Autocar confidential: Skoda’s Kodiaq Coupe, non-hybrid McLaren P1, a new catergory of cars & more

This week's snippets of automotive news include news on the Skoda Kodiaq, McLaren's non-hybrid P1, Hyundai on European emissions regulations and more.

Skoda Kodiaq Coupé:

A potential European launch of the Skoda Kodiaq Coupé, on sale in China later this year, continues to be discussed by the Czech car manufacturer. The problem is that Skoda simply has no spare capacity in its factories to build the model. “Skoda has not got many problems, but one is production capacity,” said R&D boss Christian Strube.

McLaren P1 non-hybrid:

McLaren deliberated over launching a non-hybrid version of the P1 hypercar but decided against it as it was considered at odds with the ethos of the project. The hybrid system added about 140kg to the kerb weight of the car but that is compensated by the extra power it generated.

New catergory of cars:

The advent of electric vehicles will create a new category of cars, according to Honda design chief Makoto Iwaki, which could be “larger and taller” than today’s models. He said in the future “we might think it’s not an SUV but a totally new segment”. Iwaki used the example of an iPhone as a market segment that previously never existed.

Hyundai on Europe's emissions regulations:

Hyundai motor Group powertrain boss Michael Winkler believes adapting to Europe’s increasingly sporadic new emissions regulations is more challenging than engineering new technology in cars. He said “it’s extremely difficult for engineers to predict what powertrains will be right” so manufacturers need more consistent “boundary conditions”.

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