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Daimler, Geely mull China as production hub for hybrid powertrains

FRANKFURT — Daimler and Geely on Friday said China could emerge as a manufacturing and export hub for hybrid powertrains jointly developed for Volvo and Mercedes-Benz cars. Earlier this week, Daimler said it would cooperate with China's Geely to build next-generation combustion engines for use in hybrid vehicles. The engines will be produced in China as well as in Europe, and Geely and Daimler will cooperate in engineering, sourcing and production, the companies said in a joint press release. "The export of the engine from China is considered to be an option," the release further said. Mercedes-Benz aims for more than half of its passenger car sales to be comprised of plug-in hybrids or purely electric vehicles by 2030. Geely is ChinaÂ’s most internationally known automaker. It owns Volvo Cars and Lotus, almost half of Proton and 9.7% of Daimler. Through wholly owned company Polestar, it builds low-volume Polestar 1 hybrid performance cars in the western city of Chengdu and Polestar 2 volume sedans in Taizhou in the east. "The companies plan to develop a highly efficient modular engine," a spokesman for Daimler said, adding that it would be used in hybrid drivetrains and manufactured in Europe and China. The modular engine will be used in cars under different marques at Geely and Daimler, a person familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity as the companies are still in the early stages of developing the engine. An Conghui, President of Geely Holding Group, President and CEO of Geely Auto Group said: “This project reflects the need for economies of scale and targeted research and development investment in clean and highly efficient powertrains and hybrid drive systems and their applications." Geely also plans to build a plant with annual manufacturing capacity of 30,000 premium EVs in the western city of Chongqing, run by a wholly owned, newly registered company, according to documents on its website. Geely and Polestar declined to comment. The plan comes as foreign automakers including BMW AG and Tesla expand EV production in the worldÂ’s biggest market, sourcing major EV components such as batteries locally and often even exporting a portion of the vehicles it builds.   Auto News Earnings/Financials Green Plants/Manufacturing Mercedes-Benz Volvo Green Automakers Future Vehicles Hybrid

2014 Volvo XC60 scooped before launch

A Chinese automotive site has snagged the first spy shots of the updated Volvo XC60, completely uncovered. While the overall profile of the vehicle remains intact, the headlights are heavily revised. Gone are the two-piece units, which featured the separate light strip between the main cluster and the grille. In place now are larger lenses, somewhat reminiscent of those found on the S60 sedan. Also updated is the grille, which gets a little wider to meet the new headlights. The grille receives more chrome, while the lower front fascia has been revised with wider openings. A pair of LED fog lights are pushed way out to the corners.
Out back, the license plate holder gets a bold chrome strip above it, and the recessed exhaust is replaced with chromed, dual exhaust outlets that have been integrated into the bottom of the rear bumper.
Inside, the instrument panel has been revised, with a large, centrally mounted speedo, featuring a digital display in the center. According to reports, this is a similar setup to that of the new V40. As such, it appears that the changes are thoughtful efforts to move the XC60 forward by incorporating the most current Volvo design elements.

Top torque-to-weight ratios under $100k, $50k and $25k

Horsepower may steal a lot of headlines, but the always-more-complex torque figure is often a critical one for both the workingman and the motoring playboy. The measure of rotational force represents the twist that can liquefy one's tires or haul one's horse trailer. Good stuff.
It follows then, that as with the horsepower-to-weight list that we assembled for you a few months ago, a list of cars that offer the most pound-feet with the fewest pounds to carry, is an interesting one to break down. Sure, there's a big difference in how the torque is applied from a turbocharged six-cylinder in a Swedish luxury sedan and a massive heavy-duty truck's turbo-diesel. But being the car/stat geeks that we are, we think it's kinda neat that those two vehicles rank near each other where torque and weight intersect.
As with the horsepower list, we've given you figures as pounds per every one pound-foot. Again broken down into broad price categories, we've got a mixed bag of 2014 and 2015 models here, too. Every effort has been made to select the most up-to-date prices and specs, and we've also to omitted some '14 cars that won't be re-upped after the ongoing yearly changeover.