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Project Better Place founder Shai Agassi tells Auto Motor und Sport that his firm’s EV versions of the Renault Fluence will cost €3,000- €5,000 less than the gas-powered Renault versions. The only downside is that you have to live in Israel or Denmark to qualify. Oh yeah, and then there’s the “batteries not included” issue. To actually use the car you need to lease a battery (“The batteries belong to us,” scowls Agassi) which will run you about €250/month for about 1,500 miles (30k km/year). Unlimited mileage costs about €350/month. “Try to make a deal like that with Shell,” dares Agassi. But behind the posturing remains the fact that Better Place’s battery-swap scheme wouldn’t work if the Israeli and Danish governments hadn’t bought in. Agassi admits that his cars would cost more than Renault’s gas-burners if they backing governments didn’t heavily subsidize them. But Agassi figures these incentives will merely bridge the gap to higher volumes. “Electric cars are like other electronic devices: every two or three years the price will go down by half.” Hey, if that’s what it says on the business plan . . . .
If you are tired of carmageddon, and you are not ready for the dizzying near-triple-digit growth rates of China, go to Ye Olde Country (as long as your $ still buys something). Europe as a whole is slowly clawing its way back into a territory long forgotten: Growth. Slow, but steady growth.
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“We’re building more than one car; we’re building a brand,”
McLaren boss Ron Dennis, on the announcement of the one car that McLaren is bringing to market in 2011, the MP4-12C. By 2015 McLaren hopes to offer a 911 competitor and a Carrera GT-class super-duper car, bringing total volume to 4,000 units per year, reports the Times. The MP4-12C is named for Dennis’s 1997 Formula One-winning race car, and will be rocking all the mid-engine V8, adaptive suspension, carbon-fiber chassis, gullwing doors and seven-speed accoutrement one expects at a $250k price point. Meanwhile, the designer of McLaren’s first road car is betting on tiny city cars. And it’s tough to tell which of the two is crazier.
It’s the Audi version of the swine flu: foot in mouth disease. It has reached pandemic proportions at the four-ringed brand. First, Audi of America’s Prez Johann De Nysschen called (rightly or wrongly) the Volt “a car for idiots,” insulting green leanings and national pride. Now, Audi Finland’s sales chief Esko Kiesi forgot that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. In an interview with the Finnish woman’s magazine, Anna, Audi’s Finnish sales chief revealed that “Technical jobs can’t be mastered by women without the help of a man.” And that was one of the more benign statements. In a woman’s magazine.
GM is stepping up efforts to retain some control over Opel this week, as political pressure builds to find a solution before German elections on September 27. GM sources told the Wall Street Journal that Spain, Britain and Poland would jointly contribute “about €1B” towards repaying a German government bridge loan. Should the nationalized American automaker pay off the note, they could then sell Opel to their “preferred” third party buyer option, RHJ. The private equity fund dug around in the couch and came up with another €25M, raising its offer to buy Opel from GM to €300M. Coincidence?
There’s some surprising news in Automotive News [sub] today in GM’s ongoing attempt to save Opel (and, more importantly, its intellectual property). Since the German Government shot down the only proposal that would keep Opel IP with GM, the General is scrambling to prevent its erstwhile German arm from falling to Magna and GAZ/Sberbank. But who on earth would give GM the $4 billion it needs (now) to keep Opel on board the mothership (for the moment)? Surely only the American taxpayers are that gullible! Unfortunately for GM, there’s a catch. Automotive News explains:
Because GM is barred from using funding from the U.S. government from its reorganization in bankruptcy to support its international operations, one of the options could include raising money by selling or mortgaging the automaker’s assets in China, one of the sources said.
Mick Jagger once sang that “you can’t always get what you want,” and, to a degree, he was right. As a petrol head and committed environmentalist, I’ve found I’ve had to make compromises. After going crazy in my friend’s Porsche Boxster, I develop a painful pang of guilt of all the resources I wasted in the name of fun. No, really. Likewise, after driving greenly in my Toyota Yaris on a long drive (achieving 50 mpg for anyone who’s interested), I feel like I’ve watched a Russell Brand stand up show (i.e., I feel like my soul is damaged due to the absence of fun). But now it seems like Mr. Jagger’s words are out of date. Apparently, you CAN get what you want . . . .
Excited about the new Saab 9-5? Saab has put up a count-down timer on their homepage, for those in need to see exactly how far away the official unveil will happen. Meanwhile, the deal is still, as I wrote earlier, uncertain to say the least.
Christian von Koenigsegg speaks to Automotorsport Sweden about the future of his new acquisition. Managing Director Jan-Åke Jonsson’s interview can be found here.
News is flashing across The Swedish Wire that GM and Koenigsegg have reached a final agreement on the future of the Saab brand. A share transfer agreement has been signed for an undisclosed sum and equally undisclosed technology and service understandings. Koenigsegg and its consortium partners are still waiting on $593 million worth of financing from the European Investment Bank. More details as they become available.
As predicted a month ago, European car sales continued their cautious turn-around in July. Eastern Europe is still down (but on the mend), Western Europe, clocked in with a growth of five percent compared to July 2008. Europe as a whole was up 3 percent in July. Here are the highlights:
Auto Motor und Sport picks up on a report in De Telegraaf about a wave of anti-Smart vandalism that’s sweeping the city of a thousand “coffee shops.” Apparently, Amsterdam’s police force has been forced to post patrols around the city’s many canals in an attempt to curb the latest “weekend sport”: Smart tipping. The extent of this European version of cow tipping is unclear, although Amsterdam’s Smart Center reports “a number” of incidents. Apparently, the fact that the diminutive city cars park facing canals (instead of parallel parking like everyone else) makes them especially vulnerable. However Dutchamsterdam reports that the vandalism is not exclusive to Smarts. “In recent years vandals have also targeted other small vehicles, including scootmobiles and tiny cars from the Canta brand — both used primarily by people with handicaps and limited mobility,” is their analysis. Finally, a use for all those damn Neighborhood Electric Vehicles!
For the first time in fourteen months, European car buyers registered more cars than in the same month the previous year, the European Auto Manufacturer Association ACEA reports. For the month of June, Europe (as defined by the ACEA) records a modest growth of 2.4 percent, mostly “carried by the effects of fleet renewal schemes in more than 10 EU Member States.”
“Fleet renewal schemes” is a EUphemism for cash for clunkers.
What is interesting is that June ’08 was still strong. Any growth recorded against a strong month of the previous year is a good sign. As this graph shows, the car-nage in Europe begun in September ’08, and it was downhill from there. Expect more “growth” news from Europe for the following months, as a cautiously recovering market compares with a disastrous fall and winter of 2008. (Ignore August. All of Europe is on vacation in August, and next to nobody buys any cars while on vacation.) Country by country, it’s still a mixed bag.
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The situation in the collapsing French parts industry is turning explosive—literally. Workers at bankrupt French car parts maker New Fabris threaten to blow up their factory if they do not receive money from Renault and Peugeot, Reuters reports. The workers are occupying the New Fabris factory at Chatellerault, near Poitiers in central France.
Their ultimatum: Renault and PSA had better pay €30,000 ($41,800) to each of the 336 laid-off workers at the factory, a total of around €10 million. If they pay, they get the remaining stock of parts and the tooling. If not . . .
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