Daily Archives: April 5, 2019

MINI Cooper Concept (Image: MINI)

How the UK is falling behind in the global electric car race

After a decades-long renaissance, worrying signs are emerging for Britain’s motor industry

In the global electric car race, Britain is struggling to keep up with its rivals. Fresh investment is dwindling as manufacturers prioritise their home markets..

A battery innovation centre, part-funded by £80m of government money, is planned in Coventry that will help businesses bring their electric technology from research phase to scalable production. Plans to open the site last week were delayed by Brexit. Even once open, however, the site will not be a manufacturing centre.

And the government’s industrial strategy, set out in 2017, proposed measures to attract a wave of electric investments — including £246m of funding to attract battery technology.

Weak demand and global consolidation hit UK

But demand for battery cars remains modest, with less than 1 per cent of global sales from pure electric models. Carmakers therefore want to consolidate all their expertise in one place to save costs, and this is often in their home market. The UK is feeling the effects.

MINI Cooper Concept (Image: MINI)
MINI Cooper Concept (Image: MINI)

BMW has said that while it will assemble the electric version of its Mini in its Oxford plant, the batteries will be shipped from Germany.

Read more: FT

VW e-Golf (Image: Volkswagen.co.uk)

Volkswagen Predicts EVs Will Go Mainstream In 2022

Volkswagen may have been a little late to the game for crossovers in the US, but it’s done a commendable job of catching up with offerings like the new Atlas and redesigned Tiguan. But the automaker has no intention of falling behind when it comes to electric vehicles.

We sat down with Volkswagen Group North American CEO Scott Keogh at Geneva to discuss a wide range of topics, among them VW’s upcoming EV lineup launch. Keogh believes that 2022 will be the “sweet spot” on the market when there’ll be enough EV products out there for them to become mainstream. But there’s work to be done beforehand.

“Profitability, let’s make no mistake, comes from scale. In my mind this is an opportunity to take the scale of the (VW) Group with the (all-electric MEB) platform and be one of the first to push aggressively into the volume side,” Keogh said.

“With electric cars, we can have the scale compared to many of our competitors in the US on the internal combustion engine front. When you start talking about tens of millions of cars on the platform, you can get the pricing into a good place. But if you ask me the more important thing is not on the profitability side but on the revenue side. Can we get enough people to buy the cars?”

VW e-Golf (Image: Volkswagen.co.uk)
VW e-Golf (Image: Volkswagen.co.uk)

There’s been a gradual consumer acceptance of EVs over the past few years and that will hopefully translate to solid sales. But an essential element of making a new product or technology successful is market introduction timing.

“When I look at market research in the US (for EVS), it started with ‘I don’t know what an electric car is’, then it migrated to ‘I know EVs but I’m never going to buy one’, then it went to that interesting place of ‘they’re kind of cool but they’re for someone else.’ Now, it’s moved into ‘I’m going to take a look at one for my next car.’ Make no mistake, timing is certainly a part of that.”

Read more: Car Buzz