AUTO MANIA: by Dr. Iain Corness [email protected]

Attrage - an outrageous name?

Outtrage

Another silly name from a Japanese manufacturer, with the Mirage eco-car getting a boot and a new name. Attrage!
Now “Attrage” does very little for me, but Mitsubishi say it is the amalgamation of “attractive” and “Mirage”.
However, the Mitsubishi assembly plant at Laem Chabang will see Attrage being built alongside the Mirage hatch, and due for public release June/July. This release date is a world first, with export markets looking at receiving Attrages at the end of the year or even Q1 2014.
The engine is the same 1.2 liter MIVEC engine as found in the Mirage with a choice of five-speed manual gearbox or CVT and fuel consumption in the range of 4.5 liters per 100 kilometers.
While obviously derived from the Mirage, the Attrage has a redesigned nose with a larger grille, bigger head-lights and restyled front bumper.
Mitsubishi said in a statement that the Attrage features a class-leading turning circle of 4.8 meters and “sleek aerodynamics, with a dynamic character line which kicks up towards the rear.” (Well, that is a matter of personal opinion!)
It won’t be the first time a car-maker changes the name of the sedan version of a popular hatch in the sub-compact class, with Honda naming its Jazz-based sedan the City and Nissan going with Almera for its Micra-based offering.
Projected price? Honda’s City VTi is priced above its Jazz donor car, and Nissan’s Almera ST is dearer than the Micra ST on which it is based. However, not all manufacturers charge more for a boot in this class with Ford’s Fiesta LX hatch and sedan costing exactly the same price in Australia.

Have electric cars blown their fuses?

Nissan Leaf

Far from electric cars taking over from the internal combustion engine, comes the news that Better Place, the battery swap specialists, has filed for bankruptcy.
Better Place and Renault became partners, which looked to be a mutually rewarding deal. Renault was making all electric cars (the Leaf and the Fluence) and was sure they would sell over 100,000 cars in Israel and Denmark by 2016. Unfortunately, the public did not embrace the electric concept and only 1,000 cars have been sold so far. This was not enough to keep the battery exchange company going, and now Better Place is not in a better place!
With no signs of the world’s oil reserves running out, despite all the scare mongering of a few years ago, motorists do not see the pressing need to buy a non-polluting motor vehicle. CO2 emissions mean nothing to the average joe either. Electric cars are not yet dead in the water, but until there is a shortage of fuel, the electric cars will remain the province of the dyed in the wool conservationists, and there are not that many prepared to pay extra for an electric car.
The study ‘Drive Green 2020: More Hope than Reality’ concluded global hybrid and EV demand is likely to account for only a small proportion of total vehicle sales over the next decade, despite multi-billion-dollar investments and fast-paced development in the car industry, according to global marketing information company JD Power and Associates who commissioned the research.
JD Power’s research postulates that hybrids and EVs combined will account for just 7.3 percent - or 5.2 million units - of the 70.9 million passenger vehicles forecast to be sold in 2020. In other words, 92 percent of new vehicles at the end of the next decade will still be gasoline/diesel powered. So much for the oil supply dwindling. JD Power’s study obviously does not feel we will be forced into driving EVs.
Dealing in ‘futures’ is at best a risky business, and some automakers who have placed their bets on the end of oil as we know it, have commenced development of EVs. Nissan-Renault, for example, is expecting EVs alone to account for around 10 percent of total vehicle sales by the end of the decade - while JD Power estimate only 1.8 percent. But even if we accept Nissan-Renault’s figures, that still leaves 90 percent conventional gasoline/diesel power.
JD Power is not the only voice calling for caution. The consulting firm Deloitte, estimated in August this year that the EV sales in the US in 2020 would account for just 3.1 percent (465,000 units) of total automotive sales in that market. These two studies definitely point towards difficulties in convincing the public to switch from conventionally powered passenger vehicles to either hybrids or EVs over this coming decade. They also show confidence that the oil supply will still be plentiful in 2020, but there is no real forecast figure as to how much a barrel of crude might cost.
With EV sales expected to be very small, the vast majority of the green sales will be hybrids, mostly from Toyota (64 percent) and Honda (25 percent) and with sales concentrated Japan (446,000 units) and the US (328,000).
Of the 5.2 million hybrids and EVs expected to be sold by 2020, almost 75 percent of the total are expected to be hybrids - and 75 percent of these are forecast to be produced by Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Volkswagen and General Motors.
The leading markets for the hybrids by 2020 are expected to be the US (1.7 million units), Europe (977,000) and Japan (875,000).
So where is China in all these scenarios? JD Power suggests China is expected to sell fewer than 100,000 hybrids in 2020. It is, however, expected to account for 332,000 of the 1.3 million EV sales forecast in 2020, which is behind Europe (on 742,000, a figure that makes the German government’s plan look optimistic) but ahead of both the US and Japan (both on around 100,000 units).
In the meantime, the financial boffins now have to work out what to do with the 38 Better Place exchange depots in Israel and the 17 in Denmark.

Vettel totally dominant in Canada

The Canadian Grand Prix was well hyped up before the GP on the Sunday. Close racing was predicted, lots of passing with two DRS zones, long straights, it was to be a highlight of the race year. Unfortunately, the soothsayers did not do too well and it was a processional race, completely dominated by (The Finger) Vettel, who was in a class of his own. Now leading the championship by 36 points, he looks to be uncatchable. Vettel (Red Bull) finished 14 seconds in front of Alonso (Ferrari) and was doing it at a canter. His dominance was such that he lapped the entire field up to fifth finisher.
Interest in the race was sparked by the Finn Valtteri Bottas qualifying his Williams in third to claim his best ever start in F1. However, it did not require much imagination to understand that Bottas’ time was set on a greasy track (the great leveler) and that in a dry race he would become a mobile chicane. Which is exactly what he did!
After Vettel, the drive of the day was Paul Di Resta (Team Vindaloo) who quietly went about his business as a race driver going from 17th grid position, making his first set of tyres last until 10 laps to go, one stop for soft tyres and then finished 7th. By comparison, his team mate Adrian Sutil seemed to be perpetually bouncing off somebody, or some thing.
Fernando Alonso has certainly matured as a driver and his was a well thought out drive from 6th to 2nd. No dramas or risky overtaking moves. For me, now that he has given up the sulks, Alonso is the complete race driver.
Third was Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) who appears more interested in his public image than being a race driver. He has an enormous ego (which all race drivers need), but his results are not commensurate with his opinion of himself! And lose the dog.
Fourth seems to be as good as Mark Webber (Red Bull) gets, and he is embroiled in too many collisions these days. You are witnessing the slow demise of the Australian charger. He has one good season left in him, but expect more fourths. This time he was 25 seconds behind Vettel.
Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) came home in fifth, the last runner not to be lapped by Vettel, but he was never in the hunt for a podium position. So much for the win at Monaco which was assisted by the fact that it is almost impossible to pass another competitor at that circuit.
First of the lapped cars was Jean Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) who was delighted with his sixth place, handsomely out-doing his team mate Ricciardo. There is intense rivalry between these two drivers, one of whom may inherit Webber’s seat.
Eighth was as high as Massa (Ferrari) could do after crashing (yet again) in Qualifying. Unless Massa finds his form again, he will be clearing out his locker at Modena and Jules Bianchi will be given the drive. 2013 would be a good time for the little Brazilian to retire.
The Hero to Zero award was easily won by Valtteri Bottas. Starting third on the grid, with huge expectations from the Williams team, to finally finish 14th.
The next GP is the British one at Silverstone on the 30th June. The current standings in the driver’s championship are:
S Vettel (Red Bull) 132
F Alonso (Ferrari) 96
K Raikkonen (Lotus) 88
L Hamilton (Mercedes) 77
M Webber (Red Bull) 69
N Rosberg (Mercedes) 57
F Massa (Ferrari) 49
P Di Resta (Force India) 34

The future’s an SUV?

Ford EcoSport

Americans for decades have been fans of sport utility vehicles. According to the world-wide statistics, SUV sales are on the way up everywhere.
Ford Motor Co. is one automaker looking to capitalize on the trend. The BRICS market (Brazil, Russia, India and China) will see Ford offer a mix of small and medium-size SUVs for consumers there.
Jim Farley, Ford’s executive vice president of global marketing, sales, service and Lincoln indicated that where American car buyers in the past preferred large SUVs with off-roading capability and room for an entire family, global vehicle shoppers are thinking less about sport and more about utility.
“The opportunity is not the image of barreling off-road,” Farley said at Ford’s World Headquarters in Dearborn. “It’s the idea of a utility vehicle in an urban setting.”
The growth rate has been phenomenal, with global sales of utilities - crossovers and SUVs - growing 35 percent since 2005, according to data from IHS Automotive, which is backed up by the Tier 1 manufacturer Continental Automotive. Even in Europe, where economic woes have depressed the auto industry, the utility vehicles segment is one area in which sales have grown during the past two years.
Most of the growth in utility vehicles across the world since 2005 is from subcompact and compact crossovers like Ford’s EcoSport and Escape, Toyota’s RAV4 and the Honda’s CR-V, with sales of subcompact and compact crossovers more than doubling. Sales of midsize SUVs and crossovers are up 56 percent since 2005, while sales in the full-size segment are down 22 percent. The message was there for all the automakers to see.
Sales of all sizes of utility vehicles will reach nearly 14 million this year, up from about 8 million in 2009. By 2017, subcompact and compact utility vehicle sales are expected to reach 11 million annually.
In China, the world’s fastest-growing auto market, sales of subcompact and compact utilities have grown from 120,000 in 2005 to 1.4 million last year.
So what is your next vehicle? Thailand still has the love affair with the pick-ups, but the SUV’s are rapidly catching up.

Autotrivia Quiz

Last week, I stated that on the 19th of August 1959 a felony was committed by a motorist. He was fined GBP 3. What had he done and how was he apprehended? He had been over the speed limit and was caught in a speed trap (long before radar).
So to this week. Which racing car had two six cylinder engines mounted side by side with the crankshafts rotating in opposite directions?
For the Automania free beer this week, be the first correct answer to email [email protected].