New Fiat 500e: electric city car seen inside and out in new shots

Fiat’s all-new, all-electric Fiat 500 city car has been caught testing again ahead of its expected 2020 Geneva motor show debut. The new prototypes, clearly based on the outgoing model, don’t reveal much about the new car’s exterior. They do, however, offer the briefest of glimpses into the car’s cabin. We can see the Mini Electric rival’s dashboard has been completely overhauled, with new instruments and a large central infotainment screen visible. A new rotary gear selector also features, mounted on a plinth below the centre console and surrounded by buttons. Earlier this year Fiat said it would invest 700 million Euros on the electric city car, to include a new production line in Mirafiori, Italy. Fiat hopes to produce 80,000 examples of the new 500e. The car will be sold alongside the existing 500, which will continue to be powered by conventional petrol engines as well as receiving styling and technical updates. The all-new electric 500 will sit on a bespoke electric car platform, according to Fiat boss Olivier Francois, with the same platform potentially earmarked for use if the the new Panda-inspired Centoventi concept makes production. The electric 500 will be a key part of Fiat’s transformation in Europe into a brand focusing on small electrified city cars. “The car will stay true to everything you know about the 500, but will be entirely new,” said Francois. “Under the skin it will be radically different, but otherwise you will recognise the size and proportions. “But it is a big statement, starting our electric path with the 500. We are doing it with that car for reasons of pricing. It is clear that we cannot sell an electric 500 for the same entry price of today’s 500, but what’s clear is that more than half of our 500 customers today do not buy entry-level models. In fact, for them a 24,000 euro price is normal today. “If you look at our electric competition, they are priced around 32,000 euros. The leap then from 24,000 to 32,000 is not so much, especially if you factor in government grants for electric vehicles. Francois refused to be drawn on whether the electric 500 could be rear-wheel drive like the original, but said he would be open to the idea. He also said that an electric Abarth model could hold appeal. The electric car platform that the 500e will sit on will be FCA Group developed. Francois said he would personally be open to sharing the technology with partners – the 500 platform has previously been shared with the Ford Ka, for instance, but he stressed that any such decision would have to be made at a Group level. Fiat also confirmed the 500 lineup will be expanded with a 500 Giardiniera estate, although the firm didn’t say if that version would also appear at next year’s Geneva show. The aim is to consolidate the brand’s dominance of the city car segment – the 500 and Panda hold a third of this market – while developing technologies that allow these models to satisfy emission regulations. The 500 Giardiniera, which references the tiny wagon of 1960, will offer the best space efficiency in its class, says Fiat, and “unmistakable design”. It too will get electric and mild hybrid variants. The 500’s new platform architecture can also cope with a mild hybrid system. That unit consists of a belt driven, 12V starter-generator, although little detail has been provided on the electric drivetrain to be used in the 500. Lower-emissions petrol engines will also be offered in the 500 and Panda. Francois conceded that the decision to develop the electric cars was driven “both by the desire to create a profitable electric car for our future, and to ensure we avoid the pressures of potential fines if we don’t hit CO2 targets.” Given the limited space for batteries and the 500’s urban appeal, range of the 500e is likely to be less than EVs such as the Nissan Leaf, which offers around 250 miles. The 500e will be a rival to a growing number of small EVs – Mini’s first series-production electric car is due in 2019, at the same time as the Honda Urban EV. The 500e will be one of four electric powertrains offered by FCA. It will sit use a ‘City Car’ powertrain, while a ‘Mainstream’ powertrain will be launched in the Jeep Grand Commander. A ‘Performance’ powertrain will feature in the 2020 Maserati Alfieri and a ‘Premium’ EV powertrain will power the 2022 Maserati Quattroporte. The push for electrification comes amid Fiat Chrysler’s abandonment of diesel; by 2022, there will be no diesel options in the FCA catalogue. These will be replaced by numerous hybrids, both full and plug-in, the first of which will be the new Jeep Grand Cherokee, landing in 2020. The production capacity released by the deletion of the Punto and other unspecified Fiat models – such as Tipo – will be used to build more Alfa Romeos and Maseratis, whose premium prices can withstand the electrification costs. Some Italian capacity will be used to build some plug-in hybrid models, including
Origin: New Fiat 500e: electric city car seen inside and out in new shots

The next-gen 2020 Volkswagen Golf is going high-tech inside, low-key out

The 2020 Volkswagen Golf Mk. 8 as revealed late October a day after just about every press photo of the thing leaked online and while it hasnt changed much outside, the inside has been revamped completely.The new eighth-generation Golf is a real looker, even if its dimensions are almost the same as the outgoing car. Slightly lower and longer, its still instantly recognizable as the classic hatch.The Mk. 8 has slimmer headlights and a revised, smaller grille; but the VW logo is as prominent as ever, and cuts into the hood like on a classic Golf. The two-door body style is gone for good, but a wagon may still be on its way for Europe.The interior has also been revised, with a new flat-bottom steering wheel and a 10.3-inch digital gauge cluster. A free-standing infotainment screen sits atop the stepped dash with illuminated accents. Digital sliders replace buttons and knobs, as does optional voice control. There is nothing traditional about this Golfs dashboard, in short.Furthermore, the car will have built in V2X, or vehicle-to-infrastructure, communication; and will be updated with over-the-air improvements to its s 2.0-litreoftware. Europe will be seeing a wide range of engines on the Golf order sheets, including three gas ones in the form of a 90- or 110-horsepower 1.0-litre three-cylinder; a 130- and 150-hp 1.5L mild hybrid with cylinder deactivation; or a 2.0L four-cylinder.Theres also a 115- and 150-hp TDI diesel 2.0-liter four-cylinder available overseas, but if that wasnt enough, VWs confirmed a GTD trim with a 200-hp TDI; two plug-in hybrids with 204 or 245 horsepower; and a natural-gas-driven TGI. Oh, and you can option all-wheel-drive, too.Before you get too excited, not any of these engines or cars have been confirmed for Canada quite yet. All we should expect as of now is a GTI trim (with a 240-hp 2.0-litre four) and an even more powerful Golf R, though the timeline on both is uncertain. (2021 is a good guess.) There are hints the plug-in hybrid could wind up here, too.Volkswagen may show off the cars coming to our shores sometime next year, and if it does, well make sure to let you
Origin: The next-gen 2020 Volkswagen Golf is going high-tech inside, low-key out

Inside Alvis: reviving a long-lost British car maker

‘Decarbonise the engine and report. Check power steering and front wheel alignment. Straighten up front bumper. To be completed by Thursday May 13th, please.’ So wrote Group Captain Douglas Bader, the celebrated RAF fighter ace, in a letter to the works service manager that he left on the seat of his Alvis ahead of its annual checkup. It’s contained in a bundle of correspondence relating to Bader’s many Alvis cars (each featured a Spitfire mascot), just one of thousands of copies of customer correspondence that Alvis has received since being founded in 1919 and still keeps and refers to, in addition to the vehicle records for each of the 22,000 cars it has produced and 17,000 technical drawings relating to every major component it has ever designed and manufactured. “My chief interest when acquiring the company was these documents,” says Alan Stote, the energetic 71-year-old boss of Alvis who bought the company from its retiring owner in 1994. “I’m very interested in 20th century industrial history.” Fortunately for Alvis, Stote is interested in not only the company’s past but also its future. To that end, the former Goodyear tyre apprentice, who went on to make a fortune in remould tyres before selling his company in 1988, has launched a series of six Alvis continuation models based on two different chassis – three pre-war cars, each powered by an Alvis 4.3 straight six, and three post-war cars with 3.0-litre Alvis engines under their bonnets. Prices start at £250,000. So far, four cars have been built (each takes two years) at the company’s Kenilworth base and orders for five more have been received from Alvis’s distributor in Japan. Depending on the variant, production of each continuation model is limited to five or 25 cars. Engines in the pre-war 4.3-litre models are newly manufactured copies of the original motor, based on Alvis’s detailed technical drawings, albeit with some modern updates including fuel injection, electronic ignition, battery management and an ECU. The blocks and heads are cast in West Bromwich and the cranks and rods in Hinckley by Arrow Precision. Remarkably, the 3.0-litre post-war continuation models are powered by engines that Alvis manufactured in the 1960s and have been sitting in stock ever since. They’re minutely checked prior to fitment. New ones can be made if necessary. Alvis was founded by engineer and businessman Thomas G John in Coventry in 1919. Six years later, it became the first car maker to design and race a front-wheel-drive car. Three years after that, its front-drive cars claimed first and second places at Le Mans. In 1933, it designed the first all-synchromesh gearbox and later that year produced the first British car with independent front suspension. The war caused Alvis to shift its focus to the production of military vehicles and aero engines for the RAF, but after hostilities ended, car production resumed. Eventually, in 1967, Alvis stopped building cars. The following year, it relocated to Kenilworth, from where it concentrated on making parts for Alvis cars under the Red Triangle brand and restoring and servicing vehicles for customers. Over 50 years later, under the ownership of Stote, the company is still restoring cars and making and distributing parts around the globe for the 4800 Alvis models that remain on the road. Around 200 pass through its workshop each year. On the day I visit, Stote greets me in the company’s large showroom, filled with Alvis models of all ages. Stote’s enthusiasm for Alvis is infectious. He soon has me cooing over a 4.3-litre Bertelli Sports Coupé. I’m more familiar with the later, more restrained Park Ward-bodied TF21 cars, and there are a few in the showroom, but the pre-war 4.3s are stunning. However, all but the earliest Alvis models on display share a graceful, perfectly proportioned, low-slung look. Unfortunately, none is available to drive, so I’ll have to imagine how they feel. From the showroom, we walk the few hundred yards or so to the main workshop, a large three-storey building where the company’s 22-strong team of parts experts and craftsmen and women toil. It’s a fascinating place, with old Alvis heirlooms, including those original engines and even the original parts bins from 1929, rubbing shoulders with state-of-the-art production and vehicle testing machinery. Old and new skills rub shoulders, too. For example, in one area, Daz, an expert in aluminium work, is shaping the body panel of a continuation model using an English wheel. Every so often, he places it against a full-sized wood buck of the car to determine the accuracy of the curvature he’s forming. Watching him is Alistair Pugh of A2P2 Specialists Reverse Engineering, a specialist supplier, who uses a laser to digitise the original Alvis bodies to the last millimetre in order to generate the data necessary to produce the buck Daz is referencing. Stote now leads the way to another building containing
Origin: Inside Alvis: reviving a long-lost British car maker

Inside Ferrari’s new design studio

Last year Ferrari finally opened its own design centre, having for years seen design houses, most famously Pininfarina, lead the styling of its models. Ferrari head of design Flavio Manzoni has told Autocar that a large in-house team is now essential due to the complexity of the design process and the need for multiple designs to be integrated into architectures from the beginning. The days of a car maker supplying a chassis to a coachbuilder for styling are over. “One of the main reasons for an in-house design team was the growing complexity of our cars,” Manzoni said. “The technology and aerodynamic requirements grow day by day. Interaction is needed between the different areas. “Using the other system, you could not now conceive the shape of a new Ferrari on top of the mechanical parts designed before. You had a chassis, then a coachbuilder. The coachbuilder designs the dress on top.” When Manzoni joined Ferrari in 2010 there were just a handful of designers. Today there are more than 100 working in the 1400sq m design centre in facilities that encompass everything from clay modelling to two ateliers where more than 200 customers come each year to meet with designers and individually personalise their new Ferrari. Manzoni also spoke of his desire to give each model its own distinct look, rather than a Russian doll-style approach. “We never follow the strategy of a ‘family feeling’ effect in the range,” he said. “You consider the shape, and that must reflect the essence of each project. It’s a very difficult thing to do, but each car must also then still be recognisable without a badge. But it makes the job more fun. It’s difficult, as every time you have to be new but consistent.” The SUV will be the most ‘different’ Ferrari yet, but it is a challenge Manzoni has relished. “We are very lucky,” he said. “We made a job to start from an idea that’s the consciousness of the richness of Ferrari: the forms, patrimony. “But at the same time, we are not slaves to history. We have a beautiful architecture. Our job is between prudence of tradition and the courage of innovation. This expresses our approach. There’s lots of responsibility for the brand, but a courage to evolve in different directions and break many rules. The SF90 breaks many rules. We didn’t use round rear lights but we’re happy to have made something different. “You should start with a lot of curiosity, the desire to make something really strong and
Origin: Inside Ferrari’s new design studio