In the recent years we have seen several notable car brands going into bankruptcy and then end up in the hands of Chinese or Indian companies. The prominent ones were Volvo, LandRover / Jaguar and MG. Volvo and MG were bought over by China companies while Jaguar/ LandRover were bought by Indian car company Tata.
All of these companies have now turned a new leaf in their business and are doing much better than when they were managed by their previous European owners. Why is that? Is it due to better management from the new owners or bigger injection of capital to boost R&D and product development?
From Volvo's perspective, having a Chinese owner helped boost their sales in China which is by far the most lucrative market in the world right now. The same goes for MG, being Chinese owned they were able to penetrate the China market enabling them to increase their vehicle sales many times over. Tata also did a fantastic job to turn around Jaguar / LandRover in the recent years. LandRover was stuck in a time warp with the previous generation models until Tata came along and took over the company. The new model line up was much more appealing to consumers and also created a new image for LandRover. The same thing happened with Jaguar, once deemed as an oldman's car is now much fresher and younger looking with several impressive new models that has given the motoring world some excitement.
Were the previous owners too stuck in their old ways or were they too cash strapped to make any progress? Getting into the two largest emerging countries in the world definitely helped and a positive change in management boosted the companies' ability to create fresh new products that people would want to buy.
Thursday, 1 January 2015
Tuesday, 2 December 2014
Nissan GT-R buyers - skill or just boyracer?
Ever since the R35 Nissan GT-R was introduced in 2008, it basically rewrote the history books on how a supercar can be beaten by superb engineering. Nissan turned the supercar industry upside down with the might GT-R that easily show many supercars a clean pair of heels. The car was made so fast and so easy to drive that one often wonder if there is any skill involved in driving it. As prices for used specimens fall when the newer updated models are released the GT-R has become more affordable to a larger crowd.
Of late, there has been hundreds of used GT-R hitting the streets, many bought by young drivers. The next question is about responsibility. There has been numerous fatal accidents involving GT-Rs that are raced on the streets and highways. The car may make the driver feel like god behind the wheel but there are physical limits. the danger comes when the car is driven beyond those limits and the car will likely end up in a wall or an armco barrier.
The limits of the car is extremely high and the onboard computer will do its best to keep the car under control but there is something called physics and no matter what the on-board computer will do to protect the car, for example: going into a tight 90 degree turn at 180km/h will likely spell trouble. The high limits makes giving a false sense of confidence. The car is ridiculously easy to drive fast and this is like giving a big machine gun to a child. The problem doesn't end there because the car is so easy to modify to boost power many of the owners have gone on to up the car's power beyond 600hp.
The worst thing about this is that many of the young guys who buy this car think they are Lewis Hamilton and is the best driver on earth! the car naturally helps stroke the already inflated ego since most of the work is done by the car. A fat ego, a super fast car and perception of one's amazing skill equals trouble!
We have seen many GT-R owners bragging about how good they are or how fast they are at the pub but are they really that good? if you take them out of the GT-R and put them in a 125cc go-kart how will they perform? I believe that more than 90% of them can barely come within 5 seconds of the lap record on an said go kart track.
Of late, there has been hundreds of used GT-R hitting the streets, many bought by young drivers. The next question is about responsibility. There has been numerous fatal accidents involving GT-Rs that are raced on the streets and highways. The car may make the driver feel like god behind the wheel but there are physical limits. the danger comes when the car is driven beyond those limits and the car will likely end up in a wall or an armco barrier.
The limits of the car is extremely high and the onboard computer will do its best to keep the car under control but there is something called physics and no matter what the on-board computer will do to protect the car, for example: going into a tight 90 degree turn at 180km/h will likely spell trouble. The high limits makes giving a false sense of confidence. The car is ridiculously easy to drive fast and this is like giving a big machine gun to a child. The problem doesn't end there because the car is so easy to modify to boost power many of the owners have gone on to up the car's power beyond 600hp.
The worst thing about this is that many of the young guys who buy this car think they are Lewis Hamilton and is the best driver on earth! the car naturally helps stroke the already inflated ego since most of the work is done by the car. A fat ego, a super fast car and perception of one's amazing skill equals trouble!
We have seen many GT-R owners bragging about how good they are or how fast they are at the pub but are they really that good? if you take them out of the GT-R and put them in a 125cc go-kart how will they perform? I believe that more than 90% of them can barely come within 5 seconds of the lap record on an said go kart track.
Low Octane fuel and American cars
During my recent trip to the US I rented a Dodge Charger 3.6 for the fun of it to see if regular American cars made any progress in terms of development. Here are my findings:
- the car's engine is lazy as usual with good torque at low rpm but the fun stops there!
- the suspension is soft as expected and has good cushy ride on the highways
- the transmission (6 speed auto I think), we acceptable but not particularly fast
- fuel consumption, returned about 30 MPG+ (according to the onboard computer)
The strange thing about this car is that knowing full well that in the west coast of the United States you can easily get RON87 fuel which is super low grade by developed country standards. The car's engine started knocking at 4,500rpm using RON87. I would think that Dodge would design the engine to run efficiently on RON87 since it is a common fuel in US.
I had the chance to dyno test the car to see how much power it would produce at the wheels, to my surprise the 3.6 litre engine only managed 191hp at the wheels which is very low. I would imagine that the transmission would have sapped out about 25% but 191 hp is very low.
The car felt clumsy to drive around the city but was comfortable on the highway. I am not sure how much worst it was before this but in terms of car development the average American car is nowhere near the Europeans or the Japanese!
- the car's engine is lazy as usual with good torque at low rpm but the fun stops there!
- the suspension is soft as expected and has good cushy ride on the highways
- the transmission (6 speed auto I think), we acceptable but not particularly fast
- fuel consumption, returned about 30 MPG+ (according to the onboard computer)
The strange thing about this car is that knowing full well that in the west coast of the United States you can easily get RON87 fuel which is super low grade by developed country standards. The car's engine started knocking at 4,500rpm using RON87. I would think that Dodge would design the engine to run efficiently on RON87 since it is a common fuel in US.
I had the chance to dyno test the car to see how much power it would produce at the wheels, to my surprise the 3.6 litre engine only managed 191hp at the wheels which is very low. I would imagine that the transmission would have sapped out about 25% but 191 hp is very low.
The car felt clumsy to drive around the city but was comfortable on the highway. I am not sure how much worst it was before this but in terms of car development the average American car is nowhere near the Europeans or the Japanese!
Thursday, 27 November 2014
Porsche 991 GT3
I have driven many supercars and sports cars in my life but not all are as good as they appear. There is the Mclaren MP4-12C, looks great, very fast but lacks character and soul. Then there is the Nissan GT-R, high capable supercar killer that makes everyone who drives it think they are a hero! No thanks to that, many young punks who buy this car end up killing themselves when they drive beyond the limits of the car.
I could be considered old school in my thinking but I like a sports car or a supercar that I can feel and connect with. The 911 has been a very traditional type of sportscar that has evolved over time to be the superlative supercar. It is not as fast as cars such as the Koenigsegg, Pagani or even the Mclaren but the main difference is that the 911 evolved step by step over time and did not go for out right power. it kept to its design philosophy and made the driving experience pure.
The new 991 is somewhat an interesting animal because of the changes made to the car from the 997. The new car has electric power steering and the new torque vectoring system to give the car better handling. Naturally for Porsche their main selling models will be the Carrera and the Carrera S models which are easy to drive in the city, comfortable highway cruiser and a good weekend warrior sports car. However, for those who are in the market for a real "driver's car", the GT3 is the best of the lot. It is not as fast and the Turbo or the Turbo S in a straight line but boy does it put a simple on your face when you throw the GT3 around corners.
The key difference of the GT3 vs the faster Turbo models is that there is no turbo lag, despite the Turbo models having very little turbo lag these days. The GT3's power delivery is clean, very predictable and linear making it very predict how the car will behave when you are very aggressive on the throttle. Driving the GT3 is not all about power, it is how the car is able to be so precise and agile at the same time.
The GT3 as a complete package is by far the best driver's car in the market in my opinion. Some would beg to differ saying that the Ferrari 458 Speciale is better and faster but the Porsche is anytime more accessible and is way cheaper than the 458 Speciale.
The GT3's active rear wheel steering system works brilliantly to make the car so agile and able to carry so much speed around turns. The way the engine is so eager to rev to 9000rpm is simply amazing similar to the Honda S2000 engine by only bigger, louder and much more power. The chassis is also very well tuned to provide so much feedback to the driver and you can feel everything that's happening under the car and if the tail will step out and how much opposite lock you need to dial in to keep the car under control.
Having the engine over the rear wheels have previously made the 911 a difficult car to drive as the rear acts like a pendulum but the new 991 models have made this very manageable and easy to live with. This is serious progress in terms of development.
I could be considered old school in my thinking but I like a sports car or a supercar that I can feel and connect with. The 911 has been a very traditional type of sportscar that has evolved over time to be the superlative supercar. It is not as fast as cars such as the Koenigsegg, Pagani or even the Mclaren but the main difference is that the 911 evolved step by step over time and did not go for out right power. it kept to its design philosophy and made the driving experience pure.
The new 991 is somewhat an interesting animal because of the changes made to the car from the 997. The new car has electric power steering and the new torque vectoring system to give the car better handling. Naturally for Porsche their main selling models will be the Carrera and the Carrera S models which are easy to drive in the city, comfortable highway cruiser and a good weekend warrior sports car. However, for those who are in the market for a real "driver's car", the GT3 is the best of the lot. It is not as fast and the Turbo or the Turbo S in a straight line but boy does it put a simple on your face when you throw the GT3 around corners.
The key difference of the GT3 vs the faster Turbo models is that there is no turbo lag, despite the Turbo models having very little turbo lag these days. The GT3's power delivery is clean, very predictable and linear making it very predict how the car will behave when you are very aggressive on the throttle. Driving the GT3 is not all about power, it is how the car is able to be so precise and agile at the same time.
The GT3 as a complete package is by far the best driver's car in the market in my opinion. Some would beg to differ saying that the Ferrari 458 Speciale is better and faster but the Porsche is anytime more accessible and is way cheaper than the 458 Speciale.
The GT3's active rear wheel steering system works brilliantly to make the car so agile and able to carry so much speed around turns. The way the engine is so eager to rev to 9000rpm is simply amazing similar to the Honda S2000 engine by only bigger, louder and much more power. The chassis is also very well tuned to provide so much feedback to the driver and you can feel everything that's happening under the car and if the tail will step out and how much opposite lock you need to dial in to keep the car under control.
Having the engine over the rear wheels have previously made the 911 a difficult car to drive as the rear acts like a pendulum but the new 991 models have made this very manageable and easy to live with. This is serious progress in terms of development.
Thursday, 18 September 2014
salt water powered supercar - Qaunt e-sportlimousine
Once in a while someone makes a massive breakthrough in technology and it has just happened in Europe with the Quant E-sportlimousine. It is the first car in the world to be powered electricity using salt water. This is amazing on many levels as salt water is abundant and the performance produced by the electric motors is nothing short of staggering.
Instead of normally charging the batteries of the car using electricity, the Quant E-sportlimousine uses salt water with a chemical reaction to create electricity. It promises very good driving range of 600km and incredible power and torque figures. There is an electric motor attached to each wheel and is computer controlled to allow it to determine how much power and torque is sent to each wheel which is handy for torque vectoring to optimise performance.
The big surprise is that the car produces 644hp and 8552 lbs-ft of torque!! that is more torque than 10 supercars added together!! The concept also took the storage of electricity to another level for cars. Instead of just charging up the batteries the traditional way, it can be topped up by replenishing electrolytes which is kind of like adding gasoline to the car. The energy is stored in 2 large capacitors from which the electric motors draw their energy from.
Once this technology is able to be made more affordable I believe more cars will be using this technology instead of the existing flawed hybrid system or the current pure electric car system with limited operating range.
Instead of normally charging the batteries of the car using electricity, the Quant E-sportlimousine uses salt water with a chemical reaction to create electricity. It promises very good driving range of 600km and incredible power and torque figures. There is an electric motor attached to each wheel and is computer controlled to allow it to determine how much power and torque is sent to each wheel which is handy for torque vectoring to optimise performance.
The big surprise is that the car produces 644hp and 8552 lbs-ft of torque!! that is more torque than 10 supercars added together!! The concept also took the storage of electricity to another level for cars. Instead of just charging up the batteries the traditional way, it can be topped up by replenishing electrolytes which is kind of like adding gasoline to the car. The energy is stored in 2 large capacitors from which the electric motors draw their energy from.
Once this technology is able to be made more affordable I believe more cars will be using this technology instead of the existing flawed hybrid system or the current pure electric car system with limited operating range.
Tuesday, 26 August 2014
Why are the Japanese car makers still using CVT transmission?
In the last 8 years the Japanese car makers have been using CVT transmission is most of their cars with the exception of Mazda and Suzuki. All the other Japanese brands such as Toyota, Honda, Nissan, subaru and Mitsubishi use the CVT transmission extensively in their model range. The most extreme being Subaru who actually used the CVT transmission for the new Subaru WRX. Unlike the Japanese, the Koreans and German car makers either did no adopt the CVT or abandoned it quickly after 1 generation of models.
CVT is suppose to be more fuel efficient than regular torque converter type automatics but it dulls down the driving experience to the point where the car is boring to drive. The simulated gear shifts programmed into the CVT transmission makes it feel like it is changing gears but the driving experience is still numb to say the least. Furthermore the transmission is unable to handle sudden increase in torque if the car's engine is modified.
I am wondering when the Japanese car makers will wake up and switch twin clutch gear boxes.
CVT is suppose to be more fuel efficient than regular torque converter type automatics but it dulls down the driving experience to the point where the car is boring to drive. The simulated gear shifts programmed into the CVT transmission makes it feel like it is changing gears but the driving experience is still numb to say the least. Furthermore the transmission is unable to handle sudden increase in torque if the car's engine is modified.
I am wondering when the Japanese car makers will wake up and switch twin clutch gear boxes.
Wednesday, 13 August 2014
evolution of tyre technology
The black round things that keep our cars on the road that we call tyres or tires (US spelling) has been around for more than 100 years but the concept of it has not really changed. It is still filled with air or nitrogen and will puncture if it hits a nail or a sharp object. Tyres of course have become stronger, more durable and also more resistant to heat and also is able to withstand more damage. Comparing a tyre made in the 1990s and a tyre now, the new tyre is able to withstand much higher speeds (high performance tyres) and offer much better grip and return better fuel economy.
Materials used to make tyres have also evolved in search for better performance.
Many years ago a concept developed by Michelin appeared in some car magazines and this concept tyre did not use air. The outer tread is suspended on rubber spokes on the inside (kind of like a bicycle wheel). Many observers thought that this idea was brilliant since the tyres will never go flat due to a nail or damage from sharp objects. It is still unsure why until today it has not gone into production. Perhaps the tyre companies probably thought that they would loose a lot of money from the reduction of replacement tyre sales resulting in damaged tyres. The tyre companies would only make money on selling replacement tyres that had no more tread left. There is also the possibility that the spokes inside could make the ride harder since you cannot alter the air pressure inside.
Materials used to make tyres have also evolved in search for better performance.
Many years ago a concept developed by Michelin appeared in some car magazines and this concept tyre did not use air. The outer tread is suspended on rubber spokes on the inside (kind of like a bicycle wheel). Many observers thought that this idea was brilliant since the tyres will never go flat due to a nail or damage from sharp objects. It is still unsure why until today it has not gone into production. Perhaps the tyre companies probably thought that they would loose a lot of money from the reduction of replacement tyre sales resulting in damaged tyres. The tyre companies would only make money on selling replacement tyres that had no more tread left. There is also the possibility that the spokes inside could make the ride harder since you cannot alter the air pressure inside.
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