Skoda shows off big Greenie

The electric Skoda destined for New Zealand has been unleashed in an appropriately green land.

THE covers - well, camo - are still on, but a lot of details have nonetheless come out about Skoda’s first electric vehicle for international markets, the Enyaq iV.

Even though the car is still under disguise, a media preview effort that involved taking it to Ireland - because, in addition to the ‘E’ also referencing ‘electric’ and the ‘q’ conforming to an in-house naming practice, Enyaq derives from the Gaelic girl’s name Enya (which means ‘fire’ and ‘kernel’), plus green is Skoda’s colour and Ireland is the Emerald Isle – to release video, images and a ton of spec information – there’s been little holding back on detail.

For instance, Skoda has confirmed a car earmarked for sale here within two years will come with the options of three battery sizes, five power variants and a driving range of up to 500 kilometres. It also provisions in rear-drive in entry form and four-wheel-drive further up the range and a performance all-paw RS edition with 225kW is on the cards.

The car, of course, bases off the common underpinnings and drive units developed by Volkswagen for the ID.3 hatch and ID.4 crossover and also heading to SEAT, for the el-Born: Also already cited as a local starter.

Where it prices is anyone’s guess, but in size Skoda’s EV slots between the Karoq and the Kodiaq, being 4648mm long, 1877mm wide and 1618mm tall, on a 2765mm wheelbase.  

It is also classed as an SUV, though realistically that’s just a convenience. The message from commentators who got to see and drive it is that, because of the massive battery pack within the floor, there isn't a great deal of ground clearance so don't expect to go very far off-road in it.

However, it is designed to tow (if only up to 1200kg) and will is as roomy as the Kodiaq, with a big cabin – made all the more spacious by the lack of a transmission tunnel – and a 585-litre boot. Unlike some other electric SUVs, there isn't a storage area under the bonnet.

If Skoda NZ entertains taking the full range, then conceivably Enyaq would provision in more variants than virtually any model it presently sells here.

The line starts with the 109kW Enyaq iV 50, driven by a rear-mounted electric motor (so, rear-wheel drive) with a 55kWh battery pack and a maximum driving range of 340 kilometres.

Above this is the Enyaq iV 60, also rear-wheel drive but with a 62kWh battery and a 390km driving range, then the Enyaq iV 80, the highest choice in the rear-motored set. It has an 82kWh battery offering 150kW and up to 500 kilometres’ range.

Beyond this are dual-motor all-wheel-drive 80X and RS variants, also with the 82kWh battery pack, but with a second electric motor driving the front wheels. In this form the 80X has 195kW and the RS another 30kW more. The extra grunt comes at expense of range, but not greatly, with 460km claimed. The RS is the only variant that Skoda has announced a 0-100kmh time for; claiming it’ll smash that in 6.2 seconds. That’s 0.8s better than the fastest current Kodiaq, the RS. 

Fast charging is also promised with an 80 percent 'fill' possible from 40 minutes at a 125kW DC-powered station … provoding, that is, you’re talking about the 82kWh models. The onboard 11kW charging unit will enable users with a suitable domestic wallbox to replenish the battery charge in six to nine hours, depending on battery size.

Skoda wouldn’t allow photos of the interior, but media noted it doesn’t have the usual Skoda instrument displays, but instead takes a small digital display ahead of a two-spoke steering wheel plus an augmented head-up display that projects onto the windscreen, as in the Volkswagen ID.3. A centrally mounted freestanding touchscreen sits atop the dashboard, and this will come in two sizes, 10- or 13-inch, depending on model.

Skoda’s bent for practicality reveals with decent interior storage, including a generous console between the front seats. It gets a large wireless charging pad that can charge two phones simultaneously. Oh yes, and it has the trad umbrella. 

Skoda has a wide variety of specification grades, starting with Studio, available in the Enyaq 50 alone. Additional Loft, Lodge, Suite and Eco Suite trim levels will be available on the 60 and 80 models, and Eco Suite features more sustainably sourced materials. The 60 and 80 versions will gain the largest touchscreen display, a 13-incher. 

The car taken to Ireland was an Enyaq 80 and even with four adults on board, it was determined to have plenty of performance to offer with the typical instantaneous pick-up that is associated with electric motors.

What stood out for invitees was the smoothness of the ride over secondary road surfaces. Said one Irish publication: “It impressively soaked up larger bumps and the damping effect was equally polished, despite the lack of air suspension. How much that will differ in cars fitted with the largest 21-inch wheels remains to be seen, but running on 19-inch rims (also wearing winter tyres), it left a positive impression.”

RS rush kicking in from August

Coronavirus has slowed but not stymied intent to deliver the updated RS4 and RS5.

the rs5 updates start at the front

THIRD and fourth quarter arrival scheduling has been confirmed respectively two RS models especially popular with Kiwis.

The timings for the RS5 Sportback and RS4 Avant wagon has been shared along with a novel invitation to media. 

The liftback will be here for public consumption from August – though a solitary press car comes next month - while the load-all is even later.

Those timings also come with suggestion the $157,900 Sportback could be in more limited supply, at least initially, than the $153,500 wagon, whose production availability is described in a communique as being “much better. 

A spokeswoman later communicated that RS5 supply will be down to “a handful” on first arrival, but with steady stock later.

Supply constraints are hardly unusual with the RS models but, of course, the situation has become massively exacerbated by the global coronavirus pandemic, which caused car plants in Europe to close as early as March. However, Audi has since slowly resumed production from mid-April.

If not for that, the cars could conceivably have been coming out around now. NZ’s status as a high-level and easily-pleased RS fanbase usually ensures we get to the top of the list for right-hand-drive production, which appears to have just begun when the Covid-19 crisis hit.

the rs4 has been notified as a Q4 arrival

Audi NZ has listed the RS4 for some weeks but only provisioned the RS Sportback specification sheet yesterday with an invitation for NZ media to participate in a media question and answer session running from an RS skunkworks in Germany tomorrow morning.

The programme requires an early start – it’s at 4am, our time – but live attendance has been excused, with participants being allowed to submit up to three questions via a provisioned URL.

It sounds like fun, as it involves racing driver Frank Stippler and Rolf Michl, head of sales and marketing for Audi Sport GmbH, and is tagged as being an interactive test drive from the Nurburgring racing circuit, where the Audi Driving Experience Centre bases and cars are tested.

Provision of the RS5’s local market detail comes three months after Audi Germany released the images of the refreshed RS5 seen today. It comes with confirmation that focus will restrict simply on the five-door shape, with Audi NZ saying is has no intentions for the two-door Coupe.

This will also be a busy week for RS information sharing, with the local operation saying it will have more to share about the RS6 and RS7 later this week.

The RS5 Sportback in the image showcases the most expensive of the 20-inch alloy wheel styles; those matt bronze hoops are $4000 a set, as opposed to $1000 to three other styles in alloy. In its standard form, the new RS5s ride on 19-inch wheels wrapped in 265/35 rubber.

cabins come in for some revision

The flash rims a trifling splurge compared to some other options, all the same. The most expensive enhancements are carbon ceramic brakes, at $16000, and a carbon styling pack, valued at $13k.

The incoming editions are mechanically unchanged, for the most part, from the pre-facelift models that have been here since 2017 and 2018.

So, the same 2.9-litre biturbo V6 is pressed into service, the maximum power's still 331kW and the torque still peaks at 600Nm, from 1900 to 5000rpm, and it’s all driving all four wheels through quattro four-wheel drive with a rear-axle 'Sport' differential and an eight-speed Tiptronic automatic gearbox.

Yet that transmission has been recalibrated to improve shift times, while the quattro system is also given a bit of a rework, though it continues to favour a 40:60 front-to-rear-torque split, sending as much as 85 percent of torque to the back axle when required. Zero to 100kmh times range from 3.9 to 4.1 seconds.

What’s obviously changed is some of the styling. The refresh delivers a revised front end, which features reshaped air intakes and an enlarged grille for a more aggressive look. Audi says that the three implied air vents above the grille are inspired by the 1984 Audi UR Quattro. There are new lighting signatures at both ends and altered bumpers, too.

The dynamic handling system picks up two driver customisable modes (RS1 and RS2) in addition to the comfort, auto, and dynamic modes. 

engine outputs don’t alter

Nappa leather seats, a head-up display, and a even sportier suspension package with hydraulic roll and pitch stabilisation are on the menu.

The 12.3-inch 'Virtual Cockpit' dashboard has been refreshed, as have the graphics on the 10.1-inch infotainment touchscreen.

This RS4 is 45kg lighter than pre-facelift car, supposedly through a reduction in sound-deadening. The adaptively damped suspension has been reworked, too, to enhance ride comfort.

If the standard RS concoct doesn’t seem fiery enough, then perhaps ABT Sportsline, a motor racing and auto tuning company that mainly deals with Audi and the related primary Volkswagen Group brands, can help.

Abt Power S has delivered a rework package for the  2.9-litre biturbo V6 that bumps up the power to 395kW and torque to 680Nm. 

A kit that is cited as being specific to the RS4 – though surely it would work for the RS5 as well - liberates this sort of punch through an Abt Engine Control (ABT) high-tech unit, an additional water-cooler package and a revised air intake cover. You can even go further by adding an optional Abt intercooler to the mix, though it’s potentially more for well-being as Abt says it won’t change the wallop.

Abt doesn't say what this sort of hike in power does for 0-100kmh times, but pundits reckon it is reasonable to expect it to be as fast, or maybe even faster, than its larger RS6 sibling, which'll run 0-100kmh in a claimed 3.6s.

Want to know more about the Abt partnership and the work undertaken with the RS4? Watch this video.

Hybrid XV, Forester running lean

Those long-promised thrift-minded hybrid Subarus are finally here …just not in strength.

CONFIRMATION that the first Subaru cars with a hybrid drivetrain have finally arrived has come with caveat of limited supply.

The national allocation of e-Boxer versions of the XV small crossover and Forester medium sports utility editions is a trickle; just 10-20 units a month.

 Also confirmed is pricing, with the XV Sport at $42,490 and Forester Sport and Premium respectively at $47,490 and $54,990 – all therefore $5000 more expensive than respective existing petrol versions in equivalent specification and trim.

As per non-hybrid editions, the new models are all-wheel-drive and have a continuously variable automatic transmission. 

The limited availability excludes demonstrators, with dealerships from June 1. IT’s highly probable those cars might be sought by customers, as first stock for general sale won’t come until September at the earliest.

Subaru Japan’s inability to supply the models to this market until now has been a massive issue for the national distributor.

The addition of an electric motor and lithium-ion battery to abet the car’s classic Subaru 2.0-litre petrol engine was seen by Subaru New Zealand as the perfect tool to ease lingering consumer perception that the marque’s trademark horizontally-opposed engines fall short as economy or emissions champs.

 Subaru NZ began spruiking the technology three years ago and initially thought it would have it in early 2019. It then reset that timeframe, with thought NZ might piggyback on the introduction to Australia, which occurred last December.

The reduced count might not be a factory inability to provision more.

It could also be that, with the car market expected to be down by around 40 percent year-on-year as result of the initial and ongoing impact of the coronavirus, Subaru NZ has chosen to keep the national allocation under closer control.

Certainly, it has broken from convention in deciding that it will take direct control of e-Boxer allocation. General inquiries and sales arrangements are directed through a bespoke website, www.subaru.co.nz/eboxer, and customer-bound cars will apparently allocate from its Auckland head office.

Even so, it definitely wants to stir up interest. It has also come up with a finance deal that secures the models for $99 per week (over an unspecified period) through Subaru’s Accelerator Programme via Heartland Bank. Additional information will be available about this offer and will be emailed to those that have registered to find out more on June 1. 

The models use the same e-Boxer powertrain, a 2.0-litre horizontally opposed four-cylinder engine developing 110kW at 6000rpm and 196Nm at 4000rpm (5kW shy of its petrol counterpart in the XV) mated to a synchronous electric motor good for 12kW/66Nm.

Subaru has cited that the XV Hybrid has potential to deliver a 14 percent improvement in fuel efficiency over the equivalent petrol model on the urban cycle and a seven percent improvement on the combined cycle. The Forester Hybrid will offer improvements of 19 and nine percent respectively compared to 2.5-litre petrol variants. 

The hybrid tech comes from Toyota, which has shareholding in Subaru and is a technology partner in Fuji’s electric drive programme that positions the hybrids as a stepping stone to plug-in electric fare.

Only with PHEV – or full electric – can Subaru achieve status as an electric car maker. The hybrids don’t qualify for that status. As in Toyota hybrids, the aim isn’t about allow any particular electric-only urge.

While three driving modes are available - Motor Assist EV, Motor Assist electric plus petrol engine and petrol engine only – and the system has capability of swapping between configurations depending on driving conditions, it will only enable pure electric at under 40kmh and range is limited to several kilometres. 

Subaru NZ managing director Wallis Dumper has enforced that the derivatives have the same DNA as all the NZ-new Subarus launched before them - with no compromise in their performance or their capability.

“Forester and XV have both been huge successes in our range and we know there is pent-up demand for hybrid variants among our Subaru owners, who are some of the most loyal customers in the industry.

“We are not letting COVID-19 get in the way of letting them access these new models - we just need to do things differently.”

“We believe the e-Boxer Hybrids are worth the wait as they are perfect for New Zealand. Sure, global demand and production constraints have tested our patience, however it’s more relevant than ever to have a hybrid in our model line-up.”

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New Highlander hybrid revealed

Here’s the new Toyota Highlander – but you won’t see it in the metal for a little while yet.

DETAILS about the hybrid system set to drive the next-generation Highlander have been revealed.

In giving insight into the new-to-type drivetrain that Toyota New Zealand has previously affirmed will be a sole choice, thus bumping a petrol V6 that continues in other markets, the brand has also provisioned a first look at the new styling.

The Palmerston North-based brand has yet to offer any comment on the car and its timing. Toyota Australia, whose launch timings general chime with ours, has said it is set to land in the first half of 2021.

This will be the first time a hybrid powertrain has been offered on new Highlander here. Married to a 2.5-litre petrol engine, it is of course a mild system – plug-in recharging has yet to enter the Toyota lexicon – and the cited total hybrid system power output is expected to be 179kW (whereas the new V6 has 218kW). 

Toyota also cites “excellent fuel economy and low emissions” without being too specific. The hybrid battery is located under the second-row seats.

The hybrid drivetrain marries to an intelligent AWD system that incorporates front and rear electric motors.

The fourth-generation Highlander sits on the Toyota New Global Architecture GA-K platform, providing multiple benefits for dynamics, safety and styling.

Toyota says this has enabled engineers to develop a lightweight and highly rigid bodyshell with a low centre of gravity - features that provide the new SUV with nimble handling and comfortable driving around town and on the highway.

The new generation has advanced Toyota Safety Sense active safety technologies designed to help prevent or mitigate collisions across a wide range of traffic situations.

The new platform has also allowed designers to craft a longer, more distinctive body that delivers a more flexible interior with expanded cargo space and a more tailored ambience.

Toyota has sold more than 15 million hybrid vehicles globally.

Time for cash for bangers

Vehicle scrappage – new car distributors say today’s massively depressed market provides the right climate for action.

Bangers for cash schemes have proven effective overseas.

 FACED with a remainder of 2020 which is going to see demand for new vehicles remain tepid at best, distributors have turned to the Government for help.

They’re seeking fast-tracked introduction of new policies to boost demand - incentives to compel the public to buy into fuel-efficient vehicles allied with others to remove old polluting and potentially unsafe vehicles from the scene.

The Motor Industry Association, the organisation that represents the new vehicle industry, is leading the push.

What spurs this all the more is a dire registrations outcome for April. A sector in lockdown put 90 percent fewer new passenger and light commercials vehicles into public use than it managed in the same month of last year. Year-to-date the market is down 32 percent.

“The Government can play a decisive role in lessening the economic pain we are feeling,” said chief executive David Crawford.

The removal of older vehicles from the roads is hardly unknown. The United Kingdom and many European countries in particular have such ‘bangers for cash’ programmes in place, usually with the dual aim of getting rid of older and more polluting vehicles, improving safety and, of course, stimulating sales of newer – ultimately brand-new – new vehicles.

david crawford

New Zealand has no such thing and this has contributed to the average vehicle age approaching 15 years. For example, the average of vehicles in the United Kingdom is just over eight years, and in Australia and the United States it is just over 10 years. The average age here now is, in fact, higher than it was before NZ accepted used import cars. Lowering the fleet age was given as a reason why ex-Japan used cars were allowed here.

Around four million vehicles are thought to be registered in New Zealand. It’s thought around 68 percent are less than 18 years old. Twenty-one percent are aged between 18 and 27 years. That means we have at least a million vehicles on our roads aged more than 20 years and with exhaust emissions many times higher than modern-day vehicles, and potentially with safety issues as well.

Saus Crawford: “We all know we have an old fleet with numerous polluting and unsafe cars roaming our roads.

“We believe it is time for the Government to provide financial incentives to remove the vehicles which are older than 20 years of age and/or where their exhaust emissions standards are the equivalent of Euro 3 or less.” (Euro 3 is a globally-recognised emissions standard introduced, first in Europe, in 2006).

He added such a move would be in line with New Zealand’s new road safety strategy and the Government’s climate change objectives.

For all that, scrappage is an issue that various administrations have considered for years.

the higher the quality of the fleet, the better the safety standard

Two trials were conducted by the Ministry of Transport, the first in 2007 and another in 2009. The first was in Auckland where owners of old clunkers were invited to hand in their vehicles in return for $400 worth of free passage on the city’s bus and train services. A total of 253 vehicles were scrapped. Organisers determined the benefits of the trial exceeded its $102,800 cost.

The second trial was in Wellington and Christchurch, where owners were paid the scrap metal value of their vehicles plus $250 worth of public transport passes. They also went into a draw to win a new Toyota Corolla.

A total of 349 vehicles were collected, but officials decided the whole thing was not cost-effective due to the low number of vehicles received and the relatively low overall social and environmental benefits relative to the trial’s cost.

Since then nothing else has been tried.

That’s been in stark contrast to other parts of world where scrappage schemes have been introduced. In the UK, for example, the Government introduced a scheme in 2009 where owners of old cars were offered the equivalent of around $6000 to get rid of them. Various car companies have also implemented their own scrappage schemes, most recently in 2017.

Last year our Government looked at a total of 11 potential new policies aimed at reducing New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions – and one of those was the introduction of some form of scrappage scheme. Incentives considered included supply of public transport passes, and credits towards the purchase of either a cleaner car or some other form of transport such as an e-bike.

older cars are also generally more problematic for exhaust emissions

But that idea didn’t progress much further, with the Government opting instead to concentrate on the so-called feebate scheme that would financially encourage motorists to buy low-emission vehicles via rebates, and discourage purchases of more fuel-hungry vehicles via fees.

The only thing that happened in relation to scrappage was a statement from Associate Transport Minister Julie-Anne Genter that the subject had been passed on to the NZTA, and that she expected to hear back from the organisation in a few weeks.

That statement was in October last year.

Meanwhile New Zealand’s vehicle fleet is getting progressively older – average age was 11.7 years in 2000, 14.4 years in 2017, and today 14.9 years. Should we be proud of this?

some car brands in the uk remain avid advocates of scrappage.

Ute outlook Pt 3: The big Blue

Our national obsession for utilities, especially family-minded dual-cabs, knows no bounds. The market is booming at the moment, and filled with plenty of strong options. Yet surely you’re also keen to know something about what’s coming up next, when and from whom? Here’s the final section of our three-part analysis.

will there be a new Raptor? It’s still unknown.

My, how the motoring world goes around.

Back in 2011 when Ford Australia unveiled the T6 Ranger ute that it had designed and engineered all by itself, it flew journalists to some God-forsaken place in South Australia’s Flinders Range for the big reveal.

In among the Rangers at the launch event was a Volkswagen Amarok. The Ford people explained that the VW was there because during the Ranger’s development they had benchmarked their new ute against it.

High praise indeed for the Argentine-built ute produced by Germany’s Volkswagen Group. And the benchmarking worked, too – Ranger immediately became one of the world’s most popular one-tonne utes.

In New Zealand it is the topselling ute, consistently edging out its arch-rival Toyota Hilux. In fact it is the top selling new vehicle full-stop – last year there were 9485 of them registered, well ahead of Hilux’ 7126 sales and way ahead of the most popular passenger vehicle, the Toyota Corolla with its 6804 sales.

And Amarok? The hard truth is that the Volkswagen has struggled. It account for just 1 per cent of the Kiwi commercial market last year, with 653 sales. And that figure was less than 1 per cent of the Amarok’s global sales of 72,500 last year, which in itself was very modest when compared to the hundreds of thousands of sales recorded annually by the likes of Hilux and Ranger.

Given the very high costs of development of any new-generation vehicle, it made sense then that Volkswagen Group would look to forge an alliance with another manufacturer to share development of the next Amarok.

That’s what has happened. Last year the group signed a contract with Ford Motor Company to develop new light commercial vehicles.

current ranger has been vital for ford nz

In other words, instead of Ford using the Amarok as a benchmark during development of a brand-new T7 Ranger, it is now developing the next-generation Volkswagen ute.

Under the terms of the new alliance, Ford is responsible for creating the two ute models, while Volkswagen Group is responsible for development of both brands’ next-generation vans.

The ute project is being led by Ford’s Australia-based Asia-Pacific Product Development Centre, and it is already well advanced. Unofficial word is that the new Ranger will be launched late next year, and the Amarok slated to arrive in 2022.

Although both companies – Volkswagen particularly – are currently spending a fortune electrifying their future vehicles, this isn’t going to apply to the utes. Instead, Ford is concentrating on developing a range of suitable petrol and diesel engines for Ranger and Amarok.

Media reports out of Australia suggest that instead of being powered by the current 3.2-litre five cylinder diesel, which won’t meet latest emissions regulations, the new Ranger will feature a 3.0-litre single turbocharged Power Stroke diesel V6.

The latest version of this lightweight engine is under the bonnet of the F-150 pick-up in USA, and in that application it offers 186 kilowatts of power and 597 Newton metres of torque.

There’s also talk the Ranger will also get a 2.7-litre twin-turbocharged ‘Nano’ EcoBoost petrol V6 that debuted in 2018 aboard the F-150 in the US, and it develops 242kW and 542kW. But at this stage it seems unlikely this petrol Ranger will become available for New Zealand.

 There’s no word yet as to whether the new Amarok will feature the same powertrains as the Ranger.

Parts 1 and 2 of this series can be found in the news section.

amarok has been a solid performer and the v6 is admired. will it continue?

Future-looking Volvos coming, ready or not

The next XC90 coming here is designed to carry a feature considered the key to unlocking fully automated driving.

How Lidar sees the world.

THE next generation of a Volvo car strongly supported by Kiwis will avail within three years with technology crucial to enabling safe automated driving – but whether it can be used effectively here then is far from certain.

The Swedish car brand’s local distributor has confirmed it is line for the next XC90, a large seven-seater luxury sports utility, debuting an advanced self-driving suite using lidar.

Lidar is a radar that – as the acronym suggests – uses light detection and ranging to measures distance using pulsed laser light to generate a highly accurate 3D map of the world around the car. 

Lidar sensors are considered by many automakers and tech companies an essential piece of technology to safely roll out autonomous vehicles.

Because? Just like human-driven cars, vehicles enacting autonomously must face traffic congestion, potholes, trees and numerous other obstacles. Lidar is the technology that works as an ‘eye’ and to opportune accuracy gains far beyond the level from existing radar and camera technology that’s already in operation and increasingly commonplace, especially in luxury brands.

With Lidar Volvo is promising it will deliver fully autonomous vehicles which can navigate highways. With the emphasis on the last word. This is not designed to enable full-time hands-off driving in any other scenario. City streets, country roads, carparks, your driveway, the beach … no, too hard. There will still be a steering wheel, still the need for a driver.

Volvo has been at the forefront with its highway pilot system, which in current form uses radar, cameras and software to read road conditions well enough to be a semi-autonomous aid. It fits as standard to most product now.

However, the new system, developed with a highly secretive Silicon Valley start-up, Luminar, is a significant world-first step beyond that ability, Volvo New Zealand general manager Coby Duggan says.

What’s unveiled now potentially feeds off a trial Volvo conducted on part of Tauranga’s motorway back in 2016 that became first official trial of an autonomous driving system in this country in real world conditions.

In that test, the trial car – also an XC90, but the current model – used a more sophisticated version of the self-drive technology presently available in production models to navigate the road.

Driver intervention was minimal, only required to u-turn at the halfway point of the 15km journey. What impressed onlookers and trial partners the Ministry of Transport, NZTA, Trafinz and the maker was how the car operated seamlessly and safely alongside other vehicles.

At that time the smarts were just in Beta form – the car had to be smartened with software brought in from Sweden (on a memory stick), with an expert from Gothenburg head office to operate it.

Much progress has since occurred with the ‘Drive Me’ development programme, including an initiative in Sweden that saw 100 families testing fully autonomous vehicles on public roads. 

Now comes the overnight announcement of the lidar integration being set for production. 

Volvo, whose parent is Chinese giant Geely, says this latest advance will be part of a hardware package for vehicles on its second-generation of the Scalable Product Architecture that underpins all current models.

Coby Duggan

That programme kicks off with the next XC90, which Duggan says is set to avail here in late 2023, a year after international release.

Volvo’s confidence in the new system is such it has immediately assured it will take full liability should anything go wrong.

It says the lidar package might initially start out an option, but will eventually become a standard feature.

Either way, Duggan says it is probable all new XC90s will carry the core electronic elements – and presumably at least the lidar housing - regardless of how prepared export markets are for automated driving.

Luminar and Volvo have not revealed how much this version of highway pilot might cost. Luminar has previously said its Iris lidar unit will cost less than $NZ1600 per unit for production vehicles seeking full autonomy and about $NZ800 for version used for more limited purposes like driver assistance.

Will New Zealand be ready for this? Hard to say. Realistically, it would likely only prove useful on motorways built to latest design standard and in perfect order; as Tauranga’s was. Roadworks, congestion, confusing markings … these remain a challenge even for tech in its most advanced form.

All the same, from a legislative perspective, NZ is well-placed for the ‘if’ and ‘ when’ of autonomous driving and there seems to be a healthy consumer interest in hands-free driving.

“So, yeah, I think we are getting there. Yes, we still need to understand more about what needs to happen in infrastructure terms to make sure the cars are able to perform as they are intended to.

“Yet we’ve always said the NZ is quite open to this and is receptive to an uptake of new tech.

“From a legislative perspective it is well prepared and NZ customers certainly seem to be keen to explore what’s available. But I also think the condition of the roads will also be pretty critical and there’s probably lots of work yet to be done in that respect.”

Of course, NZ standing out as a particularly tasty test site for real world AI driving only carries so much currency - the reality remains that ours is a small country so generally has to wait its turn.”

Current XC90 is a top seller for Volvo NZ

In some respects, it’s no different to where NZ finds itself with electric vehicles; makers appreciate our high level of renewable energy and identify the infrastructure is reasonably good, yet still have to give bigger markets priority.

“In some respects it would be nice to think we could be at the forefront but the reality is … we won’t necessarily be landing those cars first.”

Even so, in broad terms and regardless that it’s too early to unwrap where we place in Volvo’s planning, the tech is great to see and he anticipates his office and the sales network will receive plenty of customer inquiry.

It’s going to be a learning experience for everyone. “The more that we know about the technology in advance of the car arriving then the more we can start that education process.”

It’s not as if owners will be going in cold. Current Volvos are, like most modern luxury cars, equipped to engage semi-autonomous hands-off operation in specific conditions and for short duration.

“The notion of autonomous driving in the first instance is about making the most boring and the most unsafe aspects of driving safer and more convenient. There is obviously a piece of that depending on the infrastructure being what it needs to be, but obviously this (new) tech takes it forward.”

Volvo is hardly first to seek to adopt Lidar; the advancement here is as much as anything else in the packaging of a system that sends out thousands of laser pulses every second, these colliding with the surrounding objects and reflecting back to create a 3D point cloud. An onboard computer records each laser’s reflection point and translates this rapidly updating point cloud into an animated 3D representation. What has kept lidar off cars is cost and the ungainliness of the set-up: Who wants a car with a bucket-sized rotating device – requisite for a 360 degree view - installed on the roof or bonnet?

Luminar’s sensors are sited within the car’s roofline.

Well, no-one. Luminar’s solution is to forgo looking anywhere but ahead. So it’s sensors are fixed in place with a 120-degree horizontal field of view. This allows Volvo plans to integrate Luminar's iris sensors into the car's roof just above the windshield, where it will have a good view of the road ahead of the vehicle. The whole thing is really compact, about the size of really thick sandwich.

Luminar CEO Austin Russell says the announcement also represents years of work bringing down the cost of its technology. Luminar's technology is built around a relatively exotic type of laser operating at 1550nm. The fluid in the human eye is opaque to light at this frequency, allowing lidars to use higher power levels without running afoul of eye safety regulations. That helps Luminar's lidar achieve an impressive 250-metre range. 

The downside is that transmitting and receiving a 1550nm laser light requires the use of unusual and expensive semiconductor materials like indium-gallium arsenide (yeah, we also hope that one never comes up on The Chase). That's in contrast to conventional 905nm lidar systems that can be made using ubiquitous silicon-based components.

The perception software equally crucial to making it all work is still under development. The aim is to activate it wirelessly once it is verified to be safe in individual geographic locations. Volvo says it will continue to expand the capability of the software such as pushing up the maximum speed a vehicle can travel while driving autonomously. But it enforces this is primarily for highways. 

Even so, that’s a big step. And, yes, over time, updates over the air will expand the areas in which the car can drive itself. But Luminar enforces a safe introduction of autonomy is a gradual introduction – quite a different message, then, than we’ve heard from a certain someone in the electric car business.

Luminar’s Lidar packaging is a breakthrough

Ute outlook: Part 2 – the big team

Our national obsession for utilities, especially family-minded dual-cabs, knows no bounds. The market is booming at the moment, and filled with plenty of strong options. Yet surely you’re also keen to know something about what’s coming up next, when and from whom? Here’s part two of our three-part analysis.

Are you ready for Renaut’s Oroch Duster?

THE Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance is a massive strategic partnership that currently produces better than 10 per cent of all the world’s new vehicles.

That’s a lot of vehicles – close to 11 million a year, in fact – so it makes sense that the alliance has various technology-sharing agreements in place to take advantage of economies of scale. Such as sharing platforms and powertrains for its next generation of vehicles, for instance.

When it comes to one-tonne utes, the first brand-new model to emerge from the Alliance is going to be the Mitsubishi Triton. And a likely special feature of the model, which will probably be launched in 2022, will that it will be electrified.

Probably not pure electric though – that would be a step too far, given the traditional towing and 4WD rock-hopping needs of utes.  But it is known that research is progressing into whether the Triton will become available as a petrol-electric hybrid or as a PHEV.

Triton is a vitally important model for Mitsubishi. It’s the brand’s second-biggest selling vehicle worldwide behind the Outlander, with close to 200,000 annual sales. In New Zealand it is the biggest-selling Mitsubishi by a country mile – last year 5319 of them were registered, close to double the number of Outlander sales.

Current generation Triton has done Mitsubishi proud.

So in every respect it is important that the new Triton continues the model’s great reputation – and potentially  enhance it via the Mitsubishi becoming the first ute manufacturer to add electrification to its lineup.

Mitsubishi has been investigating the feasibility of a hybrid ute for some years now, and in fact it revealed such a vehicle – a diesel-electric concept called GR-HEV – back in 2013 at the Geneva Motor Show.

While there was no updated concept ute at the Tokyo Motor Show late last year, it was made clear a brand-new Triton is under development – and that Mitsubishi will be the first member of the Alliance to produce it.

Said the company’s chief operating officer Ashwai Gupta at a media briefing: “It’s a matter of each brand’s business decision as to when they will launch (a new ute), but as far as Mitsubishi is concerned...we are going ahead with development of a Triton successor.”

Mitsubishi has already achieve big sales success with its Outlander PHEV, so it is obvious that this plug-in technology is one that the brand is now considering for light commercial use. But it may well be that a more traditional series or parallel hybrid system will be chosen.

Next ute off the Alliance rank will be the Nissan Navara, which is also likely to be offered with the choice of an electrified version. But as with Mitsubishi, no decision has been made on which direction this electrification will take.

The new Navara will probably arrive in 2022. The current model has already received a final refresh, and the New Zealand lineup has just been bolstered via arrival of a version called N-Trek Warrior which was developed by Australian firm Premcar.

N-Trek edition is expected to lift current Navara’s status

In New Zealand, Navara is the most popular Nissan, with its 3305 sales last year beating both the Qashqai and X-Trail SUVs.

At Tokyo last year, the brand’s global head of light commercial vehicles Francois Bailley said for Nissan to consider any form of electrified power, a ute must be able to deliver power, torque and towing abilities.

“We’re looking at different technologies, from full EV to PHEV and so on. But we don’t think our customers will tolerate any compromise in terms of towing, payload, range. We must supply the same capabilities as the internal combustion models.”

Interestingly though, Nissan has already produced an electric ute.  Nissan-Dongfeng, which is a 50:50 joint venture in China, last year launch a new ute called Rich 6, which is based on the Navara and offers the equivalent of about 120kW and 420Nm.

Renault, the third member of the Alliance, already sells two utes on various interenational markets – the Navara-based Alaskan, and a small half-tonne ute called Oroch that is built off a compact SUV called Duster.

Renault New Zealand has been banging on for some years now that it intends importing the Alaskan, but it’s never happened.  Now it is more likely that if a Renault one-tonne ute does enter the Kiwi market, it will now be a brand-new model based off the new Triton.

It also seems likely the Oroch will get here before that. Renault NZ has confirmed that the Duster will arrive in New Zealand during the fourth quarter of this year, and there is talk that the ute version will arrive soon after.

And what about the Mercedes-Benz X-Class? Will a second generation of that ute, which is currently built off the Navara and assembled alongside Navara and Alaskan in Spain, also be built off the new Triton? Or will there be another X-Class at all?

The answer is no.  Mercedes-Benz has been badly burned by being the first luxury manufacturer to enter the world of the one-tonne ute – and as a result ithas announced that X-Class will be axed from the end of this month.

In a statement, the brand simply said: “In our global product portfolio, the X-Class is a niche product which plays a great role in a few markets.” In other words, It hasn’t been selling in anywhere near sufficient numbers – so is being dumped.

Shutdown jolts Juke release

The first shipment of Nissan’s crucial crossover is incoming. The next? Erm, about that ….

JUST an initial, modest shipment of the new Juke will achieve New Zealand landfall in time for its intended launch date and there’s no clarity when more will follow.

This sobering message about the model crucial to Nissan’s pitch to shake up the compact crossover sector comes in the wake of news that would likely strengthen its market acceptance – a brilliant crash test rating.

In condition normal, the five-star accreditation just announced by the Australasian New Car Assessment Programme would potentially offer opportunity for a powerful pre-launch marketing spin. 

Yet these are far from normal times. 

Production of the car having been brought to a screeching halt by the coronavirus pandemic and seems unlikely to resume for at least another month.

That creates a curly dilemma for Nissan New Zealand, managing director John Manley says.

He will certainly have cars here in time to avail the original plan of releasing in June – but exactly when reinforcements for this first wave follow is anyone’s guess.

So do they progress with the launch and, if so, how should that be accomplished: Loudly or low-key, given it’ll involve just a few hundred cars?  That’s being debated right now.

Getting the car from its production source to NZ is quite a journey. Rather than coming from Japan, Juke is again only built in Sunderland, in north east England.

Like all other UK car plants, this massive operation has been idle since March. Sunderland’s management signalling this week an intention to re-start some production is no particular panacea. It’s set to be a small-scale trial involving just 50 of the 6000-strong workforce and none of the tens of thousands in its supply chain. 

Of course, the way the market is heading, having opportunity to slow the Juke rush might become handy. April new car registrations being 93 percent down on the same month of 2019 fuels industry prediction of at least a 40 percent in new car registrations for the remainder of the year looks increasingly certain.

On the other hand, it’s a crucial product and the sector it aims at was showing the most growth potential before the coronavirus crisis hit.

Competitors include the Mitsubishi ASX, Mazda CX-3, Hyundai Kona and Venue, Honda HR-V and the Kia Seltos, which achieved as the top-selling model in April … albeit on the strength of a piddling 95 sales.

“it’s a tricky situation for us,” Manley conceded in respect to Juke supply.

“We just don’t yet know what is going to happen and it might be some time before there’s clarity. Okay, these are exceptional circumstances for everyone, but even so. Not easy.”

The Juke has been on sale in the UK and Europe since last year. That’s where the crash test was undertaken for Melbourne-based ANCAP, the only organisation whose protocols are recognised and funded by New Zealand. The NZ Automobile Association also sponsors ANCAP.

A five-star score is the maximum grade yet because the car has already launched in other regions, its crash testing was carried out according to 2019 standards – rather than a more stringent criteria introduced in Europe and Australia this year.

Even so, the regime required examples being subjected to a full-width front collision at 50kmh, a dynamic offset frontal collision at 64kmh, a side impact at 50kmh, a side pole impact at 32kmh, and a whiplash assessment for front and rear occupants.

The outcome was accredited on strength of it scoring highly across four disciplines, including adult occupant protection (94 percent), child occupant protection (87 percent), vulnerable road user protection (81 percent) and safety assist tests (71 percent).

However, while Juke’s active lane keep assist and autonomous emergency braking systems won praise, ANCAP also suggested those features were not adequate in all scenarios, stating: “the system is not capable of intervening in the more critical emergency lane keeping scenarios”. 

The first-generation Juke – sold from 2012 onwards – also scored a five-star rating when tested in 2011.

The new model is a complete redesign and has grown in length, width and height. It offers more rear seat space and boot space, with the latter increasing from 354 litres to 422 litres. Despite the more generous dimensions it's also 23kg lighter, now weighing in at 1212kg. 

The edgy styling continues, the new model retaining its bulbous headlights and sweeping curves but now receiving LED daytime running lights and the latest version of Nissan's V-motion grille. 

The independent front and twist-beam rear suspension has been recalibrated for enhanced stability and sportier performance, says Nissan.

The NZ specification, model line-up and pricing has yet to be disclosed.

In Europe the car has a 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo-petrol engine producing 86kW of power and 180Nm of torque (rising to 200Nm in an overboost mode  that lasts up to 25 seconds), for 0-100kmh in 10.4 seconds at best.

European buyers can choose between a six-speed manual transmission or a new seven-speed automatic, the latter replacing the predecessor's CVT, and there are front and four-wheel-drive variants.

Europe’s flagship is the Premiere Edition, which runs 19-inch alloys and has two-tone paint, leather and Alcantara seating and a Bose Personal Plus stereo system.

The flagship also demonstrates new Nissan Intelligent Mobility technologies, such as the ProPILOT semi-autonomous self-driving system, which Nissan says will help the JUKE steer, accelerate and brake itself. 

The safety provision includes autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection, blind-spot monitoring, dynamic lane keeping, a 360-degree camera package, rear cross traffic alert, high-beam assist and six airbags.

Other leading-edge tech includes a NissanConnect smartphone app that allows users to access a range of functions, including the ability to push journey plans to the vehicle remotely, and in-car internet, allowing users to utilise the vehicle as a Wi-Fi hotspot. It can also be paired with Google Assistant to access a range of information and allow some functions to be controlled by voice.

$60k for battery-pure Mini

The Mini that plugs into play will be here in August.

ANOTHER small electric model is set to slot under $60,000 when it lands in August - if by just $100.

Still, Mini’s first fully electric car, the Cooper SE, is set to intrude into a price space occupied by two more utilitarian plug-reliant products, the Nissan Leaf and the Hyundai Ioniq.

As much as they both of which hammer the wee BMW-Brit bauble for range (the official cited max is 233kms) and in size, both arguably falls well behind for visual chutzpah, premium-ness and social standing.

How they will stack up for specification? Yet unknown. Even though there’s just going to be the single variant, that today’s announcement enforces that this is the start point for pricing is good reminder that it will, as always, cop a decent options list.

Even so, the local starter spec looks good. Mini is kicking off its campaign with a First Edition whose fittings include some fancy gear: adaptive LED headlights, bespoke interior trim, heads-up display and a Harmon Kardon audio. Intriguingly, Australia also takes the same thing for $A59,900 – which comes out to just under $NZ64k on today’s exchange rate. So, a Kiwi win, by the look of it.

Of course, you can tick boxes for all that in combustion-engined Minis and still save, as almost all are cheaper; not just all the variants in the same three-door styling but also the substantially larger Countryman and Clubman.

That just reminds that there’s still a degree of expensiveness in buying into a mains-reliant drivetrain consisting a 32.6kWh lithium-ion battery and a 135kW/270Nm electric motor. 

Even so, there’s lots of optimism, with Brett Waudby, general manager of MINI New Zealand and Australia, reckoning the car “heralds a new chapter for the brand - a charge into the future of electromobility without compromising the marque’s core values of creativity, vibrancy and smart urbanity.

“It is wonderful to see such a positive response we are getting to the car. Our dealers are extremely excited to add this model to our customer offering, which is sure to be an absolute thrill to drive.”

Hilux future: NZ specials, hybrid … but no racer V6

An update is due for Toyota NZ’s top-selling vehicle five years into its model life.

BESPOKE versions of Hilux tailored in New Zealand are likely to be offered.

Production of special, perhaps even one-off, editions will be undertaken by Toyota New Zealand at its Signature Series facility at Thames, which started out as an assembly plant but now operates as a refurbishment centre for used import and ex-fleet and rental NZ-new product. 

The Palmerston North-centred national new vehicle sales leader says any such models would be to special order and specified above the current SR5 Cruiser.

What has inspired the programme is positive customer reaction to a flamboyant design study the distributor commissioned, chief operating officer Neeraj Lala says. 

Based on a 4WD double cab Hilux SR5 and unveiled at the 2017 Mystery Creek Fieldays, the Gladiator (below) carried around $65,000 worth of modifications and accessories. It remained in TNZ’s fleet for two years before being auctioned in December, 2019, the new owner being a Taupo man who bid $81,000 and also traded a Landcruiser in on it.

Says Lala: “We figure there’s an opportunity to do more of this. It’s taking Hilux back to its roots, because there’s long been a tradition of individuals doing big improvements their Toyota utes.”

Further information about the special edition programme is to be aired when TNZ also breaks silence on what is coming with a big mid-life facelift for the current generation Hilux. 

What’s set to arrive is far more extensive than the 2018 update that improved TNZ’s strongest-selling product in 2019, with around 7000 registrations. 

Toyota Japan plans an international announcement on May 21.

The upgrade is expected to include substantial cosmetic changes plus a re-powering of the 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbodiesel, which currently develops 130kW of power and 450Nm of torque in automatic form and 130kW/420Nm in manual, and revisions to improve the diesel particulate filter.

It is also expected to receive mild revisions to the interior that will include an upgraded infotainment system that includes Apple Car Play and Android Auto.

Lala says he can offer no comment until May 21, explaining “we are bound by an embargo. 

What has particularly excited media are renderings that have been bounced around the internet for weeks that appear to expose the facelift design.

Purportedly sourced from an independent global Toyota exporter, Milele Motors, and based on leaked internal documents, the images suggest the upgrade delivers new LED headlamp design, a larger front grille inspired by US truck styling and revisions to the Hilux’s rear, plus new 18-inch alloy wheels at the high end and 17s for the outright workhorses.

Beyond those images, there has been further intense speculation that Toyota is also entertaining with this update a new GR – for Gazoo Racing – variant featuring a twin-turbo V6 diesel making perhaps 200kW/650Nm if not more.

One national provider has become particularly fixated, with speculation repeated as recently as yesterday, apparently based on musing published by an Australian online outlet. 

Fake news?

“New Zealand is not going to get a V6 twin-turbocharged diesel-powered Hilux ute,” says Lala.

The NZ outlet’s stories have resulted in TNZ’s call centre being hit by inquiry from customers asking what other information was available. Lala wishes the writer would simply pick up the phone and talk to him.

One big drivetrain revision that is set to involve with the current ute, but won’t be included in the facelift, is adoption of hybrid technology.

“We’re committed to focussing on lowering exhaust emissions throughout our vehicle fleet, and that includes the Hilux ute,” says Lala. 

“So far Toyota Motor Corporation has produced 15 million hybrids, so we know how to build them.

“In New Zealand we are already selling hybrids that can tow – the RAV4 SUV – so it’s no big step to acknowledge that a hybrid will feature in the current model lineup some time in the next 12 to 18 months.”

.

GS ‘top fan’ sad to see it go

The Lexus GS medium sedan is low key but will be missed.

 DETERMINATION by Lexus to axe the GS sedan is bittersweet for the brand’s top man here.

Neeraj Lala has no trouble understanding the logic behind the move – the national SUV obsessions has rendered luxury sedans of all sizes increasingly irrelevant. 

Here Toyota’s premier marque has primarily become a sports utility operation, with the extra spin of a brand-unique hybrid push with its controversial ‘self-charging’ tag line.

Even though the sales progress of the four-strong GS line is modest in New Zealand, it has a fanbase.

Lala’s in that support group. He reckons his own drive car, the range-topping F-designated V8 that, at $169,900 costs $60k more than the entry variant, that sees far more red than Green, won’t be easy to relinquish. Mind you, he has the best sub-variant, the limited-count F10 anniversary model. 

“It’s a great car, hands down the best one I’ve had as a work car,” says the Toyota and Lexus New Zealand chief operating officer.

“I’m really enjoying having it. They did a great job with it.

“It’s a real shame to see ‘fun’ sedans like this being under threat. But demand for those cars unfortunately doesn’t allow them to continue on.”

The decision to axe GS was expected. “Switching it off has been on our plan for at least two years, it’s not a surprise.

“It is fairly well documented that the demand for those sedans is no longer there. SUVs and crossovers now deliver the same handling levels but also offer greater practicality and flexibility.

“It is a car we would love to keep but the brand is moving on. We have some exciting Lexus models coming next year and, honestly, I just see customers gravitating more toward those models that offer more flexible, dynamic solutions than a traditional rear-drive car.”

GS production for NZ ends in August. The LS flagship and smaller ES sedan will remain in the family, the latter now including an F-Sport

For New Zealand, the ‘F’ will be the final blast of a model line that has been part of Lexus for 27 years and spans four generations. 

An announced special edition of a current shape that came out in 2012 will not come to New Zealand, Lala says.

He believes the swansong ‘Eternal Touring’ special edition that will be last out of the factory will likely only avail in Japan and the United States.

The Eternal Touring adds a number of sporty design touches including the F Sport spindle grille, a rear spoiler, orange brake callipers, red-and-black leather interior trim, F Sport seats and carbon trim on the passenger-side dash.

With the removal of the GS F, Lexus NZ is left with only two models sporting the ferocious 351kW 5.0-litre aspirated V8 – the RC F and LC500 coupes. 

However, more performance models seem set to be on the way. In February, the brand released a statement about its racing ambitions in Europe, and included in the news was the announcement it will be testing a new twin-turbo V8 that will be implemented in a production model.

No word has been given on what models are set to receive the new force-fed bent eight, however the most likely candidate is the LC coupe, which is being used as the test car for Lexus’ racing programme. 

No current F grade exists for the flagship coupe, however a more potent version of the V8 could see it become a reality.

Given the current V8 outputs 351kW/540Nm in the LC500, the twin-turbo mill would likely have to push in excess of 400kW to earn the F badge, overseas’ media have conjected.  

The first generation of GS went on sale globally in 1993, with the second-gen version following in 1997.

In 2005 the Toyota Crown-based third generation arrived, replaced by the current model in 2012.

Giulia GTA a big ask for NZ

For its 110th year, Alfa Romeo hasn’t bothered with a cake. But Kiwis seeking a slice of the hotshot it has cooked up might be chancing it.

KIWI Alfisti keen to secure their favourite brand’s most powerful and most expensive car face an uphill battle.

Created to celebrate Alfa’s 110th anniversary and set to roll off the line from mid-2021, the new flagship Giulia reintroduces the famous GTA badge, first seen on an Alfa Romeo in the 1960s, in two formats – a standard GTA and a more track-honed GTAm.

So, will it come?

While national distributor Ateco declined opportunity to provide direct comment, a spokesperson says it doesn’t seem likely. There’s not only the small matter of anticipated high demand for a small global run – just 500 units – but also that all seem set to be in left-hand-drive.

That doesn’t completely rule out opportunity, of course. And extreme effort might be worthwhile, given this Giulia is unlike any other.

As impressive as it is in its own right, the Quadrifoglio on which the GTA is based is half the car – literally terms of price, with overseas’ reports suggesting the ‘m’ has a sticker roughly double that attached to the $139,990 NZ flagship variant. 

Hard to see how something so small will cost, on home turf, around $20k more than the 8C Competizione supercar, which went out of production in 2010?

Well, performance is in a higher league. The new model uses the same 2.9-litre Ferrari-derived V6 engine as the Quadrifoglio but power has been upped from 375kW to 397kW for a 0-100kmh time of just 3.6 seconds.

An Akrapovic titanium exhaust is also fitted, which is much noisier than on the Quadrifoglio. Along with the extra power, the GTA weighs less and features aerodynamic additions to further improve performance, most obviously on the stripped out version.

If that’s not enough to attract attention, then it will be availed in a series of bespoke liveries inspired by the brand's motorsport heritage.

The firm's Centro Stile design arm has taken inspiration from the original Alfa GTAs that ran hard in the European Touring Car Championship. Liveries include a yellow and red paint scheme that harks back to the 1971 title-winning car.

You can also choose from GTA Red, Trophy White and Montreal Green paint colours, chosen to represent the Italian flag. There’s a dedicated online configurator to view the various possible combinations at https://gta.alfaromeo.com.

 Even though this Giulia looks quite a lot like any other, it isn’t really. There’s a much wider use of carbon fibre than in the standard car. The driveshafts, front wheel arches, a bonnet, front bumper and roof are made out of the lightweight material.

Both cars get a sharper front bumper with a chin spoiler and naked carbon-fibre inserts, plus black centre-locking alloy wheels and black rear wheel arch extensions. The rear bumper is all-new, the huge functional diffuser is hard to miss. Likewise that enormous carbon-fibre boot lid spoiler. The cars have a 50mm wider track (the distance from one wheel across the axle to the other) and thorough suspension changes.

The GTAm also gets a stripped-out interior, so just two carbon-fibre seats, six-point racing seat belts and a roll cage, no door panels or proper door handles. It has as Alcantara suede-like fabric as the GTA, but weighs around 100kg less. 

Buyers will get a tailored race suit, shoes and gloves from Alpinestars and a Bell race helmet, plus a car cover, all included in the cost of the car. The 500 customers also get to attend a driving course at the Alfa Romeo Driving Academy.

Ute outlook Pt 1: Mazda's new love ... Max

Our national obsession for utilities, especially family-minded dual-cabs, knows no bounds. The market is booming at the moment, and filled with plenty of strong options. Yet surely you’re also keen to know something about what’s coming up next, when and from whom? So, here’s the first instalment of a three-part analysis.

2020 D-Max

ONE of the big motoring stories over the next few months is going to be all about utes – what’s going to be new, and who is going to be building them.

It’s called platform sharing, folks.  And the art of sharing development costs. In recent times it’s seen the likes the Mazda BT-50 built on the same platform as the Ford Ranger, the Mercedes-Benz X-Class built on the same underpinnings as the Nissan Navara, and the Holden Colorado sharing the platform of the Isuzu D-Max.

Now the deckchairs have been re-arranged and the platform sharing has started all over again. But while the process itself is remaining the same,  the outcomes are a lot different.

So which new ute is being developed with which other new ute – or even utes? In this series of articles, we provide the breakdowns, starting with a pair of newly-weds.

Back in the day when Ford owned 35 percent of Mazda,  the Australian division of the blue oval company was largely responsible for development of what remains New Zealand’s biggest-selling vehicle, the Ranger.

And, thanks to the ownership scenario at the time, Mazda conceived its BT-50 version off the Ranger. Although it featured such differences as unique body styling and different suspension settings, the two utes shared the same chassis and same powertrain and were even built in the same factory in Thailand.

While the process saved a lot of money in development costs, in New Zealand  this platform sharing scenario proved to be something of a double-edged sword for Mazda.

That was because of Mazda’s 24 Kiwi dealerships, 18 of them were also Ford dealerships – and for sales staff it was easier to sell the hugely popular and masculine-looking Ranger than the BT-50, despite the fact Mazda NZ went to great lengths to differentiate between the two, particularly as regards pricing.

 End result: Ranger has a 20 per cent share of New Zealand’s ute market, while the almost identical BT-50 owns 5 per cent.

2020 D-Mx

Ford doesn’t own any stake in Mazda any more – it sold its shareholding in 2010 – and the current BT-50 is the only remaining remnant of that ownership scenario.  And now that’s about to change, thanks to a supply agreement Mazda brokered four years ago with Isuzu.

At the time, the two brands said the agreement would allow Mazda to “maintain own-brand market coverage.” In other words, get out from under the shadow of Ford.

And Isuzu? Back in 2016 it said the agreement would allow it to “enhance its product competitiveness”. In other words, rid itself of lingering claims that its D-Max ute has for all intents and purposes always been a Holden Colorado.

Actually, it’s always been the other way around.

At one stage General Motors owned 49 per cent of Isuzu,  which gave the Detroit giant access to Isuzu light trucks.  That explains why the Holden Rodeo sold in Australasia from 2002 to 2008 was in fact the original Isuzu D-Max.

But when GM began to sell down its shareholding in Isuzu, the two brands began to go their own ways. GM lost the right to the Rodeo name and changed the name of the Holden ute to Colorado, then Isuzu distribution operations were established in Australia in 2008 and New Zealand in 2010, which allowed the brand to begin to sell the D-Max.

It’s been like that ever since, with the D-Max and the Colorado essentially sharing the same platform but being increasingly their own vehicles – different engines and powertrains, different bodyshell designs (well, from the A pillar forward anyway), and built in different Thai assembly plants.

But now that’s all about to change. Instead of a BT-50 being a Ranger and a D-Max being a Colorado, the new BT-50 will be a new D-Max.

First to arrive will be the D-Max, which has already been launched in its home Thailand and was scheduled to be unveiled in New Zealand just after mid-year – in fact dealers were scheduled to be in Thailand in late April to watch the first kiwi models roll off the assembly line.

 But thanks to Covid-19 the assembly plant was shut down, and the trip had to be cancelled. Isuzu Utes NZ Ltd marketing manager Kathyrn Hayward said the company is now working with the factory to confirm a new arrival date for the D-Max.

“We will provide more information when we can,” she added.

A feature of the new ute is that it will be powered by a beefed-up version of the excellent 3.0-litre four cylinder turbo diesel that is under the bonnet of the current model. Power has gone up to 140 kilowatts and torque has risen to 450 Newton metres. It’s also going to have improved safety specification and more infotainment.

During last year’s Tokyo Motor Show, Isuzu told the attending media that the new D-Max was developed solely by Isuzu as the original equipment manufacturer, with the finished product then provided to Mazda.

A shared disclosure agreement with Isuzu means Mazda New Zealand is unable to disclose any specifics about how the brand has BT-50-ised the ute. That will become clear when the vehicle is launched here later this year.

 But Mazda NZ product and sales planning manager Tim Nalden did confirm that the current BT-50 is enjoying such a “halo” period at the moment – it’s achieving its highest monthly segment share levels since its first year on the market in 2011 – that it is leading the company to consider selling both models side-by-side for a period of time.

It’s going to be interesting how both these new models perform on the New Zealand ute market.

Last year the BT-50 was the sixth biggest selling ute here with 2325 sales, and the D-Max one place behind with 1802 sales. But in 2020/2021 a combination of the fact they are brand-new, and the imminent disappearance from the market of the volume-selling Holden Colorado,  could see a rise in registrations of both of these models.

Covid-19: National need could pep battered rental scene

The rental car scene has been massively disrupted but the coronavirus crisis won’t kill it, Toyota New Zealand contends.

 GREEN shoot opportunities, probability of continued national need and sheer resilience will keep some rental car operations going.

This proposal is from the chief operating officer of Toyota New Zealand, historically the largest provider of NZ-new vehicles and caught now in an unfolding sector crisis.

With fleet providers desperate to relinquish stock and new vehicle distributors into treading a fine line in wanting to help as best they can while also having to protect their own operations, it’s a tough time.

Yet Neeraj Lala believes all is not lost.

Speaking after a week in which providers’ and the industry have taken turns to express sometimes controversial views, he accepts it’s not at easy time.

Yet he has faith in the entrepreneurial spirit and dogged determination now being demonstrated by many players, not least lower-tier independents.

In wake of the Rental Vehicle Association proposing that tourism accounts for up to 80 percent of work, Lala proposes New Zealander hirers also present valuable support that will reprise and even grow.

So, insofar as the idea of a wholesale rental car industry collapse goes? He doesn’t buy it.

“I don’t expect it to collapse, per se. There is a significant portion of the rental market that is business and corporate and they still rely on regional travel.

“As we transition down through the (Covid-19 alert) levels, then regional travel will open back up. I don’t think air travel will be as significant.

“Yes, tourism and international travel is going to play a big part in terms of the new size of the fleets that some of the rental companies might have to carry.”

Yet the operators TNZ has been conversing with “are definitely not thinking that because tourism is over they are going to die.”

That’s not just the big-name brands but also some lower tier operations previously reliant on tourism alone. There are plenty of them; 40 in Queenstown alone, Lala says.

But these small set-ups have often been established by highly-entrepreneurial individuals. They’re inventive and imaginative and some are looking at reconfiguring their fleets into freight and delivery roles. He salutes that spirit. 

“An unintended consequence of what we are facing is that new industries and new companies are going to emerge.

“Freight and deliveries are going to be in higher demand than we realise. I heard just last week that there is one company already looking at re-utilising its fleet to enable one to two-hour deliveries of food.”

This didn’t surprise. “You have to remember that these people are very entrepreneurial. They are not just going to be happy to close the doors and die. They will be looking to diversify their fleet – especially if they cannot sell it – and turning it into something.

“I think it is going to be exciting..” 

Lala’s positivity is at odds with the RVA, which pulls no punches in determining the $700 million a year trade involving anything from 30,000 to 50,000 vehicles is serious trouble, with some notable names unlikely to survive.

As much as TNZ has been attempting to reduce its exposure to the rental market over the past two years, many of those favour Toyota vehicles.

The Palmerston North-headquartered operation provisioned around 7000 vehicles into that sector last year and had thousands more set to go out in coming months to meet the traditionally peak winter period.

Fortuitously some of a consignment locked in last October wasn’t built –Japan’s Covid-19 response caused a slowdown in production, so those yet to go down the line cancelled – yet about 30 percent of the consignment, still hundreds of vehicles worth several million dollars, is either already here or on the way.

Resolving what to do with them is under way, and some - particularly models subject to waiting list with private buyers - might yet divert, yet this matter will be as delicate to manage as the other issue of the moment: Being asked to buy back more vehicles than it can cope with. In respect to the latter Lala warns: “The industry’s, and the country’s problem, in regard to rental cars cannot simply become Toyota New Zealand’s problem.”

On top of this, coronavirus impacted when TNZ was already working to manage returning to the market an undisclosed, but thought to be significant, stockpile of ex-fleet and rental stock it had corralled when times were good. 

The challenge of reinstating to the market just those vehicles – some of which, insiders say, were mothballed for so long some were out of registration and requiring tyres and batteries - in a way that did not flood the used market was, in isolation, big enough.

The scenario that might yet emerge would be far bigger. The prospect of rental fleets, particularly the tier one operators with effectively brand-new cars, fire sailing their stock in bulk is not palatable.

As much as sudden and unrestricted availability of an avalanche of effectively ‘as-new’ vehicles, likely at highly-discounted prices, might seem good for any consumer in position to snatch a great deal, it could cause massive disruption within the new car sector.

The potential for this was seemed to be hinted by RVA chief executive Pim Borrens’ when he complained to national media that distributors were using ‘force majeure’ clauses to renege on buy-back agreements.

Lala says that’s not exactly fair. In respect to how TNZ operates, there’s no legal obligation. Rather, TNZ cites as being amenable to being first in line for taking vehicles as and when they become available.

But TNZ has been pulling back on this. The pre-coronavirus stockpile, Lala said, reflected that “in the past five years we have probably taken back more than we have needed. That’s one of the reasons why we have turned the volume back these past two years.”

The glut reflected that some models popular as rentals were sometimes less so as private vehicles. The Highlander sports utility being a good example.

Lala can understand why rental companies are trying to ‘de-fleet’ and he says TNZ is doing the best it can to help achieve that. 

Yet “the difference between what the rental companies want us to take back, and what we can take back is substantial.

“I cannot call it an obligation because it is not an obligation. The rental companies who feel I should be buying back all of their cars … the expectation that Toyota will fund the whole thing and rescue the whole industry is … well, that’s just not realistic or feasible.

“We want to respect the relationships we have – some go back three decades - and are trying to do that by taking as many cars as we can.” Yet if operators were simply going to divest in large scale “it is just going to drop the residual values that we have calculated going in.”

“I cannot afford to have 30-40 months’ stock of Corolla. Normally I would have normally taken 50 percent of that (first tier rental) volume and pumped it into tier two, three or four.” That wasn’t going to happen now so TNZ had to mitigate its risk. 

As much as Toyota remains a big rental involver, and potentially the most dominant by volume, it no longer by any means owned the scene, and plenty of distributors were involved once again. However, he agreed, even if TNZ dropped out completely, it would still retain overall new car market leadership.

David Crawford, chief executive of the Motor Industry Association which speaks for new car distributors, has expressed disappointment the RVA spoke out last week.

“The Rental Vehicle Association is, of course, trying to represent its member’s view and plight in a way that helps that sector, but this is only one side of a commercial arrangement.”

Borren did not reply to requests for comment.

‘Closed for business’: New car industry appeals for help

April’s new vehicle sales count provides dramatic proof the Covid-19 pandemic has the new vehicle industry reeling.

COVID-19 has swung a near-knockout blow to New Zealand’s new vehicle industry, with April recording a more than 90 percent fall in vehicle sales.

In stark contrast to April last year when a record 10,640 new vehicles were registered, the national Coronavirus lockdown is the reason behind just 1039 vehicles being registered last month, with the top-selling model, Kia’s Seltos, registering 95 of those.

Now, the organisation representing the country’s new vehicle industry says it needs help – and it is demanding the Government fast-track introduction of a series of policies to achieve this.

“The Government can play a decisive role in lessening the economic pain we are feeling,” says Motor Industry Association chief executive David Crawford.

The organisation wants deferral of introduction of any feebate scheme, replaced instead with incentives for the purchase of fuel-efficient vehicles.  Feebates  are a combination of fees imposed on larger gas-guzzling vehicles and rebates offered to purchasers of smaller and fuel-efficient vehicles.

“Prior to the pandemic, the MIA supported in principle the adoption of a feebate scheme. However, given the degree of fiscal impact the pandemic is causing, we believe this policy needs immediate review,” says Crawford.

The MIA also wants the Government to accelerate the uptake of plug-in vehicles  across the Government fleet.

“To date, uptake of plug-in vehicles by government agencies has been less than modest at best. The MIA calls on the Government to increase departmental budgets to permit departments to increase their uptake of BEVs and PHEVs,” says Crawford.

Financial incentives should also be introduced to remove from the national fleet vehicles older than 20 years, and/or where their exhaust emission standards are the equivalent of Euro 3 or less, Crawford says. He adds that this vehicle scrappage would be in line with the country’s new road safety strategy and the Government’s climate change objectives.

 “We all know we have an old fleet, with numerous polluting and unsafe cars roaming our roads,” he says.

Crawford describes April’s new vehicle scene as “closed for business” other than for the supply of essential vehicle and three business days at the end of the month for contact-less sales.

That distributors were able to sell as many as they did was testament to their determination to partially re-open for business while maintaining strict health and safety process,” he says.

Overall, new vehicle registration were down 90.3 per cent in April – sales of passenger vehicles and SUVs dropped 89.6 per cent, and commercial vehicle sales were down 91.4 per cent.

So dramatic was the fall in registrations, that some highly unusual sales results were recorded by the MIA.

Market leader for the very first time was Korean brand Kia, which achieved a 16 per cent share with 169 sales, including 95 Seltos small SUVs, 24 Rio hatchbacks, and 22 Sportage compact SUVs.

The Seltos was also easily the top-selling passenger vehicle, with the Suzuki Swift hatch and the pint-sized Suzuki Jimny SUV in second and third places. 

And in the commercial sector it was the Toyota Hilux ute that was top model with 59 sales, followed by the Holden Colorado that is on runout prior to the Australian brand exiting the New Zealand market at year’s end.  And Ford Ranger – which has dominated the light commercial market for several years – was in third place with a mere 29 sales. 

And here’s a stark illustration of the state of New Zealand’s rental industry: whereas usually monthly vehicle registrations number in the hundreds, in April there were just two – and they were both Isuzu N-Series trucks.

 Covid Countdown:  April’s 10 Best-Selling Vehicles

Kia Seltos                     95

Toyota Hilux                 59

Holden Colorado          38

Suzuki Swift                  35

Ford Ranger                  29

Suzuki Jimny                 28

Kia Rio                          24

Holden Commodore     23

Kia Sportage                 22

Toyota Hiace                21

Pace notes' roll of honour

Rally co-drivers are the best in the world at telling a driver where to go. It all started in 1955 on an infamous road race in Italy.

Rally crews spend weeks on the road writing, checking and competing with detailed pace notes. The passing of Sir Stirling Moss at Easter reminds us where that began.

Along with 16 Formula 1 GP victories and countless wins at circuits throughout the world, Moss and co-driver Denis Jenkinson are also credited for the first successful application of what became known as pace notes.

Moss had made three previous attempts at the Mille Miglia - the annual 1000-mile road race around Italy - before he left the start line at 7.22am on May 1 1955 as part of the Mercedes-Benz factory team.

Aware that only one non-Italian driver had ever succeeded in the Mille Miglia, Moss and ``Jenks’’ had completed detailed preparations as a counter to the local knowledge of the Italian drivers 

A passenger was permitted in the Mille Miglia and mainly they served as a navigator or riding mechanic or sometimes in a co-driver role sharing a stint at the wheel.

A journalist, Jenkinson was also familiar with the demands of teamwork at high speed as he had been a world motorcycle sidecar champion.

Prior to the race Moss and Jenkinson made multiple reconnaissance runs around the course, carefully detailing the dangerous corners and hazards as well as the blind corners and brows that could be taken at high speed if the driver trusted the information.

In their finished form these notes were written onto an 18-foot roll of paper that was wound into a purpose-made metal holder. Jenkinson scrolled through the notes, checking progress against the large kilometre stones at the Italian roadside. You can see footage of the device and how Jenkinson worked it in today’s video.

A pace note book used by modern co-drivers wasn’t an option. The Mercedes-Benz SLR 300 was an open sports car with a small windscreen. Rain would have turned paper into pulp.

And there was no intercom either. In car capable of 170mph - with a straight-eight engine based on the Mercedes W196 Formula 1 car with open exhausts - Jenkinson delivered the instructions to Moss by a series of hand signals. 

Modern in-car WRC footage offers an insight into the perfected pace note science from the security of a closed cockpit, with a full roll cage, harness and a sophisticated intercom system.

The Moss and Jenkinson system may have been rudimentary but it represents the first successful application of pace notes and of making a car quicker from A to B on a partially known piece of road because of the cooperative efforts between driver and navigator.

Moss and Jenkinson won the 1955 race – beating team-mate Juan Manual Fangio by 32 minutes - at a new record average speed of 99mph that remained unbeaten when the Mille Miglia was banned after 1957.

Moss actually rated the 1955 Mille Miglia win as his greatest success.

``Even now, so many years afterwards, the memory is fresh – of all the races I entered, and finished, and even those I won, I can’t find another to compare with it,’’ he wrote in the 1974 compilation My Greatest Race edited by Adrian Ball.

RIP Sir Stirling Moss. Not only a motor racing legend but part of a pioneering duo whose innovation influences every major rally today.

# We welcome Colin Smith as a contributor to MotoringNZ.com and acknowledge that this first story seems particularly appropriate. In addition to being a highly-talented motorsport and motoring writer, he’s also a respected rally co-driver.

Man draws ute, media goes nuts

Everyone loves a good ute. Does the Tarlac meet those tastes?

FOR the past couple of years, anyone gloating about their new car might, in reality, be talking about something taller, heavier and – despite all the mod cons – less polished.

Despite new car registrations having faltered a touch in 2019, utility vehicles continued to dominate, with the Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux the top two selling vehicles, with 9486 and 7126 sales respectively.

Demand tapered off by the December quarter and no-one’s yet brave enough to bet on how many might be sold this year. 

But chances are the ute – and by that we really mean well-trimmed dual cabs, since they account for the bulk of interest - sector might yet recover more quickly from the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact than the general passenger car market.

They’re so strongly entrenched. Also, if and when recovery comes, it’s going to be led by builders and farmers – two key buyers of utes.

What might also stir up interest is that this is the first if several years when traydeck turnover occurs. As in, model cycle change. Some are set to be rebirthed and most of the others are going to be refreshed.

Isuzu’s reskinned and re-engineered D-Max and its new under-skin twin, the Mazda BT-50, are coming out this year. We expect to see another radical revision for the Hilux. In 2021 comes the successor to the mega-hit T6 Ranger, retiring after a decade on the job.

A conjoined effort with Volkswagen and likely to be the last Ranger designed and engineered fully in Australia, the next one runs on a new version of the current platform and is expected to add a pair of turbocharged V6 engines added to the line-up; a 24wk@ petrol and a 187kW diesel. And hot on its heels, the Amarok – still a German product despite the Aus-shared influences.

And there’s another, also eagerly anticipated …. 

So, anyway, today’s images are of the Tarlac.

 Hyundai’s dual-cab ute has been in the works for an eon, but finally the wheels are set to be rolling. And instead of one kind, it’s becoming increasingly likely there will be two 

America is being targeted as the primary recipient for a load-lugger that will retain the name, and much of the look, of the Santa Cruz concept shown in 2015. This will come out of Hyundai’s plant in Alabama in 2021. The Santa Cruz will differ from other dual-cab utes as it will be built with a monocoque chassis.

However, Hyundai has also confirmed it also has a traditional ladder-frame light commercial vehicle is in development. Costs of this one shared with sister company Kia. This yet-unnamed model is expected to become available in 2022-23.

So what will it look like? Well, an industrial designer in the Philippines reckons he has a pretty good idea.

Enoch Gabriel Gonzales has fired up motoring sites all over this part of the world by publishing numerous images of a virtual model whose configuration is based on the few published images of the actual vehicle when it’s been snapped when out testing.

Given the real thing has always been heavily disguised, how confident can we be that his Tarlac – named after a province located in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines – is a good representation?

It’s a good question. Gonzales does admit that the workhorse he’s envisioned has a more traditional body shape than what the spy photos suggested. But he also claims to have remained faithful to Hyundai’s current design language.

The fascia is inspired by the Santa Fe sports utility and its bigger brother, the Palisade, which is expected to come on sale here at the end of the year.

Beyond that, he has designed Tarlac to look like a natural competitor for Hilux, Ranger and Mitsubishi’s Triton.

Regardless, let’s not forget this. There’s nothing official about the Tarlac. Gonzales is clearly a very good designer, but he doesn’t work for Hyundai.

A fact that seems to have escaped all the media who have used the images and allowed their imaginations to run wild. But, granted, there are excellent renditions.

Visual fizz for Hyundai sedan

Will we, won’t we? Hyundai NZ is being especially evasive.

NOT an outright ‘yes’ nor an actual ‘no’ … just an acknowledgement that, should the compact sedan whose sportified look has been teased be picked up for New Zealand, it’ll more likely be called an i30 than an Elantra.

Hyundai New Zealand is being especially non-committal about local potential for a compact four-door model, to place alongside the i30 hatch and liftback, that has attracted international attention through South Korea putting out a teaser video showing the car in an N-Line trim.

This follows release weeks earlier of the standard car without the camouflage covering the N-Line edition. Can they be that much different? Well, probably not ….

Anyway, in sharing the N-Line news, Hyundai NZ’s public relations manager Kimberley Waters was making every effort to steer clear of suggesting anything that might indicate the car having local potential. Or not.

“Please note Elantra is what it this model is known as in other markets. Because Hyundai New Zealand take Australian spec and they have changed the nameplate to i30 Sedan, we too will adopt that name if we bring in the i30 Sedan and/or i30 Sedan N-Line. 

So there you go. Whatever Aussie does is what we’ll also do. Should we do it.

 Moving on. 

The N-Line should not be confused with the outright N product plan, which is basically Hyundai creating an equivalent of BMW’s M Division – indeed, the man leading this, Albert Biermann, is the former head of the Munich madhouse.

The only N model here now is based off the i30. The Veloster N is also in production, but just in left-hand-drive. The next N model for New Zealand is expected to be a version of the Kona compact crossover, with a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol four-cylinder engine producing around 200kW and 350Nm. Also likely to also introduce the dual-clutch automatic transmission, this model is expected to land in the second half of this year.

Anyway, back to Elantra/i30 sedan. It is built on the new K3 platform which Hyundai states is lighter and stiffer with enhanced driving dynamics, and shows the brand’s latest styling outside – yeah, we know, instant nominee for ‘scary grille of the year’  - with plenty of technology highlights inside.

The only export market to so far involve with the mainstream model (below) is the United States, where it runs front-wheel drive with a continuously variable automatic transmission and the 103kW 1.6-litre that ran in the previous generation.

With N-Line, you get a few sporty looks but not the hooligan edge. With the sedan, the dress-up encompasses black exterior mirrors, more aggressive two-tone five-spoke alloy wheels and a set of twin exhaust tips poking out of the right side of the bumper. Is this an indication the variant will run the 150kW/265Nm 1.6-litre turbo-petrol used elsewhere in the Hyundai and Kia stable?

Well, it’d seem a safe bet given that, for its part, Seoul head office has offered: “the upcoming i30 Sedan N Line adds N brand specific design elements, chassis upgrades and a turbocharged engine to the recently revealed i30 Sedan”.

The car in the video seems to include a dual-clutch automatic transmission – most likely the seven-speed unit from the current i30 N Line.

The most pronounced of the chassis upgrades will likely include an enhanced (firmer) suspension set-up. Note that the N Line hatch rides 5mm lower than the standard models.

The i30 Sedan also has a multi-link rear suspension arrangement – only seen previously on the current N Line hatch. That bounds well for the driving feel.

So is it coming? Probably. Hyundai NZ doesn’t have a habit of sending out information about cars it doesn’t intend to sell.

Even so, setting aside the ‘will they, won’t they?’ side, sedans – previous Elantra very much included - have become such slow sellers, the more relevant question might be: ‘Will you notice?’

Vale Mustang’s real father

His sketch was chosen by Lee Iacocca. The rest is history.

You might not know the name – you will know the car. Because EVERYONE knows the car.

Gale Halderman, the last surviving designer of the original 1965 – well, 64-and-a-half if you’re a true fan – Mustang, has passed away. He was 87.

Halderman is known as the man behind the scenes of the Mustang, having penned the original shape of a model that made its world debut at the New York Worlds Fair of 1964. A car would be produced continuously across six-generations and for more than five decades 

While it was Lee Iacocca who was known as the father of the Mustang, Halderman is its creator. The Mustang went on to sell more than 8 million units.

Appointed family spokesperson and author of Mustang by Design: Gale Halderman and the Creation of Ford’s Iconic Pony Car, Jimmy Dinsmore, said: “To have lived 87 years and to have designed something that is part of pop culture and automotive history, he had such an impact. 

“He did it in such a humble way that has touched the heart of every Mustang enthusiast out there. As great of a designer as he was, he was an even better human being.”

Dinsmore says the most striking thing about Halderman, a 40-year Ford employee, was his humility. For many years, Halderman did not receive much attention for being the Mustang’s original designer, preferring to let others take the credit.

“When he went back to their Christmas dinners and such, he would be seated at the table with Mr. Ford,” Dinsmore added.

Born in 1933, Halderman completed a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Dayton and a further Industrial Design degree from the Dayton Art Institute. He went on to serve positions as the director and executive director of the Ford Design Studio, Advanced Design Studio, Interior Design Studio, and Lincoln-Mercury Design Studio.

Ultimately, the designer of the Mustang was to lose a brief battle with liver cancer. He is survived by three daughters, and his life’s collection of drawings, designs, sketches, and Mustang memorabilia, much of which can be viewed at the Halderman Barn Museum, a private venture open by appointment only on his family estate in Tipp City, Ohio. 

Halderman is a member of the Mustang Hall of Fame.