Having spent a fair amount of time in South Korea, I have been very interested in their automotive industry. For decades, Korean cars had a terrible reputation for reliability in international markets that was ultimately solved in two steps: the first was to improve the overall quality and the second was to offer a very long warranty. Today, some of the nicer designs now come … [Read more...]
Kalashnikov CV-1
In August, at an arms fair in Moscow, Kalashnikov, one of the world’s most famous gun makers, showed off a new car - the CV-1. It was a retro car with full electric power. The media marvelled at the story, however not many of the reports had done any research on the history - which would show that the car is not a new product for the company. Kalashnikov as a company is a … [Read more...]
The Laforza SUV
The late designer, Tom Tjaarda designed an SUV called the Laforza or the Rayton Fissore Magnum V8. The background of the vehicles is quite interesting and is another European design with a US sourced drivetrain. Carrozzeria Fissore was a coach-builder based in Turin, northern Italy and were founded in 1919 to make horse drawn carts and it was in the 1930s that they started … [Read more...]
The HTT Plethore
Motoring Weekly seems to have a habit of finding Canada’s “first” supercar - which suggests to me that all the developers of these cars do not know much about their own local industry! Over the past couple of months we have written about the MCV CH4 and the De Macross GT1, both of which claimed the title of being first. Here’s another: the HTT Plethore, and like the other two, … [Read more...]
The De Macross Epique GT1
Motoring Weekly recently published an article about the MCV CH4, a Canadian supercar that sadly never made to full production. I’ve found another car that has been described variously as the first or only Canadian supercar: the de Macross GT1. This car was developed in the late 2000s - not a great time to be launching a bespoke, limited run supercar considering that the world … [Read more...]