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BERLIN — Porsche expects the retooled Panamera sedan to give a boost to the weakest performing model in its portfolio. CEO Oliver Blume told Automotive News Europe he hopes to sell about 20,000 or more Panameras a year globally, up from 17,200 in 2015.

The Volkswagen Group subsidiary is targeting luxury car buyers with a sportier, sleeker version of the four-door coupe-styled sedan that is due to arrive at European showrooms in November and U.S. dealerships in January 2017.

“We’re aiming it at people that want to drive sporty, in particular we want to reach out to young entrepreneurs that founded their own companies and startups,” Blume said.

In the U.S., the 2017 Panamera 4S will be priced from $100,950 and the Panamera Turbo will start at $147,950, including shipping fees.

Forecasts by research firm IHS Automotive suggest Blume could be more upbeat about sales of the Panamera, which shares a platform with models from sister brands Audi and Bentley to lower costs.

IHS sees Panamera sales rising to 35,444 by 2020. By comparison, BMW’s 7-series model may increase 30 percent to 51,825 cars while sales of Mercedes-Benz’s S class may decline 21 percent to 79,044, according to IHS.

Over the past seven years, the combined volume for the fastback-styled sedan amounted to nearly 150,000, which is 21,150 sales a year on average. That met Porsche’s original volume target, but it was not comparable with the Macan or Cayenne SUVs, which that have substantially exceeded sales expectations.

Porsche unveiled the second-generation Panamera sedan here on Tuesday, hoping to enhance its reputation for speed with a grand tourer that can lap the Nuerburgring Nordschleife as fast as the previous-generation 911 GT3.

Blume said diversifying the Porsche lineup in 2009 with the launch of the Panamera was strategically important. By offering a four-door sedan with four executive-style seats it was able to target a new customer group and broaden its business.

“The unique thing about this car in its segment is that it combines both comfort and sportiness,” Blume said. “For example you can feel as if you’re in a large luxury sedan thanks to the three-chamber air suspension or you can tackle curves in an extremely sporty way using the same rear axle steering our customers already know from the 911 Turbo.”

Blume said the car could lap the Nordschleife in 7:38 minutes — as fast as the older GT3 version of the 911. One of the Panameras on display was also the original that clocked that time, featuring an interior safety cage in case of a rollover and a unique bucket seat, as well as a computer and measuring technology.

The car is Porsche’s first to be based on the new modular standard architecture it will share with other VW Group models. When the Panamera launches in autumn with a starting price of 113,027 euros, it will feature V-8 and V-6 gasoline engines offering 542 hp and 434 hp, respectively. A V-8 diesel with 416 hp will also be an option from the outset.

To further bolster its appeal, Porsche plans a so-called “shooting brake” derivative of the Panamera that swaps the sharp sloping roofline of a coupe for a more wagon-like silhouette, while adding more luggage space. The increased functionality is expected to lure mainly European consumers, who remain the world’s top buyers of wagons. The wagon will also be sold in the U.S.

Porsche already gave enthusiasts an impression of the new model when it showed the Panamera Sport Turismo concept during the Paris motor show in 2012.

A five-seat Panamera is also under consideration for the U.S. That seating configuration has been sought by U.S. dealers, who say they lose Panamera shoppers to other brands because of its lack of a fifth seat.

Porsche has grown rapidly in recent years by entering segments that share little with its traditional roots as a sports car maker. Purists have criticized the company for being too commercial, diluting the brand simply to increase volume.

Last year, two-thirds of the brand’s record-breaking global sales of 225,121 vehicles stemmed from two SUV models — the Cayenne and Macan — alone.

Find Original Article: http://www.autonews.com/article/20160629/COPY01/306299945/porsche-ceo-expects-boost-from-new-panamera

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Ask Unifor President Jerry Dias what’s at stake in upcoming labor negotiations with the Detroit 3 automakers, and he’ll say it’s nothing less than the future of the Canadian auto industry.

Dias, who heads the union representing Canadian auto workers, said three of Canada’s eight parts and assembly plants represented by Unifor — General Motors’ Oshawa, Ontario, assembly plant; Ford Motor Co.’s Windsor, Ontario, engine assembly factories; and Fiat Chrysler’s Brampton, Ontario, assembly plant — are in danger of closing if they don’t secure future product.

The plants, which employ about 31 percent of the 23,500 Detroit 3 workers that Unifor represents, will be the focus of the union’s negotiations with the automakers. Unifor’s contracts with the Detroit 3 expire on Sept. 19.

“This is about the future of the auto industry in Canada,” Dias said in an interview with Automotive News. “This is not an exaggeration.”

The negotiations come as the Detroit 3 have shifted production and investments to Mexico and away from Ontario and the U.S. Midwest. The shift to Mexico has hit Canada particularly hard, as indicated by a 2015 report by the Automotive Policy Research Centre that found the country lost 53,000 auto jobs since 2001.

Production has shifted away from Canada and the Midwestern U.S. — the continent’s traditional auto manufacturing hub — and toward Mexico over the last several years. Automakers see advantages in Mexico, including lower labor costs and access to global markets via numerous free trade agreements, that have made it a more desirable location for new investment.

Dias said the union’s top priority in negotiations is bucking that trend.

“This is really going to be us saying enough is enough,” Dias said. “We’re not taking it anymore.”

He said GM’s Oshawa facility, where production of four models it produces is set to be shipped elsewhere, is in dire need of new product. Dias said Unifor is presenting GM with a choice — either invest in Oshawa or risk a strike.

“There’s not going to be a settlement with GM if they close the plant,” he said. GM employs about 2,600 workers at the plant.

The Oshawa plant produces the Buick Regal, Cadillac XTS, Chevrolet Equinox and Chevrolet Impala. Production of all four models is set to move to other plants or be halted, leaving Oshawa with no long-term commitments and putting it in danger of closing if Unifor does not secure new products, Dias said.

GM said earlier this month that it would hire 700 engineering and technical jobs in Oshawa.

Cooperation

GM Canada President Stephen Carlisle said on Tuesday that Unifor and automakers must work together to address labor concerns and keep Canadian plants open.

“The manufacturing headwinds that we have all been navigating in North America are well understood – including assembly over-capacity, shifting market demand, trade patterns and economic competitiveness,” he said in a statement. “We have spent many hours working to develop a shared appreciation of the opportunities, challenges and tasks we must take on together if we are to succeed.”

Dias said he is “not as concerned” about FCA’s Brampton factory as he is about Oshawa or Ford’s Windsor engine plants. But Brampton’s future looks a bit less certain after FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne said in May that the automaker could produce the Chrysler 300 on the same line as the Pacifica minivan, potentially moving 300 production away from Brampton to FCA’s Windsor plant.

FCA employs about 3,300 hourly workers in Brampton, according to the automaker’s website.

Dias said the automakers’ relative health and the strength of the North American auto market make it vital to secure investments now before they swing downward,

“If we can’t shore up investment when the companies are doing well,” Dias said, “how can we expect to when the market goes south?”

Kristin Dziczek, director of the Industry, Labor and Economics Group at the Center for Automotive Research, said it “is really going to be hard” for Canada to keep its automotive jobs in the long run.

“I don’t know how effective they’re going to be,” she said. “They’re not competing just within themselves or just the U.S. This is a global production market and a global sales market for global vehicles.”

She compared the state of the Canadian auto industry to that of Australia, which will cease auto production after Toyota shutters its Australian plant in 2017.

“What happened in Australia appears to be happening in Canada, which is you lose a certain mass of automotive industry and then all of a sudden the suppliers decide it’s not worth being there either, and then you lose the others,” Dziczek said. “We haven’t heard anything about pulling back at all from Honda or Toyota, which are also big manufacturers in Canada, but I wonder about the viability of those plants and their supply chains — or if they’re very different from the Detroit 3.”

Canada advantages

In addition to higher labor costs than those of Mexico or the Southern U.S., Dziczek said two of Unifor’s biggest selling points — advantages in health care and production — have become weaker.

Dziczek said a restructured U.S. health care plan with the UAW, in addition to a younger U.S. workforce, has reduced the Canadian health care advantage. “You need to have new investment and new product in order to continue production for a longer term, and we haven’t seen a lot of investment in Canada,” she said.

This year’s negotiations follow those in 2012 by the Canadian Auto Workers, which in 2013 merged with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada to form Unifor. The CAW’s 2012 deals with the Detroit 3 contained no base wage increases, though they did include three $2,000 lump-sum cost-of-living payments. Workers at Canadian Detroit 3 plants have not received a raise in a decade.

Dziczek said that although it’s possible Canadian auto workers could see a wage increase like their U.S. counterparts did in 2015, she cautioned that a raise could make the Canadian market even less attractive in the long run.

Read More: http://www.autonews.com/article/20160628/OEM01/160629846/canadian-auto-industrys-future-at-stake-in-labor-talks-unifor-chief

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We worship the concept of heritage, especially in motoring, but, asks Stephen Bayley, what is it exactly? And does it stifle creativity?

BMW i3

Stock prices across the world have taken a huge hit following Brexit the UKs decision to leave the European Union. Investor confidence has dropped across many sectors including the auto industry as uncertainty looms over the economic ramifications of this historic move. The UK one of the largest automotive manufacturing hubs in Europe must now decide how to move forward with this exit. About 75 percent of the vehicles manufactured in the UK are destined for export mostly to Europe. But its not just British automakers few of which today are actually British owned that have taken a hit. Automakers suppliers and even transportation companies like Penske are experiencing falling stock values. As of this writing the following manufacturers have taken hits. Percentages are relative as the stock prices are still in flux. Toyota: -8.6 percent General Motors: -3.8 percent Volkswagen: -5.5 percent Hyundai: -1 percent Ford: -5.9 percent Nissan: -8.1 percent Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: -12.3 percent Honda: -4.47 percent Tesla: -1.8 percent Delphi: -10.6 percent BorgWarner: -10.2 percent Tenneco: -10.5 percent Penske: -10.2 percent Its still unknown how this will all play out. The UKs next move will be to figure out how to manage their departure from the EU and what effect this will have on trading. UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation this morning so figuring out new leadership to ease the transition will be key. With regards to the auto industry the UK government will need to determine what sort of tariffs will be imposed on imports and exports how labor and employment will be handled and if manufacturing will be forced to move elsewhere if costs become too great. Read More:http://www.autoblog.com/2016/06/24/automotive-stock-prices-fall-brexit/ Get in touch with us via our cash for cars website if you are interested in finding out more. The post Automotive stock prices fall worldwide in the wake of Brexit appeared first on http://limerick.cashforcarsireland.com/ via Cash For Cars - Locations http://limerick.cashforcarsireland.com/automotive-stock-prices-fall-worldwide-wake-brexit/

Since Britain voted Thursday to leave the European Union, much attention has turned to what happens next as the two sides face the prospect of becoming trade partners, rather than members of the same economic bloc.

The automotive industry could be especially affected: BMW sells 11 percent of its vehicles in Britain,the Wall Street Journal reported, while Britain ships 58 percent of its domestically built automobiles to other EU nations. (Despite Thursday’s vote, Britain will remain an EU member for some time, while details of the divorce are sorted out.)

But Britain is experiencing a shortage of automotive engineers. Whether that shortage becomes more dire after the Brexit vote will be among many items to consider as Britain and the EU draft new trade deals.

Meanwhile, with the “leave” movement earning the majority of Thursday’s votes, most of the focus has been on how Brexit could ultimately lead to Britain’s economic demise. But there are also concerns for the integrity of the EU.

Billionaire investor George Soros says Brexit will likely also spell the demise of the EU as it is currently constructed. Despite a scenario in which Britain received all the benefits of EU membership despite rejecting its common currency, the euro, Britain still voted to leave, Soros notes Saturday in a column for Project Syndicate. A concerted effort to regroup in the coming weeks and months will be necessary in order to keep the EU intact, he writes.

“After Brexit, all of us who believe in the values and principles that the EU was designed to uphold must band together to save it by thoroughly reconstructing it,” Soros writes.

Brexit has led to fears of similar “leave” movements in other EU countries. “Frexit” and “Grexit” are now concerns in France and Greece, respectively. The go-it-alone sentiment could be growing elsewhere as well: In the U.S. state of Texas, for example, some are calling for a “Texit.”

Back in Britain, the Brexit vote could also boost efforts by Scotland and Northern Ireland to pursue independence. (Both voted heavily in favor of remaining in the EU.)

Read More: http://www.ibtimes.com/brexit-will-impact-automotive-industry-british-drivers-who-love-bmw-2386792

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WOLFSBURG, Germany — Volkswagen Group plans to introduce more than 30 electric vehicles by 2025, accounting for up to one-quarter of its unit sales, as it recasts itself to emerge from the diesel emissions-cheating scandal.

The automaker will transform its core business and realign its components production as part of a sweeping strategy review, the company said today at a press briefing at its Autostadt exhibition center in Wolfsburg.

“We expect that by (2025) we will be selling about 2 to 3 million pure-electric automobiles a year,” VW Group CEO Matthias Mueller said.

VW said it planned to bundle its components business, currently spread across 26 plants worldwide with 67,000 employees. The relevant activities are to be systematically combined across all brands and strategically realigned, the company said.

The realignment will give the components business greater entrepreneurial freedom, Mueller said. “We anticipate that this will improve transparency while boosting internal competition. It will also contribute substantially to future topics such as electro-mobility,” he said.

It also said it aimed to reduce its sales and administration costs to less than 12 percent of sales.

Mueller said the new goals will make the company “more focused, efficient, innovative, customer-driven and sustainable.”

Spurred by the biggest crisis in its history, Volkswagen is accelerating efforts to adapt to the industry’s shift toward self-driving electric cars. \

Mobility investments

Volkswagen plans to establish a mobility solutions business that will develop its own services as well as acquiring businesses in areas such as ride-hailing, robo-taxis and car-sharing. The goal is to generate billions of euros in revenue from the efforts by 2025, the carmaker said. A $300 million investment last month in ride-hailing app Gett was Volkswagen’s first foothold in the burgeoning field.

VW’s hires including strategy chief Thomas Sedran, a long-time AlixPartners and Roland Berger consultant, and digital head Johann Jungwirth, formerly with Apple Inc., are key to the automaker’s revamp. Herbert Diess, who joined from BMW AG a few months before the cheating became public, is in charge of the critical effort to lift profitability at Volkswagen’s struggling namesake brand, its largest unit.

Cumulative investment in new autonomous mobility solutions will amount to several billion euros, Mueller said. “We will develop the necessary expertise and are planning to hire around 1,000 additional software specialists, among other measures,” he said.

Volkswagen is targeting an operating return on sales of 7 percent to 8 percent by 2025, up from 6 percent before special items last year.

Playing a leading role in the automotive industry “will require us — following the serious setback as a result of the diesel issue — to learn from mistakes made,” Mueller said in his first major strategy presentation since taking charge after Volkswagen admitted last September to cheating on U.S. emissions tests.

The emissions scandal has so far cost the company 16.2 billion euros ($18.2 billion) and highlighted the risks of its rigid structure and focus on expansion, which caused it to largely miss the trends that led to the emergence of the likes of Tesla Motors and ride-sharing service Uber Technologies.

Volkswagen said it will present detailed steps to implement the strategy, broken down for its 12 brands and including financial targets, by the end of this year.

Find original: http://www.autonews.com/article/20160616/COPY01/306169957/vws-long-term-strategy-calls-for-30-new-evs-components-realignment

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When you play roulette the only way to always win is to cover every position. That gambit is apparently what Mercedes-Benz and parent company Daimler are doingaccordingto a release from Daimler. Daimler like most automotive manufacturers is pressing forward with vehicle electrification but its not abandoning other engine technologies. At least not yet. We will invest 14.5 billion euros in research and development in the next two years alone more than half of it will again be spent on green technologies. Just for our passenger cars we are talking about 5.4 billion euros said Thomas Weber member of the board of management of Daimler AG who is responsible forGroup Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development. As a matter of fact no other manufacturer offers a comparable range of electrified vehicles and solutions in the field of electric mobility Weber continued. The spectrum ranges from the smart city runabout and attractive Mercedes-Benz passenger cars to buses coaches and trucks of the Fuso brand. We will electrify all Mercedes-Benz passenger car model series step-by-step. At first blush Webers statement appears to be consistent with an apparent automotive industry drive toward all-electric vehicles. Thats fortunate since the German government declared this week that all new cars sold and registered in Germany must be zero-emissions (meaning electric) by 2030. However Weber then notedthe companys commitment to other motor technologies. He said Daimler is not committing to a single type of power train for all applications and is pursuing means by which the technologies can coexist. Customers are not looking to sacrifice in the sense of less car in the contrary. That is why we emphasize enhanced efficiency through more intelligent technology and we do it consistently in all model series. All the mentioned types of powertrains internal-combustion engines that run on gasoline or diesel plug-in-hybrids batteries or hydrogen have their justification and chances Weber continued. So going forward Mercedes-Benz and Daimler are covering all bases with gas diesel mild hybrid high-power hybrid fuel cell and all-electric power Mercedes is pushing forward onmore-efficient cleaner gasoline and diesel engines. Three additions will help the engines run cleaners: mild hybridization more-efficient starter generators and particulate filters. Starting in 201748V mild hybrid motors will begin to appear on Mercedes sedans. By taking some of the power demand from the gas or diesel engine the 48V system will cut fuel consumption. This additional smaller electric motor will bring hybrid-energy recovery performance boost and starting and maneuvering in electric-only mode to the full line of internal combustion engine-powered cars. Integrated and belt-driven starter generators will also improve efficiency and particulate filters that are now standard with Mercedes diesel engines will be used for gas enginesto reduce emissions. High-power hybrids Mercedes now has 13 high-power hybrid models. The company sees hybrids as the best of both worlds with electric power only reserved for short trips around town or in the city and the internal combustion engine used on longer trips. The electric motors as with mild hybrids add to the internal-combustion engines fuel efficiency as well as provide an extra power boost when needed. All Mercedes C-Class and up will eventually be full-power hybrids before a likely transition to full electric power Starting in 2017 Mercedes will introduce hybrids with an all-electric range greater than 50 kilometers (about 31 miles). The added range will encourage drivers to view electric power as a standard power component not just an around-town convenience. Longer trips on electric power only will also save fuel and lessen emissions. Next year will also bringthe first wireless induction-charging systemon an S-Class hybrid so drivers can just position their cars correctly to recharge the batteries without having to plug in (the plug-in port will still be standardfor use whenneeded). Fuel cells Mercedes is developing the first combination plug-in fuel cell designs. By using a larger lithium battery than is used in other designs and adding plug-in capability both range and refueling/recharging convenience improve. The plug-in fuel cell will be used first in the GLCF-Cell. When the fuel cell and plug-in are combined the GLC will have a range of about 500km (310 miles). Further developments are intended to use stacked fuel cells in modular designs so the concept can be extended to applications from small cars to city buses. Mercedes-Benz fuel cell-powered Citaro buses have been in service since 2003 but the addition of plug-in battery power will further increase their range. All-electric power Mercedes does not currently have any all-electric cars but Daimler does. The diminutive Smart car now has all-electric versions of each model in the line and the Fuso Canter E-Cell light-duty truck has been in testing in Portugal and in Germany. The E-Cell has a 110kW 150hp permanent-magnet motorthat delivers a high level of torque to the rear axle from a standing start for performance that more closely resembles a powerful car than a 6-ton truck. As Mercedes-Benz moves forward on all powertrain technologies the overall direction is clearlytowardelectric vehicles whether powered by fuel cells plug-ins or a combination. Daimlers investment in battery factories and various home energy and charging systems will develop apace with its cars and trucks to facilitate what seems to be the inevitable shift from internal combustion engines to electric power. Read more:http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/daimler-mercedes-benz-all-power-trains/ We buy any car whatever the age or condition contact us to find out more. The post MERCEDES-BENZ WILL HAVE YOU COVERED appeared first on http://dublin.cashforcarsireland.com/ via Cash For Cars - Locations http://dublin.cashforcarsireland.com/mercedes-benz-will-covered/

From the July 2016 issue

001:

In addition to motion-capture sensors (the white dots), test subjects are also wired with electrodes that record muscle contractions.

002:

The camera array even includes a pair aimed through the sunroof.

003:

Another camera points through a plastic window in the gutted door. This helps form a complete three-dimensional picture of passenger movement.