Back To the Future

No, it's not a DeLorean story, it's a BMW story.

Most motoring websites (like Car+Driver here) are picking up on BMW's Vision Neue Klasse which is supposed to be the electric future of the 3-Series.

and it looks bloody good:

Probably because it is s retro design harking back to the beautiful BMWs of the 1960s.  Although the back is very Alfa Romeo:

The important thing is it doesn't have the stupid nostrils/beaver teeth of the modern cars:

Interior looks more like a conservatory and the seat covers are corduroy:

Yes - corduroy!

The sort of material you would find on the trousers of the people in this video from the past:

8 Things you might have needed to know about THE GRAND TOUR: A MASSIVE HUNT if you hadn't already watched it

This Drivetribe article is pointless.  It's called "8 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE GRAND TOUR: A MASSIVE HUNT" but it is written by somebody who has just watched it.

Anyone who may be interested in this article would be watching the show rather than reading the article.

Which is why the article actually told me 8 things I already knew about THE GRAND TOUR: A MASSIVE HUNT.

Here are a couple of other things that you will already know about THE GRAND TOUR: A MASSIVE HUNT if you have watched it:

9. There was a clever bit of animation added to a "Falling Rocks" sign on the road around Reunion.

10.  Jeremy used the show to reinforce his anti-Brexit views including using a European flag to start the drag race and describing the third world conditions in a run-down bit of Madagascar as life outside the EU.  I tried to get a photo of the drag race start but if you put "Drag Race" into Google, you get pictures of men dressed up as grotesque caricatures of women.  This was the best Drag Race photo I could find:

11.  They didn't use new cars.  Good job really.

12.  Convertibles are often called "Spiders" (or "Spyders" if you are Alfa Romeo).  James' Caterham covered in mud and excrement really looked like a spider:

I hope you found it useful to read these four more things you might have needed to know about THE GRAND TOUR: A MASSIVE HUNT if you hadn't already watched it.

Or, if you don't have access to Amazon Prime, Oops, sorry!

Naked People in Cars

This picture caught my eye today:

 

It is from this Liverpool Echo story. It covers (or rather uncovers) an apparently naked man seen driving along the M62 motorway towards Liverpool.  The photo was taken by Dawn Hindley, who helpfully reveals (wrong word again) that she is an Interior Designer.  She says he was driving an "old, left hand-drive" car.

I'll give her the benefit of the doubt in terms of taking photos while driving because although she says "I was driving into Liverpool from Bolton to meet a client. I cracked up laughing when I saw him." she does also use the phrase “We were on the M62 heading into Liverpool. His car was alongside us and I thought ‘he’s totally starkers’."  Note the use of the word "we" and the photo does look like it could have been taken from the passenger seat and the article does describe her as a "car passenger."

However, if I'd been sat in the passenger seat, I'd have been a bit more interested in the car - I could tell from the photo that it was something special - it looked Italian classic coupe to me - and after a bit of Internet image searching I found I was right.

It was one of these:

 

Not your average "old, left-hand drive car".  It is a late '60s/early '70s Alfa Romeo Bertone Coupe.  The driver could probably be relatively easily traced by such a rare vehicle.  Job for a proper journalist there.

The driver who may be a bit of a Romeo himself if the speculation in the comments section is anything to go by.

Which brings me on to this video:

A clever video that was trending on Youtube a week or three ago.

But I found myself trying to identify the car.

I thought at first it was actually done in a couple of cars because the steering wheel changes from white to black but that was just a trick of the light caused by it being filmed at different times of the day.

In the end I decided that it's probably an Australian car - a four-door saloon or pick-up, but apart from that - I'm stumped.

Any ideas?

Silex is Golden

Welcome to the Silex Power Cheerios - sorry, Chreos.

This is a start-up based in Malta and the initial publicity and drawings remind me of the early releases from Eterniti with their Hemorrhoid, which eventually transmogrified into the re-jigged Porsche Cayenne that is the Artemis - so nothing like they were initially claiming - and with most of their setting up done by Porsche.

Another thing that makes me sceptical about the Chreos is that everything shown so far is computer-generated.

And some of their claims seem highly optimistic:

This is an electric car with a range of 1000km (620 miles in real money) and a full charge time of just 10 minutes.

It can also do 185mph and has a sub 3 second 0-60 time.


Fisker must be very worried.

If the claims are to be believed, then this will be an electric car that could be used in the real world in place of a petrol car.


GM, Ford, Toyota etc. must all also be worried.


Silex Power's Website has a promotional video that looks OK:
although the font they use is a bit tricky to read. The car looks like a Bugatti Galibier from the side and an Alfa-Romeo from the front but since it's all CGI that doen't really mean much yet.

They are being very cagey about their batteries but say it is just a development of existing technologies, They also say that the recharge uses something called Hypercharging - there is some information on their site about how this will work but it involves lots of numbers and talk of inverters and kilowatts and amps that went over my head.

They say that they will build their first full-size prototype in July and be selling the cars in 2015.


If they are right, then this is a very big deal. Fox News have picked up on the story but, apart from them, I'm not seeing a lot of coverage.

Is it too good to be true?

Ask a serial optimist...


...or a cereal optimist.

Geddit!?



Oh well, cheerio.

Alfa Romeo & Juliet

Looks like the Volkswagen Group are courting Alfa Romeo.

Don't think much of the chat-up line though:
Volkswagen’s Chairman Ferdinand Piech announced in Geneva that the company would be able to almost quadruple annual sales of Fiat’s ailing Alfa Romeo brand.

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has refused to sell the brand – “As long as I am CEO of Chrysler and Fiat, Mr. Piech will never have Alfa Romeo”

Didn't think it would work.

Autocar are running the story today.

They talk of Alfa failing to meet sales targets but there will be many reasons for this - not least the current economic climate. I've been looking out for the new 11-Reg cars that were let loose on Tuesday and so far, I've only spotted one - it was a Punto though so Sergio should be pleased.

Another reason could still be Alfa's reputation. Saint Jeremy states that you can't be a proper petrol-head unless you've owned an Alfa. I disagree. I've never even sat in one and have no desire to - it's like smoking or sky-diving - I have no desires in that direction. Mind you, out of those three options, the Alfa is the one I am most likely to attempt. Years of reading about Alfa has, maybe wrongly, prejudiced me against the brand - whether it is the seating position that suits Orang-Utans or the woeful reliability or the abysmal customer care - all issues that could be resolved by now for all I know - but I'm not bothered enough to find out.

A third reason could be the looks of the cars. I'm sorry if my view goes against everyone else here, but I think the Mito is downright ugly. I think it's the headlights that do it - they are the wrong shape and too far apart and there's not enough of them.

Compare it with the gorgeous Brera from a few years back:
They seem to have lost the plot along the way somewhere.





Not as badly, though, as when they got into bed with Datsun. Don't be jealous, Herr Piech, their love-child was an abomination combining Japanese style with Italian reliability instead of the other way around.

I am actually quite surprised that VW would want the Alfa brand, the only way I could see it working would be to stick Alfa badges on the Seat range and shut down a few factories and I don't think anyone would want that.

In fact it would be a tragedy.