Automotive News: e-Cadillac; Cheap-Audi? Green New Deal, Daimler is selling badly

Automotive News: e-Cadillac; Cheap-Audi? Green New Deal, Daimler is selling badly

Berlin, 10.8.2020

Over the weekend Cadillac unveiled the Lyriq SUV – the company’s first electric vehicle. It is expected to go into production in late 2022. The equipment: it has a 33-inch infotainment display and a battery with a range of over 300 miles. The vehicle will be equipped with the latest version of GM’s Super Cruise automated driving technology. This includes an automatic parking function very similar to Tesla’s Smart Summon and an AR-operated heads-up display. The Cadillac will also be equipped with the latest version of GM’s Super Cruise automated driving technology. Experts estimate that the car will be sold for between $75,000 and $90,000.

Audi is lowering the price of its basic e-tron SUV model by $9,000. The 2021 model, which previously started at $74,800, will now cost $65,900. Audi is updating the car’s software to increase the range from 204 miles to 222 miles with a single charge.

The price reduction makes the e-tron more competitive, as it will cost $58,400 after tax breaks. The edition of the e-tron Sportback will have a range of 218 miles with a single charge and will go into production next year.

Seoul will no longer allow gasoline and diesel vehicles after 2035. In addition, ICE vehicles will be banned from downtown Seoul starting in 2035. The initiative is part of South Korea’s „Green New Deal“, which aims to reduce carbon emissions and boost the economy after a pandemic. The city’s ultimate goal is to have only zero-emission vehicles on all roads by 2050.

In July, Daimler once again failed to increase sales of its core brand Mercedes-Benz. The Stuttgart company sold 185,836 cars to dealers and directly to end customers, 2 percent less than in the same month last year. This means that Daimler has sold fewer Mercedes-Benz passenger cars in every month of the year so far in 2020. In the first seven months the Group suffered a decline of 16.2 percent. Mercedes-Benz marked the low point in the corona crisis in April with a drop in unit sales of almost 50 percent.