I’m still bullish on Byton, but with caution about the direction the company is taking. Although similar to the original target of delivering autonomous electric vehicles (EV) globally, the last round of investments gives more food for thought.
The 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show, IAA (Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung), was a strange and different experience compared to the last time I was there. The road trip in itself was a +1000 mile long and very satisfying experience in my Tesla Model 3, which I will dedicate another post to cover. In the following article, though, I will try to put into words the puzzling buzz of change in the realm of passenger cars from a consumer perspective.
New battery technology is allowing BMW to perk up the performance of two of its plug-in hybrid vehicles, the X5 xDrive45e and the MINI S E Countryman All4. Both will be on display at the Frankfurt auto show this month.
A new report from PA Consulting with the title How Long Is The Road To Driverless Vehicles? Assessing how close the Nordics are to autonomous vehicles explores what roadblocks lie ahead before the world embraces driverless and fully autonomous vehicles that provide Mobility as a Service (MaaS) to us humans.
At the International Motor Show in Frankfurt, we saw Mercedes, Volkswagen, and BMW all show some electric concepts. And most of them are really far-future concepts, the kind you find at auto shows but that never see the light of day. Here are some highlights:
Audi brought two autonomous concepts to Frankfurt — the Elaine, with Level 4 autonomy, and the Aicon, with full Level 5 autonomy. When the future arrives, Audi will be ready.
More or less, this story could be about Daimler, BMW, Ford, GM, Toyota, Honda, or any other major automaker. In fact, while this article was in the works, a couple of Daimler execs came out and admitted a couple of the core challenges in a rather direct way. Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne did the same a year and a half ago in his own dramatic style. But the complexity of the story means that it’s not a black and white issue and it also goes far beyond the statements referenced above.
Volkswagen has an updated version of its I.D. Crozz electric crossover concept on display at the 2017 Frankfurt auto show. It appears more production ready than the version introduced in Shanghai in the spring.
Volkswagen Group isn’t fooling around any longer, in my opinion. There’s plenty of room to remain cynical, but Volkswagen Group indicated yesterday that it is putting genuine skin in the game — big time.
Before I discuss the announcements further, let’s go through a quick thought exercise.
All signs point to a changing of the winds in Germany with regards to plug-in vehicles. Emissions scandal after emissions scandal have raked the confidence of the public in the German auto industry and many have started to take action. Sales number from August show that nearly 2% (1.88% to be exact) of new vehicle sales in Germany were plug-in vehicles, with fully electric vehicles up +137%. That’s a higher percentage share of new vehicle sales than in the United States.
