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Auto Car
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Auto Car
The new Ford Explorer is based on a Volkswagen - so can it wear the Blue Oval with pride?
Open gallery There's enough Ford magic to make the origins of its platform a moot point Blue plaque at Trafford Centre commemorates Ford's factory on the site Explorer's official 354 miles and 3.4mpkWh didn't seem unduly optimistic Explorer was comfortable and supple, but road noise can intrude at times Steve's simple plan turned into a long day Heritage collection in Daventry is nirvana for fans of the Blue Oval Close It was a bright, beautiful April Fool's Day. At 6.30am, a magnificent golden orb lit the eastern horizon with a brilliance we probably won't see more than a dozen times this year. The breeze was sweet and the air so clear you could practically see blades of grass on the horizon. Despite the beleaguered state of the retail motor industry, the news feeds were already filling with car companies' traditional April Fool spoofs: a free tattoo for every new Volkswagen owner, BMW to launch an off-road version of the M2 – that sort of thing. And in Manchester, the Volkswagen ID 4 in which I was about to cross the country had turned into a Ford. To be fair, we've known for years that Ford was basing its first all-European electric cars – the Explorer and the Capri – on the VW Group's excellent and well-proven MEB platform, the same component set used to underpin the ID 3 and ID 4. This was undoubtedly a pragmatic decision, given that Ford urgently needs to do better in the European EV race. And despite a nine-month production delay, the project is turning into a modest – if not yet profitable – success. Selfishly speaking, Ford's MEB decision didn't suit me. Outside the limits of the impartiality needed to be a fair-minded road tester, I'm a Ford fan: my grandfather was a pioneering Ford dealer in the Australian bush, we had lots of family Fords and my first new car was a Cortina 1600E. My view of Ford is that it may make everyman cars, but it also does things first – such as the life-changing Model T, the first affordable V8, unitary steel construction, MacPherson struts, the original Mustang, the GT40, the first 'computer-designed' Cortina, all those fast Escorts and much, much more. I simply didn't enjoy the notion of a me-too European Ford based on a rival manufacturer's mainstream product. Especially a Volkswagen. After all, it's not so long since the glorious, game-changing Ford Focus was forcing all comers – and most prominently Ferdinand Piëch's Mk5 VW Golf – to ride, steer and handle better to meet a much-elevated industry standard. When James Attwood's 2025 Ford Explorer long-termer – a £50k, two-wheel-drive long-range model – arrived a few weeks ago, it became clear it was high time for me to get over myself. Especially since Attwood had pronounced it a good machine, distinct from the various VW Group models with the same underpinnings. A workable plan seemed to be to immerse the Explorer – and myself – in as much Ford heritage as we could find in a day, to see how well it fitted. Or how well it didn't. The simple plan was to take it on a day-long journey starting at Trafford Park, Manchester, where Henry Ford made 300,000 Model Ts for his first 20 years of British business from 1911, before moving to Dagenham in the early 1930s and turning the Manchester place over to the manufacture of Rolls-Royce Merlin aero engines during the war years. From there, we would roll across the country to Ford's heritage centre at Daventry, to associate the Explorer with as many of its ancestors as possible under the eye of curator Len Keen. Then we'd continue south-east to Dunton, the research centre that nowadays doubles as Ford's British HQ, ending our journey beside a statue of the founder, Old Henry, erected at Dagenham in 1944 and now overlooking Dunton's main entrance. This drive would be typically British: plenty of motorway, plenty of potholes, some sinuous A- and B-roads and some recharging episodes, with all the parking and service area manoeuvring this involved. Photographer Jack and I arrived in Manchester the night before our journey was to begin, hoping that an unsuccessful meeting with a steam-driven 22kW Geniepoint charger outside our otherwise-comfortable Trafford hotel wasn't an omen of things to follow. For no good reason it wouldn't function, which meant our journey couldn't begin with a full tank, as it were. One thing the hotel did have, bizarrely, was a parking line of about a dozen used, obviously recently imported Yankee cars for sale via eBay. Evidently the vendor was using the hotel car park for selling. We photographed our Explorer beside a US-market Explorer of a very different persuasion, wondering at Ford's tendency to spread familiar names over models of different characters and layouts. Before departure the following morning, I rang the Geniepoint helpline to report the charger failure on behalf of other arriving hopefuls, to be greeted by a polite woman with a voice full of concern, who reset the charger there and then. I watched it click into action, but its charge rate was too slow to justify our waiting. Still, it was a good sign: even when you're talking duff chargers, EV life is getting better. The only sign these days of Ford's former presence at Trafford Park is a blue plaque in one of the many entrance halls of the Trafford Centre, a staggeringly huge and spacious multi-storey mall of satisfyingly appropriate American influence. We found and read the plaques, then jumped back in the car and headed hot-foot for the open road, hooking up after a mile or two with the M6 motorway. Our immediate destination, 40 miles on, was the Sandbach service area and a reassuring bank of a dozen Instavolt chargers that converted our 35% of battery capacity to 85% at a rate of 85kW in the time it took us to drink a couple of cappuccinos. It was pricey, mind, at 89p per kWh. Ford's Daventry heritage base – also a massive parts store and the site of the Henry Ford Academy where technicians further their skills – was now an easy 92 miles away. The car was doing unobtrusively well. It turns out to be a composed cruiser with long-distance seats and sweet steering that's notably accurate at the straight-ahead and thus not tiring for longer journeys. There's not much road noise on smooth stuff but, like many German-developed cars, it gets noisy on the coarse surfaces that are much more prevalent here in the UK than they are elsewhere in Europe. We cruised at around 70mph on the speedo (knock off 2mph for built-in error) because we soon established that at this speed, with a little care, you could turn 3.5mpkWh – the claimed WLTP figure; cruising just a shade quicker caused the figure to fall to 3.1-3.2mpkWh. You become aware of the exponential rise of aero drag with speed so much sooner in an EV than you do in a petrol car. A slightly lower speed and consequent better consumption can add 10-15 miles to the range you get from a 50kW charge while making no important difference to your journey time (this point proved by my own assiduous observations of sat-nav arrival predictions). I was clocking such esoterics as Jack drove, proving himself expert at seeing interesting traffic ('Did you spot that new Corvette?'), which added a lot to the interest of our progress. With miles, the Ford grew on us both. It seemed supple and comfortable, and we negated the sometime road noise by raising our voices when necessary. Neither of us was truly expert on how this chassis compared with a VW version, but our background impression (confirmed later by Attwood) was that the ride was a bit softer yet well damped and composed. This was another good Ford sign. So was the styling: I was liking the blocky, well-proportioned shape. We stayed an hour in Daventry, mainly because Len Keen and his two technician colleagues, Chris and Andy, were so welcoming. The Ford heritage collection brilliantly combines perfect examples of ordinary models with hero cars driven by Hannu Mikkola, Roger Clark and a dozen other road and track stars. They also continue to preserve the Autocar-badged M-Sport Fiesta ST in which then staffer Chris Harris won his class in Wales Rally GB 20 years ago (which had an echo for me; I watched him do it). Photographer Jack, compact of build, amused us with his claim to be the one bloke in our group who could perfectly fit Ford's beautiful silver GT40, the road-going model with wire wheels and three-eared knock-offs, that was sized for Walter Hayes, the legendary communications chief whose determination and strong influence with the Ford family led to the creation of the Ford DFV racing V8, surely the most successful Formula 1 engine in history. On we drove through the afternoon towards Dunton in Essex, spearing east from Daventry on the evocative A45 that links half a dozen defunct British car factories (including Jaguar at Browns Lane and various British Leyland places south of Coventry). This road also doubled for a while as a test track for 1950s Le Mans Jaguars. One story has it that Jag founder Sir William Lyons well understood the need for fast shakedowns on weekdays, but frowned on the idea of high-speed testing on a Sunday… As we drove, this Ford was taking hold of me. Its composure was starting to remind me of Parry-Jones-era Fords, one of which (a Mondeo) I'd driven quite a lot just a few weeks before. This felt like a European Ford, which is a compliment. In particular it was different in composure terms from the US-developed Ford Mustang Mach-E, whose engineers have just about managed to tame a pitching motion in steady-state cruising, after years of trying. This EV had overtones of Ford's European golden age. At Dunton, Henry Ford was waiting. We arrived just before knock-off time at 4pm, which means the cornering shots we did on the entrance roundabout (see above) were a bit unhelpful to the departing workforce. In all, we notched 230 miles at an average speed of 54mph, consuming power at 3.5mpkWh – a very decent performance. The car's economy and its real-world range were honest figures, in line with the maker's claims. Best of all it felt and looked like a Ford, and not a Volkswagen. In one enjoyable day, the ghosts were laid to rest. 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AU Financial Review
25-05-2025
- Automotive
- AU Financial Review
Audi's long-awaited Q4 SUV is agile
Like so many electric vehicles from the VW Group, Audi's Q4 e-tron has been in an almost permanent state of Coming Soon. Now, four years since it was launched in Europe, the mid-sized SUV has at last arrived here with, by way of compensation, updates applied since it was first promised to us. These include an improved and easy-to-live-with user interface. The Q4 e-tron is the only electric Audi anywhere near the mainstream, indeed the first under $100,000. It's a ground-up effort, built on the VW Group's MEB skateboard platform. In contrast, the first Audi EV offered here, the car now known as the Q8 e-tron, is an adapted petrol car and feels compromised.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Betting all your chips on EVs is a ‘dead end,' BMW tells shareholders: ‘That should be obvious by now'
BMW's chief executive Oliver Zipse felt his company's reluctance to jump on the EV bandwagon has been vindicated even as he prepares to launch his first of several models underpinned by an platform built from the ground up for EVs. 'We took a clear stand on this, even in the face of strong headwinds. Now the wind has shifted in our direction,' he said. Market research firm Gartner dubbed it the 'trough of disillusionment': the stage when a buzzy new technology first fails to live up to its hype. One of the earliest to predict electric vehicles would suffer its own growing pains has been BMW. For years, executives at the German premium carmaker have been warning car buyers would not make the switch as quickly as anticipated, despite all the excitement around Tesla. Now, it's told shareholders it would stand by its commitment to offer customers a wide range of drivetrain options including combustion engine, hybrid, and even hydrogen fuel-cell powered cars, with the latter debuting in 2028. 'Technology openness means following the markets, because markets evolve, but not all a the same pace,' said CEO Oliver Zipse at BMW's annual meeting on Wednesday. 'E-mobility as the sole technology leads to a dead end. That should be obvious by now.' Some five years ago, a number of brands including Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, and Volvo proclaimed ambitious targets for how soon they would switch to EVs. By comparison, BMW's reluctance to jump on the EV bandwagon saw rivals like VW's ex-CEO Herbert Diess criticize the company for slowing down progress. 'We took a clear stand on this, even in the face of strong headwinds. Now the wind has shifted in our direction,' Zipse continued. BMW turned bearish on EVs after the company was burned by the i3, a small EV for inner-city driving that launched in 2013. Featuring a lightweight but expensive carbon-fibre body, it was supposed to be a trend setter, but ended up a financial failure in the eyes of analysts and investors. At the start of the decade, this EV evangelizing seemed to make sense as Tesla was all the rage and CEO Elon Musk struggled to keep up with demand. In 2020, Tesla eclipsed all automotive peers to become the most valuable carmaker in the world despite selling only half a million vehicles that year. BMW's rivals had already poured billions into the development of dedicated architectures capable of economically building a wide variety of EVs in all shapes and sizes—such as the EVA2 at Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen's vaunted MEB platform. The results have been sobering. Legacy brands have had a difficult time explaining the advantages of the technology to their skeptical customers. Carmakers have complained there are still plenty of popular myths around EVs that need to be debunked, including whether owners might be electrocuted while charging in the rain. By comparison, Tesla could cater to a predominantly progressive audience eager to be the first to test out the latest that technology had to offer, and were well-versed about the various pros and cons. Now, many of these same legacy companies such as Mercedes and Volvo have been walking back their more ambitious EV sales targets. The slower-than-expected uptake in EVs hasn't left Tesla untouched either. Last year, it buried its own 2030 sales target, suffered its first annual sales decline since the Model Y launched, and saw its slump continue into the first quarter. For one, the Chinese EV market, which is the world's largest, is increasingly shutting out western brands that had expected to transfer their market share in the traditional combustion-engine market to the EV market. Even Tesla dropped to eighth place last month, from third in 2024. Other countries like the United States are flat-out no longer willing to finance the purchase of a more expensive EV with a $7,500 per car federal tax subsidy. Europe also has experienced disparate levels of interest. While few new cars sold in oil-rich Norway still require gasoline or diesel, in the euro area's third-largest economy, Italy, the EV share of the new-car market languished at just 4% last year. 'The differences are too severe, even within Europe,' Zipse said, whose company's own global EV sales grew by 14% to over 426,500 vehicles across the BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce brands. Nevertheless, even the Munich carmaker has dropped its opposition to dedicated EV platforms. The BMW iX3 mid-size electric crossover, scheduled to go into production at the end of this year in Hungary, is based on the Neue Klasse, an all-new and EV-only architecture. This story was originally featured on
Miami Herald
15-05-2025
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
VW Bets on Cheaper Batteries to Help Revamp EV Lineup Starting with ID.2
Volkswagen (VW) has scheduled a substantial refresh of its electric lineup starting in 2026 with the release of the ID.2 supermini, the automaker's first-ever model to use lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery tech that's less expensive than its current nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) packs, as first reported by Autocar UK. The VW Group's upcoming core EVs will segue from today's MEB platform into a new LFP battery platform named MEB Plus. LFP battery cells have slightly less energy density than NMC packs, but their production cost savings outweigh this energy discrepancy. The savings primarily stem from LFP batteries being less reliant on expensive materials like cobalt than NMC packs. New LFP cells also have higher thermal stability and a longer lifespan. After the ID.2's release, MEB Plus will make its way into VW models like the ID.3 hatchback, the U.S. market's ID.4 SUV, and the ID.7 sedan. Tesla was the first automaker to bring LFP batteries to the mass market with its Model 3 in China, followed by Ford's Mustang Mach-E. News of the MEB Plus platform is significant given VW's earlier struggles in the EV segment. These roadblocks included the ID.3 and ID.4 launches experiencing software glitches, interior material quality complaints from users, and a perception that the vehicles didn't match or surpass the value of competitors like Tesla. VW's new Salzgitter, Germany, factory will manufacture the upcoming LFP batteries alongside the current NMC packs until they're phased out. The automaker's CEO, Thomas Schäfer, told Autocar UK: "You can see this move towards LFP across the board, except for performance applications on the upper end. In the volume game, LFP is the technology." MEB Plus will revitalize VW's EV lineup until the company launches its delayed SSP platform, a multi-billion euro extension of the current MEB modular system, according to Battery Industry. VW's use of MEB Plus also marks the brand's first substantial shift into a new platform that's cheaper to make, enhancing its mass market prospects. While the ID.2 is the automaker's first direct entry into the affordable EV market, it likely won't make it to the U.S., where VW and other manufacturers face export challenges with tariffs and an Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that's on the verge of a substantial reorganization. Changes to the IRA could also slow the growth of U.S. battery production facilities, even if VW expands its U.S. manufacturing presence. Still, current and prospective U.S. EV drivers can look forward to cost reductions and possible range increases in models like the VW ID.4 SUV, along with GM's commercialization of LMR (lithium manganese-rich) prismatic battery cells that bring extended range electric trucks through more accessible pricing. Like VW's LFP battery tech, GM's LMR cells are less reliant on cobalt, which has introduced ethical dilemmas in addition to higher costs. Cobalt mining has exposed local communities, primarily the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to toxic metals while contributing to environmental degradation. The Democratic Republic of the Congo produces about 70% of the world's cobalt supply. Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Miami Herald
08-05-2025
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
Audi Launches Killer Q4 e-tron Lease Offer
Since its introduction, the Audi Q4 e-tron has offered a refined entry point into the luxury electric SUV world. Based on the Volkswagen Group's MEB electric vehicle platform, it shares bones with the Volkswagen ID.4 but brings a more premium look and feel, especially in its latest form. For 2025, the rear-wheel drive Q4 receives a significant hardware update, including a rear motor redesign that delivers better efficiency and an additional 81 horsepower, up to 282 hp. Meanwhile, Audi says the dual-motor Q4 55 e-tron quattro delivers 335 horsepower and can now sprint to 60 mph in just 5.0 seconds. For city commuters or young families looking for a practical but upscale EV, the Q4 e-tron makes a strong case. And with new lease offers rolling out across the country, Audi hopes it will become an even more compelling option for buyers who've been on the fence. Audi is now offering competitive lease deals on single- and dual-motor configurations of the 2025 Q4 e-tron, though pricing varies significantly by region. California drivers, for instance, can lease the Q4 for 36 months at $499 per month with $3,999 due at signing. That works out to $610 per month over the course of the lease, not bad considering the vehicle's recent powertrain improvements and luxury credentials. In the New York City area, customers are only able to lease the dual-motor spec of the Q4 e-tron. New Yorkers will pay the same $499 a month, plus a $3,175 down payment. That works out to an effective monthly cost of $631. Down in Atlanta, Audi is offering the same 24-month lease for $485 per month with $3,999 down, for a $650 monthly cost. If that's a little rich, Atlanta-area customers can also lease the single-motor Q4 e-tron for as little as $397 a month for 24 months. Including a $3,299 down payment, that comes out to an effective monthly cost of $530. Check your local pricing here. For 2025, the Q4 e-tron lineup includes rear-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive variants, with the latter carrying the "55 quattro" badge. All versions now benefit from a reengineered rear motor that delivers better performance and improved energy efficiency. EPA range estimates vary depending on trim and wheel size, but the single-motor Q4 45 e-tron model delivers 288 miles of range on a full charge, according to EPA estimates. Charging is quick, too - especially with the updates. Audi says the Q4 can now charge from 10 to 80 percent in about 28 minutes using a DC fast charger, thanks to a peak rate of 175 kW. At home, a Level 2 charger can refill the battery in about 9 hours. Standard equipment includes Audi's latest MMI infotainment system, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, heated seats, and Audi's Virtual Cockpit digital instrument cluster. The Q4 also includes a full suite of driver-assistance features, such as lane-keeping assist, adaptive cruise control, and forward collision warning. The Q4 e-tron is still a relatively new face in the luxury EV world, but Audi is giving it the right updates - and lease pricing - to stay relevant. With a notable power boost and smarter lease incentives, the Q4 now makes a stronger case than ever. If you live in a region like California or Atlanta, the current lease terms are especially tempting. Audi's current lease deals on the Q4 e-tron are set to run through June 2, 2025, so anyone considering a new electric luxury SUV might want to start browsing local inventory sooner rather than later. *Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. The information presented herein is based on manufacturer-provided lease offer information, which is subject to frequent change and may vary based on location, creditworthiness, and other factors. We are not a party to any lease agreements and assume no liability for the terms, conditions, availability, or accuracy of any lease offers mentioned. All terms, including but not limited to pricing, mileage allowances, and residual values, require direct verification with an authorized local OEM dealership. This article does not constitute financial advice or an endorsement of any particular lease or vehicle. Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
