Three for All

Happy St.Stephen's Day!

If Good King Wenceslas is looking out on the feast of motoring news this Christmas, he will have spotted the big story which is the potential merger of Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi.

The story came out with this photo:

Assuming they are standing in front of their respective logos, the Mitsubishi guy looks slightly less unhappy with the deal than the other two.

It took me a while to work out what that photo reminded be of.

At first I thought of Kraftwerk - maybe performing Autobahn:

But they have lecturns.

And there are four of them.

As I have mentioned before, here and here for example, three is the magic number - although I was talking about Top Gear at the time at the start of the Chris Evans era.

You don't hear of him nowadays.

But maybe that is a clue as to what the photo reminds me of:

Except they look too relaxed.

And they are stood in the wrong order - Hammond is definitely Mitsubishi and Clarkson is definitely Nissan.

This photo is a bit closer:

Sir Kier even has the pose right.

But this is the photo that captures the mood best:

Now, what sort of vehicle will these three automotive icons come up with?

How about this?

Solid State Drive

This, I reckon, is a game-changer from Nissan.

And just like the solid state bit means you have solid stuff where the moving stuff should be in a disk drive, solid state batteries have solid stuff where the sloshy stuff should be.

Autocar have an interesting piece on it today.  The technology in there today but Nissan claim that they will be able to mass-produce them at a reasonable cost. 

And it would mean lighter EVs with longer range.

That cost less.

And EVs using them could be in production by 2028.

But are they less damaging to the environment that the current lithium-ion EV batteries?  And less prone to igniting?

The article doesn't tell us.

But this one from New Scientist last October does.

Apparently, they are less damaging to the environment that the current lithium-ion EV batteries and they are less prone to igniting.

And Toyota has made a breakthrough that will allow “game-changing” solid-state batteries to go into production by 2028.

Genesis Line-Up

I'm more of the Phil Collins time than the Peter Gabriel.

I always think of Collins as a Tory sell-out.  He said he'd leave the country if Labour got in.

Rock and Roll, Phil.

But of course, this is a car blog so I am talking about Genesis the car brand.  They have entered the UK market and their line-up is here.  The G80 is featured in this month's Top Gear magazine - it gets 7 out of 10.

Genesis is the upmarket Hyundai brand.

Like Acura is Honda's, Lexus is Toyota's and Infiniti is Nissan's.

Acura never came to the UK, Lexus is very successful while Infiniti tried but gave up last year.  If they had hung on a bit longer, they could have revelled in Ash Sutton's astonishing success in the BTCC in one of their cars - and maybe sold a few more.

Car+Driver have a story about the new all-electric Genesis GV60 coming to America:

It has a fancy gear-knob described as, "an illuminated 'crystal sphere'"

Being a Korean company selling to America, they won't realise that that choice of car colour makes it look like a Citroen Cactus:

That's All.

Electric Light Vans

Interesting article on the Autocar site today.  It is about Swindon and the effects of the forthcoming closure of the Honda car plant there.

It seems it won't be completely bleak for the workforce.  The Brexit that caused the closure (despite what they claim) has also left a shortage of workers for other industries so there will be other jobs in the area.

Meanwhile, it's all looking bright for Sunderland.  Nissan's car plant was in similar danger of closure but they have announced an expansion to build electric cars and a new plant building electric vehicle batteries.  The Government have negotiated this a part of a deal involving a large input of public money.  Nobody will admit how large but given that it is in the North of England where the Tories are ingratiating themselves with the voters, we can safely assume that we are putting a huge amount in.

The battery plant will be vitally important for the future of the British car industry - trying to import large numbers of batteries from Europe or elsewhere would be a logistical nightmare.

The other site in danger is (or hopefully "was") Vauxhall's plant down the road from me in Ellesmere Port.  It looks like the "Home of the Astra" will become the "Home of Electric Vans".   Not particularly exciting but a sensible move in the current climate.

More exciting would be building a different electric vehicle.

This I really like:

Although the eyes are a bit scary.

It is an E-Legend EL1 - modelled on the Audi Quattro.  There will only be 30 of them and they will sell for about £1 Million each - shame - it's just out of my price range.

It mustn't be confused with the Honda Legend which, unlike the Civic, Accord, Jazz and CR-V, has never been built at their Swindon plant.

And now, it never will.

Opportunity Knocks for Vauxhall

Here's a story for the Brexiteers to cling on to.

 

It involves the tranquil Mediterranean fishing village of Ellesmere Port (pronounced L.S.Meer Portay)

 

Actually it's pronounced as it's spelled - only with a Scouse accent.

 

I drive past it every day on my way to work.

It's where a lot of Vauxhall/Opel Astras are built.

 

And will hopefully continue to be built after Brexit.  The boss of PSA who own the Vauxhall and Opel brands is reported as stating in this Autocar article, that Brexit may be a good opportunity for Vauxhall.

 

He may be right.

 

A British-badged vehicle built on this side of any tariffs that may be imposed could be a winner.

 

He is quoted thusly, "I am not facing Brexit always on the dark side of this outcome: there may be for the Vauxhall brand an opportunity for us. We are managing our marketing communications in the UK in a way that is very supportive of a British brand in the UK."

If his English is a little stunted, it is infinitely better than my Portuguese (his nationality) and my French which is presumably the language he spends a lot of time talking in.  This is him, Carlos Tavares:

He was almost certainly correct with,

"We prepare for the two outcomes and will deal with them when it comes up. Most probably there’s going to be a delay, which gives us a little more visibility for 2019."

Although the quote that I, as a devout Remoaner, mostly picked up on was,

"We can go on the dark side and say ‘perhaps we have to shut down plants’, and if we have to make difficult decisions we will."

Vauxhall/Opel only assemble Astras and Vivaro vans in the UK which they also assemble in Poland and France respectively so what about the Opel-badged vehicles?  And the rest of the Vauxhall range?

Nissan has already part-blamed Brexit from stopping the X-Trail in Sunderland while Honda is refusing to blame it for shutting it's Swindon factory but I think that has more to do with the fact that their customer-base is old people.

For the sake of the local economy and people I know who work there, I hope that Vauxhall Ellesmere Port goes on to thrive.

And I mean that most sincerely, folks, I really do.

Meanwhile, in a Ford Galaxy, Far, Far Away...

Today, Autoguide tell us that "If the Millennium Falcon Was a Car, Here’s What it Would Look Like" - together with this picture: 

No it bloody wouldn't!  That's a Nissan!

 

And, worse than that - it's an SUV!

 

Wouldn't fancy taking that down the local high street, the view out is abysmal:

Also, I'd always assumed the MF was right-hand drive, like the USS Enterprise.  I thought Chewbacca was the driver.

 

Meanwhile, the Minecraft Millennium Falcon looks like an Oreo.

It's probably actually very clever - I'm not sure because I never ventured beyond Lego.  The info is here.

 

Meanwhile, back to Nissan:  What has Star Wars got to do with a Nissan X-Trail (for that is what that car really is) anyway?  Surely they'd be better with a Ford Falcon - especially a late '70s version from when Star Wars was good: 

Ah, well there's the clever bit.  In the US, the X-Trail is called The Rogue - as in Star Wars Rogue One - Geddit?

 

Meanwhile, back to the '70s when Star Wars was good (Phantom Menace put me off for ever) - another Japanese manufacturer produced a special Star Wars themed car, I give you the Toyota Celica GT - Star Wars Special:

Nice.

 

Unlike the Nissan.

 

Last week, on Star Wars day, Car+Driver ran with this story about that car.  Today, nobody knows what happened to it.

 

Unusually for a Japanese car, I suspect it has broken down somewhere:

The Posh Pronunciation of Porsche

Or at least, the correct version:

I've always pronounced it that way anyway, but, as Car+Driver suggest, maybe this is aimed at the Americans.

Now to teach them how to say Hyundai and Jaguar.

And Nissan.

Would EU Believe It?

I have touched on the EU Referendum before.  It was in March.

And now I'm touching on it again.

Autocar report that Nissan are planning to sue Vote Leave over a Brexit flyer in which they claim that “Major employers have all said they’ll stay in the UK whatever the result of the referendum” which may be true but they use various employers logos alongside this statement implying by association that these employers are pro-Brexit. Nissan are pro-Bremain so don't want to be appearing on these flyers.

I suspect it will be something about use of a trademarked logo that they will get them for.

The FT have the story too.  I love the way that their website is pink to match their newspaper.  They state...
"Some of the country’s largest manufacturers — Jaguar Land Rover, Toyota, BMW and Vauxhall — on Monday issued a renewed pledge to protect jobs and investment by voting to remain.

Other major manufacturers such as Nissan and Ford have already said they would prefer the UK to remain part of the EU, although none of the companies have said they will close UK plants in the event of a Brexit."

So Nissan haven't actually said they will stay open, they just haven't said they'd close.  Toyota & Vauxhall logos also appear on the leaflet - I guess they won't be too happy either.

I could imagine a small 1970s saloon being called the Ford Brexit.  But that's just how my mind works.

Meanwhile, Jeremy has backed his up Remain views (look back to my March article) with an amusing video featuring James May.

Don't Look Back in Angles

Nissan have introduced a new accessory.

It is a rear-view mirror that allows you to see through people's heads.  It uses a camera at the back of the car to broadcast onto the mirror.

Fox have the story here while Autoguide have it here.

Nissan have given the product a silly name and produced a silly video:

Fox say that they don't know which countries are going to be offered this and it is difficult to tell from the video - the car is right-hand drive - it isn't Britain - the sweaty lad in the back is wearing basketball gear and the people are Caucasian.

As for the silly name, Nissan are calling it the "Smart Rearview Mirror".

Sounds sensible doesn't it?  It is silly though because another product with that name already exists providing rearward vision to drivers of Smart cars.  Here's a picture of one I found on e-Bay:

It perfectly demonstrates its reflective qualities showing the hand and cameraphone being used to take the photo.  It is from a Smart Fourtwo.

 

Nissan's idea is a good one though - ideal for van or Lamborghini Countach drivers especially.  It looks like they have also been clever enough to reverse the image rather than just showing straight video footage.  It would be confusing and possibly dangerous not to do this and all emergency service vehicles would need to have the backwards writing on the fronts put back to the right way around.  No more ECILOP.

 

Something to reflect on then.

 

 

A Nissan that Resonates

And I'm not talking about the exhaust of a GT-R.

I'm not normally into brown cars but this looks quite good.

These pictures are a peek ahead from Autoguide at a Nissan Concept car for the Geneva motor Show which starts next month.

It does seem to be sticking to Nissan's current philosophy of producing a range of 4x4s or things that look like they ought to be 4x4s.

 

Autoguide reckon this will become the new Murano.

 

It's quirky enough.

 

I liked the look of the old Murano but saw very few on the roads. 

Hopefully, the exterior of the concept will be carried over to the production model.

 

Apparently, Murano is a bit of Venice.  I suppose it is as good a name as any.

 

And better than "Nissan Resonance" which is the name of the concept...

 

...and that explains my post title.

Thank you.

Plump My Ride

I might as well use that title - everyone else has. To be fair, it is the name of a BMW scheme to design their cars to cater for lots of very different sized people with the emphasis on the fact that, as a species, we are getting huge.

Caradvice.com.au went with this version of the story today which would have been quite interesting except I remember reading exactly the same item a couple of weeks ago. Even down to Ford and Nissan developing fat suits to test out their innovations.

I couldn't remember where though so I did a bit of digging. I failed to find the original article I had read but I did find this story on the Daily Mail site and this virtually identical one on the Telegraph site. They were both dated October 24th and both used this photo...I don't know if Nick McDermott of The Mail copied it off Andrew Hough of the Telegraph or not but there's only 9 minutes between the publication times of the articles so maybe they both copied it off someone else.

It wasn't The Huffington Post though. They didn't carry the story until November 4th but they still used that same photo.

It's taken a further 19 days for Tim Beissmann to get the story in Australia but he's definitely picked up the best picture:

To Infiniti and Beyond

What could be beyond Infinity?

Eternity?

Nah. And what happens when you spell them wrong?

Infiniti are Nissan's answer to Toyota's Lexus - luxury well-built cars but a bit boring. I mean look at this G37...It even looks quite Lexusish.

Infiniti have stated that they want to seriously up the numbers they sell in the UK next year. Up to now they've gone for the exclusive angle with a minimal number of dealerships hidden around the country - next year they're opening a few more.

But would anyone want to copy them?

Apparently so.This child's cardboard cut-out of a Peugeot with big wheels is supposed to be the new Eterniti luxury British car launching at the Frankfurt Motor Show next month. It's supposed to be an SUV - a posh Cayenne-type for Aston Martin money.

Lots of motoring sites including Autocar and me are mentioning it but I'm not sure why - I doubt if it will ever exist in the metal.

Unless Mattel do a Hotwheels version.

In fact, that looks like who they've nicked the wheel design from.