BMW Group Plant Spartanburg doubles battery production capacity
BMW Group Plant Spartanburg in the US state of South Carolina has doubled its capacity for production of high-voltage batteries. The plant’s own battery facility now produces the new fourth-generation batteries. These are intended for the plug-in hybrid models of the new BMW X5 and the future BMW X3, also produced in Spartanburg.
Michael Nikolaides, Senior Vice President Engines and Electrified Drivetrains, BMW Group state that the BMW Group have invested around ten million US dollars in a new battery assembly line and expanded the area to more than 8,000 square metres. This means BMW Group could double the number of batteries produced if needed to meet market request.
Assembly Line
The new-fangled assembly line will be able to produce different types of fourth-generation batteries to serve the growing range of electrified vehicles locally. These batteries are based on a new technology concept that further enhances their performance.
More than 120 people will be employed in battery production at Plant Spartanburg by the end of 2019, having completed a comprehensive training programme to acquire the technological know-how needed for battery production.
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Knudt Flor, President and CEO, BMW Manufacturing, Co., LLC state that his outfit has produced batteries on site at Plant Spartanburg since 2015, making the BMW Group a pioneer for electromobility in the United States of America. In the past four years, the plant’s battery assembly team has produced a total of more than 45,000 batteries.
Between 2015 and 2018, BMW Group Plant Spartanburg built the first series produced plug-in hybrid vehicle, the BMW X5 xDrive40e (combined fuel consumption: 3,3 l/100km; combined power consumption: 15,3 kWh/100km ; combined CO2-emission: 77 g/km), for the core BMW brand.
The start of production for the new BMW X5 xDrive45e (combined fuel consumption: 2,0-1,7 l/100km; combined power consumption: 23,5-20,3 kWh/100km; combined CO2-emission: 47-39 g/km) will be in August 2019; production of the BMW X3 xDrive30e (combined fuel consumption: from 2,4 l/100 km; combined power consumption: from 22,7 kWh/100 km; combined CO2-emission: from 56 g/km; provisional figures) will get underway in December.
Knudt Flor added that the BMW X5 and BMW X3 are currently among the top-selling BMW models in the US. We expect their plug-in hybrid variants to be just as popular with customers.
Alfa Romeo Tonale concept wins Auto Express’ Readers’ Choice Design 2019 – The Alfa Romeo Tonale concept has been honoured with the Readers’ Choice Design Award at this year’s influential Auto Express Awards, just days after it wowed the crowds with its United Kingdom unveiling at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Alfa Romeo Tonale was unveiled to the public at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2019.
Auto Express readers voted it the best piece of automotive design over the past year, making the accolade extra special for the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles design team Centro Stile in Turin, Italy.
“It shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that Alfa Romeo has topped our design poll. After all, the brand has more than 100 years’ experience in creating some of the world’s most beautiful cars. The Tonale is surely among Alfa’s greatest hits, and we can’t wait to see how the concept evolves into a production model.”
– Steve Fowler, editor-in-chief of Auto Express
“The Tonale is an incredibly important concept car for Alfa Romeo as it marks the first plug-in hybrid in the range and it needed to be both functional and beautiful.”
– Scott Krugger, head of Design, Alfa Romeo
Scott further added that; it is a huge honour to collect an award voted for by the readers of Auto Express. Having real car enthusiasts vote for the Tonale is fantastic, the whole design team is thrilled that it has made such an impact already.
Hyundai Motor receives two Automotive INNOVATIONS awards for most innovative brand
Hyundai Motor receives two Automotive INNOVATIONS awards for most innovative brand – Hyundai has received two further major awards for the future-oriented direction of its drive technologies. Hyundai Motor was honored for the first time as ‘Most Innovative Volume Brand’ and ‘Most Innovative Volume Brand – Alternative Drives’ at the 2019 Automotive INNOVATIONS Awards evening by the Center of Automotive Management (CAM) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Jurgen Keller, Managing Director of Hyundai Motor Germany, accepted the prizes at the 2019 Automotive INNOVATIONS Awards festive gala event in the Sky Lobby on the 48th floor of the PwC company headquarters.
“Hyundai has been committed to sustainability for a long time. The company’s words were followed by deeds that resulted in numerous innovations. Hyundai is currently the only manufacturer in the world to offer all major alternative drive forms in its series production: full-electric, hybrid, 48-volt mild hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and fuel cell.”
-Jurgen Keller, Managing Director, Hyundai Motor Germany
Kona Electric – the electric car with the highest range in the small SUV segment
The innovations in alternative drive systems earned Hyundai Motor success in the ‘Most Innovative Volume Brand’ category, which the automobile manufacturer completed with a total of 43 index points ahead of Ford and Volkswagen.
“One of the reasons for this is the particularly high proportion of innovations (almost 18 per cent) that can be attributed to alternative drive systems,” – Jury’s statement.
These include, for example, the Hyundai Kona Electric, the most wide-ranging battery electric vehicle in the small SUV segment.
NEXO impresses with higher efficiency
The jury also considers the Hyundai NEXO to be one of the most important innovators: “In addition to its fuel cell drive, it features a Blind Spot View Monitor, the Highway Driving Assist function and the Remote Parking function, which enables a vehicle to be parked fully automatically for the first time in this segment.”
Hyundai Kona Electric and NEXO also play a decisive role in the presentation of the ‘Most Innovative Volume Brand – Alternative Drives’ award. With the new NEXO, Hyundai is already offering the second generation Fuel Cell vehicle after the 2013 released ix35 Fuel Cell, which is the world’s first series-produced fuel cell automobile. The range of 666 kilometres (according to WLTP standard) also played an important role, making the Hyundai NEXO the ideal alternative drive option for long distances.
CAM database as basis for innovation study The awards are based on a study among car manufacturers and suppliers, and on the CAM database of the independent scientific institute for empirical automotive and mobility research Center of Automotive Management in Bergisch-Gladbach, which is headed by the well-known automobile expert Prof. Dr. Stefan Bratzel.
The most outstanding innovations of the year within the automotive industry are determined based on this data.
BENTLEY CELEBRATES ITS CENTENARY WITH BENTLEY EXP 100 GT – Bentley Motors celebrates its 100th birthday today by unveiling its vision of the future of luxury mobility at The Home of Bentley in Crewe, England. The Bentley EXP 100 GT is a physical embodiment of the future Bentley brand, reimagining Grand Touring for the future.
Beyond mere mobility, the Bentley EXP 100 GT concept car will enhance the owner’s Grand Touring experience, whether driving or being driven autonomously.
Bentley EXP 100 GT
Bentley EXP 100 GT is borne from pure Bentley DNA and inspired by the company’s deep understanding of the desires of its intelligent, forward-thinking customers. Beautifully styled, it embraces Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a means to reassert the vehicle as a place for creating, experiencing and capturing extraordinary human experiences and emotions.
Designed from the inside out and taking advantage of an all-electric platform, Bentley EXP 100 GT reimagines the Grand Tourer for the world of 2035. This is a world of shared luxury experiences where passenger and driver enjoy equal status in their enjoyment of their extraordinary journeys.
The cars’ presence and impressive exterior proportions are reminiscent of many of Bentley’s historic Grand Tourers but take these luxury hallmarks into the future. The result is a future vision commensurate with Bentley’s status as the world’s most sought after luxury brand.
The meticulously sculpted cabin is luxuriously tactile, helping to create a harmonious environment designed around the well-being of its passengers. This is seamlessly integrated with the unique AI, known as the Bentley Personal Assistant, which helps the car’s occupants enhance and curate their Grand Tour experiences.
Sustainable innovation is also at the heart of the Bentley EXP 100 GT experience. The car is engineered to create a greater awareness of the world outside, with an intelligently-curated collection of materials including 5,000 year old Copper Infused Riverwood; Compass exterior paint made from recycled rice husks; 100% organic leather-like textile from wine making; British Farmed Wool carpets and embroidered cotton interior surfaces which all create sustainable future luxury, adding to the enhanced reality of the grand touring car of the future.
“Today, on our Centenary, we demonstrate our vision of the future of our Marque, with the Bentley EXP 100 GT – a modern and definitive Grand Tourer designed to demonstrate that the future of luxury mobility is as inspirational and aspirational as the last 100 years. Bentley has, and will continue to enhance and enrich every single journey and the lives of every single person who travels in, or has the honour to be a part of creating our extraordinary products.”
– Adrian Hallmark, Bentley Chairman and CEO
“The Bentley EXP 100 GT represents the kind of cars we want to make in the future. Like those iconic Bentleys of the past, this car connects with its passengers’ emotions and helps them experience and safeguard the memories of the really extraordinary journeys they take.”
–Stefan Sielaff, Director of Design
An inspiring blend of performance, technology and craftmanship, the Bentley EXP 100 GT is a beautiful, immersive and emotionally intelligent experience.
The Bentley EXP 100 GT redefines the vehicle as a space for extraordinary and emotional human experiences, ones that enrich and inspire. Bentley Motor’s vision imagines the journeys of the future, drawing on 100 years of expertise in luxury design and craftmanship that are currently being celebrated around the world in the company’s Centenary year.
The Bentley EXP 100 GT’s sleek and muscular exterior explores the brand’s future design direction. It integrates the company’s unmistakable DNA, remaining instantly recognizable as a Bentley. The famous R-Type Continental haunch at the rear, the round headlights that overlap the grille in a nod to the famous Bentley Blower and a long graceful body hint at famous models of yesteryear.
However, this Bentley journeys into the future. Made from lightweight aluminium and carbon fibre, the Bentley EXP 100 GT measures 5.8 metres long and almost 2.4 metres wide, and makes a statement of true luxury. This is further enhanced by decorative features crafted from copper and aluminium, both natural sustainable materials, which evoke founder W.O Bentley’s choice of materials to create the alloy for his famous BR1 Aero engine piston that played a major role in securing the air theatre in World War 1.
The driver and passenger doors are two metres wide and pivot outwards and upwards for effortless access. Fully open, they rise to almost three metres, adding to the sense of occasion on arrival.
The new exterior paint colour Compass is created using a special Colourstream pigment that reflects a beautiful spectrum of autumnal colours and is both sustainable and environmentally friendly. The pigment is synthetically made using rice husk ash, a harmful bi-product of the rice industry, remanufactured for the Bentley EXP 100 GT to reduce the amount that ends up in landfill waste.
The Bentley EXP 100 GT’s expressive exterior lighting is both dynamic and dramatic. A focal point is the smart, illuminated matrix grille and Flying B mascot which come to life as one approaches the car, light playing across the grille, through the mascot and along the bonnet central spine of the car and into the cabin itself. The car literally comes alive.
At the rear, a ‘horseshoe’ section of the boot is a 3D OLED screen on which lighting effects can blend in with the rear lamps.
Inside a luxurious cockpit, Bentley craftspeople have taken handcraftsmanship of materials to an as yet unseen level, setting the new benchmark for luxury interiors.
The finest natural materials such as wood, leather and glass are seamlessly blended with light, creating a unique interior environment that boosts the physical and mental well-being of passengers.
A physical embodiment of the future Bentley brand, it sets the benchmark for sustainable luxury mobility that is autonomous and electric.
Cadillac V-Series teases future at the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix today with a sneak peek of its two prototypes that’s taken to the track. Drivers Mark Reuss, president of General Motors, and Ken Morris, vice president of Product, drove the prototypes, which represent the next step in Cadillac’s V-Series performance legacy.
The Cadillac V series is a line of high-performance automobiles tuned by the General Motors Performance Division for the Cadillac division of General Motors. Models in the V series include the CTS-V coupe, sedan and wagon. Cadillac reportedly has no plans to produce V-series versions of its SUVs, the Escalade, XT5 and XT4.
Most V-series Cadillacs feature high-performance V8 engines mated to manual six-speed transmissions or automatic transmissions in the STS-V, XLR-V ATS-V and 2009+CTS-V, top-of-the-line Brembo brakes and revised suspension systems, revised interiors and special V-series bodywork which is intended to improve vehicle performance as well as differentiate them from their normal production counterparts.
Chevrolet’s industry-first Buckle to Drive feature is available when the vehicle is in Teen Driver mode.
CHEVROLET’S INDUSTRY-FIRST BUCKLE TO DRIVE FEATURE REMINDS TEEN DRIVERS TO BUCKLE UP – Chevrolet introduced an industry-first Buckle to Drive feature that can help remind young drivers to buckle up before driving. Buckle to Drive is regular in the 2020 Chevrolet Traverse, and when active can stop the driver from shifting the automobile out of park if the driver’s seat belt is not buckled.
Buckling your seat belt is the number one act drivers can take to safeguard themselves in a crash, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Unfortunately, teens have among the lowermost rates of seat belt use. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the majority of teenagers involved in deadly crashes are unbuckled (CDC).
“BUCKLE TO DRIVE IS CHEVROLET’S LATEST FEATURE DESIGNED TO ENCOURAGE YOUNG DRIVERS TO DEVELOP SAFE DRIVING HABITS RIGHT FROM THE START, BUCKLE TO DRIVE IS EMBEDDED IN CHEVROLET’S TEEN DRIVER SYSTEM AND IS AIMED AT HELPING REMIND TEENS TO BUCKLE UP EVERY TIME THEY GET BEHIND THE WHEEL.”
TRICIA MORROW, CHEVROLET SAFETY ENGINEER
Because Chevrolet is concerned about the risks of not buckling up, it has conducted extensive research in the area. The Buckle to Drive feature in Chevrolet’s Teen Driver system was based on a recent internal pilot study of a similar feature that Chevrolet offered to select fleet customers.
In fact, a study conducted by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety found that the feature increased the seat belt use of adults who occasionally use a seat belt by 16 percent compared to the standard audible chime seat belt reminder in a similar Chevrolet vehicle.
“SAFETY IS OUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY AT CHEVROLET, I COME TO WORK EVERY DAY WITH MY CHILDREN IN MIND BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN THEIR SAFETY. MY HOPE IS THAT BUCKLE TO DRIVE WILL HELP GUIDE MORE YOUNG DRIVERS TO WEAR THEIR SEAT BELTS AND ENCOURAGE POSITIVE CONVERSATIONS AMONG TEENS, THEIR PEERS AND PARENTS.”
MORROW, THE MOTHER OF A TEEN DRIVER
How Buckle to Drive Works:
The Buckle to Drive feature is available only when the vehicle is in Teen Driver mode.
If the vehicle is on and the driver’s seat belt is not buckled, the feature is designed to not allow the driver to shift out of park for up to 20 seconds. When the brake pedal is pressed, the driver will hear an audible alert and see a message in the driver information center that reads “Buckle seat belt to shift.”
Chevrolet’s Teen Driver system with the Buckle to Drive feature will be standard on the 2020 Chevrolet Traverse, Malibu and Colorado, all arriving this summer.
Chevrolet’s industry-first Buckle to Drive feature is available when the vehicle is in Teen Driver mode.Chevrolet’s industry-first Buckle to DriveChevrolet’s industry-first Buckle to Drive feature is available when the vehicle is in Teen Driver mode.Chevrolet’s industry-first Buckle to Drive
Seat Belt Fast Facts:
Using your seat belt is the number one thing you can do to protect yourself in a crash. NHTSA Compared with other age groups, teens have among the lowest rates of seat belt use. CDC
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens. CDC
In 2016, 2,433 teens in the United States ages 16-19 were killed and 292,742 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor vehicle crashes.CDC In 2017 alone, seat belts saved an estimated 14,955 lives. NHTSA
Of the 37,133 people killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2017, 47 percent were not wearing seat belts. NHTSA
About Chevy’s Teen Driver:
Teen Driver offers an industry-first in-vehicle report card that that helps encourage safe driving habits and provides a way for parents and teens to discuss safe driving practices.
Parents can view how their teen drove the vehicle. The report card tracks:
Distance driven, maximum speed traveled, over-speed warnings issued, wide-open throttle events and the number of times other safety systems were activated, including stability control, traction control and antilock braking.
To use Teen Driver mode, a parent can enable the feature by creating a PIN in the Settings menu that allows them to register their teen’s key fob. The Teen Driver settings are turned on only when a registered key fob is used to start the vehicle.
When active, Teen Driver automatically mutes the radio until driver and front passenger seat belts are fastened. The radio system’s maximum volume can also be set to a lower level.
If the vehicle is equipped with certain active safety features like Forward Collision Alert*, they are automatically turned on.
Parents can select a speed warning (between 40-75 mph) that if exceeded activates a visual warning and audible chime.
Parents can choose to limit the maximum speed of the vehicle to 85 mph.
Teen Driver mode in the 2020 Chevrolet Traverse, Malibu and Colorado will include the new, industry-first Buckle to Drive feature.
