This week's snippets of automotive news include news on Volkswagen R, Fiat Chrysler’s strike, Mitsubishi boosting development of plug-in hybrid and SUV technology and Byton’s first model.
Volkswagen R to offer more than cars:
Volkswagen R division boss Jost Capito has hinted that his brand could offer products and services away from cars. He told Autocar: “R will become a performance and lifestyle brand that matches the active lifestyle of many customers”. Although Capito refrained from expanding further, it suggests the R division could work with brands in activity industries to offer products that match its cars.
Fiat Chrysler strike:
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) workers in Italy will strike against Juventus Football Club’s signing of footballer Cristiano Ronaldo for £99m. Both FCA and Juventus are part-owned by holding company Exor. The workers’ union, USB, said the money should instead have been invested to safeguard the future of thousands of employees.
Marchionne replaced as FCA Group boss due to ill health
Mitsubishi boosting development of plug-in hybrid and SUV technology:
Mitsubishi is helping to boost the progress of its alliance partners, Renault and Nissan, in the development of plug-in hybrid and SUV technology. The Japanese brand, which joined the alliance in 2016, has a long history with plug- in hybrid and SUV tech. In return, it is receiving Renault’s and Nissan’s all-electric expertise.
Byton’s first model:
EV Byton’s first model will be the M-Byte SUV, due to be launched in China in 2019, followed by the K-Byte saloon – but don’t think those letter choices were influenced by the kilobytes and megabytes found on a computer hard disk. CEO Carsten Breitfeld said: “There are a lot of letters left in the alphabet, so there’s a lot of room for future products.”
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