Electric dreams and SUV boomtown: The hottest motoring trends of 2019
The yr that has only gone has seen some fairly seismic changes in the car world. To offset with, we are now fully living in a postal service-Dieselgate world. As of 2 months ago, cars tested under the old NEDC (New European Driving Cycle) emissions/fuel economy cycle are no longer allowed to exist sold, with those onetime protocols replaced by the WLTP (Worldwide Harmonised Lite Vehicle Test Procedure).
In addition to that, the EU's new emissions regulations are looming. By 2020, 95 pct of new cars sold by auto manufacturers must emit no more than 95g/km of CO2 (tested under WLTP standards, of course). By the end of 2020, all new cars sold must comply with that 95g/km boilerplate.
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Suffice it to say, the penalties for not meeting those emissions are severe, with many analysts estimating fines well in excess of €30 billion (South$45 billion), going by today'due south average fleet emissions numbers.
The knock-on outcome of all that is how carmakers have been fast-tracking their plans for electrification in the by couple of years, which brings us neatly to what is unarguably the biggest automotive tendency of 2019...
Electrical DREAMS Come up True
Tesla has gone virtually unchallenged in the premium EV (electric vehicle) space for the better part of a decade, but all that changed in 2019. The Jaguar I-Pace has enjoyed its first full year of sales in Singapore, the long-awaited Audi east-tron will exist making its debut at the Singapore Motor Testify adjacent calendar month and Tesla's biggest rival of all, the Porsche Taycan was unveiled at a gala result here in November.
In 2020, there's the Audi due east-tron Sportback (fraternal twin to the same e-tron) incoming, BMW will be launching the iX3, a fully-electrical version of its X3 mid-sized SUV and there'south also the Mini E. And it's only a thing of fourth dimension before Aston Martin gets in on the act with cars sold nether its all-electric Lagonda sub-brand.
However, whether these cars volition be successful here is a fleck of a bigger question marker, though not for want of public charging infrastructure, as over 1,000 are set to come up online by 2020. No, the biggest hurdle will come in how their almanac road tax payable, which is based on an EV's kW power output.
In the case of the Audi e-tron, that will price owners S$5,076 annually, and if yous step upward to something more powerful like the absolutely gob-smacking 560kW Porsche Taycan Turbo S, y'all could be looking at an equally gob-smacking yearly road tax premium of S$12,458. Compare that to the Rolls-Royce Cullinan, with its monster 6,749cc V8 petrol engine, which attracts a comparatively paltry road tax bill of Due south$8,250.
In one case upon a time, before the advancement of battery technology made EVs a viable long-distance option, hydrogen FCVs (fuel jail cell vehicles) were touted as the future. Technically, FCVs count as EVs too, running on an electric motor, but instead of cartoon power from a bank of batteries, it uses stored hydrogen gas combined with atmospheric air to generate electricity.
And the concept certainly is alluring. The convenience of being able to quickly gas it up equally yous would a conventional vehicle with the eco-friendliness of a battery-powered EV. The only thing that comes out of an FCV's tailpipe is harmless water vapour, because hydrogen and oxygen combined is H2o.
Thing is, the industry got sidetracked for a bit, first by diesels and at present by EVs, only now it seems hydrogen is prepare to make a improvement. Yes, nosotros know BMW had a hydrogen-powered 7 Series equally far back as 2005, but information technology'south been all repose on the hydrogen front until several months ago, when BMW unveiled an X5-based FCV at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
Elsewhere, Mercedes-Benz has had a GLC-based FCV/EV hybrid for a twelvemonth now, and Audi is also gear up to intensify its development of FCVs, perchance under the h-tron appellation, of which the technology will no dubiousness as well be shared beyond the expansive VW Group.
However, they take all been beaten to the punch by the Japanese, who peradventure are no dubiety experiencing no small measure out of schadenfreude that the groovy diesel experiment has gone so wrong for the Europeans. Honda has had the Clarity on public roads since 2008 and Toyota has just revealed the 2nd-generation Mirai in almost-production "concept" guise.
Merely don't hold your breath about hydrogen making it big here, at to the lowest degree for the time being. There are currently no plans to build whatsoever FCV-friendly infrastructure here, and fifty-fifty every bit belatedly every bit June this year, the LTA has simply only put up a tender for a feasibility study.
SUV BOOMTOWN
If there was ane automotive bodystyle that could best characterise the 2010s, it would be the SUV or its chimaera cousin, the hatchback-on-stilts that are more unremarkably known every bit crossovers.
Anybody wants in on the fun, including luxury carmakers, and even brands that have traditionally only made sports cars aren't allowed to this trend. In the early 2000s, Porsche proved with the Cayenne that not but did people desire such cars, it could be hugely profitable, and today, over 2-thirds of the cars it sells are SUVs.
This year saw the local debut of the Lamborghini Urus, and while local sales figures are hard to come past, its global numbers speak for itself. In this start half of 2019, Lamborghini doubled its volume to iv,554 units over the same period in 2018, largely off the back of the two,693 Urus it delivered.
Just last calendar month, Aston Martin waded into the luxury sporting SUV puddle with the DBX, and while it's still besides early to say for certain, sales numbers are looking extremely promising, even in Singapore. The DBX'south initial local allocation has already been entirely spoken for, with more than on the waiting list.
The only conspicuous absentee in the supercar-SUV pantheon is Ferrari, though if you believe the rumours, i will be coming in 2022 and it will be called the Purosangue, Italian for "thoroughbred".
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Quondam IS NEW AGAIN
Honestly, nostalgia has always been a powerful tool, specially with cars. Automakers constantly tap their incredibly rich history to draw some inspiration to put on their electric current products.
The most prominent example of which is the Porsche 911, a sports auto that has retained its basic shape for nearly 70 years now. The latest, eighth-generation car has a host of styling touches that harken back to models from the 911'due south glorious past, including its squared-off bonnet and minimalist, straight-edged dashboard pattern.
Further down south in Italia, Lamborghini has drawn upon a very retro silhouette to grace its very modern hypercar, incidentally its starting time model to receive hybrid (albeit balmy) power, the Sian FKP 37. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the wedge has finally made a return to Lamborghini. And why not, really. After all, that profile graced some of its virtually storied cars including the Countach and Diablo.
Withal, taking things ane stride further is what Toyota did with the Supra. It resurrected a dormant badge, and not a moment also shortly. Later two decades away – and languishing in development hell for a skillful number of those years – Toyota finally has a 2-door, rear-bicycle-bulldoze sports auto to call its ain once more.
AUTOMONOUS FOR THE PEOPLE
You might not have realised information technology, but nosotros've been living with autonomous cars for some time now. No, really. Adaptive prowl command systems that ready a condom following distance to the vehicle in front end, cocky-parking features, lane-keeping assistants and collision mitigation/avoidance features all autumn under the democratic driving umbrella.
However, what nosotros haven't seen nonetheless is the driverless machine of the sort you lot see in science fiction movies. At least, not outside controlled trial scenarios.
That's all most to change next yr at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Toyota will be providing a armada of 20 e-palette autonomous minibuses to ferry people around the athlete villages. Granted, the state of affairs in an Olympic hamlet is far from the chaos of a major urban heart and the east-palette shuttles will exist limited to 20km/h and with an operator on board to take over in instance of emergencies, merely nevertheless.
The data gleaned from the use of the e-palette minibuses will no dubiousness be invaluable when the fourth dimension comes for driverless vehicles to hit the road. If nosotros could hazard a estimate, that's probably going to be sooner rather than later.
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MOBILITY FOR THE MAAS-ES
Electric cars and driverless ones have been industry buzzwords for some time now, just what about MAAS (Mobility As A Service)? Information technology may not exist as sexy as the first two, but it could likewise bring about sweeping changes to the way we collaborate with cars.
Once more, it's not a new concept, and you might already be more familiar with it than you realise. For instance, Take hold of, Go-Jek, Uber, Lyft and other ride-hailing apps count as mobility service providers.
Car-sharing platforms such equally BlueSG, Audi On Demand and BMW'southward recently-introduced Access all provide you cars with loan tenures ranging from a few hours to a few months. This, of grade, complements existing car leasing companies which typically operate with loan tenures of a year or more.
What is new this yr is how carmakers are working with service providers, such equally what Toyota has done with Didi Chuxing in Cathay. In addition to leasing cars, the automotive and ride-hailing titans are working to share data, with the hope that city-dwellers will be able to travel smarter and more efficiently.
The other implication of such a tie-upwardly is that in the nearly hereafter, our relationship to some carmakers could be the same as our relationship with commercial aircraft manufacturers. In that we won't have a relationship with them as such, just with the service providers.
When we fly, we don't talk to Airbus or Boeing, nosotros talk to the airlines. And if MAAS takes off, that could be our future.
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/obsessions/biggest-motoring-trends-of-2019-232091
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