Tech. As to whether the 5 E-Tech would cannibalise sales of the Twingo and vice versa, the spokesman explained earlier this year: “The cars are very complimentary. We have differing ranges between the 2 cars. Obviously an 5 E-Tech has a longer range than a Twingo. It’s also slightly higher in price and a bit more practical”. +++