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Recharge Wrap-up: BorgWarner buys Remy, Citroen's Bluesummer

BorgWarner will buy Remy International. The auto parts maker, known especially for its turbocharging technology, will buy Remy, a maker of electric motors for EVs and hybrids, in order to better compete in a growing electrified vehicle market. In a deal expected to close late this year, BorgWarner has offered to buy 32.2 million shares of Remy at $29.50 each for a total of about $950 million. Remy did about $1.2 billion in sales in 2014. Read more from Reuters. Deliveries of the Tesla Model S P85D will begin soon in Hong Kong. Some customers there have received emails from Tesla saying, "Your Model S is ready to enter production," and asking for registration information. Hong Kong is likely to be one of the first locations to receive the right-hand-drive version of the P85D. The first deliveries are expected in late August. Read more at Inside EVs. Tesla Motors has hired Ganesh Srivats as its vice president for sales in North America. Srivats is the former senior vice president at British luxury fashion brand Burberry. The hire will help Tesla build its luxury lifestyle image as the company enters more markets around the globe. "If Tesla is thinking that they are selling a lifestyle and a way of thinking, then someone from Burberry could be the right choice," says Ken Harris of Cadent Consulting Group. "Burberry gets lifestyle." Earlier this year, Tesla reassigned its vice president of worldwide sales and service Jerome Guillen, and created separate sales positions for North America, Europe and Asia. Read more from Bloomberg. Citroen will distribute Bollore's four-seat, electric convertible, the Bluesummer. Bollore Group and PSA Peugeot Citroen recently announced that the funky EV would be built at PSA's plant in Rennes, France beginning in September. While it originally appeared that the Bluesummer would be available through carsharing programs, Citroen now says it will sell the Bluesummer through its dealership network. "This partnership with the Bollore Group is an opportunity for the Citroen network to increase its sales by attracting to its showrooms new customers who like the originality and freshness of the Bluesummer and thus promoting all the vehicles in the range," says Philippe Narbeburu, sales director for Citroen France. Read more in the press release below.

Recharge Wrap-up: Tesla breaks dyno on video, Lexus trademarks 'LS 500h'

A video shows a Tesla Model S P85D breaking a dyno during a test. Starting at a slow roll, the instant torque under full power snapped a belt on the dynamometer. Before it broke, the dyno measured over 700 pound-feet of torque from the all-wheel-drive Tesla. A previous dyno run saw the car reach its 155-mph top speed and a peak 435 horsepower. See the video above, and read more at DragTimes. Lexus has filed a trademark for "LS 500h" in Europe. This calls for some speculation as to what this means for an upcoming model. It could be that Lexus plans to release the LS with a new powertrain, perhaps a 4.0-liter engine with a hybrid system. Maybe it will use the 3.5-liter V-6 with a more powerful hybrid system. The LS 600h could simply be getting a new name. Or, we might not see the LS 500h badge used at all in the near future. Note that Lexus trademarked LC 500 and LC 500h in Canada last year, and we've seen no such cars yet. Read more at Hybrid Cars. Ethanol producers have strong words in response to the American Petroleum Institute's claims for demand for ethanol-free gasoline. The API and National Marine Manufacturers Association have urged the EPA to consider marine and small engine demand for E0 gasoline when setting Renewable Fuel Standard volume requirements. Big Oil is using a "false narrative to discourage the use of a cleaner, less expensive, homegrown renewable fuel," according to Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis. Buis says ethanol doesn't cause problems in marine and small engines, a statement backed by the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute. "What probably does concern boaters is the amount of time they spend dry docked as a result of oil spills, like the one that dumped 21,000 gallons of oil along four miles of coastline in Santa Barbara, California," says Buis. Read more from Ethanol Producer Magazine. Related Gallery 2013 Lexus LS 600h L: Quick Spin View 13 Photos News Source: DragTimes, YouTube: DragTimes, Hybrid Cars, Ethanol Producer Magazine Green Lexus Tesla Alternative Fuels Ethanol Electric Hybrid Videos recharge wrapup

GM CEO Akerson calls out Tesla, says Cadillac will compete on EVs

Cadillac will be taking on Tesla Motors, the underdog EV manufacturer that's seen heaps of critical acclaim and stock market buzz with its most recent sedan, the Model S. "If you want to compete head-to-head with Tesla, and we ultimately will, you want to do it with a Cadillac," Dan Akerson, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, told media in Washington, according to The Detroit News.
Akerson continued, telling The News, "We'll sell more Volts and lose less money on the Volts than they'll lose on the Model S." He also took time to point out that Tesla getting vehicles out to customers isn't a guarantee of success or permanence, using Fisker as an example, saying "Does anybody even remember Fisker? I mean, there were a number of them; they are all gone."
This strong talk from Akerson comes after Doug Parks, another GM exec, let slip that the Detroit-based manufacturer has an EV in the works that will cover 200 miles per charge and only cost about $30,000, a massive upgrade over similarly priced EVs that struggle to top 100 miles per charge. Until that vehicle arrives, though, GM is preparing the Cadillac ELR, a small coupe that, like the Volt with which it shares technology, uses a gas engine as a mobile generator to recharge the batteries. Akerson took aim at Tesla again, saying, "But I do think when the ELR comes out late this year, early next - it's certainly the same postal code as Tesla, but now we're going to move up. It's not going to be a mass-produced car."