The motor industry has had its problems over recent years but when you see the line up of cars at the latest auto show in frankfurt you would wonder where the money will come from. With the latest Ferrari, Lambourghini and electric powered Audi that resembles the Audi R8, you can clearly see there is still a market for expensive cars, or maybe it didn’t leave us in the first place.
With some motor shows cancelled throughout the world because they felt the market was too depressed and was not worth the investment, here we see the opposite a motor show quiet prepared to see what we would like to buy if we could. this video footage is from Edmunds and gives a good idea of what we have missed if we didn’t make it to Germany.
We have been waiting for this one for some time and it came in the form of Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond, closing off a street in Abu Dhabi and putting eth Mclaren F1 and the Buggatti Veyron head to head.
Bearing in mind the Mclaren dates back to 1993 it is astonishing to consider how little competition it has had up to now. The Mclaren got the better start even though we though the Bugatti would walk it, but as the we get further anf further into the race, the Mclaren drops back and the Bugatti is a sure winner.
Some say the cooling of the Bugatti let it down a bit in the hot heat, others think it was just the driving. Anyway it is exciting stuff to watch these 2 Supercars go head to head and not to be missed.
In 1969 a film that would represent the English culture at that time would be unleashed to the public, one that even today has a bigger following than back then. The stars were not Micheal Caine or Noel Coward but in fact 3 mini coopers painter read white and blue. These Minis would take on the might of the Italians, but because most of it was filmed at the Fiat factory in Turin, you will only see a Fiat in a good scene.
The Mini was born in the late 50’s but not seen as popular until the fuel crisis of the 60’s, then when big stars started to be seen in them, the country then followed, making it one of the most popular British cars ever. But with just about all of British made cars, they were either sold off to another foreign manufacturer or just disappeared.
The German connection is that BMW bought Rover who owned Mini and then made the new Mini popular again. Although it looks similar and has similar handling, everything else is different, from size to engine power. It was great to see the Mini back again, but most Brits would have preferred it had been done by a British owned manufacturer.
Of course the new mini inspired a sort of remake of the Italian job, but even with a few English actors it just did not make the grade for use traditionalists. This year sees the 40th anniversary of the original Italian job and many motoring programmes are doing stories an the old min and how it won Rallies etc. For me I wait for the proper remake of the Italian Job or maybe part 2, where we see what happened to the gold.
Of course it is Top Gear that is internationally known and keeps millions of motoring fans glued to the TV set on Sundays during certain times of the year. But often we forget about good old Fifth Gear, which originated from the original Top Gear Team when BBC pulled the plug some years ago.
Although it isn’t known worldwide like Top Gear, probably because channel 5 does not have a worldwide service, it should not be discredited as not worth watching. In fact Fifth Gear seems to bridge the gap between testing cars we can afford to those we just dream about, where Top Gear is firmly in the supercar, let’s dream department. Even so its track tests and humour are well worth the investment of 1 hour of your time, as Tiff Neddell, Jason Plato and team get to grips with fast cars and talk about safety issues, without the Laurel and Hardy comic scenes we see on the BBC.
The new series kicked off with the guest appearance of David Coulthard ex Formula One driver, testing out a racing super van. We were all routing for David but it seems Tiff had more practice. Fifth Gears popularity has been confirmed a few years ago when the broadcast time went from 30 minutes to 60 minutes, proving there is more than one motoring show that can be popular.
Anyway to get you in the mood, here are some behind the scenes stiff from Fifth Gear, something to do with a VW challenge.
The figures for car registration have been released and saw a 24.8% decrease in new registrations over the same month last year. However some see this as a positive thing as private sales only dropped around 13% suggesting the £2000 bonus for scrapping a car over 10 years old may have had some affect. Then we consider we are measuring new registrations not purchases and that the scrappage scheme did not tart until 18th May it is possible to conclude that the real effect of this can not be measured accurately yet.
There are still mixed opinions coming in from the media. You will find customer who has traded her old car and gained money and then another who does believe there is much difference in prices than before the scrappage scheme.
As usual it is difficult to try and guess what the car buyer will do. On one hand high street shops say sales are down, but out of town DIY stores like B&Q are doing well and there was a little rise on house prices. So where the new car buyer fits in with this is anyone’s guess
It is normal to be able to buy cheap gifts every time to fill up with petrol at garages throughout the UK and the Total UK petrol stations are no different. Gifts can vary from cheap maps to solar lights, providing you buy so much fuel. But total we saw something different to the normal offers, 14 days free breakdown cover with the purchase of 30 litres of fuel.
The cover is called Total Assistance offers an astonishing idea. Continue to fill up with 30 litres of fuel every 14 days and you can continue to have free breakdown cover. Apparently you get a unique code which to test with your registration of car to a number, which activates your breakdown cover for another 14 days tremendous.
This could be especially convenient for those who do not feel they need breakdown cover for normal daily driving routines but now find they are going on holiday and taken their car with them. Buy buying fuel they could have their 2 weeks of holiday driving covered with this scheme.
For motorbikes it is only 10 litres of fuel, again a great idea if your local garage is Total UK, not so good if you have to travel to find one each time you need petrol. But Total Assistance workd for us.
The new president Obama has set new fuel consumption targets for all new cars sold in the USA. The initial target is somewhere around 35.5 miles per gallon which for motorists here in the UK seems an easy task especially as they have to 2016 to do it. With large cars including SUV’s pretty much unpopular now, it should fall into most car manufacturer’s business plan anyway. Most drivers not see fuel economy as a major factor in buying their day to day transport.
What isn’t clear is weekend vehicles such as supercars used for leisure purposes. Does this mean the end of large engine cars used only now and again for pleasure? This target is inline with a target to reduce carbon emissions by 2030 by 50%, something the USA has been criticised for in the past as not being forward enough. The economic situation has given the leverage to pass these targets without too much criticism.
In the meantime another $4bn has been loaned to GM Motors with a statement that all USA car manufacturers should come out of this recession leaner and more efficient delivering more fuel efficient cars. There is no doubt the benefit a new face can have to the car industry and whilst Obama’s honeymoon with the world continues, be able to make difficult decisions with only the minimum of backlash.
The internet has brought us many things including the ability to get prices of good quicker and cheaper and that have also included the car parts market. Of course the used car parts market was something different in that breaker yards often have a different inventory each day as cars came and were dismantled within their business. It became hard to add stock on an online database, so a new system had to be created to allow used car part suppliers to quote on what was available and the condition that particular item was in.
One such system is called CarSpareFinder which allows a consumer to add their required part details into a system which when a used car parts suppliers see the details can fill in a simple quote form and that price will be sent direct to the consumers email box.
This is a great online system to allow a consumer to compare used car prices and benefit from those prices offered. Often one breaker has a totally different price structure than another and real bargains can be found, the only other deciding factor being delivery costs. To get an idea of how this car part locator system works we have their video direct from CarSpareFinder.
Of course the UK has not been very successful in owning a new car plant when you consider all the UK brands of cars that have originated from the UK and then moved to the UK car manufacturer in the sky. But what is surprising is the amount of cars that are manufactured in the UK by foreign owners. There are Honda, Nissan, Ford, Vauxhall, Land Rover, Jaguar and Aston Martin which is now back in UK hands.
So when the recent down turn in buying a new car arrived many workers found themselves on a shorter working week or unpaid holiday or even made redundant. In total contrast the used car market has stood up well to the recent recession. It seems people still need to upgrade their cars or wish to have a newer one but have decided that the depreciation of a new car is no longer and acceptable cost to the ownership of their vehicle.
It has effected the used car market in a way not expected, in that some used cars have actually increased in value during difficult economic times as demand is sometimes outstripping supply especially as very few trade ins are coming from the new car market. The government has recently stepped in with a scrappage scheme offering to reward a buyer with £2000 should they buy a new car and trade in a car over 10 years old. Even though this has proved to be a winner in Germany and a few other countries there is more negativity across here, with statements that those who currently own a 10 year old car are not in the market for a new one. Condition that state you must own the old car for at least 12 months before you trade it in, stops anyone buying an old car for the purpose of the cash back.
With new car manufacturing down, so it the car parts market also. There have been many small car parts manufacturers forced out of business because all their eggs were in one basket supplying to one factory. As is normal in these economic climes, if one large manufacturer reduces capacity many other smaller businesses go to the wall.
The latest news is that an improvement in sales is expected in future months although not a previous levels, but some car manufacturers like Nissan have decided to re-employ some workers for the expected upturn. However around the world there are many other stories going on with ownership changes likely. Fiat who themselves have been bailed out many times by the Government are currently in talks to buy Chrysler and Opel Vauxhall arm of GM Motors is one story of many.
As the bank Of England stated yesterday, no-one really knows when this downturn will change around, but lets hope it is sooner rather than later.