2019 Jeep Renegade Limited 4x4Jil McIntosh Big changes are reportedly in store for everybodys favourite off-road brand, Jeep.The companys entire lineup is on track to get electrified by 2022, Jeep global president Christian Meunier revealed to Australias Car Advice at the debut of the 2020 Gladiator. This means in just a few years we can expect plug-in hybrid or battery-electric powertrains under the hoods of not just new products, but icons like the Wrangler as well.Its a lofty goal for the brand to complete in just two years, but its already got a start in the compact Hybrid Renegade.Jeeps also plans to expand its lineup into more on-road vehicles, according to reports from Auto Express, and has been confirmed to soon launch a rival to the extremely popular ultra-compact Suzuki Jimny.We want to make it more of a sustainable, iconic brand, not only an off-road brand, Meuniers said, which suggests this brand re-alignment rumour has legs. While its arguable Jeep is already an on-road brand, as probably less than half of owners actually take their vehicles out on the trails, a more road-friendly SUV would be a good move for Jeep.And a Jimny rival would do very well in North America, since Suzuki has decided not to bring the vehicle here thats a gap Jeep could potentially fill.With Jeeps new doctrine in mind, wed bet the vehicle could also be all-electric, making for the perfect little city car, especially for us Canadians that need a little more ground clearance for those particularly harsh winters.LISTEN: What do you get when you combine a cross-country electric vehicle road trip with a poignant love story? Mary Ann’s Electric Drive, that’s what. In this week’s episode of Plugged In, we chat with Harvey Soicher, a Vancouver man who tragically lost his soul mate 18 months ago but found some semblance of healing by embracing what he calls a ‘pioneer spirit’ to drive his Audi e-tron from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean and back.
Origin: Jeep wants to electrify its whole lineup by 2022, says report
2022
Cosworth will provide hybrid technology for BTCC in 2022
British Touring Car Championship organiser TOCA has announced that Cosworth Electronics will supply hybrid powertrains for the race series from 2022. The new technology will be integrated into the competing cars’ existing 2.0-litre turbocharged powertrains, to keep costs down, and will be used primarily for passing and defending manoeuvres on track. But cars will also operate in full-electric mode in the pitlane. The system will allow the BTCC to forego its current ‘success ballast’ system from 2022. Instead of race winners carrying more weight in their next outing, their hybrid usage will be more tightly restricted. Cosworth Electronics, a subsidiary of renowned engineering firm Cosworth, won the tender having demonstrated it could meet the packaging, performance and cost requirements outlined by TOCA. The compact 60-volt system comprises a gearbox-mounted electric motor and separate cooling unit. A bespoke battery and its associated hardware, alongside modifications to the gearbox and ancillaries, entails an estimated 64kg weight gain for each car. Early tests have shown that the most significant performance boost comes at the bottom of the rev range. The BTCC claims “the hybrid power burst will bring the engine up into the turbo ‘window’ more quickly”. Activating hybrid mode will temporarily add approximately 40bhp to a car’s power output, claims the BTCC. A simulation based on Silverstone revealed that a hybrid-equipped racer would accelerate faster out of Copse Corner than a conventionally-fuelled current model. Drivers can control how much energy they recuperate and deploy throughout the race, with a steering wheel-mounted button that engages and disengages the hybrid motor. The system will also deactivate under braking, when the pre-determined time limit has been reached or when throttle input changes suddenly. The BTCC is conducting tests to determine the exact rules of hybrid technology usage in races, but has confirmed that it cannot be deployed for more than a total of 15 seconds per lap. Cosworth’s hybrid powertrain will cost teams £20,500 per season (£2050 per race). The competition’s shift to electrification was first announced in 2018, with testing scheduled to get underway as early as next year. The BTCC says hybridisation “could have been introduced from 2021” but “it was decided to stay with the original 2022 introduction date in order to allow ample
Origin: Cosworth will provide hybrid technology for BTCC in 2022
Exclusive: Gordon Murray tells Autocar about his 2022 hypercar
As Gordon Murray lays out preliminary details of his 2022 T.50 hypercar, we speak to the father of the McLaren F1 to find out why he’s not obsessed with lap records, how the model will achieve segment-leading downforce figures and why it will be better than 1994’s fastest car in every way. How do you relate the T.50 to the McLaren F1 you designed? “It’s fair to call T.50 today’s equivalent of the F1. That was certainly our intention. Of course, it’s very different because the materials and technologies available today are so much better than they were. I look at the toolbox we’ve got at our disposal now and it excites me more than ever.” Does your different approach with the T.50 mean you don’t think much of current hypercars? “Not true. I’ve driven them all and many are brilliant. Most are amazingly capable. But they’re nearly all heavy, which is something you can disguise at times but which really tells when you’re talking driver involvement. You simply feel the weight. Heavy cars don’t get the hairs on the back of your neck rising the way a powerful, ultra-lightweight car does.” Why are you determined not to chase lap records and performance figures with the T.50? “I just don’t see the point. F1 was quick and T.50 will be quicker. In any case, you’re on a hiding to nothing. Pick some extraordinary top speed, design your car to attain it, and soon someone will come along and beat it – because it’s all he wants to do. Building your car to chase targets compromises it in other ways and we’re trying to build an uncompromised car.” You talk a lot about the disappearance of clean and pure styling. What’s that about? “Modern supercar styling can be pretty ugly and the excuse is that the car has been ‘styled by the wind tunnel’. I think that’s cobblers. It shouldn’t be true. With our fan providing T.50’s downforce, we can give it ideal proportions and clean lines.” And the T.50’s styling extends to the engine bay? “Very much so. We did it with F1 and we’re doing it better this time. We won’t just have a big composite panel that looks a bit like an engine, as others do. You’ll be able to see our engineering. We’ve even designed the engine with internal galleries for the pipes and wires so you’ll see beautiful cam covers, inlet trumpets and exhausts. It’ll look like engines are supposed to look.” The F1 had a gold-lined engine bay. Will you do that again? “It’s possible. If gold is still the best medium for reflecting heat when we get to build our cars in 2022, we’ll probably use it.” Why not make an all-electric hypercar? “Just about the most ridiculous thing you could do at present is make an electric supercar. With batteries in their current state, you’d end up with something that weighed two tonnes, would go well in a straight line for a while, but wouldn’t corner because of the weight, and wouldn’t have much range. Our new car is the opposite of an electric supercar in just about every
Origin: Exclusive: Gordon Murray tells Autocar about his 2022 hypercar
Mercedes-Benz to launch EQE electric saloon in 2022
One of ex-Mercedes-Benz chairman Dieter Zetsche’s final acts in power was to sign off on the firm’s sixth electric model: the EQE. The new upmarket saloon is scheduled to go on sale in 2022 and will compete directly with the Tesla Model S in terms of price. Details of the EQE have been cited in documents recently made public by the Chinese Ministry of Information and Technology in which the EQE is referred to under its internal codename, V295. The EQE is one of 10 new electric models destined for sale from Mercedes under its EQ sub-brand by the end of 2025 in a development programme already budgeted to cost up to €10 billion (£8.7bn). On top of this, the German car maker has announced the investment of a further €20bn (£17.4bn) in battery cell technology. Electric models are expected to account for more than a quarter of all Mercedes’ sales by the middle of the next decade. Zetsche said: “Our electric offensive continues to gain momentum. We are now taking the next step.” The EQE will follow the recently introduced EQC, next year’s new EQA and EQV, the flagship EQS and the recently confirmed EQB into Mercedes showrooms in the UK. A sibling model to the larger and more luxurious EQS due out in 2021, the EQE will also be the second Mercedes to be based on the company’s new MEA electric car platform. Set to make extensive use of aluminium, it is designed to give future EQ electric models a flat floor structure for added packaging flexibility and what Mercedes insiders have described as “class-leading interior space”. One source said: “The EQE will be shorter in length than today’s E-Class but offer space comparable to the existing S-Class.” As our image shows, the EQE will evolve the shape of the upcoming facelifted E-Class with a focus on aerodynamic efficiency. It will adopt a face inspired by the rest of the EQ line-up, and is expected to sit lower to the ground with a ride height adjusting depending on the road conditions. The EQC, EQA, EQV and EQB are based around existing platform structures that are shared with, respectively, the GLC, A-Class, V-Class and upcoming GLB. Like the EQS, the EQE will be sold from the outset with four-wheel drive, with power coming from two electric motors – one mounted up front providing drive to the front wheels and a second driving the rear wheels. To broaden the car’s appeal, Mercedes is also considering a rear-wheel-drive version of its new EQ model, although it is unlikely to be made available until 2022, according to sources familiar with the company’s electric car strategy. Although it is still early days, power and torque are expected to eclipse the 402bhp and 564lb ft of the new EQC. Among the features being touted for the EQE are active air suspension and four-wheel steering, as well as safety features incorporated into Mercedes’ new ESF experimental research vehicle, including level three autonomous driving functions. Developments in battery cell technology are expected to provide the EQE with a range of close to 373 miles (600km). Production of the EQE is scheduled to take place at Mercedes’ new Factory 56 in Germany – the same site earmarked to produce the EQS. The EQE will also be produced at a new €1.5bn (£1.3bn) site being constructed by Mercedes in partnership with its Chinese joint-venture partner in Beijing at the rate of up to 70,000 units per year from
Origin: Mercedes-Benz to launch EQE electric saloon in 2022
Ferrari won’t supply engines to Maserati after 2022
2018 Maserati GranTurismo MCMaserati Maserati has had the proverbial rug pulled out from under it, with Ferrari announcing it would no longer supply engines to its Italian cousin. Ferrari CEO Louis Camilleri broke the news during his Q1 earnings call; the entire transcript is available through The Motley Fool. Eventually, we will no longer supply engines to Maserati, which from our perspective is actually a good thing, both from a margin perspective, but also the fact that we can transfer a lot of the labor that’s been focused on the engines to the car side of the business, Camilleri said. He added it would officially stop supplying Maserati with engines by 2021 or 2022. Arguably, the best reason to buy a Maserati was because of the Ferrari engine, which the company has been using since 2002 when it was in the same bed with Ferrari under Fiat’s roof. Ferrari was spun off from FCA in 2015 but continued to supply its 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8; 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6; and 4.7-litre naturally aspirated V8 engines to Maserati. Maserati was depending on the inclusion of Ferrari engines to help it revitalize its products, which haven’t been selling so well lately. As Maserati prepares for an advertising assault and an onslaught of new products, it will have to find a better selling point than the Ferrari engine. Perhaps Germany’s Mercedes-AMG, an engine supplier to many brands, would like to swoop in and take Ferrari’s place? More likely, Maserati will reach into the FCA parts bin for its engines, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. We would do filthy things with a Hellcat-powered Grand Sport, you can bet on
Origin: Ferrari won’t supply engines to Maserati after 2022
Toyota will build the Lexus NX in Ontario as of 2022
2019 Lexus NX300 F SportJonathan Yarkony Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (TMMC) confirmed this week that it will bring production of the North American Lexus NX and NX Hybrid to its Cambridge, Ontario factory in 2022. The NX, which had been previously built in Japan, will join the Lexus RX and Toyota RAV4 already in production at Toyota’s Cambridge and Woodstock facilities, offering some much-needed stability and probably some new positions to the already 8,500 employees that currently work there. Especially after a portion of the RAV4 production was shipped south of the border to Kentucky last year. A 2019 RAV4 model built at Toyota’s Woodstock plant. Peter Bleakney / Driving Toyota hasn’t provided numbers in terms of dollars and jobs, but it will not be insignificant as a new assembly line will need to be added to the Cambridge site. “Our operations and Team Members in Canada have won multiple international awards for plant quality, and continue to play an important role within Toyota’s global production strategy,” said Jim Lentz, CEO for Toyota Motor North America in a press release. “As the compact luxury SUV market continues to grow, building the NX in North America allows us to better serve our customers and dealers.” The investment in the auto sector comes as a welcome chaser following the bitter taste left by GM’s closing of the Oshawa plant and Chrysler’s 1,500-job cuts in Windsor. The NX is slated to enter production at the Cambridge plant early in 2022.
Origin: Toyota will build the Lexus NX in Ontario as of 2022
2022 Porsche Boxster and Cayman to get hybrid and EV options
Porsche is developing a fully electric 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman that will be launched by 2022 – and is considering offering them alongside mild-hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions of the current cars. The next generations of the two-door roadster and coupé sports cars have for some time been thought to be among a range of future pure-electric models set to be spearheaded by the upcoming four-door Taycan and the Taycan Sports Turismo. However, Porsche chairman Oliver Blume has indicated that hybrid powertrains are also being considered. “We have prototypes of the 718 running in electric now, and a hybrid prototype is being built,” he said. “If you look to the next generation of those cars it is possible, although it is not yet clear whether it would be plug-in hybrid or hybrid.” The decision to pursue both hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions of the 718 Boxster and Cayman alongside the forthcoming electric models is understood to have been taken after an internal engineering study revealed that lithium ion battery technology is not yet sufficiently advanced to enable pure-electric versions to offer more than 186 miles of range without significant changes to the existing mid-engine platform architecture. Porsche is now pursuing a plan that could see pure-electric Boxster and Cayman variants using the company’s new PPE architecture offered alongside updated versions of today’s models featuring hybrid and plug-in hybrid drivetrains. The plan would mirror the move taken by Porsche with the next-generation Macan, which will continue to be produced on its existing MLB platform with new hybrid drivetrains while offering the choice of a pure-electric variant based on the PPE architecture. Speaking about Porsche’s plan for the second-generation Macan, Blume said: “For at least two to three years we will have both. At that point, we can decide whether to upgrade the combustion engines to the new Euro 7 standard or go full electric. The pace that countries are changing is different – China wants electric now, Russia is in less of a hurry, for instance.” The new mild-hybrid and plug-in hybrid drivetrains intended for the 718 models are developments of those already engineered for the larger 911, according to sources. The electrification measures are among changes designed to allow Porsche’s existing combustion engines to meet the upcoming EU7 emissions standards. However, while the hybrid systems scheduled to appear on the facelifted version of the eighth-generation 911 early next decade are based around Porsche’s horizontally opposed six-cylinder petrol engine, those being earmarked for the new 718 Boxster and Cayman are set to use the smaller-capacity flat four engine introduced by Porsche in 2016. Both units feature a 48V electrical system and disc-shaped electric motor integrated into a modified version of the existing Boxster and Cayman’s seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox. The mild-hybrid system has been conceived to provide an electric boost to the petrol engine for added performance potential and increased efficiency, albeit without the ability to provide an electric-only driving mode. The plug-in hybrid also provides electric boosting but has been built around a battery of sufficient capacity to offer extended pure-electric running. Porsche’s plan to give the 718 Boxster and its fixed-roof Cayman sibling electric power originated from the 2011 Boxster E project. That machine featured a 121bhp electric motor with a range of 106 miles, although EV technology has moved on substantially since then. More recently in 2017, Porsche developed the one-off Cayman e-volution. It had a claimed 0-62mph acceleration time of 3.3sec, a 120mph top speed and a range of 120 miles on a 38kWh lithium ion battery. Despite the impressive performance credentials of the Cayman e-volution, concerns about its limited range led Porsche to pursue the development of solid-state batteries – both for future pure-electric versions of the 718 Boxster and Cayman as well as for an electric hypercar that is expected to appear in 2025 as a spiritual successor to the 918 Spyder. Porsche insiders citing studies carried out by parent company Volkswagen say they anticipate a rapid evolution of lithium ion cells for an improved energy-to-weight ratio in the next generation of batteries. Estimates are that cell energy density both by volume and weight will increase by 25% from 2019 to 2025. By 2025 they also expect the adoption of solid-state batteries to bring a further increase of 25%. This would allow Porsche to pack more energy in the same space with no additional weight penalty. A £76 million investment by Volkswagen in QuantumScape has given Porsche access to the latest developments in solid-state battery
Origin: 2022 Porsche Boxster and Cayman to get hybrid and EV options
Ford will introduce a new ‘affordable’ product by 2022
Ford today introduces the all-new Focus car for global customers, featuring the latest advanced and affordable technology with more comfort and space and a better fun-to-drive experience.Handout Ford is letting its drivers know that just because the stories of entry-level Ford vehicles like the Fiesta, Focus and Fusion, are coming to a close, those seeking a bargain won’t be left in the cold waiting for the bus. On Wednesday, the VP of enterprise product line management for Ford, Jim Baumbick, said the Blue Oval would be adding a new “affordable” nameplate to its lineup, providing an alternative to the receding sedans, Automotive News reports. It’s unclear what body style it’ll be built around, or how large or small it’ll be, but things are apparently moving quickly over in Ford’s development HQ. It’s an example of how we’re moving faster, working together differently and leveraging our five all-new flexible vehicle architectures, Ford said in a statement. We came up with the concept in just 12 weeks using our new product creation process. Previous all-new vehicles could have taken years of research before receiving approval. Will it be a sedan? Given that all four of the aforementioned culled Ford vehicles are, that which is meant to fulfill those missing them would make sense as a sedan. But the push toward larger vehicles like SUVs and pickups is undeniable, so we could definitely see the “affordable” option being a crossover. There’s also the news of a more affordable compact pickup on the way, which could be the sedan substitute Ford is speaking of. Time, and Ford, will tell.
Origin: Ford will introduce a new ‘affordable’ product by 2022
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