Our reporters empty their notebooks to round up this week's gossip from across the automotive industry
This week's industry gossip includes news of a hard-top MX-5, Norway's EV market share growth, and a delay in VW's Phaeton replacement.
Phaeton replacement delayed
The replacement for the Volkswagen Phaeton has been delayed, according to reports.
Company bosses are said to be looking to increase returns on the next-generation luxury saloon by lowering material and production costs.
Read more: VW Phaeton review; VW Golf review
Norway EV market share up
The UK has a public charging point for every four electric vehicles, compared with one for every six in Norway.
Financial incentives and other benefits, such as the right to use bus lanes in rush hour, have raised EV market share in Norway from 2% in 2011 to 18% in 2014.
Read more: Tesla Model S review; Nissan Leaf review
Hard-top MX-5 possible
Mazda isn’t ruling out the possibility of a folding hard-top variant of the new, fourth-generation MX-5 roadster, although it could be a long wait.
A company source said: “If you think about how long it took us to do it for the previous generation, it won’t come as a surprise that a hard-top version of the new MX-5 will be years away, if it happens at all.
Read more: Mazda MX-5 review; Mazda MX-5 long-term review
LHD C-Class saloons sourced from South Africa
Strong European sales and a lack of capacity due to an increase in production of the new GLC at its Bremen factory in Germany has led Mercedes-Benz to source left-hand-drive versions of its latest C-Class saloon from its factory in East London, South Africa.
The site, traditionally only supplies right-hand-drive versions of the German four-door.
Read more: Mercedes-Benz C-Class saloon review; Mercedes-Benz GLC review
JLR 5.0-litre V8 too loud?
The supercharged 5.0-litre V8 engine used in the Jaguar F-Type R has been the subject of customer feedback suggesting that it’s too loud, despite the engine being widely praised in the motoring industry.
This led JLR to focus on noise, vibration and harshness testing on the Range Rover Sport SVR, which uses the same power plant, in order to avoid a similar criticism of the high-performance SUV.
Read more: Jaguar F-Type R review; Range Rover Sport SVR review
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