Welcome to the Hooniverse News! As always, this is a weekly recap of some of the biggest stories in the automotive industry without the fluff or bull. There’s also just a little opinion of mine because I can. This week:

• Ford does the inevitable and plans to cut most of their cars in US by 2020

• BMW unveils all-electric X3 concept, production version coming soon

• Jaguar celebrates 50 years of the XJ with special edition

• McLaren paints part of a dragon on a car

• What’s your automotive news?

Ford is cutting most passenger cars in US market

Normally shareholder reports are the most boring pieces of reading material you can find, but Ford’s press release for their Q1 earnings drew a lot of attention. Buried within a bullet list of how Ford plans to “create long term value” is a huge announcement regarding the fate of Ford’s passenger car lineup in America. It’s uh… almost all going away.
Ford claims that by 2020, 90% of the Ford portfolio in North America will be trucks, SUVs, and commercial vehicles. The other 10% will be made up by the only two cars to survive this huge cut, and those will be the Mustang and the all-new Focus Active, which is basically a Focus made into a lifted soft-roader that they’re calling a crossover. So yes, the normal Focus, Fiesta, Taurus, and maybe the C-Max (which they do still make) are all dead in North America by 2020 and the only true car remaining by then will be the Mustang.

The causes are predictable – slowing car sales made worse by America’s love affair with sitting slightly higher above the road than everyone else and how much money is still being printed by existing trucks and SUVs. Of the cars being axed, the Fusion was the best-selling with 209,000 units sold last year followed by the Focus at 153,000. Those aren’t necessarily bad numbers and that should be enough to make it profitable, but not enough profit for Ford to keep them on our shores.
With so many vehicles going out to pasture, Ford said they’re exploring new “’white space’ vehicle silhouettes that
combine the best attributes of cars and utilities” – so basically, more cars like the slightly taller Focus Active.
If you want a new Ford car, you better hurry. If you want a Mustang before it too becomes a crossover, double hurry.
[Sources: Ford, sales numbers via Ford Authority]

BMW iX3 Concept

BMW has recommitted themselves to more electrification with the debut of the all-electric iX3 Concept. It’s scheduled for production soon and will be just the third production model born from BMW’s ‘i’ electric sub-brand. It’s also the first to be converted from an existing car in their lineup which proves a point.
The X3 is a core part of the BMW lineup which makes this a pretty big move for them. It’ll be the first to use BMW’s new 5th generation eDrive technology (which I’m sure is better and stuff) and will blaze a trial for a flexible vehicle architecture that will more easily allow for gas, hybrid, or full electric version of all upcoming models that use it. This is the first core model to go all-electric and it’s going to open the flood gates for more to follow.

The all-electric powertrain in the iX3 consists of an electric motor capable of 200kW/270hp and a high-voltage battery pack that should deliver 249 miles of driving range per charge. The kidney grilles, as far as I can tell, are purely a design element.
There’s not much else they’re willing to talk about but we’ll know more when we inch closer to its launch date, which I don’t expect to be very far away.

Jaguar XJ50 celebrates 50 years of the XJ

Jaguar’s flagship since 1968 has been some form of the XJ which happens to be turning 50 this year. That’s reason enough to celebrate with a special edition XJ50 model just before the all-new XJ is expected. It’s one last hurrah for the current generation XJ that’s been on sale since 2009 and played a big role in rejuvenating the brand.

The XJ50 is an appearance package that adds special bumpers, a black grille, and unique 20″ wheels featuring a gloss black diamond-turned finish. Just four of the existing paint colors are available and those are Fuji White, Loire Blue, Rosello Red, and Santorini Black. It’s available exclusively in the longer wheelbase and can be ordered with either the supercarged V6 (AWD or RWD) or the 470-hp supercharged V8.
It isn’t really anything groundbreaking but it gave me an excuse to show pictures of a Jaguar XJ again.
[Source: Jaguar]

McLaren 570GT MSO Cabbeen Collection

Hey guys did you see this cool announcement from McLaren they partnered with Chinese fashion designer Mr. Cabbeen to paint part of a gold dragon on a McLaren 570GT.
[Source: McLaren]

What’s your automotive news?

That’s all I’ve got for you this week, so now it’s your turn. If you saw anything, fixed something, broke everything, or otherwise did anything even remotely car related that you want to share with your fellow hoon, sound off in the comments.
Have a good weekend.
[Image © 2018 Hooniverse/Greg Kachadurian]