May 2019

MAY 2019 AFTERMARKET 17 Below: Automotive eye- candy and technical innovations www.aftermarketonline.net ‘electricity’ has to eclipse all chat of fossil fuel burning powertrains, if only for PR. The Volkswagen brand had the ID.buggy concept, a pretty pointless homage to Beetle- based dune buggies, on view alongside previously shown I.D concepts. Politely, the I.D series lack definition which is surprising given they have been rolled out for quite a few years, leaving rather too much to the imagination. The same could be said of the Skoda Vizion iV concept, another MEB platform car. The star was the Seat el-Born, which had real cut lines, real doors, real trim. It mattered little that the model on display was as much a ‘model’ as the Volkswagen and Skoda versions, because this was real. Seat is used as the lead division for each of the smaller volume platforms, and el-Born latterly made history as the birth of a volume EV from VWG. A shot in the dark? Time will tell and the odds are stacked against success, but as a premieres go there are few as significant. The fuss? From MEB, MQB Evo to MLB Evo right across VWG, hybrid drive is going to appear like a rash by 2021 – and it’s already underway. Geneva is a showcase for smaller companies, many of which take expensive cars, add expensive procedures with the result looking like an aftermarket catalogue on drugs. Carbon fibre? Why yes, we’ll add that to a two tonne SUV and pretend it does anything but look pointlessly terrible. Yes, there’s still big money with no sense of taste. Rolls-Royce effectively had an exquisite line-up on the opposite side of the hall to parent BMW. They offer LEDs which can be implanted to the headliner to give a starry night from the comfort of the car interior. But what’s this? The BMW 8 series, a glorious car exactly and precisely produced at the absolutely wrong time, is available with headliner LEDs configured to the favourite constellation of the purchaser. BMW really should take care not to dilute its premier brand, nor boost sales to match Bentley with a probably ruinous effect on residuals. Luxury is not all about shifting metal. Meanwhile Aurus had the ‘large’ car on display as used by President Vladimir Putin (5.7 tonnes with armour) along with the ‘small’ car (2.7 tonnes without armour). So far, this project has cost more than £80 million, with a limited production of the ‘large’ car at 10 units and the ‘small’ car to be made in a limited series of around 500 units. In other words, handmade, almost every aspect uniquely engineered. An interesting discussion quickly demonstrated that Aurus have better connection to super luxury than some very old brands. This year we had not one but two land mark events. Peugeot revealed the new 208, which will underpin many more PSA vehicles including the next generation Vauxhall Corsa. This has a 50 kWh pure EV powertrain as well as internal combustion engine powertrains – PSA already meet the new fleet average CO2 target, to the point they can sell carbon credits to those manufacturers who can’t meet the target. What will be the highest volume selling powertrain – EV or internal combustion engine? The answer was to be found at Renault with the unveiling of Clio V, powered by petrol, diesel and a mild hybrid drive options. The pure EV role was filled by the Zoe. The immediate death of the petrol and diesel internal combustion engine has been somewhat exaggerated. Amid some fanfare, the EU have managed to get another trade deal in place, with Japan. This means Japan- based vehicle manufacturers no longer have to pay steep tariffs to get non-EU built vehicles inside Europe. The deal has an impact on the UK, which has the biggest concentration of Japan-headquartered vehicle manufacturing plants, but Brexit had almost no effect on the decisions. All of the UK based car plants need stable tax regimes and clear incentives to ensure continued investment, and the EU-Japan trade deal has made those pre-requisites irrelevant. The Honda Urban EV prototype was apparently near production quality, in the sense it was not at all. Another plastic model which did little to define the concept first seen more than two years ago. Geneva finds its feet In 2018 the show reached a low point, the prelude to termination, In 2019 it arose gloriously as a design- led event, where the Swiss fascination for automobiles mixed perfectly with staging the best design show anywhere in the world. Shifting metal in bulk is no longer its primary task. Oh, and yes, the internal combustion engine will continue to exist, and will continue to get cleaner. That, ladies and gentlemen, means adaption – and success – for the aftermarket instead of oblivion. www.aftermarketonline.net