MOTOR-BLOG from Coventry

My work colleague Keith mentioned the other day, that the spiralling cost of fuel seems to have slowed traffic down on the roads. I have to agree with him. I was travelling down the M6 tonight, as I do everyweek day night, and was cruising at between 70-75 mph. Usually this sort of speed would have instantly relegated me to the inside lane - only popping out into the middle lane occasionally to pass the lorries. The outside lane was a big no-no.

Not now it seems. I haven’t changed my driving style, but it seems that others have. At 75 I was zipping past 7 series Beemers, VW Passat TDi’s (infernal things) and a syrup of Mondeoey-focusey-golfey sludge that appears to have spread itself out all over our motorway system in recent years.

Ha ha! Guess what you commuters in your dull company cars - I can still travel at these speeds in my Nan’s Peugeot 106 and still return well over 45 MPG without even trying! Little cars are where it is now at folks, so start snapping up all of those sub £400 106, AX, 205 and Citroen ZX’s that currently inhabit the small ads section of local paper now, before they’re all gone…ÂÂ

At long last Tata Motors, (the preferred bidders for Land Rover / Jaguar group) have let the world see their latest offering - the Nano. It’s not quite launched yet, but looks to be production ready and will cost (in India anyhow) less than £2000. It marks a big departure for the company as it features technology that previous owners of Tata’s could only dream of. It also bears more than a passing resemblence to the Mitsubishi ‘i’ which can’t be a bad thing in my opinion.

 

So there it is, the new peoples car - a car that’s so cheap that the average person in the UK could go out and buy one on their credit card and still get to sleep at night. Cars are disposable these days, and this one is so cheap to buy that you could justify using it for a couple of years then throw it away - but I think that these cars will be much better than that. Okay, so the wheels are far too small for our western tastes - what are they, eight, nine inches? Ten? We haven’t seen wheels that small for a very long time - but I kinda dig them and at least the tyres should be cheap… 

Indian roads are not world renowned for being billiard table smooth - far from it, so a car designed for the Indian domestic market will have to be tough. I think that the future looks bright for the little Nano, and if it does go on sale here, I estimate that it will cost around £4500 - or less… so lets wait and see if I’m wrong - and if so, by how much - and in what direction…

Below is the press release, shamelessly lifted of the Tata website. It’s quite sweet really - especially the bit about safety which states ‘ Tubeless tyres further enhance safety.’ It says a lot when the fact that the tyres don’t have tubes in is a selling point! But isn’t it a nice thing to say, bless them! I think I like this company…

Stylish, comfortable
The People’s Car, designed with a family in mind, has a roomy passenger compartment with generous leg space and head room. It can comfortably seat four persons. Four doors with high seating position make ingress and egress easy.Yet with a length of 3.1 metres, width of 1.5 metres and height of 1.6 metres, with adequate ground clearance, it can effortlessly manoeuvre on busy roads in cities as well as in rural areas. Its mono-volume design, with wheels at the corners and the powertrain at the rear, enables it to uniquely combine both space and manoeuvrability, which will set a new benchmark among small cars.When launched, the car will be available in both standard and deluxe versions. Both versions will offer a wide range of body colours, and other accessories so that the car can be customised to an individual’s preferences.

Fuel-efficient engine
The People’s Car has a rear-wheel drive, all-aluminium, two-cylinder, 623 cc, 33 PS, multi point fuel injection petrol engine. This is the first time that a two-cylinder gasoline engine is being used in a car with single balancer shaft. The lean design strategy has helped minimise weight, which helps maximise performance per unit of energy consumed and delivers high fuel efficiency. Performance is controlled by a specially designed electronic engine management system.

Meets all safety requirements
The People’s Car’s safety performance exceeds current regulatory requirements. With an all sheet-metal body, it has a strong passenger compartment, with safety features such as crumple zones, intrusion-resistant doors, seat belts, strong seats and anchorages, and the rear tailgate glass bonded to the body. Tubeless tyres further enhance safety.

Environment-friendly
The People’s Car’s tailpipe emission performance exceeds regulatory requirements. In terms of overall pollutants, it has a lower pollution level than two-wheelers being manufactured in India today. The high fuel efficiency also ensures that the car has low carbon dioxide emissions, thereby providing the twin benefits of an affordable transportation solution with a low carbon footprint.

It’s rear wheel drive, so eat that BMW! Having said that, I’m picking up a 1 Series Diesel tomorrow and I can’t wait to have a go in that, I’ve never driven a Beemer before, so I’ll let you know whether I instantly become an arrogant f**k and start driving like an idiot - or not. Let the experiment begin…

Well it was all over the office today like a rash - is the once mighty Chrysler Corporation about to go bust? Apparently they are virtually bankrupt - and this comes only a few months after Mercedes Benz/Daimler sold the ailing American manufacturer to private equity group Cerberus Capital Management.

Cerebus is now facing serious subprime mortgage related losses from another arm of its portfolio - GMAC Financial Services - which it bought from General Motors for $12 billion. In turn, these losses could jepodise the future of the whole management group including Chrysler - and lets face it, with their vast debts who else would want to buy them as a going concern? 

Cerberus bought Chrysler from Daimler last August in a deal where the German Car manufacturer esentially paid Cerberus to take Chrysler off its hands, spelling the breakup of the Daimler-Chrysler group. In 2006, Chrysler fell to number 4 in the U.S. sales charts behind Toyota Motor Company.

Now that Chrysler is in real trouble, the deal looks like it was an inspired move for Daimler who passed on the $1.5 billion loss that Chrysler made in 2007. Daimler also no longer has continued obligations to Chrysler union members and retirees pensions - Cerberus has taken over that burden.

While the US press may be down on the proposed take over of Jaguar  /  Land Rover from Ford - claiming that Indian owners would dent the the marques prestige (I call that American rascism in action, but we’ll let that one pass for now), I say that the proposed Tata deal could prove to be Jaguars’ salvation.

Also the LR-Jaguar deal will include the rights to the Rover name, which Ford bought off BMW to protect Land Rover. Rumour has it that Tata would be interested in re-introducing the Rover moniker and as they are about to release a new car costing around £2500, I have to ask - could we eventually see a new Indian built Rover Metro return? I for one hope so…

Tata, unlike the big three (perhaps soon to be big two if Chrysler folds!) is cash rich, ambitious and growing year on year. Whilst the demise of Chrysler would be catastrophic for US industry, at least the damned ugly PT Cruiser would be consigned to history.

Every cloud has a silver lining….