SAIC poised to pounce on UK van market?

Van dealerships in the UK may be wondering if the Maxus van could make a return to the country if SAIC is able to undercut established marques.

Evidence of "widespread abuse by carmakers" - T&E

The average gap between real-world figures and drive cycle test results is growing across the industry. This may suggest that Volkswagen is not the only guilty party when it comes to fixing figures, says Transport & Environment (T&E).

GKN to boost driveline output in Poland

GKN Driveline has launched the first phase of a significant expansion of its operations in Poland, with the construction of a new production facility. 

Peugeot cuts models by half

Peugeot is to halve its model line-up over the next few years, reducing today's 26 different offerings to just 13.

It is part of the brand's ‘Move Upmarket' strategy and a determination to move into what it calls "profitable channels of distribution".

VW sees sales grow nearly 6%

Volkswagen Group delivered 2.4 million (January-March 2013: 2.27 million; +5.8 per cent) vehicles from January to March.

Deliveries in the month of March ran at 929,500 (March 2013: 864,100; +7.6 per cent)* units.

UK leads EU charge in car sales growth

The UK is the blue-eyed boy of Europe as car registrations edge closer to those of Germany.

In 2013, the UK car industry registered 2.264 million vehicles, a rise of 10.8 per cent. Germany in comparison experienced a 4.2 per drop to 2.952 million vehicles.

Advanced EA888 powers latest Golf R

The latest Golf R unveiled by Volkswagen has a more advanced version of the EA888 four-cylinder turbocharged and direct-injection 2-litre gasoline engine fitted to the new Golf GTI.

Compared to the 227bhp GTI engine, VW’s engineers have boosted power by 69bhp to 296bhp which is delivered at 5500rev/min, thus creating one of the most powerful four-cylinder production engines in the world.

Maximum torque has been increased by 22lbft to 280lbft which is now available over a broad speed band from 1800 to 5500rev/min. To attain this output, the Golf R's 1.984-litre engine was subjected to a motorsports-style development programme.

Audi V6 diesel powers VW Amorak

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has wowed the crowds at the annual GTI enthusiasts' meeting on the shores of Lake Wörthersee in Austria with an Amarok Power-Pickup concept featuring a 3.0-litre V6 TDI engine with a power output of 272 PS and 600 Nm of torque.

The engine is similar to that which Audi uses in passenger cars. It has a compacted graphite iron cylinder block. The engine is always arranged longitudinally.

The Power-Pickup, based on an Amarok single cab, is designed as a rolling workshop to carry spare parts, tools and race equipment, with performance to take it from standstill to 62 mph in 7.9 seconds in conjunction with an eight-speed automatic transmission and permanent 4MOTION transmission.

Bentley set to build an SUV

IF Bentley is to achieve its goal of 15,000 sales a year by 2018, then it will require a sports utility vehicle (SUV), according to the company’s chief executive officer, Dr. Wolfgang Schreiber.

The Crew-based company sold just over 8,500 cars last year – 22 per cent higher than in 2011, but still down on the 2007 best-year total of 10,000.

Dr. Schreiber said the business case of an SUV is “extremely positive”.

VW claims RTM ‘first’ for a volks wagen

The XL1 1-litre fuel economy car from Volkswagen uses resin transfer moulding (RTM) first devised successfully by Lotus in the UK over 40 years ago.

The prototype, with its plug-in hybrid system, uses sports car design principles of low weight (795kg), sound aerodynamics (Cd 0.189) and low centre of gravity (1.153mm high) to achieve a fuel consumption of 0.9litres/100km.

These features, combined with a two-cylinder TDI diesel of 48PS (35kW), a E-motor of 27PS (20kW), a seven-speed dual clutch gearbox (DSG) and lithium-ion battery, make it possible for the XL1 to emit 21g/km of CO2. It has a top speed of 160km/h and an all-electric drive mode range of 50km.

The XL1 is manufactured by Volkswagen Osnabrück GmbH in the former Karmann facilities where some 1,800 employees produce Golf Cabriolets and Porsche Boxsters.

Sensational CGI cylinder block breakthrough

The biggest contract ever placed by an OEM for a compacted graphite iron (CGI) cylinder block has been placed against the foundry Tupy SA of Joinville, Brazil.

The contract calls for production to ramp up to over 300,000 passenger car cylinder blocks a year, starting 2013. Production will be based at Tupy’s North American base in Saltillo, Mexico.

The contract makes the programme the highest-volume CGI block in the world. The block will be Tupy’s eighteenth CGI component, further reinforcing the company’s global leadership in the production of these components.

Rumours in the automotive industry point to the castings being employed in a “sensational” engine that will mark a “new era”, reflecting “new thinking” in engine technology. The rumours further point to Ford Motor Company as the OEM, however the identity of the OEM will be released, it is expected, in March/April 2013.

Meanwhile, to produce the new castings in Saltillo, Tupy is ordering SinterCast’s System 3000Plus process control technology to automatically control the base treatment, process control measurement and final adjustment of magnesium and inoculant prior to casting.

This will be SinterCast’s most comprehensive installation with a capacity of 15 ladles per hour and over nine hours of production a day.

Tupy is tantalisingly vague as to the OEM and the nature of the engine configuration that will use the CGI block.

However, SinterCast claims the contract will yield over 300,000 engine equivalents a year. Insiders who follow SinterCast closely well know that each engine equivalent weighs 50kg. So, on the basis of matching volume to the equivalents, suggests a cylinder block weight of 50kg.

Up to the present time, all of SinterCast’s current production passenger vehicle cylinder blocks are vee-diesel configuration.

Interestingly however, a production volume of 300,000 a year is too large a production run for a vee-diesel engine. The implication therefore is that the contract is for either an in-line diesel or in-line gasoline engine.

However, those who follow SinterCast’s activities with more than passing interest, will be aware that at the May 2012 Annual General Meeting, Dr. Steve Dawson, chief executive officer of SinterCast referred to a “pending petrol engine order”.

To put the single-order, one-block 300,000 volume into context, one only has to refer to comments made by Dawson at a conference in 2007 on the benefits of CGI. Dawson noted that “today, 40,000 CGI cylinder blocks are produced each month for OEMs,, including Audi, DAF, Ford, Hyundai, MAN, Mercedes-Benz, PSA and Volkswagen”. That figure covered both passenger car and commercial vehicle applications.

 Dawson pointed to the weight-saving benefits of CGI, namely the material offers double the fatigue limit of conventional grey iron (and aluminium alloys), while the improved strength and stiffness of CGI enhances dimensional stability to reduce piston slap, bore wear, oil consumption and blow-by; as well as NVH performance.

In addition, CGI can help engineers as they deal with increasing cylinder pressures, though in the case of a gasoline engine this is less significant.

The benefits of CGI’s weight-saving characteristics to the current Tupy contract can be seen from figures Dawson released in 2007. He noted that a 2-litre I4 gasoline engine would weigh 31.8kg in grey iron but only 26.6kg in CGI, a reduction of 16.4%. In another example, he cited a 2.2-litre I4 gasoline engine could yield a 28% weight reduction.

Likewise, he noted that a 1.8-litre, I4 diesel engine of 38kg in grey iron would weigh 29.5kg in CGI – a reduction of 22.4%.

Highlighting all-round benefits, Dawson noted that a fully-assembled CGI engine can be 5% lower, 5% narrower, 13% shorter and 9.4% lighter. These figures highlight the contribution made by CGI to downsizing and power-up objectives, indicating some of the reasons why CGI was selected by the OEM for this application.

The high-volume nature of the contract (300,000 a year) suggests a single facility working nine hours a day, five days a week for 48 weeks a year, would deliver the equivalent of 140 jobs an hour. On double shift this would be 70 jobs an hour.

These figures suggest that any manufacturing implications that might have been associated with the choice of CGI have now been eliminated, or can be accommodated

As to the blocks' eventual destination, it is known that Tupy exports a significant amount of its production to both North america and Europe.                              ∎