Audi, Porsche, VW, Google, Roland Berger, Yema Auto.

Audi and Porsche play electric catch-up: The brands presented their electric studies “e-tron quattro concept” boasting 370 kW and the “Mission E” with 440 kW on the eve of the IAA. Both have a range of around 500 km and indirectly set out to take on Tesla. A new turbo charging system based on the CCS standard with a 150 kW DC charging capacity is said to help both EVs out of the starting blocks, making them long distance ready by 2018. With the Tiguan, VW also presented its next plug-in hybrid and VW head Martin Winterkorn talked about the prospect of another 20 electrified variants from the Polo to the Phaeton by 2020. On this evening, it seems VW is finally ready to face electric mobility. But: pretty studies are not enough. A successful market launch needs hard facts.
jalopnik.com (Porsche), topgear.com (Porsche), autocar.co.uk (Audi), autoblog.com (Audi)

New Tiguan previewed: VW has published first pictures of the new Tiguan on the eve of the IAA, where the German carmaker will present the plug-in hybrid Tiguan concept. Steeled with 218 hp from the Passat GTE, the former is scheduled for 2016, excluding the U.S. and China.
autoblog.com, yahoo.com

Porsche ponders electrification: With the next generation, all Porsche models could be offered as hybrid and electric variants, Porsche CEO Matthias Müller told auto motor und sport. He also confirmed that the Porsche 911 will be offered as plug-in hybrid come 2018. Furthermore, Müller predicted a fully electric Macan successor by 2021.
auto-motor-und-sport.de (in German)

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Google scales up: John Krafcik, former head of Hyundai U.S., is now in charge of further development of Google’s self-driving electric vehicles. “A few hundred” could be produced, the Guardian reports citing Sarah Hunter of Google X. The manager also speaks of mass production of Google cars, although that is probably years away.
usatoday.com (Krafcik), theguardian.com (Hunter)

Sluggish growth: According to the E-Mobility Index by Roland Berger and Forschungsgesellschaft Kraftfahrwesen mbH Aachen (fka), EV market share is stagnant in the third quarter of 2o15 in the seven leading automotive nations Germany, France, Italy, the U.S., Japan, China and South Korea. In the U.S. and Japan, it is even declining. Consultants name lack of sales concepts as one of the biggest hurdles of EV uptake.
greencarcongress.com, rolandberger.com (index as PDF)

Chinese EV: Yema Auto presented its electric SUV Yema E70 EV at the Chengdu Auto Show. The EV will go on sale in January 2016 in China for 260,000 yuan (40,800 dollars) after subsidies. Range is claimed to be around 250 kilometres.
carnewschina.com