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AUGUST 6, 2012 • 39
>Europe’s luxury icons embrace 4-bangers, hybrids, EVs
Diana T. [email protected]
o far it is just a trickle, but four-cylinder engines are making theirway into European luxury vehi-
cles in the United States.Four-bangers have become available
in the past 12 months in Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Land Rover products.And Jaguar, which has only V-8s on itsthree car lines, rolls out new four- andsix-cylinder powerplants this fall.
Volvo begins switching to a new familyof four-cylinder engines in the fall of
2013. Eventually, Volvo will phase out itsfive- and six-cylinder engines.
And the Europeans are beginning tochallenge the Japanese dominance ofthe hybrid and electric market. BMWplans a 3-series hybrid and will updatethe 7-series hybrid.
Mercedes-Benz has E- and S-class hy-brids and will launch additional plug-ins with the debut of the redesigned Sclass next year and the new-generationC class in 2014.
BMW will beat Mercedes-Benz to themarket with the all-electric i3 in the fall
of 2013. Mercedes launches its electric Bclass in 2014.
Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo wereproduct-starved for a few years whileFord Motor Co. tried to unload them.Now they have foreign owners: Jaguarand Land Rover were bought by India’sTata Motors, and Volvo is in the handsof China’s Zhejiang Geely HoldingGroup. They are slowly rebuilding thebrands with new vehicles and redesignsmore essential for survival than electricand hybrid powerplants.
Jaguar is launching the F-Type road-
ster next year. A smaller sedan intendedto compete with the BMW 3 series is stillat least two years away.
Land Rover finally will replace its icon-ic flagship, the 12-year-old Range Rover,in early 2013.
Volvo will replace its 10-year-old XC90crossover in 2014 when a new platformarchitecture debuts. Until then, it has torely on the XC60 crossover and S60sedan, which are still on a Ford plat-form.
Here are the product plans for the2013-16 calendar years. c
futureP R O D U C T S >
Calendar year 2013 2014 2015 2016
EUROPEAN PRODUCT PLAN
Toyota to helpBMW with EV subbrand4-seat i3 coming in fall 2013;i8 plug-in hybrid in 2014
Diana T. [email protected]
MW and Toyota have agreed to work on a sports car,fuel cells, electric-vehicle components and light-weight materials.
The agreement underlined BMW’s determinationto make its new i electric-vehicle subbrand a success. It hasbuilt a special showroom for i vehicles in London and will dothe same at its company-owned New York City dealership.
The i subbrand will be launched with the four-seat electric i3in the fall of 2013, followed by the i8 plug-in hybrid supercar in2014. There are reports that a smaller i1 city car and an i5small van are in development but haven’t been approved be-cause of cost concerns. By working with Toyota, BMW canlower costs.
Earlier this year, BMW launched a four-door coupe based onthe two-door 6 series called the Gran Coupe. A new crossovercalled the X4 will be built next year in Spartanburg, S.C.
1 series: The coupe and convertible are scheduled for a re-design in 2014. They are the only 1-series models sold in theUnited States. There are reports that these two models will berenamed the 2 series.
An all-new 1-series sedan comes to the United States in2015. The rear-wheel-drive sedan is expected to draw cus-tomers turned off by the increased size and price of the re-designed 3-series sedan.
In 2019 or 2020, the 1 series will be redesigned and willswitch to BMW’s new front-wheel-drive platform.
3 series: The redesigned sedan went on sale in February.The ActiveHybrid 3 version will debut this fall. It has astart/stop feature and an eight-speed automatic transmission
Aston Martin Vantage refresh Lagonda SUV debut
BMW 3-series Sport Wagon 1-series coupe and 1-series sedan debutredesign convertible redesign 7-series redesign
3-series Gran Turismo M3 redesign (or 2016?)debut 3-series Gran Coupe (or Z4 redesign
3-series coupe and 4-series Gran Coupe) debut X6 redesignconvertible redesign X3 refresh
5-series refresh X4 debutZ4 refresh i8 debutX5 redesigni3 debut
Jaguar F-Type debut XF sedan redesign Small sedan debut C-X75 debut (or 2015) XF coupe redesign
XK redesign (or 2016)Crossover debut
(or 2016)
Land Rover Range Rover redesign LR2 redesign LR4 redesign Range Rover (or 2016)
Sport redesign Defender debut?
Mercedes-Benz CLA debut B-class electric debut CLC Shooting Brake GLK redesignE-class refresh GLA debut (or 2015) debut?S-class sedan F cell debut Stretched S-class
redesign C-class redesign debut?GLK diesel debut CL redesign (or 2015) SL refresh
CLS refreshS-class convertible debut?SLK refreshSLS AMG E-cell debutML refreshMLC debut (or 2015?)
Mini Paceman debut Cooper hatchback redesign Cooper convertibleCountryman refresh? redesign
Rolls-Royce Ghost coupe debut Ghost convertible? Phantom redesign?(or 2014)
Smart ForTwo redesign ForFour debut
Volvo S60 refresh C30 redesign? S80 redesign S60 redesign?XC90 redesign XC60 redesign
S
see BMW, Page 44
BMW’s Sport Wagon arrives at dealerships next spring.
F-Type pays heed to Jaguar’s historyDiana T. Kurylko
aguar will launch the all-newF-Type roadster next year as ahalo car for the English brand.
The F-Type takes stylingcues from Jaguar’s iconic E-Typefrom the 1960s and is expected tocompete with cars such as the
Porsche 911, said Andy Goss, CEO ofJaguar Land Rover North America.
“We have to make sure the F-Typehas an emotional pull similar to thePorsche 911,” Goss said. “We havenot had that.”
U.S. sales of the F-Type will be few-er than 10,000 units a year, he said.
After years of offering only fuel-
thirsty V-8 engines, Jaguar will offersmaller engines this fall to boostsales in a fuel economy-consciousmarket. It will offer four- and six-cylinder engines in two of its threecar lines. Its major competitors havealready downsized their engines.
see JAGUAR, Page 43
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