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Check out the latest posts
Archive for April, 2009
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| The green and pleasant land of all our dreams |
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The Advertising Standards Authority plans to tighten the rules surrounding environmental claims. The ASA recently chastised a northern dealership for over-zealous use of ‘green’ terminology, where Volvo models were described as “Kind to the environment.”
A public consultation over the changes is currently underway, with a focus on areas such as health, gambling and others. Note that within the section headed ‘Social Responsibility’ is a proposal “to prevent marketers from exaggerating the environmental benefits of their products.” Not a statement specific to the car industry by any means, but clearly the ASA believes this is an area needing clarification – for the marketeers sake, as well as ours.
Based on the frequency with which the press releases crossing my desk liberally tout phrases such as “environmentally responsible”, “eco-friendly,” and the like, this could well be overdue.
You can let the ASA know your thoughts until June 19th at www.cap.org.uk.
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| Top: Cube shows it\'s hip to be square; Above: smoking permitted |
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Losses. Closures. Looming bankruptcies. It’s easy to forget there are exciting things happening in the automotive world too. Here’s my personal pick:
Something Old: Jaguar XJ – it may have lineage going back over 40 years, but if rumours are to be believed, designer Ian Callum’s newest XJ is a rulebook-tearing interpretation that will ‘blow everybody away.’
Something New: Nissan Cube – this unmistakeable car pops up on British roads as a grey import from time to time, but will soon be officially offered here. “Quirky new Kia Soul”? Meh you can keep it, the Cube has an ASYMMETRIC design for crying out loud!
Something Borrowed: Hyundai Genesis Coupe – sadly, it’ll need to be borrowed, as this stylish RWD muscle car looks unlikely to reach showrooms in the UK. Modifiers will opt for the blown 2-litre, but I’ll take one with the 3.8-litre V6 engine, please. TC… *off*.. mmmm… doughnuts.
Something Blue: BlueTec engines – Despite a North American aversion to oil-burners, Daimler’s clean diesel units are so good, they’re certified for use in 45 States. And the technology is only going to get better from here.
So, what automotive highlights are you looking forward to?
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As far as I can make out, this new ‘scrappage’ scheme’ to encourage the purchase of new cars is entirely futile.
The £2,000 ‘grant’, derived jointly from the government and the vehicle maker will be made available only to owners who scrap cars more than ten years old.
I imagine there a few people driving 10-15-year-old cars out of choice. They do so because they can afford nothing newer, either because their income is too low, or more probably, because their circumstances prevent their achieving the necessary credit rating required to by a new car on hire-purchase.
Moreover, we are in the middle of a recession in which credit-worthy customers are struggling to obtain credit – let alone those who do not come up to the line.
Moreover, if there is a car sales boom now, there will be a consequent decline in a couple of years’ time: the trade is famously cyclic and troughs always follow peaks, and vice versa.
As for doing our bit to save the planet, this is palpable nonsense. China already increases its CO2 output each year by an amount equal to the entire CO2 output of the UK, and is opening a new coal-fired power station every five days. And the energy race and boom in cars sales in China has only just begun; as it has in India. And since both these nations give any notion of a global pact on CO2 emissions a stiff finger, any effort on our part is entirely nugatory.
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| If possible, please do a U-Turn |
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So concerned is the government about drivers relying solely on satellite navigation to find their way about, that it intends to add to the driving test a requirement that candidates navigate to a particular location using normal direction signs alone.
Candidates will be allowed to move their lips when reading the signs, but extra marks will be awarded for correctly pronouncing names like Hunstanton and Happisbrough.
It is sad but true that there is now a whole generation of motorists who arrive at their destination without knowing how they got there. But one man who didn’t arrive at all was the chap who blindly drove his BMW up a steep trackway to the very rim of a 100 ft precipice. It took nine hours to rescue him, and he has now been charged with driving without due care and attention.
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| Nissan Cube bravely doubles as a safety net |
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……someone shows you a photo of a street entertainer walking a tightrope and your immediate response is,
“Is that a Nissan Cube?”
I think I realised that the cap (or hood) fitted me years ago, so I may have to create a specific category to contain my geekier posts.
Watch out for them floodgates!
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