Car News-Global and Domestic

[NewcastleFalcon]

Here's one for Mick from US Mag Car and Driver.

Bloodhound Lives to Fight Another Day, Going for World Land Speed Record

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

So what are BMW, or at least their BMW Mini wing doing....

Building a factory in China in a joint venture with Great Wall to produce e-mini's for the Chinese and world-wide market due to open in 2022.

Still, the first e-minis to be produced for the UK market will come out of Plant Oxford.

New electric Mini models to be built in China
New BMW Group and Great Wall plant will produce Mini EVs – but Oxford will "remain the heart" of operations


Looks like they are reviving the "Mini Rocketman" too a sort of littler Mini, again planned to come out of the new China factory.

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Report: soaring SUV sales causing car emissions to rise
UK Energy Research Centre calls for 'immediate action' to slow growth in high-riding vehicles


New cars proving difficult to shift in general, but of the ones that do shift apparently the public want SUV's.

Maybe theres going to be an acceleration in EV's, and eventually its inevitable, but right now the roads and carparks self-evidently are filled and continue to be filled with petrol and diesel. Means I can usually get onto a public charger no problem at the moment

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

A philosophical statement to consider this morning....

Honda CEO says ‘There will be no dramatic increase in EV demand’

Regards Neil

[white exec]

That's a disappointing statement from Honda, who, like Toyota, have a massive investment in internal combustion. This is where legislators can force their hand, simply by enforcing (!) ever-stricter emissions and air-quality standards. If H and T aren't careful, the Chinese will simply leave them behind.

[bobins]

.......but what if Honda and Toyota realised a few years ago that, ultimately, their long term survival depended on them being bought out by the Chinese ?
When you look at China's potential, the phrase 'If you can't beat them, join them' springs to mind

[white exec]

Now there's a thought...

[NewcastleFalcon]

Honda have a couple of 50/50 partnerships with Chinese Automakers Dongfeng and GAC and, according to the SCMP

Honda thrives in China’s slumping car market as its Civic, CR-V models prove popular with mainland consumers

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

So Times Square, New Years Eve which Car Manufacturer emblazoned its "new logo" on the clock......

VW of course
screenshot

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

VW trying to get a message across in the USA....this also featured on prominently on New Years Eve, and in todays US sporting events.

Its farewell to the Beetle, with the Beatles "Let it be" being sung by children in the background, and several references to nostalgic elements of the beetle. At the end it, and VW moves on with the closing narrative.

I sort of think VW want to draw a line and show everyone in the US they are moving on. The Times Square clock advert must have cost an absolute fortune, but put VW at the heart of an iconic US moment and a new decade starting.



Its all drawings, but Andy Warhol appears and takes a snap (he famously did a painting of the VW Beetle) and Kevin Bacon also appears (drove a VW Beetle in Footloose). "Think Small" and "Lemon" ad slogans from the 60's reprised.

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

While governments tend to work at a snail's pace, TESLA forge on at a pace, and one year after cutting the first sod on the Gigafactory 3 at Shanghai, Chinese made TESLA model 3's are rolling off the production line.

ELEKTREK:Tesla to start made-in-China Model 3 deliveries to customers on Jan 7

REgards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Are the Japanese Car Industry in crisis?

Following on from Honda's Chief Exec firmly putting his eggs in the hybrid basket, on follows NISSAN's Ivan Espinosa, global product strategist, reported on ELEKTREK as promoting possibly the worst of all forms of hybrid, the one that doesnt need pluging in to charge, but recharges itself from its ICE engine.

The article comes under the headline

Did a Nissan exec really just say that EV charging is too difficult for women?

And Nissans answer "e-power"

REgards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

What is going to be the key factor in the longevity of cars being produced in the 2020's.......rust, battery life.......or software?

Never mind your "main dealer's servicing arms" making money from taking oily rusty mechanical things apart and replacing them. Should the modern crop of cars troop in when something goes wrong.....yes nice clean software upgrade or 2 or 3 or 4 for a nice price. Car hits over 10 years old and the costs could well scrap a car.

More software code by a margin in a modern car than in a modern jet airliner. Doesn't really have to be like that...especially with the electric car which is inherently simple in its construction, as generations of childrens toy remote control cars testify.

So unsurprising that the whole Volkswagen ID3 project has encountered "massive software problems" and effectively delayed production.

Volkswagen ID.3 Has Encountered 'Massive Software Problems'

Bit ironic when Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess at the Franfurt Motor show said comparing VW to TESLA

“In the long run, I think we might have a bit of an advantage because of scale. On the hardware side, there is probably not so big a difference because they are are also have a dedicated electric platform and they’re quite big already for an EV manufacturer.”

“But when it comes to the next big thing, which is software, Tesla is strong in software – but software really is a volume game. If you do software, you have to use ten million devices, not one million.”

REgards Neil

[Gibbo2286]

VW know a lot about software...………….especially emission defeat programming.

[Paul-R]

Not as much as they think they do - otherwise they would never have been found out!