CHAIRMANSheikh Thani bin Abdullah Al Thani

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFDr. Khalid Al-Shafi

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMohammed Salim Mohamed

ADVERTISING MANAGERAli Wahba

PRODUCTIONViswanath Sarma

IMAGE PROCESSINGMohd Sajad Sahir

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTWEDNESDAY 27 APRIL 2016

CARMAKERS didn’t build the self-driving car: Google did. That’s a big problem for them. Hop-ing to catch up, Ford, Toyota, and Volkswagen are betting on academics. Along with Nvidia,

Samsung, Qualcomm and Panasonic, they’re each giving $300,000 to the University of California at Berkeley to fund artificial intel-ligence research.

The alliance, called DeepDrive, is a rare moment of AI cooperation among car compa-nies, which are racing one another to create the kind of brains that propel Google’s pro-totype gumdrop-shaped vehicles around Mountain View. It also highlights the new posi-tion universities find themselves in. Their AI lab work is in high demand — and corpora-tions don’t want to wait months or years to get their hands on it.

The companies’ money will go to projects selected by UC-Berkeley. In return, the car-makers get to give feedback on research proposals; meet the academics toiling away on the tech; and, thanks to the upfront pay-ment, can commercialize any of the research without having to go through the headache of an additional licensing stage.

“They’ve essentially pre-negotiated access

to software,” said Trevor Darrell, a professor at the university who leads DeepDrive. In cor-porate terms, $300,000 may not seem like a lot of money, but altogether the donations will back between 20 and 30 graduate stu-dents a year.

It’s a cheap way for the companies to get a bead on a dangerous, unpredictable future. “If vehicle manufacturers, five years from now, haven’t been to the drawing boards to figure out how to get self-driving tech into their cars, then those companies will be left out,” said Thilo Koslowski,top car analyst at the research firm Gartner. “It’s that dramatic.”

Openness has become a big deal in arti-ficial intelligence as the pace of research speeds up. No one wants to be caught rein-venting the wheel (or the car). With DeepDrive, the university “can have open research with no publication restrictions, no lock down of early review for patenting, so the research can move as fast as it possibly can,” says Darrell.

It also gives the university a way to test its theoretical ideas in the real world, says Pieter Abbeel, a professor at UC- Berkeley and one of the principal investigators at DeepDrive. “We do all this research, but unless you do a startup where’s it going to go?” Abbeel said. “These companies, they all have experts in

the same topics but might not have the time to do research. But they understand every-thing we’re doing and can translate it very nicely into their own projects and we can see it in action.”

Through the project, UC-Berkeley researchers could also get access to driving data from the companies, and be able to run their software on the automakers’ vehicle sim-ulators, letting them test out new approaches without risking crashing real cars, he said.

The types of problems DeepDrive’s researchers will tackle read like an index page from a science fiction novel: Custom semiconductors for vision systems, software to predict how a pedestrian will behave, AI that can drive in unusual terrain, techniques that let machines learn from human drivers. It will also fund work on Caffe, a program-ming framework developed by UC-Berkeley that cuts out some of the grunt work in writ-ing AI code.

DeepDrive is emblematic of the new inter-est in university research projects around artificial intelligence and robotics, says Andrew Moore, the dean of Carnegie Mellon University’s school of computer science and a former Google employee. “We’ve hit this inver-sion where the stuff the universities are doing

Carmakers go back to school to learn to build self-driving cars

is applicable right now to industry,” he said.Google and Facebook regularly turn

research papers into products in a matter of months, as opposed to years. In 2014, Uber partnered with Carnegie Mellon to develop self-driving car technology. By 2015 it had hired away academics from the lab.

Car companies have been throwing a lot of money and resources at artificial intelli-gence lately. Ford moved the development of self-driving cars from its research lab to its engineering operations in June, as the company prepared to put AI into more of

its vehicles. In September, Toyota hired Gill Pratt, the US military’s top robotics engineer, as part of a $1bn investment into developing smarter cars. Volkswagen AG used its pres-entation at the Geneva auto show in February to talk about its planned investments in self-driving cars.

The carmakers are starting to worry that if they let Silicon Valley win the AI race, they’ll be sidelined as contract manufacturers of sheet metal — a future they’d like to avoid. So, as with past research pushes like hydrogen fuel cells, the competitors are coming together.

An engineer activates a button for the self-driving mode of Changan Automobile’s self-driving car, a modified Raeton sedan, during a test drive on a highway in Beijing.

WEDNESDAY 27 APRIL 20162

MANNAI Auto Group, the exclusive Cadillac dealer in Qatar, recorded the high-est annual Cadillac sales growth in 2015 in the Mid-dle East. Cadillac President

Johan de Nyschen presented the award dur-ing the recent Global Dealer Conference held in Dana Point, California to acknowledge Mannai’s 35.2% sales growth.

Mohammed Helmy, Group General Manager, Mannai Auto, said; “We are extremely honored to receive this recognition; our performance reflects the effort our sales and customer service team put in to place Qatar as the top perform-ing Cadillac market in the region .

Helmy said: “Cadillac attracts custom-ers that are looking for expressive design, dynamic driving experience, high tech safety and infotainment features and an unsurpassed ownership experience. Additionally, Mannai Auto Group’s strong partnerships with multiple banks offers customers a number of financial solutions to suit their lifestyle.”

Felix Weller, Managing Director, Cadil-lac Middle East said that the brand’s focus on breaking away from convention has been the key driver behind its success.

“We have been focusing on differentiating ourselves. We concentrate on unique design, advanced technologies and emotive driving dynamics. This makes Cadillac bold but not ostentatious, and we are delighted that more and more customers in Qatar are identifying with us,” he said.

The flagship Escalade SUV continues to be

a top seller, with the ATS, CTS and XTS pas-senger cars crossover growing in popularity. Two vehicles in the new lineup, the perform-ance 2016 ATS-V and CTS-V Series recently arrived in Doha after registering significant amounts of pre-sales interest among perform-ance car lovers.

Cadillac’s increasing popularity has given rise to an aggressive portfolio expansion plan that will see the introduction of eight new vehi-cles over the next few years. This first phase of this expansion includes the 2017 XT5 and

2017 CT6, which were both unveiled for the first time in the country at the recently con-cluded Qatar Motor Show and are expected to be top draws when they arrive in showrooms across the country this summer.

About Cadillac Middle EastCadillac has been a leading luxury auto

brand since 1902. Today Cadillac is growing globally, driven by an expanding product port-folio featuring dramatic design and technology. Described as luxurious, having a bold and dar-ing personality, being tough and strong as well as safe and powerful, Cadillac has maintained an iconic presence for over 85 years in the Middle East.

The Cadillac portfolio in the Middle East features award-winning passenger cars ATS, CTS and XTS as well as the SRX crossover and Escalade SUV in addition to the high perform-ance V-Series version of the ATS and CTS. In 2016, the lineup will gain the first ever CT6 Pres-tige Sedan and XT5 luxury crossover Cadillac also offers customers a high-level aftersales

service experience through the Premium Care Program. For more information, please visit www.cadillacarabia.com.

About Mannai Auto GroupThe Mannai Corporation celebrates its

66th anniversary this year as one of the larg-est trading and Services Company in Qatar. From humble beginnings as an auto parts trader established by Ahmed Abdullah Mannai, the Mannai Group grew to encompass activities ranging from offshore rigs to telecommuni-cations, with interests in many parts of the world. Mannai is the Exclusive Cadillac Dealer in Qatar. http://cadwillac.mannaiautos.com/

FOR MORE INFORMATION, Please contact: Allan Paul Parades, Mar-

keting Administrator - Mannai Auto Group – at +974 4455 8744 / allan.paul@mannai.com.qa

ORRonald Balit, Product Communication Man-

ager – Cadillac Middle East at (+971) 4 314 3352 / ronald.balit@gm.com

Mannai Auto Group records highest annual Cadillac sales growth in the Middle East

The flagship Escalade SUV continues to be a top seller, with the ATS, CTS and XTS passenger cars crossover growing in popularity. Two vehicles in the new lineup, the performance 2016 ATS-V and CTS-V Series, recently arrived in Doha after registering significant amounts of pre-sales interest among performance car lovers.

By Hannah Elliott

Bloomberg

DURING the New York Auto Show in March, Cadillac hosted a press dinner on the 15th floor of its new headquarters in TriBeCa. It was beautiful. But it was one of those

things you had to see live to appreciate. Which is a lot like GM’s new luxury sedan, the 2016 Cadillac CT6.

Let me explain. The CT6 is an entirely new model, build on a different platform in Ham-tramck, Michigan, and does not replace the similarly named mid-size CTS sedan that Cadil-lac continues to sell. (New- era Caddies use a number system now.)

At 204-inches long, the CT6 is noticeably longer and wider than other midsize premium sedans like the Audi A7 and Mercedes E-Class, but it remains several inches shorter (and with less of a luxury edge inside) than proper town cars like the Mercedes S- Class or Audi A8. It’s a fine line between trying to be all things to all people (self-defeating) and hitting that magic automotive sweet spot that makes it a great all-around sedan (BMW 3-Series, say). To achieve the latter, Cadillac must execute this perfectly.

After driving one $84,960 CT6 Platinum AWD through West Hollywood, Malibu, and Ojai, California for a week, I believe GM has done just that. Cadillac has produced a solid product, well-executed in the grand old Caddy style with more creature comforts than the CTS-V and better handling and athleticism than the XTS or, if we look to other brands, the Acura RLX.

The car has a handsome long sloping roofline

and a nice tall beltline, but it’s the vertical tail-lights and bright LED headlamps that frame the hood and recall the long fins of vintage Cadil-lacs that prove to be the most arresting thing about the car. So-called “concierge lighting”, a system that receives a signal from the key fob

and activates the headlamps, outside mirrors, and light accents on the door, is a cool feature, though soft and subdued. Even the wide lat-eral grill and chrome-like accents along the windows and aluminum body comes off as clean and stolid, not excessive.

Cadillac has ensured that the interior of the car follows this philosophy. The updated CUE system is faster (previous iterations of this touch-screen entertainment device proved annoying at best), and a new 10.2-inch HD screen in the center of a dashboard has buttons

to control the climate, entertainment (Apple-Play, yes), and navigation systems inside. Video screens on the backs of the two front seats come standard in the “Platinum” edition that I drove. That version also includes seats with adjustable lumbar supports and tilting cush-ions and 15 massage settings, plus both heat and cooling elements. Get the Platinum. You’re buying a Cadillac. It’s worth it.

The space in the back seat feels gener-ous. The head- and legroom are roughly on par with the rest of the segment. Behind the steering wheel, GM has added night vision, automatic parking, and a rearview camera (optional) for the mirror — you flip a switch, and the rearview mirror turns into a cam-era with a super-wide panoramic field view behind you.

When it comes to aggression and preci-sion, the CT6 is no M3 sedan, nor is it even a 5-Series. For one thing, it’s a larger car than all of them. It can also cost more than those BMWs — $53,495 for a base CT6; $84,960 for Platinum AWD I drove. The way that it drives is stable, reliable, and tight enough.

The standard model comes with a 2.0L 265-hp four-cylinder engine. A 3.6L 335-hp V6 engine or 3.0L Twin Turbo 404-hp V6 engine (with 400 pound-feet of torque) are also avail-able. Expect a twin-turbo V8 later this year. This addition will lead to significant gains in overall performance.

At 3,657 pounds, the car weighs nearly 1,000 pounds less than the S-Class, A8, or 7-Series; fuel efficiency benefits enough to achieve a respectable 25mpg of combined driving on the standard engine. And GM’s unique magnetic air suspension balances its relative featherweight nicely with low body-roll and just enough give around corners.

Cadillac’s new CT6: A solid product

WEDNESDAY 27 APRIL 2016 3

LAUNCHED as Mazda’s first car to fully adopt Skyactiv Tech-nology and “KODO—Soul of Motion” design language, the Mazda CX-5 stays as the

vanguard of Mazda’s new-generation product lineup. It has since been well received by customers and outsold pro-jected sales figures in major markets around the world. The vehicle offers all the essential basic values, including Skyactiv Technology’s excellent envi-ronmental and safety performance and the utility expected of an SUV.

Advancing toward the realisation of the dream to make Mazda a spe-cial presence dear to the hearts of our customers, and a brand with which cus-tomers form an especially strong bond, Mazda is putting its entire effort into making the product embody the very best of the unique value that Mazda has to offer. Once again for the latest update, Mazda gave careful consideration to the impassioned feedback and opin-ions offered by loyal customers aimed to bring greater refinement to a variety of elements, including design, the qual-ity and functionality of the interior, ride comfort and quietness, as well as safety performance.

• Exterior Design Enhancement: While the exterior retains its SUV appearance, the front grille and other design features were further refined to refresh the model with the latest in the brand’s design expression. The front grille was evolved to create a design that is bolder and tauter with horizontal fins painted metallic gray. The headlamps create an enhanced sense of vitality by adopting a redesigned interior lay-out and new LED lighting signature. The rear combination lamps feature an LED lighting signature. The 19-inch aluminum wheels adopt a new design

with machining that highlights a look of three-dimensionality. The lineup of nine colors includes the newly devel-oped Sonic Silver Metallic and Titanium Flash Mica.

• Interior Design & Functions: The interior fuses a driver-oriented cockpit design based on the Heads-up Cockpit, Mazda’s new Human-Machine Interface (HMI) concept, and SUV functionality and a look of power, as well as a sense of taste and high quality. Adopting an Electrical Parking Brake (EPB) gives the floor console a clean and unclut-tered look of higher quality. The design features metallic-finish trim that pro-duces solid-looking forms and a sense of power extending out to the sides on a horizontal plane. Three types of decorative panels are available for the instrument panel: an aluminum-look panel featuring a vertical hairline finish and a thin satin chrome strip, a metal-lic-finish panel, and a piano black panel (may vary according to the markets). The updated CX-5 continues to offer a black leather interior, as well as black or sand fabric interiors.

• Driving Dynamics: A smooth, flat ride realised by adopting a new struc-ture for the front and rear dampers and

optimizing the bushing shapes for the front lower arms. Further evolved NVH performance realizes a cabin environ-ment in which occupants can better enjoy conversation while driving. Cabin noise when driving at highway speeds is reduced by approximately 10% over the previous model. The evolved front and rear seat structure provides a feel-ing of comfortable snugness and a good fit, excellent holding characteristics, as well as ride comfort.

The CX-5 powered by a petrol engine and paired with Skyactiv-Drive adopts Drive Selection, which allows drivers to press a switch located beside the shift lever to switch to the Sport drive mode. When in Sport mode, the transmission is automatically set to start out in a low gear. It also increases the amount of torque output when the accelerator pedal is pressed down fur-ther to deliver powerful acceleration and a sense of linear response with a minimum of pedal action. Ensuring appropriate drive power and improv-ing responsiveness by enabling the driver to convey their intentions to the car in response to traffic conditions, Drive Selection supports a reassuring driving experience when, for example, merging onto a crowded highway. The new-generation AWD system adopts

a newly developed low-viscosity syn-thetic oil that contributes to better real-world fuel economy.

• Safety – i-ACTIVSENSE offers even more support for driver awareness: Mazda pursues safety performance based on its Mazda Proactive Safety philosophy. The fundamental per-formance of the Mazda CX-5, based on Skyactiv Technology, has been further polished. This combines with Mazda’s i-ACTIVSENSE advanced safety tech-nologies to achieve world-class safety performance, allowing customers to enjoy the drive with peace of mind, whatever the driving scene.

Mazda made a particular effort to keep the driver more aware of condi-tions so they can enjoy driving at night or at highway speeds with greater reas-surance. Mazda’s first implementation of its new Adaptive LED Headlights (ALH) further improves visibility at night. Mazda’s Blind Spot Monitor-ing (BSM) with wider detecting range detects vehicles approaching from the blind spot areas at the sides and rear. The new Lane-keep Assist System (LAS) Mazda is introducing for the first time supports the driver in steering the car by providing steering torque assistance and steering wheel vibration alerts.

• Mazda’s first use of an Electrical Parking Brake (EPB): Mazda’s first implementation of an EPB makes it easy to turn the parking brake on or off by operating a switch mounted on the floor console. Pulling the switch activates the parking brake, while pushing it or pressing the accelerator pedal to pull away from a stand-ing start automatically releases the brake.

• Mazda Connect — Advanced Car Connectivity System: Mazda Con-nect is a car connectivity system that makes it easier to take advan-tage of functions including internet connectivity and access to social networking services that today’s customers consider essential, even when in transit. It responds to a wider variety of needs by greatly improv-ing the convenience of functions that require Bluetooth® connectivity, such as hands-free phone operation, reception of short text messages, By supporting the ongoing evolution of communications equipment on both the hardware and software levels, this innovative platform ensures that customers always have access to the latest services without swapping out any hardware.

• Navigation features: The naviga-tion system uses data from SD cards, which comes as a standard on the top grade model and can display the cur-rent location on a map, or display routes to take to a target destination. When a smartphone is connected, the customer can search the internet for places they want to go.

MAZDA’S FLAGSHIP MODEL, MAZDA 6 ACHIEVES A NEW LEVEL OF REFINEMENT

The 2016 model year Mazda 6 has achieved further enhancement in design, driving dynamics, safety and advanced car connectivity similar to the upgrades featured on the latest version of the new generation CX5. The updated CX-5 & Mazda 6 embod-ies Mazda’s message to its customers by continuing to respond to their feed-back to meet and exceed expectations.

National Car Company, the sole agent for Mazda in Qatar offers the entire new generation Mazda range of sedans, SUVs and pick-ups in a state of the art showroom conveniently located at Al Nasr with ample parking and unrivalled customer service. For more information, visit Mazda show-room, call 44435965/44417859 or visit www.mazda-qatar.com

The joy of owning Mazda CX-5

WEDNESDAY 27 APRIL 20164

AP

THE Chinese carmaker that sold more electric cars last year than Tesla, Nissan or GM is taking a back road into the American market on a battery-powered bus.

Detouring around the cost and risk of consumer sales, BYD Co has quietly built a US business supplying recharge-able buses to environmentally-minded transit agencies. Its factory north of Los Angeles, opened in 2013, is on track to deliver 300 this year.

The company has dipped its toe into the US auto market by launching test fleets of plug-in electric taxis in Chicago and New York City.

Consumer sales are coming but BYD has yet to decide when, said Micheal Austin, its vice-president for the United States. He said it might start developing a sales network in the next two years.

“We have the manufacturing scale that can drive the cost to a point where we can bring vehicles to export markets including the United States, Latin America and Europe that will be game-changing,” said Austin at BYD’s headquarters in this southern city adja-cent to Hong Kong. Once that comes, “we get brand recognition because people already are riding our buses,” said Austin.

BYD — the name stands for “Build Your Dreams” — is part of an emerg-ing wave of Chinese companies that

stand to profit from global demand for solar and wind power, electric cars and other clean and renewable energy.

They benefit from rising consumer interest abroad and heavy spending at home by the ruling Communist Party. Chinese leaders see what they call “new energy” as a field where China still can win a profitable leading role.

“I have no doubt BYD eventu-ally can crack the market in Europe or the US,” said Cosmin Laslau, who follows the electric vehicle market for Lux Research in Boston. It might take five to 10 years to achieve an “equal footing” with GM, Nissan or Tesla, “but it’s surely doable if we look sufficiently far out,” Laslau said.

“By deploying these buses first (in the United States), BYD can get an early lesson in how its batteries fare,” he said. “And if they are successful, they can point to that and say the battery you are going to get in your electric vehicle has already done a half-mil-lion miles in buses.”

In 2014, China spent $83.3bn in renewables, nearly one-third of the global total. That includes construc-tion of hydro dams and wind farms, research grants to manufacturers and subsidies to customers.

China surpassed the United States last year as the biggest market for electrics by number of units sold, boosted by government subsidies of up to 60,000 yuan ($9,500) per vehicle.

BYD’s sales rose to 61,722 autos, beating Tesla Motors Inc’s sales of 50,580 plug-in vehicles and more than triple the 15,393 Volts sold by General Motors Co. Nissan Motor Co says sales of its Leaf over the past five years total 211,000, which based on previous data suggests about 56,000 were sold last year.

Unlike startups that are burning cash, BYD is profitable. The company, in which Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Corp owns a 10 percent stake, has yet to release 2015 results but said in January profit rose about 500 per-cent from a year earlier.

BYD’s consumer models are, like the Volt, “dual mode” hybrids — plug-in

BYD rides battery-powered bus into US market

electrics with a small petrol generator to extend the range beyond one charge’s 150 to 200 miles (250km to 300km).

The company started out as a battery developer, founded in 1995 by engineer Wang Chuanfu and 20 co-workers from a state-owned com-pany. It grew to supply about half the global market for mobile phone bat-teries before expanding into electric vehicles with the 2002 purchase of a small producer of gasoline cars that became BYD Auto Ltd.

Last year marked the first time BYD Auto supplied more than half of BYD’s revenue. The rest comes from

sales of batteries, solar panels, mobile phone components and power-man-agement technology.

BYD’s workforce of 180,000 includes 15,000 engineers in battery development. At its Shenzhen head-quarters, a spiral parking structure has 400 spaces to charge taxis and employee cars. The company has its own test track for buses, modelled on the US Department of Transpor-tation’s bus testing site in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

The first two buses out of the BYD factory in Lancaster, California, went to the nearby Antelope Valley Transit Authority, which plans to become the first all-electric US fleet. The agency is buying 85 BYD buses for a total of $72m. They include 14 (18-metre-long) articulated buses that can carry 120 people with a range of up to 320km on one charge, 30 commuter coaches and 41 (12-metre) standard buses.

The 40-foot (12-metre) buses cost $660,000, compared with $500,000 for a diesel hybrid, according to the agen-cy’s executive director, Len Engel. But maintenance is cheaper: Most buses need new tyres after as little as 20,000 miles (32,000km) but the BYD vehicles are still on their first set after 50,000 miles (80,000km).

“It’s slightly more expensive,” said Engel. But with annual savings of up to $50,000 on maintenance “that is paid back in three years and after that we are making money.” Other buyers include transit agencies in Los Angeles, Long Beach and Gardena in Califor-nia, Denver and St. Albert in western Canada.

Several Silicon Valley technol-ogy companies are talking with BYD about possible double-deck commuter buses for employees with coffee bars, leather interiors, video games and work stations, said Peter Mobley, BYD’s mar-keting director for North America.

Outside North America, BYD buses are in use at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and in Japan, Hong Kong, Fin-land, Denmark and Uruguay.

BYD’s consumer models are, like GM’s Volt, “dual mode” with plug-in charging and a small gasoline engine to generate extra power if needed to help extend the range.

BYD’s workhorse is the e6, a boxy, midsize all-electric hatchback used by taxi companies in China and Europe. The company has a test fleet of 20 in Chicago and is preparing 50 in New York City. The brand also is moving upmarket. A family of SUVs ranging from subcompact to luxury and named

for Chinese dynasties including the Song, Yuan and Tang have leather inte-riors and rear-view video.

To reach American consumers, BYD will need to “bring something new to the table”, said Laslau. He said a new-comer might target budget-minded buyers with a model priced under $35,000 with a range of at least 200 miles (320km) on a charge.

Austin said BYD can meet that today but thinks the price has to be even lower — below $30,000. “We’re not a toy for the rich,” he said. “We’re going after the mass market. And if you are delivering that, you have to be cost-competitive.” BYD’s batteries are heavier than its competitors’ but the company says their iron phosphate chemical mix is safer than those made of lithium and cobalt that sometimes can catch fire if punctured.

Abroad, BYD faces more hurdles in countries that don’t promote electric vehicles as aggressively as China does.

In its home city of Shenzhen, the local government has bought more than 4,000 buses and the government of surrounding Guangdong province ordered 6,432 this week. The state-owned utility installs charging stations — something BYD cannot take for granted in other markets.

In the United States, BYD faces a “very large undertaking” of setting up a sales and service network before consumer sales could start, said Aus-tin, a “battery guy” who joined BYD in 2007 from Motorola Inc, where he had helped manage purchases of the Chi-nese company’s batteries for mobile phones. “Our success in 2015 has prob-ably accelerated some of our plans to bring consumer electric vehicles to export markets,” he said. “We have a big job preparing ourselves for that.”

BYD’s sales rose to 61,722 autos, beating Tesla Motors Inc’s sales of 50,580 plug-in vehicles and more than triple the 15,393 Volts sold by General Motors Co. Nissan Motor Co says sales of its Leaf over the past five years total 211,000, which based on previous data suggests about 56,000 were sold last year.

Outside North America, BYD buses are in use at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and in Japan, Hong Kong, Finland, Denmark and Uruguay.

By Kyle Stock

Bloomberg

MARANELLO has its famous Ferrari track. Germany has the Nur-burgring. New York has tunnels. As it prepared

to show off its six-figure sports car, the ever-Churchillian Jaguar Land Rover said, “That’ll do”.

The blue-blooded British brand convinced the city (with a handsome payment, no doubt) to close a 1,600-foot strip of tunnel running under Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan for a sin-gular and sensational purpose: Allow the select few to hop in the 2017 F-Type

SVR and drive it from end to end like Batman flying out of his cave.

After signing an insurance waiver, we rode along with a Jaguar driver named Stuart, who had the lean-jawed, low-ballcap look of most journeymen throttle jockeys. The car goes from a standstill to 60 miles per hour in 3.5 seconds, but the sound is faster than the speed. There are (slightly) quicker cars. There are (slightly) faster cars. But nothing has the barbaric yawp of this Jaguar.

Stuart hit the gas and the thunder commenced, caroming off the tunnel walls and back into the open cockpit. It was a bit like sticking one’s head in a giant drum kit with a squad of demons on PCP going mental with the sticks. Or, in the words of a succinct

analyst on Instagram: “That noise is how babies get made.”

It’s also no mistake. Jaguar’s first contemporary F-Type was loud. This, however, is the souped-up SVR ver-sion, designed to compete with Italian thoroughbreds and the high-perform-ance Mercedes AMG unit. In addition to being a lot lighter and a lot faster, the car is a lot louder than its siblings. Jag-uar put in a whole new exhaust system and retuned the valves to make it so.

“I think this car will prove to be something that can take on the rest of the supercars out there,” Jaguar design chief Ian Callum said shortly before our drive.

At the far end of the tube, the giant ceramic brakes brought the experience to a confident halt. Then it came time

to swap drivers. Jaguar, ever proud of its heritage, has left the steering wheel on the right side to further rattle the

American press.Putting the pedal to the mat was a

bit of cinema, with the tunnel narrowing

and lengthening like a scene from a bad horror movie. The words of the man who distributed the insurance waivers came to mind: “Don’t succumb to that kind of red mist.” Translation: Brake before you careen into the crowd of taxis.

Like most things involving sports cars, it was silly, childish, and deliri-ously fun — possibly the best car-show PR stunt since Ford pinned a Mustang on top of the Empire State Building. Although Jaguar showed the car in Geneva on March 1, it also made its US debut at the auto show in New York on March 23.

Did I mention it was loud? That’s short for “special vehicle operations”. Top speed is 200 miles per hour, mak-ing it the fastest Jaguar ever.

Jaguar’s new sports car is loud enough

WEDNESDAY 27 APRIL 2016 5

DOHA Marketing Services Company WLL (Domasco) announced the launch of the all new ‘stunning Civic’ in Doha recently. The all new Civic sets an all-new standard in compact

car style and performance. With sleek, sporty lines and an improved power-to-weight ratio, 2016 Civic is not only fun to drive, charismatic, spacious and stylish but also the most efficient in its class. In addition to a brand new engine in the LXi and EXi grades, it also boasts of a new grade equipped with a new turbo charged 1.5 liter DOHC Direct Injected Inline-4 cylin-der Engine and will be called RS.

Commenting on the launch of the 10th gen-eration Civic, Faisal Sharif, Managing Director at Domasco, said: “With its style, power and technology, the all-new 2016 Civic is sure to reaffirm its place in the hearts of young and affluent clientele. An even more spacious interior and more striking features than any other vehicle in its class, the 2016 Civic offers unsurpassed comfort & performance while still remaining competitively priced. As the tagline boasts, Simply Stunning!”

“Civic is back! We are truly excited about the long awaited model that will position Civic at the top of this competitive segment. This new model is way ahead of anything else in this segment in terms of styling, perform-ance, technology and standard features. The introduction of the 1.5 turbo RS adds a further exciting dimension to the Civic range” said Greig Roffey, Head of Sales and Marketing at Domasco Honda. He added “The new Civic must be experienced. We invite everyone to visit the showroom and take a test drive. We are sure you will be blown away.”

The 2016 Civic design is sporty with its athletic stance and low wide proportions. Exte-rior is sleek with swept back bodylines, sharp aggressive fascia and its bulging wheel arches. Some standard features in all grades include standard LED daytime running lights, distinc-tive C-shaped LED taillights, power side mirrors with integrated LED turn signals, cap-less fuel

All new Honda Civic launched in Qatar

Domasco Managing Director Faisal Sharif (right) and Head of Sales and Marketing, Greig Roffey, unveiling the 2016 Honda Civic at a launch ceremony at the main Honda showroom in Doha.

system and glass antennas. The RS grade fea-tures signature inline LED headlights, license plate light, an aerodynamic wing trunk spoiler with high mounted LED stop light, LED fog lights premium black grille, twin silencers, paddle shifters and 17” alloy wheels.

The 2016 Civic interior is designed to offer comfortable, sophisticated and premium cabin in its class. The 2016 Civic’s longer wheel base and wider body results in giving its occupants spaciousness and premium comfort with ample headroom, legroom, shoulder clearance and side head clearance. Fit, finish and material quality throughout the cabin has been mod-ernized with the premium and sporty character

of all new Civic. High quality, soft touch mate-rials are applied to the instrument panel, front door and door inserts and center armrests are padded.

The Stunning Civic also offers automatic cli-mate control, steering wheel mounted controls for Blue Tooth Hands Free Telephone (HFT), a 5 inch touch screen audio in the LXi grade and a 7 inch touchscreen audio in EXi and RS grades and USB jacks. Some standard features in all grades include 60:40 fold down rear seats, rear seat armrest with cup holders, rear ven-tilation ducts, sun visor extension mechanism and map light.

Convenience features include Remote Engine

Starter which starts engine from a distance, ensuring favorable automatic climate con-trol regulating cabin temperature ensuring maximum comfort before you get in. Smart Entry, Push Button Start also adds to comfort and sporty feel,

Electric Parking Brake replaces hand lever with compact, easy to operate switch, the Automatic Brake Hold function eliminates the need to keep the foot on the break when at a hill or an intersection, Auto Day and Night Rear View Mirror, Walk Away Locking, Cruise Control, Electronic Power Steering and Rear Parking Sensors.

The EXi and the RS grades in addition to sunroof has Honda LANEWATCHTM feature which uses a camera located below the pas-senger side view mirror to display an expanded rear view of the passenger side road way on the 7 inch touchscreen. Multi-Angle Rearview Camera that gives a look of three different

viewing angles which can also be seen on the same 7 inch touchscreen.

Powering 2016 Civic are two new engines both designed to provide refined, responsive and fuel efficient performance. The LXi and EXi grades are powered by the new 2.0L DOHC inline-4 engine with i-VTEC engine producing a peak of 158hp@6500 rpm, 187N-m torque at 4200 rpm. The RS grade is powered by Turbo Charged 1.5L DOHC, direct-injected inline-4 engine with variable Valve Timing Control, churning out 180hp at 6000rpm and a 220N-m torque at 1700-5500rpm. Both engines are mated to a new generation Continuously Var-iable Transmission (CVT). Civic’s new CVT has a taller final gear ratio for fuel-efficient low-rpm cruising, and new-generation G-Design shift logic for smooth acceleration and natu-ral throttle response. The fuel efficiency of the LXi and EXi grades are at 18.8km/l and the RS grade is 20km/l.

WEDNESDAY 27 APRIL 20166

By Naomi Kresge and

Christoph Rauwald Bloomberg

PETER Daniel l Por-sche (pictured) spent much of the first 42 years of his life keep-ing a distance from his family’s automo-

tive legacy, the source of his wealth and famous name.

Now, the former teacher at alter-native schools is changing course, building up his own business hold-ings and embracing a growing role at Volkswagen AG, where he is set to become one of his family’s largest stakeholders. Seen as iconoclas-tic in the past, his ideals that include consensual decision-making and eco-logical investing stand to resonate as the carmaker struggles to emerge from “Dieselgate” and the shadow of Ferdinand Piech, VW’s domineer-ing longtime leader and the cousin of Peter Daniell’s father.

“I don’t need to destroy anyone to do business,” Porsche said in an inter-view in a renovated 16th-century mill in Salzburg, Austria, that serves as the headquarters for his investment inter-ests. “I can also achieve something in a socially-conscious way.”

For the past two years, the

great-grandson of VW Beetle creator Ferdinand Porsche has been cutting his teeth as a businessman. He formed his investment vehicle PDP Holding GmbH, joined the board of VW’s Czech Skoda brand, began advising his family’s Porsche Design firm and has become vice chairman of a foundation run by VW labour officials to support social projects. His role will increase after his father, Hans-Peter Porsche, hands over his post on the supervisory board of the family’s holding company, which owns 52 percent of Volkswagen’s vot-ing shares, by 2020.

Peter Daniell is better positioned than most other members of the family’s younger generation to take a leading role. A rare only child in the clan, he stands to control about 12 percent of the family’s investment vehicle Porsche Automobil Holding SE after he inherits his father’s stake. Last year, that holding would have earned a dividend of about €36m ($41m), according to Bloomberg calculations. This year, it’s set to be substantially less as a consequence of VW’s emis-sions-cheating scandal.

“While I’m pleased if something comes from Volkswagen, if nothing comes, then I’ll do my work there any-way,” said Peter Daniell, who made waves with a 2012 memoir saying there’s more to life than making cars.

His increasing involvement at Europe’s largest carmaker coincides

with Volkswagen’s worst crisis. The company has admitted to rigging die-sel engines to cheat on emissions tests and is facing billions of euros in fines and lawsuits around the world.

The scandal has brought to light the need for sweeping changes at

Volkswagen, including loosening up its rigid top-down structure and embracing electric vehicles, said Stefan Bratzel, director of the Center of Automotive Management at the University of Applied Sciences in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany. “Of

course a family member can influ-ence Volkswagen,” but it remains to be seen if Peter Daniell can take on that role, said Bratzel.

Volkswagen has begun embrac-ing some of Peter Daniell’s ideas. Last year, he had his Skoda Yeti SUV

converted into an electric vehicle. After the scandal hit, the project captured the attention of the carmaker’s engineers, who asked to borrow his car to study it. They still haven’t returned it.

If he can prove that he can be a successful businessman in his own right, his influence stands to increase. Formed in 2014, PDP Holding is built around Peter Daniell’s approach. While the fund holds majority stakes in an eclectic mix of companies around Salzburg, including a brew-ery, app developer, book publisher and plastics recycling plant, they must all be profitable and at the same time adhere to his worker-friendly and environmentally sustainable busi-ness philosophy.

“As idealistic as it is, it needs to make business sense,” said Rafael Wal-ter, PDP’s business manager. “There are targets,” including a return on sales in a range of 5 percent to 15 percent. That would make the holding, which Peter Daniell says no longer needs subsidies from his personal wealth, more profit-able than many industrial companies, including the VW car brand, albeit at a much smaller scale.

“I can’t assume that I won’t destroy anything with my steps as I go through life,” Porsche said. “But I can make an effort that what I cre-ate with my steps is as big as possible and what I destroy with my steps is as small as possible.”

Porsche’s biggest heir changes course LEFT: A visitor takes pictures of a new Porsche 718 Cayman S presented during Auto China 2016 in Beijing. RIGHT: A hybrid Porsche SUV being charged.

By John Lippert

Bloomberg

HONDA Motor Co unveiled a petrol-elec-tric Accord sedan that will be exported from Japan to help deal with

currency fluctuations and sluggish sales. The company stopped making Accord hybrids in Marysville, Ohio, last year while it shifted production to its Sayama plant near Tokyo. Honda showed off the new Japan-built model to reporters recently in Detroit.

“Honda is trying get back into the hybrid market with the Accord, and this is a low-risk way to do it because of multiple markets they can serve from Japan,’’ said Alan Baum, an independent auto analyst in West Bloomfield, Michigan. “Plus, making vehicles in Japan is much more prof-itable than it was three to four years ago.’’ Japan’s currency has weakened to about 110 yen to the dollar from 76 yen in January 2012, boosting the value of exports for the country’s manufacturers. And US sales of the Accord hybrid have declined, with a 21 percent drop to 11,063 last year. The hybrid market has been dominated by Toyota Motor Corp’s Prius, which gen-erated 184,794 US deliveries in 2015.

Honda may also export Civic small cars and CR-V sport utility vehicles from Japan to the US, President Taka-hiro Hachigo said last month.

When the petrol-electric Accord, Honda’s newest hybrid, goes on sale later this year as a 2017 model, it will

get 48 miles (77km) per gallon based on revised US government tests used to measure combined city and highway driving, John Mendel, the carmaker’s executive vice-president of US sales, said at a press briefing. He said the new Accord hybrid would

have scored as high as 51 mpg on the prior test, under which the 2015 model is rated at 47 mpg. Federal regulators revised the tests to include more high-speed driving simulations.

The new Accord hybrid has a 2-litre, four-cylinder petrol engine

that with the car’s electric motor gen-erates a combined peak output of 212 horsepower. That’s the highest of any midsize hybrid sedan and an increase of 16 horsepower from the previous model, Honda said.

Mendel said he’s aiming for annual sales of about 28,000 for the Accord hybrid. He declined to specify pric-ing, but said it won’t differ much from the 2015 model, which starts at about $29,000. He said US deliveries of that model suffered because of shortages of batteries and other components as hybrid sales rose faster in Japan than in other countries.

US sales of electrified vehicles including hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and those powered by only batteries or fuel cells, fell 11 percent to 509,461 last year, Baum said. Low petrol prices helped cause the decline, but govern-ments are continuing their push to reduce greenhouse gases and other pollutants, Baum said. In his speech last month, Hachigo promised that by about 2030, two-thirds of Hon-da’s global fleet with be electrified.

Mendel touted the premium appeal of the five-passenger Clarity fuel-cell sedan, which is part of Hon-da’s global effort. The car is already sold in Japan; when US sales start later this year, it will cost $60,000 to purchase or about $500 a month to lease. Owners will be able to refuel

the Clarity in less than five minutes and then drive for 300 miles, accord-ing to the carmaker. The car will go on sale first in California, which has 15 hydrogen refueling stations now and plans 100 by 2020.

Next year, Honda plans to intro-duce a plug-in hybrid derivative of the Clarity that can travel 40 miles in electric-only mode. That exceeds the 33-mile average daily commute for most Americans, while the gasoline engine will be available as a backup. The company also intends to introduce a battery-only version of the Clarity in 2017.

By 2030, the Clarity family of vehicles may rival Honda’s main-stream models such as the Accord and Civic in global volume, Mendel said. Toward that end, the company is reworking several plants to be able to make Clarity vehicles. The fuel-cell stack and hydrogen tank for the current model fits into the same com-partment as gasoline engines.

The revamped Accord hybrid and the Clarity expansion show that Honda is redoubling efforts to transform electrified vehicles into a high-volume business, Mendel said. “These are not compact cars any-more,” he said. “You can put five people in them and go anywhere you want. And petrol isn’t going to stay at $1.59 a gallon forever.’’

Honda unveils Japan-built Accord hybrid to replace US model

WEDNESDAY 27 APRIL 2016 7

By Tom Randall

Bloomberg

IT WAS the night of the unveil-ing. Nineteen minutes into his big talk, Elon Musk finally revealed what everyone had come to see. Three of Tesla Motor Inc’s Model 3 proto-

types rolled onto stage. But it was the next revelation that brought the house down: Tesla had already taken in more than 115,000 reservations that day, each with a $1,000 deposit — sight unseen. The crowd swooned. The media roared.

In the weeks that followed, reservations jumped to about 400,000 — almost four times the total number of cars Tesla has pro-duced over the last eight years. As the dust settles on this achievement — an affordable, practical, desira-ble electric car — we’ve been pulling together data to put it in historical context.

The Model 3’s unveiling was unique in the 100-year history of the mass-market automobile. The closest analog is that of the 1955 Citroen DS, which took in 80,000 deposits over 10-days at the Paris Auto Show. Much like the Model 3, the DS was lauded as an engineering marvel that was years ahead of its time. A more recent par-allel among technological sensations is Apple Inc’s iPhone.

The Model 3 represents the first time an affordable electric car doesn’t have to apologise for running on bat-teries. Conventional wisdom once held that electric cars would always run slow and would never be objects of automotive lust. Tesla flipped that on its head by clocking some of the fastest times from 0 to 60 miles per hour in the world with its Model S. The cheaper Model 3 is no slouch, either.

Affordable? Check. Desirable? Check. But how far can you go before

having to charge it again? That’s always been a foundational ques-tion. Could this upstart really make a long-range car with the grace of the Model S — and deliver it at a reasona-ble price? Apparently, yes. The Model 3 offers the cheapest range available for any electric car, even though it retains some of the richest features. In the long run, this may be one of the most important contributions of the car, if it is to bring the electric auto-mobile fully into the mass market.

Battery cost makes up a third of the price of an electric vehicle — a fact that hasn’t been lost on Tesla. The company has been throwing a lot of its sweat and money at cutting this expense — including building the big-gest battery factory on the planet and launching a standalone battery-stor-age business. The strategy seems to be working: Tesla is now making fin-ished battery packs at or below $220 per kilowatt hour, considerably less than the industry average, accord-ing to analysts at Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). If Tesla can shave an additional 30 percent off its battery cost, it should be able to sell the Model 3 with a healthy 20 percent gross profit margin.

Tesla is also expanding range by eking more miles out of the same electricity -- the final Model 3 will have a drag coefficient of 0.21. That would make it one of the sleekest cars ever sold. But even a long-range battery dies, and what happens then?

As it turns out, charging isn’t as big a hurdle as many drivers imag-ine. Sure, there are still roughly 13 fuel stations for every public charg-ing location. But that’s ignoring the most common type of charging station of all: Your garage. About two-thirds of US homes have them. With an at-home charger and 215 miles of range, most customers rarely need to stop at a charging sta-tion. Looking at it that way, charging

Tesla changed cars forever. Now it must deliver

ABOVE: Visitors stand next to a Tesla Model S. RIGHT: A visitor checks the inside of a Tesla Model S.

locations already outnumber fuel stations by about 400 to 1.

Public charging stations are pri-marily needed for drivers who spend long stretches on the road at a time — be it for road trips or business travel. For most of these drivers, it’s the speed of the chargers — not the absolute number — that matters most, so Tesla is focusing on building a charging net-work with the fastest chargers in the world. Tesla Superchargers can pro-vide 170 miles of driving range in 30 minutes, and owners of the Model X and S can use them all without charge. The number of Superchargers will double this year alone, according to Tesla.

So Tesla has the right chargers and it has the right car. The sky is the limit, right? Well, here is the biggest hurdle the company faces between now and the electric-car filled hori-zon: Follow-through.

First Tesla has to make all those Model 3s on order, and this is a com-pany that’s known for delays. Every car missed its deadline, most recently with the Model X overshooting by

more than 18 months. Did we men-tion that those $1,000 deposits on the Model 3 are fully refundable?

Tesla can no longer afford such delays, for several reasons: Previously Tesla relied on wealthy early adopters who weren’t in a rush. Many Model 3 buyers don’t have that luxury.

The backlog of 400,000 reser-vations will probably grow before the launch slated for late next year. Even if it doesn’t, this is a consider-able number of cars to move. Delays for some in the queue are inevitable, but how long will buyers wait?

The competition is arriving soon. General Motors Co’s Chevy Bolt is already going to beat Tesla to mar-ket with an electric car that can drive 200 miles on a charge for less than $40,000. While the Bolt doesn’t share the panache of a Model 3, it’s a practi-cal option for electric-car buyers, and the luxury brands aren’t far behind.

Perhaps most pressing for Tesla is that the $7,500 US subsidy for electric

cars, which brings the base Model 3 price to $27,500, is going to expire.

Everything must go right for the Model 3 to succeed: The battery fac-tory must flourish, costs must come down, car-manufacturing capacity must scale at an astonishing rate, and all of it needs to arrive on time. Musk says he can sell 500,000 cars a year by 2020 worldwide. Here’s what the US Tesla market would need to look like in order for that to happen:

The high price of the Model S and Model X will put a cap on their total potential market, according to BNEF. In order for Tesla to meet its 2020 forecast, it will need to make up the difference with the rapid deployment of the Model 3. In fact, Tesla may need to sell more units than the class-lead-ing BMW 3 Series.

Almost every major carmaker — as well as tech companies such as Google Inc and Apple — has an elec-tric-car programme that’s moving ahead with new urgency. In addition

to GM’s effort, Ford Motor Co is investing billions of dollars in its pro-gramme and even paid $200,000 for an early Tesla Model X, presumably so it could tear it apart.

Competition from Detroit and abroad could spell trouble for Tesla, but it’s also necessary if electric cars are to replace the internal combustion engine. Being any later to this party will only hurt Tesla.

Earlier this year, BNEF analysts and I made some predictions about how quickly electric automobiles could begin to supplant petrol-pow-ered cars and upend oil markets. It was seen by some at the time as being overly optimistic for the electric-car industry. But after looking at the anticipated specs and timeline of the Model 3, some the assumptions are beginning to look, if anything, a little bit conservative. Tesla can take credit for blowing the whole thing open, but it will have to keep up its remarkable pace to stay in the game.

The Model 3 represents the first time an affordable electric car doesn’t have to apologise for running on batteries. Conventional wisdom once held that electric cars would always run slow. Tesla flipped that on its head by clocking some of the fastest times from 0 to 60 miles per hour in the world with its Model S. The cheaper Model 3 is no slouch, either.

By Hannah Elliott

Bloomberg

THE new R8 Spyder from Audi will have more power, new drive modes, a tighter chassis and a faster sprint time than ever before. At the New York International Auto Show, Audi showcased an updated version of the R8 Spy-

der, alongside new executive Stephan Winkelmann — formerly of Lamborghini.

The last update to the Spyder came with the 2015 model year (two years ago), and this time around Audi has added 15 horsepower, new driving dynamic systems and perform-ance modes, updated components, and increased rigidity to the Sport line, which started with the first-generation

coupe in 2007 and continued through a 2010 introduc-tion of the Spyder version.

“For us in America, the R8 put Audi on the map — it declared our intent and it accelerated everything,” said Audi of America President Scott Keogh. In 2007, when Audi was the first luxury car brand to air a television ad dur-ing the Super Bowl, it was for the original R8. “This is the car that will lead Audi into the next phase of our ascent.”

Since then total sales for the R8 family have reached nearly 30,000 units, according to Audi reports. Audi R and RS models combined sold more than 17,000 units globally, up 13% over last year and more than double the number in 2011. “The US market has the potential really to be the big-gest market for the Audi sport brand,” said Winkelmann, who recently switched to Audi to lead its sport perform-ance division. He called it a “good omen” to be able to stand next to the car at the start of his new role.

In fact, the V10 Spyder has a powerful 540hp engine and will hit 62mph in 3.6 seconds, well under the 2015 model’s 4- second sprint time. Top speed is just over 197mph. “It’s the mighty mid-engine which makes this car really wonderful,” said Dietmar Voggenreiter, a member of the board of management for Audi AG. “It can go nearly

200mph for an open top car—I think this is quite cool!With its new design, the R8 Spyder retains the forward

position of the passenger compartment, the highly accentu-ated wheel arches, and the long back of its predecessor. But at 14.5 feet long it is 0.6 inches shorter and 1.4-inches wider than previous years. It contains nearly 50% of the same parts used on the LMS racing version of the R8 that won the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race last month.

The car shows Audi’s famous front nose with a hon-eycomb grill, wedge-shaped headlights and LED-diode lights inside them. Its rag top deploys in 20 seconds at speeds up to 31mph; you can choose it in red, brown or black. Optional add-ons for the new model include a front spoiler, carbon-fiber “sideblades” along the side of the car, and a novel paint colour for the car called Argus Brown. Audi says the Spyder will go on sale later this year. Pric-ing has not been announced.

The 2017 Audi R8 Spyder is faster, tighter and more powerful

WEDNESDAY 27 APRIL 20168

By JOE McDONALD

AP

CHINA’S love affair with SUVs is helping to cushion the blow of an unexpectedly pain-ful slump in the rest of its crowded auto mar-

ket. Sales of SUVs, seen as the safest option on China’s rough, chaotic roads, soared 52 percent last year. That helped the overall market grow 7.3 percent — a sliver of its 45 per-cent peak in 2009 — even though car and minivan sales sagged.

“Ten years ago, no one wanted an SUV because it was considered to be a bulky truck for peasants,” said Michael Dunne, a consultant on Chinese auto market strategy. “Now the cool factor has kicked in and SUVs are super-hot in the China market.”

Scrambling for a piece of that action, carmakers from General Motors Co and Volkswagen AG to local players Great Wall and BYD are making SUVs the star of this month’s Beijing auto show, the biggest of the year in the biggest auto market. The show “will highlight the growing tension between international and local brands as they fight to outshine each other with new products,” said Namrita Chow of IHS Automotive in a report.

Overall sales growth is likely to fall further this year to 6 percent after eco-nomic growth fell last year to a 25-year low, though total volume might reach 25 million vehicles, according to Chow. An industry group for Chinese auto dealers has warned against stocking up on inventory that might not sell. A few years ago customers waited months for delivery of popular models.

The speed of the decline surprised

US, European and Asian carmakers that are counting on China to drive revenue growth. They have poured bil-lions of dollars into new factories and models designed for Chinese tastes. “Nobody foresaw how quickly demand would slow,” said Dunne. “Prices will fall. Profitability will suffer.”

Communist leaders have encour-aged auto manufacturing as an economic development tool, though creating globally competitive Chinese brands turned out to be harder than they hoped. Foreign carmakers that want to produce cars in China have been required since the 1980s to work through state-owned partners that Beijing hoped would learn enough to launch their own brands.

When that failed to work fast enough, communist leaders extended support to independents such as BYD Auto, an electric vehicle maker, and Geely Holding Group, which bought Sweden’s Volvo Cars in 2010 with sup-port from state banks.

Global carmakers were required to help state-owned partners create Chinese brands such as GM’s Baojun and Nissan’s Venucia in exchange for being allowed to expand their own production. Meanwhile, major cities pay a price in throat-searing smog so severe that half of Beijing’s cars were ordered off the road in December.

The SUV boom has helped to res-cue domestic Chinese carmakers that had steadily lost market share to big-ger, richer foreign brands. Total profit for Chinese brands fell last year despite 10 percent sales growth, according to Robin Zhu of Bernstein Research. Zhu said that squeeze will worsen as more SUVs flood the market.

Chinese brands account for 65 percent of SUVs sold, dominating the market’s lowest tiers, where profits are slim.

LEFT: Visitors pose for photos beside Beijing Automotive Industry Corporation (BAIC)’s new electric supercar Arcfox-7 at Auto China 2016 motor show in Beijing. RIGHT: The Faraday Future’s single-seat concept car.

China’s love for SUVs showcased in Beijing

Most Chinese carmakers have left behind the days of quirky and bargain-priced but poor-quality vehicles. They have invested heavily in technology and brought in Western designers to create sleek models that could be mis-taken for Japanese or Korean brands.

“The foreign car makers are going to face more challenges,” said analyst John Zeng of LMC Automotive. “The quality and competitiveness of local car makers are getting stronger and stronger.”

This month, BYD Auto unveiled the Yuan compact SUV, starting at 59,000 yuan ($9,100) for the petrol version and 209,900 yuan ($33,000) for a gas-electric hybrid. Also ahead of the Beijing show, Geely debuted the Boyue SUV, starting at 98,800 yuan ($15,200). At the show, carmakers plan an avalanche of new SUVs ranging from

45,000 yuan ($6,900) compacts to lux-urious land yachts with heated seats and video players.

The original off-road brand, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ Jeep, is due to debut its China-manufactured Rene-gade. Honda Motor Co plans to unveil two SUVs designed for China.

Local brands Great Wall Motor Co, China’s best-selling SUV brand, and Chery Automobile Co plan to show at least one new model. Also this year, state-owned carmakers Shanghai Auto-motive Industries Corp, Guangzhou Auto Co and Dongfeng Motor Co are expected to launch as many as three new SUVs.

That should raise annual SUV pro-duction in China above 7.2 million units, with possible sales reaching 7.7 mil-lion, Chow says.

Carmakers also are working on

futuristic technologies including electric and self-driving cars, shared vehicles summoned by smartphone and Inter-net-linked onboard services.

GM plans to launch at least 10 elec-tric or hybrid vehicles in China over the next five years, according to Matt Tsien, the Detroit automaker’s presi-dent for China. That is part of 60 new or refreshed GM vehicles planned over the next five years.

Joining the fray, technology compa-nies including search engine Baidu Inc and e-commerce giant Alibaba Group have announced plans to develop self-driving cars, navigation and other advances.

On Wednesday, a Chinese com-pany, LeEco, which started out as video website LeTV, unveiled what it said is a self-driving all-electric car. The com-pany said it would announce details

at the Beijing auto show. Carmakers are encouraged by the fact that Chi-na’s overall vehicle ownership rates still are low compared with devel-oped countries.

China has 172 million cars and 280 million licenced drivers, according to government data. That is the equiv-alent of 13 cars for every 100 people, well below the US level of 80 per 100 people.

But efforts by Beijing and other big cities to curb smog by limiting new car registrations are forcing carmakers to look for buyers in smaller towns, where profits are thinner. SUV sales are so strong that some Chinese brands are gambling their futures on the boom by putting all their resources into that segment, said Zeng. “That strategy is effective in the short-term but in the longer term quite risky,” he said.