Tag: Daimler

South Korea will file suit against BMW for engine fires

Posted 12/26/2018 12: 13: 56CET SEOUL, Dec. 26 (REUTERS / EP) – The South Korean Ministry of Transport announced on Monday December 24 that it will file a lawsuit against the German manufacturer of luxury vehicles BMW for an alleged “delay” in calls for review and hide “defects” that led to several fires in engines… Continue reading South Korea will file suit against BMW for engine fires

The arrests of Stadler and Ghosn shake the global automotive in 2018

Published 12/26/2018 12:14:42 CET Great changes in the domes of the automotive: García Sanz leaves Volkswgen; the ‘visionary’ Musk is replaced in the presidency of Tesla and Zetsche announces his withdrawal from Daimler MADRID, 26 Dec. (EUROPA PRESS) – The arrests of managers Rupert Stadler and Carlos Ghosn have shaken the automotive sector in 2018,… Continue reading The arrests of Stadler and Ghosn shake the global automotive in 2018

CATL Signs Battery Venture Deal With Volvo Owner Geely

5 H BY GASGOO World leader in batteries teams with giant Geely. Zhejiang Jirun Automobile, a subsidiary of Geely Auto, and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd.(CATL) will set up a joint venture for the research and development, manufacturing and sales of batteries, battery modules and battery packs to enhance their core competence and the ability… Continue reading CATL Signs Battery Venture Deal With Volvo Owner Geely

BMW tries to revive lagging 3 Series sales with new 2019 design that’s more, well, BMW-like

BMW refreshes its Series 3 sedan
4:45 PM ET Fri, 14 Dec 2018 | 01:05

BMW likes to boast that it builds “the ultimate driving machine,” and if any individual model has deserved that reputation, it's the 3 Series sedan.

While BMW produces a broad range of vehicles — traditional sedans, sports cars, wagons and a growing list of sport utility vehicles — no vehicle is more closely identified with the carmaker than its 3 Series.

The Bavarian automaker has sold about 4.5 million of the sedans since the 3 Series' introduction in 1975, making it the best-selling luxury nameplate in automotive history. But it has lost momentum in recent years, something BMW hopes to remedy with the launch next year of its next generation 3 Series — its seventh iteration.

The outgoing model, introduced in 2011, took a number of hits for losing its traditionally unique mix of performance, handling and luxury.

Initial reviews of the 2019 model have been overwhelmingly positive, with a headline in the influential Automobile magazine declaring the 2019 sedan “a Proper 3 Series Again.”

Source: Paul Eisenstein
2019 BMW 330i

Perhaps, but the seventh-generation sedan faces a level of uncertainty not seen since the original model, internally code-named the E21, debuted in 1975. That includes not only a wave of new competitors, but other offerings found right within the BMW showroom that reflect the dramatic market shift from sedans to sport utility vehicles.

“The 3 Series is truly the heart and soul of BMW,” said Thomas Baumer, project head for the 2019 3 Series, adding that “it is truly critical” that the new 2019 model regain momentum lost by the sixth-generation sedan.

As recently as 2013, BMW set a U.S. sales record. American buyers drove off in 93,544 3 Series models. But volumes have steadily declined, dipping to just 53,470 in 2017. And the downward trend has continued this year — 3 Series sales for the first 11 months of 2018 were off by 23 percent.

There are a number of reasons why BMW may have lost momentum. The Automobile review noted that the traditionally crisp characteristics of the 3 Series became “muddled” with the outgoing model, adding, “More than a few pundits and purists have found the traditional joys of the 3 Series less present in recent years.”

Source: BMW
The current model, a 2018 BMW Series 3, is being redesigned.

If that alone was the problem, the new model might be able to stage a rapid recovery. CNBC was also able to test the new 3 Series during a media drive in Portugal's Algarve region this month and found its handling precise, steering crisp and, with as much as 62 more horsepower, depending upon the model, capable of giving a motorist neck-snappingly quick acceleration.

But that's by no means the only challenge for the gen-7 sedan.

“The BMW 3 Series has been the icon in its class, and when you're the icon, everyone is gunning for you,” said John McElroy, a veteran automotive analyst and host of the industry broadcast AutoLine.tv.

In years past, most competitors aimed to carve out their own niche. With its own compact sedan, the Audi A4 was focused on design, Mercedes-Benz aiming for Teutonic plushness with the C-Class. But the lines have been blurring, and those German rivals have sharply upped their own performance game, reviewers are quick to point out. So have Japanese rivals like Nissan's Infiniti and Toyota's high-line Lexus, the Japanese giant's CEO Akio Toyoda declaring the need to put more “passion” into its products.

Source: Paul Eisenstein
2019 BMW 330i

An equally serious challenge is being posed by new entrants, such as Genesis, the luxury brand recently spun off by Korea's Hyundai. Its first entry into the compact sports sedan segment has generated intense buzz, the G70 winning the coveted Motor Trend magazine Car of the Year award.

By hiring away former BMW executives including Albert Biermann, now its R&D chief, as well as executives from Bentley, Bugatti, Mercedes and Lamborghini, Hyundai's luxury brand has been able to “build a legitimate 3 Series competitor,” Motor Trend declared in awarding the G70 its trophy.

The reality is that Genesis G70 sales have been marginal so far, but there's an even bigger threat coming from California now that Tesla appears to have finally resolved the “production hell” problems at its battery and assembly plants. The all-electric Model 3 has also taken aim at BMW's “heart and soul” and is rapidly leaving the 3 Series in the dust, at least from a sales perspective. It delivered around 18,000 of the compact sport sedans last month, according to industry estimates, compared with 3,218 3 Series.

The BMW numbers may be a bit misleading, as demand typically dips ahead of the launch of a new model. Sales for the 3 Series fell 47.9 percent year over year in November. But even using year-earlier figures, the Model 3 would have outsold the 3 Series by nearly 3 to 1.

There's an even bigger challenge, said analyst McElroy. “People are drifting away from sedans to SUVs and CUVs, so the biggest competitor may be the product on the other side of the BMW showroom.”

Indeed, in sharp contrast to the declining demand for the 3 Series, BMW's compact crossover utility vehicle, the X3, posted a 77 percent year-over-year sales jump last month, while year-to-date demand is up 45.1 percent.

And it's not just the 3 Series that has seen sales upended. BMW passenger car sales, on the hole, were down 2.5 percent in the U.S. through the end of November. The brand's crossover lineup — or sport activity vehicles, as it prefers to call them — rose 10.8 percent year over year.

BMW officials contend that their goal isn't to make the 3 Series the best-selling compact sport sedan in the industry, just the one that sets the benchmark for performance and handling. It may not be number one, but it's the model that continues to define the brand, whatever model you're talking about, sedan, coupe, wagon, sports car or sport utility vehicle.

And from the standpoint of the initial reviews, that's where the new 2019 BMW 3-Series is truly delivering.

Source: Paul Eisenstein
2019 BMW 330i

WATCH:
How automakers sell a $71,000 version of a $27,000 car

How automakers sell a $71,000 version of a $27,000 car
10:40 AM ET Thu, 28 June 2018 | 02:46

Porsche Taycan to Drive Farther, Charge Faster – Bloomberg

Porsche’s all-electric Taycan model, due next year, will let drivers travel about 400 kilometers (250 miles) after charging the vehicle for less than 20 minutes, Chief Executive Officer Oliver Blume told Welt am Sonntag in an interview. A new 800 volt electricity supply system will power a car for about 100 kilometers after a four-minute… Continue reading Porsche Taycan to Drive Farther, Charge Faster – Bloomberg

Tesla rival looks like its German alter ego

Tesla rival looks like its German alter egoTesla Inc.’s latest German rival is a fast-moving startup with global ambitions, no combustion-car baggage and a lofty valuation. And its hard-charging founder aims to challenge Elon Musk’s company with a bargain electric car for the masses.
Set up by an engineering professor with a track record of successfully developing and selling electric vehicles, e.GO Mobile AG is ramping up production of a battery-powered compact that will cost about half as much as the Tesla Model 3. But unlike the California pioneer, the German manufacturer expects to generate cash out of the gate.
“I’ve needed Tesla as a role model,” Guenther Schuh, e.GO’s founder and the mastermind behind Europe’s best-selling electric van, said inside his factory built on the site a former television-tube plantin Aachen, near the French border. “For so long, no startup or individual entered this shark tank alone, so it was great to get a demonstration of how that might work.”
Initial funding for e.Go came from Schuh’s sale of StreetScooter, a no-frills electric van, to Deutsche Post AG in 2014. Germany’s mail carrier was looking for an affordable electric vehicle for urban deliveries, and Schuh the chair of production engineering at RWTH Aachen University, one of Germany’s top technical schools developed a bare-bones model with no air conditioning or radio and a top speed of less than 50 miles per hour. The model was a surprise hit, and Deutsche Post has doubled StreetScooter capacity to 20,000 a year and is considering listing the unit.
In addition to StreetScooter proceeds, German auto supplier ZF Friedrichshafen AG invested 135 million euros ($154million) in e.GO as part of a project to jointly develop a self-driving minibus. The startup has now enlisted HSBC Holdings Plc to raise as much as 300 million euros for its plans to expand to four models a deal that could lift its value above $1 billion, making it a rare German “unicorn.”
While Tesla is focusing on upscale buyers and offering sports car-like performance, e.GO is taking a utilitarian tack. Its first model, the Life, is a simple urban runabout that looks like a boxy version of the Fiat 500. The four-seater boasts a cheap price for an electric car, but not much else. So far, e.GO has 3,200 pre-orders and isn’t taking more. Deliveries will begin in April, and the plan is to produce100,000 vehicles annually by 2022 on par with Tesla’s output last year.
“It’s going to be tough’’for e.GO to compete with entry-level conventional cars unless pollution-related driving restrictions force thrifty buyers to switch to electrics,saidWolfgang Bernhart, a partner at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants in Munich. “In time, there’ll also be competition from used electric cars.”
Regulatory support may be on the way after the European Union mandated an additional 37.5 percent reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions from cars by 2030. The new limit comes on top of tighter 2021 restrictions, and the decision prompted Volkswagen AG to say it’ll need to overhaul a 30-billion-euro investment plan to prepare for battery vehicles accounting for more than 40 percent of European deliveries.
The transition to the electric-car era has increasingly strained traditional carmakers, prompting partnerships that would have been unthinkable a few years ago. BMW AG and Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler AG are in talks to join forces on batteries, vehicle platforms and autonomous-driving technology to stem rising expenses, according to people familiar with the matter.
The no-nonsense specifications of the Life stem from e.GO’s response to offsetting high battery costsand steeper procurement prices than larger rivals. The German manufacturer uses as many off-the-shelf parts as possible including the drive train, which comes from Robert Bosch GmbH, and rear lights that were initially developed for trucks. That saves time and money. Schuh expects the company to generate positive cash flow already next year and be profitable in 2021, in stark contrast to Tesla’s cash-burn issues.
The e.GO Werk 1 plant spans some 16,000 square meters more than the size of two soccer fields and cost 26 million euros to build, a fraction of the price tag of an ordinary auto factory.
During a visit last month, employees gathered around a vehicle chassis sitting on an autonomous platform, gradually moving down a production line spanning one length of the building. Testing booths were located on the other side, with plenty of space in between for more capacity.
The facility located on an industrial estate near Aachen’s city center was strewn with computer screens and bins of components in preparation for series production starting in March, five months later than planned. To head off Musk’s “production hell” on the Model 3, Schuh is using the unexpected delays caused by supplier tests to fine-tune assembly. For instance, he tweaked a hoisting platform to eliminate the risk of it crushing cars.
Expansion beyond Aachen is already in the works, with discussions underway to set up assembly joint ventures in China and Mexico and make battery cells in Germany. Schuh is also in talks with Chinese cities to collaborate on areas for autonomous vehicles, like its 15-person Mover minibus.
Despite the grand ambitions, e.GO’s success ultimately depends on making money on an electric car cheap enough to offset the drawbacks of limited driving ranges and long charging times (as much as 9.8 hours for the Life). Schuh is aware that he’s entering uncharted waters.
“I don’t know any carmaker that makes money in this vehicle category,” the lanky, bespectacled professor said. “Especially not if they’re electric.”
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Bosch to highlight innovative solutions and services for the mobility of the future and for the smart home at CES 2019

Bosch to highlight innovative solutions and services for the mobility of the future and for the smart home at CES 2019

Bosch booth: Central Hall #14020 / Twitter #BoschCES

World first: Bosch debuts a driverless electric concept shuttle with integrated services
CES 2019 Innovation Awards®: six honorees for Bosch solutions
Mobility of the future: less stress, improved safety and efficiency
Smart help: assistants in the home and in the garden make life easier by learning for themselves

STUTTGART, 14-Dec-2018 — /EuropaWire/ — At CES 2019 in Las Vegas, Central Hall, booth #14020 from January 8 to 11, 2019, Bosch is presenting technological answers to today’s challenges, including urbanization, population growth, and climate change. The supplier of technology and services will be highlighting innovative solutions and services for the mobility of the future and for the smart home.

World first: Bosch concept vehicle for a new kind of mobility
At CES, Bosch wants people to experience a new kind of mobility in the form of a driverless electric concept shuttle with integrated services. This kind of mobility will soon feature on streets in major cities around the world: whisper-silent, driverless shuttles that are seamlessly connected with their surroundings. Bosch will provide the necessary hardware, software, and new digital services that will enable users to book vehicles, pay for their ride, or share it with other passengers.

CES Innovation Awards: a total of six honorees for Bosch
In the run-up to CES 2019, Bosch received a total of six CES Innovation Awards. The CES Innovation Awards are an annual program run by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) covering 28 categories, and serve as an indicator of future trends. This year, awards went to the following Bosch products and solutions:

1. All-in-one principle for vehicle connectivity:
For the future of connected, automated driving, vehicles need the ability to communicate smoothly both among themselves and with their environment. To this end, Bosch has developed a universal connectivity unit for all Wi-Fi-based and wireless-based transmission technologies used in vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication. This enables vehicles to communicate with each other and with traffic infrastructure, regardless of the country or manufacturer. Software produced by the Portuguese startup Veniam handles the complex task of managing the data connections. It constantly searches for the best transmission technology for each requirement and switches automatically between the available options.

2. Trucks with no exterior mirror:
The new Mercedes-Benz Actros is the first production truck to feature a camera system in place of conventional main and wide-angle mirrors. Known as Mirror Cam, this system offers better 360-degree vision. In addition to increasing safety, having compact digital cameras instead of mirrors improves the truck’s fuel consumption thanks to the cameras’ considerable aerodynamic advantages. Two cameras, fitted left and right on the roof of the driver’s cab, feed real-time images to two high-resolution 15-inch displays mounted on the A-pillars inside the cab. The system adjusts the monitor display to match the driving situation. Overall, Mirror Cam greatly improves the truck’s aerodynamics, safety, and vehicle handling. Daimler’s development partners for the Mirror Cam system are Bosch and Mekra Lang.

3. The smartphone as car key:
The Bosch Perfectly Keyless access system will soon let car drivers, car-sharing fleet operators, and logistics companies manage their vehicle keys digitally. They can use a smartphone app to decide at any given time who should have access to cars or trucks and when. The ingenious feature of this Bosch system is that it makes the connection between smartphone and vehicle more secure than ever. Perfectly Keyless can pinpoint the authorized smartphone like a digital fingerprint. For CES 2019, Bosch has installed the system in a demonstration vehicle based on a Ford Mustang.

4. Radar-based assistance systems prevent motorcycle accidents:
Blind-spot detection, collision warning, and adaptive cruise control: giving motorcycles radar as a sensory organ enables new motorcycle assistance and safety functions while providing an accurate picture of the vehicle’s surroundings. As a result, these assistance functions not only increase safety, they also enhance enjoyment and convenience by making life easier for riders. According to Bosch accident research estimates, radar-based assistance systems could prevent one in seven motorcycle accidents. These electronic assistants are always vigilant and, in emergencies, they respond more quickly than people can. They are based on a combination of radar sensor, brake system, engine management, and HMI.

5. App for connecting e-scooters:
A new app turns e-scooters into connectivity pros. As well as displaying key information such as the e-scooter’s current battery charge, it allows rider-vehicle communication and the option to connect with other users via social networks. This makes it easy for users to find out which of their friends are in the area. In addition, there is a connected helmet holder on the e-scooter’s handlebar which is controlled by app. Whenever the e-scooter is parked, this provides a storage solution for the helmet while also protecting the vehicle against theft and its display against vandalism.

6. Retrofit solution for more efficient machinery and households:
Bosch has developed the Phantom algorithm to help small and medium-sized enterprises assess and greatly increase the energy efficiency of their machinery. This retrofit solution, which takes just a few minutes to install, uses sensors to measure the load on each device in the customer’s energy consumption network to provide valuable insights into usage and potential faults. This enables users to improve the machinery’s operations and efficiency. In homes, too, Bosch Phantom can tell how much power each device is using. This energy transparency makes it possible to save electricity.

Mobility of the future: selection of solutions and services
Driving electric, yet stress-free – that is the goal of Convenience Charging, the Bosch service that the company is presenting at CES 2019 in a demonstration vehicle based on an Audi A3 e-tron. This integrated charging and navigation solution enhances the everyday benefits of electromobility. In the future, the service will tell electric cars precisely when their power will run out, but also where they can find the next charge spot. To this end, Convenience Charging combines information from the electric powertrain with both vehicle and environment data to produce a reliable range forecast. The service uses state-of-the-art route planning to determine charging opportunities based on the driver’s personal preferences. In the future, drivers of electric cars will be able to order food for delivery directly to their pre-booked charge spot, so they can make the best use of the charging time. Using the Convenience Charging app, drivers will also be able to plan the charging stops they need in the comfort of their own home, with the app then seamlessly transmitting the suggested routes between charge spots to the vehicle.

Safe use of cell phones when driving:
The mySPIN smartphone integration solution makes it safe for drivers to use smartphone apps while they are on the road. Now, mySPIN also supports the MirrorLink vehicle communication standard. In the future, it will take just a simple adapter for the vehicle’s infotainment system or instrument cluster to enlarge mySPIN-compatible apps and display a reduced set of their key functions. Drivers will then be able to operate the apps by touch or using the vehicle’s rotary push button. Bosch is also developing mySPIN smartphone integration for commercial vehicles, motorcycles, scooters, and powersports vehicles.

Lifesavers from the data cloud:
In Germany alone, some 2,000 warnings about wrong-way drivers are broadcast each year. In most cases, however, the warning comes too late, since such incidents generally end after an average of 500 meters – in the worst case with fatal consequences. Bosch has developed a cloud-based solution that sends a warning to wrong-way drivers and all road users at risk within ten seconds. Some 15 radio and navigation apps already use Bosch wrong-way driver warning technology to reach people in 13 European countries. The service relies on a software module for integration into existing infotainment systems and apps.

Making the electronic horizon even more accurate:
Today, the electronic horizon provides data on road inclines and the sharpness of bends to complement navigation data. Because the system enables vehicles to think ahead, it enhances both safety and convenience. Bosch is now working on the next-generation electronic horizon, which will be even more accurate and up to date. In addition to information on road classifications, bends, and vertical profiles, it will provide vehicle systems and navigation systems with geometries for each and every traffic lane as well as infrastructure data with 3D objects. This will help automated vehicles determine their precise location within the lane.

A seat-of-the-pants feel for automated vehicles:
Bosch predictive road-condition services will allow self-driving vehicles to determine how road conditions will develop over the course of a journey, based on weather data provided by the company’s partner Foreca. As a sufficient number of connected vehicles take to the roads, Bosch will supplement its predictive road-condition services with vehicle data. This will increase the safety, availability, and convenience of automated driving functions.

Automated driving in cities:
San José in California’s Silicon Valley is set to become the pilot city for an automated ridesharing service provided by Bosch and Daimler. The three parties have already signed a letter of intent ..

BMW fined $10M, faces criminal probe for engine fires

BMW fined $10M, faces criminal probe for engine firesBMW AG is facing a criminal probe in South Korea after investigators concluded the manufacturer concealed fire hazards and delayed recalls for a problem that has dented sales and its reputation in the Asian country.
South Korea’s transport ministry plans to ask prosecutors to investigate the German carmaker, the ministry said in a statement on Monday. Korea also fined BMW 11.2 billion won ($10 million) for belatedly recalling 22,670 vehicles. The team that’s been investigating BMW since August found defects that could cause coolant to leak and set the engine on fire.
The move threatens to prolong the Munich-based company’s woes in a country where there have been nearly 40 cases of BMW fires reported this year. The carmaker, which has recalled 1.6 million vehicles worldwide over the issue, has seen its sales in Korea fall about 10 percent during the first 11 months of the year as videos went viral of the luxury cars being engulfed in flames.
BMW’s Korea branch apologized in a statement released after the announcement and said it will cooperate with ongoing investigations.
The Korean probe adds to the challenges at BMW as it prepares to begin a new year fraught with potential hazards from a trade war between the U.S. and China, and a drop in car sales in China, the world’s biggest car market. BMW is also raising spending to develop new electric and self-driving vehicles. The strains have been evident, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Automobiles & Parts Index having declined about 27 percent this year and both BMW and rival Daimler AG lowering 2018 profit targets.
The BMW defect also prompted the carmaker to do a voluntary recall of 323,700 vehicles in Europe, with about 96,000 of those in Germany. BMW had said it would begin replacing starting Aug. 20 the EGR coolers and modules in the recalled cars covering 42 models, including the popular 520d and 320d produced between 2011 and 2016.
BMW shares closed 0.1 percent higher on Friday in Frankfurt, the last trading day before the Christmas holiday, trimming losses to 17 percent for the year.
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