Category: Cars

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Cars

GM vs. Saab

What I have read about Saab and saw how the brand was sinking last one decade proofed that GM is not automotive manufacturer. Actually automotive destroyer! VW is managing many brands without any problems, the slight price differences between VW and Audi is a proof of perfection and ability to understand the market, also consumers.
However, GM was stuck in 1950s; produce a chassis and cover it with engine and some other stuff. I cannot understand the US car manufacturers, from the same country people are producing microprocessors which is extremely tiny and does not tend to die but a huge car cannot be built without any problem. US car companies should understand that, world has changed V8 world died long time ago and brakes from chewing gum and suspension from bed spring is not welcomed in anywhere on earth. Even the US market does not prefer US brands! You have many business school which shaped the world economy contributed valuable  knowledge to literature but GM was unaware of all these things! I hope that Opel could save itself. If GM did not realize that Cadillac Escalade is something which is totally useless, there is not need to say anything more. Just compare Escalade with Range Rover, Mercedes GL Class, Toyota Land Cruiser !
Mercedes GL 350 CDi – Cadillac Escalade
Picture are from;
Saab Website
Mercedes Website
GM Website
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Cars

Clubbing while travelling

During last five years car manufacturers found a new obsession after horsepower race. Actually this race did not catch every ones attention, as we focus horsepower, torque, safety. But below those lists there are some numbers which are getting bigger and bigger without any reason. When you tick the box next those numbers, you accept to turn your car into a mobile Ministry of Sound Club! Unfortunately, you won’t see any drunk celebrities’ under wear or drinking tequila shots like mineral water :)
Yes, those numbers are sound systems watt values! And they are getting bigger every year. Sound engineers are saying car’s interior is not very acoustics place for very powerful sound system, instead of huge watt powers we suppose to have more clear sound. I think car manufacturers skipped this small detail and started to race like they race for horsepower. Actually I love horsepower race, it makes me feel good. Mercedes offers 612 horsepowers in a sedan, Bentley unleashed 660 horsepower from British stables, Bugatti trained 1001 special horse for Veyron. When you have so much horse in a car, why should I need so many watts in my sound system? Naturally, as I also accept automotive is not just horsepower. All those extreme cars are consumed by rich people and they are looking for the same luxury level as they have it in their houses. I appreciate Bentley to offer Naim, Mercedes offers Harman/Kardon. The interesting point is who is going to rise to volume up to those thousand of watt levels? Car’s interior is not as big as your living room, okay Maybach is bigger than most of the usual houses, but in general that those very high sound powers will just help to lost concentration while driving and help to lose your hearing ability as fast as the accelerates to 100 km/h.
Aston Martin DBS: 517 horsepower, 1000 watts Bang&Olufsen
Bentley Mulsanne: 505 horsepower, 2200 watts Naim
Bentley Continental GT Speed: 610 horsepower, 1100 watts Naim
Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport: 1001 horsepower, 300 watts Puccini (The most reasonable one!)
Picture are from;
Ministry of Sound Website
Bentley Website
Aston Martin Website
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Cars

The most attractive VW

I am not talking about Touareg which looks like nothing! I am talking about a car which grabs the road like a cheetah, shows its irresistible face to every car’s rear mirror, while it is travelling you are expecting road to stretch to resists its tyres. I am talking about VW Scirocco! VW’s best designed car, I really don’t like VW design until now. With Scirocco, even the Audi A3’s big mouth got bigger. A3 was not expecting this kind of excellent design from VW, because it is Volkswagen (Peoples’ Car). Now it is Peoples’ Stylish Car!
Scirocco is a sign of a new era in VW and we saw it with Passat CC. VW also got bored its design culture, because it is too boring to call it boring, except Phaëton. Since now, VW was the car for families who are looking for very stylish car and VW was offering everything except design! VW proofed that you don’t need to have lots of money to buy a car which looks very good and also they could design better than Audi. Ten years later, if VW’s design get betters like that nobody would buy Audi. And also VW will not be a car for boring people to increase their boringness.
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Cars

Monsieur Renault Clio

Renault Clio; this car is one of the most senseless car. Apparently Renault also noticed this and the last model look quite pretty for a Clio! But Clio always remained as a Clio, expect some iconic models, its design and its features never made it very popular. It was normal small passenger car, until now! Last one week, Clio became more popular then Paris Hilton’s picture in DMZ.com. I think even the Renault never thought this unexpected popularity. However its popular is not about any new technological features or a futuristic design. It is about politics !
Renault Clio became a politic issue in France. As the new generation Clio is planned to be built in Turkey, however France wants the French car to be produced in France. Even their slogan is ready; French car is produced in France. Actually they should also add; French loves to create interesting sounds and noise after 50.000 KM, regardless of its brand and production place. French cars do not have very good reputation for reliability and for quality. You cannot see same high level of quality in French cars, as you see in Chanel. But Renault’s superb quality never became an issue but its production plant became very popular in France, Turkey and EU Commission.
As mentioned in Financial Times and in other respected newspapers, Carlos Ghosn is known as cost cutting ability. And moving production from Turkey to France will not provide them any cost advantage, but they also facing issues with government. I am pretty sure that Renault will find a way to produce new Clio which I really not curios about it. But there is one thing clear; the gap between Clio and VW Polo or Ford Fiesta cannot be closed very easily. Like many people says; Renault should increase its production quality and try to make better avoid cars to avoid being dull.
Picture is from;
Renault Website
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Cars

Carlos Ghosn effect on Nissan Pathfinder

This summer my friend Rishi rented a Nissan Pathfinder. On street, Pathfinder looks very muscular and good quality for its price! However, the second assumption was wrong. As soon as I drove the Pathfinder, my dreams disappeared and I really disappointed with it. I know that, Pathfinder always a good SUV and I didn’t hear any adverse comments about it, until now. I have to mention this; my disappointment was so bad my friends Andri and Natasia told me “that’s a rented car, you don’t need to worry that much”. But my dream was evaporated :)
So, what happened while I was driving the pathfinder? Actually from outside, you don’t expect to see so much common things with pick up style. But it has many things in common. Firstly; the steering wheel is not connected to front wheels. I am not joking, there is no feeling or feedback from the tyres. There should be some feedback for off road and on road driving. Driver should feel the road, not for emotional relationship, for safety and handling. I said to myself, this is an SUV I can accept this. And the worse came, the clutch! It has the same lack of feeling and dullness of Renault Clio! Yes, Nissan and Renault are working together but they should not have this much in common. The stupid clutch from Clio directly transferred to Pathfinder like a football player transfer. As you would expect breaks has the lack of feeling! I was getting more and more disappointed as I drove more and more. Actually I should have stopped the as I felt the clutch :) Finally, I stopped the engine and the gear lever wobbled! Yes, this only happens with cheap pick up. Because, the diesel engines vibration directly transferred to gear lever due to lack of materials to absorb those shock. This happened in Pathfinder, wobbling gear lever.
Then I realized; cost cutting magician Carlos Ghosn is the CEO of Renault! And those meaningless things are directly coming from pick up models and Renault models. What I have learned from all these? Don’t expect too much from Renault and Nissan. But Pathfinder should have been a car!
Picture is from;
Nissan UK Media Website
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Cars

Top Gear; just only a big budget ?

Even if you are not interested on car shows, you would probably once watch a small clip from BBC Top Gear. For more than 30 years and from different producers and presenters, Top Gear is a living legendary. Yes, some people don’t like them but they should be respected for keeping Top Gear alive for long years. I know that car shows sounds very easy. Make a call to media relations of manufacturers and request test cars and make some shooting then add music and speech. That’s all ! Here is the senseless, pointless, meaningless car show. I think some people are not aware that, you can find hundreds of videos like this on YouTube. And therefore, most of the car shows are very boring. Some of them are changing their show’s name every year. It started from 5. Gear, next year 6. Gear, next year 7. Gear and next year 8. Gear (This show does not have any relation with Fifth Gear). Finally and eventually the show ended, it suppose to end because car show was very close to be turned into truck show. “As we change the gear every year, we are in tenth gear and it is only in trucks. And here is the new MAN TGX”. Before this happened, they stopped the show :)
If you Google about car shows, you can find millions of like this and they always make the impression of “this is a totally different show”. Yes, totally different some of them are confusing the features of vehicles, or exaggerate so much even the manufacture is shocked! When we think about Top Gear, they are saying what true is or wrong about the cars. Clarkson, exaggerate time to time but I cannot agree him more about BMW X6.
And if you talk with producers, they will say “Top Gear has lots of money and we don’t”. That’s a real excuse and I cannot say anything. Until today, I have just found a car show in Cypriot TV, Mega TV. Its name is Traction. As I know very very little Greek and I have no idea what they are saying but it was entertaining! I don’t think that, they have budget like Top Gear to spend for Range Rover crew car! However, they did an excellent job with that limited budget. So, what we learn from this; if you want to do something very well money is not the issue all the time. Because, creativity is not nourished by wealth. You are just creative or not and this is making the difference ;)
Sorry the poor picture quality for Traction. I could not find their logo :(
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Cars

Audi A1 vs. Mini and Fiat 500



Yes, Audi is again in small segment business! After they have crashed the A2 to wall very badly in 2002, they didn’t have the mood for a small Audi, until now. As the Mini made superb hit on hot playing lists, manufacturers started to think about introducing small cars but cool ones! As usual Ford had a chance to succeed and as usual they ruined it (StreetKa). Actually it was very nice car. Fiat became very confident and introduced the new Fiat 500 and they received a demand which they have never imagined of during a world crisis. After that Alfa Romeo introduced the MiTo which is the prettiest car on market! 
And in Ingolstadt, Germany where the Audi’s HQ is placed started to think. And they said “Ja, wir müssen einführen, ein kleines Auto”. Of course, they remembered their traumatic experience with A2 and hesitated a bit but they didn’t give up. Now Audi A1 is here :) It looks very good, actually millions times better looking than the R8. As German traditions, it will have every kind of technology Audi is offering in other ranges.
But there is a bit problem when I read the news on internet. Audi is expecting to sell 80.000 A1s per year !?! After reading several times, I noticed that they were not speaking of a year Mars calendar. They are planning to sell 80.000 in 365 days time. Because, Mini sold more than 60.000 last year and Fiat 500 had enormous demand. So why not? Actually 80.000 is very optimist prediction. Let’s be honest, people will not sell their Minis or 500s or MiTos to buy A1!

There is something which cannot be put into number, that’s the soul. Mini and Fiat 500 have heritage brought from old times, even though the Mini is more expensive than old times. But people want to live 1960s dream again in contemporary world. It is the same with Fiat 500; 500 is bringing the black and white Italian Shows from 1960s to HD quality! They are both retro and reflecting their character. Alfa Romeo MiTo; it is Alfa Romeo. It is like a love in first sight, you won’t think about the future. You just want to be together. I cannot describe Alfa Romeo better. And Audi A1; I am pretty sure that it has more gadgets than its competitors and offer better of everything and never break down. But it is just A1, nothing else! I am sure that, people who got bored from Mini and MiTo will buy A1. However expecting 80.000 in these conditions is a very optimistic approach to automotive. My prediction is; no more than 50.000 first couple of years. We will see it later ;)

Picture are from;
Worldcarfans.com
Fiat Website
Mini Website
Alfa Romeo Website
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Cars

New promotion for electric cars: Petrol generator for more range !

Nowadays we start heard electric cars more and more. They are environmental, saving planet, no emission and new technology. Actually, electric cars are not something new! They were becoming popular in late 19th century. Even Porsche had an electric car in 1900, of course it wasn’t Porsche but produced by Ferdinand Porsche. As the petrol infrastructure developed and difficulty of charging electric car become more obvious, demand to electric cars started decline. At those Ford offered petrol powered cars at the half price electric cars and they disappeared in 1930s.
Now things have changed, people want to save world by electric cars! Unfortunately there are some problems. Main problem is, electricity does not come from space or produced by nature. Something should produce it and that something is a very big planet. And some of the big something is working with coal, which is not a tree hugger resource. So, when we use electricity produced by coal powered plants, we create lots of emissions. However nice thing is, you don’t see any smoke coming out next to you. So with this confidence, you can charge your electric car and create no pollution :) All you are doing is creating emission in the middle of nowhere and you don’t see it!
The electric cars are working with batteries and they aren’t different than our laptop’s batteries. Like our laptop’s batteries, one day they will commit suicide and we have replaced them. Sure you throw to thrash and send something to nature which cannot be recycled!
And if you want to increase the range of your e-car, you will have more batteries. And you can leave a more remarkable gift to nature from you.
In basic terms; until nano technology, super ultra high capacity batteries are available on market, tries to attach a generator to your e-car to extend its range. Don’t worry, you won’t destroy the nature, because you are already destroying while charging at home.
 

Car companies which are offering electric cars should also offer range extender small generators :) If the electric cars did not vanquished from market in 1930s, we would be driving very efficient, very green electric cars with a very long range.

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Cars

How a car is born? by BMW

I have just found a page on BMW’s corporate website. The corporate website provide corporate data :) These website tells more than cars’ engine power or dealers address. On these website, you could find the details of the company, their sales performance, market condition and these kinds of investment information.
However, BMW added something else! How a car is produced, on this page you can find out how a car is produced and every stage is described a video. They should have put this site on their main website.
In paint shop video, just watch it carefully. You will notice that BMW is not painting the whole car. I mean they don’t the part we don’t see or cannot be seen from outside. This is more environment than Toyota Prius! Saving energy should not only happen while driving, production should save energy also.
American car companies should watch all these video :)
Here is the link; (To watch videos just click to “look into plant (video)”
http://www.bmwgroup.com/e/nav/index.html?../0_0_www_bmwgroup_com/home/home.html&source=overview
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Cars

MAN !

MAN is the oldest automotive company, most of us never heard of this. However, MAN is doing business for 251 years. And they are the inventor of diesel engine. Yes, today’s the most popular engine is invented by German company MAN. Last 251 years, MAN was like u-boat (submarine in German) and they just manufactured trucks, buses, diesel engine, turbos and many more thingsthings but nobody knows MAN. Also most of the ships, trains, yachts, generators are powered by MAN. Actually, MAN is always taking a part in our lifes but we don’t notice it.
Despite all these advantages, MAN does not focus on marketing activity to inform society about their impact on their life. Twenty years ago, there was no need to do these kinds of activities, because there were not too many competitors and markets were not complicated like nowadays. However, things have changed and even the Chinese are offering diesels. And MAN still does not act any marketing activity to inform that “we invented the diesel”. If any other company had this advantage, they will say it all the time! Diesel invention is not the only thing, diesel engines are also offering very low emissions. Or we can say green peace lover, tree huger.
MAN has a great potential in today’s marketing made branding age. MAN has the every kind of material to strength its brand image and increase its competitive advantage but they don’t want to do it!

In general; everyone knows that electricity is invented by Edison. Electricity is inseparable from our lives. Also the diesel engine is in the same position! Without diesel engine, we cannot survive in contemporary world. Diesel engine is sustaining our life, from deliveries from oversees to generators. Rudolf Diesel deserves to be known like Edison.