This week’s snippets of automotive news include news on a centre-seat McLaren track car, Hyundai on rapid chargers, Seat performance brand and Honda on the diesel CR-V.
Centre-seat McLaren:
McLaren boss Mike Flewitt is interested in creating a track car with one central seat. “It would be fascinating to do [one],” he said. “It would be perfect on a track, and easier to do because you need all sorts of legislation on the road. We’re not planning one but it’s been thought of. I’m surprised someone hasn’t asked MSO [McLaren Special Operations].”
Hyundai on rapid chargers:
The boss of Hyundai’s powertrain division, Michael Winkler, believes an obsession with rapid charging of electric vehicles is pointless because most owners will recharge their EVs at home overnight. “Slow charging is more healthy for the battery. I would prefer to charge my battery slowly,” he said.
Seat performance brand:
Seat performance sub-brand Cupra is a “speciality brand rather than a premium brand”, according to boss Luca de Meo. “Cupra is the best expression of what [Seat] is able to do.” He added that Seat would not push volume with Cupra but instead use it as a test bed. “You can’t put a plug-in hybrid into a £15k Ibiza but you could with a £30k Cupra,” said de Meo.
Honda on diesel CR-V:
Honda won’t offer a diesel version of its new CR-V, even though diesel accounts for 60% of UK sales of the current CR-V. “We’ve got to convert 60% of customers. Some people will move to petrol, but higher-mileage drivers will go to hybrid,” said UK boss Dave Hodgetts. He predicts it will take three years to achieve a 50/50 split between petrol and hybrid sales of the CR-V.
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