As has been the custom, these first units that leave the factory would serve for quality control ensuring all elements and parts are ready and available for the end consumer.

Thanks to its huge 150kWh battery the model claims to have a range of 1000km. A torque of 442.5lb ft enables the car to race from 0 to 100km/h in just 4.3 seconds. At the same time, the four-pot brake calipers will bring the car down from 62mph to a complete halt in 33.9 metres. The 4.7 metre long ET5 has an ultra-slippery drag coefficient of 0.24.

The next major milestone when we can expect more details on NIO’s ET5 model would be in the Chengdu Motor Show 2022 which would be held from August 26^th till September 4^th this year.

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Tesla’s Giga Berlin-Brandenburg plant in Grunheide in Germany is humming with activities. The manufacturing of the Tesla Semi, the long-delayed electric truck that the company recently announced would ship by the end of this year, is taking place at this plant. While Tesla semis would roll out from the factory what’s coming in BYD’s flagship blade batteries (long cells, LFP chemistry). With the first batch already delivered, cars carrying this brand-new technology would start rolling out from the factory by the end of this month. This means we would soon see entry-level Tesla Model Y with LFP batteries.

Before Tesla struck this deal with BYD, LFP batteries for Tesla models manufactured in China and California were provided by CATL. In Germany, Tesla till now produced cars equipped with 2170-type cylindrical battery cells (from LG Energy Solution’s Chinese plant). However, all the batteries that would be used now in the cars that roll out from Gige Berlin would most likely constitute a test batch, going by BYD’s battery unit FinDremas’ claim that mass use of BYD’s blade batteries by Tesla would not be seen until next year.

Tesla Shanghai produces Model 3 and Model Y and when it reaches its full capacity of manufacturing, which is not so far now, it will produce 750,000 cars per year. However, the Shanghai plant has no plans to use BYD batteries in the cars manufactured there. Tesla’s California plant produces Model S and Model X. Finally, Giga Berlin and Giga Texas can produce 250,000 vehicles per year and both plants focus on Tesla Model Y. All of Tesla’s factories running full-throttle the company can add 1.9 cars onto the roads each year.

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Tesla Semi: bottlenecks before the final shoot

Tesla unveiled the Semi back in 2017. Within two years of having revealed the model, the company guided a start of production in 2019. However, the production was hit with many delays that compelled Musk to offer some commitment in the summer of 2020 by saying, “it’s time to bring Tesla Semi to volume production.” However, soon after Corona made its entry on the global platform and it carried some separate plans for the entire world.

Last summer, a report brought to notice certain progress that the company had made in the production of the heavy vehicle at its low-volume facility near Gigafactory Nevada. This was very soon followed by Tesla unveiling a small fleet of Tesla Semi electric trucks. However, the common battery supply constraints in this part of the manufacturing world ensured that the company announces shifting the launch of the car to 2022.

Given so many delays already in the making of this car, there had been a certain breach in confidence that Tesla would be able to stick to its recent commitment of delivering the first units of the vehicle in 2022. Musk’s tweet seems to offer some credence to the brand’s announcement last year. It has been speculated that Pepsico would be the first company to try the Semis on the roads, as is indicated by a 100 trucks order that the company made back in 2017 and last year.

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Project Firefly’s new model

The first model under the third brand of the company would likely be an entry-level 4-door electric sedan in the RMB 100,000 ($14,820), as was reported by the local media outlet Yicai. This is a good option given that sedans are one of the popular car types in China. Just last year we witnessed 2.99 million cars making it to the Chinese streets across the country

Nio’s third brand will have a separate R&D system and the company is currently busy recruiting an R&D team. Project Firefly promises to offer some good competition to Leapmotor, Neta, and some other local Chinese brands. The three brands of Nio can be seen as a stepped matrix on the lines of Toyota’s Lexus, Toyota, and Suzuki.

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Maserati Gran Turismo Folgore: Specifications

Folgore in Italian stands for ‘lightning’. And the first in this lineup, the GT promises to come packed with a thunderbolt of features. The car would come installed with a total of 3 electric motors, one handling the front axle while the rest two dedicated to the rear wheels. It is expected that with this triple engine setup, the car would draw in excess of 1,200 horsepower. This is double what the company offers in Nettuno model. Nettuno is Macerati’s 3.0 liter twin-turbo V6, which comes with a power of 621 horsepower. Today this number falls pale in the face of what the new GT has to offer, but just a few years ago such a figure was considered to be impressive.

Earlier, Maserati had shared that with this new EV it is working to ensure that its powertrain has “a distinctive sound, already a unique attribute of all Maserati cars equipped with traditional combustion engines.” GT would truly turn out to be an impressive high-performance model given the fact that Maserati is a part of the Stellantis group and thus won’t shy away from using all the technology available. We would have the car hitting the streets in 2023, and it would not be the only electric car by the company to be launched in that year. It will have the company of Grecale Folgore. We will receive more input on it in the future.

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Luigi Taraborrelli: former experience

Before shifting his base to Apple, Luigi had 20 years of experience at Lamborghini and has worked on Urus, Huracan and Avantador models released by the Italian brand. He also has his contribution to the limited edition of Huracan- the Sterrato and has also worked on the Asterion concept. The experience that he carries in chassis, handling, steering, and braking systems suggests Apple’s shift in focus from electric powertrains and autonomous driving technology toward driving dynamics. It certainly hints that the much-awaited Apple Car has reached its final stages of design. When Luigi joins Apple he would team up with Desi Ujkashevic, who also has been an import from Ford. At Ford, Desi worked as the car safety development lead.

The quest to launch a car without a steering wheel or pedals or any other controls seems to have been responsible for the huge delay in the launch of this car. Apple is designing the car such that the front rows can swivel around to face the rear seats to allow for some quality time spent inside the luxury car. The Apple car is now slated to launch in the year 2025.

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British marque Mini comes out with its spectacular Aceman car concept. It is an evolution of the current design that will underpin the next generation electric Mini hatchback. This will evolve into a new compact electric crossover by the end of 2024 and is destined to look very similar to what we have in front of our eyes today in the form of this car concept.

Mini Aceman: A new design language

The design team really seems to have done a splendid job in coming up with one great design language that many brands would get inspired from for their future EVs. The car carries a certain level of funkiness that one cannot miss and it might open up a new chapter of how future EV cars look.

In 2019, BMW and Great Wall signed up for a 50/50 joint venture to produce Mini EVs in China. Since then, what the two brands have been jointly developing is the all-new Spotlight architecture. A stretched version of this is seen being used in the car concept. When the car hits production, it would position itself between the Mini hatchback and the Countryman SUV. The Aceman resembles Mini Countryman but is a shorter version. It is longer than Mini Cooper.

Mini Aceman: exterior highlights

The car has an athletic look with a high shoulder line. Walking in the footsteps of Hyundai and Cadillac, the Aceman comes loaded with LEDs to illuminate the grille in many patterns. The Aceman retains some classic Mini design features. These include the classic headlights and taillights though this time they carry a more angular cut. Also retained are the short front and rear overhangs.

When viewed from the side, the car has a muscular side profile with heave cladding on the wheel arches and the door. Shifting away from the chrome door handles seen on previous Mini production models, the Aceman sports flush door handles. Mini claims that the shoulder line, tailgate spoiler, and glasshouse design are all done keeping into consideration the aerodynamics of the car. What is seen in the car concept and might as well sustain itself when the car goes into production is the glazed roof with no strengthening bars. It gives a proper view of the roof rack that in many ways looks like the Union Jack flag. However, the roof rack is not the only place where the Union Jack theme is evident in the car. It is seen on the wheel-arch moldings and the rear light clusters.

Mini Aceman: an equally marvellous interior

The view inside the car is no less spectacular. At the front, the owner looks through a much shallower windscreen, and before it on the dashboard looks at a revolutionary circular OLED central screen. It runs on a new operating system. Built on Android Open Source Project, it is simple, intuitive, and configurable in many respects. Aceman also carries a toggle bar below, which Mini claims, has five controls, exactly like in the original 1959 version. As the car is based on the revolutionary new EV platform, it buys more real estate inside compared to the five-door hatchback and the Clubman. More space has been created by reducing the dashboard volume and the bulk of the steering wheel.

Currently, with not many details revealed by Mini, all we know about is that this next-generation Mini EV hatchback will come with a 183hp Cooper and a roughly 40kWh battery, and a 224hp Cooper S with a 50kWh pack. This would offer the car a range of 402 km.

It would not be so wrong to consider Aceman as a direct replacement for the Mini Clubman, which is destined to be phased out in mid-2023. With Aceman, Mini would look to target first-time Mini buyers.

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A little more than a year after BMW revealed the Black Vermillion version of the X6 model, we would now witness its launch in the Australian market. However, when it launches Aussie buyers need to be on their toes as BMW has planned to sell just five examples of its car. Each example, however, would feature a battery of features that will make these cars stand apart from the standard X6 M50i that they are based on.

BMW X6 Black Vermillion Edition: Exterior looks

The Black Vermillion edition would carry a nefarious look when we consider that the car carries an overall nocturnal theme. The car would be painted in the BMW Individual Frozen Black metallic paint. The kidney grille and brake calipers are illuminated by red accents that effectively contrast the metallic black paint. This is BMW’s ‘Iconic Glow’ Illumination. The kidney grille is finished in Shadow Line high gloss. The theme is complete with the rear headlights carrying a dark tint.

The car sits on 22-inch M light alloy wheels finished in Orbit Grey. The car is fitted with the Shadow Line M lights, M Sport red brake calipers, and privacy glass.

BMW X6 Black Vermillion Edition: Features inside

Inside, the car has a full Merino leather black upholstery, again with black and red contrast stitches across the entire front row. The cabin is certainly packed with loads of features from the panoramic glass roof at the top to velour floor mats that have an Anthracite finish and red bindings. The car also features an Alcantara headliner, Active Seat Ventilation, Comfort Seats, Fineline Black surfaces with aluminum inserts. The console at the center of the cabin flaunts an ‘Edition Black Vermillion’ badge.

BMW X6 Black Vermillion Edition: Physical specs

Based on the powerful M50i the car comes installed with a 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8 engine that yields a power of 390 kW (530 hp) and a torque of 750 Nm (553 lb-ft). It will be an al,-wheel drive and would attain 100km/h (62 mph) in just 4.3 seconds. The X6 Black Vermillion Edition would cost the Aussies 208,900 AUD and 193,008 AUD without the visual upgrades.

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After launching one of its most unique models, the M3 Touring, BMW has now opened up a special configurator that allows you to add all and any spec all day to this performance vehicle. You can spend an entire day, trying out interesting colours on the car. As always has been with the BMW Visualizer, the options are so many that you run the high risk of landing up in an indecisive state by the end of the day.

BMW M3 Touring Visualizer: Colour options

It is called the Individual Manufaktur Visualizer which allows one to view your tailormade configuration from the front, rear and side. There are over 100 colours to choose from. Some interesting colours are Verde Ermes, Velvet Orchid, Zanzibar II, Platinum Bronze, and Metropolitan Blue. Keeping in mind the M3 Touring’s design needs, hues such as Twilight Purple, Fire Orange, Toronto Red, Riviera Blue, and Signal Green. Some colours popular with other brands have also been included. These include Porsche’s Chalk, Audi’s Nardo Grey, Lamborghini’s Verde Mantis, and Ferrari’s signature Rosso Corsa.

In addition to playing around with multiple colours, there is also a provision to grab a jack and change the wheels on the car. The wheel options include the 19-inch Style 825M in Bicolor Black and the 19-inch Style 826M in Black. The configurator though does not allow one to meddle around with the specs within the cabin of the car.

In the end, you can save your favourite combination in the form of a scannable QR code or a downloadable PDF to come back to it later when your mind has been freed somewhat of the tangle of thoughts created by the excessive options at hand, to once again try your luck to arrive at a decision of the best configuration to buy.

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BYD would be making an official entry into the Japanese passenger vehicle market in 2023 with three models, the company announced. Earlier to this, the only presence that the company had in the Japanese market was by the sale of batteries, electric forklifts, solar panels, and commercial vehicles like electric buses and forklifts. It is the first time that BYD would be introducing passenger cars here.

The first car to enter that market would be the Atto 3 model, the sales of which are expected to start in January 2023. This would be followed by BYD Dolphin which is slated for mid-2023 and then by the all-new BYD Seal, scheduled for the latter half of 2023.

All three electric cars are based on BYD’s e-platform 3.0. While ATTO 3 and Dolphin are powered by BYD Blade Battery (LFP chemistry and cell-to-pack system, BYD Seal is the company’s first to sport a structural battery pack.

BYD is entering the Japanese market at a time when the domestic BEV offer in Japan is pretty narrow, thus giving the company a fair chance to secure an edge. Beginning in the year 1999, BYD has been in electric vehicle manufacturing for close to 30 years now. BYD has its presence in 70 countries (over 400 cities) but the focus of its plug-in electric cars has always been mainland China till now. With the company bringing its passenger cars into the Japanese market, it certainly would grab the attention of automobile giants like Toyota, Nissan, and Honda whose passenger cars have been plying on Japanese roads for many decades now.

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