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First McLaren Speedtail attribute prototype, ‘Albert’ squares up to rigorous real-world testing as development accelerates

McLaren’s new ‘Hyper GT’ embarks on year-long test regime underpinning development of new center-seat, 250mph hybrid Closed-facility testing of the fastest McLaren ever now underway; public road trials due to commence in December 2018 Attribute prototypes join Speedtail ‘mules’ in ongoing durability testing First attribute prototype affectionately christened ‘Albert’, in tribute to its famous McLaren… Continue reading First McLaren Speedtail attribute prototype, ‘Albert’ squares up to rigorous real-world testing as development accelerates

PROTON UNVEILS NEW MODELS IN EGYPT

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Ford CEO Jim Hackett: Trade War Could Wipe Out Most Tax Cut Benefits for Americans

Jim Hackett, president and chief executive officer of Ford Motor JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP/Getty Images Few U.S. companies have been hit harder by the Trump administration’s ongoing trade war with China (and the rest of the world) than Ford. The Dearborn, Mich.-based carmaker, the only one among the American “Big Three” automakers that survived the 2008 Financial… Continue reading Ford CEO Jim Hackett: Trade War Could Wipe Out Most Tax Cut Benefits for Americans

Aston Martin Racing partners with PROsport Performance

Published: Nov 09, 2018

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Neil Allison

Aston Martin has announced that it will enter in to an important new partnership with the successful German racing team PROsport Performance based near the Nürburgring, close to the home of the British brand’s AMR Performance Centre in Germany.

Friday 9 November, Gaydon: Aston Martin has announced that it will enter in to an important new partnership with the successful German racing team PROsport Performance based near the Nürburgring, close to the home of the British brand’s AMR Performance Centre in Germany.
The agreement, which features the highest level of partner support from Aston Martin Racing, includes a two-car attack on Germany’s leading GT championship – the ADAC GT Masters – in 2019 with the new Aston Martin Vantage GT3. Moreover, one of those two Vantage GT3s will be driven by a pair Aston Martin Racing works drivers.
In addition to this, PROsport Performance, the newly-crowned European 24h GT Series Drivers and Teams champion, will enter two Aston Martin Vantage GT4s in the new ADAC GT4 Germany series. It will also enter two in the GT4 European Series – where the team has collected three championship titles (Drivers PRO/AM and Team in 2016 and Drivers AM in 2013). Some of PROsport’s younger drivers will also be eligible to be part of the AMR Young Driver Academy.
This latest partnership announcement from Aston Martin represents a strong advocation for the new Aston Martin Vantage, of which the GT3 variant underlined its potential on its competitive race debut in the eighth round of the VLN on the Nürburgring Nordschliefe last month, running trouble-free and finishing fourth overall.
PROsport is a highly-decorated motorsport organisation that specialises in GT racing with a record of consistent success that charts all the way back to its formation by team owner and former racer Christoph Esser in 2006. Among its accolades, are five class victories in the Nürburgring 24 Hours and more than 50 class wins in the circuit-based VLN Championship.
Esser said: “Aston Martin has a unique tradition in motorsport. To represent this brand makes us very proud. In close partnership with Aston Martin Racing, PROsport Performance will do its utmost to continue its successful history. The new Vantage has everything it needs to compete against the strongest competition in the GT3 and the GT4.”
President of Aston Martin Racing, David King added: “We are delighted to add PROsport Performance to our race partner team roster with the new Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and GT4 cars. The introduction of our new Vantage comes at a time when Aston Martin is expanding our motorsport and customer racing activities around the world. Adding teams the calibre of PROsport Performance signifies a clear statement of intent not only to demonstrate our capabilities as a leading producer of GT racing cars but as one that competes to win at the highest level.”

Exceptional situation impacts Audi deliveries also in October

AUDI AG handed over approximately 117,600 automobiles to customers last month, a decrease of 25.7 percent compared with the prior-year period. In particular the exceptional situation in Europe continued to adversely affect deliveries. On the home continent, the company sold 52.7 percent fewer cars than in October 2017. In China, however, Audi achieved further growth… Continue reading Exceptional situation impacts Audi deliveries also in October

Volkswagen deliveries are down in October

At 516,900 vehicles, worldwide deliveries by the Volkswagen brand in October were 6.2 percent below the figure for October 2017. This development was mainly due to the continuing reluctance of purchasers in China as a result of the trade dispute with the USA. In Europe, as expected, deliveries continued to be affected by the WLTP… Continue reading Volkswagen deliveries are down in October

Absurd Tesla Obstructionism In Numerous US States

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Published on November 8th, 2018 |

by Matt Pressman

Absurd Tesla Obstructionism In Numerous US States

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November 8th, 2018 by Matt Pressman

Originally published on EVANNEX.

Tesla has many challenges to overcome. According to David Pogue (via Yahoo Finance), “It’s amazing that Tesla even exists. Before Tesla, the most recent successful American auto startup was Chrysler, over 90 years ago. Tesla has survived the first hard part: designing beautiful, fast, high-tech electric cars that a lot of people want and love. Now come all the other hard parts … [including] getting permission to sell them.”

A look at Tesla’s store in Walnut Creek, California (Image: Tesla)

“That’s right. In some states, Tesla is not allowed to open dealerships. I live in one of them: Connecticut. Two years ago, I added myself to the waiting list for the Tesla Model 3. This summer, I finally picked it up — in New York. As I drove it back home over the state border, I wondered why Connecticut would want to hand over all the sales tax I just paid to a rival state,” writes Pogue.

Furthermore, “in a capitalist system, it might seem counterintuitive for a state to prevent a popular company from opening a store. Aren’t new businesses good? Don’t they generate property taxes and sales tax? Don’t they mean more local jobs? Wouldn’t welcoming a big player in electric cars help these states with their environmental goals? (Connecticut’s government, for example, aims to lower emissions to 45% of 2001 levels by 2030.) Don’t we want to support American manufacturing?”

It turns out that these protectionist laws are rooted in a bit of ancient history. Pogue notes, “Back in the 1930s, the car companies established this system so that they could worry about making cars, and the franchises could worry about selling and repairing them. Early on, though, the franchisees lobbied their state governments for protection.” State governments, in turn, passed laws.

Along with Connecticut, Tesla still can’t sell cars direct-to-consumer in other states including Texas (Youtube: ReasonTV)

Fast forward to the present — are laws in certain states still banning Tesla from selling cars? Yes. Through extensive, expensive (and often successful) lobbying efforts, dealer groups are waging war on the electric carmaker. One reason could be that “the vast majority of [dealer] income comes from service … [and dealers] see the electric car as an existential threat to their service business. It’s revenue that these car dealers don’t want to give up,” says Bruce Becker, president of the Electric Vehicle Club of Connecticut.

To that end, “an electric car has no engine and no transmission. It has no spark plugs, fan belts, air filters, timing belts, or cylinder heads. It never needs oil changes, tuneups, or emissions checks. Your brake pads go years without needing replacement, too, since just lifting your foot from the accelerator slows the car down (by recharging the batteries).” It’s no wonder dealers want to boot Tesla from their state. A National Automobile Dealers Association spokesman said dealers make triple the profit from service as they do from selling new cars.

Yet for state officials, banning Tesla “is not a good long-term strategy. It’s not stopping people from buying Teslas — it’s just sending them out of state to do it.” Tesla’s general counsel, Todd Maron notes, “In all the other states in the country, in all the other countries where we operate, we’ve always been able to operate alongside dealers selling other cars. It’s just competition, and it’s completely normal. … We’re not going to give up on this issue, ever. It’s so fundamental to who we are.”

If you live in one of the blue states, you don’t have to cross state lines to buy a Tesla (Graphic credit: David Foster / Yahoo Finance)

After all, “Existing franchise dealers have a fundamental conflict of interest between selling gasoline cars, which constitute the vast majority of their business, and selling the new technology of electric cars,” CEO Elon Musk writes on Tesla’s site. “It is impossible for them to explain the advantages of going electric without simultaneously undermining their traditional [gasoline car] business.”

Where Tesla can sell cars. Map via TMC Staff

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About the Author

Matt Pressman is all about Tesla. He’s a TSLA investor, pre-ordered the Model 3, and loves driving the family's Model S and Model X company cars. As co-founder of EVANNEX, a family business specializing in aftermarket Tesla accessories, he’s served as a contributor/editor of Electric Vehicle University (EVU) and the Owning Model S and Getting Ready for Model 3 books. He writes daily about Tesla and you can follow his work on the EVANNEX blog.

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The new BMW M8 en route to series production.

Do you need help? Please contact our support team from 9 to 17 CET via support.pressclub@bmwgroup.com. PressClub Global · Article. Fri Nov 09 00:01:00 CET 2018 Press Kit From the race track to the road: the new BMW M8 Coupe (fuel consumption combined: 10.8 – 10.7 l/100 km [26.2 – 26.4 mpg imp]; CO2 emissions… Continue reading The new BMW M8 en route to series production.

Tesla Plans To Spend Up To $3 Billion A Year On Gigafactories Over Next 24 Months

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Published on November 8th, 2018 |

by Steve Hanley

Tesla Plans To Spend Up To $3 Billion A Year On Gigafactories Over Next 24 Months

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November 8th, 2018 by Steve Hanley

In its latest 10-Q filing with the SEC, Tesla says it is planning to spend big on upgrading Gigafactories 1, 2, and 3 — up to $3 billion a year over the next two years, in fact. It also says it expects to pay for most of that from current earnings. Here’s the relevant paragraph:

“Considering the pipeline of new products planned at this point, and consistent with our current strategy of using a partner to manufacture cells, as well as considering all other infrastructure growth and expansion of Gigafactories 1, 2 and 3, we currently estimate that capital expenditures will be between $2.5 to $3.0 billion annually for the next two fiscal years. Moreover, we expect that the cash we generate from our core operations will generally be sufficient to cover our future capital expenditures and to pay down our near-term debt obligations, although we may choose to seek alternative financing sources. For example, we expect that much of our investment in Gigafactory 3 will be funded through indebtedness arranged through local financial institutions in China. As always, we continually evaluate our capital expenditure needs and may decide it is best to raise additional capital to fund the rapid growth of our business.”

That part about Gigafactory 2 is interesting. GF2 is the factory near Buffalo, New York, where Tesla intends to produce its Solar Roof tiles. We haven’t heard much about that initiative in a while. Perhaps the company is finally ready to get serious about ramping up Solar Roof production? In the recent Tesla conference call, Elon Musk highlighted that it simply takes a long time to do appropriate testing for a roof product.

In addition to increased spending on its factories, Tesla also announced recently it intends to significantly expand its service network, particularly in places outside of major urban areas. That will take even more money. According to Electrive, the company says it is leveraging what it has learned about manufacturing to date to allow it to manage its money more wisely and efficiently. Here’s more from the 10-Q filing itself:

“In 2019, we expect to continue to increase the Model 3 production rate in our Fremont factory while needing only limited additional capital expenditures. As we continue to expand our existing manufacturing capacity, introduce new products, expand our retail stores, service centers, mobile repair services and Supercharging network, we will continue to utilize our increasing experience and learnings from past and current product ramps to do so at a level of capital efficiency per dollar of spend that we expect to be significantly greater than historical levels.”

Tesla is not resting on its Q3 laurels. Moving forward, the company is looking for ways to make every dollar available to it work as efficiently as possible to support its overall mission — driving the electric car revolution forward at the fastest possible pace. Tesla has a lot on its plate and still has plenty of detractors who think it is continuing to bite off more than it can chew.

New ideas always unsettle the status quo and invite negativity from those who wish things would just continue going along they way they always have. It’s human nature. One minute you’re Kodak or Polaroid or Xerox with a hammer lock on the market, the next minute you’re out in the cold looking in. It’s painful to fall from grace. But creative destruction is one of the bedrock principles of modern capitalism. And creative destruction is what Tesla does best.

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Daimler and Bosch: San José targeted to become the pilot city for an automated on-demand ride-hailing service

Test area will be San Carlos/Stevens Creek corridor between downtown and west San José The on-demand ride hailing service app will offer an automated driving experience to a selected user community Stuttgart/San José. Located on the southern shore of San Francisco Bay in Silicon Valley, and with more than 1 million inhabitants, San José is… Continue reading Daimler and Bosch: San José targeted to become the pilot city for an automated on-demand ride-hailing service