As I wrote a few days ago, European car sale figures aren’t looking too great. In fact, for want of a better phrase, they’re bloody awful. (Detailed numbers to follow at around Sept 15.)  The reason behind this drop is the detox from the high of “Cash For Clunkers”. Now that the artificial boost has gone (or is slowly dissipating) the market is coming back down to where it should be. And where it should be isn’t good news for auto manufacturers. In the UK, it’s just as bad. The SMMT reported a drop of 17.5 percent in new car registrations compared to August of last year. This is in line with the SMMT’s prediction that the second half of the year would be tough, to put it mildly. “New car registrations were down 17.5 percent in August and conditions will remain challenging through the rest for the year,” said Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive, “The industry enjoyed a better than expected first half of the year and despite the difficulties, SMMT is forecasting that new cars registrations will close just ahead of 2009 figures.” Shall we take at look at the winners and losers in the UK market for August 2010? (Read More…)

With the Mitsubishi i-miev electric car about to hit the British market, the BBC decided to break down the Pounds and tuppence behind the EV hype. And though it found that the i-miev comes out looking quite well thanks to Britain’s EV consumer subsidy, its freedom from congestion charges and road tax, fuel price differences and estimated servicing costs, it has one eye-popping cost associated with it: nearly 50 percent depreciation over the first three years. And that’s what Mitsubishi is willing to cop to. So not only will your new i-miev cost about twice as much as a little Fiat 500, it will lose about enough value after three years to have paid for that same Cinquecento. Needless to say, as American consumers begin their own first flirtations with the electric automobile, we will continue to keep a close eye on this issue.

Once a new car has reached 3 years of age in the UK, it has to undergo a yearly test to make sure the key components of a car are working, and that the car is safe. It’s called an MOT. This is not the drive-it-down-to-your-friendly-gas-station-and-get-a-sticker routine. It’s pretty rigorous. It is anticipated with apprehension.  Anyway, the MOT is reaching its 50th birthday after the test became mandatory in 1960. So to celebrate the MOT’s 50th anniversary, Nationwide Autocentres, a garage group that performs many MOT’s around the UK, conducted a survey (how about taking the MOT out and drinking lager until your head spins? THAT’S a good way of celebrating your birthday!). The survey consisted of the top 10 best selling cars in the UK.  Then they looked at their failure rates after 3 years (some people have far too much time on their hands). Shall we have a look at the results (via the Daily Mail)? Firstly, here are the contenders:

Ford Mondeo, Ford Ka, Ford Fiesta, Ford Focus, Vauxhall Astra, Renault Megane, Vauxhall Corsa, VW Golf, Renault Clio and the BMW 3-series.

All of these cars were surveyed at their first MOT (i.e. three year old). What the surveys doesn’t take into account is how hard they’ve been driven (that pretty much equals out) and it doesen’t say what exactly has failed (it’s not a loose knob of the radio that fails the MOT, it’s usually something expensive …. T’s PASS or FAIL.)

So, who “won” this survey of the highest rate of failure at their first MOT? I’ll give you a clue. Nissan didn’t bring reliability to their alliance. (Read More…)

Thanks to one of the most popular Top Gear segments ever, the Peel P50 is now well-established in the minds and imaginations of the world’s automotive cognoscenti. After all, how often does Clarkson say that “if [car X] had a reverse gear, I would describe it as the absolute ultimate in personal mobility”? But now there’s another reason to pay attention to Peel: having been bought a few years back by Gary Hillman and Faizal Khan, the British microcar maker is set for a comeback that’s being funded by Sonny Coreleone himself, actor some British investor named James Caan (born Nazim Khan… cheers to colin42 for the British pop culture lesson, and apologies for unwittingly making the story better than it is).
(Read More…)

Before the remnants of the British Leyland empire were sold off to various developing-world automakers (in an intriguing automotive inversion of colonialism), BMW temporarily became the caretaker of a number of British auto brands, including Rover, MG, Land Rover, and Mini. Only Mini now remains under Bavarian fealty, but before dumping the mess on the hapless Phoenix Consortium, BMW helped the Rover brand develop its only halfway-competitive car of the 1990s: the retro-inspired Rover 75. And according to Britain’s AutoExpress, BMW also helped Rover developed this odd duck, known as the 55, as an attack upmarket on Audi’s A4 and Mercedes’ C-Class. It was to be followed by a larger replacement for the 75, which would have given Rover a one-two punch to match the Mercedes C and E Classes, Audi’s A4 and A6 and so on.

The long-nosed look of this 1997 design study is the result of a Passat/A4-style longitudinal-front-drive platform, which (like the 75’s platform) had been experimentally developed by BMW. Of course, the looks are a bit odd, and BMW really didn’t need to develop unique-platform competitors for its 3- and 5-Series, so this car was probably never likely to make it to production. Still, it’s interesting to imagine what Rover would be like today if it were still struggling along with a large neo-retro flagship based on dated German technology and not much else… except that then it would pretty much be a British Chrysler.

No, it’s not a Mel Gibson joke… Scientists at Edinburgh Napier University have developed a formula for making butanol biofuel out of byproducts of the Scottish whiskey industry, reports Sky News. Apparently researchers

combined so-called pot ale – the liquid from the copper stills distillery equipment – and the spent grains used to make whisky, also known as draff

to create Butanol, an ethanol-like biofuel. Unlike the corn juice, however, Butanol can run in any gas-powered engine and does not degrade components over time.
(Read More…)

A bit more than a week ago, we reported that Geely might want to raise its stake in the London black cab builder Manganese Bronze from currently 20 percent to more than 51 percent. Ok, story, sit over there under the sign that says “Chinese stories, not happening.” (Read More…)

According to a poll released last week by the Liverpool Victoria Insurance Company, UK motorists drive more erratically in the presence of speed cameras. The firm, which insures 3.8 million in England and Wales, commissioned ICM Research to survey how the driving public responds when automated ticketing machines are present. The firm concluded that, since 2001, photo enforcement may have contributed to thousands of accidents that would not have otherwise occurred.

(Read More…)

I’ve mentioned before that the UK Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) can be quite rabid when pursuing adverts with bold claims. Remember Renault’s run-in (nice alliteration) with the ASA about their claims for “zero emissions”? Or BMW, who tried to give the impression that their 3 litre, 6 cylinder hoonmobile, the Z4, was doing its bit for the environment (presumably by draining it of all that troublesome oil)? Well, the ASA is at it again. (Read More…)

I ought to start this article off with the reasons as to why I decided to write this article. I got scalded recently for criticizing Jack Baruth’s article on why Top Gear USA will fail. On reflection, the scalding was well earned. It’s a bit unprofessional to criticize a fellow worker’s work no matter how much you disagree with it.

But this set off a light bulb in my head. Why should I post a comment about why I disagree with an article, and get browbeaten, if I can write an article of my own, highlighting my thoughts? Isn’t that the American way? Why give something away for free, when you can sell it? (Read More…)

Last month, I asked whether the UK car market had taken a blue pill. The reason I’d asked is because sales were rising despite the local “bangers for cash” scheme had ended months ago. Well, it appears that the effects are finally wearing off (I was going to say “flopping” but we’ve used that metaphor enough). The SMMT reports that UK new car registrations fell 13.2 percent in July 2010. This marks the first month in this year where sales dropped. This is expected to continue through 2010 as the market slows down. This is not surprising as the government cutbacks will start to take effect this year.

“A drop in private registrations compared to the scrappage-fuelled months of 2009 was expected and has brought the first market decline for 12 months,” said Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive. “Subdued consumer confidence and a still fragile economic recovery make the outlook for the remainder of 2010 challenging, but a stronger than expected first half means full year volumes are still forecast to exceed 2009’s total.”. Another curious finding of the report was how diesel vehicles are now the dominant powertrain of choice, with market share up to 50.6 percent. Anyway, shall we take a closer look at the figures? (Read More…)

When you hear “McLaren” mentioned during Formula One races, do you sometimes want one? Now you can. Street legal. And a steal for only $280,000 MSRP. To make that dream possible, McLaren group has taken on £40 million ($63m) worth of loans from HSBC to finance the construction of a new factory in Woking, Surrey.  The new factory will be the home of McLaren’s new super car, the MP4-12C (catchy name!). McLaren is forecasting to build 1,000 units in the first year of production, but within five years, McLaren is hoping to be building 4,000 units per year. One of the main selling points of the MP4-12C is the fact it’ll be able to get to 124mph in 10 seconds. It even has air brakes, implements usually used to bring jet fighters to a stop. (Read More…)

With all the hubbub over Volvo, it’s easy to forget that Geely already owns a foreign carmaker: Managnese Bronze, the company that makes London’s iconic black-cabs. Well, Geely doesn’t “own” Maganese, they hold a 19.97 percent share. That is about to change. (Read More…)

Which? is kind of the UK version of Consumer Reports. They publish a bunch of magazines. If you want a computer, you get the latest edition of Which? Computing, if you need a vacation, you leaf through Which? Holiday, and for a car, you get – you guessed it – Which? Car. You will receive quite a shock if you do. (Read More…)

Ford has once again snagged aid from a European government, as The Wall Street Journal [sub] reports that the British government has approved a £360m ($543m) guarantee on a £450 ($676.4m) European Investment Bank loan to The Blue Oval. The money will be used to fund a £1.5b ($2.25b) investment in four British Ford manufacturing sites. In an official statement, British Business Minister Mark Prisk said

[Ford’s] investment of GBP1.5 billion over the next five years is a great opportunity to take the lead in developing low-carbon manufacturing. This backing from the government will help to ensure the long-term success of manufacturing in the U.K. and make sure we are at the forefront of new technologies

The money will be used to safeguard 2,800 British jobs, and help Ford develop a new generation of low-carbon engines as well as for development of commercial vehicles. This despite the fact that Ford of Europe had previously laid into GM’s persistent requests for European aid in restructuring its Opel division.