Automotive News - June 17, 2019 - 29

JUNE 17, 2019 * 29

BMW

Technology gives a lift
to education campaign
continued from Page 8

power more attractive, the Dutch government
slashed incentives on plug-in hybrids. That
caused local sales of the vehicles to plummet
from 40,000 in 2015 to just 1,150 two years later.
Meanwhile, full-electric sales rose rapidly because those vehicles still qualified for larger
government subsidies. Last year European consumers bought more EVs than plug-in hybrids
for the first time.

'Used the right way'
"The image of plug-in hybrids hasn't been that
great in the past," a BMW insider said. "It benefits us if we can find out how to change that, how
to prove they can be used the right way."
BMW is tackling the education campaign with
the help of technology. The vehicles in the Rot-

'What's this cost-down
thing every year?'
continued from Page 3

need as it transitions to electrified and autonomous vehicles."
The annual survey looks at the supplier relations of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Nissan and Toyota. Most
automaker-supplier ties improved slightly in
this year's report, Andrea said.

Toyota, Honda lead
Toyota and Honda again ranked highest, while
FCA tumbled for the sixth straight year, falling to
last. Nissan ended a four-year decline, posting

New platform
to underpin EVs
continued from Page 6

Some of those vehicles, such as the
electric C-HR subcompact crossover
going on sale next year in China, will
be battery-powered versions of existing nameplates.
But Toyota plans a host of other
EVs that will ride on a newly developed dedicated EV platform called
e-TNGA, a play on the company's
Toyota New Global Architecture
modular platform that the carmaker
has been rolling out in recent years.
The new EV platform will be able to
accommodate everything from a
three-row SUV or a sporty sedan to a
small crossover or a boxy compact,
Humphries said.
"We're making a new platform for
the car and trying to make a new expe-

NISSAN

Power gains from
the existing setup
continued from Page 6

platform Nissan promises will deliver more exhilarating driving dynamics.
"Historically, being green or lean
was a trade-off with performance,"
said Motohiro Matsumura, COO of
Nissan's Nismo tuner and motorsports subbrand. "But it's totally different in the case of EVs. It's possible
to enhance both the green-friendly
side and the performance."

WOODHOUSE

Design challenge: Add
technology, stay fresh
continued from Page 4

The arrival of Woodhouse, 50, comes as Albaisa increasingly puts his own stamp on
Nissan's global lineup.
Albaisa took the wheel in 2017 following
the 18-year reign of styling legend Shiro Nakamura. As part of the shake-up following
Nakamura's retirement, Nissan is looking
outside.
Karim Habib, the former global design boss
at BMW, was snatched to lead design at Infiniti and inject European flair into the
marque. Woodhouse, though British, brings
an infusion of American sensibilities from
Ford.
Albaisa will lean on both as he develops
next-generation design languages for the
brands.

Staying true to DNA

SUPPLIERS

TOYOTA

terdam pilot have linked their dual powertrain
to the vehicle's GPS system. As soon as the transponder recognizes the vehicle has entered a
predefined area, such as the city center, it asks
the driver to switch to electric-only propulsion.
Figuring out how to reduce CO2 emissions is
a challenge for automakers across Europe, and
BMW is eager to move the needle. As Europe
pushes for emission improvements, BMW's average level was flat last year. And the automaker
expects just a slight improvement this year as
sales continue to decline for diesels, which emit
less CO2 than gasoline-powered models.
That leaves BMW just two years to bring its average CO2 down to regulated levels or face costly EU penalties.
In March, BMW CEO Harald Krüger called 2019
"our year of the plug-in hybrid," as the automaker
prepares to add models such as the X5 xDrive45e,
which has an electric-only range of 50 miles before switching to its inline-six gasoline engine.
Plug-in hybrid technology, Krüger said, "offers
a pragmatic approach that goes a long way toward improving air quality in cities quickly." m
the biggest improvement of the six automakers,
but still ranking second from the bottom.
FCA issued a statement saying: "We are not at
all satisfied with where we are. This feedback
will help us make the kind of transformational
changes we've embarked on as a business."
The company said it will use internal surveys
and meetings with suppliers to help improve.
Daron Gifford, Plante Moran's automotive industry consulting leader, said automakers are
learning how to work with suppliers that are
new to the industry, including producers of
software, cyberware products and artificial intelligence-based systems.
He added, "The new suppliers coming in are
kind of like, 'What's this cost-down thing every
year? Nah, we don't do that.' They're struggling
with terms and conditions and intellectual property and who gets what on this whole thing." m

Mass-market Nissan and upscale Infiniti
must address common trends while carving
out distinct spaces. The challenge is incorporating a rush of new technology - everything from electrification, autonomous driving and connectivity - while keeping things
fresh for several years.
At Infiniti, the new look is previewed in the
Q Inspiration concept sedan shown at the
Shanghai auto show in April. It embodies
electrification partly by dumping the front
grille.
At Nissan, the future is foreshadowed by
the IMQ crossover concept shown a month
earlier in Geneva. It envisions a package for
the company's e-Power range-extender hybrid setup.
Getting a look that resonates with the U.S.
consumer is key, but Albaisa also wants to

rience for the people who buy it," driving are largely based in the corHumphries said. "This gives you a ners. So, the corner is going to be the
good idea of the platform's capability."
next radiator. What we're trying to do is
Toyota's new EV platform will bring build emphasis on the corner, build in
a lot of changes to the look and feel sensors for the future."
of upcoming vehicles.
The hoods of the upcomIn the front, Toyota ditching EVs will likely be a lot
smaller than the hoods on
es the grille and turns to
today's gasoline vehicles,
creative slits to ventilate
Humphries added.
the electric motor.
That's because the front
Toyota's styling today,
motor compartments are
called "under priority," ussmaller and because there
es a big, low grille for a
will be less reason for wide,
more planted look.
Humphries: Find
easy access to all their
The new face, called the
"next big thing"
nooks and crannies.
"interlock grille," tries to
Cameras, meanwhile, will do away
mesh the upper and lower elements.
with traditional sideview mirrors. They
will be slimmed down to winglets or
Corners and cameras
The styling focus of the front end will mounted in out-of-the-way places,
such as the top of the A-pillars.
turn from the radiator to the corners.
Such high placement will provide a
"You've got to anticipate the next
big thing that's going to change the more expansive camera view.
Headlights also will be reduced to
face," Humphries said.
"A lot of it is going to fall to sensors," slits and maybe incorporated into
he said. "The sensors for autonomous the hood.
The Leaf Nismo RC, unveiled in
November, isn't for sale. It's a pure
marketing ploy; only six exist worldwide. But other Nismo entries are actually landing in people's hands - at
least in Japan.
They include the Nissan Leaf Nismo, a tuned-up, sportier version of
the standard Leaf, which went on
sale here last summer, and the Note
e-Power Nismo and Note e-Power
Nismo S.
The Nismo Note e-Power S wrings
25 percent more power and torque
from the e-Power range-extender
hybrid setup in the brand's standard
Note e-Power Nismo.
For now, these electrified Nismo

offerings are restricted to Japan. But
Nissan spokesman Dan Passe says
the company is looking at how they
might be offered in the U.S. or elsewhere overseas.
In Japan, Nissan has sold only
6,800 Note e-Power Nismos and just
1,800 Leaf Nismos.

Sportier EVs
Matsumura said the Leaf Nismo
RC offers a taste of sportier EVs to
come. For starters, part of the development focused on ways to deliver
more power from the regular Leaf's
existing battery and motor setup. Engineers did so by tweaking power
control management, he said.

keep the direction firmly rooted in Nissan's
heritage as a Japanese carmaker.
"What I can say is that our design themes
will continue to be inspired by and connect
to our Japanese DNA," he said. "I am eager
to watch David start to immerse himself in
our Japanese DNA and see how this inspires him and influences his views on design."

Falling sales
U.S. sales of the Nissan and Infiniti brands
slumped in 2018 as the company tried to
overhaul its retail strategy by reeling in incentives and cutting back on fleet sales. The
Nissan Group's sales fell an additional 6.6
percent through May in an overall market
down just 2.4 percent.
The Nissan brand's long-in-the-tooth U.S.
lineup is poised for an update, and a new design language that captures the technology
trends of tomorrow could help.
The company expects to freshen 70 percent
of its lineup in the next few years.
Woodhouse will report directly to Albaisa
and also serve on the Global Nissan Design
Management Committee. Woodhouse replaces Taro Ueda, who will return to Nissan
in Japan and take a global role focusing on
user experience and user interface, especially in China.
Woodhouse's hiring is part of the Nissan
brand's push to build a top-flight team spanning the globe. This year alone, Nissan
opened design studios in Brazil and Shanghai.
"I see all of our design centers as part of one
big global team," Albaisa said.
"While each of these studios produce
work for their markets, they also make significant contributions to global projects
across the Nissan, Datsun and Infiniti
brands." a
Urvaksh Karkaria contributed to this report.

"There's no need for them to be a
separate unit. They can be built into
something else," Humphries said.
And watch for bigger wheels on
Toyota's EVs.
Big wheels are a cool feature on
show cars, but they usually shrink for
production vehicles. EVs, by contrast, can accommodate bigger
wheels because the motor compartment is smaller.
During steering, front wheels can
turn farther into the vehicle without
bumping into something. Bulkier
transversely mounted engines limit
that turning radius, and thus, the
wheel size.
"From a design point of view, it
simply looks better," Humphries said
of big wheels. "You can put better
brakes on it. The bigger the wheel,
the bigger the brake, the better the
performance."
Toyota's upcoming EVs will also get

longer wheelbases, which opens
other possibilities.
"This is a good thing for design. It
gives the car a lot of stance and structure," Humphries said. "Interiors will
play a big part because we have a lot
of space in there."
And because the batteries are
packed along the bottom of the vehicle, the interior floor will be flat. The
floor batteries will also boost the
driver and occupants, enabling a
higher eye point, he said.
The design showcase is part of a
wider EV messaging blitz from Toyota.
At this month's briefing, Shigeki
Terashi, executive vice president for
r&d, said Toyota now expects to get
half of its global sales - or roughly
5.5 million vehicles - from electrified models by 2025. That is five years
ahead of the 2030 goal it had floated
in December 2017.
Full EVs are expected to account
for less than 1 million of the total. a

A similar approach is being applied to the next-generation EV
platform. Nissan previewed that vision in the IMx electric crossover
concept it debuted at the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show. That vehicle foreshadowed a new all-wheel, all-electric platform Nissan wants to launch
around 2020.
Like the Leaf Nismo RC, the IMx is
envisioned with two electric motors,
one powering the front wheels, the
other the back. In the concept, each
motor delivers 160 kilowatts of power for combined torque of 516
pound-feet - more than in the GT-R
sports car.
The Leaf Nismo RC has two

120-kilowatt motors, for 472 poundfeet of torque. Matsumura says his
Nismo team was constrained by using existing technology. Development of the RC began in early 2018
so its release could be timed to Nissan's Formula E racing debut in the
fall. As a result, engineers had to stick
with off-the-shelf powertrain components.
"We are using a bit more conservative technology," Matsumura said.
For the next EV, however, look for
big improvements across the board,
in the battery, inverter and twin-motor setup. Said Matsumura modestly:
"It is very probable it will be given
strong performance." n

Big wheels, flat floors

Automotive News - June 17, 2019

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