Well this is a damaging blow to the “vorsprung durch technik” aka progress through technology line spun by one German manufacturer. The EU has expanded on the VW Group emissions testing scandal by laying more charges against VW, Audi and Porsche along with BMW and Mercedes-Benz, in other words, pretty much all of Germany’s mainstream manufacturers! In the original issue, … [Read more...]
Audi Q4 e-tron Concept
Audi has shown its Q4 e-tron concept that they would like to be the entry level electric vehicle. It is basically a small SUV, in the mould of a Jaguar i-pace or a Tesla Model 3. It will be powered by two electric motors producing the equivalent of 225kW and like other electric cars recently announced, it will be an all-wheel-drive unit thanks to one motor at each end of the … [Read more...]
Italdesign: Low Volume Cars
Italdesign is another Italian coach-builder or design house to move into limited edition supercars. Pininfarina have also said that they were moving down this path and shows that the world still has lots of discretionary spending dollars available on ultra-luxury toys! Italdesign though, beat their Italian rival by at least 12 months to the market. Italdesign started in 1968 … [Read more...]
The World’s Fastest Shed
This is something only the English would do - similar to the saying: “only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun"! Kevin Nicks, who lives in a picturesque part of southern England has built a motorised shed! He had managed to get this unique vehicle to 140kmh (around 88mph) and like any competitive person wanted to get it faster. The shed which naturally is made … [Read more...]
Hybrid Power
For this weeks technical article, I thought that it would be good to cover the current and ongoing trend for hybrids. Nearly every time I talk technology I start with a comment that the subject is not new. Well, guess what - hybrid cars aren’t new and are certainly not 21st century vehicles. Back in 1901 the famous engineer, Ferdinand Porsche designed and drove a prototype … [Read more...]
