Auto_Evolution Online News – Page 7 – I wish I had more to offer

Acura RLX Luxury Sedan Phased Out Over Slow Sales, 2020 Is the Final Model Year

16 May 2020, 19:53 UTC ·
by Mircea Panait

Home > News > Car Profile

From 5,014 units in 2013 to 1,019 in 2019 in a market as large as the United States is a bit of a shame, isn’t it? These are the sales figures of the RLX, the executive sedan that Acura sells in this part of the world. Honda markets it in Japan as the Legend. At the end of the 2020 model year, the U.S. version will bow out with a whimper instead of a bang.
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Automotive News has learned that Acura will drop the nameplate to focus on more lucrative products, namely crossovers and SUVs. Even the Legend is understood to be on the chopping block given its age, but no confirmation has been offered in this regard. Both sedans are built by Honda in Japan at the Sayama plant in Saitama, and the Legend comes exclusively with SH-AWD, the automaker’s acronym for Super Handling All-Wheel Drive.
With the departure of the RLX from U.S. shores, the remainder of the lineup will be completely American. From the compact ILX to the mid-size MDX and mid-engine NSX, all of these cars are built – with locally-sourced parts and a lot of pride – in the United States of America.
The 2020 RLX is more expensive than the MDX at $54,900 right off the bat, not including destination charge. A V6 with 310 horsepower (314 PS) comes standard while the Sport Hybrid levels up to 377 horsepower (382 PS) and a combined fuel economy of 28 miles to the gallon (8.4 liters per 100 kilometers). With the Advance Package, make that $61,900.
No fewer than seven exterior colors, four interior options, and three wheel designs are available. A decklid spoiler adds $410 to the tally while LED fog lights retail at $750. As you can tell, it’s not the most interesting sedan out there nor is it good value for the money.
The Genesis G80 comes to mind, battling for the same customers as the RLX with a rear-/all-wheel-drive platform instead of front-/all-wheel drive. The South Korean competitor kicks off at $42,550 for the 2020 model year while the 2021 redesign with GV80 cues still hasn't been priced.

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C8 Corvette Production Restarts May 25th, Roughly 2,700 Cars Built To Date

8 May 2020, 17:59 UTC ·
by Mircea Panait

Home > News > Industry

Fighting a global crisis isn’t easy. This time around, not even the automakers had a choice. Like many other players in the carmaking industry, General Motors had to stop production of the C8 Corvette until further – and hopefully better – news.
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The 2020 model year couldn’t start worse for the mid-engine sports car because the UAW went on strike for 40 days in the fall of 2019. As if that wasn’t enough, Bowling Green had to grind to a halt in March 2020 over the health crisis.
It’s understood that 2,700 examples of the breed have been built and delivered so far, and last time we’ve heard, the order books were supposed to jump to the 2021 model year in May 2020. Fast-forward to the present day, and General Motors has announced that 2020 Chevrolet Corvette series production is scheduled to restart on May 25th.
This information corroborates with the automaker’s announcement according to which U.S. production plants will restart on May 18th. Better still, the dealerships have also confirmed May 25th as the day C8 Corvette customers were expecting. However, do remember that GM mentioned “extensive safety measures” for the entirety of the workforce, measures taken from learnings in China and South Korea.
Even more surprising is that the Bedford casting plant is operating three shifts with 20 employees per shift, churning out the chassis of the C8 Corvette as Bowling Green gears up for assembly. Unless General Motors extends production well into the second half of the 2020 calendar year, we may also be witnesses to the shortest model year of the Corvette in the nameplate’s 67-year history. As for volume, well, 1953 holds that title with only 300 series-production cars made, featuring a starting price of $3,490.
That’s $33,740 adjusted for inflation, almost half the price of the C8. The mid-engined Stingray starts at $59,995 including destination charge while the Z51 Performance Package adds $5,000 to the tally. In the classifieds, fully-loaded examples of the breed are listed at close to $160,000 because of the Bowling Green plant’s downtime.

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Ford Workers Shut Down Dearborn Truck Plant Production, Factory Now Back Online

25 May 2020, 15:26 UTC ·
by Mircea Panait

Home > News > U-turn

The health crisis still isn’t over, and even though things are getting better in the United States, there are exceptions. Take, for instance, this video of Ford Dearborn Truck Plant workers shutting down the lines over working shoulder to shoulder, in violation of social distancing rules.
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An employee told Labor Notes “they were threatening to fire everyone who refused to be doubled up. I didn’t care, I walked out.” As if that wasn’t aggravating enough, the report says there’s not enough time between the A-shift and B-shift for thorough cleaning. But that’s not all, oh no!
The Ford Motor Company shut down the factory last week after learning that a worker tested positive for coronavirus, a few days after production had finally restarted. The UAW is calling for the Blue Oval to test all of the workers. Two more requests were made, namely an extra 20 minutes of break time and shutting the plant for 24 hours if someone tests positive.
In addition to this state of affairs, the Ford plant in Chicago’s South Side where the Explorer and Aviator are made has reported a positive case. Due to the high levels of absenteeism on the lines from regular workers, temporaries have been employed although “they don’t know the jobs.”
“The company had more new temporary workers than jobs so they could have workers double up on jobs,” said an employee of the Dearborn Truck Plant. “That means working shoulder to shoulder, they definitely are not six feet apart. Everyone started to refuse to work and the line was not running,” the FoMoCo worker who wishes to remain anonymous told Labor Notes.
The working place of approximately 4,400 people, the Dearborn Truck Plant is responsible for the F-150 line of half-ton pickup trucks and the F-150 Raptor dune basher. At the present moment, both it and the Chicago plant are back online following deep cleaning and disinfecting.
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The Lincoln Continental Is Dead Stateside, Production Moving To China

3 Jul 2020, 15:22 UTC ·
by Mircea Panait

Home > News > Industry

After merely four years of production, the Ford Fusion with a fancier badge and cooler trim for the interior will bite the dust. Lincoln has confirmed that 2020 is the final model year of the Continental in the United States, and along with it, the MKZ will be gone from the lineup as well.
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As highlighted by Automotive News, the luxury brand is going all in on utilities because that’s where the money is. Curiously, the front- and all-wheel-drive sedan will soldier on in the Middle Kingdom.
“But wait, the Continental isn’t made in China!” You are 100-percent right, dearest reader, but luxury sedans still are popular in the Asian country. Therefore, production will shift from Flat Rock to a Chinese plant that Ford has yet to name. Cadillac did the same thing to the CT6, discontinuing it stateside while shifting production to the People’s Republic.
Turning our attention back to the United States, the Lincoln brand won’t have a single passenger car in the lineup for the 2021 model year. Ford has recently stopped production of the Fusion as well, leaving the Mustang alone in a sea of crossovers and unibody or truck-based SUVs.
General Motors and Fiat Chrysler have yet to abandon passenger cars altogether, and curiously enough, Cadillac plans to get back in the game with an all-electric model. After rolling out the CT4 and CT5 with internal combustion, the Celestiq will launch next year as the luxury automaker’s flagship sedan on the BEV3 platform of the Lyriq crossover.
FCA is electrifying Dodge and Jeep. A mild-hybrid option for the Durango, plug-in hybrid versions of the Wagoneer, Grand Wagoneer, and Wrangler, and the all-electric Wrangler are only a few of the newities that have been confirmed so far, either directly or indirectly.
Excluding the 300, Charger, and Challenger, the peeps at Chrysler have no conventional cars in the pipeline as far as we know.

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Check Out the Build Process For the Exquisite Bentley Continental GT W12

4 Jul 2020, 10:02 UTC ·
by Aurel Niculescu

Home > News > Industry

How can you ensure absolute artisanship and still adhere to strict production procedures? How can you make a complete luxury masterpiece and still reach astonishing high speeds? Well, you just need to go through the production of the exquisite wood veneered high-performance W12 Bentley Continental GT ‘torpedo’.
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The third generation Bentley Continental GT has been around for some time already. But the massive grand tourer is still one of the modern engineering marvels of the past decade, as proven by the (almost) one-hour long Welt Documentary feature we have for you today.
We already know the story – underneath the sleek and stylish British attire lies hidden a German-ticking platform. In other places these two worlds might fall apart, but the supreme skill of the Crewe factory somehow manages to spectacularly blend everything together into a sleek, luxurious, utterly fast land yacht.
And the parallels are very much appropriate – the crew from the British plant includes master carpenters, leather wizards and highly accomplished engineers. No matter how you take it, the two industries do seem to share more than one trait. And, of course, it is something you have to pay dearly for – so there's the exclusivity connection as well.
No wonder even the British Royal family orders its vehicles from Bentley. But, in the current W12 iteration, the Continental GT is also about true performance. Ticking inside the engine bay, the twin-turbocharged 6.0-liter W12 unleashes no less than 626 HP (466 kW) and 900 Nm (664 lb-ft) of twisty torque. And it all gets delivered to the tarmac blistering fast.
With no loss of oomph, in addition, thanks to the use of the all-wheel drive system and the eight-speed automatic transmission with double clutches. It all boils down to physics, which are easily defied when the 5,019 lbs (2276 kg) behemoth gets catapulted from nil to 60 mph (97 kph) in a mere 3.3 seconds. Where does it all end? At no less than 207 mph (333 kph), of course.

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New Fiat 500e Enters Production on the 63rd Anniversary of the Nuova 500

4 Jul 2020, 20:56 UTC ·
by Mircea Panait

Home > News > Car Profile

Launched in July 1957 as the Nuova 500, the cutest Italian car of them all has been redesigned for the 2020 model year. The Cinquecento with internal combustion engines continues to be made in Poland at the Tychy plant, but the redesigned 500e returns to Italy at the Mirafiori complex in Turin after 45 years since production of the original ended in 1975.
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On the eve of the economy car’s 63rd birthday, the not-exactly-affordable 500e was presented to the President of the Italian Republic in Rome. Sergio Mattarella was joined by chairman John Elkann, chief operating officer Pietro Gorlier, and Fiat brand president Olivier Francois. The higher-ups at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles then presented the electric Cinquecento to Giuseppe Conte, the Prime Minister of Italy, at the Chigi Palace.
Why is this important, you may be asking? Well, Fiat describes the institutional debut as “the perfect opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to implementing a broad investment plan for Italy – much of which has already been launched in domestic plants.” More to the point, they’re talking about “a transformation of the Italian automotive industry with a view to a low-emissions future” through hybrids and full-electric cars.
To celebrate the Nuova 500 and the newcomer, Fiat has also launched the Virtual Casa 500. A virtual museum that anyone can visit from a smartphone, tablet, or personal computer, Virtual Casa 500 tells the story of the Cinquecento from the 1950s to the present day with the help of 11 distinct zones. From the spring of 2021, the fourth floor of the Pinacoteca Agnelli art museum will provide the location for a real-world exhibit.
Revealed online in March 2020, the second coming of the 500e is obviously superior to the original. However, 320 kilometers (199 miles) of driving range from 42 kWh is a bit disappointing compared to rivals. By comparison, the Peugeot e-208 is roomier and offers up to 340 kilometers (211 miles).
As for the internal combustion-engined 500 from Poland, Fiat has added a mild-hybrid option to the lineup for the 2020 model year. Unfortunately, the three-cylinder engine, 12-volt electrification, and high-efficiency manual transmission won’t get your blood boiling with excitement either.

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BMW Might Soon Produce Easily Recyclable Battery Cells for its Electric Vehicles

30 Jul 2020, 7:53 UTC ·
by Aurel Niculescu

Home > News > Technology

The vast majority of normal folk out there know battery electric vehicles are better for the environment. But what happens when these technologically advanced objects reach the end of their life cycle – they also need to be recycled to remain sustainable. Disposing of them is not easy – but it is rewarding due to the high content of useful materials.
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Battery cells usually hold lots of high-quality copper, aluminum, cobalt and nickel as well as variable quantities of rare earth metals. The sustainable cycle of batteries is not just something that needs to be done to protect the environment – it is also something that needs to happen in order to prevent a potential economic disaster, such as triggering a shortage of said rare earth.
But here is the thing – modern recycling processes can go anywhere from 25% to 96% recuperation of materials, but complex chains and major safety hazards are involved with the steps required to achieve the final goal. Thus, it is only logical companies – including automakers – are constantly trying to innovate and further develop and simplify these processes.
One approach tackles the problem from the source – Germany’s BMW Group is looking into developing a completely enclosed and sustainable material cycle for their battery cells. This is possible because the carmaker is not outsourcing the entire production of batteries (aka taking the pack already completed from a supplier).
Instead, they have a new pilot plant where they study everything about the battery cell value chain, among others. This means the company is actually in control of the entire process – from the initial build of the material order, through deciding the battery cell structure, selecting the design and up to reaching a pre-production standard and determining the way it gets recycled at the end of the life cycle.
BMW opened late last year a Battery Cell Competence Center in Munich and is now aiming to have an associated pilot factory ready from late 2022 in Parsdorf, near Munich. And they are not working alone on this – their aim is to perfect production, lower costs, and increase the quality of its battery cells.
The knowledge will then be used to speed up the process of reaching series-level maturity for the new battery cell technologies, which are then transferred to suppliers who manufacture the new models according to BMW’s exact requirements. The development of such sustainable technologies is a major endeavor, though, so alliances are forged to ensure success.
For example, the German group is working with Northvolt (a Swedish battery producer) and Umicore (a company in Belgium specialized in battery materials) for its new end-to-end sustainable value chain that covers everything from development through production and final recycling.

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Alpina Sells Out 2020 XB7 Sports Activity Vehicle

12 Aug 2020, 12:45 UTC ·
by Mircea Panait

Home > News > Car Profile

The X7 is the largest utility vehicle the BMW Group has ever offered, and Alpina couldn’t resist the temptation to make it better. XB7 is how the German tuner calls this fellow, and on paper, you may mistake it for the X7 M that has yet to arrive.
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Detailed in May and sold out for 2020 before the start of production, the XB7 is made in Spartanburg alongside bone-stock models. Deliveries are planned to commence in September for the U.S. market, and pricing kicks off at $142,295.
Yes, you’ve read that right. Alpina is gunning for the type of customer who would have considered a Bentley Bentayga V8 in the past, but as fate would have it, the XB7 is more potent than the twin-turbo luxury SUV from Crewe, England.
The 4.4-liter engine of the Alpina is massaged to crank out 612 horsepower (620 PS) and 590 pound-feet (800 Nm), making it almost as potent as the X6 M with the Competition Package, but considerably torquier than the coupe-styled sibling.
Available with seating for up to seven people, the XB7 can shoot to 60 mph (97 kph) in four seconds flat and onto a maximum velocity of 180 mph (290 kph) if you can find a long stretch of blacktop where speed limits are not enforced. 21-inch alloy wheels with run-flat tires are standard, but the options list includes 23s that save 28 pounds (13 kilos) of unsprung mass and Pirelli P-Zero summer tires.
Alpina prides itself with “global sales of just under 2,000 units annually,” meaning that the XB7 will be just as rare if not rarer than the XD3, XD4, and B7. More to the point, “spotting an Alpina on the road anywhere in the world is perhaps only 25 percent as likely as seeing a Rolls-Royce motor car.”
Of course, the newcomer is available in the German company’s traditional Blue Metallic and Green Metallic exterior colors. As far as the interior is concerned, the optional Walnut Nature Anthracite wood trim joins the standard Myrtle veneer.

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V8 Vantage Point: Aston Martin Reveals its Manual-Production Factory Secrets

17 Aug 2020, 7:15 UTC ·
by Aurel Niculescu

Home > News > Industry

The original Aston Martin V8 Vantage from back in 1977 was hailed as Britain’s first supercar, a proper 170 mph (270 kph) performer. But its looks were questionable – trying a jab at the muscle car of the moment without forgetting its grand touring roots. Still, the performance was unquestionable – and the latest generation is a proper spiritual successor in this area. But such wonderful automobiles are not just popping up just like mushrooms after a rain – they are lovingly built somewhere.
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That exact somewhere would be Aston Martin’s production location in Gaydon, Warwickshire, the United Kingdom. The Aston Martin V8 Vantage is born there, and we have video proof (embedded below) about the labor of love.
It followed in the footsteps of its DB11 bigger brother in setting up the brand’s “second century” strategy and came with a somewhat polarizing design by the same man – Marek Reichman. Looks are subjective but we agree with the decision – while the larger and costlier DB11 had to bow down to tradition, the nimbler Vantage could definitely carve a different clientele.
And so, it did, thoroughly preparing for the world’s toughest and greenest hell (aka the Nurburgring Nordschleife) but also deriving itself into an innovative open top sporting the fastest-folding soft top on the planet. But how does it all come to life is a question best answered by this new episode in the WELT Documentary – Inside the Factory series.
Because everyone is just starting a brand-new week, we could use a little nudge to get things done right – and this is exactly what happens here. Just look and awe at the manufacturing process for this British sports thoroughbred as it combines state of the art automated processes with the most traditional manual labor (around 200 hours of it, apparently).
We know the V8 engine does not spring to life on the premises, which kind of subtracts a little something from the atmosphere, but fret not – that Mercedes-AMG 4.0-liter and the eight-speed ZF automatic transmission have a successful marriage inside that exquisite body. And they race into a perpetual honeymoon with that 0 to 60 mph (97 kph) sprint of 3.5 seconds in no time!

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VW Electric Bingo Numbers Are Up, ID.4 Is Live in Zwickau Alongside ID.3

21 Aug 2020, 10:13 UTC ·
by Aurel Niculescu

Home > News > Industry

Slow and steady we find out more and more about the next member of the Volkswagen ID. family – the new MEB fully electric SUV has been slated for its official worldwide premiere at the end of September and the German automaker is gearing up for the event with the first series-production units.
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Volkswagen AG is in “Back to School” mood – only we are dealing with an electric offensive this autumn. Come September 1st and we are going to see the first Czech representative of the MEB architecture, the Enyaq iV.
Then it is time for the Volkswagen ID.4 to shine at the end of September, with the German company also preparing to start series production in Chattanooga for the U.S. market and in China for the world's biggest EV market.
In Europe, the model is being readied for assembly at the Emden plant alongside the Zwickau site, as well. The latter is getting first dibs, though, and becomes the second ID. Model “Made in Saxony” alongside the ID.3 hatchback.
Volkswagen is hurrying up with the series production starting ahead of the actual world premiere for a very specific reason – the dealerships will receive their first examples before the end of the year. Which is a significantly tighter schedule than it was for the ID.3 – and we also need to take into account this is a global product set to go on sale not just in Europe or the United States, but also in China.
The Zwickau manufacturing facility is at the forefront of VW AG’s sustainable mobility plans, with the ID.3 and ID.4 produced and delivered without negative impact on the environment.
The factory is also receiving a cash infusion of around 1.2 billion euros (more than $1.4 billion) during the process of conversion to an exclusive e-cars location. In 2021, when the plant is set to reach full EV capacity, it will be capable of churning out approximately 300k of MEB electric cars annually.

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