Category: US Motoring Press

UK authorities invest nearly $100 million into electric vehicle research

Charging an electric carMario Gutiérrez. | Moment | Getty ImagesThe U.K. government has announced £80 million ($99.7 million) of investment to develop the “next generation of electric vehicles” and, potentially, hybrid aircraft.
Authorities said Monday that the funding would, among other things, help to reduce carbon emissions from industries including transport, construction and energy.
Industry and academia are set to lead the development of the new technologies, which the government referred to as power electronics, electric machines and drives (PEMD). These are a range of products that can be used to convert fossil fuel-based systems into electric ones using batteries or other electrical sources.
The investment comes under the umbrella of something called the Industrial Strategy Future of Mobility Grand Challenge. Targets of this challenge include getting rid of diesel rolling stock from the U.K.'s railways by 2040 and delivering zero-carbon road transport by 2040.
“Driving the electric revolution will strengthen the U.K.'s capability to deliver next generation electric vehicles, hybrid aircraft and smart grids,” Mark Walport, the chief executive of U.K. Research and Innovation, said in a statement Monday.
“It will ensure these industries, both large and small, are rooted here in the U.K. attracting inward investment into our manufacturing base,” he added.
Elsewhere within the electric vehicle sector, Toyota has signed an agreement with China's BYD Company to jointly develop battery electric vehicles.
In an announcement Friday, Toyota said it would work with BYD to develop sedans and low-floor SUVs. The Japanese car giant said it wanted to launch the vehicles to the Chinese market, using the Toyota brand, “in the first half of the 2020s.”

America’s Sports Car, the Corvette, almost didn’t survive the Great Recession

Vice President Joe Biden’s 1967 Corvette SingrayCNBCChevrolet's official reveal of its eighth-generation Corvette in a splashy preview Thursday night near Los Angeles marks the culmination of a secret project that traces its roots back more than half a century.
But that's no surprise. Over the years, much of the work on the “'Vette” has been conducted out of sight — in some cases hidden even from the top brass at parent company General Motors which, at various points, have considered killing off what has come to be known as “America's sports car.”
From the very start, GM didn't quite know what to do with the Corvette. The original model was only intended to be a flashy concept vehicle, developed for the mobile Motorama car shows the automaker staged across the country, but the design proved so popular that GM rushed out plans to put it into production.
The first car, introduced in 1953 was a striking counterpart to the big sedans and station wagons that, at the time, dominated American highways. But the original Chevrolet Corvette featured a seriously underpowered six-cylinder engine, recalled Ken Gross, an author and automotive historian, and didn't really click with buyers, only 700 being built for 1955.
Things changed with the addition of a new, 283 cubic inch V-8 that, Chevy advertised, offered “one hp per cubic inch.” Sales took off and the Corvette quickly found a place in popular culture, among other things serving as a star in its own rite in the popular TV series, “Route 66.”
But it was the second-generation Corvette that really took off. Today, the 1963 version, with its distinctive “split” rear window, has become one of the most popular American-made cars of the era with collectors, according to experts. Originally listed at $4,257, buyers can expect to pay as much as $100,000 or more for one in good condition today, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association.
The 1963 Chevrolet Corvette is distinguished as the first year of second-generation (or “mid-year”) Corvette; only year with “split window” rear glass. It was also the first Corvette with hidden headlamps and independent rear suspension. Modern Day Successor:General MotorsThrough the mid-1980s, Chevy launched only two more complete Corvette makeovers, though it rolled out a procession of variants, each more powerful than the one before. But they also became heavier and more bloated and, by the early 1980s began to face stiff competition from import brands, like Porsche and Ferrari, which were rapidly gaining a foothold in the U.S. market.
It wasn't until 2004 — a year after the car's 50th anniversary that Chevy began to fight back with the sixth-generation Corvette. It was smaller, nimbler and, according to reviews of the day, better suited to a global audience. But it was the next model, which one executive dubbed “a world-beater,” that was intended to pose a real counter-punch to the imports. Unfortunately for GM, the Great Recession got in the way and, as it teetered ever closer to bankruptcy, it ordered the C7 development program shut down.
2020 Chevrolet Corvette StingraySource: General Motors “That version almost didn't happen,” recalled Tom Peters, the chief designer on the seventh-generation sports car. But Peters and much of the rest of the Corvette team refused to give up. Quietly, they kept working on the program in their off hours until GM emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and could free up funding again.
Ironically, said Tadge Juechter, the chief engineer on both the sports car that came out in 2014 and the new C8, unveiled Thursday night in California, “It was a better car for the delay,” the team having more time – and, eventually, money – to do it right.
As for the 2020 Corvette, Chevy has been toying with the idea of shifting from a front to mid-engine layout since the 1960s and has done a number of prototypes over the years. Requiring major changes, not only to the design of the car, but to the Bowling Green plant, as well, GM has long been reluctant to approve the concept. But there was really no longer an alternative going forward, according to Mark Reuss, the automaker's president and a serious performance fan.
2020 Chevrolet Corvette StingraySource: General Motors “The traditional front-engine vehicle reached its limits of performance, necessitating the new layout,” Reuss said in a statement ahead of the new C8 launch.
While he says he will have to see, and then drive, the new model, “This is probably the best chance they've ever had to become a truly global competitor,” said author Gross.
Significantly, even after selling off its German-based Opel subsidiary two years ago, GM retained a small dealer network in Europe for the Corvette. It now hopes that with the 2020 model it will be able to take the battle for sports car dominance onto the home turf of some of its toughest competitors.

VW pounds another nail in the coffin of the station wagon, drops Golf SportWagen and Golf Alltrack

Volkswagen Golf Sportwagen Alltrack seen at the New York International Auto Show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. (Photo by Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)Michael Brochstein | LightRocket | Getty ImagesAs it gets ready to wrap up the 2019 model year, Volkswagen says it will drop both the Golf SportWagen and Golf Alltrack models from its lineup.
The move announced Wednesday comes as a major blow to station wagons, a body style that was ubiquitous in the years when baby boomers were still in knee pants, but which has all but vanished in today's SUV-crazed market.
“SUVs have definitely assumed the mantle of family haulers from the station wagons and minivans we remember from our childhoods,” said Scott Keogh, president and CEO of Volkswagen of America.
2018 Buick Regal Tour XSource: General MotorsNot a wagonThe list of wagons has grown steadily thinner over the last several decades, with only one now offered by the Detroit-based manufacturers that produced them by the millions in the 1950s, 1960s and into the 1970s. Buick has a station wagon it doesn't even call a wagon, hoping it can generate more enthusiasm by dubbing it the Regal TourX.
Volvo, a brand long associated with wagons, has taken the same approach with some of its models. If you want the V60 it announced last year, you will have to special order the compact wagon. It has had more success by taking some models, boosting their height, adding SUV-style cladding and dubbing them with names like the V90 Cross Country.
The luxury market was one of the last bastions for wagon fans. But even there, the market is fading out. BMW decided not to bring the new wagon version of its updated 3 Series to the U.S. this year, and Jaguar is widely expected to phase out its XF Sportbrake which got little momentum out of using the British term for wagon.
Demand tumblesVolkswagen had been intent on remaining in the segment but the sales numbers just couldn't support a sound business case.
For all of 2018, the German automaker sold a grand total of just 14,123 Golf SportWagens, a 47% decline. Demand tumbled another 36% for the first seven months of this year, averaging out to barely 750 of the wagons a month. The Alltrack faced a similar decline.
By comparison, U.S. sales of Volkswagen's various SUVs rose 12% through the end of July, despite the phaseout of the original Touareg model. And it is planning to add three more SUVs by 2021, including the five-seat Atlas Cross Sport, the all-electric ID. Crozz and a subcompact that has not yet been named.
“Consumers want utility vehicle and so, for the U.S. market, automakers are adding more of them while taking wagons away,” said Stephanie Brinley, principle auto analyst with IHS Markit.
The 2020 Subaru Outback is revealed at the 2019 New York International Auto Show in New York City, April 17, 2019.Shannon Stapleton | ReutersSubaru's committedThere still are some options for wagon fans, including the Buick Regal TourX, Volvo V90 and, for the moment, the Jaguar XF Sportbrake. Mercedes-Benz offers several versions of the E-Class, including the high-performance AMG E63 S Wagon. Porsche has a wagon version of the four-door Panamera, the Sport Turismo, and Mini offers the Cooper Clubman /S.
But no manufacturer remains more committed to the body style than Subaru, with three different models: the Outback, Crosstrek and Impreza.
With the vultures circling around the Jaguar, observers are wondering which of these current offerings might be the next to fall by the side of the road. Brinley doesn't see much life left in the segment, but she doesn't think automakers are ready to give up entirely.
They've tried coming up with more appealing names, like TourX and Sportbrake. But they've also been tinkering with hybrid designs that are meant to blend the best of wagon and utility vehicle. So far, that hasn't worked very well, with models like the Accord CrossTour, Acura ZDX, BMW 5-Series GT and Toyota Venza failing to click with consumers.
“They haven't found the right answer to that fill-in-the-gap question,” she said, “but they're likely to keep trying.”

Peugeot-maker PSA is testing autonomous driving technologies in Spain

urbancow | E+ | Getty ImagesAutos giant PSA is conducting tests in the Spanish city of Vigo to “advance the development of autonomous driving”.
The work, which is focusing on vehicle-to-infrastructure-communications, is being carried out by Groupe PSA – whose brands include Peugeot, Opel and Citroen – and the Automotive Technology Centre of Galicia (CTAG).
In an announcement Tuesday, Groupe PSA said the goal of the testing was to see how vehicles could communicate with “surrounding infrastructure in a complex urban environment.”
The collaboration will focus on a number of areas, including the protection of vulnerable users; automated valet parking; autonomous driving in urban areas; and “optimal speed regulation” when vehicles approach traffic lights.
“This project in Vigo supplements the trials already carried out by Groupe PSA in Galicia, other parts of Europe and China,” Ignacio Bueno, the director of Groupe PSA's Vigo plant, said in a statement Tuesday.
“These initiatives bring together the various components of the ecosystem that need to be created in order to deploy the technologies enabling connected, autonomous vehicles,” Bueno added.
The tests in Vigo fall under the umbrella of the European AUTOPILOT (Automated Driving Progressed by Internet of Things) project, which began in 2017 and aims to utilize internet of things technologies to improve automated driving.
Vigo is one of six pilot areas being used for the project. The others are Tampere, Finland; Versailles, France; Livorno, Italy; Daejeon, South Korea; and Brainport, the Netherlands.
Over the last few years, the development of technology has led to several trial runs of autonomous vehicles.
In August 2018, for example, the Hyundai Motor Company announced that the first journey by an autonomous truck on a South Korean highway had taken place. The firm's Xcient truck, which has a maximum load capacity of 40 tons, drove around 40 kilometers between Uiwang and Incheon.
The vehicle used an autonomous driving system that allowed it to accelerate, decelerate, steer and maneuver through traffic without needing input from a human, although one was on board to take control as and when required.
In February 2019, the CEO of Arm Holdings told CNBC that it would be “a while” before self-driving cars became mainstream.
“It is a phenomenally hard problem to anticipate what a car could do under absolutely any set of circumstances,” Simon Segars, who was speaking to CNBC's Karen Tso at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, added.
“I think you're going to start to see early services, in quite a constrained way, quite soon over the next couple of years,” he said, explaining that there was “some way to come” before the technology was “completely mainstream.”

Renault invests $144 million into China’s electric vehicle sector

Loic Venance | AFP | Getty Images Auto maker Renault and the Jiangling Motors Corporation Group (JMCG) have officially set up a joint venture for electric vehicles in China.
In an announcement Wednesday, Renault said that the venture would look to “further promote the development” of China's electric vehicle industry.
Renault will increase its share capital by around 128.5 million euros ($144.1 million) to become a major shareholder of JMEV, a subsidiary of JMCG. Renault's stake in JMEV will increase to 50%.
Francois Provost, senior vice president and chairman of the China region for Groupe Renault, described China as a key market for the firm. “This partnership in electric vehicle business with JMCG will support our growth plan in China and our EV capabilities,” Provost added.
Worldwide electric car sales hit 1.98 million in 2018, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), with global stock reaching 5.12 million.
China's electric car market is the biggest on the planet, the IEA says, with Europe and the U.S. following behind. There were 2.3 million electric cars on China's roads last year, according to the IEA, representing roughly 45% of the world's total.

Fiat Chrysler falls 4% after Goldman initiates at sell, citing North American growth struggles

2019 Ram 1500 pickup truck of the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is displayed at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) on January 15, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan.The Asahi Shimbun | Getty ImagesAutomaker Fiat Chrysler's stock fell more than 4% Tuesday after Goldman Sachs initiated the company's stock at a sell rating, citing growth concerns in North America and challenges in Europe for its opinion.
The investment bank set a price target of 11.50 euros ($12.90) giving the company a 7% downside.
“North America accounts for a disproportionate percentage of FCA's earnings. Additionally, it was the principal driver of FCA's earnings improvement over the last five-year business plan. However, we do not forecast the company's earnings in North America growing through its next five-year (2018-22) plan,” said Goldman analyst George Galliers, in a research note.
North American sales accounted for 93% of the company's adjusted earnings before interest and tax in 2018.
In the European market, the automaker is struggling with old products that need to be refreshed. Galliers said the company's average product age is 7.4 years, which is a cause for concern given the time it will take to update the portfolio. The Dodge Challenger, for example, hasn't been fully redesigned since 2008 and the Chrysler 300 since 2011. Fiat Chrysler plans to redesign both in 2021.
Analysts said the company would make for an attractive acquisition, but the recent U.S. designation that automotive research and development is critical to national security, complicates things for the Italian-American automaker. Galliers added that major marquee brands like Jeep were “too integral” to sell off.
Fiat Chrysler could also face EU emission penalties of up to 746 million euros ($837 million) if they fail to meet the European Union's 2021 emissions targets, though Galliers expects Fiat Chrysler will avoid the fine since the cost is “too punitive.”
Despite the downbeat expectations, Galliers said the company's brands and its heritage has appeal, and strong European sales could help offset some of its troubles.
The car maker will report its next earnings on July 31. Analysts estimate Fiat Chrysler will earn 84 cents a share in the third quarter.
Fiat Chrysler's stock has lost 30% of its value since last year.
VIDEO9:2409:24Why Italian classic Fiat is failing in the U.S.Autos

GM CEO to United Auto Workers: ‘Our collective future is at stake’

UAW President Gary Jones and GM CEO and Chairman Mary Barra shaking hands at the event.Source: General MotorsDETROIT — General Motors CEO and Chairman Mary Barra on Tuesday pleaded for United Auto Workers union leaders to assist, not hinder, the company's ongoing restructuring efforts to better position GM for the future.
Barra, speaking during a ceremony to officially begin negotiations with the union, said the company and union need to be “agile, decisive and disciplined” together more than ever amid a “rapidly” changing auto industry.
“Today, we are at a turning point when it comes to the transformation of the industry and this company,” she said during the event inside GM's global headquarters in Detroit. “Our collective future is at stake. We cannot move forward without one another.”
UAW leaders took a different position, pledging to use contract negotiations this year with GM to fight the company's plans to potentially close four U.S. plants.
“Speaking on behalf of my brothers and sisters, know this, we will not leave no stone unturned,” UAW President Gary Jones said during the event. “We will fight to keep these union plants open and allocate more products here on American soil. It can be done.”
His comments came as about 80 laid-off workers and supporters from Lordstown Assembly, a plant in Ohio that GM idled in March, picketed outside GM's headquarters.
Barra did not directly address Lordstown or the other impacted plants in Michigan and Maryland during her remarks. She instead cited a need to be “proactive on all fronts because we are not here merely to survive, we are here to lead it and we are here to win.”
Impacted plantsIn November, GM initially announced five plants in North America, including one in Canada, would be “unallocated” of product and potentially close as part of a corporate restructuring aimed to cut $6 billion in costs a year by 2020. The plans, which impacted roughly 14,000 U.S. salaried and hourly workers, were hailed by investors as a way for the automaker to address production overcapacity in the U.S. but heavily criticized by union leaders and President Donald Trump, who demanded the company sell or reopen Lordstown.
Workers picketing outside GM's headquartersMichael Wayland | CNBC “Get that big, beautiful plant in Ohio open now,” Trump tweeted in March. “Close a plant in China or Mexico, where you invested so heavily pre-Trump, but not in the U.S.A. Bring jobs home!”
In May, GM announced it was in discussions with Workhorse Group Inc, a Cincinnati-based EV manufacturer, and an affiliate company to sell Lordstown Assembly. The plan was hailed by Trump but criticized by other public officials and union members for not being enough to fill the plant.
Dave Smith, a laid-off Lordstown worker who was picketing Tuesday in Detroit, said he hopes the union can deliver on bringing new product to the Ohio plant.
“It's going to kind of break up our family if I have to move,” said the 49-year-old Lordstown resident about potentially being assigned to another plant. Smith, who says he has worked at Lordstown Assembly for 24 years, also said “hopefully” Trump continues to push the company and helps the union “get a product back in there.”
Contract negotiationsThis year's contract talks between the union and Big Three Detroit automakers are expected to be the most contentious in at least a decade amid “America first” policies from the Trump administration, a tight labor market and thousands of job cuts and cost reductions as the industry prepares for an expected economic downturn.
Union leaders said this year's negotiations will set the wages and benefits for about 158,000 members. The outcome will also help steer investment plans for GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler in the U.S. for the next several years.
UAW members and supporters from General Motors' Lordstown Assembly plant, which was idled in March, picket outside GM's headquarters, as 2019 contract negotiations get underway.Michael Wayland | CNBCGM is expected to have toughest negotiations this year with the union due to the automaker's potential plant closures.
The UAW and Ford were the first to officially open their negotiations Monday, followed by GM Tuesday morning and Fiat Chrysler Tuesday afternoon.
Mark Stewart, chief operating officer of FCA – North America, discussed the company's need to negotiate a flexible contract that will allow it to adapt to changes in the economy and automotive industry.
“We've got to continue to make the right strategic decisions together to continue our profitable growth so we can to invest right here in the U.S.,” he said during the event at the automaker's North American headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich.
His remarks were similar to those of executives at GM and Ford, while the UAW's Jones reiterated the union's objectives to secure future investment and award UAW members for assisting the companies in achieving record profits in recent years.
“We are the voice of the American worker. We are the defenders of the middle class. And we are ready to talk,” Jones said to end his prepared remarks with each automaker, including Fiat Chrysler.
The contracts between the union and automakers all expire on Sept. 14, however it's common for that deadline to be pushed back weeks, if not months.
GM shares were relatively unchanged in trading Tuesday. The stock, which has a market value of $55.8 billion, is up 17% since January.
VIDEO9:2409:24Why Italian classic Fiat is failing in the U.S.Autos