Mercedes Benz have released a new, giant-sized utility vehicle for the world market.
The first man to take ownership is circus ringmaster, Waxmo Starsh, pictured below (sans top-hat and tails) alongside a statue of Pope Benedict XVI.
“This ute is perfect. The clear canopy over the rear tray means I know exactly where my tools are, or what rubbish I’m taking to the tip. There’s plenty of room. As you can see, I’ve already loaded a very large chair in there to take to the dump and it still looks basically empty. I was thinking about offloading this statue, too, but he can stay in the garden a little longer. The pigeons like him.
I reckon I could fit two, maybe even three lions in there and drive around the Big Top scaring the kiddies. This is going to be so much fun!”
I read a column today by John McElroy over at Autoblog. The column was about Volkswagen, a company that defies most modern business-school logic and yet remains the most profitable car company in the world.
Some of the numbers from the article:
Volkswagen employs a staggering 550,000 people. GM, Ford and Fiat/Chrysler combined employ 574,000 people.
Volkswagen’s revenue is $200 billion (with a B) more than their nearest automotive rival and they made $14 billion in profits last year.
As if that weren’t enough, the really interesting part about Volkswagen’s operations is that they are much more vertical than modern business schools would recommend. Yes there are common VW vehicle platforms shared from brand to brand, but they still have the freedom to add their own touches, presumably after making a business case for doing so. Each of those brands has its own board and runs as if they’re a smaller company rather than part of a massive conglomerate.
The results? A bunch of cars that are mostly well defined (Seat is still struggling for a real identity) and obviously, quite profitable.
The car business has always been, and always will be, about the product. You can have all the fancy marketing you like but if you don’t have the product, the market will find you out eventually.
Volkswagen’s modern range might be Das Boring for many of us, but they hit the mark for many others with their VW branded vehicles and the rest of the group’s range occupy solid places in their respective market segments.
Audi has been the emerging golden child of the luxury class for the last 20 years and is now on equal footing with its German rivals. Skoda has built a reputation for surprising value and good build quality. Lamborghini and Porsche are outstanding entrants in their respective classes.
Volkswagen aim to be the world’s biggest carmaker by 2018 and one gets the feeling they’re well on their way.
Why?
Because it’s all about the product. Even if you vertically integrate and have massive staff numbers and costs, the product will carry that load. Fantastic product that fulfils its brand promise and offers great perceived value will beat a weaker entry with a slick marketing campaign – every time.
A little bit of Spyker news has drifted through the internet tubes today.
First of all, a date has been set for Victor Muller’s case against GM. It’ll go up for oral arguments on February 19 next year.
On a different note, there’s also some automotive news from Spyker today: the signing of a definitive agreement with Youngman based on the framework agreement they forged a few months ago.
The deal in a nutshell:
Youngman will invest money into Spyker NV but will not exceed 29.9% ownership.
Youngman and Spyker will establish a joint venture – Spyker P2P B.V. – of which Youngman will own 75% and Spyker 25%. Youngman contribute 25million Euros and Spyker contribute technology for the D8 Peking-to-Paris SSUV. They plan to launch this vehicle in 2014.
Another joint venture created under this deal is Spyker Phoenix B.V. Youngman owns 80% and Spyker owns 20%. Youngman will contribute the rights they own to parts of Saab’s Phoenix platform. They will also provide all required funding.
Spyker Phoenix shall develop and manufacture a new full range of premium car models based on the Phoenix platform which will be positioned higher than the comparable Saab models were. Spyker Phoenix products may be manufactured in Europe and China as the case may be.
Youngman will get spots on Spyker’s Management and Supervisory boards BUT this whole enchilada is still subject to due diligence and government approval (Youngman are pretty well hooked in with the government – NDRC approval shouldn’t ever be taken for granted, but wasn’t considered to be a problem back in 2011).
——
Shall we mention the elephant in the corner of the room?
Should this deal go ahead, there will be one company building cars in Trollhattan with the Saab name on them (NEVS) but using a completely new and different powertrain. There’ll also be a company building cars based on Saab-derived technology in either Europe or China. According to the release, they’ll be in similar segments to Saab, but positioned at the higher end of the market and knowing Victor’s penchant for finer things, I’m pretty sure they’re going to be kitted out with a certain amount of flair.
The elephantine question(s) – does one interest you more than the other? Does either interest you at all?
——
The press release:
SPYKER AND YOUNGMAN SIGN DEFINITIVE TRANSACTION DOCUMENTATION BASED ON THE FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT SIGNED
AUGUST 27, 2012 Zeewolde, the Netherlands, 6 December 2012 — Spyker N.V. (“Spyker”) announces that it has signed a subscription agreement including accessory agreements (the “Transaction Documentation”) with the Chinese car manufacturer Zhejiang Youngman Passenger Car Group Co, Ltd (“Youngman”) today.
I’m away this weekend but following on from the Fiat 500 Abarth story a few days ago, I thought I’d re-share my own thoughts on the Fiat 500 from January 2012. Note that we had a non-Abarth version, hence the non-noteworthy performance on the highways.
——
When you live in Tasmania, 4 or 5 hours on a plane will barely get you out of the country. When you’re living in Sweden, 4 or 5 hours on a plane can get you just about anywhere. So it should come as no great surprise that this normally stuck-at-the-end-of-the-world Tasmanian availed himself of an opportunity to see a little more of ‘the continent’ whilst working for Saab during 2011.
The month was October and the occasion was Mrs Swade’s birthday. She’d already done the long-haul from Tassie to Sverige a few days before. To celebrate her advancing into another year, we jumped on a plane and flew to Mallorca for a week of sunshine, good food and general R&R.
It was during our stay on this island paradise that I had the opportunity to take the new-ish Fiat 500 for a spin.
I’ve placed this photo at the top quite deliberately. Whilst it’s been out in Europe for a couple of years now, the Fiat 500 has only recently been launched in the United States. It’s fair to say that Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne placed some high hopes on the little car leading Fiat’s charge back into the US. Some 50,000 sales were forecast in the first year, though less than 20,000 little Fiats had actually been sold when the ball dropped for 2012.
Of course, the US is well known as being the home of big cities (good potential for a city car) but it’s also the home of big families and big landscapes viewed whilst driving big distances along big highways between those big cities, and none of those other ‘bigs’ are particularly good for the 500.
Europe is also home to some big cities, just like the US. But unlike the US, many of those European cities have very small streets and it’s in those busy little streets that the 500 really shows its stuff.
So in considering the 500, you’ve got to consider the situation it was made for. It’s a city car and that’s how Fiat will have to market it in the US. They shouldn’t just market it as cute, because cute will wear off if people are buying it for the wrong reason. If word gets around that owners in the suburban fringe don’t find it fit for purpose, there will be problems.
Fortunately for the 500, and for Fiat, it’s very good at the things it was made for.
This is a short story about why car reviews tell you so little about whether or not you’ll actually like a vehicle.
A friend of mine (G’day Eggs!) posted a link to this review of the Fiat 500 Abarth on Auto123 on Facebook a week or so ago. The excerpt, taken from the first paragraph, hooked me in.
If looks could kill, then the 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth’s kill ratio would be very low. Certainly, its arsenal of weapons tells a different story, but in the game of life, the Abarth leaves behind doubts and questions as to why it even exists.
The 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth is a fun car destined for those desiring thrills in a very compact format. Although the car’s heart is in the right place, the pint-size cabin poses far too great a compromise unless the owner is single or likely enjoys short partners.
Read through the interview and you’ll find out that the author is older (he’s been writing about cars for 15 years) and married (to a 5ft 6in wife with boofy hair).
While he does praise certain aspects of the car, he’s reasonably critical about the liveability of the 500 Abarth, as you can tell. By his own admission, he’s not the target market for the car and it doesn’t seem like he tries too hard to put himself in the target market’s shoes. After that rather negative introduction, he still gave the Abarth an average of 4 out of 5 stars.
And in the other corner…….
I saw a Fiat 500 Abarth article (not a review) online yesterday morning. I still have The Truth About Cars on my RSS feed, despite my issues with them about Saab matters in the past. This morning, one of their newer, younger writers posted this piece – Generation Why: My Gen Y COTY
A couple of excerpts that I liked:
[the Abarth] sounds like a tuner car, and tries to look like a serious performance machine but doesn’t have any of the “I work at McDonalds” vibe that a tuner car (factory or aftermarket hackjob) carries…..That wonderful exhaust note that everyone goes on about? It never drones or buzzes like an aftermarket unit does. But it sounds wonderful with the windows down, when you can hear the turbo spooling, the wastegate exhaling and the unburnt fuel crackling and popping.
…..The Abarth is definitely a niche product, and a lot of people will be more comfortable with something else, whether that’s a Mini, a Mazdaspeed 3 or even an FR-S. But if you are that mythical Millenial; downtown-living, employed in the creative field, the kind of person that GM and Ford are trying so hard to cultivate, then this is your car. I love it for more tangible reasons; it can fit in nearly any parking space, easy on gas and has just the right amount of performance. Do I love it enough to take on a car note? No. But of all the cars I’ve driven this year, this is the one that I’d buy.
He’s pretty impressed and enthusiastic, yes? And as it happens, he’s right in the target market demographic for the 500 Abarth. He’s in his early 20’s, establishing his career, single, etc etc.
Why don’t car magazines or web publications choose people to review cars according to the type of person/car? Does anyone think there’s any value in having someone review a car that they’re never likely to be interested in? Does it lend some weird sort of distance-induced objectivity?
It’s a funny old world.
Having written all that, maybe there IS no right formula to match between demographics and cars. I’m much closer in demographics to the Auto123 writer – older, married, etc. I haven’t driven an Abarth but I’m a sucker for smaller cars with punchy engines and I’m pretty sure I’d like it A LOT.
——
As I wrote on Eggs’ FB posting, the existence of the Fiat 500 Abarth is completely justified (as is this blog post), even if it’s only so that Fiat could make this ad:
As EV’s are a topic of current interest (ha!), I thought I’d take a look around the market for electric vehicles in the United States. Analysts are predicting EV sales growth of 30% per year in the US between now and the end of the decade, with 400,000 EV’s forecast to be sold there in 2020. (Just because they predict it doesn’t make it so – take note of Leaf sales).
Moreover, heavy vehicles such as buses and trucks are also getting manufactured with EV technology. These changes could be applied to the businesses like logistics, shipping, and more where they hire or rent EV fleets and assist in saving the ecosystem by reducing pollution and contributing towards environmental projects like vehicle to grid charging (V2G). Projects like V2G can solve a lot of electricity grid-related issues and help to reduce the carbon footprint.
Other reasons I’m looking at the US market:
#1 – I can read the websites without having to use a dubious online translator, and…
#2 – The US is a baseline for the car industry. Most of the name-brand passenger EVs that are sold around the world that has a reasonable chance of longevity (with the notable and prominent exception of Renault) are being sold in the US. Because of the very competitive nature of the auto market in the US, prices there are usually lower than anywhere else in the world. Plus, the implementation of electric vehicle tax credit programs seems to have lowered the prices further, making it easier for common folks to lay their hands on automobiles. In a nutshell, what you’re seeing here is pretty much the lowest price you’ll see for any of the EVs elsewhere.
Note: this post only has pure EV’s in it. No gas-assisted or range-extended vehicles like the Volt or Karma. There may be some other EV’s that I’m missing, too. Feel free to let me know and I might add them in (time permitting, or if they’re particularly compelling).
When you’re done reading this, CLICK HERE for a nice big table comparing the vitals of all these cars.
As you read this, a good measure to keep in your head is that a Camry Hybrid XLE (top spec) has an MSRP of $27,500 and gets 40mpg. Most of the vehicles in this list are EPA measured at 100mpge. Also, keep in mind that most of these vehicles, if not all, will qualify for at least $7500 in rebates after the purchase. Additionally, you might qualify for tax subsidies if you have an EV charging station installed after purchase; contact professional electric companies like Mitchell Electric, LLC. to learn about this in further detail.
The CODA website has an option where it says you can “Design Your CODA”. I tried it because I wanted to design the car so that it didn’t look like crap anymore, but it didn’t work. This is the EV for insomniacs. Can’t sleep at night? Just take out your blow-up mattress and sleep in the garage.
The car is based on an old Chinese body from Hafei with an upgraded chassis to meet US standards. It’ll go for 125 miles on its 100kW motor and takes 6 hours to charge with its dedicated in-home charger ($1,195).
CODA only sells in California at the moment but they’re looking to expand to other states and you can be on the waiting list for just $99. Or you could just… you know… wait.
The CODA EV seems to be aiming to be the Toyota Camry of the EV world. It’s reasonably priced (for an EV), it’s larger than other EV’s, it’s inoffensive (unless you call boring offensive when spending $37K)
The CODA is a frump and as you can tell, I wasn’t taken with it whilst researching this article. Thankfully, there’s a lot more than the CODA out there to pique your interest. Like the next car…..
If you want to get more of a feel for the recent history of electric vehicles, Chris Paine’s documentaries make for some good viewing on a quiet weekend.
Both movies – Who Killed The Electric Car and Revenge Of The Electric Car – are available on Youtube so if you’ve got some sort of Smart TV setup (I’ve got a little Apple TV box), you should be able to watch them in reasonable resolution on your big screen.
Who Killed The Electric Car
This film reviews the demise of the modern EV, typified by GM’s repossession and destruction of it’s EV-1 lease vehicle fleet. It studies the roles played in the demise of the modern EV by the US Federal Government, California’s Air Resources Board, car companies, oil companies and consumers.
—
Revenge Of The Electric Car
This film takes a look at the resurgence of electric vehicles, tracking the Chevrolet Volt (and Bob Lutz’s epiphany on EVs), the Nissan Leaf (and Carlos Ghosn’s all-in bet on EV’s), the rise of Tesla (with Elon Musk’s rather stressful life) and a California independent EV-builder’s struggle to establish his business (with a magic looking Porsche 356 EV).
Tesla’s struggle, in particular, is interesting to watch. Even with fantastic products like the ones they have, it’s a massive struggle just to get things started in the car business. Bob Lutz looks a little but smug when he discusses this, but what he’s saying is for real. It’s a credit to Elon Musk and Tesla that they’re still around.
I spent 40 minutes on the phone with NEVS last night and am busy typing up the results at the moment. In the meantime…….
The most interesting car in the world for me right now is nearly complete. The Sonabusa – a Saab Sonett III mated to a Suzuki Hayabusa engine and modified to rear-wheel-drive – is the work of Albany Speed Shop in the US.
Darryl got the Sonabusa out for a quick drive today and the good news for us: he took a camera with him 🙂
Today was the day for Club Motori Italia to show off their beautiful Italian cars on the lawns of Parliament House here in Hobart. Saturday morning is always busy here, with the parliament laws being just next door to the bustling Salamanca Market. There were plenty of people around – both tourists and locals – and they all got a good eyefull of some magnificent Italian design.
Sadly, I didn’t have my car in the show as I’ve been having some problems with a fuel hose, which I only fixed early this afternoon. I did manage to pop in for a peek, however, and the cars were absolutely shining! Kudos to the club for putting on another wonderful exhibition.
Who knew we had two Lamborghini Urracos here in tiny little Hobart?!?!
I’m currently going through Ebay and Hemmings like I’ve got some sort of disease.
The great thing about ads in 2012 is some of the more thorough ones have video embedded. I’ve always advocated taking excellent photos when you want to sell a car and it would seem good video might be the next extension of this.
OK, so we’re not going to travel the US in a Mustang that would make Mad Max look like Gomer Pyle. But the thought is a nice one and the sound – should you ever really open it up – would be incredible.
