Each week, our German correspondent slices and dices the latest rumblings, news, and quick-hit driving impressions from the other side of the pond. His byline may say Jens Meiners, but we simply call him . . . the Continental.
The Volkswagen-Suzuki alliance has collapsed. In December 2009, VW took over 19.9 percent of Suzuki; the Japanese carmaker, in turn, received 1.5 percent of Volkswagen. VW had hoped to learn from the Japanese how to turn a nice profit on minicars, and to ease entry into the Indian market. Suzuki, in turn, had hoped for access to VW’s electric and hybrid technology. But the partnership has been dysfunctional for almost a year now. Several projects, such as one for a jointly developed SUV, turned out to be a major disappointment; VW engineers told me back then that Suzuki’s contributions were “useless.”
In July, VW publicly said that the cooperation was going more slowly than anticipated. On September 11, the Germans gave a notice of what they perceived as an infringement of the cooperation agreement, when Suzuki opted to buy diesel engines from Fiat instead of VW. Suzuki reacted quickly: One day later, chairman and CEO Osamu Suzuki said that “the partnership is no longer compatible with Suzuki’s management philosophy of autonomous financial and operational decision-making.” But his wish that the companies part ways amicably may not come true: VW is not amused, and it is quite possible that the Germans will attempt to take over the Japanese carmaker entirely—with or without the chairman’s consent.
On a more pleasant note, Volkswagen design will get new headquarters in Braunschweig, 20 miles southwest of Wolfsburg. There, design chief Walter de’Silva—whose current company car, by the way, is a Mk VI GTI with polished Lamborghini Gallardo wheels—will oversee Group design, together with former Lambo and SEAT design chief Luc Donckerwolke.
VW is developing a new dual-clutch automatic for its upcoming modular-transverse platform. The seven-speed, wet DQ500 dual-clutch transmission, which is used for the Audi TT RS and RS3, is overbuilt and not right for the task, an Audi source tells me. After all, it is the same transmission used in the Volkswagen T5 van. Now Audi and VW will get a wet seven-speed dual-clutch transmission that is lighter and more compact.
Just back from China, Bosch CEO Franz Fehrenbach tells the assembled business press that the Chinese leadership under Wen Jiabao is less conviced about pure-electric vehicles than they used to be. Says Fehrenbach: “The Chinese are increasingly interested in the potential to reduce the consumption of the internal-combustion engine.” For reference: The Chinese car and light-commercial-vehicle market is expected to grow from 17.1 million in 2010 to 28.7 million by 2018.
Mini CEO Kay Segler tells me that while the Mini Paceman—it may also be called Countryman Coupé—is a sure thing, the small Rocketman is still under consideration. Truest to the original Mini in size and concept, it would be difficult to position in the market. Perhaps it won’t be a downsized regular Mini, but stand on a different platform and use externally sourced engines and technology.
While Mini is pondering another car, Smart is dressing up its current one with a styling package jointly developed with weSC, a Swedish apparel company whose name stands for “We are the Supreme Conspiracy,” and who has been identified as a “streetstyle expert” in Daimler’s most recent press release. The more-or-less tasteful execution includes matte and high-gloss gold panels, as well as black wheels, and—lo and behold—high-gloss headphones. Daimler says you can order yours via info@brabus.com, subject: WeSC tailor made. Just know that “the gold-plated horse-head knob, which adorns the shift lever of the WeSC original, is a one-off and not for order,” to quote the release for a last time. What a pity.
The Toyota Avensis—Europe’s Camry—has been face-lifted for the Frankfurt show. Regular readers of this column know that European customer preferences are markedly different from Americans’. In the midsize segment, the take rate for station wagons is over 50 percent, and for diesels around 70 percent. Therefore, Toyota offers two gasoline engines but three diesels on the Avensis, which comes in two body styles; there is a manual, an automatic, and an automated manual transmission. The top-of-the-line diesel makes 295 lb-ft of torque. We like the fact that there is far less evidence of cost-cutting in the U.K.-produced Avensis that in some American-made Toyotas.
Ford launched “Econetic Technology” versions of the Fiesta and the Focus at the Frankfurt auto show. The 1.6-liter diesel makes 94 hp in the Fiesta and 10 4hp in the Focus. Thanks to a stop-start system, brake-energy recuperation, and sophisticated aerodynamics, consumption is rated at 71.2 and 69.2 mpg, respectively, on the European cycle. The instrument cluster displays a blue flower, similar to the one on my recent Ford Mondeo test car. It was supposed to illustrate the eco-friendliness of my driving style and managed to wilt at an astonishing rate.
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