Inaugural floodlit Singapore GP this weekend
Singapore
Street Circuit
The first Grand Prix under lights. The
first GP in Singapore for many years (there were Singapore
GP’s many years ago, so ignore the “first ever Singapore GP”
talk) and yet another street circuit.
I can only hope that it is not a track layout such as
Valencia which was one of the most boring races ever
inflicted on F1 fans. If it is another one of those
impossible to pass situations like Monaco, all we can hope
for is tropical downpours. In fact, I think rain (or water
at least), should be made compulsory. Yes, water sprinklers
which get turned on for 10 minutes every half hour would
have the tyre choice experts scratching their heads, other
than McLaren’s who would send Hamilton out on the wrong
tyres anyway.
According to the F1 website, the race starts at 8 p.m.
Singapore time, which is 7 p.m. Thai time. Join me in
Jameson’s in front of the big screen around 6 p.m. for some
food and a natter before the race.
When Ford said Tata to
Jaguar
With Ford having sold the British Raj, in the
form of Jaguar Cars, to India in the form of Tata Motors,
does this spell the end of what was once a very proud
marque?
One American “lady”, a Mrs. Evelyn Davis thinks so, standing
up at the board meeting of Ford at which it is reported that
she said, “Tata sells cars that are $2,500 to the lowest of
the low outcasts of India,” Mrs. Davis adding that Jaguar
represented elegance and exclusivity. “How could the board
sell us out to an outfit like that who sell to people like
that?”
Tata
military vehicle
Wonderful stuff! I didn’t know that people like her still
existed in this world. What a pity she wasn’t around for the
French or Russian revolutions! And while Jaguar (once)
represented elegance (remember the slogan, ‘Grace, Space and
Pace’) it was never a marque that survived on exclusivity.
Sir William Lyons built cars that were affordable (an XK 150
was half the price of the Mercedes 300SL), and not exclusive
like Bentley or Rolls. Incidentally, Mrs. Davis does own a
Ford Mondeo, sorry, Jaguar X-Type, which was personally
delivered to her by none other than Bill Ford himself, the
world’s highest paid delivery driver.
Now what I didn’t know, until it was pointed out to me by my
‘Editor at Large’ John Weinthal, the Tata Group has a much
longer history than Jaguar Cars. In fact, they have been
involved in the transportation industry for over 50 years,
building military vehicles, commercial buses, and trains.
Tata also has a very long history of supporting charities
and I believe that Tata was already offering worker benefits
such as child care and pensions long before most companies
in the West. The early founding family of Tata helped
finance Mahatma Gandhi while he was in South Africa fighting
for the rights of immigrant Indians and 66 percent of Tata’s
holding company’s shares are held by charitable trusts, and
many of its companies fund grassroots anti-poverty projects.
The Nano budget-priced vehicle is just another project to
help elevate India’s poor.
Ratan Tata has said that Nano and Jaguar will be kept
separate and with the diverse nature of the Tata group, I
see no problem with their being able to do that.
However, with the financial problems in America right now,
you never know, you might see Mrs. Evelyn Davis in a Nano in
the not too distant future!
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I mentioned that the trend to
rear engined Indy cars is often thought to have come after
Jack Brabham raced the rear engined Cooper-Climax at the
Brickyard in 1961. However, was he the first with this
layout? No he was not, as drivers such as Lee Oldfield had a
rear engined Marmon Special in 1937 and some of the Miller
cars were also rear engined, pre WWII.
So to this week. What was the first mass produced car with
recessed door handles?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct
answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
An open letter to sales
and marketing executives
I was in the market for a new car. Now, sales and
marketing gurus, I would like to pose the following
question. What day of the week does a salaried employee have
off so that he can go round car dealerships and look at
cars? Sunday, correct. What day of the week do you close
your dealerships? Sunday, that is also correct! Is there a
basic truth here that somebody is missing in your
organization?
Your friendly car
salesman
I went to the Bangkok International Motor Show
and saw one that I could be interested in. I got my wife to
ring when I got back to Pattaya, and waited for the result
of the call. “He has not got any cars left. He is very busy.
He will ring us later.”
It was April when my wife rang. This is now September. I
have given up hanging around near the phone. Either he is
very, very busy or the manufacturer stopped production when
they heard I was interested. Perhaps they were afraid I
might not like it.
I began looking locally and I saw a very attractive car on
the forecourt of a major dealership close to my home. That
would be good, I could easily drop the car off for service.
There was only one problem, the model seen on display on the
forecourt turned out to be a private car. It was not a
production car. It did not even belong to the dealership. I
asked if I could go for a run in one of their demonstrator
cars. “Yes, but not the same size engine.” “No, I want to
drive one with the same size engine as the one I might buy.”
“Sorry, that one not going.”
The reason that car was immobile on the showroom floor was
only the fact that it had a flat battery. Another car was
driven into the showroom, jumper leads applied, and the
demonstrator taken out into the sunshine for me to drive.
Can you imagine what I was thinking as I drove down the
road? “I hope it doesn’t stall on me. This car has a flat
battery and nobody cared.” Did this little scenario make me
impressed with the dealership (or the manufacturer)? What
would the servicing be like?
Lesson number 1 in the car salesman’s manual - always have
any car spotless, tuned, cleaned, fuel in the tank and air
in the tyres and ready to go on a demo drive. This lesson
seems to have been forgotten in Thailand 2008. I am told,
however, that when a possible purchaser wants to have a test
drive, some dealerships will just not do this. Considering
that a new motor car is the second most expensive purchase
in most people’s lifetime, surely your sales personnel
should try just a little harder? It might even increase your
sales, and the profitability of your company.
GM centenary
celebration upbeat
General Motors is now 100 years old and at the
celebration the production electric Chevy Volt was unveiled,
and GM management said that the current financial tumult in
the US shouldn’t hurt loan guarantees.
AP’s Tom Krisher was present and the following is his
report.
Detroit (AP) - General Motors Corp. chairman and CEO Rick
Wagoner unveiled the automaker’s long-awaited electric car
and said the turmoil in financial markets should not affect
government loan guarantees that would help the U.S. auto
industry develop high-tech cars.
Speaking to reporters at GM’s 100th anniversary celebration,
Wagoner said the $25 billion in loans were approved last
year as part of an energy bill and should now be funded to
help the industry build next-generation automobiles and meet
government fuel economy standards.
“Really a relatively small fraction of the investment the
industry will have to make to achieve these improvements was
to be provided for by direct loans,” Wagoner said. “We’re
just asking that those loans now be funded and that the
rules and procedures to be able to draw against those loans
be finalized promptly.”
GM, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC have been working to get
Congress to fund the loans after months of tight credit
markets, tepid sales and high gasoline prices.
Wagoner showed off the production version of the Chevrolet
Volt, which will be able to go 65 kilometers on a single
charge from a home outlet. He said GM has been testing the
car’s new lithium-ion battery packs and is confident in
their performance.
“General Motors’ second century starts right now,” he said
as GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz drove the four-passenger sedan
onto a stage at the automaker’s world headquarters.
Lutz told reporters that GM will be able to develop products
even if it doesn’t get the loans, but the company would
prefer to have the financing as it faces a difficult
balancing act between spending to meet government
regulations and developing new products.
“Obviously it’s clear that government loans would take a lot
of the stress off,” he said.
GM said the Volt will cost about 80 cents to fully charge at
a rate of 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is about the
U.S. average. After that, the batteries will be recharged by
a small gasoline engine that allows the car to travel
hundreds more kilometers. GM said the engine will be able to
run on E85 ethanol, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15
percent gasoline.
“It’s proof that the century-old General Motors is alive and
well and that it intends to lead in reinventing the
automobile,” Wagoner said.
The Volt will have a driver-configurable liquid-crystal
instrument display and touch-screen-style climate,
information and entertainment controls, GM said. It will
also include standard Bluetooth wireless connectivity for a
cellular phone and music streaming.
GM hasn’t announced the Volt’s pricing, but it’s expected to
cost between $30,000 and $40,000.
The Volt is due in showrooms by November of 2010. Lutz said
in an interview that the car won’t be ready sooner because
of the complexity in building an entirely new powertrain.
“This is all-new technology, a lot of very complex software
on the interaction between power electronics, piston engine
and so forth,” he said.
The car, he said, will know a person’s normal route home,
and if the driver veers off the route, it will calculate
whether it needs to start the gasoline engine to recharge
the batteries to extend the range, and for how long the
engine needs to run.
(I have been a strong proponent of plug-in electric
technology, and I applaud GM’s movement in this direction.
The sooner we can travel under electric power, the sooner we
get out from under OPEC oppression. Dr. Iain.)
