Kiwibloke » Automobiles

End of the Road For Detroit Car Makers

GregR — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 01:23:55 +0000

Today was not a good day for General Motors and Chrysler. Rick Waggoner was shown the door by Washington and GM was told in no uncertain terms that bankruptcy was an option for them. Chrysler was told they have 30 days to convince Fiat they have a future or it was curtains for them. However what was worst was the realization that the future of bloated SUVs and mediocre mileage was well and truly over when Berkshire Hathaway announced that the BYD plugin hybrid vehicle will be on display in May at Buffett’s general shareholder meeting in Omaha.

The annual shareholder meeting is no Volvo driving latte drinking San Francisco set. These people represent the core General Motors constituent, middle America. The problem for Detriot is that if Warren Buffet, the true Anti Wall Street hero says it is okay for them to buy an attractive econo-box, then this is big trouble.

The BYD E6 will be a 5 seater with an acceleration of 0 to 100 kph of around 10 seconds. Top speed should be top speed of 160 kph (100 mph), and the battery pack, which is located under the rear passenger seats, will be based on BYD’s own lithium-ion iron phosphate technology. Range per charge is expected to be 300 km (186 miles).

The BYD E6 proves that a decent range electric vehicle is absolutely possible, which means that the Oil companies should take note as well.

Meanwhile in Kiwiland:

Dr Bruce Smith, director of modelling and forecasting at the Electricity Commission, told biofuels and electric vehicles conference in Wellington that electric vehicles have the ability to smooth the peaks and troughs of electricity supply so efficiently they could triple the country’s capacity to use wind power.

He estimates that if 2.5 million of New Zealand’s roughly 4 million registered vehicles were electric, the whole electric fleet could run off 3000MW of wind generation – about three times the amount of wind power that is built or ready for construction today.

New Zealand generates approximately 70% of their power from renewable resources.

Chevy Volt Charging Towards 2010

Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson Takes on Hong Kong Press

GregR — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:34:58 +0000

Uploaded on Flickr by betta design

Top Gear continues it’s march around the pacific, this time turning up this weekend for the Top Gear Live show in Hong Kong.

According to Hong Kong’s The Standard:

Well, not for long. Soon, the engagingly verbose presenter was cracking jokes about copresenter Richard Hammond’s height (or lack of it) and Hong Kong’s taxi drivers. “Why are the taxis here not fitted with rear suspension and why is everyone a Michael Schumacher?” he observed.

Clarkson goes on to explain how he has seen all of Hong Kong in 24 hours and is now tired. Hong Kong is the last stop of the World Tour which commenced on the 30th October last year, passed through Jo burg, Sydney and Auckland. North American viewers are completely out of luck.

The tour has not been without it’s incidents with Jeremy calling Gordon Brown a one eyed git, Ferraris being Toyotas,Â Stig storming out of a press conference and Hammond and Clarkson almost being at the wrong end of a bird strike.

They will be sadly missed at this end of the pacific.

[The Standard]

Saturn Car Company Could Be In Chinese Hands By End of Year

Steve — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:21:53 +0000

Uploaded on Flickr by ...-Wink-...

In a cruel twist of fate, Saturn could be in the hands of the Chinese by the end of the year. Saturn is one of the victims of the restructuring of General Motors to satisfy the requirements of the US Government’s TARP Loan program.

General Motors as penned a letter to the existing Saturn Dealers suggesting a restructuring of the brand into a distribution structure. Saturn Distribution would own the brand Saturn and would be free to source vehicles from General Motors as well as other manufacturers including Chinese based vehicles. A structure like this would require an anchor investor and with money in short supply with equity partners (read Cerebus), the Chinese would be the obvious partner to invest and source product from.

The key is to source vehicles that match the “Saturn brand for fuel-efficiency, safety, reliablity and affordablility” according to the letter.

Shanghai Automotive, GM’s partner in China, would be a candidate for selling vehicles through Saturn dealers. So too would some of the smaller Chinese companies, like battery- and automaker BYD, Geely, Chery, all of which have ambitious global aspirations. From India, Tata Motors, which last year introduced what it billed would be the world’s cheapest car, the Tata Nano, would be a likely possibility as would highly profitable Maruti or Mahindra, which already has plans to come to the U.S. later this year.

In any respect, the Saturn problem must be resolved this year and this gives the Chinese an open invitation to a good Brand, an excellent dealer network and market ripe for competitive 4 cylinder products.

Top Gear’s Race Winning Polo For Sale (Video)

GregR — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 10:28:57 +0000

Uploaded on Flickr by Jan the manson

The VW Polo Blue Motion that Richard Hammond raced from Basel to Blackpool in last years season of Top Gear is now up for sale in the UK Auto Trader (via Blackpool Gazette)

Now the car, which has just 5,500 miles on the clock â€“ is for sale on the Auto Trader website with a price ticket of Â£11,990.

In the advert for the car, Autotrader said: “The Polo is not a powerful car, but it was chosen because it boasts an average fuel economy of 74.3mpg and a tank range of 736 miles.”

One of the most economical, if not fast, car’s on the European market today, the VW Polo has the distinction of being what Jeremy Clarkson describes as being the satan of all that is automotive evil, an Oil Burner.

Here is the actual race in You Tube Goodness (after the jump)

Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILw9IwXaURQ

Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1htyR8FiGWs

Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19ZOUcEl5p4

Top Gear’s Richard Hammond Talks about his Life (Video)

Kiwi Bloke — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:54:11 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy1yHUzUcbs

While in Auckland New Zealand, Top Gear’s Richard Hammond speaks his mind this week about Top Gear and it’s cultural phenomenon in a 1965 Lincoln Town Car Continental.

Top Gear Ferraris Not Real Using Toyota MR2

Kiwi Bloke — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 17:06:29 +0000

Uploaded on Flickr by jaywood_uk

The Ferraris used in the Australian Top Gear Live shows recently were not real. According to Drive Magazine in Australia, they where Ferrari shells on top of Toyota MR2s:

Underneath their exotic red panel work, the â€œFerrarisâ€ wereÂ believed to beÂ infinitely less glamorous Toyotas.

The replica Ferraris, reportedly based on Toyota MR2 underpinnings, were produced at a fraction of the cost of the real McCoy. The Ferrari 360, which was discontinued in 2005, sold for almostÂ $400,000, while the MR2 cost less than $50,000 new.

Closer inspection of the slightly blurry image of the â€œFerrarisâ€ in action shows they appear to be missing an air intake above the rear wheels. Other details, such as the windscreen surround, appear out of proportion with the genuine Ferrari 360 Spider.

Apparently they used the sound of the loud music to drown out the fact that it was a 4 cylinder engine, rather than the 8 cylinder powerhouse.

This comes on top of Stig storming out of the Auckland press conference this week.

Top Gear Live – arrives in New Zealand (Video)

Kiwi Bloke — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:57:15 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mHCL3ofDVA

The top car show in the world, Top Gear,Â has brought it’s live action production to Auckland, Jeremy Clarkson and his crew has enlisted top Kiwi driver Greg Murphy as the 3rd Wheel.

Top Gear Press Conference Ends In Stig Storming Out (Video)

Kiwi Bloke — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:21:45 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjy6r-FSEMA

Car Exec Rips Car Industry A New One

Kiwi Bloke — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:44:32 +0000

Uploaded on Flickr by Pulpolux !!!

John Krafcik, acting president and CEO of Hyundai Motor America today made it very clear he is disappointed with the auto industry in the United States and did not pull his punches:

There was palpable discomfort in the room as Krafcik criticized his own industry for earning a perception of being “slow, dim-witted” and “typically unresponsive to consumer and environmental needs.”

Krafcik took to task the auto industry for fighting environmental progress.

“For the most part, our industry has a history of opposing environmental and safety legislation – sometimes with the force of science and good sense behind us, such as the early California (electric vehicle) mandate, but other times with a much weaker platform of defense.”

He also said dealers and their sales force “have an immense image problem with their consumer base. Thanks in great part to manufacturer programs that put more focus on moving the iron than consistently delighting our customers, we have reached the point where, frankly, Americans would rather go to the dentist than visit a car dealer.”

An ex-Ford Executive, the CEO made it clear that the industry’s day of reakoning as arrived and to avoid a worst fate they need to change and change fast. He stresses that the industry needs to focus on quality, reliability and environment considerations if they are ever to win back the faith of the buying public.

Rationalization of Car Washers Underway

Kiwi Bloke — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 22:54:00 +0000

Uploaded on Flickr by pixeljones

I am a big consumer of car washes. I am constantly working to keep our cars clean and fresh and it is a never ending battle. What frustrates me most about using car washes how poorly they are run. The level of service is hit and miss. You essentially need to find a good one and stick with it. That is fine if you don’t travel much, but if you are in foreign cities often with your car like I am, then it is pure luck if you hit upon a good one (and Google Maps doesn’t help).

What would be good is if I good go to a city and find a car wash just like I could find Starbucks. Well Procter and Gamble are investing in building franchise car washes around the Mr Clean brand:

Professional car washing, which rings up about $35 billion in sales a year in the U.S., according to P&G estimates, won out as the company’s first major franchise push. “We want to blow this out to a national network of car washes,” Mr. Brown says.

The car-washing business has a handful of competitive advantages, says Nathan Estruth, vice president of P&G’s FutureWorks, which develops new business ventures. It lacks a dominant national chain, aging baby boomers are reluctant to wash cars themselves and more water-strapped communities are pushing professional car cleaning as a conservation measure.

I am big fan of rationalizing industries where it is important that the product be well developed and consistent:

The Arnetts have deconstructed each step of a car wash in their franchisee-training process, including the precise location of where to start wiping a window and the direction in which the first stroke needs to go. Towel care also counts. “It matters what temperature you use to wash them,” says Mr. Estruth of the lessons learned from the Arnetts.

This is a welcome addition to the $35 Billion Car industry where a serious consumer company can create a strong value proposition around a single consistent brand. This is also a winner for the franchisee who can build a serious well run business without having to guess how to do it. Now we just need to figure out how to get them to add Starbucks to the car wash.

Six Million Dollar Car To be Sold This Weekend (Video)

Kiwi Bloke — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:38:20 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp-dhYT5AwA

A rare pre-war sports car, left in a British garage for the past 50 years, is likely to be sold for as much as $6 million this weekend. The 1937 Bugatti Type 57S vehicle retains many of its original features.

Update: Sold for $4.4 Million

Hummer Owners Get Nailed Faster

Kiwi Bloke — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 13:23:22 +0000

Hummer owners, according to Quality Planning of San Francisco, are 463% more likely to get nailed by the Police than the average driver.Â Also high on the list are three separate versions of Scion, Toyota’s youth brand.

The reasoning behind why Hummer and Scion drivers get ticketed more often than other drivers is not clear but:

The driver behind the wheel of one vehicle may be eager to express his individuality, while another views his vehicle as nothing more than a way to get from A to B. Mark S. Foster, author of A Nation on Wheels: The Automobile Culture in America Since 1945, offered his assessment on the statistics: â€œHummer drivers feel like kings of the road because of their elevated driving position. As these statistics show, they are leading the pack when it comes to violating the law, which may reflect their driving attitude.â€

However if you are driving a Jaguar, you are probably pretty safe from the Cops (unless you are 70s English gangster driving a Mark 2) along with with hosts of Chevrolets, Buicks and Oldsmobiles. (No surprises here).

Audi: Making the Super Bowl XLIII Commercial “Chase” (Video)

Kiwi Bloke — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:47:02 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZwwWUAbe_M

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Opshop – Jason Kerrison and Brendon Hartley racing at the A1GP

Kiwi Bloke — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:56:47 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvxzYDGIMh4

Jason Kerrison from the Kiwi band Opshop was the guest drive of New Zealand’s next motoracing hope Brendon Hartley during the A1GP in Taupo over the weekend.

Kiwi Supercar Driven at Taupo

Kiwi Bloke — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:22:36 +0000

The hand built Hulme Canam car was driven last weekend at the Taupo A1GP event. Named after Kiwi Formula One driver Denny Hulme, the Hulme CanAm is scheduled for limited production build in 2010, with a provisional price of Euro 295,000. The development of further model derivatives is planned, including a Coupe version.

Designed and hand-built by the Hulme technology team in New Zealand – including members responsible for the nationâ€™s Americaâ€™s Cup triumph – in co-operation with Massey University, the road-legal CanAm features an ultra-lightweight carbon composite tub and bodywork and race-orientated chassis, suspension and braking, and is powered by a hand-built 7-litre (427cu.in) Chevrolet V8 developing 600bhp and 600Nm torque, fed through a close-ratio, six-speed CIMA gearbox.

Chris Amon drove the orange-and-black Hulme CanAm roadster on the Taupo racetrack 24 hours ago, during a break in the A1GP schedule.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A3kJmarUA0

The Problem with Ford Sync

Kiwi Bloke — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 08:20:23 +0000

There is an old adage in the tech industry “innovation is good, but not at the cost of functionality”. This means that you need to do what your customer bought the product for really well, first, then you can make the experience unique and innovative.

This is true for Google and Search and Apple and the iPod. This is also true for Bose and consumer audio but the same cannot be said for Ford Sync. Although the product has some innovative features, when it comes to being a luxury audio system it is an poor alternative to Bose or Harmon Kardon systems you see in European luxury vehicles. Indeed the Ford Sync audio system is symbolic of Lincoln cars in general, poor substitutes to the real luxury car product from BMW, Mercedes Benz, Landrover, Lexus and others.

I currently have the Lincoln MKX and have the onerous task of driving round Vancouver. The car/SUV/crossover is Lincoln’s latest effort to make itself relevant to the luxury car market however like all previous Lincoln products it misses the mark.

The problem with Lincoln can be summed up thus: From the outside it looks like a Lincoln and from the inside it looks like a Ford. The MKS is a derivative of the Ford Edge (and probably Mercury Something). Unlike Cadillac who felt strongly in order to compete with the Japanese and Europeans they needed to haveÂ unique platforms, interiors and importantly feel, Ford and Lincoln still feel that Fords with leather can pass as luxury cars.

However what is most troubling is the Microsoft enabled audio system dubbed the Sync. Like the MKX itself, it feels and looks like a mainstream product that you would expect with the standard Delphi/Chevy audio system in a Chevy Cobalt. The look is average and the layout is standard. When it comes to the more sophisticated features of the system, they are shrouded in mystery. I found it almost impossible to figure out the speech system worked, where the sat radio system was and what exactly we were listening too. I found the screen too small for the functionality at hand.

Quite simply the Ford/Microsoft Sync system does not measure up to the likes of Harmon Kardon, Bose or Infinity. It is a competent mainstream audio product that has some fancy features to support iPods, speech recognition and Satelite radio. In other words the Sync Audio system would be at home in a Hyundai Accent or Pontiac Sunfire, which means it does not belong in a car that competes with BMW, Mercedes Benz or even Cadillac.

The Lincoln deserves the Ford Sync audio package, they both pretend to be luxury products in a market that demands more from their cars.

Is There an EV in your Life?

Kiwi Bloke — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 20:09:57 +0000

Uploaded on February 16, 2008 by geognerd

By the end of 2010 we could have five different electric vehicles to choose from. From the ubiquitous plug-in Prius Hybrid, to the Tesla, to the Mini EV and the Chevy Volt. Indeed within the next 7 years there will be numerous zero emission options to choose from without suffering the ignominity of the Geo Whiz.

With the Mini EV:

Leasing the Mini-E is little more than a real-world R&D program for BMW, which says it will use real-world drivers to further develop the EV with an eye toward production. Even at $850 a month, “they’ll probably lease every one they offer,” Aaron Bragman, an industry analyst with IHS Global Insight, told Wired.com. “It’s as much about real-world testing as it is showing off. It’s probably got a production future, simply because BMW needs it to meet the more stringent CAFE and emissions standards.”

and the Toyota Prius and City EV products:

there’s little doubt Toyota is embracing the electrification of the automobile. The company’s ambitious “low carbon” agenda calls for cranking out one million hybrids a year within the first half of the next decade and accelerating the development of small electric vehicles for mass production. “Our view is that oil production will peak in the near future. We need to develop power train(s) for alternative energy sources,” company president Katsuaki Watanabe told reporters when he announced the agenda in October.

And of course the much hyped saviour of General Motors, the Volt:

The production Volt has a rounded front end. Every surface has been sculpted in the wind tunnel to maximize aerodynamic efficiency and deliver the 40-mile all-electric range.

GM says that range will allow 80% of American drivers to use the Volt every day without ever using the generator’s 1.4-liter gasoline engine. In other parts of the world, where commuting distances are generally shorter, an even higher proportion of drivers will be able to power the car solely with electricity, Weber said.

All these new plug in products present an interesting question, namely where are we going to get all the extra electricity to support the additional demand. Granted a lot of this demand can be shifted to off peak night production, but consumers are consumers, so we don’t really know where the demand is coming from.

“Consumers’ inclination will be to plug in when convenient, rather than when utilities would prefer. Utilities will need to create incentives to encourage people to wait. There are also technologies such as ‘smart’ chargers that know the price of power, the demands on the system and the time when the car will be needed next to optimize charging for both the owner and the utility that can help too.”

Science Daily continues:

The best-case scenario occurs when vehicles are plugged in after 10 p.m., when the electric load on the system is at a minimum and the wholesale price for energy is least expensive. Depending on the power demand per household, charging vehicles after 10 p.m. would require, at lower demand levels, no additional power generation or, in higher-demand projections, just eight additional power plants nationwide.

Source:

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory (2008, March 14). Hybrid Cars May Require Hundreds Of New Power Plants To Be Built, If Owners Charge Up During Peak Hours. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 25, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.comÂ /releases/2008/03/080312140123.htm

Also to consider when pricing power consumption is in the not too distant future, Carbon trading will appear. This will penalize fossil fuel based electricity over hydro and nuclear energy production.

This new source of electric consumption will have a significant impact on the production and distribution of electricity in the future.

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Reinventing the Car

GregR — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 22:07:13 +0000

Larry Burns, GM Veep talks about the future of personal transportation and hydrogen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw7zA-RV5yE

Kiwibloke » Automobiles

End of the Road For Detroit Car Makers

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Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson Takes on Hong Kong Press

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Saturn Car Company Could Be In Chinese Hands By End of Year

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Top Gear’s Richard Hammond Talks about his Life (Video)

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Opshop – Jason Kerrison and Brendon Hartley racing at the A1GP

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The Problem with Ford Sync

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Is There an EV in your Life?

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Reinventing the Car

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