Things...Can Only Get Better?

Well they can't get any worse than the Website I accidentally stumbled upon this evening called "The THINGS .Com"

They have a writer called Chris Flynn who they claim, "is a proficient reader and writer. He has written for many publications including TheRichest, TheClever, TheQuiz, and ListVerse. Cars are his passion."

I can read - and write.  I can even do them proficiently.  I have never heard of any of the publications listed but suspect they are Websites not actual publications.  Cars are my passion too.

But when I write about cars, I don't simply produce lists of 15 things about them all day.

But that does seem to be what the whole THINGS website consists of.

To be fair to the lad, the item that I stumbled upon was actually a list of NINETEEN things.  Allegedly, a list of "19 French And German Cars We Wouldn’t Touch With A 10-Foot-Pole" headed up by a picture of James May modelling a KV Mini 1:



Only problem is, the list consists of 10 pretty decent German cars and 9 arguably crap French ones.

 

No mention of the Trabant or the NSU Ro80 or the Messerschmitt KR200 - just Mercs, Audis and Beemers - does the passionate car man have a problem with the prestige German brands?

 

Then maybe he should be learning about DS - the Citroen offshoot who produce far from crap French cars.

 

Remember the Citroen C6? 

Beautiful, quirky and luxurious - much like the CX before it: 

And the SM and the XM?  All decent large barges that only seemed really popular in France.  French presidents have always been driven about in large Citroens.

 

Which was good news for people looking to buy them after they had depreciated.  This is possibly because the Citroen brand never had the luxury cachet outside of France.

 

Well hopefully the DS brand will have it as this Car+Driver story about the DS9 heralds in the next French luxo-barge and it looks bloody good too: 

 My next article will be a list of 15 Websites I must remember not to visit again.

Expanding Peugeot

Last week, a brilliant young car blogger stated this:

"It looks like Peugeot are involved in negotiations to take over Vauxhall and Opel.

This would given them Peugeot, Citroen, DS, Vauxhall, Opel & Ambassador - and probably too many factories - not good news - especially since they have had financial problems over the last few years while Vauxhall & Opel have been losing money."

It appeared in this article by me.

Now, this other article, by Autocar, says they also want Proton.  It also says that their financial worries seem to have subsided - which will hopefully be good news for the workers of Peugeot, Citroen, DS, Vauxhall, Opel, Ambassador, Proton & Lotus.

Did you spot the way I stuck Lotus in at the end?

That's because Proton effectively own Lotus.

Now, that could mean some nice modern takes on collaborations from the past such as when Lotus got together with PSA (Peugeot Citroen Group) to produce the Lotus Sunbeam:

...or when they got into bed with Vauxhall/Opel for the Lotus Carlton (or Omega for the Opel badged version):

If Peugeot really do splash the cash, then why not a Lotus DS4 and a Lotus Insignia?

Of course, this could all be speculation - or even some of this fake news that the POTUS keeps warning us about (perhaps he should start by fact-checking Fox & Breitbart?)  Maybe we should swap the word "president" with "liar" and call him the LOTUS?

Anyway I'm pretty confident with reliability of the sources for the Hindustan and Vauxhall/Opel stories.

And as for Proton, I'm positive.

Peugeot Splashing The Cash

At the weekend, it emerged that Peugeot were buying the Ambassador brand - that is the Hindustan Ambassador -

 - not the Austin Ambassador -

The BBC story is here.

It doesn't say whether or not they are taking on the whole Hindustan Company, factories etc.  I suspect they are not which is a shame because they could restart manufacture and maybe restyle it on a more modern car than its original base which was the 1950s Morris Oxford:

 

A Peugeot 404 perhaps?

I imagine labour is a bit cheaper in India than Europe - they may wish to start building the other ranges they've just purchased there too.  Check out this story that has been building all week.

It looks like Peugeot are involved in negotiations to take over Vauxhall and Opel.

This would given them Peugeot, Citroen, DS, Vauxhall, Opel & Ambassador - and probably too many factories - not good news - especially since they have had financial problems over the last few years while Vauxhall & Opel have been losing money.

Although, allegedly, Peugeot shares are doing quite well at the moment.  They may be hoping to do a Fiat who had their own problems not that long ago.

In any case, I would be worried by that sudden Indian connection.  I'll just stick with my Jaguar in the meantime.

Tata for now.

Recalling Picasso

D'Oh!










Another BBC story today, and it's also a trailer for Watchdog. I'm surprised the rest of the motoring media hasn't picked up on this one because it is a howler - and a dangerous one at that.

The Citroen C3 Picasso......an attracive (if cubist) car, was, unsurprisingly for a Citroen, designed in France - where they drive on the right side of the road. That is right as in "left/right" not right as in "right/wrong" - after all, we all know that the left is the right side to drive on. (That sentence won't make a lot of sense if translated from English!)

Now to convert this car to drive on the left, you need to move the controls to be on the right and therein lay the problem.

I've experienced problems with French cars before - I think the pedal positioning of the RHD Peugeot 206s, for instance, is an accident waiting to happen.

But the C3 Picasso's problem is that, rather than move the whole brake mechanism, they put a bar running the width of the car where the pedals go. This means that someone stretching out in the passenger seat, can move the bar and apply the brakes.

This could lead to some serious rear-ending - leaving you with a face like this...










Apparently reluctantly, Citroen are recalling more than 20,000 cars.

Enough to make you weep...

Fashion Victim

Citroën have released pictures of this freaky little Beach-Buggy-ish vehicle - a concept car in conjunction with Lacoste. Lacoste are obviously a fashion house/clothing company who presumably know very little about cars while Citroën presumably know bugger all about fashion and the resulting product would, I guess, appeal more to those wanting to make a fashion statement than those wanting to find a practical road transport. I think I used to have a Lacoste jumper in the late '80s when jumpers were fashionable (not that I ever was myself) and someone told me that the Lacoste crocodile logo used to change colour every year.

Mine never did.

Fashion and motoring have combined in special editions many times over the years. Off the top of my head I can recall a Mary Quant Mini (car not skirt) and Jeff Banks decorating a Kia for Matalan last year some time.

I was (briefly) surprised recently that Land-Rover brought in Victoria Beckham as a design consultant on the new Evoque model. I'm not a fan of the woman - she can barely sing, she tried to sue a football club for using the nickname "Posh" when they'd had it since formation 76 years ago and she does that funny walk that models do. Martine McCutcheon has started doing that walk too in her adverts for yoghurt-that-makes-women-poo-regularly. But, after thinking about it, Vicky B and women who aspire to be Vicky B are just the sort of women who are prospective buyers of an Evoque so there is some logic there. It's definitely labelling the Evoque as "a woman's car" though. Like the modern Beetle with its dashboard flower vase.

I don't know how much Jaguar/Land-Rover are paying her for her services but they have announced this week that they will be creating 1000 new jobs here on Merseyside as a direct result of the Evoque - I wonder if they need a Blogger?