Dodge Challenger SRT Demon - too much power?

Looks like Dodge is really going all out with the power craze. Last year they released the Hellcat pushing the car's power to 720hp. Now they have gone one step further and boosted the car to 840hp!! The Hellcat was popular no doubt about it but many people couldn't really handle the power. Dodge was smart to offer the owners 2 sets of keys, one which will allow the car to run on a lower power setting and another one for maximum power. Many owners thought that having a tonne of power they can beat anything on the drag strip but they were so wrong!!
Many of the Hellcat owners were humiliated at the drag strip by Tesla Model S and many other 4WD equipped sports cars. The Hellcat struggled to get power down since the rear tires were not wide enough.

The new SRT Demon has been improved and seems like almost no expense has been spared with air conditioning cooled air intake system and much wider rear drag radials! This will no doubt make the car faster to launch from the drag strip but driving it on a road course it will require skill to control 840hp! Seeing from the numerous accidents and the lack of understanding from the people who will buy this type of car, it could be a recipe for disaster. Dodge acknowledges the potential danger of handing the keys of a 840hp monster to a person with little driving experience or have no idea how to control such a beast, Dodge offers a driving course for the new buyers. This is definitely needed since going fast in a straight line is fine but going fast in a turn and not killing yourself is another thing.

Male ego can often be the root of the problem. Having the money to buy a high powered car is one thing but knowing how to drive it is completely different. Very often people who buy such high powered cars are buying it out of ego. Can they really handle so much power? I have 2 friends who were ex-race instructors and the feedback they received from teaching hundreds of students is that ego is the real problem. Many male students refuse to listen to instructions and think that more power will help them go faster. They don't even realise that using the right tires will make a huge difference. Many struggle to follow instructions on when to apply the brakes, where to turn and when to apply the throttle. Without sufficient car control and understanding the basics of how to control the car any car with a lot of power will be dangerous.

For those who have the skill to drive a car of this performance level it will definitely a lot of fun. For those who don't possess the skill to drive a car of this performance level it is like giving a gun to a child!

Bugatti Chiron

Bugatti is a legendary name that went on a sabbatical for decades until it resurfaced again in 2005 showing that it is not dead and is capable of making hypercars. The Veyron was born and was the first production car that had 1000hp. It was unheard of at that time and people with fat cheque books were more than happy to pay this money to have a 1000hp under their right foot. Fast forward 12 years and Bugatti is back again with another model. This time it is called the Chiron. It is nearly ready for production and only a limited of test units are on display and under live testing.

Why did Bugatti develop the Chiron? Bugatti no longer held the edge over the other super car makers because Ferrari have since introduced the LaFerrari with 900+hp, Mclaren have introduced their P1 with 900+hp and Porsche introduced the 918 with 800+hp. All of this have made the Veyron look old. Bugatti had to move the yardstick more further and give it that exclusivity. 1000hp is no longer magical, it has become normal. The Chiron have moved the yardstick much further now with its 1500hp output. The car still comes with 8 litre W16 quad turbo engine but much have been revised to allow for greater efficiency. the handling of the car has also tremendously improved making it much more playable and nimble and not behave like a big drag strip monster.

The Chiron's interior design is also current and oozes with style. The car is not capable of 260mph and there is speculation that it may eventually achieve 300mph over its lifespan since Bugatti will undoubtedly tweak the car for further performance improvements. The price tag for the car is 2 million British pounds and this is by far the most expensive hypercar on sale now.

Buying a Bugatti is like joining an exclusive club and the membership's perk is the ability to go well over 200mph! I am very sure we will see many Chiron's in Dubai, Shanghai and Monte Carlo in the very near future.

After the release of the Chiron the super car makers like Ferrari and Mclaren will be a rush to introduce more powerful cars to compete in this exclusive hypercar market segment.

Proton is dying and no one is buying over the company

Proton has been on the death bed for years and every time there is a potential saviour in sight the deal goes sour one way or another. Quite often the would be potential partner is a larger car foreign company looking to utilise Malaysia as a production base to capitalise on the Asean Free Trade Agreement and supply cars to other South East Asian countries such as Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Singapore. During the initial talks everything looks positive until further investigation by the potential partner will uncover massive levels of corruption and other inadequacies.

Malaysia is in a strategic location to have a factory to manufacture or assemble cars to be supplied to neighbouring countries but Proton may not be the right partner. There are just too many 'devils' in the company that have been enjoying kick backs from suppliers for decades. This culture of corruption is so entrenched that it has been systematically destroying the company from inside. No business minded car company would accept this and if they were to partake in any joint venture these 'devils' would have to be removed from the company. However, so far Proton management has not been willing to remove these individual because many of them are in the management team.

VW had done their due diligence many years ago when they considered partnering with Proton but seeing this corruption based corporate culture VW didn't want anything to do with it. Now that Peugeot and Geely were considering to buy Proton, the deals have gone sour and Geely has backed out. It is very likely that upon discovering the levels of corruption and Proton's management's refusal to remove the corrupt members of the management Geely would not entertain working in such an environment. Peugeot is still in talks with Proton but it is also likely that they will back out too.

Proton will end up rotting and closing down before long since the Malaysian government no longer have the funds to bail out Proton after doing so numerous times. With each bail out or cash injection, nothing happened and the money just ended up in the pockets of a select few.

Without further investment or securing a joint venture partner or a buy out, Proton will not survive another 10 years. Their stock levels are extremely high since many people refuse to buy their cars and the operational costs are killing the company. The new models with higher margins are no popular. Only the basic Saga model is selling but that model alone is not sufficient to keep the company afloat.

VW just bought Ferrari!

The biggest news to hit the automotive industry last week was when VW bought 90% of Ferrari essentially taking control of the company. It is was one of the most amazing news since VW is the largest automotive group in the world and by buying Ferrari it just expands their portfolio further. VW already owns Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini and Bugatti. Adding Ferrari would make VW the largest luxury car brand owner in the world.
This also makes any other rival tiny in perspective. Ferrari has brand value, F1 technology and a loyal following of elite customers. Rivals like Toyota are nowhere near since Toyota's most prestigious brand is only Lexus which many know is a glorified Toyota. General Motors, Ford, PSA and Fiat are now far behind VW.
Porsche and Lamborghini have been enjoying growth for the last 15 years which contributes to VW's group business. Bugatti also recently had a resurgence since the introduction of the new Chiron model.
There is also rumours of VW or Audi entering F1. VW has stayed away from F1 thus far and this news is definitely something interesting. VW has enjoyed success with selling cars without getting involved in F1. In fact the only companies to really benefit from road car sales stemming from involvement in F1 is Ferrari and Mercedes Benz. Renault and Honda have not benefitted much in the last few years despite Renault winning with Redbull few years ago.

Toyota flopped in their F1 campaign before pulling the plug and Honda looks like it is potentially facing the same fate. Several full season in F1 and not a single victory to show for it. F1 is a cruel sport and not every car company is cut out for it. Even BMW only managed several victories with Williams before quitting.