Brand New

Did I miss a story in Autocar last week about a VW Group rebranding exercise?

On October 7th they told us that VW has a new look for it's sporty "R" brand.

On October 14th they told us that Seat could be rebranded as Cupra.

On October 21st I think I must have missed one because...

On October 28th they told us that Skoda may or may not be rebranded as a budget brand.

Checking back, there WAS a rebranding story on the 21st but it was GM rebranding Hummer as an EV brand - a more suitable story for April 1st I'd have thought.

They also had a very interesting slideshow listing what they believe to be the most significant car for every year from 1945 to 2000.  The one for the year of my birth is the Fiat 124.

But I digress.

Traditionally, the VW Group's four main brands have always been:

• Skoda - the cheap one
• Seat - the sporty one
• VW - the mainstream one
• Audi - the posh one

Then you've got the likes of Porsche, Bentley, Lambo and Bugatti as luxury, sporty add-ons.

So they really don't need an R Brand.

Or do they?

Green China Plates

Looks like Habitat is the place to go for green dinner plates:

But China is the place to go for green number plates:

But only if the plates are going on a green car like the one in that photo.

 

Yes, I know it looks white but it is green because it is electric.

 

And our Government is suggesting we do something similar here - the BBC have the story.

 

But then they have been suggesting all sorts of things lately.

 

The logic is, local authorities could easily identify electric vehicles and give them extra privileges - like letting them use bus lanes.  Which would be fine until the electric cars take over and the bus lanes get clogged up.  High occupancy lanes is a better way of going with that.

 

Plus Renault Zoës and Twizys are ugly enough as it is - they would look even worse with a green number plate: 

The second or third of these options might work better:

Or copy the Norwegians and have an "e" at the start of the plate.

Our Government should like being like Norway.

Breathing Queasy

Here's a piece from the BBC about school-runs and pollution.

It asks the question about which method of transport causes least toxin inhalation in our primary school-age children - walking, cycling, or car-ing.

If I hadn't seen a similar experiment on another programme I'd have said the bikes would be the worst because you are physically on the road and doing serious exercise.

However, I had seen that programme so knew that the car is worst.  The bad air gets sucked in through the grille and trapped in the car for the occupants to enjoy.

Now my car has a nice AM button which doesn't change the radio from FM but instead allows me to choose between Automatic, Manual or no air recirculation:

A sensor detects pollutants in the outside air and controls the shut-off automatically if in A Mode (which mine always is) - I don't know if this would be enough to protect me and my passengers if I was asked to participate in a school-run.

Looks like I need to get the Mr.Sheen out though.

Maybe we all need the help of Veolia - a company who state on their Website that "We're innovators committed to focusing on carbon reduction by preventing pollution, preserving natural resources, protecting biodiversity, combating climate change and raising environmental awareness."

Or maybe not:

Animal Wrongs

Tricky one this.

An animal has died.

Here is the BBC story of a couple of zebras which escaped from a circus in Germany and got onto a motorway causing a crash.

I'm not an edgy comedian so have to resist the temptation to use the phrase "zebra crossing" although the phrase in the story that stands out is, "The animal was going in the wrong direction on the autobahn from Tessin to Rostock"

 

Is there really a correct direction for a zebra on the autobahn from Tessin to Rostock?

 

Or are they implying that the zebra wanted to go to Tessin?

 

In either case, as any edgy, right-on person (or any reasonably intelligent person) will tell you, animals shouldn't be in circuses.