AD #3186 – Honda Unveils All-New Civic Si; Zeekr Builds 1st Production EV; VW Reportedly Forming JV With Huawei

This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.

VW REPORTEDLY FORMING JV WITH HUAWEI
The United States has tried to block Chinese tech company Huawei from landing contracts with U.S. allies. The U.S. accuses Huawei of racketeering, stealing trade secrets from American companies and of having ties to the Chinese military. But reports out of China say that Volkswagen will form a joint-venture with Huawei to develop chips and software for autonomous cars. Huawei denies the reports. But at a time when there’s rising tensions between China and the West, Volkswagen would certainly ingratiate itself in the eyes of the Chinese government if it signed a deal with Huawei.

FOXCONN WANTS TO BE MAJOR PLAYER IN THE AUTO INDUSTRY
Foxconn, the world’s largest contract manufacturer for consumer electronics, wants to be a major player in the auto industry. It developed its own BEV platform and bought a company that makes automotive chips. It already landed contracts to make cars in the U.S. for Fisker and in Thailand for a company called PTT. And now it wants to make cars for customers in Europe, India and South America. The timing is right for Foxconn. With so many EV startups, and with investors interested in an asset-light strategy, there could be a lot of companies that want Foxconn to make cars for them. 

BIDEN NOMINATES NEW NHTSA ADMINISTRATOR
Quick, can you name the person who’s running NHTSA? Of course you can’t. It doesn’t have an administrator. When Mark Rosekind stepped down in 2016, the Trump Administration never named a replacement. So yesterday President Joe Biden nominated Steven Cliff to run the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. He has served as Deputy Administrator of NHTSA since February and before that was part of the California Air Resources Board. So he has the right kind of experience, but now the Senate has to confirm his nomination.

HONDA UNVEILS ALL-NEW CIVIC Si
Honda revealed the all-new Civic Si. As you can see, it uses the base Civic as a canvas to lay over the sporty character we’ve become used to. Unique design cues include a new upper front and rear bumper, gloss black mirrors and a front and rear spoiler that add downforce. Under the hood is a 200 horsepower 1.5L turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, which is an upgrade in the base Civic, but it’s been tuned to provide peak torque at a lower RPM and maintain more output just before redline. It also features a new exhaust system to increase flow, a lighter flywheel, which helps increase throttle response, a limited-slip differential and a short-throw 6-speed manual transmission. The suspension was improved as well. The springs are stiffer front and rear, new dampers were tuned just for this car, the upper strut mounts have been reinforced, the stabilizers bars are thicker and some of the other bushings were sourced from the Civic Type R. To bring it all to a stop, the Si features larger front and rear brake rotors and standard 18-inch all-season performance tires. And to make sure customers are always reminded of its sporty character, the interior is accented in a number of red details as well as highlights like sport seats and pedals. The new Civic Si will launch in the U.S. before the year is out.

BMW UPGRADES 1 SERIES HOT HATCH
Speaking of sporty cars, BMW is upgrading its 1 Series hot hatch. And most of the changes to the M135i xDrive are to its chassis and suspension. Camber on the front wheels was increased, there’s new mounts for the front and rear suspension and both the springs and dampers were recalibrated. Put it all together and it’s going to be even more fun to tap into the car’s 306 horsepower.

PORSCHE CREATES NEW BIKE RACK TO MAKE TAYCAN MORE EFFICIENT
Range is a major factor when considering an EV and automakers are taking every advantage they can to eek out as much as possible. That’s why Porsche took a different approach to designing a bike rack for the new Taycan Cross Turismo. In fact, there’s no trailer hitch at all. Instead engineers devised carriers that sit behind two removable panels on the bumper and accept support tubes that lock into place. Those tubes then support the bike rack. There’s a number of advantages to this design. Not only does it have more stability with two anchor points, but the bike rack sits lower, which doesn’t hurt aero as much, and it’s 20 kilograms or 44 pounds lighter than a conventional rack, which will also have less of an impact on range. And you can still open the trunk with it installed. But those that want one will have to be ready to part with nearly 1,800 euros or about $2,100.

ZEEKR BUILDS 1ST PRODUCTION EV
Earlier in the year, Chinese automaker Geely created a new premium EV brand called ZEEKR. And yesterday, the first production vehicle rolled off the line, a model called the 001. It’s built on Geely’s Sustainable Electric Architecture, it features two motors that provide 400 kW of power and it can move from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.8 seconds. It also comes with a 100-kWh battery pack. Instead of selling vehicles at dealerships, ZEEKR is opening what it calls Experience Centers or “hubs” and will sell the vehicles at a fixed price. ZEEKR will start delivering the 001 to customers by the end of the week.

FORD PATENTS RETRACTABLE EXHAUST TIP
Ford is working on a unique way to make its vehicles even more off-road capable. According to CarBuzz, the automaker filed patents in both the U.S. and Germany for a retractable exhaust tip. The idea is to increase the departure angle of the vehicle because the exhaust can often be damaged while off-roading. The setup features an exhaust tip, an exhaust tube and a module that includes a motor, a gear and bearings. So if you go off-road and you need a little more clearance, you just retract the exhaust tip. It’s an interesting idea but it remains to be seen if we’ll actually see this in a production vehicle.

ZF TO COMPETE WITH AUTOMAKERS IN AUTONOMOUS MOBILITY
With all the changes going on in the automotive industry, we’re seeing suppliers greatly expand their capabilities and the ZF Group looks like it’s ready to compete directly with automakers. ZF is offering a complete turn-key autonomous shuttle system that it says can be implemented today, but we should note it looks like it would require dedicated AV lanes. Although, the shuttles can veer out of those lanes to avoid obstacles, which they detect with their suite of lidar, radar, cameras and acoustic sensors. Power comes from an 85-kW electric motor and the shuttles have room for up to 22 passengers or they can be platooned together to accommodate more, which could replace a city bus or something like that. But ZF is going beyond just offering the shuttles. It will also help any kind of fleet manager plan routes, build out infrastructure as well as cover maintenance and repair. 

It is extremely rare for car designers to design a new car from scratch. Instead, they have to use a lot of carry-over parts. But with Cadillac going all electric, it’s developing all-new cars with all new parts. And that is giving Cadillac designers more freedom than they’ve ever had in their careers. That will be the topic tomorrow afternoon on Autoline After Hours. We’ll have the head of Cadillac design, Brian Smith, on the show, along with Tristan Murphy, the head of interior design at Cadillac. Henry Payne, the car critic from the Detroit News will also be on. So join John and Gary for some of the best insider news in the automotive industry.

But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for joining us and we’ll be right back here again tomorrow.