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2017 Porsche Macan receives delayed CARB certification

Customers waiting for delivery of their 2017 Porsche Macans will soon receive their vehicles after several weeks of delays. The California Air Resources Board certified the performance crossover for sale Monday. Several outlets reported the certification had been held up in the aftermath of parent company Volkswagen's diesel woes, as regulators are now making much more thorough inspections of the vehicles. Without certification, Porsche could not deliver those vehicles to customers in 13 states that abide by CARB certification, including California, New York, Pennsylvania, and Florida, several of the largest markets for luxury automobiles in America. Not only did dealers need to stop sale of Macans they had on their lots, but an unknown number could not be released from port. Porsche Cars North America (PCNA) imports its vehicles through ports in Jacksonville, FL, Davisville, RI, Houston, TX, and San Diego, CA. A spokesman for Porsche told Autoblog the issue has been resolved, and that the Macans received certification Monday. "Shipping has already been initialized," spokesperson David Burkhalter wrote. Pressed for details on the circumstances behind the delay, he said the process was simply "now the normal business procedure for certification." The Macan is a pivotal model for Porsche, particularly in the US market, which accounts for 22 percent of its worldwide sales. Last year, the Macan was the second-best selling Porsche model in America. Its 13,533 units sold trailed only the 16,473 Cayennes purchased by US buyers. Diesel models of the Cayenne manufactured between 2013 and 2016 contained the defeat devices at the center of Volkswagen's emissions cheating, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The company offers the Macan with a range of turbocharged six-cylinder engines ranging in output from 340 to 400 horsepower. While a diesel version is not offered in the United States, Porsche has now started importing a less powerful, but more accessible (and slightly more fuel-efficient) version with a 2.0-liter turbo four. Related Video:

Porsche Mission E Concept puts Tesla Model S in its sights [w/video] [UPDATE]

UPDATE: The Mission E might not top the Tesla in driving distance after all. The Porsche's nearly 311-mile range is on the European testing cycle, but the original story compares it to Teslas on the US evaluation. According to Tesla, a Model S 85D is rated at the equivalent of 328 miles in Europe, and the P85D is at 305 miles. The new 90 kWh battery can add an additional six percent to those figures. Porsche might not be saying it directly, but anyone taking even a quick glance can see the Germans are taking aim at Tesla with the freshly unveiled Mission E concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show. With over 590 horsepower, this electric sedan doesn't have quite as much electric grunt as a Model S, but the claimed 310.7 miles of range would outdo even the latest take on Elon Musk's four-door with a 90 kWh battery. For those keeping track, a Ludicrous Speed-equipped Tesla might still be the ultimate victor in a drag race because the E's sprint to 62 takes "under 3.5 seconds." To power the Mission E, Porsche's engineers use two permanent magnet synchronous motors, and they are similar to what's found on the company's 919 Hybrid LMP1 racecar. In a single unit, the devices can both accelerate and recover braking energy. All-wheel drive with torque vectoring and four-wheel steering help the electric sedan lap the Nordschleife in less than eight minutes, the company claims. Capable of hitting 124 mph in less than 12 seconds, the Mission E is undoubtedly quick, but its speed in charging is especially impressive too. The concept utilizes an 800-volt system that Porsche claims can charge the sedan to 80 percent in just 15 minutes, assuming you can find a source for that much energy. That would be enough to offer about 249 miles of range in less time than getting a cup of coffee at a busy Starbucks. The E could also use a traditional 400-volt charger or power up inductively. The Mission E's design looks like a futuristic Panamera as filtered through the style of the 918 and a next-gen Star Wars Stormtrooper helmet. In an especially cool touch, the charging port is hidden in a movable panel ahead of the driver's door on the front fender. Also, like like lots of four-door concepts in recent memory, the design sports suicide doors with no B-pillars. To keep weight to a minimum, the body mixes aluminum, steel, and carbon-fiber reinforced polymer. Also present are carbon-fiber wheels.

Trump reportedly says he wants to wipe German cars off the U.S. map

BERLIN/FRANKFURT — A report that U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to pursue German carmakers until there are no Mercedes-Benz rolling down New York's Fifth Avenue dented shares in the luxury car manufacturers on Thursday. An excerpt from German magazine Wirtschaftswoche's article, which cited several unnamed European and U.S. diplomats but did not include any direct quotes, could not be independently verified, while a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Berlin referred questions to Washington. The news and current affairs magazine said Trump had told French President Emmanuel Macron in April that he aimed to push German carmakers out of the United States altogether. Macron's administration in Paris declined to comment on the report. The Trump administration last week opened a so-called Section 232 trade investigation into vehicle imports, which could result in a 25 percent tariff on cars on the same "national security" grounds Washington used to impose metals duties in March. This could destroy exports by German carmakers, which control 90 percent of the U.S. premium market and are the biggest European Union exporters of cars to the United States. BMW owns Rolls-Royce, while Daimler has Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen controls Bentley, Bugatti, Porsche and Audi. Daimler, BMW and Audi declined comment. Porsche was not immediately available for comment. BMW shares were trading 0.5 percent lower at 0939 GMT, while Daimler and VW's shares were down 1 percent and 1.6 percent respectively, underperforming Germany's blue-chip DAX. Trump has railed against German carmakers before. And in early 2017, in an interview with German newspaper Bild, he said he would impose 35 percent tariffs on imported cars. At the time, the president called Germany a great car producer but said that the business relationship with the United States was an unfair one-way street. Germany's auto industry association VDA says its members exported 657,000 vehicles to North America last year, with total exports of vehicle components, cars, engines, as well as second-hand vehicles totaling 31.2 billion euros in 2016. Imports from the United States to Germany amounted to 7.4 billion euros, meaning a trade deficit of 23.8 billion euros the VDA's latest available figures show. However, German brands also have huge factories in the United States, where they built 804,000 cars last year, VDA said, providing jobs for U.S. workers. Berlin has reacted angrily to the U.S.