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“I grew up, no matter what I did, trying to have as much fun as I possibly could,” Ken Block explained back in 2014. “When I grew up skateboarding, I didn’t compete in skateboarding, I just went out and had fun. Well, it’s the opposite with racecar driving. The only time I see my car is when we’re racing or testing for racing. The fun time is that time in the race.”Ken Block gets air in his Fiesta during the 2016 FIA World Rallycross event in Barcelona, Spain.NurPhoto|BACKGRIDBlock, whose influence derived wholly from his exuberant, enthusiastic embrace of life, died in an accident while snowmobiling in Utah on January 2, 2023. He was 55 years old and leaves behind his wife Lucy and three children.“I was born in Long Beach, California,” Block told Matt Anderson of The Henry Ford Museum in 2019. “My dad had his own business that had to do with the printed circuit board industry, so I grew up going to Dodgers games, skateboarding, riding BMX bikes. I tried a lot of team sports but ended up liking more individual type sports and so I ended up being a skateboarder and, later on, racing motocross just at an amateur level and eventually snowboarding.”It was the joy of skateboarding that led to Block and his friend from a San Diego community college Damon Way to form several clothing brands. And then DC Shoes was added to their stable in 1994.Skateboarders are notoriously hard on shoes, often shredding through the canvas or ripping the rubber off the soles of conventional sneakers. And skateboarding wasn’t taken seriously by big-time shoemakers. DC did and built footwear optimized to survive the rigors of the sport.The DC Shoes Lynx OG was introduced in 1998.DC Shoes|20th Century Studios“We did simple things that made a big difference, like putting nylon loops around the spots In-Depth Look at Block’s Brilliancewhere skateboarders shoe laces would wear away from abrasion,” the two DC founders said in a combined interview with Fast Company in 2003. It was Block, working with advice from other boarders, who designed the first DC kicks. And they were an immediate hit with retailer demand so high that they were instantly backordered. By 1995, the DC clothing and shoe brands were generating almost $7 million in annual revenue. “We built the DC Shoes brand by filling a need we saw in our own lives in our early 20s. Skateboarders need technical product and we developed the first technical skateboarding shoe.”But it wasn’t just skateboarders who made DC so successful. It was people who wanted skateboarding style – much of it defined by Block – that propelled the company’s success. They weren’t just functional shoes, they were an affordable fashion item.By 2002, DC was selling shoes and clothing in 52 countries and attracting $250 million in retail sales. In March 2004, the company was sold to Quiksilver for a price reported by The New York Times to be up to $113 million in cash and 1.6 million restricted shares of stock. “The sale of DC really has to do with a lot of things,” Block explained in his Henry Ford interview. “It has to do with a business partner that we had to get out of the company; has to do with sort of business fatigue; has to do with both Damon and I getting married and moving on with our lives. So there was a lot to it. We really enjoyed DC. We kept working there for years after.”As he aged through the end of his thirties, Block’s attention turned to motorsports. Not just motocross, but rally cars. “I grew up a fan of rally,” Block said in 2014. “I was not impressed by NASCAR or drag racing. But I didn’t know it existed in the states until Travis Pastrana ran some events in 2003 or 2004.”Emboldened by the independence that came with the DC sale, Block dove into rallying with utter abandon. “I came at it from the perspective that I was older and I was just going to try and be the best driver I could be,” he said.And Block was instantly fast. “If you’re not scared,” Block told me in 2008 about his attitude towards rally driving, “you’re not going fast enough. I’m so nervous I get a stomachache.”Block’s first rally was Canada’s 2004 Rally of the Tall Pines and was running a full American schedule in a Subaru WRX STi by the next year. In 2006 he won his first race at the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood. By 2010, he had won that event five straight times. Over the next 17 seasons, he’d win 23 rallying events at the national level. Going into the last rally of the 2022 American Rally Championship season, Block and his co-driver Alex Gelsomino had won four events in a WRC-spec Hyundai i20 and were in a tight battle with Subaru’s Brandon Semenuk and Keaton Williams. It was only the Subaru team’s win in that final even, the Lake Superior Performance Rally, that gave them the championship. Remember, at this point, Block was 55 years old.The allure of the World Rally Championship was irresistible for Block. “I’ve never had any misconceptions that I was going to go win a WRC event,” he told me. He ran a total of 25 WRC events with his best result being a seventh in the 2013 Rally Guanajuato Mexico driving a Ford Fiesta RS.With the i20 out of spec for the 2023 season, Block brought it to Los Angeles to have some fun before it was exported out of the country. Fun, as in “hooning.”This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.Race Car on the LA Streets!? Ken Block takes his Hyundai WRC Car out in Los AngelesWatch onBlock essentially defined hooning and became the modern hoon. And hooning is, at the high level practiced by Block, the joyous use of those rally driving techniques in pursuit of entertainment. It’s controlled lunacy that looks uncontrolled. “The term ‘hoon’ came about because when I started making all those videos is that the media – particularly in the States but a bit in Europe – was using it as sort of a term of endearment,” he said in 2014. “I think 0-60 called me King of the Hoons when we put out the first Gymkhana video. As the idea of having fun with the car instead of just racing it began to take shape. So, we started using the word more and more. And then eventually we came up with the word ‘Hoonigan’ to represent me and what I do and stand out in the marketplace.”The Hoonitruck based (slightly) on the 1977 Ford F-150.Ford Motor CompanyThe moment Hoonigan entrenched itself into the automotive zeitgeist was November 2006 on the Discovery Channel. Block launched his WRX STi into the air from a dirt ramp, flew a record 171 feet, landed on another dirt ramp and drove away. It was astonishing. Practically no one remembers that the show was called Stunt Junkies, but no one could forget the stunt.This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.Ken Block 2009 shot for Stunt JunkiesWatch on“You have to be very calculating,” the Block later understated. Car and Driver explained the physics involved in a short feature.Besides launching that Subaru, that stunt launched Hoonigan as a brand and the increasingly ambitious series of “Gymkhana” videos that riveted millions of viewers on YouTube. That in turn led to a series of fascinating vehicles featured in those videos and to the Hoonigan brand becoming yet another successful business for Block.Fords, Porsches, Audis, Hyundais, Subarus… almost anything that passed through the Hoonigan portals could be twisted into an exaggeration of itself and a star of its own kind. The Gymkhana videos involved clouds of tire smoke, iconic locations, and ever more daring antics. But they were also carefully crafted to be commercially successful.“At the base of it all I’m a rally guy – a stage rally guy,” Block told me in 2014. “That’s where I come from, that’s where I’ve learned all these skills. But as I was getting more and more of those skills, I wanted to be in the car more. When I grew up skateboarding, I didn’t compete in skateboarding, I just went out and had fun. Well, it’s the opposite with racecar driving. The only time I see my car is when we’re racing or testing for racing. The fun time is that time in the race. And sometimes, if the race isn’t going well, you’re not having very much fun. So, I was trying to devise ways to get the car away from the racing. And I really didn’t understand back then that most racecar drivers never get to do that. That there isn’t like a ‘fun side’ of motorsports. I discovered gymkhana as a grassroots way to go out and play with the car. But it wasn’t until I started doing the videos and filming it that we began exploring the limits of the car and having fun.”For Gymkhana 8, Block drove his Fiesta under an F-150 Raptor that itself driving on two wheels. In Dubai. Typical.Ford Motor Company“Economies of scale. It’s so expensive to race cars. If I was a skateboarder and I had to go do a contest in Spain, Okay, I’d go pack my bag and skateboard and fly over. But with motorsports we’ve got to fly the car over and half a dozen mechanics. And it’s a half million-dollar racecar. Plus there are tires and it’s quite, quite expensive. If you’re from Finland and you need a sponsor, because the country’s so small you get smaller money. But because we come from America… the economy of scale is Monster selling 10,000 cans in Finland and in America it might 100,000 cans because the country is so much bigger. So, I’d say on that side – raising some of the sponsorship dollars – has been a little bit easier because we’re coming from America.”Block would rise up on his toes as he spoke when something excited him. He only indulged journalists; his eyes would seem to wander around as if he were looking for anything else that could possibly be more interesting than the immediate conversation. But he never failed to engage with his fans. Even as he entered his fifties, he never seemed any particular age. He could attract anyone from any place to conspire with him in the pursuit of fun, spectacle and next level lunacy. And he was both an instinctive marketeer and a keen businessman.“I work with a lot of great companies and they all have their own distinct messages. For us to do our own fun marketing with motorsports, we needed to basically do our own thing. Brian [Scotto] and I had all these fun ideas and things to do, not only marketing wise but apparel wise and we needed an outlet. It was just easier for us to start our own little brand. Hoonigan gives me another creative outlet to work with someone like Brian doing marketing. It doesn’t take as much time as you think. And that’s mostly because I can’t help being creative.”“At the end of the day, all motorsports is really a hobby. It’s all really fun. The main thing for me, is that I just don’t pay for this. I love having a creative outlet and going out to race, and having other people pay for it.” He ran at Pikes Peak in 2022 and was eager to get back this year.Online social media was the lever Block used to communicate with his audience. And Block was posting on Twitter and Instagram from his Utah ranch during his ongoing snow adventures Monday. His last post was announcing the fourth video featuring his 16-year-old daughter Lia and the 1985 Audi Quattro she had constructed for her own pursuit of automotive thrills. The immensity of what Block anticipated for her future nearly bursts from that post.The circumstances of Block’s death can’t overshadow the substance of his life. It’s not a life that can be adequately summarized on a spreadsheet or fully reflected in a long resume. The word legendary is too easily used today; so often applied to people whose accomplishments are slight and characters uninteresting. The better words for Block are inspirational and aspirational.The all-electric Audi Hoonitron was among Block’s last projects.Audi“The main thing for me, when I’m not competitive anymore and it’s not fun anymore, that’s when I’ll start slowing down or consider quitting.” And Ken Block never slowed down.This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. More

The announcement has come from the Hoonigans Instagram feed that Ken Block, 55, has died as a result of a snowmobiling accident today. His personal Instagram account had featured photos in the snow from Park City, Utah, over the weekend.The mastermind of Hoonigan and the Gymkhana video series most recently posted a drifting video on his YouTube channel featuring an Audi S1 Hoonitron on the Las Vegas Strip.Block had a longtime partnership with Ford Performance before moving to Audi in 2021.In a post shared to rally driver Ken Block’s Hoonigans Instagram account tonight, the organization wrote: “It’s with our deepest regrets that we can confirm that Ken Block passed away in a snowmobile accident today. Ken was a visionary, a pioneer and an icon. And most importantly, a father and husband. He will be incredibly missed.Please respect the family’s privacy at this time while they grieve.”Block in a 2016 Ford Focus ST in Gymkhana 9.FordThis is a developing story. We will add details as they become available.This content is imported from OpenWeb. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. More

Oregon formally adopts Clean Cars II, setting a target date of 2035 to phase out sales of new gas- and diesel-engine cars, light trucks, and SUVs, with interim targets until 2035.California and Washington have already cemented plans to phase out sales of new internal-combustion-engine cars, light trucks, and SUVs, with Washington being the earliest with a 2030 target year.Several other U.S. states have now adopted California’s Clean Cars II framework but face a number of challenges in expanding EV infrastructure.Earlier this month the state of Oregon adopted rules that will make it the third West Coast state to require that all new cars, SUVs, and light trucks be zero-emissions by 2035, joining Washington and California. The Environmental Quality Commission, which is the administrative rulemaking board for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, became yet another state to adopt the Clean Cars II rules, also recently enacted by the state of New York.Other Moves around the U.S.Like a number of other states, Oregon is now taking steps to solidify these plans via administrative rulemaking, rather than legislation or a governor’s executive order. By comparison, the state of Washington has adopted the most ambitious agenda of the three West Coast states, setting the goal at the year 2030 and doing so earlier this year via legislation signed into law Governor Jay Inslee.”With today’s adoption of the ACC II Rule, all those living in Oregon will benefit from the cleaner air and improved public health outcomes achieved by reducing pollution from transportation,” Leah Feldon, the Department of Environmental Quality’s interim director, said earlier this month. “This is especially true for low-income and underrepresented communities across the state who live closest to roadways and have been most often impacted by poor air quality.”Like a number of other states, Oregon faces several hurdles in advancing toward the 2035 goal, ranging from current EV infrastructure in cities and outside cities, to power grid adequacy. But it’s also setting interim targets: The first compliance step for automakers is just around the corner in 2026, with Oregon (and other Clean Cars II states) requiring that 35% of an automaker’s offerings be battery-electric, PHEV, or hydrogen fuel cell by January 1 of that year. States that plan to phase out gas and diesel cars and trucks still face a number of challenges, including sparse EV infrastructure.FREDERIC J. BROWN|Getty ImagesThis means automakers will have just over three years to reach that target for sales in Oregon—a taller order for some if not for others. The admission of PHEVs into this mix, of course, gives some automakers a lifeline.”Oregon continues to see the consequences of greenhouse gas emissions across the state—with extreme heat, more severe wildfires, winter storms and flooding and prolonged drought—and I am committed to addressing the climate crisis with urgency,” said Oregon Governor Kate Brown.The state will take a number of other interim steps to achieve the 2035 goal, including investments in EV infrastructure and grid reliability. Oregon will invest some $100 million to build more EV charging stations along the state’s major highways, as well as expand their presence in rural areas of the state, which is perhaps where the greatest challenge lies for Oregon and for other states.If there is a major loophole to be seen at the moment, it is the fact that under these rules sales of plug-in hybrids will be permitted past the 2035 date if they offer a range of 50 miles or more. This doesn’t make a vehicle a zero-emission vehicle, as many critics note, so gas stations won’t disappear overnight and automakers will be able to produce fairly large and heavy PHEVs well past 2035. EVs, on the other hand, will have to offer a range of 150 miles under Oregon rules in addition to DC fast-charging capability, which by 2035 (if not today) seems quite easily accomplished. We don’t expect to see too many new EVs even past 2025 that won’t be able to do at least 150 miles on a single charge. This content is imported from OpenWeb. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. More

Technology continues to play an increased role in the daily operation of our cars. For some, the shift has been welcome: stuffing modern technology into our cars has drastically increased available creature comforts during our daily commutes. For others, the addition of all this newfangled tech does nothing but add cost and complication. Not only has technology increased the price of new cars, but every new gadget bolted to your vehicle becomes one more thing to break, further increasing your costs. Then there’s the issue of getting the tech you actually want in your car. Want leather seats? You’re going to have to step up a trim level. Oh, you wanted a manual gearbox? That’s only available in the base trim. Want a reverse automated emergency braking warning to keep your teenager out of trouble? That’s fine, so long as you don’t mind also buying four completely unrelated features. Perhaps automakers signed up for “Stuffing Riders into Congressional Bills 101” during college and decided they should make car buying just as painful. Some automakers have been toying with the idea of shifting the buying process. Rather than buying the features and packages you want when buying your new car, the automaker would grant access to the features on a subscription program. Instead of spending thousands on a cold weather package, you could pay for things like heated seats only during the cold months you need them. Cue alarm bells. Indulging for a moment in the slippery-slope logical fallacy, what next? Could companies lock horsepower behind a subscription paywall? What about safety features? Could a company turn off some features the way some tech companies stop supporting old software?Joe Lorio|Car and DriverWe were recently playing in the menus of a 2023 BMW X1 when we came across a group of screens offering exactly that sort of subscription. BMW TeleService and Remote Software Upgrade showed a message that read Activated, while BMW Drive Recorder had options to subscribe for one month, one year, three years, or “Unlimited.” Reactions from the Car and Driver staff were swift and emotional. One staff member responded to the menus with a vomiting emoji, while another likened the concept to a video-game battle pass. We reached out to BMW to ask about the menus we found and to learn more about its plan for future subscriptions. The company replied that it doesn’t post a comprehensive list of prices online because of variability in what each car can receive. “Upgrade availability depends on factors such as model year, equipment level, and software version, so this keeps things more digestible for consumers,” explained one BMW representative. Our X1 for example, has an optional $25-per-year charge for traffic camera alerts, but that option isn’t available to cars without BMW Live Cockpit. Instead of listing all the available options online, owners can see which subscriptions are available for their car either in the menus of the vehicle itself or from a companion app.Related StoriesBMW USA may not want to confuse its customers by listing all its options in one place, but BMW Australia has no such reservations. In the land down under, heated front seats and a heated steering wheel are available in a month-to-month format, as is BMW’s parking assistant technology. In contrast, BMW USA released a statement in July saying that if a U.S.-market vehicle is ordered with heated seats from the factory, that option will remain functional throughout the life of the vehicle. The jury is still out on the merits of technology-based-subscriptions in cars. Certainly, allowing customers the freedom to purchase the things they want and need, instead of forcing them to buy entire packages, is not a bad thing. But are endless subscriptions really the best solution for consumers? In 2019, BMW announced it would charge customers $80 per year for wireless Apple CarPlay. After considerable public backlash, BMW walked back the decision and instead offered the technology for free. BMW is wading into mostly uncharted waters here. The court of public opinion forced BMW to reverse a subscription in the past. If people decide these newer subscriptions are as egregious as the old ones, will they force BMW back again? Or will they instead stick to automakers who sell features outright?This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. More

It’s hard to believe that once not so long ago—at least, within the span of my own decrepit memory—Britain was the world’s second-largest maker of automobiles. Dozens of brands thrived and went forth, even after having the bejeezus pummeled out of their factories during the Second World War. While the once sprawling British empire’s authority as a global superpower stood much diminished after the war, its car plants were hot and busy in the 1950s and 1960s, spreading the glory of its manufacturing titans to the far corners of the globe.Much More on the U.K. TodayBefore many more years passed, however, a crippling combination of shaky management, insufficient investment, desperate consolidation, and antiquated facilities—coupled with near constant labor unrest—came home to roost. By the last quarter of the 20th century, there was little of Britain’s homegrown industry left standing. And then, more recently, things got worse. Today, 18 countries, including Canada and Slovakia, make more cars than Britain. And in other bad news for the island nation’s home team, car sales have gone down the loo, and for 2022 are on target to hit their lowest level in 40 years.Charlie Magee|Car and DriverModern JaguarsJaguar Land Rover, like many of the companies we talk about in our related story on the U.K. industry, has benefited enormously from foreign investment (India’s Tata having come to its rescue), but hard times, overly conservative design, and rum luck have diminished its once glorious luxury brand, Jaguar. The XF sedan is in what is likely its final model year, and the F-type is set to follow it off stage a year later, leaving Jaguar with a three-SUV lineup (E-Pace, F-Pace, and I-Pace). Thank goodness for Land Rover’s relative success, which has for now allowed it to carry Jaguar into the future, like a drunk partygoer getting hoisted over her burly boyfriend’s shoulder and delivered home. We’ll see how she feels in the morning. Meanwhile upscale sports-car makers Aston Martin and McLaren, no strangers to foreign investment, still make appealing automobiles but find themselves forced to scrabble for additional cash, often in most unfortunate and undignified ways. British Pride in ActionLower down the status totem pole, Ford stopped building cars in Britain in 2002 and trucks in 2016 and only recently announced that it would stop selling the Fiesta. (Ironically, the Fiesta bounced back in October to become the country’s number-one-selling vehicle.) In 2021, Honda closed its factory in Swindon.General Motors baled on British stalwart Vauxhall—maker (elsewhere) of what is today Britain’s number-two-selling machine, the Vauxhall Corsa—selling it to PSA way back in 2017. But the brand’s new owner, Stellantis, still builds Vauxhall vans in Luton, along with Peugeots and Fiats, and plans to build electric cars and trucks on old GM real estate in Ellesmere Port. Japan’s Toyota operates two factories in the U.K., while over in Sunderland, Nissan builds several models, including the Qashqai and Juke, and has recently retooled to expand electric vehicle capacity. Electrics in EnglandSpeaking of EVs, fully one-third of new car sales in Britain were electrified in October, a statistic that might sound more encouraging if the month’s overall sales weren’t even worse than last year’s dismal figures. Analysts blame the pandemic, inflation, and supply-chain difficulties. The latter might be alleviated if BritishVolt, which is on the precipice of receivership as of this writing, could get funding for its proposed giant $4.5 billion battery gigafactory in Teeside that would supply the country’s carmakers with the heavy (read expensive to ship) batteries they all say they’ll need. Englishman Andy Palmer, former Nissan executive and, more recently, chairman of Aston Martin where he led a less than stellar IPO before being run out of town, is leading the efforts of a Slovakian company, InoBat, to take the project over, but that might see factory sited instead in Spain, where government incentives are assured. Go Ahead, Blame BrexitOf course, no discussion of the British car industry’s dire predicament is complete without a mention of Brexit, the nation’s kneejerk decision to leave the European Union which has subjected its carmakers to all manner of costs, delays, and uncertainty. On our tour of several U.K. carmakers, none failed to mention it, and while they spoke somewhat reservedly and often in hushed tones, given its political volatility, the sad and disgruntled looks on their faces—with a touch of “we told you so” in their words—were yet another demonstration that the decision once narrowly approved by the British public (and now considerably less popular) appears to have hurt not only that public but also the companies who supply their cars.After the nuclear winter, it has been said, bright shoots will arise from the rubble. As the accompanying feature illustrates, the U.K.’s cottage carmakers remain resourceful and vital, as has its long-dominant network of race-car builders and suppliers. I remain hopeful that volume manufacture will continue here and that overall car sales will regain their luster. Because while the sun may never set on the British Empire, when it comes to building automobiles, one of our favorite—and, once upon a time, most consequential—distant stars has been occluded for too long. Call me an optimist. But I just know the glass is 1/8 full. This content is imported from OpenWeb. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. More

The Inflation Reduction Act made big changes to how the federal government incentivizes electric-vehicle purchases when it was enacted last fall, removing overall sales from consideration in favor of monetary limits and domestic production and sourcing.But the IRS hasn’t yet said how it will calculate the sourcing requirements, which means we’re about to enter a strange period for EV buying in which some of the old rules are gone, but not all of the new rules have kicked in.We expect the Chevy Bolt EV and EUV to have a good few months of sales, as GM already reduced prices by around $6000 for 2023, and the electric hatchbacks will now, somewhat surprisingly, qualify for the full $7500 tax credit on top of that until at least March.It’s been more than a little frustrating for those of us covering electric vehicles these past few months. Automaker representatives would not say clearly whether or not their EVs would qualify for the tax credits under the changes introduced in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Turns out it wasn’t their fault. The federal government didn’t make the rules 100 percent clear, and now EV shoppers might be able to take advantage of that confusion for the next few months.We’ve published explainers about how the IRA changed EV tax incentives, but they were necessarily vague about some details. That’s because the U.S. Department of Treasury won’t actually issue some of the proposed rules until March, and that’s the delay that will open up a loophole on January 1. Power ShoppingTo set the stage, remember that the IRA changed the EV rules from the straightforward overall limit of 200,000 qualifying vehicles per manufacturer. Now, for an EV buyer to get the tax credit, there are MSRP and income level limits, and the vehicle needs to be, without getting into the details, made in America with battery components sourced from a country with which the U.S. has a free-trade agreement. The maximum credit is worth $7500, although if the battery minerals aren’t sourced correctly, the maximum value of the credit should be half of that, or $3750. But some of the language in the law wasn’t specific—especially with regard to sourcing—and that means the appropriate federal agencies have to explain what it means.Oh, Good, a Government Explanation The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released three minor clarifications this week. The first was an updated list of which vehicles qualify for which level of credit. Second, the IRS clarified the incremental cost for commercial clean vehicles in the coming year. This will allow tax credits to be claimed on EVs under “commercial” use, which includes leasing or ride sharing, without consideration of where the vehicles are made. Third, the new MSRP limits were explained, and the IRS said that the “placed in service” date mentioned in the tax credit is when you take possession of your new EV, not when you bought it. Check out the Treasury Department’s new FAQ page; somewhere in there, you may find the answers to your questions.So Here’s the LoopholeThis brings us to the loophole. There was no clarification issued for the sourcing provisions in the IRA, and the IRS said it won’t release this proposed guidance until March. The delay creates a window for a subset of vehicles like the Chevy Bolt EV and EUV and any Teslas with a price tag under $55,000. These EVs are not eligible for any federal tax credits at the end of 2022 because GM and Tesla each sold more than 200,000 EVs, but they’re about to qualify again. The rule about 200,000 sales goes away January 1, and new rules about MSRP and income limits and sourcing take effect. Since the IRS isn’t saying what the sourcing rules are, electric vehicles that meet the other requirements can qualify for the full $7500 credit starting January 1. For Tesla, that means a maximum price of $55,000 for the Model 3 and five-seat Model Y, and $80,000 for the seven-seat Model Y EVs. All the Bolt variants will qualify for the full $7500, and since GM lowered the price of the 2023 Bolts by around $6000 compared to the 2022s, the new-model-year Bolts will be a particularly hot deal as long as you can take delivery of your new EV before the new sourcing rules come into effect. “The information released today is an important step to clarify the new requirements for consumers, businesses, and state and local governments planning to buy electric vehicles soon,” said Ben Prochazka, executive director of the Electrification Coalition, a nonprofit organization that promotes the widespread adoption of plug-in vehicles. “While the proposed guidance for sourcing provisions was not released today, a whitepaper on the direction the Treasury Department may take was released. The whitepaper helps clarify as manufacturers identify which vehicles may be eligible for the tax credits and when the new requirements go into effect.”Even now, the IRS isn’t able to provide the full EV tax credit picture. While the agency now offers an updated list of which vehicles qualify, it is not complete and “will be updated over the coming days and weeks so consumers looking to purchase a new clean vehicle in the new year should be sure to check it regularly.” No kidding.This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. More

Change has come to Lotus Cars, as a trip to its longtime home in Hethel—set amid the gentle, rolling farmland of Norfolk, England—soon reveals. New (since 2017) owners, China’s Geely have infused billions, enabling Lotus to commit to an all-electric future, dramatically increasing production, and more than doubling its number of workers in England, while launching an electric SUV, Eletre, to be built at a massive new factory in China’s Wuhan, capable of churning out 150,000 “lifestyle” cars annually, only slightly less than Lotus’s total production over its entire 72-year-history. Company executives can also speak now about future model plans in ways that don’t elicit disbelieving guffaws, such as in 2010 when one briefly tenured Lotus captain, Dany Bahar, rolled out five half-baked “new” future models at a Baldwin brother–festooned Hollywood launch event, not long before departing the cash-strapped company by trap door. New managing director Matt Windle assumed the post in 2021, having worked at Lotus as an engineer and also at Tesla, which orientation and experience, one suspects, bode well for his priorities. He spoke with Jamie Kitman in an airy office in one of the company’s new buildings.MW: Welcome to Lotus. This building we sit in, the Chapman Production Centre, is all brand new. Over the last three years at Lotus, we’ve spent a hundred million (pounds) in facilities investment and on three factories: One that we sit in here is for Emira. One over there [pointing] for Evija, and then we’ve also got a new factory in [nearby] Norwich that’s doing all of our chassis and a lot of our mechanical stuff.More on the U.K. IndustryThe pace of change has been massive. Hopefully you see that from the last time you were at Lotus, the difference around the site and the preparation. But it’s not just what you can see on the surface. It’s IT systems, the high-voltage system—we didn’t have enough power coming into the site. We’ve done all the roadways, we’ve done a new staff restaurant, and all those types of things which have been really important in bringing this business up to date, ready for the challenges that we’ve got going forward.C/D: Can you describe the state of the U.K. car business, of which Lotus is a part—and increasingly a large part?MW: It’s as difficult as it’s ever been. It’s not just COVID, but Brexit as well. Our cost of dealing, cost of invoicing and logistics have gone through the roof, [worsened by fuel] costs because of the war in the Ukraine, and inflation. So, it’s as hard as it gets. But we’re still smiling, we’re still trying to go strong. And I think the element that is positive for us is the strength of the order book—so strong for Emira particularly—that it gives you the confidence that you just need to keep fighting through these issues and keep going, really.You may have heard we have a little bit of political turmoil at the moment. You can kind of come [to Britain] every six weeks and see a different prime minister. So the outlook for us as far as relationships with the government and things is shifting as well. But that’s where I can see that Lotus is blossoming, that we are having those interactions with the government now. They want to know what our strategic plans are because we are going to be the first volume sports car manufacturer in the world that commits fully to go into battery electric vehicles. Emira is our last internal-combustion mass-production car. And that aligns perfectly with what our government policies are around zero emissions and the industrial revolution, if you like, to the green economy.C/D: Electric is Lotus’s future and we’ll get to that, but what about the Emira?MW: Well, we’ve taken over 10,000 orders for the Emira, and a third of those are from the States. We launched the car just before Goodwood last year. And between then and Goodwood this year we sold more cars in one year than we sold in the previous six years combined. So yeah, as far as sales goes, it’s very strong.2023 Lotus Emira.LotusI was out [in the States] there for the Lotus Owners Gathering that was in West Virginia. And a lot of the owners there had their first drive of the car, and they were really, really pleased with it as well. [The U.S.] is an incredibly important market for us. I’ve been out there quite a bit. Know the team over there. We’re expanding the dealer network over there as well. For us, it’s an area of growth, a market that we really want to develop. We need to grow the team.C/D: The Evora was a great car, but didn’t sell especially well in the States. We loved it, but there were many who were convinced that it didn’t warrant a luxury price tag. How is the Emira going to change that equation?MW: We’ve got a lot of work to do, we recognize that. You asked the question about whether the brand can take it to that next level of luxury. And it can. But we realized we were starting from a pretty low base. I agree on Evora as well: It was an amazing car to drive, but it was a bit of a compromise to own, wasn’t it? And we realized if we were going to grow our volume to the ambitions we have for the sports cars, we needed to make something that was more accessible.The Emira’s on the same wheelbase as Evora, so you could say it’s a similar car, but everything’s new on it. And what we’ve looked to doing is ingress/egress, storage, cupholders, which obviously was always a criticism, but we’ve got cupholders now. The interior is brand new, electrical architecture with displays and information that you would expect. It’s a car like people are used to, but then under the skin [it’s a Lotus].Quality was a big, big thing for us that we knew we needed to step up if we were going to go into a volume market. So we’ve invested in fully automated assembly. It’s not a monocoque, but if you want to call it the “monocoque” part of the car, the chassis to the body sides to the bulkheads to the roof, that’s all automated in production. And we’re seeing accuracy of that at about 99.7 percent against where it should be as a target [versus an estimated 85 percent before.] You probably won’t get any better than that. And so we know that core of the car is absolutely spot on. And then from there building out, it’s given us a much better-quality car, with fully automated, cloud-based inspection systems that can spot defects or misalignment.We have new electrical systems, LED lights, all of those comforts that everybody expects is now on the Emira. There is a bit of a price to pay with the weight because of the [new] content we put in there—it’s around a 1400-kilo (3087 pound) car. To compensate for that, we widened the track, we’ve increased the wheel size. So dynamically it’s as good as an Evora. It’s not quite as light, but it’s as good as an Evora, and with those comforts.C/D: With some notable exceptions, dealer support and quality in the U.S. haven’t been anything to write home to mother about, either.MW: I can understand the frustration. Because [our dealers] really haven’t made much money out of us over the last 25 years. So why would you get excited if you know can sell some Ferraris and make some margin, you’ve got a Lotus that you’re not going to make much on? But again, we understand where we’re coming from, and I can’t apologize for what’s gone before, I can only look forwards. But we’ve invested a lot in the dealers this year. We had a global dealer conference here so we invited them over, brought them into our confidence, showed them the Type 133 which will launch next year, the E-segment sedan that’s coming, off the Lambda platform [shared with the Eletre] and fully electric.They came here and then from nothing [to sell], they were looking at the Evija, Emira, and Eletre that are being launched in March, and what’s coming next year. The dealers I’ve met traveling around the States seem really good, and we just need to give them the opportunity by giving them the product. You quite rightly said Lotus’s resurgence will be through product, it won’t be through talking about it, and I think, dare I say, that’s been tried a bit in the past and didn’t work. So we just need to get the products that are out there that are right.Lotus Evija.LotusC/D: Some of the wags in the British press corps I’ve been talking to since arriving in the U.K. have suggested that the Evija isn’t selling. I’ve read otherwise. What is the truth?MW: Well, we have sold Evijas. And the [limited edition] Fittipaldi Evijas are pre-sold. But the program I always talk about is the one that got impacted most by COVID, which is where we started. Evija was out testing, we were in America, we were Germany with it in 2020, and we had to bring it back and it kind of sat on the shelf for about a year.So, it’s only now that our customers have driven it. Fittipaldi customers were here at the weekend, they drove the car. The first time we put customers in the car, and I can tell you they got out very happy with their purchases.And yeah, selling cars in that [price] bracket ($2.1 million in the U.S.) is different. It’s not like the Emira where you could pick up hundreds of orders in a week. It’s a slow process, and it’s a lot of money. People want to know that they’re going to keep the value in their money.I think Lotus can go [upscale], and we are going there. We wanted to do it [with the Evija] though more as a halo project. Something to put Lotus back on the map. Particularly in States where our representation was very small, where people are like, “Oh do you know Lotus?” “Oh yeah, yeah. The Formula One team.” “They still make cars.” “Really?” So it was kind of like we needed to do something with the brand to get that back.Our dealers are really excited about the Eletre as well. It’s hard to build a brand back up from what we were. Or even to build a brand up, because it’s never really been where we are trying to go. But we’re getting there.And there’s no pressure. We’ve said with the Evija, we’ll do up to 130 [total units], but if we don’t get there, that’s not an issue for us either, really. It’s not as if we’ve got to sell that number to make the business case work. It was never that type of project. It was more about showing what we could do, innovation, creating a halo product, resetting the design DNA as well. So from Evija, into Emira, into Eletre, you can see where that link is through in those cars as well because that’s what we needed to do.So I’m pretty relaxed about the Evija. I like to call it the best car in the world that nobody really knows anything about. And I would say watch this space in 2023, because we have some interesting things planned for that car. It can’t go racing, but it could do a lot of speed stuff. Some records are out there we’re looking at. Our simulations are looking very good.C/D: Americans are historically suspicious of Chinese investment, business practices, and quality controls, yet Geely seems really sensitive as corporate backers go. Volvo’s experience with them seems far more positive than not, certainly. That they would have the vision to see Lotus as an opportunity that they would want to be involved with, and that they would invest heavily in and let people get on with what they do best is impressive. It’s almost by definition something that’s a long-term project. You can’t turn it around in six months and say everything is where we need it to be. So how have you found them and how much has it made possible? Could you imagine a better benefactor?MW: No, I don’t think I could, to be honest. And I think you reference Volvo there and a lot of people worried about the brand and where it was going to be. And I always say I think Volvo’s more Swedish now than it was when it was taken over 11 years ago. And what they’ve done, you can see with Volvo, you can see with Polestar, it’s a product offensive. They like to take over an undervalued or under-invested brand, invest in building that brand, and do it through products.And quality, for where we want to get to, is the biggest investment you need to make. You can’t do it in a short period. So the Emira is a big jump on for us. And then going further on when we increase our volume as far as the sports cars are concerned, you’re then getting into areas where you can invest in metallic panels and the tooling that comes with metallic panels because you’ve got the volume so the quality starts improving.With Geely, quality is the one thing they talk to me about all the time. It’s our first KPI [key performance indicator] we measure. We don’t measure output, we don’t measure cost, we measure quality first. And again, I’ll show you when we walk through the factory, you’ll see where we’re trying to get to is a no-fault forward. Historically here you’d kind of get a car at the end of the line and it’d be like, “Right, it’s got a few problems with it, you’ve got to work it out.” Now the mentality is it does not come out your station unless you’ve got that quality, and you are responsible for that. I think as a backer Geely is incredibly demanding, yet they’re incredibly supportive as well. The strategy we went to them with, they’ve backed. Obviously since then we’ve had COVID and we’ve had wars and bits and bobs. It’s not just a little bit off course, but they’ve never wavered. They’re just like, “We can see where you’re going.” My CEO was here in September, first time he’d been here for three years, and he actually said, “You can now see the light at the end of the tunnel with this business, where it’s going with the product.” The order book is what that assumption is based on. We had a plan called Vision80, which was the new products moving to battery-electric vehicle production in China, global operation. We’re halfway through that plan, and we’re smack on where we want to be. Some of the cars, the Emira for instance, is a bit late to market but it’s ready to go.As a sports car manufacturer, we will be the biggest in the U.K.—that’s my aspiration—and they’re backing us all the way. It’s demanding and yeah, I do feel like I’ve worked about 15 years in the last five, but it’s also rewarding and I think the love is there for this brand. I’ve worked in some startups where you’re trying to establish a brand and it’s really, really hard work. The love for the Lotus brand is so big that it deserves to work and it deserves to have the right products. We’re keeping that link to the past and respecting the past, and Geely is all about that as well. They love the history. C/D: Let’s talk for a second about selling Lotuses in China, where you’re expected to sell a lot. And with the huge capacity at the new factory there, it seems like much of Lotus’s fate is in the hands of that relatively young automobile marketplace.MW: Yeah, there’s a massive dealer network being set up there: 51 new dealers between now [and next October]. It’s huge. The pace of change there is incredible. And here as well, where we are building a new brand experience center in London, going in on the corner of Piccadilly and Berkeley [in Mayfair]. Open March time. They’ve done something similar in Shanghai. China will be a huge part of the Lotus market.Because of the investment model, under Group Lotus, there sits two companies, Lotus Cars, which I manage, which is the sports cars bits. And then there’s Lotus Technology. Lotus Technology is working on the lifestyle cars as we call them in China. C/D: Oh really? A different engineering team?MW: Yeah. In some areas like attribute setting, dynamics, they use our services and then for software, IT, and more importantly autonomous driving, we use their services, so we kind of cross over.The Eletre for instance has gone autonomous driving Level Four. [It has a] smart, intelligent cabin, all of those things that we haven’t quite got in the sports cars yet. We haven’t got that experience in our engineering, but that technology, as is needed for sports cars, will come across as well. This is what I was saying about the quality and content of the sports cars as we go forward will just be improved because we’ve got this other area of the business as well.From the C/D ArchiveC/D: What about the sports cars going forward? MW: Next up is the Type 135, our next-generation sports car, which will be all electric, in 2024–25. We will be building that here in Hethel, and we will need to put in significantly increased production capability for that. The Emira will be produced and sold alongside of it, though we expect it to outsell [the gasoline-powered car].C/D: Is there hope for something smaller, cheaper, and electric? MW: It’s not in the plan at the moment. If you’re talking about an Elise [replacement], which we’ve been asked about before, I hope it’s an area somebody else will pick up. If I’m totally honest, there just isn’t the margin in those cars for what we are investing in product development.C/D: Yeah. It seems to me that there would be a way to make money selling a stripped-down simple car that was as light as it could be, and yet electric.MW: That may be in the future, [but] the problem at the moment is internal combustion engines have got to a point where they’re quite cheap because there’s millions of them, and they’re developed, and battery-electric systems are still quite a new technology, and the numbers of them are quite low. So as demand grows and investment in R&D in those systems, yeah, the prices will probably come down. We’ll probably end up in 10 or 15 years’ time with something that’s the size of a laptop that can go 300, 400 miles, and then we’re laughing. This content is imported from OpenWeb. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. More

The eyes of retro enthusiasts, Great Britain division, bugged out when a prototype electric van inspired by England’s classic Morris J-Type (introduced in 1948 and built through 1961) broke cover in 2017. It’s outwardly a faithful tribute to the iconic original—a common sight in postwar Britain and the Commonwealth nations. The re-creation’s maker, Morris Commercial, claimed the reimagined machine would boast not just its inspirer’s adorable, bug-eyed looks and same world-beating volume-to-footprint ratio, but also electric power and a body made from scrap carbon fiber. As with all automotive startups, however, the devil has been going from prototype to production, and the road getting there is long and rocky.Charlie Magee|Car and DriverThough it has but two prototypes to show for itself five years on, one of which we would drive, the story of Morris Commercial spans close to a century. With an international cast of characters, it’s a stemwinder of a tale, albeit one whose last chapter has yet to be written.Brace Yourself for a Bumpy RideMorris Commercial Cars was the world’s largest commercial-vehicle manufacturer in the 1950s. In 1968, the one-time BMC brand was folded into the nationalized conglomerate British Leyland and saw its name retired. From there, it became a winding path: its parent company was renamed, merged, bought out by management, and sold to a private equity firm and then to Russian owners. In 2009, now called LDV and again headed for bankruptcy, the company had its assets acquired by Qu Li’s Eco Concepts, a purchase that generated much tabloid interest. Charlie Magee|Car and DriverMuch More on the U.K. TodayA China-born engineer with family ties to Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), Li, who had emigrated to the U.K. years earlier but traveled extensively between the two countries, quickly sold many of the assets of LDV to SAIC. Li was an outlier in the British industry for being a woman and Chinese, and she faced harsh criticism for having worked closely with the “Phoenix Four.” That was the briefly celebrated quartet of British businessmen who rescued MG Rover from extinction for minimal personal investment in 2000 after BMW pulled the plug, only to drive the firm into bankruptcy while walking away with large piles of cash. Their actions led to the British government’s disqualifying them from holding any corporate directorships. Heightening the Phoenix story’s tabloid appeal, consultant Li was reported to have had a romantic relationship with one of the disgraced quartet, Nick Stephenson. Thanks to her, many of the British firm’s assets were sold in bankruptcy to China, where both her parents worked in the auto industry and where her connections clearly helped. Charlie Magee|Car and DriverBut Li, who has lived in Britain for more than 30 years and holds Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering and materials, claims her goal is to help restore Britain’s vehicle industry. With this in mind, she kept the Morris Commercial name and intellectual property for what she hopes will be her big play. It Looks Sincere from Here While public enthusiasm for the cute EV van known as JE has been enormous, the British popular press has expressed considerable skepticism about the venture. But if Li’s goal was merely to make some quick cash, our recent visit to the company’s headquarters in the sleepy Cotswolds village of Hinton-on-Green, suggest she’s chosen a funny way to do it. Charlie Magee|Car and DriverFor instance, unusually in these days of electric-car fever, Li said the company will not be taking customer deposits until the siting of its small-production factory is confirmed. Before then, it’s “irresponsible to take their money. We also agreed that money will be put aside in an escrow account. We will not touch that money until we come to the point when we can say [choose your vehicle].” Nor will there be an IPO before then. Wise choices, both, we’d say.Charlie Magee|Car and DriverCharlie Magee|Car and DriverWe met with her at the company’s property, on the bucolic site of an old train station, where a series of cleverly conjoined shipping containers provide office space for a skeleton staff of 15. “The facility is quite small moment, but we are in the process of finding a manufacturing location,” she said, suggesting that a pilot production line might be running by the third quarter or fourth quarter of 2023. Limited production is the goal. “We are going for small-volume production, a bit like a Morgan.”We’re working really hard on a shoestring, with very small core team, because when you’re growing too fast, you’ve lost control. You just spend money for no reason. We didn’t do that. We are quite small still, but we are expanding now—[it’s] a little bit scary really, trying to get people and expanding.Charlie Magee|Car and Driver”For me, I think we will have succeeded when we start to deliver to the customer with a reasonable order book and deliver vehicles that people are happy with. A reliable product. But all products need further development. From that point, it really needs bank investment to get to volume production.” From there, Li and Morris Commercial executive John Killick explained, the goal will be to take on substantial outside investment, even possibly selling the company on to others with deeper pockets.With her background in light trucks and vans, Li said, she became convinced that a purpose-built EV was the best strategy. But why use the form of the J-type? “It’s a classic design. I’ve been involved in van production quite a bit, but I don’t really believe vans have to be ugly or have to be white, because I like pretty things.”Picture This Van with a Red Bull Logo Proof of the wisdom of Morris Commercial’s retro strategy, Li said, has come in visits from Red Bull and the Royal Post Office (which bought one-third of the original J-type van’s production), both of which have expressed interest in the van with the old-school looks and modern purpose-built electric architecture.”The gross weight of our vehicle is 2.5 tons, which is lighter than the smallest van in the sector currently. But ours has a one-ton payload, which usually you get from vans weighing 3.5 tons. None of them have this combination with one ton payload with 200-plus miles of range,” courtesy of a skateboard chassis and structure that bears no relation to an internal-combustion-engined van.Boxes That Deliver”We have quite a wide spectrum of industry very interested in our vehicle,” she added. “A lot of them want to be different. Food and drink, coffee shops, et cetera. And we have lots of retail shops interested. Also sports—we have huge following by racing teams, and motorbike racing teams because you can put a motorbike on the back. Florists, bicycle shops, auto parts dealers. Interior designers, who also like something different. It gives them credibility as well as advertising their business. We also have musicians, who could put their drums and the equipment in the back.” A minibus version for transport of passengers is also in their plans.”It’s really interesting, though, [that] tradesmen, actually, are our largest group of pre-orders. Electricians, plumbers, property services, laundry collections, carpet fitters. Particularly if they’re working in London, in the cities [with emissions-free zones].”When asked if she felt her path in Britain’s auto industry had been hindered by the fact of her being a woman, Li said, “Many years ago, I did tooling designs. I had an appointment to visit LDV Vans. That was a few years before I bought it. I went into the factory, and the guy who was seeing me, a senior engineer was like in shock. Because of my name, he didn’t really know it would be a woman he’s meeting. He said, ‘I don’t know how to start this conversation. This is not a fashion factory, this is a manufacturer, metals manufacturer.’ I said, ‘Just start anywhere. I’m an engineer, I should be okay.’ ‘No, no,’ he said, ‘This is not something you would understand.'”I said, ‘Well, maybe you could show me around the factory.’ So, he walked me around the factory. I said, ‘This is a clearing press and a furnace, you don’t need this and that. It’s quite old now, isn’t it? You need electronics to change it for some automation.’ He looked at me. ‘How do you know this?’ I’ve bought a lot of presses, set up presses. After, we walked back and he said, ‘You know everything.’ I said, ‘Well, I’ve been in this industry for quite a while,’ so now he could start to have a conversation with me.””A few years later, I bought the company.” This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. More