The Chinese (re)invasion of Europe has started
Genghis Khan did a fair job of spreading
the Chinese/Mongolian influence throughout the world, and
Europe did not escape his Mongol hordes. However, despite not
being able to colonize the European savages, his descendants
look like they might just do it. The Chinese automakers are
moving in.
Zhonghua
At the world auto show in Frankfurt this
month, China had seven cars on display, with the Geely and the
Landwind being the front runners. Rather than beat the
low-priced imports at their own game, the European automakers
look to be hiding behind the skirts of the European Union
lawmakers, saying that the Chinese imports face a long road
before they fully comply with European regulations. However,
the manufacturers and importers of these vehicles say they are
close to earning European Union type approval.
Others expressed doubts. “It will take
years before Chinese carmakers can sell cars that comply with
EU pedestrian-impact and emissions requirements,” said a
Chinese consultant who requested anonymity.
Jiangling
Landwind
But there is another way in to the market,
currently being exploited by Jiangling Landwind Automobiles in
Nanchang. The Landwind is the only Chinese vehicle currently
sold in Europe. The car is sold using single-type approval. It
gets a simplified homologation certificate issued country by
country that doesn’t require crash-test compliance. The
medium SUV’s engine must be converted once it arrives in
Europe so that it meets Euro 3 emission standards. “Two
months ago we began the European type approval process for the
Landwind. We are confident (we will) complete it in the coming
months,” said Bas van den Nieuwenhuijzen of Landwind Motor
Corp., the car’s importer.
Another is the Gibraltar-based Euro Motors
who are the private importer for the Brilliance Zhonghua
upper-medium sedan, built by Shenyang Brilliance Jinbei
Automotive Co. in Shenyang.
Euro Motors has told potential distributors
that the Zhonghua will obtain European type approval by the
end of November. The Zhonghua will be priced under E18,000 in
Europe (900,000 baht direct exchange rate).
Geely Automotive showed five vehicles at the Frankfurt
Motor Show, but did not say if and when they could be sold in
Europe, though you can be sure they did not make the trek to
Frankfurt, just for something to do! Portuguese private
importer Hipolito Pires will receive the first Geely vehicles
in late September and help the Chinese carmaker in getting
EU-type approval for three sedans.
Do we have
backing for James Grunwell?
The search is on across Asia for the next
crop of fledgling racing talent with the BMW Junior
Scholarship Trial announced for October 27 to 30 at the BMW
Performance Center Bahrain located at the Bahrain
International Circuit. At the end of the four-day trial, three
youngsters will come away with a Formula BMW Scholarship worth
US$ 50,000 each towards the 2006 season, plus a full year of
the comprehensive Education and Coaching Programme, the most
professional training course of its kind in the region. A
fourth Scholarship will automatically be awarded to the winner
of the 2005 Formula BMW Asia Rookie Cup.
Formula
BMW race car
Anyone aged between 15 (16 during the 2006
season) and 21 looking to make the step from karting to a
single seater racing career - or even those just starting out
in the sport - is eligible to take part in the trial,
providing they have not had any previous international racing
experience and have not competed in senior single seater
series.
BMW Motorsport Director, Mario Theissen
says, “We are looking for genuine, natural talent which can
benefit the most from our instructors and trainers. Asian
racing drivers are becoming increasingly recognized
internationally as being both talented and skilled, and it is
an exciting prospect for BMW Motorsport to play such an active
role in identifying and nurturing the next generation in
Formula racing.”
The Formula BMW Asia Scholarship Trials
include theory, practical exercises, medical checks, briefings
and evaluation laps. The theory section covers shifting,
braking, information on the race track, the racing line,
driving physics, explanation of the flags and the Sporting
Codes, and a chronology of race events.
In the practical exercises, youngsters will
be taken through their paces covering a race start, shifting,
the racing line, the Safety and Course cars, and cornering.
Free practice as well as evaluated practice sessions will be
held.
For the evaluation of the drivers, lap
times, age and instructor assessment will be taken into
account, with particular regard to shifting, the racing line,
braking, rpm/speed and improvement shown during the trial.
With so many different factors to be considered when
identifying true potential, it is not necessarily the fastest
drivers on the track who will ultimately be selected.
The cost of the course is US$ 2,400,
excluding transportation and accommodation, and includes use
of a Formula BMW car, an FIA authorized crash helmet, race
suit, shoes, gloves and Head and Neck Support System (HANS)
devices. The deadline for entry is October 12, and a maximum
of 24 drivers will be accepted.
Further information may be obtained by
emailing Matthijs Hoitink at matthijs@afos .com.my or calling
Malaysian telephone: +60 3 202 616 80.
The stand-out driver from this region is
James Grunwell, who wins in about anything he puts his
backside into, and is 16 years of age. His latest efforts have
been in the world Rotax Max GoKart class. As part of the
Champion Racing Team James was totally dominant as he won the
Qualification, Rounds 1 and 2, Pre-Final and Final with ease.
This is enough to get him in to the World Finals to be held in
Lankawi, November 25-27.
If there is someone out there who could
give this lad a hand, you can contact his father by email joe@
comcon.co.th. I can assure you the lad has talent, and is a
very nice young man as well.
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week, I asked what is the connection
between Stuttgart and Ferrari? This was a bit cheeky. It
really refers to the Ferrari rampant horse. Here is the
‘official’ history of the Ferrari emblem. Enzo Ferrari had
been noticed by the Baracca family, who reputedly gave Enzo
Ferrari the symbol, by which Ferrari is known throughout the
world, the “Cavallino Rampante”, the Prancing Horse. Enzo,
in his memoirs, “My Terrible Joys”, wrote, “The story of
the prancing horse is simple and fascinating. The horse was
painted on the fuselage of the fighter plane flown by
Francesco Baracca, a heroic Italian pilot who died on Mount
Montello: the Italian air ace of the First World War. In 1923,
when I won the first Savio circuit, which was run in Ravenna,
I met Count Enrico Baracca, the pilot’s father, and
subsequently his mother, Countess Paolina. One day she said to
me, Ferrari, why don’t you put my son’s prancing horse on
your cars, it would bring you luck.” The horse was black,
and Enzo put it on a yellow background to represent Modena,
the city of his birth, and added the letters S and F, for
Scuderia Ferrari, but it was many years later at the Spa 24
Hours in 1932, before this logo would be used on a car.
However, where did Francesco Baracca get the prancing horse
that he put on his plane? The horse is the prancing horse of
Stuttgart, which might just have been on the plane of one of
the German pilots he had shot down (Italy was on the other
side from Germany in WW I). That I think is the most credible.
It does not go against Enzo’s story, but just digs a little
deeper!
So to this week. And something not as
obtuse. I have mentioned BMW again this week. What model BMW
used its rear muffler (silencer) as an aerofoil?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be
the first correct answer to email [email protected].
Good luck!
Bertone will build 2,000
Minis - the new Italian job?
The design and assembly house of Bertone
was looking a little shaky recently. It currently builds the
Opel Astra convertible, but its successor, the Astra TwinTop,
will be produced at Opel’s plant in Antwerp, Belgium,
starting next year.
Its other main contract was to build the
BMW C1 radical motorcycle. Bertone installed capacity to build
27,000 C1s a year but BMW stopped production three years ago
after the motorcycle sold only about 10,000 units a year,
leaving Bertone a little high and dry.
As compensation, perhaps, BMW have
contracted Bertone to build around 2000 units of a new high
performance Mini. This two-seat Mini by Bertone will have a
225 hp gasoline engine, and is expected to be sold worldwide
at prices starting at about E30,000 (about 1.5 million baht
direct conversion).
Bertone will receive bodies in white from
Mini’s plant in Oxford, England, and complete final assembly
in its plant in Grugliasco, near Turin.
The next Mini is already attracting much
interest, with BMW developing a station wagon version of the
next-generation Mini, claims Automotive News. It is part of a
broader range of body styles that will be derived from the
second-generation Mini, which is due in the fourth quarter of
next year.
The first version of the new Mini will be a
three-door hatchback. The station wagon is due at the end of
2007. A new version of the convertible will arrive at about
the same time. Until then, BMW will continue to build the
current convertible. Company sources hinted at the Frankfurt
show that other, additional body styles will be introduced.
The next-generation Mini will be a more
advanced car than the current model, with a completely new
range of engines co-developed with PSA/Peugeot-Citroen. It
will grow 30 mm to create more room for occupants and to cope
with EU pedestrian-safety regulations. The station wagon
derivative will be 200 mm longer than the current Mini.
The station wagon could be called Traveller
or Clubman. Both names were used in the early 1960s on Mini
versions that had a longer, square front end.
Italian coachbuilder Castagna has built and
sold a small series of station wagon models based on the
current Mini, a project that has met with unofficial approval
of Mini executives in Germany.
