Latest from Auto Car
Auto Car
6 hours ago
- Automotive
- Auto Car
How Ellesmere Port was saved: inside the old Astra factory's revival
Close Diane Miller, Stellantis's top UK car manufacturing executive and winner of Autocar's 2025 Editors' Award, has loved cars all her adult life – preferably in very large numbers – and can vividly remember the day the obsession began. From a post-graduate job at Ford's then mighty Ford Fiesta plant in Dagenham, Essex, Miller has spent the past 30-odd years mastering ever more responsible automotive jobs around the world – for Ford, Aston Martin, GM and most recently Stellantis, in the UK, Europe and the US. Miller is decisive but modest and as a result reluctant to identify any particular secret of success. But if you converse with her long enough, she will eventually admit to one asset: 'Finding a way to get on with people.' It is for this that she is known and loved by the people who have worked for her. Having discovered its effectiveness early on, she has deployed her liking for people in every car job she has had, and she has become famous for it. Miller's most spectacular achievement to date has been the 18-month conversion of the former Vauxhall Astra plant at Ellesmere Port, near Liverpool, to the manufacture of battery-powered delivery vans for five Stellantis marques: Vauxhall, Opel, Citroën, Peugeot and Fiat. It has been a vital move in rescuing volume vehicle manufacturing in this country. Now that this EV factory conversion has been achieved, Miller is turning her hand to running Stellantis's massive new national parts distribution centre, located just down the road from the van plant at Ellesmere, where the company is spending £500 million to expand and improve the way it delivers components to its customers in the UK and Ireland. The parts centre project has required another wholesale reorganisation, entailing both the redeployment of car-making people and the importation of new workers into a business that, despite its size and scale, has to be very labour-intensive. It is a perfect place for a unique character like Miller, a highly experienced engineer who discovered early how to get on with people. 'I went to an all-girls convent grammar school in Northern Ireland,' she explains, 'and three of us opted for A-level physics. Our teacher loved engineering, and the upshot was all three of us chose engineering at university: mechanical and production engineering for me; civil and aeronautical for the others. 'My degree was from Liverpool John Moores University, and as part of a 'jobs milk-round' for graduates I was invited to Ford's Dagenham plant to see how it was run. I was instantly amazed and intrigued that they could build 60 cars an hour, and the experience had a lasting effect on me. Even after more than 30 years in the business, I still find it amazing.' Miller joined Ford, moved to Dagenham and stayed five years. She achieved rapid promotions, first to senior process engineer and then to a manager's job in the paint engineering area, launching new technology in Ford plants across Europe. Paint doesn't suit everyone, but Miller earned an early reputation for being willing to try anything and work anywhere. 'Crossing the Irish Sea to go to university was the big move,' she says. 'After that, anything was okay.' Pretty soon Miller was heading to Chicago on a two-year paint unit training scheme that extended to four. 'It was a situation that occurs in many companies,' she says. 'You go on a training scheme and the money runs out, so they get you to do the job anyway. It was great training because no one else knew about paint, so I had to make the decisions. It worked out okay.' Miller's career progressed more rapidly than most young engineers her age, but she's careful not to give herself much credit. 'I had very good mentors,' she says. 'And there were so few women in the industry in those days that people probably noticed you more. Mind you, even today I'm very sad that there aren't more women in these engineering jobs. There are great careers here for those who want to try it.' Women can succeed in a male-dominated arena like car-making just by being who they are, says Miller. They tend to humanise the place, she says: 'Right from the start, I'd go to a factory, talk to the operators and ask how their job should be done. It was a bit different from some managers who arrive and think, well, 'I've got the degree, so I know how things should be run'. But people on the floor can work smart better than anyone, and if they trust you, they'll tell you how.' When the Chicago gig ended, Ford wanted Miller to go back into central engineering at Dagenham, but she wanted to stay in a plant and felt that would have been a waste of her paint know-how. So she worked happily for several years at the Ford Transit plant in Southampton, leaving before it closed in 2013 because its manager was heading for Aston Martin (then a Ford company) and asked her to join him, bringing her paint expertise. It made sense, because her husband, an American, was already a paint supplier there. Aston Martin paint is quite different from Ford Transit paint, she found: 'I started off thinking five jobs an hour would be easier than 60 jobs an hour, but that was completely wrong. True, Aston paint was very different – many more coats and lots of polishing – but the big difference was the fact that the operators had so much to remember. The Transit takt (process) time was around five minutes, explains Miller, whereas at Aston it was more like 25 minutes. People had to remember 25 minutes' work rather thanfive, which is clearly much more difficult. Still, Miller thrived there for six years – until Ford sold Aston Martin and suggested, once again, that she return to central engineering. Just in time a GM headhunter arrived with an offer to move to Ellesmere Port where Vauxhall was about to launch the Astra D2, but there were big problems with the paint shop. Miller, uniquely qualified to take hold of the process and fix it, was perfect for the job. Aston was small by comparison, and Miller liked the Liverpool area where she had been at university. 'We decided to make the move, and I joined the company at a high enough level to make the changes needed,' she says. 'Our Astra launch was the best in the company's history, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. From that I was asked to take over general assembly, another progression. I had enjoyed paint, but there are many more people in general assembly, and I guess that's where my skills are. We made some good progress; people felt able to tell me about their difficulties. ' They knew if there was a problem and I could fix it, I'd do it right away.' Astra production ended in April 2022 – with quality levels higher than they had ever been. Then came the bombshell decision to start making Stellantis electric vans. 'It was a funny time,' says Miller. 'The whole of Europe thought this plant would never reopen, but we already knew [then Stellantis boss] Mr Tavares had decided to keep it going because he'd discovered – from the first time he visited us – that there was an ethos among Ellesmere people that we'd find a way to do whatever was needed to keep the place open. ' In order to make the changes, the factory was shut for 18 months. Staff who couldn't make cars helped move robots and build new rest areas. Managers went to Madrid, where changes planned for Ellesmere had already been made, to see exactly what was needed. Everyone adapted, in no small part because Miller's can-do culture had spread throughout the place. By September 2023 electric vans were flowing down the lines. The success isn't complete. For Miller and Stellantis, the current 20,000-unit annual output isn't nearly enough, mostly because they believe the government's re-adoption of 2035 as an ICE cut-off date has hurt demand for Ellesmere's all-EV output. As a stopgap, they have begun building bodies for an ICE van plant in Algeria (boosting output to 50,000 units), and production will soon be further augmented by the arrival of a range of larger, Vivaro-sized electric vans for the five Stellantis marques. Ultimately, demand will be much higher – perhaps as high as the plant's 100,000-a-year, seven-day, three-shift capacity. Ellesmere Port is ready. Miller, meanwhile, is several months into her demanding new project – and she will be happy with more after that. She has spent most of her three-plus decades in automotive providing a great role model for other people, not just women, but she says the lessons she has learned have been important in her own personal development, too. 'I'll never forget how those early days at Dagenham flipped my mind,' she says. 'They taught me that if you think clearly, you can do anything. I started applying those principles to my own life and found that there's nearly always a way you can make things happen. This industry has been a great teacher.' Join our WhatsApp community and be the first to read about the latest news and reviews wowing the car world. Our community is the best, easiest and most direct place to tap into the minds of Autocar, and if you join you'll also be treated to unique WhatsApp content. You can leave at any time after joining - check our full privacy policy here. Next Prev In partnership with
Auto Car
7 hours ago
- Automotive
- Auto Car
Everything you need to know about Scout, VW's new 4x4 brand
Terra pick-up and Traveler SUV will form the new Scout EV line-up Close It would be easy to dismiss Scout Motors as yet another retro revival, a way of trying to attach some emotion to new electric vehicles by sticking a nostalgic logo on the bonnet. Or even as just another new Volkswagen Group sub-brand designed to protect the conglomerate's share in the tough North American market. Dig beneath the surface, though, and Scout is far more interesting – even if it isn't a brand too well known to UK readers, and one that, for now, won't be sold here. For one thing, what's not to love about a retro-styled Jeep Wrangler rival? For another, the unusual set-up of Scout could have a significant influence on the future development processes of one of the world's biggest car firms. Scout Motors isn't technically a Volkswagen Group brand: it's an independent stand-alone company based in the US but owned by the VW Group. While Scott Keogh, boss of Volkswagen USA, also serves as CEO of Scout, it otherwise has its own staff and facilities. It is, in effect, a start-up created purely to make a new line of highly capable off-road EVs. 'The intent is to combine an American start-up – speed, innovation, ingenuity, adaptability – with the backing, scale and money of one of the world's leading manufacturers,' explains Ryan Decker, Scout's strategy boss (and employee number one). 'Nobody has really done that before.' But this is an electric vehicle start-up housed in some nostalgic wrapping. A quick history lesson may be in order first because, despite its name, the original International Scout was very much an American machine. It was developed by International Harvester, a longtime US manufacturer of agricultural and construction vehicles that in the early 1900s expanded into light trucks and pick-ups. With the Jeep CJ gaining popularity in the 1950s, the Indiana firm decided to develop its own four-wheel-drive recreational vehicle. The Scout 80 arrived in 1961 and was sold in various forms across two model generations until 1980. Even if the name isn't that familiar, chances are the model's styling would offer a familiar ring of Americana. International Harvester slipped into decline in the 1980s, with its various divisions sold off. The truck and engine division was eventually rebranded as Navistar, and in 2021 it was bought by Traton, the VW Group's heavy commercial vehicle arm. That also gave VW the rights to the Scout model name. Here's where it comes full circle: Volkswagen USA spotted the incredible popularity of the Jeep Wrangler and retro-infused off-roaders such as the revived Ford Bronco, and it wanted a piece of the action. So in 2022 it decided to create its own start-up to produce one – and it just so happened the company now owned a brand with its own rich heritage. 'To be a start-up, but to have the heritage and legacy of a really cool brand that has a passionate fanbase and can evoke nostalgic memories, is really unusual,' says Decker. And while it's been 45 years since a Scout last rolled off the production line, he insists the name is still known to US buyers. 'Some guy came up to me earlier today and told me his grandfather had a Scout they used to go on fishing trips in,' continues Decker. 'Having that as your starting place to build a brand from, how special is that?' Last year Scout revealed two concept models: the Terra pick-up and the Traveler SUV (named after old Scout variants). Few details have yet been divulged, but there's talk of 1000lb ft and 350 miles of range, rising to 500 miles for the range-extender, and 0-60mph times under 3.5sec. This is where Scout really diverges from VW Group models: they won't be built on a shared EV architecture, such as the now well-established MEB. Instead, if you want to offer genuine off-road ability with the chops to take on a Wrangler on the trails, you will need a ladder-on-frame chassis – and, as Scout technical chief Burkhard Huhnke notes, 'there's no body-on-frame platform in the entire Volkswagen Group – so we have to start from scratch'. Huhnke's appointment as technical boss encapsulates Scout's ethos: he has spent much of his career at the Volkswagen Group but was most recently technical chief at the now-defunct EV start-up Fisker. The brief he was given was simple, he says: 'The target is to become the benchmark in the off-road segment.' To do that, the new Scout vehicles won't just be styled like the original. 'The Scout was a working horse in the past,' says Huhnke. "'It was the eight-days-a-week vehicle that could go off road but you could also do your daily business in. 'Off-road capability means it needs to be very different. It's very simple: I get targets from an engineering perspective. We're focused on ability, on approach angles, the torque, weight distribution, everything. We're working on an e-beam and a special axle design. We have 35in wheels. You have to have the sway bar disconnect. But we can combine the tradition of an off-road car with the innovations of an electric vehicle, and we can see a real sweet spot.' Scout vehicles will be offered with electric or range-extender powertrains. They will be 'software-defined vehicles', designed around advanced computer systems that allow for over-the-air updates and the like. Huhnke describes it as 'heritage combined with innovation'. That innovation will be seen in both the pure-electric powertrain and the range-extender variant that Scout is working on. Huhnke is proud that the latter – which drives the wheels with an electric motor but features a small combustion engine used to charge the battery – is the firm's own development and intellectual property. He says: 'We're not a guinea pig for the Volkswagen Group to try this out; it's where we see our biggest opportunity.' It's about that go-anywhere, off-road brief, and providing functionality in remote places where EV charging infrastructure might not be the best. 'We are customer-centric and listen to their concerns,' adds Huhnke. 'People loved the concept and the BEV platform, but the feedback led us to a range-extender. It's like carrying a charging station with you.' Huhnke is also excited by the potential that an electric vehicle powertrain, with its instant power, torque vectoring and even weight distribution, has for an off-roader. Software development will also be key, and it's notable Huhnke started his automotive career in software and electronics. For that side, the VW Group's recent tie-up with software-focused EV firm Rivian will be a major boost. The joint venture between the two companies is centred on the development of a new zonal software architecture, and Huhnke says that 'Scout will be one of the first brands' in the VW Group empire to use it: 'It will be the most modern architecture, so we'll have full connectivity to the cloud for diagnostics, predictive maintenance and new functions to keep the car fresh.' While Scout has shown concepts of its first two models, production versions are unlikely to appear until 2027 or 2028. Before then, the firm needs to finish development, while construction is also under way on a dedicated US factory in Georgia. Needless to say, not many automotive start-ups can invest in a vast $2 billion (£1.6bn) facility that could employ around 4000 people and produce 200,000 vehicles a year. Aside from the need to finish building that factory, it's a rapid cycle for a new start-up to launch products in, especially given the huge technical demands on off-roaders. 'Being a start-up means we can focus,' says Huhnke, 'and we are laser-focused on two products. 'I don't want to judge traditional car manufacturers, but we can focus on our first bullets without distraction. And by using digital technology and digital twins [testing simulated versions of cars], we can speed up the process.' Conversely, unlike some start-ups with a limited pool of investment, Scout has the luxury of time. Huhnke adds: 'Sometimes you can see start-ups that have to push the product because of cash flow, but we can take time to get it right before it goes to the customer. We can do full-speed development and testing now and really work on the architecture and ability.' Scout won't just work on the models for the next few years, though: there's also a brand to build. Decker describes that process as 'building a community', adding: 'We want to nurture existing Scout fans out there. But we want to make new fans as well.' While he won't be drawn on reservations to date, Decker says the firm is 'happy with where we are' – with the Traveler SUV making up the bulk of buyer interest. He says the focus is on ensuring an ongoing dialogue with the people who have signed up, adding: 'We won't treat them like a marketing database.' Similarly, Decker won't give specifics about any sales or growth ambitions for Scout, but he notes 'the two products we'll launch will cover more than 40% of the US market in terms of revenue and profit pools'. Pricing is expected to start from around $50,000 (£40,000). But beyond a new Jeep rival for the US market, what about that bigger picture? While both Huhnke and Decker insist Scout was conceived purely to fill a business opportunity, its unique set-up and technology could provide lessons and hardware for its Volkswagen parent. 'You never get money for free,' laughs Huhnke. 'Efficiency is key. I've taken the challenge to become a benchmark R&D organisation in the world, from a size and cost perspective. That is an interesting challenge appreciated by our sponsors as well. Of course, we are under observation.' There are already reports that both Volkswagen and Audi are interested in Scout's platform for their own off-roaders, along with hints that the new Scout factory could be used to produce models for other brands while the marque is ramped up. It's certainly an intriguing prospect, and Scout is worth watching because of how unusual it is as a start-up backed by a global car giant. 'You have a bunch of incumbent firms that are 100-plus years old with millions of loyal customers, but they also have a lot of complexity with lots of cars, powertrains and factories,' says Decker. 'Complexity is a challenge to growing a business. On the other hand, you have pure-play start-ups, who can react quicker, but they bring lots of questions. "Will they have success? Will they go bankrupt? Can they service your car? 'If you can take the scale offered by an incumbent and mix it with the enthusiasm of a start-up, think what a superpower that is.' Join our WhatsApp community and be the first to read about the latest news and reviews wowing the car world. Our community is the best, easiest and most direct place to tap into the minds of Autocar, and if you join you'll also be treated to unique WhatsApp content. You can leave at any time after joining - check our full privacy policy here.
Auto Car
a day ago
- Automotive
- Auto Car
As cars' driver assistance systems get smarter, so must the ways they are developed
It's one thing to load cars with safety systems such as ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems), but as they get more sophisticated, it becomes more complicated to ensure they always do what's expected. So manufacturers are turning to the most advanced techniques to validate ADAS and make it as accurate as possible. Volvo is using virtual environments together with real-world testing for safety systems development, software training and validation. Engineers can now scrutinise incident data collected from the advanced sensors of production cars more clearly using an imaging technique called 'Gaussian splatting'. The new approach makes it possible to generate a large number of highly realistic 3D scenes from images taken in the real world. These can then be viewed from different angles and the scene, quite literally, explored. Once it's created, engineers can manipulate the virtual environment by modifying elements such as road users or obstacles and change the outcome of a scenario. The approach makes it possible to subject safety software to a wide variety of traffic situations much faster and on a greater scale than before. It's proving particularly useful for exposing safety systems to rare and sometimes dangerous 'edge cases' in days rather than months. The virtual environments are developed through an in-house collaboration with Zenseact, an AI and software company founded by Volvo Cars. Porsche has also developed a new technique to improve its ADAS software. Manual validation – involving a development engineer sitting in the passenger seat comparing what ADAS thinks a traffic sign reads with what it actually says – is becoming too labour-intensive. If ADAS gets it wrong, the discrepancy is recorded on a data logger (a kind of hard drive) manually by the human co-driver, along with the actual vehicle speed data. A vast amount of data is needed to weed out those rare instances that may trip ADAS up, but automated measuring equipment is expensive and using it across large-scale test fleets is unrealistic. Porsche's answer is the ComBox app, developed in-house, combined with an image-recognition app from start-up firm both of which run on a smartphone. If there's a discrepancy between a road sign recognised by the app and what the vehicle's ADAS 'thinks', the app photographs the sign and both the vehicle data and the picture are stored on the data logger.
Auto Car
a day ago
- Automotive
- Auto Car
This Chrysler coupé was slammed by Jeremy Clarkson, but it's now a great bargain GT
There are plenty of things people can't forgive Jeremy Clarkson for, but near the top of my list is his comparison of the Chrysler Crossfire coupe's rear end to a dog relieving itself. He has certainly caused worse offence, but now, whenever I see a Crossfire coupe, it's hard not to recall that unpleasant analogy. It's a shame, really, because the Crossfire has a striking design - not necessarily because its rear half resembles a fleeting scene from parks across the country. The car's exterior was largely the work of American designer Eric Stoddart, part of a team led by Briton Trevor Creed. But the real story behind the Crossfire goes beyond the design team. It stems from the so-called 'marriage made in heaven' between Daimler and Chrysler - more accurately, the takeover of Chrysler by Daimler, orchestrated by Juergen Schrempp and Bob Eaton, who presented it as a merger of equals in 1998. In reality, it was far from equal. The deal triggered the departure of some of Chrysler's top engineers, led to a decline in quality for some Mercedes models, and brought about a period of muddled product planning especially for Chrysler. Despite clear financial and marketing risks, the companies pushed to integrate their platforms and parts, combining a high-volume, low-margin American brand with a lower-volume, high-margin premium brand. But that's a story of its own. One of the more curious products to come out of this merger was the Chrysler Crossfire. Its development was significantly accelerated by the ready availability of Mercedes hardware to serve as its foundation. As the first-gen SLK was bowing out, the Crossfire, sharing many of the same parts but built by Karmann in Germany, was just coming on stream. Standard cars featured Merc's 215bhp 3.2-litre V6 and a six-speed manual, although a five-speed auto was available. Thrilling to drive, it is not. Dozy recirculating ball steering and all that. But it does work well as a relaxing GT. The supercharged SRT-6, with 330bhp and uprated suspension and brakes is much sharper. But is still hamstrung by that recirculating ball system. And it's only available with an auto. Is the Crossfire a dog's dinner then? Absolutely not. Prices start from sub £3000, it's largely reliable and most parts are shared with the SLK, so are easy to find.
Auto Car
a day ago
- Automotive
- Auto Car
"We'd spotted the fact that EVs were viable, and no one knew!" – Why Lucid is "doing it all" to improve EVs
He says this experience, plus the arrival of a 1938 Ford 8 inherited from a departed uncle, decided the course of his life: he admits to an intense interest in cars 'from which I have never looked back'. At Jaguar in his early thirties, Rawlinson took responsibility for advanced body design and crashworthiness, working on the XJ41 and XJ42 coupé and convertible projects and acquiring a helpful grounding in digital engineering. Impetuously, he left Jaguar to start his own kit car company, making Imola cars that didn't sell but which had the virtue of using folded stainless steel for a monocoque chassis design that both influenced the Lotus Elise's extruded aluminium chassis and encouraged Hethel to offer its inventor a job working alongside Lotus greats such as John Miles and Roger Becker. A Lotus Engineering consultancy job sent Rawlinson to California where he 'got to know people' while working on an aluminium spaceframe for J Mays, soon to be boss of Ford Design. Along the way, he also designed the Th!nk electric city car for Norwegian clients, using the battery compartment to provide extra chassis rigidity in a way that would later stand him in good stead. A friend, Adrian van Hooydonk, now BMW's design chief, put Rawlinson in contact with Elon Musk, then a billionaire rocketry enthusiast with a passion to build electric cars. Franz von Holzhausen, an American who had worked for Mazda and GM, was already working on the Model S's long-nosed shape, which was to prove less than perfect for the first Tesla.
