Aussie Motoring

Earlier this month we reported on the latest car sale figures for the Australian market in May but not every country … nor every segment … was as bouyant as the Australian market was in May. In once instance the impact of falling sales has led to some serious re-thinking of future plans.

General Motors experienced a 37% drop in the sale of SUVs and vans in the United States during May and, when you consider that GM makes more money from the sale of SUVs than it does from conventional vehicles, it’s no wonder that GM is re-thinking its future strategy.

GM did have a team of engineers working on developing fuel-saving technologies for their SUVs with a view to introducing them by 2012 but no more. The team has been dispanded and re-assigned to other projects and General Motors may soon be making changing it’s focus from SUVs to more fuel efficient cars.

Volkswagen is also experiencing some problems in what it describes as “a difficult market environment”. While sales are surging in China they are falling when taken on a worldwide basis. VW reported a drop in of 0.8 percent in worldwide sales in May.

Kia on the other hand reported a 16.5% increase in worldwide sales during May with large increases in all markets. Most noteable were a 56.8 percent increase in sales to China, an 8.8 percent increase in sales to Europe and an 8.6 percent increase in sales to North America.

Over the last year or so I’ve bumped into a number of people from Europe who are amazed at how little lighting there is on our major country roads at night so today I thought I’d share a couple of photos I took yesterday as we headed north to Rockhampton.

We left well before dawn and took a back road from Hervey Bay across to the Bruce Highway at Torbanlea.

The light straight ahead is the full moon while the light slightly to the left is a reflective road sign. It’s a back road so you wouldn’t expect to see much lighting but the next picture was taken on the Bruce Highway - part of Australia’s Highway 1.

No lights but for the tail lights of the only other car on the road at that hour of the morning, one lane in each direction and plenty of road kill to be seen once the sun came up.

Remember the early Mini’s? They came with a speedo, a fuel gauge and two or three warning lights and that was it! But not any more.

Since BMW took over the Mini you get all the information on your dashboard that you could ever want. 

There’s the time, the temperature, the distance you’ve travelled and two other interesting bits of information as well.

On the left beside the bowser icon you’ll see what your current fuel consumption is and alongside that a suggestion of what gear you should be in as well.

Sometimes you just have to wonder if too much information doesn’t take all the fun out of driving. However BMW would really have to work hard to take the fun out of the new Mini John Cooper Works models. The hardtop will do 0-100km/h in 6.5 seconds while the Clubman will do it in 6.8 seconds and both can reach 238km/h.

The price for one of these hairy little beasts starts at $48,000 plus onroad costs.

Well that’s the hype surrounding the latest fire-breathing Toyota Corolla and with specs that include a Dual VVT-i 1.8 litre engine that delivers 100Kw of power then it’s definitelly got the grunt to live up to the hype.

It comes with either a 6 speed manual transmission or a 4 speed auto and the list of features is impressive.

Prices start at $29,500 for the 5 door 6 speed manual and $31,500 for the five door 4 speed auto.

You can read more about the Toyota Corolla Levin ZR here and if you check out the photos you’ll see that this car comes with a push button to start the vehicle. That’s something you might think is quite new but the early Morris Minis came with a push button starter … although it didn’t look quite as flash as the one in the Corolla Levin

Australian new motor vehicle sales remained strong last month, despite higher interest rates and fuel prices.

Official VFACTS figures released today by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) show that 88,640 cars, trucks and buses were sold in May – an increase of 43 vehicles on the same month last year.
“This is a good result for the automotive industry, although there is evidence that interest rate rises and other factors have slowed the rate of growth in recent months,” FCAI Chief Executive Andrew McKellar said.

Year-to-date the car market is now up 4 per cent on the same period in 2007, which was an all-time record year.

The May figures reveal a ‘two-phase’ car market, with the passenger car market down slightly (2.5 per cent) while the SUV and light commercial markets continue to boom.

Sales in the medium SUV segment were up 16.8 per cent on May 2007 and the large SUV segment was up 12 per cent, despite the impact of higher fuel costs.

The light commercial vehicle market also continues to be buoyant – with ute sales particularly strong.

The pick-up/cab-chassis 4×4 segment rose 5.7 per cent over May last year, while the van segment rose 22.5 per cent.

Mr McKellar said an increasing number of passenger vehicles and SUVs are being bought with clean-diesel engines.

“Several new common-rail injection clean diesels have entered the market in the past few months, and we can see that Australian drivers are keen to give the new technology a try,” Mr McKellar said.

Vehicle buyers seeking improved fuel efficiency do not necessarily have to choose a smaller vehicle.

“The traditional image of diesel vehicles has changed, he said. Diesel vehicles can provide significant benefits in terms of fuel efficiency and reduced carbon emissions but have good power and performance.”

Mr McKellar said higher fuel prices should not scare consumers away from traditional petrol engines either, because new technology has made these more efficient.

“Our analysis shows that higher fuel costs are prompting people to shop around to find a new car that both suits their needs and also has better fuel economy than the one they are currently driving,” he said.

Toyota remained the top-selling marque in May with 23.4 per cent of the market, followed by Holden with 12.5 per cent and Ford with 10.9 per cent.

So far this year Toyota leads the sales race with 101,816 vehicles sold, followed by Holden with 55,155 and Ford with 44,183.

Earlier this week General Motors announced that it would be closing four plants in the United States and Canada in a cost-cutting exercise that see a reduction in GM’s production of trucks and SUV’s. That was probably to be expected as the cost of fuel rose and the demand for big vehicles diminished.

What was not so obvious though was that General Motors also planned to close part of its plant at Fisherman’s Bend Plant in Melbourne. Reports suggest that up to 500 jobs could be lost and Holden closes the four cyclinder engine production line.

Two more small vehicles available in Australia have been given a five-star crash test rating by the Australian New Car Assessment Programme - ANCAP

The top of the range Lancer ated highly for occupant protection following a series of crash tests – a frontal offset, a side offset and a pole test. The model tested was the top-spec model, which includes head-protecting side air bags and Electronic Stability Control (ESC) – both prerequisites for a five-star rating under ANCAP’s rating methodology. The lower spec Lancer scored four stars.

The Hyundai i30, which also includes side curtains and ESC, achieved five stars after a recent modification improved the vehicle’s knee impact area, which ANCAP had raised as an issue. The New Zealand i30 will receive the same upgrade. Similar to the Lancer, the lower spec i30 scores four stars.

I’m sure that most of us would be environmentally friendly when it comes to the cars we drive if only we could afford it. Sadly though cheap environmentally friendly cars come with a price tag that put them right out of the reach of many motorists.

That could be about to change though and as early as 2011 we could be seeing cheap hybrid cars arriving here in Australia.

This is the Honda CRZ concept car. It’s powered by a low-cost petrol-electric engine and Honda plans on developing this concept into a global car that it will sell around the world.

Drive.com is reporting that a 5 door version of this concept could hit the streets of Australia by 2011.

And the bottom line? Honda is aiming to have this in the showrooms for a price in the mid $20k range.

You can see more of the Honda CRZ concept car by following the link.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has revealed the first design sketches of its next new model. Known as RR4, the car is due to be launched in 2010 and will sit alongside the Phantom model line-up. RR4 will be smaller than Phantom and powered by a new engine, unique to Rolls-Royce.

The design was signed off in 2007 and engineering development is now fully underway. The Goodwood manufacturing facilities are being completely reconfigured to accommodate the RR4, with extended paint, wood and leather shops as well as a second assembly line. The company will move to a two shift system next year as it gears up for full production of the new model.

Chief designer, Ian Cameron, said, “Effortless performance and standard-setting levels of comfort and efficiency, executed with the utmost care and attention, remain fundamentals of Rolls-Royce design. The RR4 has a more informal presence than the Phantom models with a greater emphasis on driving. In design terms this is expressed through its slightly smaller dimensions and more organic form, yet with powerful, purposeful proportions. It is a true and uncompromising Rolls-Royce in every sense.”

“RR4 will mark a milestone in the history of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars”, Chairman, Ian Robertson added. “The business continues to go from strength to strength and the introduction of this new model will expand the appeal of the brand. We look forward to this next chapter with anticipation and confidence.”

… whether I want one or it’s just a pile of ugly American metal

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