Save BBC 6Music and the Ford Zephyr March 7, 2010
Posted by richard in : History, Technology , add a commentINSPIRATION comes in many forms. Today, for instance, down at the brilliant Goodwood Breakfast Club, a gorgeous Ford Zephyr was spotted.
That’s Ford Zephyr of Z-Cars fame – and, even cooler than that, was the sticker in the back… advertising Radio Caroline!
Music Radio fans of the 60s were proper tenacious in support for the pirate radio station that so riled the institution. It played great music, boasted emboldened DJs and was the real music industry’s never-miss must-listen.
Sound fami… well, indeed it does. But it was the fact this sticker was so proudly displayed that inspired.
Here, see, was public support for an under-threat radio station that music lovers loved.
What can it teach those who want to see 6Music saved? Well, to use yesterday’s car stickers like today’s Twitter and Facebook Twibbons.
By its very nature, DAB is a rarity in cars, but far more popular than many think in homes. Not to mention, of course, computers, via BBC iPlayer. Both are potential 6Music hubs.
Radio Caroline parallels and tips for 6Music campaigners ahoy, p’raps..?
Renault Raider is back March 6, 2010
Posted by richard in : History, Minutiae of cars , add a commentRENAULT PR guys are insatiable car nuts, whose geekery for all things 1980s matches mine.
That’s why we were both clamouring over the Gordini Renaultsports at the Geneva show, and why I almost bowed down to them when they revealed a gem to me.
Special wheels on the Gordini Twingo and Clio? Complete with deep blue tint to the painted internals? The UK chaps have named them. What as?
Get this: Raider!
That’s as in Renault 5 GT Turbo Raider, the 1990 special edition that came with blue metallic paint and blue-painted alloys. Instead of naming the wheels after a French seaside resort or philosophical movement, the UK boys have raided (ahem) their history and gave me an excuse to drop a jump to a car many would kill for.
Heritage? The Clio Renaultsport Gordini oozes it. Already God’s own hot hatch, there will be fisticuffs in the MR office over who does the launch of this one…
Renaultsport past to inspire turbo future?
Why RenaultSports don’t have rear spoilers
Richard Branson’s Virgin F1 (Teenage) Fanclub March 5, 2010
Posted by richard in : History, Motorsport , add a commentVirgin boss Richard Branson takes to the F1 grid for the first time this year with his own racing team.
But it’s not the first time ‘his’ cars have been ‘in’ F1.
This, as you may suspect, is slightly tenuous. But for Indie/F1/car geeks such as, well, me, it’s curiously neat. And goes like this:
• Teenage Fanclub released a 1994 album called Grand Prix
• On the cover was a shot of a contemporary 1994 F1 racer
• That car was a Simtek
• Boss of the Simtek F1 team was Nick Wirth
• Nick Wirth now runs Wirth Research
• Wirth Research designed the new Virgin F1 racer
It may be a new team, but there’s heritage in that there Virgin setup, not to mention a good dose of jangly guitar musical brilliance. Sort of.
Question is, can you come up with a more brilliantly tenuous link between something random and F1 racing?
Motorsport and Twitter aim for Groundswell
Another most amazing save of 2009
Ad 1 Car 0: Vauxhall Vectra February 27, 2010
Posted by richard in : History , add a commentADS for cars can be as great or as tragic as the cars themselves.
So, in the first of a decidedly ad-hoc series, I’ll dig out some YouTube links to some of the most striking. And, in James Alexander Gordon-style, score them.
The first? A win for marketing and a resounding defeat for engineers: the Vauxhall Vectra. Even Bjork wasn’t enough to rescure it (and getting the licence for Play Dead, when the Icelander was in her heyday, can’t have come cheap).
Let’s shoot right back to 1995, and the days of Atomic Clocks and non-adjustable steering columns*…
* Of course, if you want to recreate a Vectra’s compromised driving position, go for a brand-new Vauxhall Corsa S. Stunningly, that doesn’t come with an adjustable steering column as standard, either…
Is the Giulietta an Alfa Romeo Rover 75? February 16, 2010
Posted by richard in : History , 4commentsALFA Romeo will show the sexy Ford Focus-rivalling Giulietta in public for the first time at the Geneva Motor Show in March.
It’s a make-or-break car. Lordy, how many times have we heard that before?
Thing is, how many times has it been proven right..?
Fiat Group boss Sergio Marchionne has already gone on record to say Alfa Romeo is currently not cutting the mustard. It’s the weakest brand in the giant Fiat Group portfolio – and, when you consider that also includes Chrysler and Lancia, it’s quite a dubious honour to hold.
Alfa Romeo is unbowed, though. It’s going to take its final chance and damn well make the most of it – with a product-led recovery that will be centred around the Giulietta.
But can Alfa do it? My mind swifts back to another ill-judged pronouncement of leadership intent to drive the PR guys up the wall. Yes, Bernd Pischetsrieder, on the eve of the Rover 75 launch at the British Motor Show back in 1998.
Forget the car, muses Keith Adams on the brilliant AROnline: Bernd ensured that, with pronouncements such as ‘short-term actions are required for the long-term future of the Rover Group,’ the chat of the launch was not of 75, but of the health of the firm building it.
So recounted motoring writer good guy Steve Cropley to Adams; ‘…we were all a bit stunned,’ he said, ‘both by the content and timing of what Bernd Pischetsrieder said. We had all been feeling pretty enthusiastic about the 75 and the unveiling had gone well… it seemed bizarre, even grotesque, that the company’s top man should choose to undermine the moment so thoroughly.
‘He deflected the media from praising the car the way they would naturally have done, deflated the workforce who must have been on a high, and introduced a degree of buyer uncertainty that could have been avoided.’ No wonder the reaction in the firm was one of gobsmacked amazement.
Shoot forward a decade and a bit, to the Giulietta, to Marchionne saying ‘Alfa has been underperforming for some time’ and ‘it’s our problem’ and we ‘have to rethink our objectives and be realistic with ourselves,’ to cue many pairs of eyes on Alfa in Geneva.
Will he complete his ‘doing a Bernd’ in Geneva? I’ll join the throngs during the press conference next month and find out…
How Ford would have made a Rover
5 facts on the MGF January 17, 2010
Posted by richard in : History , add a commentAUTOCAR man Steve Cropley interviewed the team behind the MGF back in 1995.
His piece is full of fascinating findings: 5 of them caught my eye, which helped show that the MGF was much more than just a rebodied Metro.
Such as:
1 Europe-first EPAS system
MGFs weren’t initially to have PAS. Late implementation meant a simple solution was required. Enter electric power steering – which Rover initially only was to fit on Japanese-market cars, to help with parking. Speed-sensitive, it had then never before been seen in Europe.
2 Trick adjustments to Metro rear suspension
Metro rear suspension anti-dive caused the MGF’s tail to rise and toe-out under braking, and squat under power. Bad. So, to the existing subframe, engineers junked the bottom A-arm, in favour of 3 new lower bits:
• Bottom link
• Track control arm
• Brake reaction rod
These were anchored in different places on the subframe, for optimal geometry. The result was one ‘as pure in practice as that of a uniquely designed system’.
3 Subtle changes to Metro front suspension
Well, just one – the steering arm was shortened, to speed up the steering ratio and improve the Ackermann effect
4 Posh Hydragas units
These were more expensive, with less inbuilt ‘stiction’. They moved at lower loads than in, say, the Metro. Richard Parry-Jones would be proud. That’s why Dr Alex Moulton wanted to see them on the Rover 100 – but Rover couldn’t justify the expense on a low-end car.
5 BMW-spec windscreen frame strength
BMW gave the MGF the final green light. German input was minimal, though: the only contribution was the adoption of the BMW roadster’s specification for windscreen frame strength. Does this mean the MGF has the same windscreen surround as the Z3?
Any more insider facts on the MGF, please share them here!
Land Rover’s ride quality secret
How Ford would have made a Rover
How Ford would have made a Rover January 8, 2010
Posted by richard in : History , 2commentsFORD finally won ownership to the Rover brand name in 2006. But it was providing aid for the brand even before then.
Secret talks in the late 90s were conducted, to sidestep then-chief Bernd Pischetreider’s plans to invest £1.7bn in Rover. Instead of spending so much to develop two new platforms, a future mid-range Rover would have been developed with Ford.
The plan was to take the Focus and develop it into a Rover. BMW engineers, said Car magazine’s Hilton Holloway back in 1999, went so far as to evaluate the Ford Focus.
Their verdict? The VW Golf, which was initially to have formed the base of the Rover, is a fine car… ‘but the Focus is better – almost as good as we envisage the next Golf being.’
And how would they have turned it into a Rover? Easy: ‘new rubber mountings, springs and dampers.’
This has to rank up among the biggest opportunities missed in the entire history of Rover. Despite an insider telling Holloway ‘on a 1-to-10 provability scale, we’ve reached 8 with Ford’. The Mk1 Focus is brilliant. It could have made a superb Rover 200 replacement.
Volvo proved as much by taking the Mk2 Focus platform and creating the Volvo C30. Which is brilliant. Looks nothing like a Focus, neither outside nor in. Indeed, the more I think about it, the more it pains me: seems the ‘unforeseen’, which would have scuppered the deal our insider expected by March 2000, did indeed happen.
Groan…
Land Rover’s ride quality secret
Rover 200 makes the 95 news December 13, 2009
Posted by richard in : History , 2commentsROVER’S unveiling of the 200 made for a fascinating news report by Julian Rendell back in ’95.
He was reporting from the London Motor Show, at which he spoke to the car’s designer, David Saddington. There, the Rover man explained the internal soul-searching that had been preoccupying all at Longbridge for months.
Apparently, it was a question of grille or no grille. They tried all sorts, eventually setting on a body-colour version of the chrome grille. This would appeal to the younger buyers Rover was targeting – while remaining ‘recognisably Rover’.
‘We’re stretching the perceptions of Roverness so the grille is very important to establish the Rover credentials.’
Younger buyers? Apparently, then-boss John Towers wanted 20s and 30s, rather than 40, 50 and 60 year olds. People like me, then: had I been older, I’d have been receptive to this ‘significant message in a new era of Rover products’.
People such as me are the reason why Rover fitted extra-long seat runners: boosting it for those up front, and sacrificing rear space. Mind you, a properly shorter wheelbase than the 306 Rendell compared it with was also a factor here. Also led to a small boot.
As we know, the R3 project cost £200 million, through using bits from the parts bin, and making sure 3dr and 5dr use lots of common bits: front end, roof, rear hatch and glass are the same for both. Only the side pressings and doors are different.
Rendell also pointed out the front bulkhead forwards was the same as the R8; new press tools built an all-new floorpan.
Suspension, he explained, was modified 200 struts at the front, and a H-frame rear torsion beam we now know is from the Maestro. Despite grannies driving that, the firm tuned it for handling: project chief Bill Owen told Rendell it ‘just turns in and grips.’
Neutral rear steer tuning for the rear combined with ride comfort ’very similar’ to the 400 over smaller bumps. Over bigger bumps, it was just behind. Roll bars make an interesting comparison, tool
• Standard: 19mm f, 16mm r
• Diesel: 23mm f, 16mm r
• Vi: 25mm f, 18mm r
Why the big jump for diesels? To counter the extra weight of the engine: unlike the all-alloy K Series, the then-new L-series was decidedly ferrous. Diesels came in 86hp or 105hp: electronic control for the injection system gave the more powerful one its boost.
More tech: the 1.6-litre got a CVT, from Belgians VCST – the same chaps who made it for the Metro CVT. Impressive example of scaling-up here: indeed, it would also later appear on the 1.8-litre MGF Steptronic.
Overall, Rendell was most impressed with the 200. Should see queues forming outside dealers, he reckoned. See: even as late as ’95, Rover could still do it.
A decade later, alas, it would be no more.
Land Rover’s ride quality secret
Mat point December 3, 2009
Posted by richard in : History , add a commentVAUXHALL, in 1963, used to offer 512 different types of carpet to its Victor model. Blimey.
512! Imagine the logistics, the waste, the need for systems management, the storage demands, sheer difficulty of co-coordinating and perfecting this in the days way before computers and JIT. To a production manager today, it plain doesn’t bear thinking about.
But, know what? Direct comparisons can be drawn with today, believe it or not. Yes, I am using carpet as an example of modern lean car production.
Modern cars, you see, usually have but one basic type of carpet. None of that multi-colour, multi-grade stuff nowadays: you may have gotten posh plush shag in a 1979 Ford Fiesta Ghia, but in today’s Titanium Individual, it’s exactly the same bum-fluff stuff (© Russell Bulgin) that’s in the boggo Studio.
This is why price-list spotters now note something very significant on the official car manufacturers list: carpet mats. Yes, really. Car makers have made them a factory-fit option, or a factory-fit upgrade on the posher variants.
Why? To simplify production, cut costs, ease the supplier chain, yet still ensure there’s sufficient margin to trade up on posher trims. Genius.
Particularly as this is a fitment that’s entirely flexible. You could even do it at dealer level, as part of the PDI, rather than needing a specific process on the production line. Brings a dose more uniformity to the production process, that probably saves £millions.
Clues like this abound in price lists. Cars are more tech-packed than ever, yet the fact they are still priced relative to models in the past is only partly through the cost of tech coming down.
Car makers have worked out how to make cars more cheaply, without you noticing. Bet you 512-to-1 that this carpety thought had never crossed your mind…
How to do motor industry PR brilliance
Advice from Ford’s Walter Hayes
The more things change… November 21, 2009
Posted by richard in : History , add a commentTWO decades ago, the car industry was in a recession, too. 1991 was a year of depression, sales shrinkages and dealer drama.
Sound familiar? Well, looking at the news of the day, the parallels extend far further than that. Yearly sales were around 1.8 million, well down on the all-time record of 2.3 million in 1989. Rather similar to this year’s prediction, too.
This led, explained Autocar & Motor’s David Sutherland, to ‘plant idling’ – shutting plants down for weeks and months on end. Honda, Nissan and MINI will be familiar with this.
He also looked at a few individual brands, rating their performance over the year.
Ford used to claim 30 percent, but the maker was suffering, mainly because of the rubbish Escort. 25 percent was the total experts said it would have to put up with (today, Ford commands 17.5 percent. There’s a difference).
Rover (remember them?) was still doing well – the Brit-built Metro was brilliant, as were the 200 and 400. Even the archaic Maestro and Montego were finding homes in large lease and daily rental fleets, albeit with massive discounts.
Citroen was on the up, with the ZX bringing market share up to around 3.5-4 percent. Again, oddly similar to what it holds today. Funnily, expert Garel Rhys noted the firm’s pricing throughout the ‘80s was competitive, ‘and it will have to beep up the aggressive marketing strategy’…
BMW was pleased: here is where the 3 Series really started its shift to the mainstream, with the launch of the E36. Sutherland reckoned the biggest problem would be getting enough right-hookers.
‘It’s a good time to launch a small car because in this recession a lot of people are considering down-sizing,’ said a BMW GB chief.
Lest we forget, Japanese makers were still selling under quotas, meaning they were cushioned against the recession. Nissan was the largest: it could sell 6 percent of the UK market total. Interesting, and not long to last.
But, today and quota-free, is there really that much difference in volumes? Toyota has 5 percent, Nissan has 3.2 percent, Mazda has 2.3 percent…
There were differences, though. In 2009, it’s been scrappage-boosted private buyers who have kept the market up. Company car drivers did that in 1991 – retail sales were knocked by price rises and high interest rates. The latter isn’t a factor now, and scrappage has reduced the impact of the latter.
18 years ago seems like only yesterday, yet you’d still think there would be huge changes in the UK market. And, with no Rover and more makers eating into Ford’s share, there have indeed been.
Still, though, the framework remains intriguingly familiar…
If Ford played chess, don’t take it on
Why scrappage is now inevitable
Ford gloom hides people carrier revolution?
