Robots manufactured by Comau are pictured on the assembly line of the Fiat 500 BVE, the first of its kind in Europe, during its inauguration at the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) Mirafiori plant in Turin on July 11, 2019.Miguel Medina / Getty Fiat announced mid-July it was investing US$788 million into its Mirafiori plant in Turin, Italy in order to build a battery electric (BEV) version of its 500 city car.The first robots on the new assembly line were installed July 11 at a ceremony that saw the automaker announce the plants production target of some 80,000 BEVs per year.Production of these next-gen electrics will begin in the second quarter of 2020, said Pietro Gorlier, FCAs chief operating officer for Europe, Middle East and Africa, and the production target could later be expanded.FCA plans to invest a total of US$5.6 billion in Italian production by
Origin: Fiat investing in new plant assembly line to build electric 500
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JLR set to invest in UK plant to build electric models
JLR set to invest in UK plant to build electric models Jaguar Land Rover will be able to build EVs at Castle Bromwich Jaguar Land Rover is expected to announce on Friday that it is investing millions in its Castle Bromwich plant to allow the manufacturing group to build electric models in the UK. According to reports in the Financial Times, a scheduled six-week shutdown will provide the opportunity to alter tooling on the lines, enabling the production of EVs. The expected news is a boost to the company’s workers in the country, as recent losses have seen Jaguar Land Rover announce job cuts as part of plans to restructure the company. A crucial element of that refocusing is an increased electric car offering. Currently, Jaguar has the all-electric I-Pace available, and Land Rover has the Range Rover & Range Rover Sport PHEVs on their books. The recently axed XJ large executive saloon is expected to be replaced by an all-electric model to rival the likes of Tesla’s Model S and the forthcoming Porsche Taycan. Other models in the Jaguar and Land Rover ranges will be offered as pure-electric or plug-in hybrid models in the next few years. The I-Pace is currently produced in Austria, and the only electric model produced in the UK is Nissan’s Leaf at the company’s Sunderland plant. A EV battery manufacturing site is set to be opened by Williams Advanced Engineering and Unipart, which could help with JLR’s EV plans, and is already confirmed to supply Aston Martin at its St Athans site. Jaguar has been boosted by the success of the I-Pace, which currently holds both the World Car of the Year and European Car of the Year titles, and is looking to build on those foundations with new electric models with future launches. JLR has recently announced plans to work with the BMW Group to develop next-generation electric powertrains going forward.
Origin: JLR set to invest in UK plant to build electric models
Chinese firm BYD to build electric buses in Ontario
Say Watt? In a shocking development proving theres no place like ohm, Chinese company BYD is amped to announce it will be assembling electric buses in Ontario. According to them, this wont hertz a bit.Okay, fine, enough with the dad jokes. BYD already makes buses south of the border, but the new 45,000-square-foot facility in Newmarket, Ontario will be the companys first foray of this type into the Great White North.We are dedicated to partnering with municipalities across Canada, and we are passionate about our mission to create a cleaner environment here in North America and across the globe, said BYD President Stella Li.The company is already active in the Canadian market, with buses on order or in operation in places like Toronto and Grand Prairie. The new plant will first focus on assembling buses for the TTC, which has apparently placed an order for ten pure-electric buses with an option for 30 more.The busmaker is hoping for a success similar to that its found in its California facility, a location that started with a handful of workers five years ago and now employs about 750 people after a series of rapid growth initiatives.According to the companys website, it markets four different types of transit buses, ranging from 30 to 60 feet in length. It isnt yet clear what ones are slated for assembly in Canada. In a strange twist of fate, urban legend has it that when Chinese entrepreneurs wanted to construct cars in their own country before the climate was favourable to do so, they told authorities they were actually building buses. Now, thats exactly the product theyre assembling in our country.BYD has 240,000 employees across the globe, including nearly 1,000 in North
Origin: Chinese firm BYD to build electric buses in Ontario
BMW expects to build diesel engines for another 20 years
Diesel power, in the guise of the new 2014 328d, returns to BMWs 3 Series lineup. BMW may be heavily investing in electric vehicles, but it expects to continue building petroleum-fueled engines, with diesel lasting at least 20 years and gasoline another decade after that.Speaking with Automotive News Europe, Klaus Frhlich, BMW Group board member of development, said even with battery-electric and plug-in hybrids, he expects at least 80 per cent of the companys vehicles will still have an internal combustion engine by 2025.A best assumption would be just 30 per cent electrified sales by 2025, Frhlich added.We see areas without a recharging infrastructure, such as Russia, the Middle East, and the western internal part of China, so they will rely on gasoline engines for another 10 to 15 years, Frhlich told the magazine. He said the coastal part of China, and cities like Beijing and Shanghai, will be battery-electric in about ten years, while Europe is more likely to embrace plug-in hybrids. In the U.S., he expects battery-electrics to sell mainly on the west coast and in parts of the east coast, but they will not become mainstream vehicles. In order to create emissions credits for environmental regulations, the company will most likely offer sportier, more powerful BMW M plug-in hybrids to American (and no doubt Canadian) customers.Frhlich told Automotive News Europe that the shift to electrification is overhyped, and that battery-electric vehicles cost more in terms of raw materials for batteries. This will continue and could eventually worsen, as demand for these raw materials increases.BMW will abandon a 1.5-L three-cylinder diesel it sells in Europe because its too costly to engineer it to comply with tightening emissions standards. Frhlich also said the company wont design a successor to the six-cylinder, 400-horsepower diesel in the 750d, since its too pricey and complicated to build due to its four turbochargers.The automaker will continue to engineer four- and six-cylinder diesels, but with no more than three turbochargers. Its working on a business case to continue its eight-cylinder gasoline engines, but will eventually drop its V12, which only sells about 5,000 copies per year globally including at Rolls-Royce and which has to be regularly updated to meet new emissions standards, especially in
Origin: BMW expects to build diesel engines for another 20 years
BMW’s M might build a standalone supercar
BMW M1 BMW’s M performance division is changing its mind about not building a standalone model, and is now instead studying how to build one. “We are investigating M variants that may also be standalone; that don’t have a predecessor,” BMW M chief Markus Flasch recently said in an interview with Australia’s Car Sales. The exec also noted the cars may not be range-toppers—the company’s already chosen specific categories in which the vehicles could reside. Flasch has previously said the new BMW M8 offers supercar-like performance, so the standalone model won’t be faster than the flagship GT. If the standalone model isn’t range-topping, then it isn’t likely we’ll see a competitor to Audi’s R8, or the Mercedes-AMG GT. A concept car is planned to be revealed at the end of June that should give us a better idea of things to come. Electrification and self-driving are expected to be present on the concept. If you’re old enough to remember it, BMW M did have a standalone supercar in the late ’70s; it was called the M1. Although the car was built for racing, the rules were changed before it was able to actually compete. It remains the only true supercar BMW ever built. The new M car is still very much in the early stages of study, but the company could have the vehicle approved before M’s 50th anniversary in
Origin: BMW’s M might build a standalone supercar
Mercedes-AMG plans to build cars in China for the first time
Having caught on that the Chinese performance and luxury car market isn’t going anywhere but up anytime soon, Daimler has announced that, for the first time ever, it will be moving production of some of its Mercedes-AMG products to Beijing. The hope is Chinese buyers looking for a performance vehicle will be enticed over to the AMG nameplate by the new, closer production location. The first made-in-China AMG car will be the 2020 A 35 L 4MATIC long-wheelbase sedan, a China-market-exclusive that was formerly imported from Germany but will be produced in the brand’s Beijing site by the end of the year. The decision to move manufacturing of the A 35 AMG to the destination market was made easy by the fact that the long-wheelbase A-Class sedan currently on roads in China is already manufactured in the factory near Beijing, adjacent to the nation’s first AMG-exclusive dealer. Daimler is hoping the AMG A 35 L strikes the same chord with buyers that the A 45 hatchback did. As the entry-level option in China, the spunky compact A 45 has been Mercedes-AMG’s best-selling import to date. Despite the heavily congested roads, Chinese drivers are still opting for vehicles that offer an exciting driving experience, like AMG’s do. To support the push to win some of that performance market, AMG is also investing in a new experience centre at the Zhejiang Circuit in Shaoxing, where AMG fans can test the vehicles out of gridlock traffic.
Origin: Mercedes-AMG plans to build cars in China for the first time
Maserati just wants to build race cars again, won’t go full-EV
A Maserati 6C 34 at the Panini Motor Museum.David Booth Maserati will have a totally new lineup by 2022, complete with a full suite of hybrid, PHEV and electric vehicles, but if you thought the marque was looking forward to a fully battery-driven future, well, North American head Al Gardner has a different plan. According to Gardner, Maserati needs to go back to its roots, which of course means racing cars. The Maserati brothers founded the company in 1914 and produced some great motorsports-focused machines, but never quite managed to keep up with the likes of Alfa Romeo and Bugatti. All that Maserati seems focused on these days is crossovers and electric vehicles, but Gardner says the brand will never go fully electric. This is a brand that needs combustion engines, he suggested. It needs that raw emotion. So Maser won’t lose the brand’s core values, even if it’s using engines from one of its oldest competitors, Ferrari. FCA CEO Mike Manley says there’s no problem with Maserati’s products, it’s a problem of awareness, Motor Trend reports. That’s why Maserati will receive some additional support from FCA in the sales and marketing department to help boost sales. The brand struggled with its first quarter 2019; shipments were down 41 percent and net revenue fell 38 percent. That’s not exactly stellar. Manley said the brand is gaining momentum again, though, after slowing sales in China, and the onslaught of new products that will be released, including performance versions of its Levante SUV, should help,
Origin: Maserati just wants to build race cars again, won’t go full-EV
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
Qiantu plans to build its K50 EV in Washington State
Mullen Technologies has revealed the build location of its first North American product. The sporty Qiantu K50 electric coupe will be made in Spokane, Washington. The Chinese automaker signed a letter of intent with the West Plains Airport Area Public Development Authority of Spokane, asking them to build a 1.3-million-square-foot facility to research, manufacture and assemble the K50. The compound will be home to around 55 jobs off the bat with the potential to grow that number to over 850 by 2026 as Mullen introduces other, more mainstream models to North America. And that’s in addition to the facility that will be used for battery development and production in the interim — with that included, job numbers could be as high as 3,000. The K50, which has been ripping around roads in China since summer 2018, is set to land in North America as the Qiantu flagship with 430 horsepower coming from two electric motors, and a zero-to-96 km/h run of 4.2 seconds. For the moment, driving range is pegged around the 200-mile mark (322 kilometres). Mullen’s initial offering will include 1,000 signature series models, which are expected to be priced above US$100,000, perhaps as high as US$150,000.
Origin: Qiantu plans to build its K50 EV in Washington State
GM adds 400 workers to build new mid-engine Corvette
General Motors Bowling Green PlantGeneral Motors General Motors will add a second shift to its Bowling Green, Kentucky assembly plant to build the next-generation mid-engine Corvette. The new shift will add more than 400 hourly jobs at the plant, bringing the total workforce to more than 1,300 employees. The new Corvette will be officially revealed on July 18, 2019. GM said it has invested more than US$900 million into the Bowling Green facility since 2011, with investments going into a new body shop and paint shop, an increase in engine capacity, and adding what it calls a Performance Build Center. The plant has produced more than one million Corvettes since it opened in 1981. The final production model of the seventh-generation Corvette will be auctioned off this summer, with proceeds benefiting the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which provides support and housing assistance for military and first-responders. The automaker is still tight-lipped about the upcoming C8 Corvette, and other than its mid-ship engine placement, everything else we’ve heard is pretty much speculation. Rumour has it that it’ll make anywhere between 500 and 1,000 horsepower, its V8 engine will have displacement-on-demand, it’ll carry a dual-clutch or ten-speed automatic transmission, and have a base price of around US$70,000 — although we think that’s way on the low side. We’ve also heard that there might be an ultra-top-end version called the Zora, named for Zora Arkus-Duntov, the “Father of the Corvette” who in the late 1950s and early 1960s, took Chevy’s original underpowered sports car and turned it into a beast. Stay
Origin: GM adds 400 workers to build new mid-engine Corvette
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