ICYMI - Motoring Quick Bites

[Carbon82]

Starting this new thread to capture automotive news happening around the world, in case you miss it. Anyone can contribute to the thread by sharing news that you have come across.

Xiaomi’s Third Model Is A Full-Size EREV SUV That Could Launch In 2026

• Xiaomi isn’t willing to rest on its laurels and has started testing its third model, codenamed the N3.
• This new model will take the form of a large SUV designed to rival the Li Auto L9.
• The new SUV will look radically different than the brand’s other models.
• It’s unclear if the company will develop the powertrain in-house.
• Range-extender EVs are proving popular for those seeking maximum driving range.

 

Stellantis Boss Carlos Tavares Suddenly Resigns

• The first and only Stellantis CEO, Carlos Tavares, the 66-year-old executive, decided to step down, effective immediately.
• Weeks before stepping down, Tavares said struggling brands would have a couple of years to save themselves, either from extinction or from being sold off.
• The search process for a replacement is already “well underway,” which tells us that Stellantis isn’t all that surprised Tavares has called it quits.
• Until a successor is announced in the first half of 2025, the company will appoint a new interim executive committee chaired by John Elkann. He’s the Stellantis Chairman, Executive Director, and Ferrari Chairman.
• This is not the only significant change within Stellantis in recent months. Two months ago, Santo Ficili was named CEO of Maserati and Alfa Romeo, replacing Davide Grasso and Jean-Philippe Imparato, respectively.

 

Invasive Seaweed Could Be The Next Biofuel To Keep Gas Cars On The Road

• Forget hydrogen power or synthetic gasoline, fuel made from an invasive seaweed species could be key to our obsession with gas-powered cars
• A team of researchers on the Caribbean island of Barbados have been working to create a new sustainable fuel to power cars on the island. 
• Instead of using carbon capture or recycled cooking oil, the scientists have turned to an invasive species of seaweed that is taking over the island nations.
• The algae is combined with dung from a local farm and waste water from a rum distillery. Once that delicious-sounding cocktail is pumped into a fermenter, a gas is released that can then be used to power cars on the island.
• The team says any car can be converted to run on the gas via a simple and affordable four-hour installation process, using an easily available kit, at a total cost of around $2,500 (£1,940).

 

China EV global sales in Nov: Xiaomi 22,050, Xpeng 30,895, Geely 122,453, BYD 504,003

• In November, China’s EV market was mostly up, with Li Auto and Nio being exceptions. Xpeng grew by about 30%, Geely by 13%, Xiaomi by 6%, and BYD remained nearly flat, with a 0.7% rise compared with October.
• BYD sold 504,003 passenger NEVs, up 0.7% from 500,526 units the month before and up 67.2% from 301,378 in the previous year.
• Geely Auto got second spot with 122,453 sold NEVs, up 12.6% from 108,722 in October and 88.3% from 65,034 units the previous year. In 2024 (January – November), Geely Auto delivered 777,029 NEVs, up 82% from the same period last year.
• Changan got the third spot with 100,000 NEV sales, up 17.6% from 85,000 units in October. Data posted by Changan are most likely rounded, despite being it explicitly said by the company.
• Deepal achieved record-breaking sales of 36,026 units in November 2024, a 29.3% increase from 27,862 units in October and a 123.0% rise from 16,157 units in the same month last year.
• Volkswagen-backed Xpeng reported sales of 30,895 units in November 2024, up 29.2% from 23,917 units in October and 54.2% from 20,041 units a year earlier.

[Benarsenal]

SGCM should hire you to write their news section 

@kobayashiGT how? 

[ER-3682]

Car God ''Wan Shui''.

[SGCM928]

Welcome back 8559!

This type of thread is what a motoring forum should have. Hope to see more of your posts. Informative to say the least.

[kobayashiGT]

On 12/3/2024 at 1:52 AM, Benarsenal said:

SGCM should hire you to write their news section 

@kobayashiGT how? 

I will take him anytime man. hahahaha. 

[Carbon82]

Building Apple Products Has Become a Side Hustle for China’s Biggest EV Maker

• BYD has grown into a top iPad assembler and has put around 100,000 people to work for Tim Cook’s company
• BYD, known globally as Tesla’s most formidable EV competitor, has a second business manufacturing electronics.
• It has grown to assemble more than 30% of Apple’s tablets, according to industry executives and analysts.

 

GAC to launch EV brand with Huawei

• GAC Group is set to create an electric car marque in partnership with Huawei, as the demand grows for smart and connected vehicles in China, the world's largest vehicle market.
• The move is making GAC the fifth automaker to co-develop a brand with the Chinese technology giant. The other four companies are Seres, Chery, BAIC, and JAC. 
• All the four partnerships have seen the launch of at least one model.

 

 

[Carbon82]

Tesla to have a "SEXY" lineup, and now Hyundai is doing a 69. Since when motoring become sexist? (Err motor show and F1 excluded)

Hyundai Made a '69' Joke. Nice?

In  a post published on Meta’s Threads social media platform that rivals Elon Musk’s X, Hyundai says it "skipped Ioniq 7 and 8 so we could go from Ioniq 6 to 9. Nice." 

"Intern fail," "This is humor from that guy who runs the other thing. Yuck," "Please limit your competition with Elon to your cars and not your brain rot sense of humor," and "Someone got a new social media content college intern."

The decision to change the name wasn't just to have the Ioniq 6 and 9 next to each other in the lineup. A more logical explanation is that Hyundai wants to launch an Ioniq 7 and/or Ioniq 8 that would be positioned between the three-row SUV and the Ioniq 6 sedan. Had they kept the original plan, Hyundai wouldn't have been able to introduce one or two more cars smaller than the 9 but bigger than the 6.

 

[Tohto]

On 12/3/2024 at 8:08 AM, SGCM928 said:

Welcome back 8559!

This type of thread is what a motoring forum should have. Hope to see more of your posts. Informative to say the least.

Wah say, Asiaone forum nick also come out .. 😂

[Carbon82]

@Tohto seems like I still have some stalkers followers from the Asiaone days...

 

I hope the Soul Red option will be available to more Toyota (and Lexus) model soon... Yes I love Soul Red ♥️ but hor Toyota is still very uncle to me.

Mazda Got Toyota’s Hybrid System, Now Toyota Gets Mazda’s Legendary ‘Soul Red’ Paint

• For years now, Mazda has partnered with Toyota, and the latest development on the Mazda side of that partnership is the use of Toyota’s hybrid system in the CX-50 crossover
• It’d only be fair for Toyota to borrow one of Mazda’s. No, it’s not the entire MX-5, but it is something important to Mazda’s brand identity.
• Soul Red Crystal is exclusive to the Corolla Cross model in the Toyota lineup. On the Corolla Cross Hybrid SE, XSE, and Nightshade models, Soul Red Crystal can be paired with a Jet Black Roof for a stylish two-tone combination.

[Carbon82]

Many news about EVs, mostly in favor of the Chinese... Let see if Trump can change the trends

This Chinese tech giant sold more EVs than Toyota, and it just launched 6 months ago

• Chinese automakers are emerging as a true threat in the global EV market as they expand overseas for growth. For the first time, half of the top ten global EV sales leaders were from China.
• Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi made its impressive debut, selling more EVs than even Toyota last quarter. And that’s after it launched its first vehicle just six months ago.
• Xiaomi launched its first EV, the SU7, on March 28, 2024. In just six months, it has already outsold many global automakers, including Toyota.
• No Japanese brands made the top 20 as some of the biggest laggards in the shift to electric. 

[Jamesc]

On 12/3/2024 at 10:09 PM, Carbon82 said:

Building Apple Products Has Become a Side Hustle for China’s Biggest EV Maker

GAC to launch EV brand with Huawei

So GAC can also make Huawei tablets?

Edited December 7, 2024 by Jamesc

[Carbon82]

Triple car crash test. Chinese car makers are really getting creative in marketing their car.

See What Happens When Two Cars Hit A Chinese EV At 60KM/H In Triple Crash Test

• Chery’s crash test used three real electric cars to simulate a U-turn accident scenario.
• The EV was hit by two other vehicles traveling at 60 km/h (37 mph) from opposite directions.
• The passenger compartment and battery pack withstood the forces from the dual impact.

The Exeed Sterra ES, first launched in 2023, shares its platform with the Huawei-backed Luxeed S7. It’s part of a growing list of contenders in the electric sedan market, all aiming to dethrone the Tesla Model 3. It comes with both RWD and AWD configurations, promising an impressive driving range of up to 905 km of range on a full charge, thanks to its large 97.7 kWh battery pack.

[Carbon82]

This take the term 'BNIB' to the next level  

For peasant...

For the ultra rich...

 

Bugatti’s New Garage Is The Ultimate Place To Park Your Hypercar

• Fahrengold has introduced the Bugatti Edition FG-01 Garage, which is designed to store and showcase hypercars.
• It‘s a climate controlled box with a power door, fancy lights, and leather-wrapped cupboards.
• The garage takes eight days to install and has a climate control system as well as security features.

[Carbon82]

Interesting concept. Can our MRT system have the same setup?

Electric cars in Barcelona are now being charged every time subway trains 200 feet beneath them hit the brakes

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The Barcelona subway grinds to a halt, the doors slide open and commuters pour out to go about their daily business.

Little do they know that as they do so, a burst of energy is sent up to street level to help charge an electric car.

Barcelona has put together a package of clean energy technologies to help public transportation go greener, while also doing its part to combat climate change and aid Europe’s difficult shift to the privately owned electric vehicle market.

Sixteen stations of Barcelona’s subway system are part of its new MetroCharge project, whereby the energy from the underground trains’ brakes is used to power the trains and the stations themselves, while the remainder is sent snaking through cables to the surface to power plug-in stations for privately owned vehicles.

Bernardo Espinoza, a 49-year-old engineer, commutes daily by subway. He also owns a hybrid car and had just found out that he had a new place to plug in.

“I am pleasantly surprised, because I have an electric car and am always looking for where to plug it in,” Espinoza said before catching the subway in a working-class area of southern Barcelona. “And if it is from energy from the metro’s brakes, then even better.”

Regenerative brakes have been in trains for decades and are also used in some cars. They consist of an electric motor which captures energy used in the braking action that would be lost as heat by conventional brakes. That energy can be immediately used to accelerate the vehicle or, in the case of the Barcelona subway system, sent along cables to supply electricity for the station or for electric car chargers.

Alvaro Luna, professor of electrical engineering at the Polytechnical University of Catalonia, said that the system is innovative in so far as it allows for recycled energy to be redirected to specific local uses — in this case powering electric cars parked nearby. That, he says, boosts efficiency.

“Since the recharging stations are installed nearby, the energy, instead of being put back into the general electric network, goes directly to the charging stations, and that allows the provider to potentially offer lower prices,” Luna said. “We can say that the innovation is one of urban planning, of being able to bring together energy uses within a city.”

[Carbon82]

A WTF moment, all Honda fanboys would be very proud of this project for sure...

This Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo Gets A Civic Type R Engine Swap

• The Huracan has been overhauled to compete in a class dominated by Hondas and Toyotas.
• The modified Honda K20C engine in the Lamborghini produces 350 hp and 500 Nm of torque.
• The boosted Honda K20C four-cylinder has been paired with the Huracan race car’s six-speed sequential transmission
•  

A racing team in Thailand has built what could be the world’s first Honda-powered Lamborghini, and it’s being prepped to compete in a 25-hour endurance race next year. While the idea of ditching an Italian V10 engine for a small-capacity mill with VTEC sounds like blasphemy, the team has a good reason for making the change.

As per local regulations, it would not have been able to compete in the endurance race in standard Huracan Super Trofeo Evo guise, complete with a naturally-aspirated V10 powerplant. So, PSC Motorsport has replaced the Lambo’s engine with the same 2.0-liter turbocharged K20C four-cylinder you’ll find in an FK8 Honda Civic Type R.

[kobayashiGT]

On 12/27/2024 at 8:38 AM, Carbon82 said:

A WTF moment, all Honda fanboys would be very proud of this project for sure...

This Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo Gets A Civic Type R Engine Swap

• The Huracan has been overhauled to compete in a class dominated by Hondas and Toyotas.
• The modified Honda K20C engine in the Lamborghini produces 350 hp and 500 Nm of torque.
• The boosted Honda K20C four-cylinder has been paired with the Huracan race car’s six-speed sequential transmission
•  

A racing team in Thailand has built what could be the world’s first Honda-powered Lamborghini, and it’s being prepped to compete in a 25-hour endurance race next year. While the idea of ditching an Italian V10 engine for a small-capacity mill with VTEC sounds like blasphemy, the team has a good reason for making the change.

As per local regulations, it would not have been able to compete in the endurance race in standard Huracan Super Trofeo Evo guise, complete with a naturally-aspirated V10 powerplant. So, PSC Motorsport has replaced the Lambo’s engine with the same 2.0-liter turbocharged K20C four-cylinder you’ll find in an FK8 Honda Civic Type R.

will it be underpowered? 

[inlinesix]

https://paultan.org/2024/12/27/2025-mazda-mx-5-35th-anniversary-edition-debuts-in-japan/
2025 Mazda MX-5 35th Anniversary Edition in Japan – 1,000 units; special design touches

 

[kobayashiGT]

On 12/27/2024 at 10:11 AM, inlinesix said:

https://paultan.org/2024/12/27/2025-mazda-mx-5-35th-anniversary-edition-debuts-in-japan/
2025 Mazda MX-5 35th Anniversary Edition in Japan – 1,000 units; special design touches

 

The softtop is made of Alcantara?