RUMOUR HAS IT...
details of the model last month, it reported that the P15 will have 588kW, which beats the 542kW of the P1. But the P1 had an electric motor which boosted the output to 673kW in total. There will be no electric motor in the nextgeneration P1, but our sources have told us the engine beneath all that downforcecreating bodywork will produce 671kW on its own.
We are quite sure that McLaren will find an extra 3kW to give it more total power. What we also know is that, unlike the first P1, McLaren will make the new model in righthand drive and that confirmed orders have already been placed for four to come to SA.
M3 OF SUVS?
Still with performance — albeit further down the scale — details are emerging of the new BMW X3 M. It is expected to use more carbon fibre reinforced plastic to reduce overall weight and make the most of the performance that will probably come from the engine in the existing M3 and M4.
Our sources say the X3 M will also have a much wider, more aggressive-looking body than the M40i M model.
It will retain the xDrive allwheel-drive layout but with a rear-biased configuration to provide a more BMW sports car-like drive.
BRAND VALUE
Volkswagen and Toyota may slug it out for the title of the world’s biggest car maker, but the Japanese marque has trounced the German one for brand value.
In a study of the world’s most valuable brands by US consultancy Interbrand, Toyota had the most valuable brand of all the world’s car makers, with a cited value of more than $50bn to rank seventh overall.
Despite being the world’s second largest-selling car maker behind the Volkswagen Group, Toyota’s brand value dropped 6% in the Best Global Brands 2017 list.
Toyota’s decline in brand value allowed South Korea’s Samsung, which has an automotive link with batteries for battery-electric and hybrid cars, to leapfrog into sixth place overall, at $56.2bn.
Toyota’s arch-rival Volkswagen grew its brand value by a single percentage point, creeping to a lowly ranking of 40th overall, and ninth among car makers, with a brand value of $11.5bn.
The ranking showed little relationship between brand value and sales volumes, or even profit per share, with Mercedes-Benz listed as the second-ranked car brand ($48bn, after a 10% improvement over its 2016 brand value). BMW chased Mercedes to be third among all car-making brands, with its $42bn value.
As strong as Toyota’s brand value was judged to be, it paled behind the world’s strongest brand, Apple ($184bn), second-ranked Google ($142bn) and Microsoft ($80bn). The strongest nontech brand was the fourthranked Coca-Cola ($70bn), then Amazon ($65bn).