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It Looks Like BMW Is Developing A Special M Car That Will Debut In 2022

December 22, 2021 admin

Could It Be A Special Edition M4?

It Looks Like BMW Is Developing A Special M Car That Will Debut In 2022 Exterior Spyshots - image 1016902 — The report comes from g80.bimmerpost. A user on the forum stated that a “very special limited edition M4 will be produced for just a few months. starting November 2022.”

The report comes from BMW Blog and g80.bimmerpost. The former caught a post on the forum wherein the user stated that a “very special limited edition M4 will be produced for just a few months. starting November 2022.” BMW Blog noted that this user has a good track record with such things, so it can’t be passed off as a baseless rumor. However, there is still no confirmation surrounding it, so we suggest you take it with a pinch of salt.

The post also mentioned that the car “mostly configured like the CSL but with manual transmission, several options (comfort access, parking sensors, electric seats) deleted, and the forged wheels off G81.”

It’s A Big Milestone And An M4 Special Edition Won’t Do It

It Looks Like BMW Is Developing A Special M Car That Will Debut In 2022 Exterior Spyshots - image 930420

All said and done, it may not be just an M4 edition. There are posts on the forum that talk about 50 Jahre models, but again, that’s something we might see during the year and it won’t be the special model. Motor1 has speculated that an 8 Series coupe that was spotted this year at the Nürburgring could be the one. But, you never know. If you were to ask us, we would speculate it to be an electric successor to the M1. However, take this with a pinch of salt, too. We would’ve guessed the M8 CSL to be the one, but this is already ruled out by BMW.

There’s One Thing That We’re Sure Of

It Looks Like BMW Is Developing A Special M Car That Will Debut In 2022 - image 1035485

BMW recently revealed that every M high-performance car that will be produced from March 2022 will feature a special logo that’s inspired by the classic ‘BMW Motorsport Logo’. The classic logo is a series of semicircles in blue, red, and violet shades. Each color has a meaning. Blue stands for BMW, red for motorsport, and violet is the unique combination of the two. The logo will be slapped on the front, rear, and wheel hubs. The classic logo has a rich history. It was first used in 1973. What we also know is that the company will come up with historically accurate M paint finishes, like the Dakar Yellow, Fire Orange, Daytona Violet, Macao Blue, Imola Red, or the Frozen Marina Bay Blue.

Final Thoughts

Now, all we can do is be on the lookout for the slightest of hints and try to connect the dots. At the moment all we know is that a special model is being planned, but have close to no idea what it could be. It will be quite a bummer if it turns out to be a special edition based on the M4. What we can vouch for is that it will be a limited-production model with an exorbitant price tag.

What do you think this could be? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section.

Source: g80.bimmerpost

Lordstown Motors Sells Home to Foxconn

October 1, 2021 admin

<img data-attachment-id="1766260" data-permalink="https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2021/06/lordstown-deathwatch-another-unflattering-sec-filing-emerges/lordstown-factory-solar-array/" data-orig-file="http://ghostridermotorcycle.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/lordstown-motors-sells-home-to-foxconn-6.jpg" data-orig-size="1024,512" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Lordstown factory solar array" data-image-description="

Lordstown Motors

The troubled Lordstown Motors has announced it will be selling its Ohio production facility to the Taiwanese Hon Hai Precision Industry, better known as Foxconn. But this is not a case of the prospective automaker offloading its assets so it can pay off its debts in full retreat. Instead, Lordstown has asserted this is a necessary partnership that will help guarantee it can still deliver the all-electric Endurance pickup truck.

Terms stipulate that Lordstown Motors will sell the sprawling factory to Foxconn for about $230 million. Two years ago, the site was purchased from General Motors for a very breezy $20 million after the Detroit-based manufacturer decided to abandon the Chevrolet Cruze. Foxconn will also be buying up $50 million worth of common stock and effectively take responsibility for production at Lordstown Assembly. However there is a laundry list of things that need to be done before pickup assembly is even an option.

The duo have yet to formalize their agreement as to how the Endurance will be assembled (with Foxconn presumed to take the lead) or collaborate with the relevant suppliers so that production can be maintained. They will also need to assemble the vehicles that will be used for the testing, validation, and verification, in order they can get the necessary regulatory approvals for moving forward.

Foxconn is assumed to be jumping in because it’s a multinational entity with trillions in revenue and ties dispersed across the technology sector and eager to expand into vehicle production. Some of its biggest clients have included Amazon, Apple, BlackBerry, Cisco, Dell, Fisker, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Huawei, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Toshiba, Vizio, and Xiaomi. Globally, Foxconn has more than a million employees and it remains the largest employer in mainland China by far.

Despite the prospective automaker having gotten itself into trouble of late (not that Foxconn is lacking in terms of scandal), news of the deal caused Lordstown shares to increase by as much as 12 percent on Thursday evening. Bloomberg reported that the stock climbed by 8.4 percent during regular hours, closing at $7.98.

From Bloomberg:

The accord gives both companies something they badly need. Lordstown Motors gets a partner that will hasten the startup’s move into large-scale production, which will help lower the high costs required to make EVs. Foxconn gets a plant in North America where it can build its open-source electric vehicle platform and do contract manufacturing for partners like Fisker Inc.

“It’s less about a facility sale than a strategic partnership,” Lordstown Motors Chief Executive Officer Dan Ninivaggi said in an interview. “You have to find a way to get scale in the auto industry. Foxconn has a vision. They’ve got enormous capabilities in manufacturing and they will be able to fill that plant faster than we could.”

Foxconn’s manufacturing prowess is irrefutable and it’s likely the firm was responsible for manufacturing at least one gaming console, computer, or cell phone you’ve previously owned. It also appears to be getting the better deal here since Lordstown had grown vocally desperate over the summer. Finances had reached a point where the company no longer knew if it would be able to reach the production phase and it is currently under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Justice over its deal to go public — in addition to some allegedly false or misleading statements made by former management, including company founder and ex-CEO Steve Burns.

While the partnership does provide the cash-strapped EV startup with more funding, Foxconn now owns its only manufacturing facility and has the ability to jumpstart vehicle production ahead of plans to assist Fisker (likely using the same facility).

On a longer timeline, this could bode similarly well for Apple’s sporadic interest in building an automobile. But it’s a little early to presume anything right now. We’ll be impressed if Lordstown Motors manages to adhere to its promise of delivering its pickup within the first half of 2022.

<img data-attachment-id="1766264" data-permalink="https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2021/06/lordstown-deathwatch-another-unflattering-sec-filing-emerges/lordstown-motors-endurance-prototype/" data-orig-file="https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Lordstown-Motors-Endurance-prototype.jpg" data-orig-size="2000,1333" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Lordstown Motors Endurance prototype" data-image-description="

Lordstown Motors

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[Image: Lordstown Motors]

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Vaccine Mandates Being Considered By Auto Industry, UAW

September 10, 2021 admin

<img data-attachment-id="1773672" data-permalink="https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2021/09/vaccine-mandates-being-considered-by-auto-industry-uaw/covid-19vaccinationrecordcardsissuedbycdcunitedstatescenters/" data-orig-file="http://ghostridermotorcycle.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/vaccine-mandates-being-considered-by-auto-industry-uaw-5.jpg" data-orig-size="1000,667" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"Shutterstock","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"Copyright (c) 2021 Michael Vi\/Shutterstock. No use without permission.","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"Covid-19,Vaccination,Record,Cards,Issued,By,Cdc,(united,States,Centers","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Covid-19,Vaccination,Record,Cards,Issued,By,Cdc,(united,States,Centers" data-image-description="

Michael Vi/Shutterstock

With the Biden administration having announced that it would start requiring companies to vaccinate employees, automakers and UAW are finding themselves in a sticky situation. Unions had previously said they wanted to hold off on endorsing or opposing mandatory vaccinations until after they discussed things with the industry and their own members. Considering Joe Biden said he wouldn’t make vaccines mandatory less than 10 months ago, employers are getting caught with their pants around the proverbial ankles.

Automakers had previously been surveying white-collar workers to see what they wanted to do while upping on-site COVID restrictions, but operating under the impression that any hard decisions were likely a long way off and left entirely to their discretion. Now the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is planning a new standard that requires all employers with 100 (or more) employees to guarantee their workforce is fully vaccinated or require any unvaccinated workers to produce a negative test result on a minimum weekly basis.

Employers that fail to implement the stated requirements could face fines of nearly $14,000 per violation, according to the White House, with penalties also doubling for those who refuse to wear masks during interstate travel. Those are potentially steep fees when you’re employees number in the thousands. Union officials have said they’re considering the matter without committing to more than absolutely necessary — though the UAW officially opposed vaccine requirements in the past.

From UAW President Ray Curry:

“The UAW has and continues to strongly encourage all members and their families to be vaccinated unless there is specific health or religious concerns. We know that this is the best way to protect our members, coworkers and their families.

We are reviewing the details of yesterday’s announcements and the impact on our members and our over 700 employer contracts.

In the meantime, we continue our member commitment to practice safety in every one of our worksites by following protocols including masks, sanitizing and reporting any exposure or symptoms of the virus. At the UAW we all understand that fighting this pandemic and protecting our families is key to our survival.”

Assuming the union ultimately decides to endorse the vaccine decree, it’s likely going to be fracturing its membership. While I am hardly against vaccinations, I strongly support informed consent and speaking candidly about this has resulted in autoworkers frequently confessing they’re similarly opposed to forced vaccinations. Many have said they would immediately quit their jobs, matching a recent Washington Post poll claiming 70 percent of unvaccinated workers would simply abandon their positions if vaccine mandates are instituted. It’s my assumption that the industry will have a sudden, catastrophic staffing shortage were it to move forward with the Biden plan.

Automakers have been similarly noncommittal, with manufacturers (including Ford, GM, Stellantis, Honda, and Toyota) stating they encourage staff to get vaccinated and want to adhere to all government-issued health protocols. But they typically steer clear of addressing the Biden plan directly, possibly indicating some hesitancy. That said, it hasn’t even been a full day since the vaccine mandate was announced and their HR and legal departments are probably wringing their hands as they ponder upon what’s to be done and the fallout it might create.

Every statement automakers have been willing to make thus far can be paraphrased into “hold on … we’ve got to think about this,” followed by a paragraph about how they believe in vaccinations and want to adhere to recommendations coming from the relevant health experts. Conversely, very little has been said about the rights or preferences of their employees.

I’m not going to beat around this bush. The entire premise of these mandates seems insane to me, bordering on wicked. As an American, I always thought the whole premise of the country was predicated upon the shared belief that personal liberties and freedom of choice trump everything else. But that doesn’t seem to be what’s coming down from the top anymore. The rhetoric being used by Joe Biden is egregiously confrontational, including statements like “we’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin” as he made sweeping assertions about how the unvaccinated are stifling national unity and progress. He also confusingly stated that vaccinated workers need to be “protected” from the unvaccinated.

Assuming vaccines are effective, shouldn’t it be the other way round? What exactly are we shielding people from when new strains continue to manifest, can still be spread amongst the vaccinated, and the shots we currently have are targeting older COVID variants that have lost steam?

The economic and social stress this is likely to place upon the industry and country as a whole will be nothing short of monumental. Protests have been erupting across the globe all summer. Truckers have started organizing in numerous countries and have refused to deliver to areas imposing strict COVID rules, exacerbating food shortages in urban areas. In the United States, the same was true for cities that opted to defund police departments. Now they’re starting to talk about strikes focused on vaccine and mask mandates while they’re already experiencing a severe shortage of drivers. Imagine if that spills over to an automotive sector that’s already been beleaguered by the semiconductor shortage, their suppliers, and every other industry you rely on.

[Image: Michael Vi/Shutterstock]

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GM Greed: No Assistance To Aftermarket Tuners Trying to Crack Open the C8 Corvette

July 11, 2021 admin

GM Doesn’t Want You To Tune the C8 Corvette

GM Greed: No Assistance To Aftermarket Tuners Trying to Crack Open the C8 Corvette Drivetrain - image 965795

Back in 2019, before the C8 Corvette was officially launched, we learned that not even Hennessey would be able to tune the C8 Corvette because of its encrypted ECU. Needless to say, the aftermarket world has tried its best to work with GM to get access to the ECU or manage to break through its security, but so far nothing has really worked.

Now we’ve learned that GM isn’t interested in helping aftermarket companies at all, with exception of Callaway, and only then to a minor extent.

This latest news comes via Muscle Cars & Trucks, which had a sit down with the Corvettes Executive Chief Engineer, Tadge Juecther. In short, GM has went overboard in terms of its cybersecurity measures between the Global B electrical architecture and the C8’s ECU. In short, and as MC&T put it, “Engine tuning [the C8] is nearly impossible without running a ton of aftermarket computers in tandem with the factory ECU – otherwise known as a “piggyback”. The process isn’t exactly without serious compromises, either, often involving a rats nest of wires, and major drivability issues.”

GM Greed: No Assistance To Aftermarket Tuners Trying to Crack Open the C8 Corvette Exterior - image 965777

According to Juecther, “our business model doesn’t really cater to the aftermarket, we have to do all the things internally between Corvette just like any other General Motors product. Our desire is to make the car as hack proof as possible to protect our customers.”

From this point on, it was pretty much Juecther going on and on about protecting customers and preventing hackers from taking over your car. When asked if GM would at least help a select group of tuners with the C8 Corvette, his answer was disheartening at best. “The answer is essentially no. We’re not going to give everybody kiers to the backdoor into our modules to do whatever they want. We think the best will figure it out.”

GM Greed: No Assistance To Aftermarket Tuners Trying to Crack Open the C8 Corvette Exterior - image 965773

At this point, most of the report sounds like little more than what GM’s legal department has drafted up for Juecther. From the outside, it seems that GM would rather force customers to buy more expensive C8s that will be available down the road or take advantage of any performance upgrades eventually offered through Chevy. Either way, if you own a C8 Corvette, don’t expect any tuners to be able to do much for you anytime in the near future, and you can thank GM for that.

Source: Muscle Cars & Trucks

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