Category: Features

Saab Reports – Mahindra ‘Confirmed’, Creditor Wants Out

In Court….

There’s a little bit of news on the Saab front today.

Via TTELA, via comments (thanks to Pingu)

One creditor (the financial company SVEA Ekonomi AB that has provided NEVS with loans during the year) has opposed an extension of the reconstruction. The reason is that they fear that there is no longer enough property at NEVS to secure the loans, since the property that was originally used for the loans (cars, etc.) are currently being sold off to fund NEVS’ operations. They also note that since the operations is now largely funded with other loans with special privileges, their loans will likely not be paid in the end in case of a bankruptcy later on.

The original report in TTELA is here.

A few more things must be noted to give this context, however…..

Firstly, this is one creditor speaking their mind on NEVS’s reconstruction extension. The court would take this creditor’s opinion into consideration, however they’re not bound to end the reconstruction because of this.

Secondly, and perhaps much more importantly, the committee appointed to represent the creditors group as a whole has written to the court in support of NEVS’s reconstruction extension. That will carry a lot more weight.

TTELA also write that a decision on the extension may be forthcoming today and that’s a pretty big deal because if the court says ‘No’ then all of Mahindra’s plans to talk to Saab AB about naming rights, finish off their due diligence, etc, go out the window.

Feel free to keep us updated in comments as I’ll be in bed soon.

——

Mahindra confirmed. Sort of.

Nasdaq.com – which is a real thing, not just an opportunistic guy with a domain name – is reporting as follows:

India’s Mahindra & Mahindra plans to take a stake in the company behind Sweden’s Saab Automobile brand, according to documents filed to a local Swedish court…..

…In a document filed to the court by one of the creditors of NEVS–a British consultant–Mahindra & Mahindra is named as the auto maker about to take a stake in the Swedish company.

NEVS, of course, have been very secretive as to who the potential investors are and while it’s never been confirmed by NEVS or Mahindra, the whispers have been all over the place.

NEVS do have obligations to their creditors, however, including the disclosure of information that will influence their decisions. I’m sure they disclose this information with instructions to keep it confidential, but our British consultant has seen fit to waive that particular request for now.

NEVS’s declined to comment. Of course.

Wednesday Snippets: Hot or Not, V8 Jag, Shannons 928, 912alicious

Porsche 928S

I mentioned earlier in the week that I had 928 fever, right?

Sooooo …… Monday night was very nearly a big night in our household.

The Shannons 2014 Summer Auction was held in Melbourne and I had a specific interest, having registered to bid at the event. My eyes were on this white Porsche 928S from 1986.

—

The car had a super-clean mechanical inspection report. The only faults mentioned were the aircon system not cooling and the sunroof not working. When looking at a 928, those are amongst the least of your worries. A friend in Melbourne (Gavin – who’s written here occasionally and owns a most glorious Alfa Sprint) went and took a look at it for me and the report from him was overwhelmingly positive, too. I went into Monday night feeling nervous about the auction process but confident about the car.

I needn’t have worried about nervousness. The auction went beyond the limit I’d set myself pretty quickly. I budgeted around $11K for the car. That would mean around a $14-15K cost once I got here to Hobart, got it registered and a basic service.

The car sold for $12.5K.

So, I didn’t get my 928 but looking at the silver lining to that cloud, it was a positive exercise in self-restraint and the money I didn’t spend will allow Mrs Swade and I to travel to Sweden next year for the 2015 Saab Festival!

——

Hot Or Not?

I saw some early publicity for a few new hot hatches this week and the paintwork had me wondering – are they hot or not?

First, the Renault Sport RS275 Megane Trophy, which gets a dollop of flouro orange on it’s white premise:

And second, the new Peugeot 208 GTi 30th Anniversary, which looks like they’ve dipped a red car in black chocolate:

The Swadeology verdict – Yes to the Pug but No to the Renault.

What say ye?

——

V8 Jags

I was roundly mocked when I revealed my desire for an older Jaguar with a V8 conversion but can now revel in justification as Bring-A-Trailer featured three such cars in just a few days this week 🙂

A Dutch Mk II with a Rover V8 installed:

A Series 1 XJ6 with a Chevy V8 installed in Connecticut:

And…. another Jaguar Mk II with a Chevy V8 in Maryland.

I’ve always been interested in an XJ6 conversion myself, but those Mark II’s sure look pretty sweet. I’d take the third one if I had the choice.

Consider it back on the long term list!

——

Porsche 912

The Porsche 912 is one of an increasingly long line of cars that I’ve noticed just before they shot up in price (hint – get your good 928’s now as the price is only going to go up).

Petrolicious released this Porsche 912 video this morning. The close-up videography can be annoying, but the video does give you a very nice taste of the 912. The key, as always, is that it’s so much fun to drive slow cars fast.

Saab Festival 2015: June 5-7

UPDATE: We just booked some accommodation. Trolltown, here we come!

——

Good News!

The 2015 Saab Festival dates have been announced. The event will take place in Trollhattan from June 5 to June 7 next year.

—

There are no details as to what will be going on but information will be available at the Saab Museum website when it comes to hand.

If you’re a Saab fan, a visit to the Festival at least once in your life is a must. Trollhattan in the summer is just magic and the events around the festival are always first class.

Classics By The Beach – December 2014

Rain. Fine, drizzly, persistent pain-in-the-arse rain. It’s the been the marker of our week-old Tasmanian summer and it did its best to try to ruin Classics By The Beach this morning.

Did it succeed? Hell, no!

It was a slow start but Classics did happen, which was especially nice for me as I missed the November edition and was hanging out to see what this month’s edition might bring.

——

English, with Patina

It might seem a strange place to start, but the first car to really catch my eye this month is one that I’m not sure was even a Classics attendee. The father/daughter combination parked the car, went to a nearby coffee shop and then left an hour or so later. I didn’t see them wandering around or talking to anyone, even though there were a significant number of English cars in attendance this month.

So why was an old, red Morris 1100 the first car to catch my eye?

Well, I was about 6 years old when my sister got her driver’s licence and her white Morris 1100 is one of the first cars I remember that didn’t belong to my parents. In fact, here are the first cars I can remember from my earliest years:

  • Dad’s XY Falcon Wagon
  • Pa’s HD Holden (brown)
  • My brother in law Steve’s blue Datsun 180B
  • Leanne’s Morris 1100
  • Mum’s TD Cortina (6 cyl)

I’m sure Mum had a car before the Cortina, but I don’t remember what it was. It might well have been an older Cortina as my family did seem to like their Fords (a make that I’ve never owned). Dad replaced the XY Falcon with an XB Falcon and Mum replaced the Cortina with a Ford Laser in the early 1980’s.

Anyway, back to Classics…..

This little red Morris took me right back to my primary school days. I don’t know if it still has its original paint but it looked like it. There was definitely some cracking and fading going on and it lent the car an air of originality. It was so nice to see one still on the road….

—

Another car with that patina feel was this late 1950’s MGA, in blue.

It’s a beautiful old bird but a chat with the owner confirmed that the presentation is more to do with regularity that originality.

The car has actually been several different colours over its lifetime with this blue applied by a previous owner some time in the 1980’s. It also started life as a LHD car from the US and was converted to right hand drive when it arrived in Australia. The seats have been reupholstered according to the original pattern and a larger engine was installed some time ago.

The end result – a car that is used as a daily driver and is loved as ferociously a toddler’s teddy bear. It’s perhaps the best kind of classic car – one that is real.

Something to note: many classic car parts are hard to find and expensive, so our MGA owner did extremely well when he found the steering wheel on this car, which is 100% original and was brand new and un-used when he found it at a very good price from a like-minded MG enthusiast. Score!

——

English and Renewed

Some regard the Jaguar E Type as being the most beautiful car ever made. I’m not one of them, although I definitely rank it highly. My personal preference is for Italian eye candy.

There’s no debate about the beautiful condition of this E-Type, however. It shone brightly on a damp day that definitely wasn’t made for showing cars. My only regret is that I couldn’t track down the owner to open it up and allow some interior shots as the level of detail I could see through the closed windows looked equally impressive.

—

There’s usually an E Type and an MGA at Classics but this month was a little different as there were a lot of Brits in attendance.

One of those was this MG 1300, which will look eerily familiar because it shares the same basic bodywork with the Morris 1100 shown above (and a Wolseley, and a Vanden Plas, and a Riley, and a…..). The MG had a 1275cc engine (think Mini) that’s now been bored out to over 1300cc.

This little bit of BMC platform sharing enjoyed a higher spec interior than the Morris parked across from it, with a nice dollop of wood on the dash and individual gauges as opposed to the long horizontal jobby on the Morris.

—

Volvo by Bertone

There’s always a disappointing lack of Swedes at Classics so you can imagine how excited I was when this Bertone Volvo rocked up just as I was about to leave.

The car’s been recently recommissioned after some time in storage and the owner now has it up for sale. Get in touch with me if you’re interested (or call the number on the rear window and speak to Paul).

It’s a V6. The seats look super-comfortable and the back seat actually looks capable of swallowing humans up to toddler age. It has “Volvo Sound” rear speakers and the original “Top Executive” radio/tape player is currently in the boot of the car 🙂

——

The Italians

There’s always a good smattering of Italians at Classics. It’s one of the reasons I love going there every month. The Giulia Super was this month’s highlight for me (the Lambo’s a regular whereas I hadn’t see this super before). The 500 Abarth was a welcome addition, too.

—

I have to note the presence of the two newer Fezzas, too. It was wonderful to see them there and the crowds gathered accordingly. There was an interesting exchange later on between a frustrated local couple trying to exit a parking spot and one of the Fezza owners, whose car was parked nearby. Completely, absolutely 500% the local driver’s fault. Thankfully it was kept to being just a verbal exchange, although the local wife did break the cardinal rule – don’t touch another man’s car (especially when it’s a Ferrari).

These folks turned up 20 minutes later and entertained the local kiddies with their coloured lights.

Coincidence? I think Mrs Local might have got her knickers in a twist and made a phone call that, as mentioned earlier, was totally unjustified as she was very much in the wrong.

——

The Rest

Here’s a sample of the rest of this month’s attendees. You’ll see some semi-serious precipitation in a few of these photos, which reduced both the number of cars and the time I spent taking photos of them 🙂

This EJ Holden panel van was nice in matte black. I love the EJ/EH siblings. Probably my favourite Holdens of all time (it’s a short list).

—

The photo of old Morris Minor sh-sh-sh-should give you an idea of the rain at one particular point of the morning…..

The observant among you would have noticed an item on the Morris in need of some attention. Duly received…..

—

Mini – no-one takes me further than you!

—

How long before the NA Mazda MX-5 is looked at as a Classic? And will it need to be in a particular specification? Or are there simply too many of them still around?

I give it 10 years.

—

And how long before the modern Mini is considered a Classic?

Appealing as they are, I give it a lot longer than 10 years.

—

I had a good chat with the owner of this Porsche 928 S4. I’d met Stuart at another event earlier this year and I’ve got 928 fever at the moment so it was a timely chat. Nice bloke. Nice car.

—

In-dash radio was probably quite a thing back in the mid-20th century.

This lovely looking Valiant’s got “on-dash” radio 🙂

—

That’ll do us for this month.

Thanks for reading. Next month’s Classics will be on Sunday 4th January.

Fulvia Friday – Holiday Sightings (with non-Fulvia Friends)

If Fulvia Friday is now being furnished by people spotting Fulvias whilst on vacation, does that mean it’s becoming a thing?

My thanks to Ian B, who spotted this Series 2 Fulvia while visiting his native England on holiday from Australia. The car is at a second-hand showroom owned by a guy named Dave Fox, in Stone, Staffordshire. His business seems to specialise in some very, very nice machinery (see below).

First, the Fulvia…..

—

As you can see, the car is in a small-ish showroom so the angles are a bit tight for photos. The car spent its early life in South Africa so it wasn’t a rusty basket case, but it did require some bits from this slowly decomposing blue Fulvia, below:

—

Ian was also kind enough to get a few shots of some of the other vehicles in and around the building.

This looks very much like my kind of place. I’ll take the Montreal, the Quattro and the Renault, thanks!

—

My thanks to Ian for thinking of me and sending these in. If you happen to spot a Fulvia on your travels – be it on holidays or simply parked outside your local butcher shop while you’re getting a dozen sausages – please feel free to let me know.

A Quick Look At Saab’s Potential New Owners: Mahindra

It’s been a big week in the world of Saab with a potential sale looming that could see the company get a rare third chance at life in the post-GM era. There is a letter of intent in place so Saab fans do have the possibility of a positive outcome with regards to the company’s future. But in truth, the situation with Saab/NEVS right now rests on a big collection of “IF” statements.

IF Saab AB will grant rights to use the Saab name…..

IF there’s actually anything that’s still worth buying from NEVS after due diligence is complete…..

IF Mahindra (we guess) are sincere in their intention to buy…..

IF the Mahindra board will see a business case for buying into NEVS……

IF all those things happen, then what remains of the company we know as Saab will have a new majority owner from early March next year and the journey will begin all over again.

What happens after that is anyone’s guess, but it will all start with Mahindra & Mahindra, the Indian company looking to add a European jewel to its automotive crown.

So what is Mahindra? What does the company do?

——

Origins

A few years before Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget started selling their first production car, Mahindra started life as a steel trading company founded by two Mahindra brothers and a guy named Muhammed. The year was 1945 and two years later, Muhammed left to become the new Finance Minister in the newly formed Pakistani state.

Mahindra & Mahindra started their automotive business building knock-down kits of the original Willys Jeep in the late 1940’s. They listed on the Bombay stock exchange in the 1950’s, started exporting machinery and parts in the 1960’s, diversified into agricultural machinery and a technology arm in the 1980’s and have grown steadily ever since.

——

Mahindra Today

Today, Mahindra is a diversified company valued at just over US$16 billion. That’s not massive in world corporate terms, but not insignificant either. The company has around 200,000 employees and is represented in around 100 countries around the world.

Mahindra has spread itself over 18 different industries from farms to finance and aerospace to automobiles. They can sell you a bomb-proof truck, a bucket of potato seeds, a week’s vacation in Goa or a government certified off-grid solar solution for your village.

——

Corporate Philosophy – Rise

It feels a little bit quaint to talk about mission statements and corporate philosophies in 2014 but Mahindra seems dedicated to the Rise philosophy. It’s one that resonates when you’re operating in a country like India, a country that’s rich in heritage and beauty but is trying to raise itself from widespread poverty to become a more commercialised nation.

Mahindra sees itself as a company that makes the tools that India and much of the rest of the world needs to Rise and reach beyond itself. That might feel a little antiquated as you sit in your leather chair reading this on your iPad, but to Mahindra, Rise is the backbone of how they treat their people and everything they do.

Corporate video time…… this is the less cheesy one.

—

To put the corporate feel-good stuff aside for one moment, this utilitarian philosophy is one that should resonate well in traditional Saab circles. Saab itself started as a practical, well designed car for the Swedish masses. Sweden itself is a country whose modern ideals have tended to favour the wellbeing of the society with policies focusing on health, education and the dignity of the individual being a key to the dignity of the whole.

Of course, Saab couldn’t stay as a cheap runaround for the Swedish masses because that wasn’t profitable. And Mahindra understands profit. They’ll know that Saab has to be a premium, quality product because Saabs are very unlikely to sell on volume. What they plan to do with it will be interesting, to say the least.

——

Industries and Products

Aerospace

Mahindra has three Aerospace companies operating in India and Australia. They design and build a range of three light aircraft, with two more on the drawing board as we speak. They also act as a supplier to other manufacturers.

Aftermarket

Mahindra operate businesses that specialise in servicing and on-selling vehicles.

Agribusiness

Mahindra have two companies offering specialist services in the following areas: Crop Care, Fresh Produce Services, Seed Distribution and Seed Potatoes

Automotive

Following their purchase of SsangYong in 2011, Mahindra now has a range of 8 commercial vehicles and 15 personal use vehicles that they sell in dozens of countries around the world. The vehicles range from a small three-wheeled ute for India to a very Mercedes-like limousine sold primarily in Korea.

Mahindra also has a brand called Reva, which sells an electric vehicle – the e20. Mahindra Racing is an inaugural participant in the 2014 FIA Formula E championship. This electric field may well be where Mahindra’s interests with Saab lie.

Components

Today we run art-to-part manufacturing units across India, Germany, Italy, and the UK which help companies around the world build better products using our expertise in processes like forgings, castings, gears, stampings, steel, ferrites, contract sourcing, composites, and more. More than 12,000 of us are at work on a full range of components for use in industries like electrical, medical equipment, power, defense, aerospace and more. We also provide full service art-to-part solutions to our customers by integrating design, manufacturing, and sourcing capabilities.

Construction Equipment

Mahindra & Mahindra entered the Construction Equipment industry in February 2011 with the launch of the Mahindra EarthMaster Backhoe Loader. Already one of the world’s largest markets, demand for construction equipment is growing in India.

Consulting Services

Mahindra runs three different consulting companies specialising in four specific areas: Engineering Consulting, Information Security Consulting, Project Management and Strategic Risk Management

Defence

Mahindra’s defence operations centre around defence vehicles from small, agile people carriers to larger six-wheels ballistic protected carriers. They also manufacture some small arms systems and in 2012, they expanded into manufacturing for naval defence systems.

Energy

Mahindra EPC offers various power generation and energy-efficiency solutions and services.

Farm Equipment

Mahindra is now the largest selling tractor manufacturer in the world, by volume. Their best-selling model is called the Bhoomiputra, which is enough reason in itself to like them 🙂

Financial Services

Of course, with all this stuff to sell to people, it makes sense to make some money off the process. Mahindra does insurance as well as offering loans for machinery and property.

Industrial Equipment

Mahindra Conveyor Systems collaborates with a Japanese partner to build industrial scale bulk handling systems. In layman’s terms, they move stuff in large quantities from one place to another.

Information Technology

Mahindra own three companies that offer various IT services from India to Silicone Valley. They do IT services, outsourcing, IT consulting, business process modelling and a whole range of telecom-based services, too.

Leisure & Hospitality

Mahindra runs a smattering of resorts around India and offers timeshare arrangements for families in partnership with other like companies around the world.

Logistics

Mahindra call it people logistics, which is a fancy way of saying they’re also like a taxi company for the corporate sector. They move people around (100,000 trips per day!). They also handle supply chain management and warehousing.

Real Estate

Mahindra got into property development in the 1990s and now work in both residential and commercial property development with a focus on sustainable development (i.e. green). Their “World Cities” model is something I’ll have to look into a little more.

Retail

Mahindra runs a retail chain called “Mom & Me”. When you’re a country of a billion people, there’s a few births happening so it makes sense. We’ll overlook the Americanised spelling….. for now.

Two-Wheelers

Mahindra makes a range of motorcycles and scooters. They even race the motorbikes and have had some marked success in Italy with two successive 250cc championships. They’re currently in talks to take over Peugeot’s scooter operations.

——

Summary

If it sounds like I’m giving Mahindra a glossy introduction, that’s because I am.

They look like a responsible, growing company from a part of the world that I have a great affinity with. Australia and India are very different countries but we share some common cultural points and sporting links thanks to the Brits. And we love their food 🙂

I wish them well in their efforts to buy a majority stake in NEVS and hopefully revive the Saab name in the automotive sector. It’ll be a tough road and who knows what lies at the end of it, but it has to start somewhere.

Wed Snippets – Spyker, Diesels, Honda, Citroen, Bruno And The Bandit

Spyker Files For Financial Restructuring

Most of the people who visit this site would have been awake when this news came out but I was sleeping.

Spyker N.V., together with its wholly owned subsidiary Spyker Automobielen B.V. today filed a voluntary petition for financial restructuring in an effort to address certain short-term operational and liquidity challenges. The District Court of Midden-Nederland in Lelystad, the Netherlands granted Spyker’s voluntary petition for temporary moratorium of payment, the Dutch equivalent of the American Chapter 11 proceedings, and has appointed an administrator who, together with the Board of Management, bears final responsibility for management of the company as long as the moratorium of payment status is in force.

It’s not totally unexpected given Spyker’s recent challenges, but sad nonetheless. I hope Vic can find his way out of this OK but it’s hard when your business is all about selling cars and you’re not doing any of that.

Nulla Tenaci Invia Est Via

——

Honda Getting Its Groove Back?

Honda was on fire back in the 90’s and early 00’s with high-revving V-Tec engines that set a lot of people’s pulses racing. They had a super-successful record dating back to the 1980’s in Formula 1 as an engine supplier, too.

Something happened about 10 years ago, though. It’s like we all took a nap and when we woke up, Honda had stopped racing, Hondas had stopped being racy and were only being bought by sensible people in woolly cardigans.

Now, it seems Honda might just be getting its groove back.

Honda will be back supplying engines to the McLaren Formula 1 team in 2015. They have a new NSX being tested around the Nurburgring and in news that’ll mean more to grassroots enthusiasts, there’s going to be a new Civic Type R coming to Australian roads next year, too.

From CarAdvice:

The Honda Civic Type R will absolutely return to Australia, though precise launch timing is still being worked out.

After repeatedly saying it was dead keen to import the reborn hot hatch after a five-year absence, Honda Australia director Stephen Collins confirmed to CarAdvice today that it’s now locked-in.

….Once a performance leader with a string of sports cars such as the Civic Type R, Integra, Prelude and NSX, the company once colloquially known as “Japan’s BMW’ has focused elsewhere of late, and has, to many people, lost some of its lustre….

….The Type R’s turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine will produce in excess of 206kW of power, will redline at 7000rpm, and will be paired exclusively with a six-speed manual transmission, bucking a recent industry trend to dual-clutch autos.

——

1980’s Citroen Concept

Spotted on Classic Driver this week….

This is why I love the French automotive sector. Where would we be without them?

This concept was called the Karin and was shown at the 1980 Paris Motor Show. It had a central driving position with a single seat on either side, said to be one for the wife and one for the girlfriend.

——

Is Europe Turning On Diesel?

The rattle you hear coming from Western Europe isn’t the rattle of a diesel Peugeot coming down the street. It might just be the beginnings of death rattle for all diesels in France. From Reuters:

Next year, the government will launch a car identification system that will rank vehicles by the amount of pollution they emit, Valls said in a speech. This will make it possible for local authorities to limit city access for the dirtiest cars.

“In France, we have long favoured the diesel engine. This was a mistake, and we will progressively undo that, intelligently and pragmatically,” Valls said.

The French government plans to raise taxes on diesel fuel and also provide a rather large rebate to any French customers trading in their diesel for an electric car.

I hope Karin isn’t a diesel…..

——

East Bound And Down….

My all-time favourite childhood movie car is up for sale: The Bandit.

OK, this isn’t the car from Smoky And The Bandit. This is a car that was used for promotional purposes and then given to Burt Reynolds as a birthday gift.

That’s close enough for me!

Bidding is currently at $70K 🙁

——

Uptown Funk

I heard this song this morning and it’s been with me all day. It’s Bruno Mars meets James Brown meets Prince meets The Time. I love it.

Too hot.

——

Rolls Royce SUV Is Like Killing Kittens

Porsche did it, and in marketing offices all around the automotive world, that’s supposedly made it OK for everyone to think they can do it.

And maybe they can. But should they?

From GoAuto

ROLLS-ROYCE will next year decide whether to bring its much-rumoured SUV to market and already has internal design concepts on the drawing board.

Nooooooooooo!

The world seems to be full of people and companies doing stupid, meaningless things just because they CAN. Just because you CAN drown kittens doesn’t mean you should. I mean that in a purely metaphorical sense, of course (and if you think that’s tasteless, you should hear a few of the ones I discarded. Anyone who drowns kittens ought to be jailed).

Rolls Royce is sorted. What they CAN do if they put the company’s collected mind to work is irrelevant.

Rolls Royce make big-ass limousines that carry super-rich people around, cosseting them with silence, cushioning, aroma and twenty different types of massage. Rolls Royce is the standard. Rolls Royce needs diversification like a fish needs a bicycle.

This is Rolls Royce. From PetrolBlog:

Twenty cars a day are built at Goodwood….. and every single one is the very best that it can be. Allow me to demonstrate this fact with a specific example: torque wrenches.

Now, as the vast engines and gearboxes are mated with axles on the rolling rig prior to being stuffed into a shell, the mechanics torque up all the bolts… and when they reach the sufficient amount of twist, the wrench glows orange. This signifies that it’s being recorded – that specific bolt was wrenched to that particular torque on that date, at that time, by that person. It’s all noted in the computer via Bluetooth. So if that bolt shakes itself loose in thirty years’ time, they can find out why. Imagine that level of fastidiousness, applied to everything in the car. It’s incredible.

That’s what Rolls Royce does. It’s a statement. It’s not a fictional statement or an aspirational statement. It’s a statement of fact.

The very thought that Rolls Royce needs anything other than what it’s already got is demeaning. It makes every Rolls Royce that they make right now a lie.

Rolls Royce says it’s still considering whether or not to make an SUV. To me, it should be a no-brainer. Companies like Porsche could do it because everyone knows that the 911 doesn’t sell enough on its own for the company to survive. Porsche needs the Cayenne. It needs the Panamera.

If you’re Rolls Royce, the word ‘need’ should not be in your lexicon. An admission of need – such as the need to increase profitability by making a Rolls Royce SUV – makes a mockery of the very reason a brand like Rolls Royce exists in the first place.

We always seem to look up to the Germans for their engineering. Rolls Royce’s German owners have respected the brand up until now – and hopefully sanity will prevail and they’ll continue to respect it in the future. But the lessons learned from model expansion with BMW, Mini, Porsche and other Germans makes me fear for this automotive institution.

Won’t someone think of the rich little children (and their kittens)?

Exit mobile version