Interesting Automotive Articles [Naughty Ferrari]

[CLR-GTR]

*mumbles something about a saturated second-hand market*...

 

Oops.

 

Anyway, 'interesting development' is one way you could call it, I guess. And with the average prices for average driving school lesson packs (20-30 practice lessons..... driving that is.... the car ofcourse, after having self-studied the theory and do 1 theory exam) usually between 1500 and 2500 euros, this might sound like a deal to quite some.

 

This makes me curious though, somebody must be going to track the numbers behind this. This could get awkward. :eek2:

 

 

 

That Saleen S7 story btw was an awesome read... maybe it also explains why the S5S eventually never made it, considering which parties it took to get just the S7 off the ground.

[Ryzza5]

Here's the latest Veed Update

 

German paper says Volkswagen will likely buy 115,000 cars back from US owners | Ars Technica

[Camel]

I think they need to set aside more money.

 

Let's say they buy the cars back for an average of $5,000(probably work out at more. Pretty sure a 5 year old Golf is worth more) then that's gonna cost them over half a billion... And then the cost of putting the other 500,000 cars right. All the lawsuits and then the rest of the world. :hmmm: Happy 2016 VW!

 

And does anyone else read that website as Arse Technica? :hmmm:

[CarMadMike]

So, Lamborghini boss Stephan Winkelmann is leaving for Audi's Quattro division (developing the RS audis). His tenure at Lambo has been an odd one, he's a very principled character and quite stuck in his ways. His way of dealing with the press has been criticised (Chris Harris being a good example of this, his opinion of Winkelmann is quite easily found on the interwebz :p).

 

The new Lambo boss will be Stefano Domenicali, you might recognise that name as he used to be the boss at Ferrari's F1 team. He wasn't exactly the most successful team principle by the end of his shift at scuderia.

 

What will this mean? Lambo focusing more on motorsports? (F1 in the future perhaps..... VAG have been sniffing around that sport and we've had it confirmed that they'd have got into bed with Red Bull if it wasn't for dieselgate).

 

He is a very likable chap from the interviews i've seen wit him in F1 so hopefully this will be an improvement in lambo's PR :D

 

Lamborghini appoints former Ferrari F1 chief Stefano Domenicali as boss | Autocar

[Eudemon]

That is a very cat amongst the pigeons type of appointment. Don't get me wrong he is probably ideal for the job and knows his stuff but it just seems unusual to have someone who was quite a figure at Ferrari being in charge of Lamborghini. Even more so when you realise that it is the 100th anniversary of the birth of the founder, Ferruccio Lamborghini this year.

 

I gotta say though, would love love love to see Lambo in F1.

[CarMadMike]

[media=twitter]702209696514625536[/media]

 

Just to back up my point on Chris Harris' opinion of Winkelmann :lol:

[CarMadMike]

Interesting article on Jalopnik saying they think Google and Fiat/Chrysler might be hooking up sometime soon: Is Google About To Team Up With Fiat Chrysler? 

 

The real question is if this happens, will Marchionne continue looking for another automotive company to merge with? The article above seems to think so. He's been very very open and quite desperate about his plans to merge FCA with someone big so i'd tend to agree with it.

[TIMELESS]

Is Google About To Team Up With Fiat Chrysler?Âla[/url]

 

The real question is if this happens, will Marchionne continue looking for another automotive company to merge with? The article above seems to think so. He's been very very open and quite desperate about his plans to merge FCA with someone big so i'd tend to agree with it.

 

It all sounds... odd. It just seems illogical to partner up with Fiat when there are a number of other more technically capable car companies out there who'd probably be interested. If you didn't want to work with a luxury car maker like Mercedes then why not Toyota? They're pretty good at the tech side of things :lol:

 

And yeah, if he's looking to partner with a company to share parts, costs, and manufacturing then Google probably aren't going to be it.

[The Compensator]

Very nice read by Matt Farah about McLaren and Aston. The McLaren 570S and Aston Martin V-12 Vantage S Manual: It's What's for Brexit - The Drive

[CarMadMike]

Supposedly the Mulsanne might have an EV variant sometime 's**n': Bentley Mulsanne to swap its V8 for electric power | Autocar

 

It makes complete and perfect sense really? Limos are popular in China, where low emissions is essential for the world to continue to function haha, these high end Marques need to lower their emissions by law, EVs are quiet and have crazy torque which is perfect for a Limo.

 

My only question is about charging times tbh, If you need to take a 300 mile trip and you own a Mulsanne EV, I can't imagine CEOs etc have the time to be sat at a charging station for an hour :shrug:

[Ryzza5]

Wouldn't they take a plane?

[CarMadMike]

Wouldn't they take a plane?

 

Or helicopter :shrug: I still think the issue of range when it comes to cars you are driven in, albeit a Limo or Taxi etc, is yet to be solved.

 

Tesla Superchargers might be quick, but If i were wealthy, snobby, busy and stressed about deadlines there's no way I'd put myself in a situation where I had to sit in the back of a stationary Tesla or whatever for 30 mins +.

[Milli]

Thanks Mike for telling me about this thread. o/

 

Drive Your Classic Car - Jalopnik

 

#imustrelearnhowtoforum #imrustywithforumposts

[The Compensator]

Amazing photography. :bow: Worth checking out. Here's Palm Springs In All Its Nighttime Glory - Petrolicious

[CarMadMike]

Absolutely stunning. Out of this world stunning.

 

The most shocking thing for me was how exotic that 911 looked in that setting, I imagine it was rather exotic at the time those images are meant to replicate but still, it looks so cool (as does every single car there tbf).

[CarMadMike]

Holy Model Bloat, The Porsche Cayman Got Huge

 

image from Owen Ready on Instagram

 

• The Mercedes is 174 inches long, the Porsche is 172.
  
• The Mercedes is 54 inches tall, the Porsche is 51.
  
• The Mercedes is 66 inches wide, the Porsche is 70.
  
• The Mercedes has a 104-inch wheelbase, the Porsche’s measures 97.
  

 

Jesus, that really is eye-opening. Safety has definitely come at a cost.

[CarMadMike]

Why We Abandoned A Car After A 3,700-Mile Drive From Europe To Asia

 

This great story was just posted on jalopnik. Proper Topgear-esque stuff without trying to be it. What makes the story even more interesting is that Gawker/Jalopnik closed down the journalist's Hungarian office with little to no notice after the Hulk Hogan lawsuit. He was treated awfully, and is seemingly a rather good auto journalist.

[TIMELESS]

Uber’s First Self-Driving Fleet Arrives in Pittsburgh This Month - Bloomberg

[CLR-GTR]

The Secret Story of the Porsche 959 — Why Porsche Built Six 959s For a Millionaire Car Collector

[Ryzza5]

Looks like someone finally pleaded guilty to the VW Dieselgate scandal in USA

 

VW engineer pleads guilty to conspiracy in emissons scandal

[CarMadMike]

I hope they don't try and make him a scapegoat, people much higher up the food chain deserve fairly huge consequences for this and it wouldn't surprise me if the lower-down engineers get a lot of the blame.

[The Compensator]

McLaren design chief reveals truth - motoring.com.au

 

Stephenson on spy pics and prototypes.

[CLR-GTR]

403, good story, motoring!

[The Compensator]

WORKS FOR ME

 

Many spy pics published by media outlets around the world – including this one – are not quite the cat-and-mouse game of opportunistic snapping we’re led to believe, says McLaren design director Frank Stephenson.In Australia for the official opening of a new McLaren dealership in Melbourne, Stephenson confirmed to motoring.com.au that disguised cars circulating the Nordschleife are often out there for the purpose of a long-lead PR campaign ahead of the car’s inevitable debut at one of the big European motor shows – Geneva, Frankfurt or Paris.

When motoring.com.au put it to Stephenson that ‘testing’ a car at the Nurburgring – a known hot-spot for spy photographers – would be stupid unless the car company’s intention were to set tongues wagging ahead of the new car’s global unveiling, the McLaren design boss answered with one word: “Exactly.”

“Most spy shots are just leaked photos from the company…” he said. Even though the spy photographers are out there in the elements all hours of the day (and occasionally after nightfall), Stephenson insinuates they’re being played by marketing execs at the car companies. Sometimes the car companies forego all pretense, even letting reviewers drive pre-production models that are still wearing their cladding.

And Stephenson speaks with some authority on the subject, boasting a CV that any designer would be proud to call their own. He started out working with Ford on some of the design details for the Escort Cosworth (notably the bi-plane rear spoiler), before moving to BMW, where he led the team that designed the original R50 MINI. He subsequently worked on the Maserati MC12, Ferrari F430 and 612 Scaglietti, before joining McLaren in 2008. Over the course of his career he has also designed the Alfa-Romeo MiTo, the Fiat 500 and the original BMW X5.

If anyone would know when to arrange for a vehicle to be caught out in the open (as opposed to keeping it behind closed doors), it would be Stephenson.

The challenge for him at McLaren is more complex than for design bosses at other car companies. Typically, he revealed, McLaren’s concept cars are usually very close to production-ready by the time they hit the stage at an international motor show. So the show car is already generating intense interest while the prototypes and pre-production models are still undergoing durability testing.

“The P1 that we’ve shown in Paris – the orange one – that was basically our production car,” he said. “We had to black out the windows so that nobody could see inside the car and see that it was a production car.”

Thus, there’s little reason for McLaren to strategically roll out a test vehicle with carefully chosen camouflage to provide just enough grist for the spy snapper’s art. Anything to cover up on the outside is almost certainly identical to what’s already been seen on the show car.

That’s not to say that McLaren spy photos don’t exist, but they are few and far between.

“So I’m going to tell you all our secrets… between 12 and 1:00am we usually drive on this certain road that nobody ever goes to…” he answered with a laugh when asked about McLaren’s test procedures and evading spy photographers.

Stephenson says McLaren conducts most of its pre-production testing in very secure facilities – and the Nordschleife doesn’t seem to meet the criteria of ‘secure’.

“The Nordschleife is great, because it does give you the potential to test out real road conditions and exaggerated road conditions, but we don’t really use the Nordschleife too much for production-car testing.”

“Basically I think all our testing is done in a very secure place in Spain, called IDIADA. That’s a very tight security development area for testing new products. We have some areas in England like Dunsfold – what used to be the Top Gear test track…

“[For] The road testing we actually do have to get road experience with a car. That’s the typical Sweden/Arctic Circle, Death Valley in the US approach, but then the cars are highly camouflaged, so we’ve tried to keep it disguised so nobody knows what we’re coming up with. That’s typical automotive [industry] approach.”

The interesting point about spy photos is that a facelifted model or a carefully built mule could pass for a current production car, if not for the camouflage. It’s all the ‘bra and panties’ stuff that draws attention to a car.

As a postscript, not all spy photo opportunities are carefully manipulated ploys by evil PR geniuses.

This case, for instance, was clearly a nasty surprise for Renault engineers in far north Queensland. And this case earned motoring.com.au quite a rebuke from Holden PR staff at the time. By the time the VF Commodore was months away from launch all the testing was done under cover, even within the secure confines of the Lang Lang proving ground.

[CLR-GTR]

Ye now it works for me too.