The Business Motoring Week | July 27, 2018

Updated new Porsche Macan

THE Porsche Macan, darling of the business motoring world, is a sure sign of success for SMEs.

A bloke down the road from me with a property maintenance firm has one in his drive; another who owns a small building firm a bit further away has the Turbo version outside his house.

In all, Porsche says there have been 350,000 Macan deliveries since 2014. And now, in 2018, the Porsche Macan is getting something of an update.

The changes were revealed in Shanghai – and Porsche says the reveal was specific to the Chinese market. But we think it gives you a very good idea of what the new Macan will look like when the SUV is given its European debut at the Paris Motor Show. Details here.

Ford testing AVs — Ford testing of autonomous vehicles has been underway for many years, but will now be integrated in a specialist division

Ford undergoes massive changes as it prepares for autonomous and electrified future

Look – no hands! If you thought the advent of autonomous cars was a sort of pipedream, then just understand this: Ford is investing $4bn in autonomous vehicles.

But that’s not all.

Ford is cracking on into the electrification market with its own Team Edison, responsible for developing and bringing to market next-generation electric vehicles. This includes a complete rethink about the ownership experience; how vehicles are charged; over-the-air updates – the sort of thing Tesla does now.

It doesn’t stop.

There’s a reorganisation of Ford’s Global Operations division to include Information Technology as well as the company’s global order-to-delivery system. And a move to flexible vehicle architectures and more common parts across models.

Ford wants 70% of a vehicle’s engineering to be from the common architectures; and just 30% for customisation of the vehicle (ie the way it looks, it styling). It also wants more human-centred design.

In all, it’s a massive re-articulation of Ford’s ambition for the future. Don’t underestimate the impact. When Ford moves, so does the auto industry. Read more here.

WLTP: how a four letter acronym will affect your business motoring

They are just four letters from a pretty terrible acronym, seeing as it stands for Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure. So, as acronyms go, it’s not very accurate.

But one thing WLTP does plan to do is firm up the accuracy of official fuel consumption figures. And CO2 emissions. Which means there is an effect on company car tax. Here’s why you should understand more about WLTP.

How can dealers build a better reputation with their manufacturer?

We’ve been finding out. Mazda UK’s Jeremy Thomson, one of the longest serving MDs around, gives 10 examples of what makes him happy on our newly acquired and relaunched Motor Trade News website.

Editor Chris Wright said: “Jeremy’s thoughts are a good example of what MTN is all about: giving dealers top advice from the top people in the business.” More here.

SEAT unveils name of new seven seat SUV

We can exclusively reveal…OK, scrub ~~exclusively~~…We can reveal that the new name for SEAT’s large SUV will be Tarraco.

SEAT Tarraco name confirmed for new seven seat SUV The seven-seat Tarraco is another piece in the firm’s push to provide a complete range of vehicles to the business market. In 2016 there was the launch of the Ateca; 2017 saw the Leon facelifted, the fifth generation Ibiza and the new Arona crossover launched.

The new Tarraco will be shown for the first time on September 18. Until then we have this pretty terrible teaser shot from SEAT (above right). However, if you want to know more about SEAT’s SUV range, then we’ve been driving the new Ateca. Check out the review here.

Big warranty for tough truck

SsangYong might have a small presence – currently – in the UK market, but it’s a big noise when it comes to the size of its warranty. Its new Musso pick-up gets a huge seven-year warranty over 150,000 miles. Which puts it ahead of the market. Anywhere. Nearest truck maker is Toyota with a five year/100,000 mile warranty.

So is SsangYong mad? Apparently not.

SsangYong boss Nick Laird told me at the launch of the Musso that the reason they can be so confident is the way the cars and commercials are built. “The R&D team just isn’t big enough to keep testing and testing until something breaks so they know what millimetre of metal can be used safely. They would rather play safe – and simply build components to last.” There you have it.