SUVs Rammed Down our Throats

Another horror story for Halloween...

RAM are going to launch an SUV.

Here's the Car+Driver story.

RAM make trucks and big things.  Unusually for a Brit, I have driven one.  It looked like this one:

Only wasn't missing a hubcap.

I suppose if Ferrari can do an SUV and Rolls Royce can do an SUV then everyone will want to cash in.

This will just be a rebadged other Stellantis model.

And it won't be infesting our shores.

I hope.

It'll just be America.

And they've already got their own horror story.

A Little Nissan Qashqai

They don't have Nissan Qashqais in America.

Is it because they can't pronounce it?

That can't be it - they manage well enough with their own pronunciations of Jaguar and Hyundai.

Although their version of the Qashqai is a lot easier to pronounce - I give you the Nissan Kicks:

Which looks remarkably like a Qashqai and is about the same size.

WHICH ISN'T SMALL!

It seems to be 85mm shorter than a Qashqai though - which is probably why it has made it in to Autoguide's list of the Smallest Cars on Sale Today 

- in America.

Their smallest car is the Chevrolet Spark.  That used to be on sale here in the UK.  It was bland.

I suppose it is small - albeit not as small as a Fiat 500.

Drive.com.au have a story about one of those that is antibacterial.  It has a UV lamp in the glovebox to zap Covid too.

And a link to U2.

You can only drive it where the streets have no name.

It is part of a partnership between Stellantis and Red.  Red is a company co-founded by Bono which seems to be linked to fighting health emergencies around the World.

Like Covid.

But, if a Fiat 500 is still too big for you, you may be interested in this Swiss, electric, Isetta:

It has two seats.

So it can be driven with or without you.

Urban Grim

No - I don't mean Grime.

Here's Citroen's fairly recently launched Urban EV - the Ami:

It sort of makes the old Ami look acceptable:

And now it has competition.

According to Autocar today, "New ACM City One is battery-swapping urban EV" and "New Opel Rocks-e is Citroen Ami-based urban EV for Germany"

Here's the ACM City One:

Those aren't the batteries on the roof.  I suppose it isn't horrendous on the outside.

But it is on the inside:

Very grim.  Although I do miss a good old-fashioned rocker switch.  And it seems to have heated seats.

It is German - like of course Opel are.  Their new product though is very French:

Obviously taking advantage of one of their Stellantis stablemates.

I don't know if Rocks-e has some significance in German - would a Vauxhall version be called a Roxy?

The story states, "The 2.41m-long, 471kg EV is almost visually unaltered, too, save for the addition of a new 'Vizor'-style front end panel, which brings the Rocks-e into line with Opel-Vauxhall's more mainstream cars."

"The Vizor style front end panel?"  They've just swapped the Citroen badge for an Opel badge!  Mind you, the Opel badge is well suited for an EV.

Top speed is 28mph so probably not one for the Autobahns.

Opel has confirmed its model will head for other markets in 2022, following a German market launch this autumn - this Stellantis-brand badge would fit on the front:

Spotty Car

I saw a TV Commercial at the weekend for Spoticar and because I wasn't properly watching thought they were saying "Spotty Car".

Spotty cars look stupid:

But then I noticed it was for Spoticar.

So Spotify are going in to the Used Cars game?

Apparently not.  What I hadn't noticed from the advert was that all of the cars were from the Stellantis Group and today, Autocar revealed what it was all about.

Spoticar has been running in parts of Europe since 2019 but presumably doesn't have the same zitty implications in French or Spanish.

Just let's hope the buyers don't make any rash decisions.