AD #2559 – BMW Shares New Info About Upcoming EVs, JLR Wins Copycat Case, Nissan Cuts Outlook in China

This is Autoline Daily reporting on the global automotive industry.

CHINESE COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF JLR
Nearly three years ago, Jaguar Land Rover sued Chinese automaker Jiangling Motors because the design of its Landwind X7 is a copycat of the Range Rover Evoque. And in a rare instance, a Chinese court ruled in favor of JLR. It says the Landwind model copied 5 distinct features of the Evoque which led to confusion among consumers. Because of this, the court ruled that all sales, manufacturing and marketing of the Landwind X7 must cease immediately. And Jiangling must compensate JLR as well.

NISSAN CUTS OUTLOOK IN CHINA
And speaking of China, Nissan’s former CEO, Carlos Ghosn, had big plans for the company in the country. But the automaker is changing its strategy now that he’s no longer in charge. Ghosn planned on investing $9 billion in China, introduce 20 new electrified models by 2022, and increase sales by one million units to around 2.5 million vehicles. However, under its new CEO, Nissan is cutting back on its sales target by 200,000 units because it wants to focus on boosting profits instead of increasing sales. It could also pull back on introducing new models in the market as well. Another reason Nissan is cutting its sales target, is the slowdown in sales in China. Last year was the first in two decades that sales fell on annual basis.

BMW TESTING ELECTRICS IN SWEDEN
BMW is currently testing its next generation of electric vehicles at the edge of the Arctic Circle in Sweden and is revealing more about the EVs. The iX3 will be the first to come out when it goes on sale next year. It’s said to have over 400-kilometers or 248-miles of range and will have the ability to use DC charging stations with a capacity of 150 kW. The iX3 will be the first model built for all markets by the BMW Brilliance Automotive Joint Venture in China. The i4 is a mid-size sedan that has over 600-kilometers or 372-miles of range and can go from 0 to 100 km/h in 4-seconds. It will be made in Germany starting in 2021. Also coming at the same time will be the BMW iNEXT. It will have the same 600-kilometer range as the i4, but also Level 3 autonomous driving capabilities as well. The iNEXT will be made at BMW’s plant in Dingolfing, Germany.

MERCEDES eSPRINTER UNDERGOING WINTER TESTS
And BMW’s German rival, Mercedes, is also testing electric vehicles in Sweden. It just wrapped up tests of the electric version of the Sprinter. In normal conditions the van has a range of 150 kilometers or about 93 miles and in the winter tests, it was still delivering about 100 kilometers or 62 miles of range. The eSprinter launches in the second half of the year.

MERCEDES IN-CAR GAMING CHALLENGE
Autonomous vehicles will allow people to do things in vehicles that they’ve never been able to do before. And with that in mind, Daimler is opening up a challenge for gamers, developers, interaction designers and students to come up with new in-car experiences. Some of the ideas that are already out there, sound like a lot of fun. Like using the car’s steering wheel, gas and brake pedal as controls for a video game, while parked of course. Moveable seats, seat belt tensioners, HVAC system and interior lights could also be used to simulate movement. They’re also talking about car-to-car experiences. So, you could interact with people in the vehicles around you. There’s a number of prizes for winning entries and some of it may even find its way into production.

MAZDA TIGHT LIPPED ABOUT WHEN U.S. WILL GET SKYACTIV D & X ENGINES
Mazda has been talking about a diesel engine for the U.S. market for so long that it feels like we will never see it. And a new article from WardsAuto doesn’t make me any more optimistic. It spoke with the automaker, who said that right now the U.S. is not the primary market that needs the engine. It’s instead needed for Europe. But Mazda continues to say it would not have gone all this way and gone through all the trouble to not offer the diesel engine in the U.S. It also won’t say when it will offer its spark-compression ignition Skyactiv-X engine in the U.S. That engine too will be headed for Europe first. Mazda did, however, shed a little light into its push into electrification. It will soon show off a new concept that sounds like it will have a rotary engine range extender.

FORD RANGER ADDS NEW APPEARANCE PACKAGE
Even though it’s only been on sale since the beginning of the year, Ford is offering a new appearance package for the Ranger. The Black Appearance Package gives the truck a bit more of an aggressive look with a black grille, running boards, accented wheels and more. The new package costs about $2,000 and is available to order now from dealers. Ford says two-thirds of all new Rangers are ordered with an optional appearance package.

But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.