Tesla Roadster and Semi

Elon Musk kept the new Tesla Roadster very quiet until the official launch. Like typical Tesla the Roadster was nothing short of spectacular. There were rumours floating around that Tesla would make a new sports car but no one had any idea how good it would be.

The new car looks stunning but it is not all about the looks. The car performs far beyond the expectations of anyone. The performance figures is simply amazing and really would rock the super car industry. The sticker price is US$250,000 which is right up there with Lamborghini but the Tesla Roadster will show any Lamborghini a thing or two about serious performance. The Roadster can accelerate to 100km/h in 1.9 seconds!! Thats is like Formula One car territory, but this is not the best part about it. The car's driving range is now 620miles or 1000 km! there is no super car in the market that can achieve even 500km on a fuel tank of fuel.

The Roadster just moved the performance yardstick a country mile further for all the car companies to chase. They are already struggling to chase the P100D and now it has just gotten a lot more difficult. Porsche claimed that their new electric car will be better than the P100D with faster charge times but it is not due to be available until 2020, by then no one knows what else Tesla will introduce and push the performance boundary even further.

I believe the Roadster will shake up the super car segment since no standard production Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche or Mclaren can achieve such figures. The closest rival for the Roadster will be the Rimac Concept-one which is not for sale yet. The Rimac Concept-one is a real contender for the Roadster since it is also capable of similar performance figures.

The second part of the new Tesla launch was the Semi that was launched which claimed to have a 500 miles driving range. After that launch Walmart immediately placed orders for 15 units. Tesla is obviously moving in the right direction with shaking up the transport industry. The Semis offer incredible performance and extremely good drag coefficient to enable it to be significantly better than any big truck in the market. There are just so many advantages of the Tesla Semi since it is fully electric there will be far less maintenance involved, less pollution and the high torque from the electric motor will enable the Semi to easily haul cargo compared to traditional trucks that struggle with heavy loads.

The 500 miles driving range is good enough since most trucks travel an average distance of 300 miles for single trips. this is well within the range with good surplus.

There will be a lot more to come from Tesla. All those car companies who laughed at Tesla will start to cringe knowing that despite Tesla being a small car manufacturer they have made all the car companies sit up and listen. Tesla made all other car companies look old and out of date because the amount of innovation that goes into any Tesla is nothing short of impressive. Thinking outside the box has really made Tesla a force to be reckoned with!

Corvette ZR1

The latest iteration of the Corvette is by far the best that Chevrolet has ever produced. It is light, fast, agile and incredibly powerful. The latest version ZR1 just moved that yardstick further with a stonking 755hp and 930Nm of torque driving through the rear wheels. It is obviously an attempt to keep up with Ferrari and other Europeans hypercars that push out over 650hp. The horsepower game is definitely moving on to newer pastures and it is exciting for new buyers. The age old problems still remain and that is 90% of buyers will likely struggle to drive it since they already struggle to control a 600hp car let alone one that is 750hp!

The ZR1 has proven to be highly capable and is a bargain compared to exotics like Ferrari and Lamborghini. It is little wonder why  it is so popular in America. For such little money you can scare the living hell out of exotics that cost 3 times more. The Corvette is also a good looking car and is able to turn heads. I won't be surprised if Chevrolet will aim for a more extreme version is more power soon seeing that the Dodge Hellcats are easily pushing well over 700hp! The motto will be something like this "since we are at it might as well go for more power!".

It appears that the American car makers are on a rampage to build cars with ridiculous power. their design philosophy is different from the Germans that look at refinement over power. The Americans aim for huge power figures as a marketing tool to attract hot blooded young buyers and those middle age guys with mid life crisis. This recipe seems to work and these tuned models have been selling well.

Value for money, bang for your buck sports sedans, sports SUVs and sports car are all the rage now in America. Screw the hybrids...!

I do hope that these car makers will spend a bit of marketing dollar toward driver training for every Hellcat, Corvette or any other high horsepower car they sell. It won't look good in the news when many are crashed due to driver's inability to control the car.

Banning of internal combustion engine cars

Ever since Elon Musk introduced Tesla it seems like the influence of reducing carbon emission has really taken off. More countries have declared that they will ban fossil fuel cars by a certain year. Some countries will impose the ban earlier than others but the direction and idea is the same. This will have a direct impact on oil companies.

By 2030 several key nations will ban all fossil fuel cars leaving only electric cars permitted to be sold. The consumption of gasoline and diesel will drop tremendously, so will the consumption of engine lubricants since electric cars do not use engine oils. Saying this, many developing countries have not declared their plans to ban fossil fuel cars but they are likely to follow suit in a matter of years. Ever since the news of the countries banning fossil fuel cars car companies are now scrambling to develop electric cars as fast as possible. They once laughed at Tesla but now they have no choice but to chase Tesla and do what Tesla has done in the last 10 years.

the influence of the oil giants have also reduced significantly and will not have such a big impact on the global economy. the development into electric power for ships and plane have also moved forward which means potentially further reduction of fossil fuel consumption. Apart from just reduction of oil consumption from the transport industry, the shift to renewal energy has accelerated with more countries using solar, wind and biomass energy systems which means the eventual demise of oil companies.

A simple scenario of a family home with solar panels on the roof which can charge the car and also provide power for the home will practically make the oil industry obsolete in time to come. The further evolution of solar technology will come and this will likely accelerate the demise of the oil companies.

Tesla and Rimac have proven that they can make exciting cars that are capable of beating fossil fuel cars. Electric is no longer boring, it is here to stay and it is the future.

Resurgence of Volvo and MG

Volvo and MG are brands that have been around for more than 60 years with both brands now being owned by Chinese investors. The fortune for these 2 brands really turned around since the take over and having access to the world's largest car market helped tremendously.

Volvo has gone from strength to strength since the take over and the new models introduced in the last year has impressed the automotive industry worldwide. It is no longer dubbed as the boring Swedish log as the new models offer a lot of new innovative technology but yet it did not stray away from its focus on being the safest car in the world. Being safe does not necessarily mean it has to be boring and Volvo focused on shaking the boring image. The XC90, S90 and the upcoming XC60 all have plug-in hybrid technology, new impressive looking minimalist interiors and display a sense of solidity to its build quality. Volvo has definitely carved itself a unique position in the market which allows it to straddle in between BMWs and Volkswagens. It doesn't come at the high price of a BMW but it is not as cheap as the Volkswagen.

MG has also changed in the recent year since the take over and like Volvo having access to the China market made a big difference. Of course having a production base in China does help. The soon to be launched MG6 looks very impressive and would definitely help it boost the brand position in China. MG contracted out of the market before it was taken over by the Chinese but the resurgence in the brand has always been a possibility. Having much more available fund for development and design allowed MG to shine once again. Selling cars in China alone will allow it to survive but being an old brand it would only make sense for MG to once again sell in UK, Europe and Asia. MG now needs to develop more models such as SUV and large sedans to cater for a wider market.

Volvo and MG names were at risk of disappearing at one point in time. Good thing that these brands ended up in the hands of companies that would turn it around and utilise the name as well as the facility to build good cars. It would be a shame to lose such established names. The automotive industry is highly competitive and survival of the fittest the name of the game. Having just money with no plans and no vision will lead the company to nowhere.

Toyota's new design direction

Toyota has finally decided to move forward with a new design direction that will see them introduce new models that look more sporty and exciting. They will do away with the old "boring" designs as instructed by the President himself Akio Toyoda. This has come very late but better late than never. It is clear that Toyota lost a lot of customer in the recent years due to their ultra conservative approach. The older generation who used to buy Toyota cars because they were made by Toyota are slowly dying off and sticking to boring traditional designs is a death wish for Toyota.

Honda, Nissan and Mazda took massive swipes at Toyota for being too conservative and it has paid dividends for these 3 cars companies. Many younger buyers jumped to better and fresher designed cars. Designing boring and conservative cars are no longer acceptable. Toyota realised this and engaged a non Japanese designer which has put a fresher look to it. Some of his designs have been questionable but he is trying to make a difference. Just like Chris Bangle made some controversial designs with BMW during his time but it allowed the brand to stand out. Love it or hate it designing a car is not easy but if it is able to stand out (without being too ugly) it will make a statement for the brand image.

Subaru in the past used to design very ugly cars but of late their car designs have improved and are less ugly and more acceptable with the wider audience. This has translated to better sales worldwide and improved its brand image.

Toyota will definitely stand to gain more from this upcoming new image and help it compete head on with Nissan, Mazda, and Honda. The design direction constantly change and in order to keep up one needs to be ahead of the game.
The soon to be launched Supra looks amazing and will be something Toyota to be proud of.

Ford Fusion Hybrid (Ford Mondeo outside USA)

I recently rented a Ford Fusion Hybrid while on a business trip in Los Angeles. The car itself was very comfortable but it seemed a bit different from Japanese or Korean hybrids. The Fusion was based on a 2.0 litre gasoline engine with a parallel hybrid system. The energy recovery was good and the batteries charged up very efficiently when you are off throttle or coasting or while braking. The battery pack wasn't big and it didn't really offer much of a performance boost. The car's performance on paper showed 188hp which is quite low for a hybrid but I believe Ford was aiming more at fuel economy rather than performance.

The car's MPG meter consistently showed 44MPG (US gallon) which was quite good. A full tank had 14 gallons and I managed 500 miles before I refuelled (I estimate that the fuel tank had about 2 gallon left before I refuelled). Considering that driving in LA we spend a lot of time on freeways the fuel economy on this car was good. The interior was typical Ford design with a special rotary knob gear selector (similar to Land Rover and Jaguar). I felt that Ford still had some catching up to do in the hybrid department since it is still not quite as good as the Camry Hybrid. The switch between electric power and gasoline engine power was quite seamless and often it was not noticeable. I would appreciate if the car had more power and torque because quite often when the car was accelerating to meet the freeway speeds from an on-ramp the car felt slow.

Other hybrids like the Camry or the Hyundai Sonata had much more punch compared to the Ford. Delivering good fuel economy does not have to come at the expense of performance as demonstrated by other hybrids. I feel that Ford pushed a little too far into the fuel economy direction and forgot about extracting more performance.

It would seem like Ford would need another generation of development before it was on par with Toyota, Honda or even Hyundai when it comes to making hybrids. Nevertheless it is still a good effort by Ford and they needed to jump on the bandwagon to show that their cars are fuel efficient and can compete with others. Since diesel cars are still not popular in America going with a diesel hybrid would be out of the question. Mercedes's E300 Diesel Hybrid is probably the most fuel efficient hybrid available now. Diesel engine is already more fuel efficient than gasoline engine combined with further fuel savings with the electric motor. The combined performance is nothing short of impressive with 205hp and 500Nm of torque. A single tank of diesel can stretch up to 1000 miles which is more impressive than any other gasoline hybrid.

If Ford wants to make a real statement about fuel economy it has to be radically different and do something like the Mercedes E300 diesel hybrid. Give the buyers something to really talk about and be the champion of the fuel economy game!

Mini resurgence of sporty cars from Japan

Japan was in a bit of limbo when it came to making exciting cars. In the 1990s the Subaru WRX, Mitsubishi Evo, Honda NSX, Honda S2000, Nissan Silvia, Nissan GTR and Mazda RX-8 were hot and extremely popular. Being very tuneable made them very desirable among the young. The Japanese car makers were enjoying great success with these sporty models. Then came the 2000s where the slump him them hard. There was no real excitement coming from the Japanese car makers, Nissan had the 350Z which was not particularly exciting, Toyota had a very poor performing Celica and Honda had the Civic Type R which was not very exciting.

Now there is a glimmer of hope with Honda introducing their new Civic Type R FK8 with a 320hp engine and being very tuneable is definitely something people will look forward to. Apart from Honda, Toyota is going to launch the new Supra in the Tokyo Motorshow. The Supra is heavily based on the BMW Z4, nevertheless it is still something new from Toyota. However there is still no news from Mazda or Nissan for a new sports model. Nissan's 370Z is getting old and the GT-R's replacement is expected to be launched in 2019. Mazda have been talking about the RX-8 replacement but this is all just rumours.

While the Japanese car makers were sleeping the Germans have been capitalising on making affordable sporty cars which was once dominated by the Japanese. Even in Japan turbo charged BMW's, VW and Audis are selling well since it is easy to tune and simple plug and play chips can easily boost the car's performance. The Japanese car makers need to wake up and play catch up. Despite being slow, Toyota and Honda are making some progress especially with Honda already launching several models with turbo engines. Toyota is planning to launch several Lexus models with  turbo engines.

It is better late than never but they should be less conservative and be more proactive with their approach. They have the resources to build exciting cars but it is the old timers who are in the management team that is too conservative and have lost touch with the current development of the automotive market. Playing it too safe is not good and with more European competitors moving ahead playing catch up with be a bigger task the longer they delay it. Thing may start to change one day when the old management team retires and younger more dynamic people take over in the management team.