Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will invest €5 billion ($A7.5bn) in Alfa Romeo in the next five years, allowing the struggling brand to design, develop and launch a total of eight new models.
By 2018, Alfa should be selling 400,000 cars a year worldwide, a five-fold increase compared to its dismal tally for 2013.
These revelations were the highlights of the FCA Investor Day held in Detroit on Tuesday afternoon.
During a Q&A session after unveiling the group’s latest five-year plan, FCA chief executive Sergio Marchionne made success for Alfa sound, well, simple.
He said there are “fundamentally only two competitors” for the all-new Alfas, which will be built on equally new rear-drive and all-wheel-drive platforms: “All the rest are wannabes. These brands don’t have the DNA.” Take that, Audi.
Marchionne said Alfa has the right image to challenge BMW and Mercedes-Benz; it just needs cars to go with the glorious heritage.
However, that has seldom happened in almost 30 years of Fiat ownership of the brand.
A successor to the discontinued 159 will be the first of the new wave Alfas to arrive, in the second half of 2015.
While a variety of four-cylinder spark-ignition and diesel engines are being developed for these cars, the Alfa plan also includes a petrol V6 producing 300-375kW for the inevitable performance models.
But it is the resurgent Jeep that Marchionne is counting on to provide almost half the 2.6 million sales increase FCA aims to achieve between now and the end of 2018.
The SUV specialist is on target to exceed one million sales this year, but needs to reach 1.9 million.
Chrysler is the other FCA brand being counted on to provide growth.
It’s to be transformed into a competitor for mainstream brands such as Ford, Hyundai, Honda and Toyota, with its model portfolio growing accordingly.
Marchionne said the new plan assigns clear roles to everything FCA owns for the first time: “We now have brands in the market that aren’t butting heads.”
With the latest Carnival now revealed and the upcoming Sorento III that is expected by year’s end completing the first stage of its design-led renaissance, Kia is seeking to find a middle ground between evolution and revolution when determining the look of the next-generation models.
Speaking to the Australian media at the New York International Auto Show, Kia Motors’ president of design, Peter Schreyer, admitted that maintaining consistency with a ‘premium look’ is the biggest challenge his department faces.
“We have reached a very good point and achieved a family look and a consistent feeling with our product range,” he revealed.
“And one of the important things with premium brands especially – and by that I mean the feeling when you look at our cars makes you feel very, very good – is that we need continuity and reliability in terms of what the customer expects of the next Kia: it should look like one.
“But that doesn’t mean we now change to a completely different direction; it means we keep going to make it stronger and stay with what we have.
“Still, we still have to make big steps. ‘Gentle evolution’ is a bit too gentle – but it depends on the project.”
Being in charge of both Kia and Hyundai design for over a year now, Mr Schreyer revealed that each brand has a unique identity that needs to continue to be cultivated and progressed.
“First of all the two companies are quite different, and you would not even know that they are like a brother and sister company; nobody would even talk about the similarities between them anyway,” he said.
“But I think it is important for both companies to stay with what they are and what they stand for, and Kia has a very strong direction and character while Hyundai is a little more playful, a little more spectacular – and Hyundai has made its name by doing that.
“I don’t want to change this in the opposite direction… but I think it needs to be a bit more controlled and mature. But I still think there is enough space for the two to be different.”
Mr Schreyer added that there is now a greater amount of discussion between the two brands then there has been in the past, to try and define the two brands better.
“Each of the two teams really know what they’re doing,” he said.
Volkswagen will offer a manual gearbox option on the facelifted version of the Polo GTI early next year, bringing cheaper entry-level pricing into the bargain.
Expected to be introduced at the Paris motor show in early October, with Australian sales to commence within the first quarter of next year, the fastest Polo will take the challenge up to the current darling of the baby hot-hatch set – the $25,990 Ford Fiesta ST.
The recently discontinued Polo GTI three-door retailed from $27,790 with a seven-speed DSG dual-clutch transmission that normally attracts a $2500 premium, so it should be price competitive with the ST.
Polo chassis engineer Wolfgang Bartusch said VW is responding to consumer pressure to offer a manual alternative to the DSG, even though he personally prefers the self-shifting transmission.
Bartusch, a company veteran who has been responsible for every Polo chassis development program since 2001, confirmed that the facelifted Polo GTI will produce 141kW, but refused to divulge any more information about the hotly anticipated performance flagship.
So it remains unclear if the Spanish-built hot hatch will continue to use a variation of the current 132kW/250Nm 1.4-litre turbo/supercharged four-cylinder engine, and whether it will adopt a mechanical limited slip differential in lieu of the electronic differential locks and torque vectoring devices currently offered.
Since late 2010, the Polo GTI has only been offered with DSG, a move that was considered radical for this class of car, particularly as the preceding model was manual-only.
It will be interesting to see if Renault responds with manual gearbox availability in the Clio RS200.
During a visit to Renault Sport’s Paris HQ in 2012, Wheels noted some dissatisfaction within the company over its decision to go for dual-clutch only in the current model.
One engineer even told us he would “fight to the end” for the next-generation Megane RS to retain its manual gearbox specification.
Holden has denied it had plans to sell rebadged Opel models when General Motors announced the closure of the German brand in Australia, last August.
But with Holden today revealing the Opel Insignia, Astra and Cascada will return to Australia as Holdens from 2015, Wheels asked the question everyone was thinking: did GM lie about why it ended Opel operations Down Under?
“No, not at all,” Holden spokesman George Svigos said. “We wound up Opel long before the announcement that Holden would cease local manufacturing. This decision to import these three cars was made just weeks ago.”
Of course, speculation that Holden would use Opel models, as well as Korean-made variants, to flesh out its range after the end of local manufacturing in 2017 has been raging for months.
In fact, the statement announcing Opel’s closure in Australia included this sentence: “Opel will now begin analysis together with Holden regarding the potential for future Holden-badged niche products.” However, suggestions the decision had already been made were dismissed as “pure speculation”.
Holden is confident these new rebadged models – which will arrive Down Under in the first half of 2015 – will succeed where Opel could not. During its short tenure here, Opel managed just 2605 sales.
“The difference this time is we have a strong Holden brand already and a big dealer network,” GM’s president of international operations, Stefan Jacoby, told Wheels.
Opel models will return to Australia in 2015, but will be rebadged as Holdens.
The announcement, made this morning at Fishermans Bend in Port Melbourne, reveals the first step in Holden’s plan for imported models ahead of the end of local manufacturing in 2017.
The Opel brand disappeared from the Australian market last year after a brief foray as a standalone brand, but Opel vehicles have previously been sold here as Holdens.
Three Opel models will be imported next year – the Cascada convertible, the Astra small car and Insignia medium-size sedan.
Both the Astra and Insignia will boast turbocharged VXR variants.
“These products will be niche vehicles, small-volume models for Holden, but they mark the first step in an exciting new chapter for future Holden products,” said GM president of international operations Stefan Jacoby.
“We are determined to offer Australian and New Zealand customers the best possible products that we can source from our global operations.”
Jacoby would not confirm any other future products, including the widely speculated Camaro or the Zafira SUV, but did say that all future imports will be tuned for Aussie conditions.
“I can reveal that Holden’s Lang Lang proving ground will stay open beyond 2017,” he said.
“As we plan for the future, it is important that we retain our unique Australian DNA and ensure all future products speak with an Australian accent.”
The move marks a backflip for Holden, which said it would close the facility in 2017, but it’s one that will be welcomed by a small group of Holden employees.
“This will save more than a handful of jobs,” Holden spokesperson George Svigos told Wheels.
Holden remained tight-lipped regarding prices of the new Opel products, but revealed that talks have already been held with HSV about the performance-focused VXR Astra and Insignia variants.
“Talks have taken place, but I don’t think these new products will tread on HSV’s toes,” said Svigos. “HSV makes its own products and has its own plans.”
Holden wouldn’t say if it has plans for other Opel models should the Cascada, Astra and Insignia find a market, but insisted Opel’s return is far from a PR stunt.
“This is not just a PR move,” said Jacoby.
“Over the last couple of months we’ve developed our strategy for Australia. But, of course, we don’t talk about future products.”
Australian car insurers have “blood on their hands” because many of them insist that smashed cars be fixed using cheaper, non-genuine parts and unauthorised repairers.
That’s the view of Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific, which today launched a scathing attack on insurance companies via outspoken corporate communications boss David McCarthy, who also gave state and federal governments a clip on the way through.
Benz believes car occupants and pedestrians alike suffer because of the practice, which it says is driven by insurers chasing increased margins on repairs.
“The reality is, the use of non-genuine parts and the way they are fitted is the greatest threat to road safety and road trauma that we as a community face,” McCarthy said.
“I know that is a big statement, but the fitment of non-genuine parts … by people who don’t know what they are doing means they are messing around with the technology in the car, they are messing around with the safety.
“Insurance companies in Australia – the overwhelming majority of them – are fitting parts to cars that are counterfeit, that are deficient and they are compromising the integrity of the safety.
“All they are interested in is repairing a car to look good; they are not repairing the car for the next accident.
“Quite frankly, they have blood on their hands.”
McCarthy would not name insurance companies involved in the practice, but on the flip side was prepared to nominate QBE – with which Mercedes-Benz offers its own insurance scheme – and the insurance arms of the state-based motoring bodies as supporters of using genuine parts.
Benz used the example of a bonnet for a current W212 E-Class, which ex-factory is made from aluminium and weighs 13.1kg. A steel imitation bought by the company weighed more than 28.2kg and would react differently in a pedestrian accident.
“The genuine bonnet is designed to deploy in the event of an impact,” McCarthy explained.
“There are sensors detecting all sorts of things, including when a person hits the front of the car … that bonnet is designed to deploy up in a particular way and at a particular speed, and absorb a lot of the impact of the head and protect the head from the hard parts as much as possible under the bonnet.
“You replace that with a steel bonnet that weighs twice as much, is it going to deploy at the same rate? We can guarantee it won’t. And is it designed to absorb the impact? No, it’s not.”
Benz is also certain non-genuine parts are not as well-made as factory parts and points out that extra weight adds to fuel consumption.
The genuine bonnet used as an example costs about $1300, the imitation about 50 per cent less. Benz estimates that’s the gap that generally applies between genuine to non-genuine parts, be it a bonnet, a guard, tail-light or other commonly replaced part.
McCarthy conceded that Benz was also acting to protect its investment in spare parts supply, and the 17 auto body repairers around Australia that are trained and authorised to work on the company’s products.
But he insisted safety was the company’s primary motivation for speaking out publicly.
“Yes, it is about protecting our business, but it is about protecting our customers,” he said.
“Think about your life, you think about your partner’s life, you think about your friend’s life, you think about a pedestrian. When you fit non-genuine parts in an environment that is not qualified, is not trained to fit those parts, you are playing Russian roulette and the insurance companies are loading the gun.
“They are messing around with your life and everyone else’s life to boost their bottom line.”
McCarthy said Benz had engaged in discussions with insurance companies, other car companies and state and federal governments about the issue.
“This is a serious public safety issue that is not being addressed by state or federal government.
“There are so many laws around what you can drive, when you can drive, how fast you can drive, who can drive, but there is no law about a car that is repaired.”
The Insurance Council of Australia refused to comment on Mercedes-Benz’s claims, saying in a statement: “Individual insurers have different business models for repairs and spare parts. You will need to contact individual insurers for their views.”
Australian motor sport legend Harry Firth died of cancer at Golf Links Palliative Care in Frankston on Saturday evening, eight days after his 96th birthday.
Firth was a champion driver of the 60s – winning Bathurst in 1963 (with Bob Jane) and 1967 (with Fred Gibson), its Phillip Island predecessor in 1961 and 1962 (with Jane), the 1964 Ampol Round Australia Trial (with Graham Hoinville) and the Australian Rally Championship in 1968.
But he was even better known as a team manager in the 70s, autocratically guiding the embryonic fortunes of both Ford and Holden in Australia, and was a mentor to emerging talents Colin Bond and Peter Brock.
After developing the Ford Cortina GT and the first Falcon GT, in which he won the ’67 Bathurst 500, Firth claimed he was sacked by Ford Australia in 1969 for being too old and defected to Holden – or at least the unofficial factory-backed Holden Dealer Team.
For most of the following decade, Firth and the HDT produced numerous championships and two more Bathurst wins (1969 and 1972) for Holden from his tiny workshop in the Melbourne suburb of Auburn, along with a now-iconic range of performance cars – the Monaro 350, Torana XU-1, Torana L34 and Torana A9X.
Firth earned his nickname of ‘The Fox’ for his wily ways and cunning interpretation of the technical rules, especially during the HDT years of 1969 to 1977.
But then the poacher turned gamekeeper, returning after a year off to become the sport’s national chief scrutineer until retiring for good at the end of 1981.
Firth was recognised for his contribution to motor sport with an Order of Australia Medal, an Australian Sports Medal and CAMS Membership of Honour, and in 2007 he was inducted into the V8 Supercars Hall Of Fame.
Missing the Mini Countryman’s mid-life makeover isn’t difficult given the minor scale of changes to the three-year-old compact crossover.
Set for a fourth-quarter debut in Australia, the facelift includes slightly more power, some refinement enhancements designed to make it a bit quieter, and a swathe of fresh colours, materials and trims to give it a stronger visual connection to the just-released F56 Mini hatch range.
The simplest way to spot the newcomer is the 2015 model’s redesigned grille, LED fog lights with daytime-running lamps, alloy wheels and chrome appliques on certain models.
Inside is an updated infotainment system dubbed Mini Connected and featuring improved data display and multi-media connectivity, while the company promises the ambience has been lifted to imbue a more premium look and feel.
As before, 1.6-litre engines abound, with incremental improvements in performance – the 140kW/240Nm turbo-petrol mainstay pumps out 5kW more than before – resulting in a 0-100km/h-sprint time of 7.5s, one-tenth faster than before, and a 3km/h top-speed gain (to 218km/h).
More impressively, the Euro combined consumption rating tumbles 10 percent to just 6.0L/100km. Smaller improvements also apply to the slightly more efficient and gutsier non-turbo and turbo-diesel 1.6s.
However, what’s missing is the most glaring aspect of the revamped Countryman range – the F56 hatch’s new-gen three-cylinder crackerjack powerplants that are clearly incompatible with the older Mini models.
Here is Mercedes’ tardy answer to the lardy X6, five years after BMW launched its ungainly, impractical fusion of coupe style and SUV platform.
According to Mercedes, the Concept Coupe SUV “illustrates the possibilities of a more sporty and dynamic ‘on-road line’ (of SUVs)”.
Aside from concept car touches such as 22-inch wheels, Stuttgart’s major reveal of the Beijing motor show (April 21-29) points to a near-ready production model, certain to be named MLC.
A single image of the concept was flashed on a video wall behind Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche as he addressed the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Berlin on 9 April, and released later the same day to media. Now, to coincide with the official reveal, there are full 360-degree exterior images.
They show a long (almost five metres), very wide (more than two metres) and not too tall (a little over 1.7 metres) shape that contains four seats behind its frameless doors.
The Concept Coupe SUV is powered by a twin-turbo 3.0-litre V6, hitched to a nine-speed automatic and 4matic all-wheel-drive system. In reality, the MLC will be offered with a wide range of spark-ignition and diesel drivetrains.
Petrol-electric plug-in and diesel-electric drivetrains are also possible.
As it will utilise the third-gen ML-Class platform, the MLC will be built in the same Tuscaloosa, USA, factory. Production begins next year.
BMW seems determined to create niches where none existed. The latest example is the X4, a sportier variation – but also less practical – based on the X3.
If you like, the new X4 is to the X3 what the X6 is to the X5. Just don’t mention the 3-Series Touring, which surely covers the same territory.
Despite the similarity in concept and price, BMW is heroically committed to covering every possible niche. The X4 therefore becomes Munich’s fifth dedicated SUV.
From the front, the X4 looks virtually identical to the X3, but in profile the changes are more obvious: a sloping roofline that ends abruptly in a tight tail with short overhang. Three separate swage lines crease the side panels, compared with the X3’s two.
Driver and passengers sit lower in the X4 than the X3, in part because the fastback roof cuts into headroom; without a low cushion, tall passengers would final headroom limited.
While BMW likes to think of the X4 as a coupe, it’s hardly that.
The wheelbase is identical to the X3’s and the roofline is 38mm lower, the sloping tail guaranteeing less cargo space than the X3.
In the US, the X4 is sold with the 2.0-litre N20 four-cylinder and 3.0-litre N55 six, both in turbocharged forms.
Australian cars, due in the third quarter, are expected to include at least one diesel variant at launch.
