Car News-Global and Domestic

[Paul-R]

...318 were distributed equally through the UK BMC dealer network resulting in one car per dealer.

Wow, sign of the times. 318 dealers in the UK alone. Almost one for every street corner!

[myglaren]

I recall seeing one at the dealers my dad worked for - although not in the dealership but associated shipyard.

I thought they were just another series, an 'upgrade' sort of thing.

[Paul-R]

When you think about it, the Minor 1,000,000 truly was an example of badge engineering.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Great news for Norfolk Wuhan....

British as Chop Suey and Chow Mein iconic brand Lotus announce 4 New Electric models including one of those much needed SUV's.

https://insideevs.com/news/530031/lotus ... -evs-2026/

Lotus Teases Four New Made-In-China EVs Arriving From 2022 To 2026

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Bold talk...

Electrek's headline and story.

Tesla aims to release $25,000 electric car in 2023, likely will not have a steering wheel

In his comments, Musk linked the release of the new Model 2 (not an official name) to Tesla achieving a deployable full self-driving system and even asked Tesla employees:

“Do we want to have this car come with a steering wheel and pedals?”

He made it sound likely that the new Tesla vehicle will not even be equipped with a steering wheel.

Back in 2019, Tesla unveiled an image of a vehicle without a steering wheel and pedals and said the goal was to release such a vehicle within two years:

REgards Neil

[mickthemaverick]

I will make this statement now, I will never own a car which I cannot drive without interference from computers, mechanical even electronic aids can be useful but decision making is down to me!!! I would genuinely rather push up daisies than have such a vehicle!!

[white exec]

Likewise here. Manual over-ride and control is vital for any such complex system.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Stirred up a couple of negatives , many more, in the comments after the article on Electrek. Should be no surprise the well-trailed $25,000 Tesla is intended to have full self driving capability. Whether this means that it will be an add on $10,000 option to activate it remains to be seen.

Even boring old UK has an Act of Parliament in place to address Full Level 5 Autonomy as reported on the self-drive cars thread. viewtopic.php?p=677627#p677627

University challenge has even had a set of bonus questions on Autonomous vehicles this very week.
viewtopic.php?p=695854#p695854

One of the comments probably summed up things best

Elon Musk "....but it could be a car designed for Full Self-Driving with no steering wheel or physical pedals. "
World Media - Huge coverage.

Musk is skilled at getting free media coverage.

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

BMW are usually good for a bit of irrelevant news. So here's their vision, their BMW i Vision Circular for sometime some years hence. Yes...and they mention nothing of autonomous driving and the steering wheel survives, not handcrafted finest natural wood of course, but 3-d printed

Hip hip hooray, they are aiming for their cars it to be 100% recyclable hence the "Circular" moniker

Excited?

Horses Mouth
https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/global/a ... ementation

https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/global/article/detail/T0342172EN/the-bmw-group-emphasizes-its-consistent-focus-on-sustainability-at-the-2021-iaa-mobility:-more-stringent-co2-targets-go-hand-in-hand-with-concrete-measures-and-concepts-for-implementation

Regards Neil

[mickthemaverick]

No!

[Gibbo2286]

I see there's an announcement today from VW of a $20k BEV.

[NewcastleFalcon]

I see there's an announcement today from VW of a $20k BEV.

This is the one hitting the news, a concept currently being exhibited at IAA Mobility show in Munich.


Lets hope that by the time 2025 arrives BYD/MG etc will have undercut that by £10,000

https://electrek.co/2021/09/06/vw-id-co ... ctric-car/

VW Press Release

https://www.volkswagen-newsroom.com/en/ ... -life-7490

REgards Neil

[mickthemaverick]

If that is an example of the type of car I might be able to afford I am definitely going down the MX3 conversion path and keep some style in my life!!

[NewcastleFalcon]

If that is an example of the type of car I might be able to afford I am definitely going down the MX3 conversion path and keep some style in my life!!

Well you wouldn't be reinventing the wheel Mick, not much of a vid but it has been done



Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Renault will seek to extend the 2035 EU ICE ban to 2040

Looks like Renault have caught the "can't do this because" attitude often spouted by the uninspiring Carlos Tavares at Stellantis.

Very rapidly "can't do this because" will turn into "gone out of business because" as "can do this, will do this" companies flow into the vacated space like a well-known USA global company and a multitude of companies from the far east and India, and maybe even slightly more switched on global companies from Germany.

Regards Neil