Georg
Kacher’s
inside lineEuropean-made budget minis are
a doomed species. Next year’s
update of VW’s Up/Mii/Citigo
family – including electric versions- will be the last. Vauxhall won’t
replace the Adam, and the Smart/
Renault Twingo co-operation
hasn’t long to live, we’re told. Why?
Emissions regulations make small
cars disproportionately costly to
develop and build – especially if
batteries are involved. One answer
is to team up with a Chinese
partner – an option being explored
for a new family of Smart cars.
The huge cost of moving into EVs is
going to produce some strange cou-
plings. VW and Ford have already
announced they’re co-operating on
vans, but Ford could also buy some
VW electric car hardware.Mercedes plans to offer 130
electrified cars by 2030, including
EVs, PHEVs and full hybrids. The
budget for this mammoth effort
is in the area of €35bn, which
includes a €25bn investment in
batteries.Next year’s new Mercs include the
GLE Coupe and a facelifted E-Class,
which gets the latest edition of
MBUX together with numerous
styling changes and more choice ofhybrids. On the exclusively electric
side, the five-door EQA puts in an
appearance in summer 2020. Good
for a zero-emission range of up to
250 miles, the sleek EQA and the
chunkier EQB will be offered with
three different battery sizes.Merc’s next S-Class will get a fully
digital cockpit, rear-wheel steering
for much improved agility and a
low-drag body with concealed
door handles. An electric EQS
variant will follow.Expect the future Mini range to
go big on crossovers. An insider
suggests the clock is ticking for
the five-door hatch, the cabriolet
and the Clubman. Their departure
will make room for the next
Countryman to have two sister
models. Expect them to be offered
in front- and all-wheel-drive guise,
powered by a 2.0-litre four instead
of the breathless 1.5-litre triple
and available in different stages
of electrification. One could be a
dramatically dynamic and stylish
coupe-like Sportsman (unlike the
slow-selling three-door Paceman,
this one has five doors), the other
a rough and tough SUV version
described as one-third Land Rover
and two-thirds Range Rover; it may
be badged Bushman.Insider
V W’s Up to go down...
Merc’s €35bn electric
charge... Mini SUVs...
Hot on the heels
of the VW Neo
comes Merc’s EQAAlfa’s last F1 car
bowed out in Australia
in 1985; 34 years on,
the new one is ready
to race in MelbourneRed Bull get a proper engine
It’s safe to use the H word again. Honda got a lot of stick for
its under-performance during its McLaren partnership, but
the Honda engine being used by Red Bull in 2019 (having
done well powering the Toro Rossos
last year) worked a treat in
Barcelona testing –
powerful and reliable.
New Brits storm the grid
Lando Norris, 19, driving for McLaren alongside Carlos Sainz,
is Britain’s youngest ever F1 driver. F2 champion George
Russell joins Williams with Robert Kubica, who’s returning to
a full-time F1 schedule for the first time since his rally crash
eight years ago. Alexander Albon is Thai, but was born and
raised in Britain; he’s at Toro Rosso with Daniil Kvyat.
Ferrari’s flying
Everything looks rosy for Ferrari, marking 90 years since the
Scuderia was founded. New team principal Mattia Binotto
(tech chief under the departed Maurizio Arrivabene) and
his crew clearly didn’t waste the winter, as both Sebastian
Vettel and new boy Charles Leclerc flew in the SF90 during
Barcelona testing. Leclerc impressed at Sauber last year,
finishing sixth in Azerbaijan.
New rules, same old promise
You’ve heard it before, but here we go again: the aero rules
have been tweaked to make overtaking easier. Higher, wider
and simpler wings have been introduced to help the cars
follow one another more closely without a battle-stymying
loss of downforce. Meanwhile the minimum weight has
increased, so drivers no longer need starve themselves.
F1 2019 A BLUFFER’S GUIDE
APRIL 2019 | CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK 21