April 2015 ~ Automotive

The CLA 45 has landed!

Megan Alink

Europe, your day has come! After five years of showcasing our technology concept cars primarily in North America, we’ve bid farewell to the Mercedes CLA 45 and sent it across the pond to our colleagues in Germany. Over the coming year while the Mercedes resides in Europe, our customers — and anyone who’s just mesmerized by slick, pre-integrated automotive tech — will have a chance to check the car out at a number of public events. (Stay tuned to www.qnx.com for more details as these events arise.)

Witness the unboxing:

The CLA 45 emerges into the light at Bremerhaven.

On land and settling in nicely.

So beautiful! We can't wait for a whole new continent to see it for themselves.

Interested in a sneak peek at the inside of this gorgeous vehicle? Read this blog from Lynn Gayowski, or get up close and personal with the digital instrument cluster in this one from Paul Leroux. For more photos, see our Flickr album.

We showed you so

QNX has been building NFC functionality into concept cars since 2011. Now, with the advent of automotive-grade tags and chips, NFC may be coming to a dashboard near you.

Paul Leroux

Why does QNX transform vehicles like the Maserati QuattroPorte GTS, Mercedes-Benz CLA45, and Bentley Continental into technology concept cars? I can think of many reasons, but three stand out. First, the cars allow us to demonstrate the inherent flexibility and customizability of QNX technology. If you could put all of the cars side by side, you would quickly see that, while they all use the same QNX platform, each has a unique feature set and a distinctive look-and-feel — no two are alike. This flexibility is of immense importance to automakers, who, for reasons of market differentiation, need to deliver a unique brand experience in each marque or vehicle line. Alf Pollex, Head of Connected Car and Infotainment at Volkswagen, says it best: “the QNX platform... enables us to offer a full range of infotainment systems, from premium level to mass volume, using a single, proven software base.”

Second, the cars explore how thoughtful integration of new technologies can make driving easier, more enjoyable, and perhaps even a little safer. Case in point: the Maserati’s obstacle awareness display, which demonstrates how ADAS systems can aggregate data from ultrasonic and LiDAR sensors to help drivers become more aware of their surroundings. This display works much like a heads-up display, but instead of providing speed, RPM, or navigation information, it offers visual cues that help the driver gauge the direction and proximity of objects around the vehicle — pedestrians, for example.

Look ma, no menus: At 2012 CES, a QNX concept car

showcased how NFC can enable single-tap Bluetooth
phone pairing. Source CrackBerry.com

Third, the cars explore solutions that address real and immediate pain points. Take, for example, the pairing of Bluetooth phones. Many consumers find this task difficult and time-consuming; automakers, for their part, see it as a source of customer dissatisfaction. So, in 2011, we started to equip some of our concept cars with near field communication (NFC) technology that enables one-touch phone pairing. This pairing is as easy it sounds: you simply touch an NFC-enabled phone to an NFC tag embedded in the car’s console, and voilà, pairing with the car’s infotainment system happens automatically.

Prime time
NFC in the car holds much promise, but when, exactly, will it be ready for prime time? Pretty soon, as it turns out. In a recent article, “NFC looks to score big in cars,” Automotive Engineering International points to several vendors, including Broadcom, NXP, Melexis, Texas Instruments and ams AG, that have either announced or shipped automotive-grade NFC solutions. NXP, for example, expects that some of its NFC tags and chips will first go into production cars around 2016.

Mind you, NFC isn’t just for phone pairing. It can, for example, enable key-fob applications that allow phones to store user preferences for seat positions and radio stations. It can also enable use cases in which multiple drivers operate the same vehicle, such as car sharing or fleet management. The important thing is, it’s moving from concept to production, marking one more step in the seamless integration of cars and smartphones.

Did you know…

BMW embeds NFC tags not only in its cars, but also in print ads.

IHS has predicted that, in 2018, global shipments of NFC-equipped cellphones will reach 1.2 billion units.

NFC World publishes a living document that lists all of the NFC handsets available worldwide.

QNX rolls out new wireless framework

Framework abstracts the complexity of modem control, enabling embedded developers to upgrade cellular and Wi-Fi hardware without having to rewrite applications.

Paul Leroux

Building cellular or Wi-Fi connectivity into a vehicle is never trivial (read: it can be an outright headache). Take, for example, the large amount of software needed to manage a cellular modem. The software needs to monitor and control power consumption, ensure data throughput and reliability, minimize call drops and call-setup failures, and manage modem reset and recovery — because even the best modems crash.

To complicate matters, modem technology for embedded systems is evolving quickly. Development teams need the freedom to upgrade to newer, more capable modems, without having to rewrite or redesign their applications. Likewise, they need the flexibility to choose the best modem for a particular region, product line, or price point.

Enter the QNX Wireless Framework, which QNX Software Systems released last week. Designed to simplify system design, the framework encapsulates the complexities of modem control through an easy-to-use application programming interface (API). Moreover, the API remains consistent across wireless modules and chipsets, allowing systems to quickly support new cellular or Wi-Fi products from vendors such as Gemalto, Sierra Wireless, Telit Wireless Solutions, and u-blox.

The QNX Wireless Framework can scale to meet a broad range of product requirements.

The QNX Wireless Framework is built on technology already deployed in millions of BlackBerry devices, supported by hundreds of mobile carriers, and field-proven in complex wireless environments. Better yet, it's backed by a dedicated, world-class team of wireless experts with hundreds of person-years of experience building carrier-grade mobile products.

To learn more about the QNX Wireless framework:

read the press release

read the product overview and product brief

download the webinar on applying smartphone wireless technology to connected embedded systems

New Global Players?

Winners and Losers - 2015 vs 2014

Last year ended with the Nissan Leaf as the only truly global player, winning the Best Seller Title in eleven markets across the World, from the USA (Largest EV market in the world) to Japan (#3), passing by Norway (#4) or South Africa.

Looking at the competition, only two models won in different latitudes:

The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, winning in six markets, but aside Australia and New Zealand, all the other trophies came from European countries, especially where tax incentives for companies include Plug-In Hybrids (UK and Netherlands);
The BMW i3 also collected a number of Best Seller titles, but aside from their domestic market, the others (Hong Kong, Portugal, Czech Republic and Poland) were "Second League" trophies.

Although in smaller numbers, other cars also won trophies, like Tesla, which won in three countries (Switzerland, Belgium and...Slovenia), but the rest were confined to domestic markets (BYD Qin, Kia Soul EV), or isolated cases (Volt in Canada, VW e-Up! in Latvia) or both (Zoe in France and Austria).

Final mention for the Renault Twizy, that in 2014 assumed the role that in the past had belonged to the Mitsubishi I-Miev, blazing through new territories and planting the electric seed in uncharted territories, like Morocco, Malta or UAE(!).

Did the status quo changed in this First Quarter of 2015? Let's find out:

The Nissan Leaf lost important markets (USA, Norway, Denmark), having only recovered Portugal (#1 for the first time since 2011!) and added Slovenia to the showroom, two minor trophies that prevent a larger debacle, currently the japanese car is Best Seller in eight countries, three less than last year;
Mitsubishi's plug-in SUV lost its crown jewel, the Netherlands, but another rising market is compensating it: The UK absorved 64% of all Outlander PHEV sold in March;
The BMW i3 continues in the same trend as last year, leading in Germany and in other minor markets, having lost Hong Kong and Portugal, maintained the Czech Rep. and Poland, while adding South Africa to the trophies room;
Important gains for the Model S, adding the USA, Canada and Denmark to the portfolio, begging the question: Can it keep them in the long term?
With a triumphant January in several markets, Volkswagen has been losing steam as the year progresses, but in the meantime it has two major trophies to snob the competition: Norway (e-Golf) and Netherlands (Golf GTE).

EV Share Trends in the G8

There are different trends in the eight largest EV Markets:

1 - Plug-In sales in Japan are regressing to 2011/2 levels, with the current EV Share at half (0,49% vs 0,98%) of what it was last year. Putting this in context, the Japanese plug-in market last month was only fifth in volume, behind China, USA, UK and Norway, far from the days when Japan leaded sales;

2 - The US EV sales are plateuing in volume in a still expanding general auto market, making the EV Share to shrink (0,58% vs 0,65% a year ago) slightly;

3 - Now the good news: France is already above the same month last year and, most importantly, the whole of 2014 (0,93% vs 0,70% a year ago vs 0,91%), considering that new incentives are coming (And an improved Zoe too), it looks that the 1% barrier will be broken soon;

4 - China and Germany are continuing the solid growth trend started last year, with the first now at 0,42% Share (0,25% last year) and the second at 0,59% (0,44%). Considering the high volumes of each general auto market, i wouldn't be surprised of China became the largest global market this year, and ditto in Europe for Germany;

5 - Picking up on the latter theme, if China apparently has its life easy (See 2) in its way to become the largest market in the world, in Europe, Germany (4.5k sales) has to race against three markets on fire: The UK EV sales (7.7k) are going through the roof, with the EV Share doubling last year result (1,05% vs 0,56%), all while the Netherlands (5,26%) and especially Norway (23%!) continue in a league of their own, if the first is relatively easy to reach (5.8k units this year) volume wise, the second (8.1k) is currently the volume leader in Europe and only the UK is close to get near it.

BYD Tang: The Next Big Thing in China?

EV Share Trends in other Markets

As for the rest of the markets, there is something for everyone:

- The naysayers will rejoice with the sales slump in Latvia (Only three sales this year against 177 in '14) and Estonia (0,69% now vs 1,57% last year), just like the slight slip in Canada (0,22% vs 0,27% last year);

- For stabler trend-lovers, the iberian countries are there to satify them, with Spain in the low (0,) twenties and Portugal in the high (0,) twenties;

- Solid growths for Italy (0,20% in '15 vs 0,12% in '14), Sweden (1,73% vs 1,66%), Ireland (0,46% vs 0,27%) and New Zealand (0,29% vs 0,20%);

- Slovenia is on to its Year One of the Electric Car, with the EV Share jumping to 0,19%, up from 0,05% last year;

- Finally, the Spectacular Growth Awards go to Hong Kong (0,46% last year vs 1,26% now) and especially Iceland, with their EV Share up to 4,7%(!), whith all that hydrothermal energy available in the vulcanic island, this is turning rapidly into a Second Norway, with an amazing growth, that could catapult them into the runner-up position by the end of the year.

Mitsu Minicab Miev Truck: Best Selling Electric Pick-Up Truck. In the World. Respect.

Back to 2012

Despite a positive March (Up 32 units regarding the same month last year), YTD the Japanese EV Market is down 23%, far not only from the 10k units registered in the same period last year, but also in the first quarter of 2013, you have to go back three years to see such low numbers in this market.

Looking at the YTD models ranking, the positions don't change much, with the Leaf once more in #1, recording more or less the same number of units of March '14, while the #2 Mitsu Outlander PHEV in Japan is suffering from Mitsubishi's production constraints.

Looking at the brands ranking, Nissan (50% Share) is winning valuable advantage over Mitsubishi (35%), looking to revalidate the manufacturers ranking

Pl	Japan	Mar.	2015	%	Pl '14
1	Nissan Leaf	1.231	3.842	50	1
2	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	796	2.229	29	2
3	Toyota Prius Plug-In	180	640	8	3
4	BMW i3 e)	100	300	4	6
5	Mitsubishi I-Miev	60	226	3	4
6 7 8 9 9	Tesla Model S e) Mitsubishi Minicab Miev Mit. Minicab Miev Truck Honda Accord Plug-In e) BMW i8 e)	100 44 22 5 5	200 180 67 15 15	3 2 1 0 0	7 5 8 9 10
	TOTAL	2.563	7.734	100

e) Estimate

Source:http://evn.blog.eonet.jp; http://samochodyelektryczne.org/kategorie/display_rotator,page,1.htm

Models

The top spots remain the same, with the Model S closing in to the #3 Prius Plug-In, with the Outlander PHEV climbing another position to #5, while its older brother I-Miev (#6) starts to look a bit long-in-the-tooth in this ranking.

The race for #7 is tight between the Renault Zoe and the fashionable BMW i3, while the Chery QQ3 EV drops to #10 and hands over the Most Common Chinese EV Title for the #9 BYD Qin star.

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Nissan Leaf	171.836
2	Chevrolet Volt (1)	88.105
3	Toyota Prius Plug-In	71.351
4	Tesla Model S	66.069
5	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	59.552
6	Mitsubishi I-Miev (2)	31.501
7	Renault Zoe	22.755
8	BMW i3	22.655
9	BYD Qin	21.208
10	Chery QQ3 EV	20.318

Manufacturers

By brands, Nissan continues rock-solid in the leadership, but Mitsubishi climbed to #2, dropping a slower selling Chevrolet behind.

In the last places of the ranking, Chery dropped to #10, with BMW joining the ranking in #9 and in #8 we have the impressive BYD, which has been piling up records each month.

Pl	Brand	Sales
1	Nissan	175.046
2	Mitsubishi (2)	97.718
3	Chevrolet (1)	90.303
4	Toyota	75.372
5	Tesla	68.703
6	Renault	59.866
7	Ford	46.501
8	BYD	33.431
9	BMW	23.676
10	Chery	22.226

(1) - Also includes Holden Volt, Opel and Vauxhall Ampera sales;
(2) - Also includes Citröen C-Zero and Peugeot iOn sales;

Categories

Dividing the plug-in sales by the conventional segments used for gas cars, it is possible to see how each segment leader stands in the global EV chart:

A (City Cars) - Mitsubishi I-Miev (#6)

- Profiting from a long life (On sale since 2009) and the accumulated sales of the first years, but this year it's only #26 in the ranking;

B (Superminis) - Renault Zoe (#7)

- Best selling car of the segment, but barely, the stronger selling BMW i3 is only 100 units behind and will surely outrun it next month;

C (Compact) - Nissan Leaf (#1)

- Still the Golden Standard of the electric car;

D (Midsize) - Ford Fusion Energi (#11)

- After several months running against the Volvo V60 Plug-In (#16) in the past, the american has won enough advantadge to lead comfortably this segment;

E/F (Full-size) - Tesla Model S (#4)

- No real competition for Tesla, their direct competitors are not plug-ins, but the premium best sellers like the BMW 5/6-Series, Audi A6/7, Merc E/CLS-Class or Porsche Panamera;

SUV - Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In (#5)

- The affordable Midsize Plug-in Hybrid SUV is a sweet spot for sales and Mitsu has it all for itself;

MPV - Ford C-Max Energi (#11)

- No real competition for Ford's MPV/tall hatchback, next is the BYD e6, some 12.000 units behind…

LCV/ Van - Renault Kangoo ZE (#13)

- The Renault offering dropped six positions regarding a year ago due to slow sales. The e-NV200 / Evalia twins, although still far behind the leader, have been going strong, watch out Mitsu Minicab Miev (#2 van), you might get surpassed this year;

Sports Cars - BMW i8 (#34)
- The out of production Tesla Roadster was finally dethroned, the i8 came from the future to reclaim it ~~and put the ELR to shame~~;

Pick-Up Trucks - Ford Ranger EV (#48)

- The last dinosaur standing, with a couple years still to endure, as the closest rival is the 600 units away Mitsu Minicab Miev, which sells roughly 200 units a year, it looks it will take an additional three years to catch up the 1998 Ford Pick-up.

~~"Aleluia!"~~ Springtime Records- Portuguese Edition

Finally the 4.500 euro government grant seems to be working, as well as the companies tax exemptions, after two so-so months, March brought a record 61 EV's sold, with more than half being Nissan Leaf's, which it isn't a surprise, given that the japanese brand is agressively pushing its electric toddler (It's now 4 years old), with prices starting at 16.990€! *

Looking at the rest of the models ranking, there are two electric stars fighting for Number Two (i3 and Zoe), while the Mitsu i-Miev shows up in the ranking for the first time this year, registering three units, as much as it did in the whole of 2014...

Looking at the brands ranking, Nissan jumps to the leadership (It finished Third last year), with 41% share, followed by BMW (17%) and Renault (16%).

Pl	Portugal	Mar.	2015	%	Pl '14
1	Nissan Leaf	36	55	41	2
2	BMW i3	7	21	16	1
2 4 4 6	Renault Zoe Mit. Outlander PHEV e) Tesla Model S Mitsubishi I-Miev	8 5 5 3	21 15 15 3	16 11 11 2	5 4 N/A 15
7 7	Opel Ampera BMW i8	2	2 2	1 1	17 7
9	Renault Twizy		1	2	3
	TOTAL	61	135	100

Source: Best Selling Cars Blog

* - Including Government Grant

Renault Espace and Suzuki Vitara awarded 5 stars

The latest Euro NCAP safety test results for this year is out and the new Renault Espace (large MPV) as well as the Suzuki Vitara (supermini) has been awarded 5 stars. The later received points for its Autonomous Emergency Braking system (included in the rating scheme since last year).

Also included in the report published this month are the results for the Fiat 500X in the Small MPV category and the Mazda 2 in the Supermini category. Both cars were awarded 4 stars.

Best Selling Foreigner (To date)

Grand Vitesse Edition

More than 1.800 units were sold last month in the French EV market, a 73% improvement over the same month last year, allowing the EV Share to surpass the 2014 score (0,907% then vs 0,933 now), considering that the First Quarter is usually the slowest selling and new incentives are coming along, the French market is moving at full speed for a new Yearly Record, will we see it finally breach the 20.000 units?

Looking at the monthly best sellers, the leader Renault Zoe continues in good health, selling 579 units (279 last year), with the runner-up Nissan Leaf breaking its personal record (330 units), while the #4 Audi A3 e-Tron and #5 BMW i3 have beaten their personal records and the #6 Tesla Model S made its best result of the year (74 units), the american car is slowly showing up on the first positions, it will be entertaining the race between it, the Outlander PHEV and the germans (BMW i3, Audi A3 e-Tron and Golf GTE) for the Best Selling Foreign Car prize...

Model

Sales

Renault Zoe

579

Nissan Leaf

330

Renault Kangoo ZE

215

Audi A3 e-Tron

109

BMW i3

Looking at the YTD ranking, while the top positions continue stable, it deserves a mention the jump that the Audi A3 e-Tron, up to #6, and the strong result of the Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia twins, can the japanese van do so much as scratch the solid Kangoo ZE leadership in the LCV segment? Other markets have already fallen to Nissan's van, so...

Looking at the brands ranking, Renault continues to own the lion's share of the market (49%), followed by Nissan (16%), with Volkswagen (6%) already showing up in Third as the best foreign brand.

Pl	France	Mar.	YTD 15	%	'14Pl
1	Renault Zoe	579	1.638	37	1
2	Nissan Leaf	330	602	14	3
3	Renault Kangoo ZE	215	403	9	2
4	Bolloré Blue Car	50	229	5	4
5	Volkswagen Golf GTE	50	198	4	N/A
6 7 8	Audi A3 e-Tron BMW i3 * Renault Twizy e)	109 97 50	178 174 141	4 4 3	N/A 6 8
9	Mitsu. Outlander PHEV	61	140	3	5
10	Tesla Model S	74	120	3	10
11	Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia	47	111	2	12
12	Smart Fortwo ED	19	81	2	7
13 14 15 16	Goupil Kia Soul EV Peugeot iOn Peugeot Partner EV	24 48 32 16	80 70 65 51	2 2 1 1	9 19 13 17
17	Citröen C-Zero	14	42	1	14
18 19 20 21 22 22 24	Volkwagen e-Up! BMW i8 e) Volkswagen e-Golf Citröen Berlingo EV Toyota Prius Plug-In Mercedes B-Class ED Volvo V60 Plug-In	7 10 6 7 6	31 30 25 20 13 8 5	1 1 1 0 0 0 0	11 21 15 16 21 N/A 18
	TOTAL	1.851	4.455	100

e) Estimate

* - 25 BEV + 72 REX

Source: Avem.fr; Lepoint.fr

The Model S is leading the race here, probably until the landing of the Model X

Springtime Records - Schweiz / Suisse / Svizzera Edition

Another market reaching record numbers in March, the Swiss EV Market registered 418 sales, with the EV Share jumping yet again to unheard heights, at 1,22%, the prospect of reaching the 4.000 units (Up from 2.300 last year) in the end of the year now looks realistic.

Two models made the news, the Tesla Model S recovered the leadership, thanks to an amazing 149 registrations in March, a new monthly sales record for a single model (The previous two records, 105 and 106 units, also belonged to Tesla), relegating the VW Golf GTE and the Renault Zoe to #3 and #2, respectively.

The Nissan Leaf also had a brilliant result, selling 21 units, its best result in 18 months, fueling it up two positions to #7.

In the manufacturers ranking, Tesla is now #1, with 23% share, followed by Volkswagen (17%) and Renault (15%)

Pl	Switzerland	Mar.	2015	%	'14Pl
1 2	Tesla Model S Renault Zoe	149 41	198 108	23 12	1 4
3	Volkswagen Golf GTE e)	30	97	11	N/A
4	BMW i3	59	92	10	3
5	Mitsu. Outlander PHEV e)	15	47	5	2
6	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In e)	15	46	5	N/A
7	Nissan Leaf	21	39	4	6
8	Volkswagen e-Golf e)	10	31	4	N/A
8	Audi A3 e-Tron e)	10	31	4	N/A
8	BMW i8	13	31	4	9
11	Renault Twizy e)	5	20	2	5
12	Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia e)	5	19	2	N/A
12	Renault Kangoo ZE e)	5	19	2	N/A
14 15 16 17 17 19 20 20 21 21 21 24 24 24	Smart Fortwo ED e) Volvo V60 Plug-In e) Volkswagen e-Up! e) Opel Ampera Porsche 918 Mitsubishi I-Miev Volkswagen XL1 Mercedes B-Class ED Citröen C-Zero Mercedes S500 Plug-In Porsche Panamera Plug-In Citröen Berlingo EV Peugeot Partner EV McLaren P1	5 5 5 4 7 10 1	18 16 15 11 11 10 5 3 2 2 2 1 1 1	2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0	N/A N/A N/A 8 11 7 16 N/A 12 N/A N/A N/A N/A 12
	TOTAL	418	879	100

Source: auto-suisse.ch

Automotive

Include stories and information on automotive technology.

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Unordered List

The CLA 45 has landed!

We showed you so

QNX rolls out new wireless framework

Markets Roundup March 2015

Japan March 2015

World All Time Top 10 (Updated to 25th April 2015)

Portugal March 2015

Renault Espace and Suzuki Vitara awarded 5 stars

France March 2015 (Updated)

Switzerland March 2015

Automotive technology

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