Summer Sales: Vauxhall %20 OFF

I usually ignore the advertisements on internet, like most of you. However, those advertisements sometimes (!) hinder something, which can be very charming. This happened with me a few minutes ago. I accidently clicked web advertisement of Vauxhall. Because, it was really interesting! A car advertisement with these two words “%20 OFF” is extremely hard to ignore.

This is technically something really impossible in automotive industry, in other words; %20 off for a new car means %90 off for a new season clothes at Selfridges, Harrods or Net-A-Porter. Just ask a woman, is it possible to see %90 off in these stores, and she’ll reply “impossible”.

But this time, it is possible. Vauxhall is on sale, %20 for new cars! I don’t know the details but even this part sounds great. If you are considering buying a family car or replacing your old one and you don’t have any passion on any particular brand, just run to closet Vauxhall dealer. I know Vauxhall is a bit dull drive and does not offer new things to market and, etc, etc! These are real facts, Mondeo looks and drive better, Passat is better made; but none of them offer %20 off for a new car. Forget the adverse side of the world and focus on the positive side ;)

http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/offers-finance/countdown/latest-offers/car_offers.html?ppc=gb_brand_brandcountdownsitelinks&sissr=1

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Vauxhall

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24 different Porsche 911 Models

For many years, I was trying to find an answer one of the most basic question of automotive industry. Why Porsche 911 has so many variations! At this moment there are 24 different Porsche 911s, this is the most stretched product line in automotive industry. You can buy any type of 911, which can satisfy your needs, pleasures, expectations, fantasies or anything else! Instead of altering your taste, Porsche alters the 911!

Last week, I had chance to meet with the PR Director of Porsche UK. I have been waiting to talk with someone, who works in Porsche and knows the top-secret answer to this question. Why Porsche has 24 different 911s? And she directly replied; there is always one Porsche, which can match with a different customer needs and each of these 24 models focuses on 24 different consumers characters. As I mentioned, Porsche wills to satisfy any customer, who loves Porsche and increase its profits. This is a very brief explanation but Porsche makes lots of money thanks to stretched product range :)

After all these, I still don’t see the point of offering a S model in 911 range. It fills the gap between raw 911 and Turbo but it also make raw 911 as the cheapest one. Whenever I saw a 911 without S I always think, he didn’t save enough money to buy S or he doesn’t care about the S. Most probably, the second option is more plausible.

Basically, there is no pure 911! There are many 911 and you decide which is the pure 911 for you, not for others.

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Porsche

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Car of the Day # 16 Range Rove Evoque Frame

Unfortunately, this week's car does not have the capability to move :) It is made by frames!

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Crazy Idea: Concrete Car Interior

I know the title sounds a bit unusual for automotive industry. Concrete and automotive are totally different words; contemporary meaning of automotive is lightness and concrete is heaviness. This is that basic! But, concrete sometimes looks nice, if you could manage to use it and design it properly. In modern houses, we started to see pure concrete walls instead of wallpapers or colours! I can see that concrete is in a new era.

Like houses, cars are started to offer different interior options. It used to be between plastic and wood. Now you can use have any type of wood, brushed metal, carbon fibre or still the plastic! My suggestion is using the concrete in central console. For sure, I don't mean to use it everywhere! Using it only in the centre console with the combination of leather or wood can create unique atmosphere.

Concrete is not a very good material for car interior, which has high tendency to vibrate all the time. Therefore, I am suggesting to use concrete only for small areas. It can be used, where the wood is standing in Evoque's centre console. The advantage of concrete is the ability to provide unique interior to each vehicle. Unlike wood or metal, concrete cannot be same in each car and it will be a unique material to use for car interior.

The main problem, the weight! I am not saying make the entire central console from concrete. It can be only a few centimetres thick, for the area which is occupied by wood, and will not charge extra weight to vehicle.

I won't be surprised if I see this soon!

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Volkswagen Eos vs. Volkswagen Golf Cabrio

You didn't read wrong, VW revealed a new Golf Cabrio. After this car, VW's cabrio strategy became more complicated than Paris Hilton's love life! Currently in VW range, there is a car called Eos and this is a cabrio, actually it is a coupe cabrio with a metal roof. However, it is open top car! And VW decided to stop Golf Cabrio, when they revealed the VW Eos and it was a very good decision. Because, Eos and Golf Cabrio would definitely collapsed with each other.

Interestingly, VW changed mind and revealed the new Golf Cabrio. It is not a coupe cabrio with a metal roof, it has a soft top but still open top car. I really wonder how consumers will react to this; they both offer four seat and they look very similar to each other. And I find really hard to find a different among these two cars! My opinion is still Eos is a better option, thanks to its metal roof. Unless you buy a Rolls Royce or Bentley, I don't like soft top cars.

Probably, either Eos or Golf Cabrio will be erased from production, and it will be decided by the consumers!

I didn't wish to discuss the technical features, because they are identical with each other! VW, unexpectedly revealed a car that is going to be a competitor of their own car.

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VW

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Speed Date: New Mercedes SLK

Mercedes revealed the new SLK recently. Like previous two versions, it is one of the best-looking car in Mercedes range. As I mentioned in my previous posts, new SLK looks like a small SL, and offers very sophisticated technologies, which can easily out date the SL!

Today topic is not the technology, it is the interactive movie of the SLK, Speed Date. Before starting, the interactive movie has a very nicely designed composition and integrates the technologies of the new SLK in a very nice harmony. Also, they didn’t spoil the story!

However, they made a small mistake during the shootings! The two SLKs, which were used for this interactive movie are not the same. Many people know that, there are couple of vehicles are ready for this type of movie shootings and they supposed to be identical. They have different equipment; this might sound crazy but the vehicles are not identical. Actually, they supposed to be identical to sustain the flow of the movie.

The non-matching equipment is the auto dimming rear view mirror. During the driving sequences, the rear view mirror is not auto dimming one, it can be realised by the small switch or button under the mirror. If you have the auto function, you need to worry about the long beam, which is annoying your eyes at night. Mirror automatically dims itself and reduces the problem. Unfortunately, this equipment is optional in Mercedes and they charge you extra money. I am not complaining, this is the Mercedes style “alles in ordnung und alles ist optional”. Probably the Mercedes team did not realise this minor point and I did not see anything on internet about this.

If I am going to buy a SLK, I would definitely buy most of the options. Unless, it does not look like a proper Mercedes. And they worth to buy! My opinion, go for the SLK 350; 3.5-lt petrol engine which produces 306 HP. Perfect match for SLK.

Click to play: http://www3.mercedes-benz.com/mbcom_v4/us/slk/en.html

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New BMW 1 Series: Beautiful or Ugly Design

Criticising something is very easy to do and does not take too much effort! I always to try my best to highlight and emphasise why I criticise a car. However, this time I was surprised with the Google search traffic for the new Ugly Beauty: BMW 1 Series article. Many people typed BMW 1 Series is ugly on Google and end up in my blog. From one perspective, that’s good. People are reading my blog and it appears in first page of the search results. However, that is not fair. People in BMW spend hours and hours to design this new car.

I never been in a design department but I can imagine how hard it is to create a new car in way which can receive positive criticism and meantime generate cash. Design department is covered with stress. Some customers may not wish to order their car with sophisticated technologies, but the design of a car cannot be separated from the car. And this makes the process of designing a new car as one of the most critical aspect.

As we all know, it does not end up quite well some time. During the Bangle era in BMW, most of the designs were serious issue. Many people didn’t like it, received many negative criticism. However, the new design team in BMW changed this. New BMW 5, 6 and 7 Series showed the abilities of BMW’s design department and altered our perception on the brand. Each of these are one the best looking car in their segment.

However, this was not that good for new 1 Series. Because, after these amazingly good looking cars, many people were expecting to see something really different. It should be as good looking as the new 5 Series or sportive like 6 Series. When you compare the 1 Series with these models, it does not have the same essence. And this is not an appropriate way of interpretation. 1 Series is not the competitor of 5 or 6 or 7 Series. 1 Series is the competitor of VW Golf, Ford Focus and Audi A3. When you consider these cars, I can clearly say 1 Series and Ford Focus are head-to-head! I cannot ignore the new Ford Focus, it is not like the first generation but it is way beyond better than the previous one. And when you consider 1 Series and Focus, it is really hard to which is the best.  

Introducing cars in lower segments are good opportunity to increase cash flow, but it also allow consumers to judge the design concepts with high expectations. Whatever I write here, people will not compare the 1 Series with Focus. They will still compare it with the other BMW models! I think BMW also knows this, and may be they introduced the best interior in this segment! I am not sure about the exterior but the 1 Series has the best interior on its segment.

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BMW

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Car of the Day # 15 Audi R8C

This week's car is from the Audi Quattro Rooms in London. During the last MIPAA conference, I had chance to see this very rare Le Mans 1999 car. The pictures cannot describe the fascination of this vehicle. You can still see the details of the Le Mans race which this car took place.

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Maybach: An Automotive Tragedy

Finally, Maybach's future is getting clear. Mercedes's cash burning luxury brand, which was revealed to compete with Bentley and Rolls Royce did not manage to compete as it was expected. When Rolls Royce revealed the Phantom, Maybach could not resist to this pressure and started to lose market share rapidly. Furthermore, recently global economic crisis made things worse. Maybach became the brand, which is funded by Mercedes to keep alive. Usually, a brand generates profit and keep business floating. Unfortunately, Maybach did the opposite.

As usual, rumours started for Maybach; it can be removed, a new model can be produced and designed with Aston Martin. However, these entire alternatives were emerged after the new Maybach products, which also failed (Zepelin, Laundrette). Recently, Mercedes decided on an another option. Turning Maybach brand into stickers! Similar to AMG, customers will have chance to turn a regular S, CL and GL Classes into Maybach class luxury and they will have the Maybach sticker at the back end. Bentley does this with Mullinear and customises to vehicle with customers' demand and turn it into a more luxury vehicle.

Within current condition, this is the best option for the Maybach brand. It nearly impossible to compete with Rolls Royce and Bentley, and there is no reason to pour money into this business. However, customers can bear an extra cost to have the Maybach class luxury without bearing the Maybach style price tag.

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Mercedes

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Audi RS3 vs. Audi R8 V8 Performance

Sounds a bit unexpected and weird to compare Audi RS3 and Audi R8 V8 Coupe. RS3 is based on A3 and it is relatively cheaper and smaller than the R8, which is a proper sports car! RS3 and R8 are totally different cars. Interestingly, the performance figures do not say the same thing! Actually, they sounds more interesting. 

The new RS3 is powered by 2.5 TFSi engine with 340 HP and R8 4.2 FSi engine with 430 HP. There is only 90 HP is missing between these two cars, and this is not a good result for R8. £40 000 priced Audi RS3 accelerates to 100 kph in 4,6 seconds and £90 000 priced R8 V8 Coupe accelerates to 100 kph in 4,6 seconds.

Unfortunately, twice the price does not bring twice the performance! If you own a R8 and one day overtaken by a RS3, don't be surprised.

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Audi

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