Honda Insight revamped
Honda has revamped their hybrid Insight,
which is to be released next month at the Detroit Motor
Show.
2009
Honda Insight
Honda claim that this new Insight is an affordable family
hybrid and the photo shows how the new five-passenger,
five-door Insight will look when it goes on sale in the
2009. This is much more acceptable to the mainstream buying
public than the previous rather quirky styling.
A leader in the development of cleaner, more fuel-efficient
mobility products, Honda introduced to the market the first
mass produced low-emission gasoline vehicles; America’s
first commercially produced gas-electric hybrid car and the
world’s first EPA-certified hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, the
FCX. In 2007, Honda was named “greenest automaker” by the
Union of Concerned Scientists for the fourth straight time.
Honda aims to sell 200,000 Insights globally, per year. The
hatchback will be the first of a new family of Honda
hybrids, followed by a production version of the CR-Z
concept sports car, and a Jazz hybrid.
However, just because there may be a Jazz hybrid for the UK,
does not mean that there will be one here, even though
Thailand manufactures the Jazz model for export. For
example, the VTEC engine Jazz available here is not offered
in the UK, it having the 1.4 liter cooking engine over
there.
The US Big Three crisis
GM, Ford and Chrysler top management are going to the
American government with caps in hand, begging on the street
corners like the alien women and children on the Bangkok
over-bridges. They are now even driving to the capitol
instead of taking the corporate Lear jets. Next week they
will be walking there with their cut lunches while wearing
their kids’ schoolbags. They are even promising to work for
$1 a year, which, after their previous multimillion dollar
salaries is a real come-down. Should we feel sorry for them?
Oldsmobile
Toronado
Quite frankly, I do not. Even $1 a year
is more salary than will be earned by the thousands of line
workers who have lost their jobs through the same top
management’s poor business decisions. Blind Freddie could
see that the American public did not want the big gas
guzzlers, but were buying the small fuel efficient Japanese
vehicles.
But no, the Big 3 top management said that they should
continue the gas guzzlers, because of the high dollar profit
per unit, and then spent much time and resources trying to
convince and cajole the American public to continue buying
the product they did not really want, by offering financial
incentives, discounts, cash-back and all the other marketing
ploys.
All that ‘head in the sand’ thinking by the top management
was rewarded by them giving themselves huge bonuses, while
at the same time planning redundancies on the shop floor.
Economically wrong, and ethically wrong as well.
Of course, in many ways the Big 3 now have the American
government over a barrel. “If you don’t give us the money we
are asking for, we will be forced to close and thousands of
workers will be drawing unemployment benefits, which will
cost the country more than the few billions we are asking
for.”
The Big 3 are important, however. They have given the world
some wonderful classic vehicles such as the Oldsmobile
Toronado, the Pontiac GTO, the Ford Mustang, the Dodge Viper
and many more, all the way back to the Curved Dash
Oldsmobile of 1901. When they start building more vehicles
that the American public wants, they will return to their
previous position as leaders, not beggars. GM has the Volt.
Keep going Bob Lutz, and I am glad I’m not Barack Obama.
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I asked what was the first
Indian-built car, and what was it identical to? It was the
Hindusthan Ten of 1946 and was identical to the Series M 10
hp Morris. Hindusthan became noteworthy when they produced
the Hindusthan Ambassador which was the 1953 Morris Oxford,
which can still be bought today. Very popular in white with
Indian politicians.
So to this week. Which famous marque began by building
tractors from war surplus Morris, Ford and GM bits and
pieces?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct
answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
But Honda pulls the
(non-electric plug)
It was a shocked motor racing fraternity that was
informed last Friday that Honda were withdrawing from the F1
circus. Immediately! The team was told that if no buyer came
along in the next three months, then it would all be shut
down. Lock, stock and barrel.
The inference from all this is now staring the FIA in the
face - has F1 become so expensive that it is unsustainable?
The answer is a resounding ‘yes’. Honda is now the third
team in the last couple of years to pull out.
My
Earth Nightmare
Third? Yes, first there was David Richard’s Prodrive team
which pulled out even before they got to the grid, followed
by Super Aguri (which was the Honda B team, running Honda
engines) and now Honda itself.
Undoubtedly 2008 was the last ditch for Honda. After hiring
Ross Brawn as their team principal, the ex-Ferrari guru, the
man who masterminded seven world titles for Michael
Schumacher, to then come ninth in the championship would be
a bitter pill for the Japanese. Loss of face isn’t in it!
Financially, the F1 team eats up around 10 billion baht of
Honda’s money each year. And to come ninth?
And will there be more? The indicators would seem to point
in that downwards direction. Williams F1 is not flush with
cash, and one of its main sponsors, the Royal Bank of
Scotland, has its hand out to the UK government. Can it
justify spending money on F1 while looking for taxpayer
donations? Even big spender Toyota is reportedly trimming
its huge F1 budget.
With the world’s motor industry going through its greatest
crash in decades, will F1 crash with it? Watch this space.
The 2009 Formula 1 season begins on March 29 in Australia.
Provided there is a full grid, and provided that the
Australian city of Melbourne is prepared to lose even more
money for the honor and glory of just having a F1 race -
currently the race fee is $35 million, and despite some
fanciful accounting Melbourne has never made a profit.
Good TH!NKING?
Despite a recent decrease in the price of crude
oil from the bank account busting $150 a barrel, don’t for
one minute think it is going to stay down. No, the nice
chaps from OPEC are already working on decreasing supply, so
that the price will go up caused by the natural demand for
the product. After all there are all the seven star hotels
in the desert to be built from the proceeds, and other such
monstrosities as a fully air-conditioned snow skiing
mountain built beside the seven star hotels. The pimps at
the pumps have not finished with you yet!
TH!NK
EV
The best reply is electric vehicles, and I noticed with
interest the reports that Hawaii is going all out to be
fully electric by 2012. GM has also displayed the Chev Volt
(and let’s hope that GM will still be around to build it in
2009).
The push into electric vehicles (EV) is becoming stronger,
and the technology may be further down the road than many
people imagine. The TH!NK City electric vehicle is
manufactured by Norwegian electric vehicle (EV) pioneers
TH!NK, a company with 17 years experience in EVs, and the
new TH!NK City is a modern urban car, with zero emissions,
low cost of ownership and silent running, and does not incur
the same taxes as internal combustion vehicles.
The body of the TH!NK city is made of recyclable ABS
plastic, which is designed to resist dents and scratches
accumulated in city driving. It has a top speed of 100 kph,
and accelerates from zero to 80 kph in 16 seconds.
The TH!NK city is designed to meet strict safety
requirements. Equipped with ABS brakes, airbags and
three-point safety belts with pretensioners, it meets all
European requirements.
TH!NK is also moving aggressively into Europe. The Norwegian
capital city of Oslo ranks highest when it comes to EV
incentives, largely driven by significant purchase tax
benefits, no annual road tax, the permission for EVs to use
bus and taxi lanes, access to free inner-city parking and
the exemption from all road toll fees; however, London is
also rated highly.
Announcing TH!NK’s EU roll-out plan, CEO Richard Canny
commented, “Due to high demand for our vehicles and our
finite production capacity in 2009 we want to make sure that
we concentrate our sales on the European cities that have
the most potential - not just in terms of sales volumes, but
the cities where our customers will receive the maximum
benefit. And since EVs are a unique solution for congested
urban environments, we will take a city-by-city approach
rather than a pan-European or country-by-country approach.”
Of course, some of this is PR speak, as currently TH!NK does
not have the production capacity to flood the EV market.
Commenting on the exact number of vehicles available in
2009, Canny explained that TH!NK is working quickly to move
toward reaching full production capacity of 10,000 units per
year at its Aurskog, Norway assembly plant, but added that
sales volumes in the first half of 2009 will likely be
limited by some capacity constraints.
The TH!NK people even have an EV Friendliness Index,
examining the attractiveness of cities, in the context of
buyer benefits, in three broad categories:
1. EV Purchase incentives - the available rebates, tax
incentives or other purchase incentives available at the
city, state or national government level, including
reductions in annual tax charges. This includes measures
available for individual purchasers, as well as those
available for fleet and car sharing customers.
2. EV Usage measures - includes actions which make it more
attractive to use an electric car, including:
a. Availability of free charging in both public and private
sector locations
b. Freedom from congestion charges or road use tolls
c. Free on-street and off-street parking for EVs and
preferred parking locations
d. Ability to use bus, taxi and high-occupancy vehicle lanes
on city and surrounding area roads
e. Customer discounts on electricity
3. EV impact - includes the environmental and air pollution
benefits of using an electric vehicle, including the use of
energy from renewable sources at the city level.
Somehow, I am not sure that Bangkok would score too well on
that list!
