71 Super Sustainable

SUPER SUSTAINABLE

Many of the world’s luxury car brands are making the switch to electric power.

WHEN THE INEVITABLE revolution comes, the conquerors will surge stealthily down our streets and into our driveways with hardly a sound.

And mostly we’ll welcome them.

Recent news confirms the world’s car makers are gathering speed in their transition to sustainable electric power.

In Australia, while there are effectively no government incentives for buyers to choose pure-electric or hybrid cars, they are doing so nevertheless in increasing numbers fed by the availability of models designed to meet environmental standards imposed in other countries.

Electric (EV) and hybrid vehicles booked the strongest rate of sales growth of any passenger category last year; diesels are dead.

It could be called a silent takeover as EVs bring about one of the greatest changes in motoring history.

It’s nothing less than motoring’s equivalent of computers replacing the printing press.

Electric cars are not simply cars with electric motors – they’re different in countless ways.

The driving experience is different, they’re heavier, shape and space change because of WORDS CHRIS NIXON newfound design freedoms, service stations will change if not disappear, maintenance requirements with fewer moving parts will be slashed and traffic noise will be reduced.

We’ll miss the sounds of finely-turned metal bits thrashing about inside engines of 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12 or even 16 cylinders fired by fossil fuels, but they could be gone forever in new cars in 10 years.

For instance, Britain will ban the sale of new internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles from 2030.

To meet Britain’s change and others like it, car makers are ahead of the game and starting to show their hands.

Jaguar is the latest to announce all its models – SUVs, sedans and sports cars – will be pureelectric just four years from now.

As will Maserati, soon to introduce a hybrid petrol-electric Ghibli sedan in Australia as an interim model.

McLaren will add its first mainstream hybrid, the Artura, to its Australia catalogue later this year.

Lotus has revealed its long-running Elise, Exige and Evora sports cars will be replaced after this year and they’re expected to have at least hybrid motors before switching to full-EV.

The forthcoming $3 million Lotus Evija GT is an EV with almost 2000 horsepower.

The internal combustion engine using petrol is a long way from dead, but every car make you know and love is on its way to an electric future. (And trucks too, for that matter.)

The trend won’t falter even while debate continues about the sustainability of charging EV batteries from a coal-fired grid.

That’s a temporary issue that will pass when engineers finally perfect the ultimate fuel source, hydrogen.

Meanwhile, luxury makes BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla and Porsche already offer EVs to Australian drivers. Lexus is coming.

So now it’s time to start preparing for this new motoring age.

My advice: start looking for a car that isn’t an SUV, that drinks petrol, drips a little oil, deafens the neighbourhood when started and exhibits lovable imperfections.

In a decade or two, a prescient choice will pay better than superannuation, tax-free.

PURISTS will hate it, but pragmatists will claim Ferrari’s forthcoming first SUV is destined to become the most popular model in the maker’s history.

This will be the vehicle for all those drivers who yearn to own a Ferrari but don’t want to wrestle a sports car every day.

This will be a Ferrari with four doors and easy access – whether you’re short, tall, fat, thin or have dodgy knees – to a spacious, luxurious cabin.

It will offer enough speed, agility and drama to satisfy most drivers wanting the Ferrari experience, even if it’s not in the same realm as a traditional, low-slung sports car.

Ferrari is revealing little about the SUV, except that it will be released next year – meaning likely Australian deliveries in 2023 – and has the project code name Purosangue, which is said to mean, appropriately for the Prancing Horse marque, thoroughbred.

Ferrari is declining so far to call the Purosangue an SUV, but with all-wheel drive, generous road clearance and wagon-style bodywork that’s what it will be.

“I think we’ve found a concept and a package which is on one side a real SUV and will convince SUV customers to buy it, but on the other side there’s a huge differentiation of concept to existing SUVs,” Ferrari’s chief technical officer Michael Leiters told Britain’s Autocar magazine.

Engines have not been specified yet, but experts say the chassis could accommodate V6, V8 or V12 units, inevitably to be complemented by plug-in hybrid power to help meet tightening emissions standards. A logical candidate would be the V8 hybrid that produces 1000 horsepower in the recently released SF90 Stradale supercar.

Given Ferrari’s design DNA, the Purosangue promises to be a radical and spectacular departure for the famous Italian make.

Outside and inside, it is expected to look like no other SUV and offer everyday usability and versatility unprecedented in a Ferrari.

And it should be hugely profitable.

Unlike his customers, founder Enzo Ferrari was famously unsentimental about his cars, which he built at first only to fund his racing activities.

He did vow to never build a four-door car, but in 2022 would he mind seeing the prancing horse badge on a highly-profitable, high-riding, light offroad wagon? I don’t think so.

INTRODUCING OUR BUSINESS PROFIT 'GURU'

Greg Borchard joined the Sedley Koschel team in July 2020 taking on the role of Accounting General Manager after having had a long-standing & successful business relationship with Director, Robert Koschel. With over 15 years Accounting experience and significant technological expertise, Greg is our Business Profit Specialist, helping business owners achieve financial freedom by coaching them to success! We call Greg 'The Guru'. Come and meet him today and learn how we can: • Prepare a one page strategic plan for your business • Automate your financial reporting requirements • Benchmark your business performance with your business cohort • Identify strengths and weaknesses • Set 1, 3 and 10 year goals and targets • Prepare a budget and cash flow • Achieve your big hairy Greg Borchard audacious goals! Accounting General Manager