If you were only going to get excited about one episode of this series, though, this is the one. In this episode, Christian takes you through the heart of a Koenigsegg car – its engine. I’m sure you’re going to be blown away not only by what they do, but by the potential for the future, too. Just imagine when they combine their already impressive engine tech with Cargine camless valve technology from last week. Mind boggling!
The one thing that amazes me about Koenigsegg – and I might be wrong in saying this but I believe it to be true – they’re the only hypercar manufacturer in the world that design and produce their own engines from scratch. Others will get an engine from Mercedes or BMW or GM and hype it up to their own specifications but at Koenigsegg, that’s not good enough. That’s the extent of their commitment to delivering the absolute best product that your money can buy.
Enjoy this video. And as a tip, keep an eye on the lamp behind Christian when he’s talking to camera with the engine on the engine stand. You’ll see the LEDs change colors from time to time. That lamp is custom made from carbon fibre and based on the tail lamps of Koenigsegg’s cars. They used to offer them for sale but a quick look at the Koenigsegg Lifestyles Shop tells me they don’t anymore.
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You can see Episode 1 of this series (Carbon Fibre) here.
You can see Episode 2 of this series (Triplex Suspension) here.
You can see Episode 3 of this series (Perfect Paint) here.
You can see Episode 4 of this series (Interior Surfacing) here.
You can see Episode 5 of this series (Test Drive) here.
You can see Episode 6 of this series (The Brain) here.
You can see Episode 7 of this series (Cargine Camless Valves) here.
This video represents the basics of what I would have liked to do with Inside Saab. My mission, as I saw it, was to bring people inside the car company to see what it was like to develop and then build automobiles. We had a good start, but it wasn’t to be.
I did various Saab factory articles over the years but I never got the OK to produce something like this – a start-to-finish car factory tour. There are a few bits missing here and there – e.g. you don’t see the powertrain at all until the ‘marriage point’. This is a still a very informative video, however.
It starts in the press room, stamping parts and panels. It progresses through body-in-white to the paint shop and then on to final assembly. The full video is 15 minutes long – that’s a long time without any commentary – but it’s a great insight into the workings of a modern car factory and just how automated it is nowadays.
My favourite robots are the shrouded paint shop robots. Fun.
Enjoy the presentation, and special thanks to my Mother-in-law for sending it along via email (first time I’ve had a mother-in-law supplied article – outstanding!)
We tried to see Silver Linings Playbook three or four weeks ago and it was sold out. It was still packed solid tonight. Was that due to Jennifer Lawrence’s Oscar win for Best Actress? I don’t think so. I think this is just a damn good movie and people are coming to see it on the big screen while they still can.
Here’s the preview……
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And here’s what the preview doesn’t tell you:
Pat (Bradley Cooper) has recently been released from what is essentially a prison hospital. He has a Bi-Polar disorder that was most recently set off by discovering his wife in the shower with a work colleague.
Desperate to win back his wife’s love, Pat returns home to his rather disjointed family and tries to get back on his feet – reading, working out and trying to find a strategy to cope when one of his ‘moments’ threatens his inner peace.
It’s during this pilgrimage to normality that Pat meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), who’s also pretty screwed up after the premature death of her husband. In short, they’re both messed up and they both have messed up families trying to care for them. Whether they find each other because of, or in spite of their troubled circumstances is a matter for discussion. Find each other they do, however, and it’s a heartwarming story.
Silver Linings Playbook isn’t your typical romantic comedy. It feels kind of silly saying this, but it’s almost as if it’s a guy’s romantic comedy. The film is set in Philadelphia and hovers around Pat’s football-mad family home. It’s a tough town and in comparison with your typical rom-com, this can be a rough, raw and honest film. Pat has a mental illness and whilst the movie doesn’t go into it in-depth, there are moments in the film that you can feel them trying hard to portray the tension within. Sometimes it works (looking for the wedding video) and sometimes it doesn’t (the football game). But kudos to the producers for exploring the theme in what is an unlikely setting.
There are some genuinely funny moments in there, too, and our theatre was alive with laughter on a number of occasions.
All of the performances are first class. I didn’t see the other nominees for Best Actress but Lawrence was superb in this movie. She’s tough, sassy, accessible and vulnerable all at once. Cooper really impressed me as well (and it’s fair to say I’m not a big fan of his previous work). Robert De Niro is his usual, excellent self as Pat senior and a special nod goes to Australian Jackie Weaver as Pat’s long-suffering, beautiful mother.
The best line of the movie comes from De Niro, poignant and wonderfully delivered at the peak of the film:
“When life reaches out at a moment like this it’s a sin not to reach back”
Maybe that’s Silver Linings Playbook in a nutshell – fighting to regain your life in an honest way and having life respond to you. Looking for the silver lining and having it emerge, as it usually does, from the unexpected. And finally, doing what can be the hardest part – embracing it.
Silver Linings Playbook has a slightly contrived ending but it’s a heartwarming and fitting conclusion to a story well told. It’s a story that’s serious as well as seriously funny. A story of the good things that can happen unexpectedly when you’re just being yourself. Most of all, it’s a pretty honest portrayal of conflicted characters and families who sometimes get themselves into trouble but support each other all the way though it.
This is awesome news. Nismo is about to go from being a small factory racing workshop more connected to fans through video games than real cars, to a global performance badge for Nissan’s sports cars.
I’m not a massive fan of Japanese cars, as you know, but I do have a special affinity for Nissan. I did all my early driving hours, aged 17, in a Datsun 180B. One of my best friends growing up in Melbourne Datsun Bluebird, or 180B in Australiaended up with a Datsun 260Z. Of all the Japanese companies that put down roots in Australia back in the 1960s and 70’s, Nissan was the one with biggest sporting pretensions. Datsun 1600’s are still favoured by those looking to get into rallying and some of sell for big money.
More recently, Nissan have looked to spice things up in Australia by entering the enormously popular V8 Supercar series. This series is like Australia’s version of Nascar, but with corners. It’s been a Ford/Holden series since forever but this year Nissan and a privateer team using Mercedes Benzes will enter the fray. It’ll be the most interesting series in years.
I give Nissan huge kudos for their work in making themselves one of the interesting companies to come out of Japan. That they’re now going to make Nismo cars available as part of their regular range is a fantastic development for car fans in general. We need more variety and more interest in the automotive scene. It’s nice to see companies coming on board to provide it.
A 370Z Nismo and Juke Nismo will be the first cars offered. There will also be a Nismo GT-R, which is really going to shake things up in the performance car ranks, I think. The GT-R in regular guise made some huge waves a few years ago. This Nismo version is going to be fantastic.
The press release is below……
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Nissan Launches New Era for NISMO
Global Performance Road Car and Motorsport Brand
New Global Headquarters in Yokohama heralds new era for Nismo
Nismo to create a range of affordable performance Nissan models from small cars to flagship sports cars
Juke Nismo is the first, followed by new 370Z Nismo
New GT-R Nismo, the ultimate Nissan performance road car, announced
Nissan’s global motorsport program to be managed by Nismo
YOKOHAMA, Japan (Feb. 26, 2013) – Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. today kicked off a new era for Nismo, confirming it as Nissan’s exclusive global performance road car and motorsport brand and officially opening the new Nismo global headquarters and development center in Yokohama, Japan.
Nismo is already well-known to motorsports and performance car enthusiasts in Japan and to millions of global gaming enthusiasts. Now, Nismo is poised for accelerated global impact, enhancing Nissan’s reputation for innovation and excitement with a new line-up of sporty Nissan road cars.
In a special ceremony today, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn declared the new headquarters open and explained how Nismo will play a more prominent role for the company’s performance car and motorsport activities.
“Nismo will bring new excitement to the Nissan portfolio with a broader range of affordable and innovative performance models for more markets and more people,” said Mr. Ghosn. “Whether it’s a small car or a sports car, if it’s wearing the Nismo badge it offers something special – quality, functionality, and efficiency, with Nismo’s distinctive styling, sporty handling and dynamic performance capabilities.”
Not Quite Pretty – Juke NismoThe first new Nissan road car to get the Nismo treatment, the Juke Nismo, is already on sale in Europe and Japan and launches in the U.S. in the second quarter of this year.
A new version of the 370Z Nismo for European markets is the next Nismo road car, which made its world debut earlier this month and builds on the platform of Nissan’s most popular and accessible sports car.
Nissan is promising a rapid pace of introduction of even more Nismo models, at least one model every year during the Nissan Power88 period, encompassing the breadth of the Nissan road car range. This will include the flagship of Nissan’s performance and technology, the GT-R.
“It would be unthinkable for us to develop a range of Nismo road cars without including the GT-R,” said Mr. Ghosn. “The standard road car is a global supercar and the GT-R’s performance on track reflects the passion and talents of the Nismo team. The GT-R Nismo will be special and I can’t wait to drive it.”
New home for NISMO
Nissan has invested in an entirely new facility for Nismo’s operations, redeveloping a former production site to give it the resources for expanding beyond motorsport engineering and expert involvement in NISMO road cars Nissan will be developing.
Japanese CandyThe new headquarters facility allows the Nismo team to be co-located in one place, bringing together the functional areas for Nismo’s key activities and technical and competition expertise under one roof.
The 180-strong team is now located inside Nissan’s Powertrain Engineering complex. The workshop, engine shop, rooms for fabrication, grinding and carbon composite processes are consolidated into the same floor space along with the parts warehouse. A new larger showroom allows up to eight vehicles to be displayed, while the retail area is now almost twice the size of the previous store in the Omori factory.
“This is a great move for Nismo as we can now shift gears to operate more efficiently and expand the brand globally,” explained Nismo President, Shoichi Miyatani.
“Nismo is a key element in Nissan’s future global road car and motorsports strategy and we will quickly establish it as Nissan’s exclusive performance brand,” added Mr. Miyatani. “This is the first time that all of our team has been located together, and the entire facility will become a hothouse of passion and performance.”
The NISMO spirit
At the heart of each new Nismo road car will be a consistent DNA focused on delivering quality, functionality, and efficiency in every day driving with Nismo’s distinctive styling, sporty handling and dynamic performance capabilities.
Nissan’s new range of Nismo performance road cars will be built on the same production lines as their standard counterparts, which combined with inspiration taken from decades of racing and tuning expertise means that the Nismo brand ensures fully integrated performance enhancements.
Every modification Nismo makes to a road car will be functional and targeted to improve on-road performance and presence.
The spirit of Nismo relies on its proud motorsport heritage and a maverick engineering philosophy. This spirit will be reflected in every new Nismo model with efficient performance, accessible and advanced technology, and bold, smart design, all of which embody Nissan’s philosophy of innovation that excites.
Connecting the virtual with the real
Nismo is known around the world by millions through the virtual world of driving simulation games. In fact, the first opportunity to drive a Nissan Juke Nismo was provided virtually, through the game Asphalt 7: Heat.
Now, at the same time as Nismo is moving from race track to road, it is also moving from the virtual world to the real world as, for the first time in many markets around the world, a range of affordable Nismo-badged cars will be available from Nissan dealers.
“For many would-be Nismo customers, one of the very few occasions to experience a Nismo performance road car has been through a game like Sony Computer Entertainment’s Gran Turismo® series,” said Simon Sproule, Nissan’s corporate vice president for Marketing and Communications. “Now we can bring them into the family of Nissan owners with an exciting, real Nismo car created by a dedicated and experienced team that is fully linked to the digital world and well aware of what these new customers are looking for in a performance road car.”
Performance for the road and track
The spirit and inspiration for Nismo started with a group of maverick Nissan engineers almost fifty years ago. In their efforts to boost car sales through racing success, they shoehorned a powerful engine into an Original Nismo – Skyline 2000GTordinary Nissan saloon to create the first of a legendary line of sporty road cars with the Nissan Skyline 2000GT.
What came next was a run of highly successful competition and performance road cars in Japan, culminating in the birth of Nismo itself in 1984.
With the digital generation, Nissan realised the power of the Nismo legend by working with game creators to create both real and virtual stars and expose a whole generation to the potential for tuning and winning in these cars. Last year alone, over 500 million virtual miles were driven in Nissan vehicles on Gran Turismo®5 for PlayStation®3.
Now, as Nismo accelerates to become a global performance car brand specializing in delivering affordable, exciting and innovative performance versions of Nissan cars, the lessons learned from almost half a century of racing can be applied consistently to give drivers a surprising and rewarding ownership experience.
NISMO Expands Role in Motorsport
Nismo’s new charter will also impact Nissan’s future motorsport activities, where it is expected to boldly enhance Nissan’s reputation for excitement and innovation.
Nismo is taking on global responsibility for managing Nissan’s motorsport program which includes top level competition in every region of the world.
Nissan V8 SuperCars for Australia“Nissan’s continued commitment to a variety of motorsports programs around the world from the Altima in the Australian V8 Supercars to Super GT in Japan, but we also intend to surprise people by exploring advanced forms of motorsport,” explained Mr. Miyatani. “Our experience a spirit of pushing the boundaries even further helps us to raise awareness of Nismo around the world, but more importantly it means we can transfer the lessons we learn into tangible benefits for our customers, whether for Nismo road cars, race cars or tuning parts.”
As most of you might know, Mrs Swade (otherwise known as PJ) is into painting. She’s a watercolour artist and while she’s dabbled in numerous styles over the years, she’s found an appreciative audience in recent times for her emu paintings. They’re bright and colourful and they usually achieve their aim of putting a smile on people’s faces.
PJ’s hoping to turn this hobby into a reliable part-time income so that she can cut back on her 9-to-5 day job and take things a little slower. Neither her nor I are business people, however, so I thought I might tap into the expertise of people reading this to see if you’ve got any experience to share.
What we’ve started so far:
Built the PJ Paintings website – that was the easy part, of course. Adding content is more laborious but she’s getting the hang of things.
Built the PJ Paintings Facebook page + advertising – We had a slow climb to 100 Likes, mostly from family and friends at first. It accelerated from 100 to 150. In the last week we’ve done some targeted Facebook advertising for just $5 a day and now have nearly 450 Likes after around 10 days of advertising.
Diversified into fine quality, limited edition prints – Why sell one painting when you can sell the print 100 times? We’ve sourced a great photographer/printer and will soon be marketing fine quality, limited edition prints in various sizes. The marketing hasn’t started for those yet, but we’ll get that underway once the Facebook advertising finishes at the end of the week.
Building the mailing list – it’s slow going, but a monthly email update goes out to a number of subscribers now. Moreover, you can also build a mailing list and manage emails by using dedicated and reliable software. If you have questions about this, you can get in touch with experts at simplelists.com (or a similar site). For a successful email marketing campaign, it seems necessary to formulate an effective and efficient plan, which generally includes all the necessary components.
The most crucial aspects of a strong marketing strategy usually include engaging and interactive content, a well-researched mailing list, and a service such as Postfix (if interested, look at this now for more info), which can prevent your mail from getting flagged as spam. Furthermore, to ensure the well-planned campaign is executed correctly, you can hire digital marketing experts.
Diversify into greeting cards – the paintings lend themselves nicely for use as greeting cards and the first proofs we got back from the printer were very encouraging. We just want to see what the next size up looks like. Once that’s sorted, we’ll have them ready to go in no time.
Added a store to the PJ Paintings website – It’s one thing to have all these products but you’ve also got to get them to market somehow. We’ve added a store to PJ’s website as a first step in doing this.
Signed up for our first major event – Agfest is a big agricultural show here in Tasmania held at the beginning of May each year. We’ve signed up for a stall and will be there in The Craft Shed selling as many prints and cards as we can. This will be our first event and we’ll use it to gauge the wider interest not just in the paintings, but for the whole event scene.
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That’s where we’re at right now.
Mrs. Swade will keep on doing new paintings, either from her own mind or on commission. Some of those paintings will be professionally photographed and used as limited-edition fine-quality prints, cards, or both. Maybe we both can look into various options available in specialty printing, like UV coating, aqueous coating, debossing and embossing, etc., to accomplish the finest quality of our prints and cards. Such information could be obtained online by exploring resources similar to Ballantine’s guide so that we can provide the best services to our customers.
Once we have all the products, we will have to market them and sell them.
Any hints or tips on how to do that? We have a few ideas in mind that are basically extensions of what we’re doing now, but any out-of-the-box suggestions based on your experience would be appreciated.
How to decide what product mix to take to Agfest?
How to get people to move from being visitors, to being shoppers?
I’ve been considering what to pick up for our east-coast Australia driving trip later this year. How you get there is almost as important as where you go, right?
The latest thoughts, as documented in my 2013 Automotive Bucket List, were leaning towards a Porsche Boxster S. The early ones have reached the point of affordability and while it wouldn’t be the most practical vehicle for a 3,000+km road trip – it’s not exactly known for its luggage space – it would be one hell of a nice way to see the countryside.
I’d not considered the Alfa Romeo Brera for my bucket list and/or drive trip simply because I thought it would be too new and unaffordable. I should have known, however, that depreciation has already kicked in on this most beautiful of coupes and even the Q4 V6 models are now creeping into the sub-$30K arena.
For that money, you get the V6 version from 2006-7 with around 70,000kms or less on the clock. The V6 is GM’s high-feature V6 and therefore it’s not as pretty as Alfa’s own as used in the 156, GTV and others. It’s the same basic engine used in the Saab Turbo X and what it lacks in prettiness, it makes up for in grunt. The V6 is 3.2 litres but non-turbo, with Alfa heads, valves, direct injection and an Alfa ECU to make it a thoroughly different beast putting out around 260hp. That’s mated to a six-speed gearbox and a rear-biased four-wheel-drive system that can shove around 75% of the power either forward or back.
Equipment levels are high with all the airbags and electronic doo-dads of the time. The only thing that might be missing from a 2006-7 model would be USB music and maybe Bluetooth, both of which could be added aftermarket.
The BIG bonus is that the suggestion met with resounding approval here at home this evening. Mrs Swade was cautiously approving (as she does) but young Mr Swade was very positive indeed. He’d been receptive to the idea of the Boxster, but let’s just say he wasn’t jumping for joy. When I mentioned the Brera, he almost had to hide his mid-section in order to maintain his modesty (the Brera has that effect, you know).
The Alfa Romeo Brera isn’t known for its luggage space but compared the Boxster it’s as practical as a Ford Transit van. You get a real roof (with panoramic glass) to keep your small stuff in the back seat safe as well as a hatchback rear-end.
And then there’s the way it looks. Parental guidance recommended……
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It won’t be as dynamic to drive as a Boxster and it certainly won’t hold its value like a Boxster, but then it’s achingly beautiful to look at, quite unique on Australian roads and reportedly a very decent car to drive, too.
I don’t know what will happen but it’s definitely not a one-horse race anymore.
If you want to watch it, here it is. It’s a well made video and will be 14 minutes well spent. If you’d rather read about it, skip down below.
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This drive goes better than Broder’s, needless to say. It doesn’t involve a flatbed truck, for starters.
It does involve a flat tyre, however, and that’s another everyday spanner-in-the-works that the Tesla has to overcome. The KBB guys call their Tesla contact, revert back to a Tesla facility for a tyre change and head off for Vegas once again. I was left wondering whether people are going to be able to address this problem the way the KBB guys did – shooting a video for a reputable motoring publication means you get some nice, personal attention. Of course, regular owners could just rock up to a tyre installation centre and perhaps avoid some extra miles by finding one close by, or perhaps rack up some extra miles finding one, depending on where they are. As with most things in life, that’ll be a crapshoot.
It’s a real-world situation, things like nails in tyres happen to someone every day. It’s good to see how the guys – and of course, the car – handle the situation.
All the chargers at Tesla’s repair facility are busy while the tyre’s being changed, so the KBB guys have to head off to Vegas with around 100 less miles range than what they would have otherwise. Their first scheduled stop was Tesla’s SuperCharger facility in Barstow. That’s 126 miles away and with a projected range of 156 miles left in the batteries – it should be easy, right?
The gap between their destination and distance-to-empty shrinks as the journey continues thanks to the topography of the road. Lots of hills means lots of power usage. They decide to divert to a slower charging system along the way in order to top up.
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As an aside…… One of the downsides of this story is that they don’t mention much about how long they spend parked either charging or waiting to charge. It’s something I’d like to know but they only mention it once along the way (see below).
A bunch of Tesla owners re-created Broder’s run on the east coast recently, all of them making it with very few hitches (there was one software update necessary, made – once again – thanks to special attention offered by Tesla who were monitoring the event). This ride was written up widely and passed off as an unqualified success, which is not quite true.
There were more cars than charge points so I’d love to know how long people waited just to get on a charger, something that wasn’t documented there. It’s quite relevant because one of the main compromises of driving an EV is refuelling time. The fact that you might have to wait for a pump before spending time waiting for it to re-charge is not a small matter. In fact, if EV’s become as popular as their proponents predict, it’s only going to become a bigger problem.
The best story I read about that Tesla Owners adventure was from another Tesla owner, one who didn’t participate in the event but came across the participants anyway – at a charging station. His account was linked to at Jalopnik and I think it’s a much more realistic take on EV ownership in 2013.
Here’s an excerpt:
My family and dog (yes, the one pictured in the original blog post – a border collie) took a trip from DC to north of Philly (181 miles) in the Tesla. I charged to 240 before I headed out, thinking I would recharge in Delaware and have enough for the return trip to the station the next day. When we arrived the @TeslaRoadTrip folks were charging (Thanks for staggering guys!) and I waited my turn.
While I waited for a Tesla spot to open, one car stopped charging (in Bay 3 – my arbitrary naming) short of its intended goal. They transferred over to another charging station (Bay 1), hoping it was a charging station that was in error, but the car refused to charge on the second one as well. Meanwhile a Tesla that was charging in Bay 1 and moved to Bay 3 could no longer charge and went back to Bay 1 to try and charge. Many phone calls to Tesla were placed. I decided to move on rather than take my chances.
And that, of course, leads us to problem #2 – what if the re-charging stations aren’t working properly? It’s an inconvenience if a petrol pump isn’t working properly, for sure, but at least there are usually other pumps on site and a few minutes per car eventually gets people through. With EV’s we’re talking (at best) a few half-hours per car to add some decent range – and that’s if it’s a Tesla on a SuperCharger. A broken re-charging station is a much bigger deal in that scenario.
End of aside……
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Despite doing a little hooning at that first unscheduled stop, they make it to Barstow and Tesla’s SuperCharger outlet. One quote at that point is telling:
(Pointing at the charge remaining on the Tesla screen) If you had a really important call to make and that was all the charge you had left, you’d be concerned. Now imagine that’s all you’ve got to stop you being stuck in the desert in the middle of the night.
They leave Barstow for Las Vegas (time standing around charging unspecified, again) with 200+ miles of range for the 151 mile trip. Despite what should be a decent buffer, the topography plays havoc with them once again, along with using reasonable amenities inside the car – heating, etc. They make it to Vegas with just 4 miles of range left.
Thankfully the hotel has a charger network, though they find out the next morning that they could have stayed at another hotel that has a faster charging system. They put their Model S on charge all night and only got a predicted 155 miles range loaded in (remember, they had a predicted 200+ miles for the same leg the night before and just made it). Soooooo they head to the other hotel for some fast charging.
I’ll take a moment to point out that this is 8.5 hours of filling up the Tesla with electricity only to find that you have to hold up your onward travel because you still have to wait for more. And it’s not just a 20 minute top-up. It took them another 3.5 hours to get up to 220 miles of range.
Lucky they were in Vegas, eh?
There’s a confusing moment after this that warrants some explanation. The video states that they’re some 40 miles or so short on projected range on their way to Barstow. The next moment, they’re in Barstow with 43 miles of range still left. It’s confusing and should be explained.
Their trip to Barstow (and on to LA) therefore seemed to go without a hitch, but it’s notable that they took Tesla’s advice and scaled their speed back to 58mph tops and were regularly passed by trucks and…. ouch….. a Prius. This is a $100,000 top of the range EV, remember.
The good points:
They absolutely loved the Tesla’s party trick, it’s instant unbridled power.
The loved the styling, too. Personally, I think the Model S is one of the best 4-door designs in the last 20 years. I think it looks outstanding.
They loved the touchscreen center console and the way it responds to common touch gestures. For the record, while I’m sure it performs wonderfully well, I think it looks like an unattractive slab. It’s too big.
Over all, the KBB guys seem to really enjoy the car, but that was only after they were free from the worry of making sure it was no chance of bricking on them.
And there’s the flaw once again.
The Tesla Model S is the best electric vehicle that money can buy. It has the highest output you can get in an EV but even with that huge capacity and Tesla’s fast-charging network (where available), you still don’t get peace of mind for doing trips that are anything longer than reasonably short drives.
EV disciples will tell you it’ll all be OK in the future and maybe, just maybe it will. But this is the absolute best that (a lot) of money can buy right now and it’s undeniably compromised.
How long before all the other EV makers out there can even approach what Tesla have done? And will they be able to use Tesla’s charging network or will they have to develop their own to make fast-charging a possibility for everyone? And how long will consumers accept waiting around in 1-3 hour stints, either to get to a charger or actually charge their car.
These aren’t trivial questions and people shouldn’t be criticised for asking them. A lot of established car companies are asking them and coming up with answers that keep them from going all-in on electric vehicles.
The Tesla Model S is an outstanding car, an incredible piece of engineering, but it’s clear that EV’s have got a long way to go to gain mainstream acceptance. Tesla have started where anyone coming into the field needs to start – at the quality, no-compromises end of the market. Here’s hoping they and their contemporaries can innovate at a speed that makes these vehicles viable for more than just rich people with a lot of time on their hands.
This exhibition features cars owned by Saab collector Bill Jacobson, from Delaware. Bill’s owned a number of these cars for a considerable time, however he also picked up a number of cars sold from the Heritage Collection following Saab’s bankruptcy. Click here for the full list of cars on display.
Allan H was there and sent along the following photos and thoughts from the opening. Thanks, Allan!
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Dr Simeone must have been pleased – It was announced during the dinner that this was the highest turnout in the history of the museum for an event opening.
Both John Moss and Time Colbeck made fantastic presentations during the dinner. Tim spoke of his recent times with Saab and his initial interview with Victor Muller for the top job in the US. The interview was held via Skype, with Victor’s infant son in attendance at times 🙂 The dedication and drive of Muller was quite evident in Colbeck’s speech.
John Moss gave some behind-the-scenes insights into Saab’s beginnings – how UrSaab used various parts scavenged from other vehicles, stories of personal moose tests and other things.
It was all very entertaining and the vehicles’ owner, Bill Jacobson, was a very approachable man, happy to talk for some considerable time. A gentleman.
This video is a must watch. A lot of people are indifferent towards Japanese cars. There’s a cultural fence that’s hard for some to get over, plus a lack of historical experience. It’s my hope that for some, Retro Car Kings will go some small way towards bridging that gap.
The secondary thing I hope you learn from this video is the reason why so many people got so excited when Nissan announced that Datsun was coming back. The GT-R might wear a Nissan badge these days, but Datsun is the origin of Japanese performance for many people – including me; I did all my hours as a learner driver in a Datsun, so I have very fond memories. Sadly, Datsun won’t be coming back in any sort of performance-oriented way, but purely as a budget brand.
(By the way, there are quite a few Datsuns in there, but it’s not all Dattos. Alfa Romeos feature quite a lot, too)
Retro Car Kings goes for around 45 minutes. It covers some of Japan’s most famous vehicle restorers, with the main question being authenticity vs modernisation. The modernisation path is called ‘resto-modding’ in the US. It means restoring a car but putting more modern parts in where you can – engines, A/C units, stereos, etc. Japan’s no different from anywhere else in that there are some who love to make everything completely stock and some who like to make a car their own.
I hope this video stays online. You need to see it.
Every day I seem to come across another German car story or a story about a German in a key role in a non-German company. It’s never ending. You almost have to feel sorry for Opel right now – doing so poorly when the Germany seems to be dominating the car industry. Actually, you don’t have to feel sorry for Opel at all. Bastards.
I thought I’d take a quick look – just a basic skim – over the German car industry and some of the key Germans in other companies. I’m likely to have missed HEAPS of things in this, so feel free to add some more in comments if you feel so inclined.
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Mercedes – After some quality issues a few decades ago, Mercedes seems to be getting a groove on releasing hit after hit. Now they’re trying to get younger while maintaining their premium position in the industry and the new A-Class indicates that they know exactly where they’re going.
It’s taken nearly 15 years of AMG ownership for Mercedes to really capitalise on it but now the merger has genuine momentum and people are looking forward to AMG editions with the same expectancy that people used to look forward to BMW’s new ‘M’ cars five years ago. Mercedes is definitely not just an old man’s car. Not any more.
Mercedes’ corporate parent, Daimler AG, also owns or has an interest in a bunch of other automotive and heavy transportation companies. This includes Smart, Freightliner, Western Star and others. Now that that funny business with Chrysler is over, it seems they’ve really hit their straps in the reinvigoration of their main automotive label – Mercedes Benz.
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BMW – Something strange has happened over the last couple of years. BMW are no longer the cars with a reputation for being driven by wankers and idiots. The automotive press are no longer falling over themselves to lay awards, along with an endless string of sugary superlatives, at BMW’s feet. Why did this happen? Has BMW tailed off somehow? Are they devoid of products that people want to swoon over?
No way.
The first thing that happened is the rise of Audi over the last few years and the resurgence of Mercedes, as previously noted. But the most interesting thing is the effect this has had on BMW’s sales.
Despite the rise of Audi and the resurgence of Mercedes, BMW sales haven’t dropped an inch. In fact, BMW are selling in record numbers.
The BMW Group recorded record sales of 1,845,186 vehicles in 2012, up 10% on 2011 and a record for the company. It’s not just group sales, however. Each of BMW’s brands – BMW, Mini and Rolls Royce – set sales records as well. The icing on the cake was BMW Motoradd, their motorcycle division, also selling more in 2012 than any other year in it’s 90 year history.
BMW may have lost a little of it’s gloss but it keeps powering ahead building plenty of cars that people want to buy.
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Volkswagen – VW were the third biggest car company in the world by sales in 2012. They missed out on being #2 by just 70,000 sales and if things continue on trend, they’ll overtake GM for that #2 spot this year. They won’t be far behind Toyota for the #1 spot, either.
Volkswagen sells passenger cars using 8 different brands that it owns 100%: Volkswagen, Porsche, Bentley, Lamborghini, SEAT, Bugatti, Audi and Skoda.
Now….. think about those vehicles for a minute and tell me the similarities between them (aside from having the same corporate parent).
There are only a few that I can think of, being mostly between VW and Audi.
What Volkswagen does exceptionally well, aside from building good quality vehicles with a noted focus on interior quality, is preserve and cultivate brand identity. People familiar with the car industry know that an Audi is made by the same global company that makes a SEAT, but nobody cares because the Audi has Audi quality and identity. The same goes all the way up to Bugatti.
This ability to keep so many balls in the air at the same time is why VW was able to generate a €15 Billion-with-a-B profit in 2011.
As an Alfa fan, I have to note that Lamborghini also owns Ducati motorcycles. There’s been some talk of Volkswagen wanting to buy Alfa Romeo from Fiat, too, which I imagine would be completed through the Lamborghini arm of VW’s business. That would be a nice little Italian mob if it were to happen and as an Alfa fan, I don’t think I’d complain.
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OK, so those are German companies and there are no real surprises there, but what about these?
Qoros – You might be a little surprised to see that name here. Qoros is a Chinese-located and Chinese-Israeli owned operation, after all. At the head of the design tree, however – the heart of any car company’s operation – is a German. Gert Volker Hildebrand has got some experience too, having run the design team at Mini for 10 years before leaving at the end of 2011.
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Hyundai/Kia – Like Qoros, Kia put a German designer in charge a few years ago. Former Audi designer Peter Schreyer became Head of Design at Kia in 2006 and Kia hasn’t looked back since. The new design language along with massive warranty support has seen Kia kicking goals all around the world. The powers-that-be at Kia’s big brother Hyundai were so impressed that they put Schreyer in charge of the whole family – President of Design for Hyundai/Kia. Have they encouraged Schreyer to bite off more than he can chew?
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TATA – Everyone’s looking at China right now for growth in the automotive industry, and rightly so.
BUT….There’s another country with a billion-strong population that’s growing economically and won’t be too far behind China in terms of world significance – India.
Tata is the 18th largest automotive company in the world by sales. But did you know it’s the 4th largest truck manufacturer and the 2nd largest bus manufacturer (thanks Wikipedia)? Tata bought Jaguar Landrover from Ford 5 years ago and both brands have more than just survived the change in ownership. Jaguar is moving steadily and Landrover is powering along with the growth of the SUV segment and the release of the Evoque.
The German connection here is Carl-Peter Forster, the former GM Europe boss who joined Tata in 2010. Forster left Tata nearly two years later for family reasons, but remains on the Tata board.
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I’ve left Opel off this list because they’re not doing particularly well. They seem to be in a state of constant upheaval and are regarded as a weight around GM’s neck by many, despite some pretty complimentary reviews about their vehicles in press reports here (especially the OPC range).
I have to admit that I don’t know enough about Ford’s German operations to comment at all. They don’t seem to be selling many Fords in Germany, though, with only the Fiesta and Focus making it into Germany’s top 40 private car sales models in 2012 (and even those two were well down the list).
Despite those two comparatively weaker companies, Germans seem to go gangbusters at making cars – and making them well.
I’ve always had a healthy respect for German cars but I can’t say I’ve ever been passionate about one. I’ve driven a few Porsches and BMWs in my time and whilst Porsches are still on my bucket-list, they’re the only German brand I’ve ever felt compelled to pursue.
If you’ve got any clues as to why that is, or if you think German cars are totally engaging, I’d love to hear why. They way they’re going, we’ll all be driving something German-owned or influenced soon 🙂
