AD #3241 – BMW Phasing Out V-12 Engines; Subaru Electric Race Car Concept; Lamborghini Now Offering NFTs

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BMW PHASING OUT V-12 ENGINES
It’s not a nail in the coffin, but it is the end of an era. BMW will build the last of the V-12 engines it will ever put in a production car. The twelve’s will be fitted into limited production versions of the M760i xDrive, which will be priced at a cool $201,000. The 6.6-liter ICE cranks out 601 horsepower and rockets the big sedan to 60 MPH in 3.8 seconds. Everyone who buys one will get a hand-built desk trophy to commemorate the final V12 vehicles. In a way, we can almost consider this the beginning of a funeral procession for the internal combustion engine, as traditional automakers turn their focus to battery electric propulsion.

LIME BRINGS E-BIKES TO U.S.
Lime, the e-scooter startup, is jumping onto the e-bike bandwagon. Washington DC is the first city in the U.S. to get its e-bikes. It will expand to more cities in the U.S. this spring including Atlanta and Charleston. It already operates e-bikes in 50 cities globally. Its latest gen e-bike features a swappable battery that’s compatible with its e-scooters. Other features include a phone holder, an automatic two-speed transmission that eliminates gears and it has a usable life of about five years. Electric bikes are becoming more and more popular and according to Deloitte, 130 million are expected to be sold in the U.S. between 2020 and 2023.

FORD PARTNERS TO MAKE E-COMMERCE EASIER
More and more people are paying for things online so Ford just signed a deal to make it even easier. It partnered with a financial service startup called Stripe to help improve the automaker’s e-commerce experience for customers and improve payment acceptance for dealers. Stripe will also help Ford create solutions for commercial customers. The new services will be available in North America starting in the second half of this year and will roll out to Europe afterwards.

ZF DEVELOPS NEW TECH TO IMPROVE SEMI-TRUCK EFFICIENCY
Big commercial trucks still have a long way to go in terms of improving efficiency, which is why that sector is still a major focus for many suppliers. The giant Germany company ZF has an entire package, from hardware to software, or what it calls its Intelligent Trailer Program. Things like Automated axle control can improve cornering, extend tire life by limiting how many wheels contact the road when the trailer is empty and automatically adjust height to make loading and unloading easier. On top of that, all sorts of vehicle data can be monitored directly on the truck or at a central location via a cloud connection. And you’ll likely see more solutions like this as emissions standards for big trucks continue to ramp up.

SUBARU SHOWS OFF ELECTRIC RACE CAR CONCEPT
Subaru has no intention to stop racing and is developing an all-electric race car for future competition. It revealed what the vehicle might look like at the Tokyo show with the STI E-RA Concept. It features 4 motors, which were developed by Yamaha, that are attached directly to the 4 wheels and a 60-kWh lithium-ion battery pack. A special torque vectoring system takes in a bunch of inputs to put down the optimal power at each wheel and Subaru says its goal is to lap the Nurburgring in 6 minutes and 40 seconds. That’s about a minute faster than what the Tesla Model S Plaid did in November when it set the EV lap record. Subaru wants to do this by 2023 and testing starts in Japan this year.

HONDA TESTING 2ND-GEN AUTONOMOUS WORK VEHICLE
Honda continues to develop its Autonomous Work Vehicle or AWV that it first showed several years ago. It’s now in its 2nd-generation and is based off Honda’s ATV chassis, so it’s 4-wheel drive. But it’s also electric with enough juice to travel up to about 28 miles. The latest test has been at a large-scale construction site helping take some of the load off workers, it can carry 880 pounds and tow over 1,600 pounds, and cutting down on the number of trips to haul material. Honda says it wants to develop additional generations of the AWV and will do that through field tests like this. And any new partners that might be interested can check out the AWV at the World of Concrete show right now in Las Vegas.

LAMBORGHINI JUMPS INTO NFTs
There’s an investment craze going on all around the world as people try to figure out new ways to get rich quick. They’re pouring money into crypto currencies, meme stocks and non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, which use blockchain to guarantee their authenticity. Well, you just knew someone would come up with an automotive angle to it. And Lamborghini is one of the first car companies to try and cash in on the NFT craze. Lambo did some carbon fiber research at the international space station. So now they’ll be auctioning off five of these plaques with a piece of carbon fiber that came back from space. Lambo calls them Space Keys, and says it’s a milestone for the company. And this is just the first step. Lamborghini plans to issue other NFTs and hints they could even include the VINs on some of its cars.

CLUNKY BUT CUTE AUTO NFTs
Wait, it gets better. Here are some NFTs of digital automotive art. They’re made by a British artist named Mike Turner, who’s raising money for charity. He calls them ”clunky-but-cute” low polygon versions of some of the most iconic road and race cars. Each one costs just over one BNB, which is another type of crypto currency. Right now, one BNB is worth about 460 bucks.

DE TOMASO SCRAPS PLANS TO OPEN U.S. PLANT
Italian sportscar maker De Tomaso is scrapping plans to open a plant in the U.S. because COVID disruptions would have caused it to miss production targets. Instead, it’s partnering with auto sports development company Capricorn, to open a facility at the Nurburgring in Germany that will be up and running this summer. Capricorn has experience in Formula 1 and also helped develop the Porsche 919 LMP1 race car. The new facility will hand-build the P72, which features a 5.0L engine and a new chassis and suspension developed by Capricorn. De Tomaso will start delivering the P72 in early 2023.

RIVIAN TO KICK OFF PRODUCTION IN GEORGIA IN 2024
Rivian, as you probably know, is going to build a massive assembly plant in Georgia to make its pickup, the R1T. And AutoForecast Solutions says the trucks will go into production in 2024.

Traditional full-size pickups have always been body-on-frame. But with the electric Chevrolet Silverado, we may need to come up with a new term. Maybe we need to call it body-on-skateboard, because it uses a skateboard architecture. We’re going to get into all the details of how General Motors engineered that truck this Thursday on Autoline After Hours because our special guest will be Nicole Kraatz, the chief engineer of the Silverado. What do you think we should ask her about? Let us know because no one knows more about this EV than she does. Then join John and Gary Thursday afternoon for some of the best insights into the automotive industry.

But that’s it for today, thanks for watching.