Rolls-Royce readies for launch of first EV

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars built its legacy on throaty fossil fuel power, but it will be fully electric starting next decade.

The venerable British automaker will launch its first electric vehicle — a two-door coupe — late next year. A battery-powered crossover is likely to follow by mid-decade.

"Electric drive is uniquely and perfectly suited to Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, more so than any other automotive brand," CEO Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes said. "It is silent, refined and creates torque almost instantly, going on to generate tremendous power."

Like much of the industry, Rolls-Royce's shift to electrification is less about near-term consumer demand than it is a nod to governments racing to decarbonize. Many cities globally seek to limit or ban sales of new high-emission combustion-powered vehicles by early next decade.

Rolls-Royce will switch to electric power when it replaces core models, Mueller-Oetvoes said.

"We will go from combustion engin…

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Bentley changing its ways with EVs

Bentley will transition to an all-electric lineup by 2030, reveal its first full electric vehicle in 2025, and use the interim to hybridize its lineup and roll out a number of special editions and limited runs to say goodbye to its legacy gasoline-guzzling powertrains, including its W-12.

Bentley will take full advantage of its place in the Volkswagen Group for its first EV, which is expected to be built on the group's PPE platform. A second EV, due in 2026, is expected to be built on the SSP unified EV platform.

EV SUV: Bentley's first EV is predicted to be an SUV when it arrives in late 2025 or early 2026. It is expected to live alongside the Bentayga initially in the lineup before fully replacing the model by 2030. According to executives, the EV will boast a range in excess of 300 miles.

EV sedan: The luxury brand's second fully electric vehicle is expected to be a sedan built on Volkswagen Group's SSP platform but isn't expected to arrive until ve…

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Aston Martin pivots to electric amid turmoil

Wood. Leather. Timeless styling. Brutal performance. And a brand image admired the world over thanks to the James Bond connection.

These are some of the strands of Aston Martin's DNA. And so is another not so happy one: turmoil. Much has changed since last year's report on Aston Martin's future products.

Tobias Moers, Aston's CEO for less than two years, departed in early May, his place taken by former Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa.

There were money troubles. The company posted a loss of $347 million for the first half of the year. But it's getting a fresh injection of capital, about $800 million, to pay down old high-interest debt and invest in new, mostly electrified models.

Here is a look at what is on tap for Aston Martin through 2026.

Electric vehicle: Aston Martin says its first electric vehicle will be launched in 2025. But the British automaker has not said anything about the vehicle. Speculation in the press is that it could be a ful…

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Lucid plans EVs at more affordable levels

Lucid Motors has only one model on sale, the Air sedan in its top trims, but it has plans for a more balanced lineup with a high-end SUV and more mainstream vehicles to better take on EV leader Tesla and legacy luxury brands quickly shifting to EVs.

Lucid plans to deliver the first base version of the Air, called the Air Pure, that will bring the sedan's price below six figures. The automaker will then have to work through a big backlog, given that it expects to build only 6,000 to 7,000 vehicles this year at its Arizona plant.

The EV startup's next big move will be the striking Gravity SUV, scheduled for delivery in 2024. Lucid has yet to detail the vehicle's features or open the order bank, but it's likely to be quite expensive. The first trims of the Air to go on sale starting last year topped $170,000, and Lucid is now developing a $250,000 version called the Air Sapphire for its new ultraperformance subbrand.

Lucid executives have said they are de…

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Ford’s warning shows lingering supply woes

Ford Motor Co.'s warning last week that its third-quarter earnings will be marred by higher-than-expected supplier costs and a lack of parts is the latest sign of the lingering supply chain woes plaguing the industry.

The automaker said that inflation-related supplier costs during the third quarter will run about $1 billion higher than it had expected. Separately, it expected to finish the period with 40,000 to 45,000 unfinished vehicles waiting on parts, most of which will be high-margin pickups and utility vehicles.

As a result, Ford cautioned that adjusted earnings before interest and taxes will be about half of the $3 billion that analysts had estimated. Ford's stock suffered its largest one-day decline in more than a decade on the news.

"Ultimately, this news is somewhat surprising as broader macro news suggest supply chains have gotten incrementally better over the last few months," John Murphy, research analyst at Bank of …

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Lamborghini prioritizes hybridization for now

Lamborghini plans to continue to hybridize its lineup, but it won't have a full battery-electric vehicle until the second half of the decade, even as it continues to produce limited runs and special editions of current and previous models.

After a bad bit of luck with the sinking of the Felicity Ace cargo ship in March, Lamborghini had to extend its Aventador run to replace vehicles that were purchased and on their way to be delivered.

It's unclear how that will impact the exotic brand's product plan, but the executive team felt it was a move it had to make to keep customers happy.

The last combustion-only Lamborghini will be the Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae, then the brand's entire range will be electrified in 2024, CEO Stephan Winkelmann has said.

2+2 GT: Lamborghini continues to work on an electric vehicle in the form of a 2+2 GT, in cooperation with Porsche and Audi. The vehicle will likely take advantage of Volkswagen Group's new SSP architec…

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Maserati starts electrification journey with GranTurismo

Maserati is going fully electric by 2030. All of its vehicles will offer a battery-electric version by 2025.

Next year, the GranTurismo coupe and its convertible counterpart will be Maserati's first vehicles to get battery-electric powertrains. The line of electric vehicles will bear the Folgore name.

Levante: The crossover's top Trofeo trim gets 580 hp. The Levante may move to the STLA Large platform that will underpin a range of Stellantis electrified vehicles around 2026.

Grecale: The new Grecale midsize crossover, which has conventional and mild-hybrid powertrains, will go on sale in November. It will get an electric variant in 2023.

Quattroporte: A redesign could arrive in 2025.

GranTurismo: The coupe and its convertible counterpart get all-electric variants next year. The electric option will top 1,200 hp.

Ghibli: Production of the sedan is expected to continue through 2024.

MC20: The sports car's gasoline-powered vers…

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Rivian says it’s on track with new entries

Rivian Automotive, which has only been making vehicles since last year, already has three models on the road — the electric R1T pickup that beat bigger automakers to the new segment, the electric R1S SUV launched in the summer after delays and the Electric Delivery Van, or EDV, being built for Amazon in three sizes.

The electric vehicle startup has plans for several more on an upcoming R2 platform for smaller and more inexpensive vehicles that will likely include a pickup, possibly named the R2T, along with SUVs. Rivian says it's on track to launch its R2 vehicles out of a future Georgia factory by 2025.

Rivian, which hasn't detailed plans for its future models, has undergone significant growing pains this year — falling behind on production targets, cutting staff and reorienting its business to focus limited resources on increasing output and moving quickly on the second plant.

Analysts say this will keep the company occupied for a while, but there ar…

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McLaren gingerly transitions to electric

McLaren is positioning its supercar portfolio for the future as it shifts — gradually — from fossil fuel to electron power.

The British sports car marque seeks to transition to a 100 percent electrified portfolio by 2026, with the first full-electric model expected by decade's end.

In the near term, McLaren is sticking with plug-in hybrid technology to help trim fleet emissions without compromising vehicle weight and driving performance.

McLaren will begin U.S. delivery of its plug-in hybrid Artura in late September.

A second PHEV — a successor to the P1 — follows around mid-decade.

McLaren is also ditching thirsty V-8s in future cars. Every new McLaren model will have a V-6 and hybrid system, according to TopGear.

And McLaren could be thinking beyond swoopy cars. It is reportedly considering an SUV model in the decade's second half.

The McLaren SUV portfolio will start with one model that is "relatively low, compact" and wi…

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Lithia Motors sells Stellantis and Honda dealerships in September deals

Lithia Motors Inc., which continues to gobble up dealerships, including acquiring five in Wisconsin in September, also sold one dealership in Northern California and another in Southern California this month, as it sheds some stores in a "network optimization" plan.

The Medford, Ore., auto retailer sold Lithia Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram-Fiat of Eureka on Sept. 14 to Harper Motors, a Lithia representative confirmed.

The store was renamed Eureka Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram-Fiat. Eureka is located about 100 miles south of the Oregon border.

Harper Motors also owns a Ford-Kia dealership and Honda and Toyota stores in Eureka, said Joe Ozog, president of Ozog Consulting Group in Scottsdale, Ariz. Ozog Consulting Group represented Lithia in the Stellantis dealership sale.

A day after that sale, on Sept. 15, Lithia sold DCH Gardena Honda to David Wilson Automotive Group. The dealership was renamed Gardena Honda. Gardena is south of Los Angeles.

Jay Fran…

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Lithia Motors returns to Wisconsin with purchase of 5 dealerships, sale of 2 stores

Growing Lithia Motors Inc., which has indicated it is targeting further Midwest expansion, did just that with its recent acquisition of five dealerships from Wilde Automotive Group in Wisconsin.

Lithia on Sept. 12 acquired Wilde East Towne Honda in Madison, Wilde Toyota in West Allis and Wilde Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram, Wilde Subaru and Wilde Honda, all in Waukesha. Lithia said last week that the acquisition is expected to add $625 million in annual revenue.

Lithia has had a presence in Iowa since 2006, the auto retailer confirmed, with nine stores. In 2021, Lithia barreled into Michigan when it acquired the Suburban Collection and 34 dealerships, mostly in the Detroit area.

Most of the Midwest is part of Lithia's North Central Region 3, which includes North Dakota, where Lithia has two dealerships.

"Even though we're in Detroit, we're really not into the other major population areas like St. Louis and Minneapolis," Li…

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Tritium enters U.S. charger market with new design

LEBANON, Tenn. — Tritium, an Australian producer of electric vehicle chargers, is arriving in the U.S. market with a new assembly plant here at a less-than-auspicious moment for the EV charging segment.

Two recent industry surveys have thumped charging networks for doing a poor job at pleasing the growing numbers of American EV buyers.

One of them, a J.D. Power report in August — just as Tritium was opening its plant — said EV charging satisfaction is declining and dampening EV buyer enthusiasm.

"Public charging continues to provide challenges to overall EV adoption and current EV owners alike," Brent Gruber, J.D. Power executive director of global automotive, said when the report was released last month. "Not only is the availability of public charging still an obstacle, but EV owners continue to be faced with charging station equipment that is inoperable."

But Tritium CEO Jane Hunter knows all that.

In fac…

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