China automotive industry is no doubt booming with nearly all the automotive giants clamouring for a piece of the pie. China's own car manufacturers are also growing by leaps and bounds. China car companies have focused their efforts on designing (a bit like copying for some models) and making mainstream cars such as compact cars, mid sized sedans, small MPVs and mid sized SUVs. The car companies have also started to move towards making large luxury sedans. In more recent years they have focused their efforts on EVs which seem to be the trend these days and especially fuel prices are high in China and combined with the fact that fuel rationing takes places almost every month is various parts of China.
The question remains if China car companies will deviate slightly and start making sportscars. They don't quite have the racing heritage nor any of them engaged in racing activities. making a sportscar may be a tall order for them since markets outside China will very likely shy away from a China made sportscar. Ownership of cars is still very new to many Chinese and embarking on making a sportcar for their domestic market is also not a very wise economic decision.
However saying this, at the rate China cars are improving it is not out of the question to see a China made sportscar hit the streets in China in the next 10 years. The amount of wealthy Chinese is staggering and the lifestyle sportscar can be a lucrative venture.
Korean car companies like Hyundai and Kia have yet to even make a real true sportscar. The Genesis coupe cannot really qualify as a sportscar as it is more like a Gran Tourer rather than a sportscar. In the last 15 years Kia and Hyundai have grown the fastest and they focused more on quality, design and technology rather than outright performance.
It will be interesting to see how the automotive industry will shape up in the next 10 years. The real companies to keep a look out for are:
- Volkswagen - their MQB platform is expected to be a real game changer for platform and component sharing
- Hyundai / Kia - further improvements in quality and bold steps in technology and design
- China car companies - big investments in luring top designers and engineers from Europe to improve car design, refinement and quality
Many of the Japanese car manufacturers are too conservative in their approach and this will be their Achilles heel. American car companies will continue to suffer as their quality standards have yet to see major improvements and being too US centric their cars are not sold in right hand drive countries which will limit their sales. In order for any car company to be strong it has to be a global player catering for both left and right hand drive markets.
Monday, 25 February 2013
Sunday, 3 February 2013
Hypercars
These days we hear the new term hypercar as the supercar term is outdated. It all started with the sportscar which then became the supercar in the 1990s and then hypercar in the last 5 years. All these terms just signify the direction of the car development which sees the car manufacturers push the performance envelope.
The few car manufacturers that are consistently pushing the limit are Ferrari, Bugatti, Pagani, Mclaren, Mercedes Benz, Koenisegg, Lamborghini, Lexus, Porsche and more recently Hennessey which is a relatively new comer to this scene but has rocked this fraternity with its Venom!
Ferrari is about to release its new hypercar code named the F150 (actual name to be announced soon). This model is expected to push the power level beyond 700hp. The development was not centered around high horsepower only but also usable torque. This model is claimed to offer maximum torque from 1,000rpm which is incredible for an naturally aspirated engine. The engine's redline rev limit is 9200rpm making it one of the highest of any engine exceeding 6,000cc in capacity!
With Bugatti holding on to the 400km/h speed record, all the other car manufacturers are working hard at showing what they can do to beat the Veyron. It is about bragging rights rather than making money from selling these cars. In the case of Lexus with its LFA, they actually lose money on each money they produce as so much time and research went into the LFA but having only produced a limited quantity, Toyota knew it would never recover its investment for the LFA project.
In the case of Hennessey their development approach is somewhat different compared to the full fledged car manufacturers as its development was focused around efficiency in performance meaning keeping the weight low by using a light weight chassis and squeezing out as much power as possible from the engine to achieve the best possible power to weight ratio which will provide amazing performance. In the eyes of Hennessey the Bugatti Veyron can be called fat as the Veyron is a much heavier car than the Venom and the Veyron is far more complicated to build than the Venom.
It will be interesting to see where the hypercar development is headed with more new technologies are made available.
The few car manufacturers that are consistently pushing the limit are Ferrari, Bugatti, Pagani, Mclaren, Mercedes Benz, Koenisegg, Lamborghini, Lexus, Porsche and more recently Hennessey which is a relatively new comer to this scene but has rocked this fraternity with its Venom!
Ferrari is about to release its new hypercar code named the F150 (actual name to be announced soon). This model is expected to push the power level beyond 700hp. The development was not centered around high horsepower only but also usable torque. This model is claimed to offer maximum torque from 1,000rpm which is incredible for an naturally aspirated engine. The engine's redline rev limit is 9200rpm making it one of the highest of any engine exceeding 6,000cc in capacity!
With Bugatti holding on to the 400km/h speed record, all the other car manufacturers are working hard at showing what they can do to beat the Veyron. It is about bragging rights rather than making money from selling these cars. In the case of Lexus with its LFA, they actually lose money on each money they produce as so much time and research went into the LFA but having only produced a limited quantity, Toyota knew it would never recover its investment for the LFA project.
In the case of Hennessey their development approach is somewhat different compared to the full fledged car manufacturers as its development was focused around efficiency in performance meaning keeping the weight low by using a light weight chassis and squeezing out as much power as possible from the engine to achieve the best possible power to weight ratio which will provide amazing performance. In the eyes of Hennessey the Bugatti Veyron can be called fat as the Veyron is a much heavier car than the Venom and the Veyron is far more complicated to build than the Venom.
It will be interesting to see where the hypercar development is headed with more new technologies are made available.
Big wheels and big tyres
As the years go by the wheel sizes have steadily increased with each new car model released. One of the main proponents for using big wheel is BMW. The wheels on their cars have grown significantly since the 1990s. The BMW 3 series in the 1990s were using 15" wheels and the current model F30 3 series is using 18" and 19" wheels.
The big wheels craze we driven by the after market sector where tuners started using large wheels to accentuate the looks of the car and also to improve traction after modifying the engine for more power. The real large wheels craze started to take off in early 2002 where 22" wheels were seen fitted on tuned cars. This lead to further large wheels craze and the size increased to 24"!!
In the US, big SUVs were fitted with massive wheels to fill up the big wheel arches. The sizes of the large wheels were approaching the point where it became ridiculous as tyre manufacturers were struggling to keep up. Wheel manufacturers were able to make big wheels but tyre manufacturers didn't have the tyre sizes to fit these large wheels. The tyre manufacturers needed to justify their investment in making large tyres and with low demand the tyre cost will be extremely high.
In the picture above the SUV is fitted with 32" wheels and the wheels manufacturer had to make their own tyres to suit this massive 32" wheel as other tyre manufacturers either didn't make them this big or there were very limited selection.
In terms of practicality the massive 32" wheels were down right useless as they were susceptible to damage from potholes. The massive wheels were purely for cosmetic appeal. It would not serve any purpose for traction.
With the super low tyre profile the tyres would also wear out much faster than normal tyres. In comparison a typical low profile tyres of 40 series profile would last about 1 year (20,000 to 25,000km) when used normally on a car but on a large 32" wheel with ultra low profile tyres the tyres itself would last no more than 6 months (10,000km).
The big wheels craze we driven by the after market sector where tuners started using large wheels to accentuate the looks of the car and also to improve traction after modifying the engine for more power. The real large wheels craze started to take off in early 2002 where 22" wheels were seen fitted on tuned cars. This lead to further large wheels craze and the size increased to 24"!!
In the US, big SUVs were fitted with massive wheels to fill up the big wheel arches. The sizes of the large wheels were approaching the point where it became ridiculous as tyre manufacturers were struggling to keep up. Wheel manufacturers were able to make big wheels but tyre manufacturers didn't have the tyre sizes to fit these large wheels. The tyre manufacturers needed to justify their investment in making large tyres and with low demand the tyre cost will be extremely high.
In the picture above the SUV is fitted with 32" wheels and the wheels manufacturer had to make their own tyres to suit this massive 32" wheel as other tyre manufacturers either didn't make them this big or there were very limited selection.
In terms of practicality the massive 32" wheels were down right useless as they were susceptible to damage from potholes. The massive wheels were purely for cosmetic appeal. It would not serve any purpose for traction.
With the super low tyre profile the tyres would also wear out much faster than normal tyres. In comparison a typical low profile tyres of 40 series profile would last about 1 year (20,000 to 25,000km) when used normally on a car but on a large 32" wheel with ultra low profile tyres the tyres itself would last no more than 6 months (10,000km).
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