Takata has switched to a new chemical mixture for airbag inflators affected by recent widespread recalls.
The Japanese supplier has declined to detail exactly what changes were made to the chemicals, or for what purpose, however the controversial compound ammonium nitrate is still listed among the necessary ingredients.

Despite apparent evidence that the previous mixture was prone to degradation due to moisture exposure, both during the manufacturing process and after installation in vehicles, the company argues that the chemicals are perfectly safe.

“There is no admission of a defect with the original version,” an unnamed spokesperson told Reuters. “There has not been any finding that ammonium nitrate or the earlier composition was somehow flawed. We changed the composition in an effort to improve quality.”

Ammonium nitrate, commonly used for fertilizer and industrial explosives, is not believed to be widely used as an airbag propellant by other airbag suppliers. The latest report suggests several other airbag makers utilize different mixtures, primarily composed of guanidine nitrate, that do not exhibit the same behavior.

Former employees recently accused executives of orchestrating a coverup to hide results of 2004 internal tests, which allegedly confirmed the inflator problems, rather than reporting the findings to the federal government or automakers. The company’s leadership is now under fire for failing to publicly address the issue and quickly build replacement parts for the millions of recalled vehicles.

Volvo is moving forward with plans for a compact XC40 crossover, but it will likely be a few years before we see the utility vehicle in dealer showrooms.
“A small SUV is very high on our wish list,” Volvo president and CEO Hakan Samuelsson told Autocar. “There is a clear trend towards downsizing and we will provide customers with an SUV that is small in stature but remains premium in nature.”

Despite its high priority, Volvo won’t introduce the XC40 until it rolls out its upcoming Compact Modular Architecture platform. The Swedish automaker deemed its latest Scalable Platform Architecture, which underpins the 2015 XC90, too big to underpin the compact XC40.

No timeframe has been given for when the CMA architecture might be ready for production, but the XC40 isn’t expected to make production until at least 2018. When it does arrive, the XC40 will use Volvo’s range of Drive-E four-cylinder engines.

The Volvo XC40 will rival vehicles like the Audi Q5, Land Rover Range Rover Evoque and the BMW X4.

Following Audi’s European debut for the refreshed A6 and A7, the company has confirmed US launch details for both models.
Notably, several of the available engines have been upgraded with additional power output for the 2016 model year.

The latest 2.0-liter four-cylinder TFSI engine now provides 252 horsepower (up 23) and 273 lb-ft (up 15) of torque for the A6, while the supercharged 3.0-liter V6 — available with the A6 or A7 — has been retuned for 333 ponies (up 23) and 325 lb-ft of torque.

S-badged models get even more of a performance bump, bringing the twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8′s output up to 450 hp (up 30) and 406 lb-ft of torque. The RS 7 remains unchanged, however, at 560 hp and 516 lb-ft of twist.

Buyers will be able to spot the 2016 models upon close inspection, thanks to refreshed front and rear designs. A new front fascia has been outfitted with redesigned LED headlights, a Singleframe grille and revamped bumpers. New LED taillights and trapezoidal tailpipes round out the exterior revisions.

Audi will fully reveal the US-spec models later this month in Los Angeles.

Toyota is said to be moving forward with an all-new sports car that could revive the Supra name, but don’t expect that nostalgia to come cheap. According to a new report, Toyota’s upcoming mid-size sports car will carry a base price that will make the Chevrolet Corvette blush.
Citing insider intel, Car and Driver claims that Toyota’s upcoming sports car will land with a price tag north of the $55,000 Chevrolet currently charges for its entry-level Corvette. That $55,000+ asking price would represent a significant jump over Toyota’s other sports car offering, the $25,500 Scion FR-S.

Given that price of entry, we fully expect the Supra, or whatever it ends up being called, to come standard with a turbocharged six-cylinder engine boasting at least 400 horsepower. A hybrid drivetrain might also be in the cards at that price point.

BMW will also get a version of Toyota’s mid-size sports car, but the Supra’s pricing muddies that vehicle’s positioning a bit. BMW’s version of the car was expected to spawn the next-generation of the Z4, but something in the $60,000+ range might be too much to ask for a Z4, which currently list for about $49,000. It’s possible that BMW could bump the Z4′s standing to be on par with cars like the Porsche 911 and Jaguar F-Type, or the German automaker could be planning an all-new nameplate.

The entire sports car project is said to be chugging along nicely, so it shouldn’t be too long until new details are revealed.

Daimler chief Dieter Zetsche has dismissed rumors of a potential Aston Martin takeover.
The German automaker currently holds a five-percent stake in the British sports-car brand. The investment is part of a broader partnership involving engine sharing and other collaboration, fueling speculation that Daimler was moving toward a full acquisition.

“I don’t think we could do a better job running a 4,000-units-a-year company than Aston Martin’s management,” Zetsche told Automotive News.

As most global automakers continue to grow and conglomerate, analysts have speculated that Aston Martin — currently privately held — will come under increasing competitive pressure from other low-volume brands that benefit from high-volume platform architecture. The British company and its investors so far have not publicly hinted at any intention to seek a buyer.

Daimler’s AMG division is expected to develop and produce new engines that will be found under the hood of Aston’s next-generation Vantage. Separate rumors suggest the partnership will extend to other upcoming models, including a new SUV that will be built upon a Mercedes-Benz platform.

For the first time in the company’s history, Volkswagen delivered more than 5 million vehicle worldwide in the January-October time period.
VW announced on Wednesday that it delivered 5.08 million vehicles during the first 10 months of 2014, representing a 2.6 percent increase over the 4.95 million vehicle the company delivered during the same period last year.

VW’s overall European sales were up 2.7 percent to 1.4 million cars, trucks and SUVs. In VW’s home market of Germany, new car sales were up 4.2 percent to 483,500 units during the period.

However, the results weren’t all positive as sales in Eastern Europe slid 9 percent to 200,500 units. VW’s Russian sales were down 20.6 percent to 103,100 units.

In the United States, VW delivered just 301,200 vehicles during the 10 month period, down 12.2 percent from the year prior. South American deliveries tanked by 18.5 percent to 547,700 units.

The Asia-Pacific region was once again a bright spot for VW, with sales increasing by 12.4 percent to 2.47 million unit during the period. The vast majority of those sales, 2.3 million, were to customers in China and Hong Kong.

VW says it is on track to sell a company record 6 million vehicle during the 2014 calendar year.

Photo by Ronan Glon.

Lexus has announced that it will unveil an all-new convertible concept vehicle at next week’s Los Angeles auto show.
Called the LF-C2 Concept, the convertible show car will make its world debut in LA on November 19. Lexus has so far only released a single teaser image of the LF-C2, but the automaker says it will continue to drop hints in the 72-hour period leading up to the car’s reveal.

Although not for certain, the car we’re looking at could be a convertible version of the Lexus RC coupe. Rumors sprang up last month that Lexus was working on a drop top variant of its newest coupe offering, including the hotter RC F version. A Lexus RC convertible would compete directly with the BMW 4-Series convertible and Audi A5 convertible.

It’s also possible, albeit somewhat of a long shot, that the LF-C2 is a convertible version of Lexus’ previous LF-LC concept car. Lexus has reportedly approved the LF-LC for production, but the nose of the car in the teaser doesn’t quite lineup with the original LF-LC concept.

Look for all questions to be answered next Wednesday.

BMW believes the sports car as a symbol of wealth and accomplishment is in decline, and the sport-utility vehicle may be to blame.
“The sports-car market is roughly half of what it used to be. Post-2008, it just collapsed. I’m not so sure it’ll ever fully recover,” BMW’s Ian Robertson said in an interview with Bloomberg.

Before the financial crisis, global sales of the BMW Z4 and its immediate competitors (the Audi TT and Mercedes-Benz SLK) peaked at roughly 114,000. Projections for 2014, according to IHS Automotive, put the total around 72,000 worldwide–just over half the amount sold in 2007.

Slow recovery in North America and Europe is likely to blame for a large portion of that decline, but Robertson believes China and other emerging markets are also influencing the global demand for drop-tops. Inhospitable, polluted environments are not the ideal habitats for convertibles, so the opportunities for growth in many of those markets are limited. BMW also cites a preference for chauffeur-driven limousines in those cultures as a point in favor of larger vehicles.

Another likely contributor to the shift in buying habits is automakers’ expansion of SUV and car-based crossover lineups into price segments where they compete directly with their smaller offerings, and this expansion has not been matched in the sports car segment.

Today’s small, car-like CUVs offer respectable dynamics along with practicality and luxury in a combination that did not exist even ten years ago. With more choices before them, buyers may not be as inclined to compromise on practicality as they once were.

Mercedes-Benz has announced a new naming structure that will be applied to its vehicles and drivetrains in the coming model year. The brand is also launching a new sub-brand that will replace its former Maybach division.
In a bid to better align its SUVs with its passenger car lineup, Mercedes is renaming most of its utility vehicles for the 2015 model year.

The GL nameplate will be replaced by the GLS, signaling its range-topping position alongside the S-Class. Similarly, the ML will be renamed the GLE to reflect its kinship to the mid-level E-Class sedan. The current GLK will be renamed the GLC, communicating its C-Class-level positioning.

Both the G- and GLA-Class SUVs will soldier on unchanged.

Mercedes’ passenger car range will carry-on unchanged, save for the SLK sports car. From now on it will be known as the SLC.

Additionally, Mercedes-Benz is changing the nomenclature for its drivetrains.

The ‘Natural Gas Drive’ name, which was used on compressed natural gas vehicles, will be switched to ‘c’ (ex. B 200 c). Keeping with the single-letter theme, Mercedes’ range of BlueTEC diesel models will now be identified with a ‘d’ (ex. E 350 d). Mercedes’ PLUG-IN HYBRID and Electric Drive systems will both be replaced by ‘e’ (ex. S 500 e).

Models tagged as HYBRID or BlueTEC HYBRID will be rolled under the ‘h’ designation (ex. S 400 h). Finally, ‘f’ will take the place of Fuel cell (ex. B 200 f).

Mercedes’ 4MATIC all-wheel drive system will not be affected my the switch in naming structure.

Finally, Mercedes is introducing a new sub-brand known as Mercedes-Maybach. Representing a new range of super-high-end vehicles, Mercedes will launch the Mercedes-Maybach brand at the upcoming Los Angeles auto show with a models based on the S 600. Mercedes promises that the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class will be differentiated from the standard version of the car by “extra spaciousness, special seats and lavishly designed, prestigious interiors offering extensive scope for individualization.”

“The Mercedes-Benz brand stands for the aspiration to deliver ‘The best’ in terms of products, technology and services,” the company said in a statement. “For us, this means that we offer our customers vehicles that, by virtue of their different characteristics and specific flair, are able to fit in with all sorts of individual lifestyles. In the S-Class segment in particular, customers have very high expectations with regard to exclusivity and individuality. Mercedes-Maybach enables us to fulfill these desires in the exclusive top segment of the market.”

Mercedes-Maybach is the second Mercedes sub-brand launched this year, following the introduction of Mercedes-AMG at the Paris Motor Show.

Fiat’s Brazilian division has introduced the facelifted Bravo, a compact five-door hatchback that was introduced in Italy in 2007.
Visually, the Bravo looks sharper thanks to an updated front fascia with a single-slat radiator grille, a strip of faux chrome trim on the lower bumper, new headlights and a large air dam with honeycomb inserts. New alloy wheel designs and exterior colors wrap up the modifications on the outside.

Inside, the updated Bravo gains a three-spoke leather-wrapped steering wheel and a host of new trim pieces on the dashboard and on the center console. It can be fitted with a state-of-the-art touch screen-based infotainment system, an optional navigation system and a rear-view camera.

The base Bravo is powered by a 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine rated at 130 horsepower and 133 lb-ft. of torque. Buyers after more power can step up to a turbocharged 1.4-liter mill that makes 150 ponies and 166 lb-ft. of twist. Like nearly all new cars in Brazil, the Bravo can run on either gasoline or ethanol.

The updated Fiat Bravo will go on sale across Brazil shortly. It will not be sold in Europe, where the hatchback was axed last summer, but Fiat is investing over $1 billion to launch a new lineup of compact cars that will include a replacement for the Bravo.