Over the years Motoring Weekly has discussed conglomerates of marques such as British Leyland Motor Company and American Motors Corporation where the parent company swallows several manufacturers to find cost savings by sharing parts and designs. Another way to do this is to have an alliance where the ownership of each entity is still open and where there is no true … [Read more...]
Chenard et Walcker
This small company will forever be in the motor sports history books, thanks to one major race win – the first running of the Le Mans 24 hour race. The company is Chenard et Walcker. The company was founded in France in 1900 by Ernest Chenard and Henri Walcker. Chenard was a railway engineer and like many other formative car builders, he also manufactured bicycles. Walcker … [Read more...]
Michelin Concept Tyre
This is an interesting idea, one that might not get into production however it could lead researchers in a direction that creates a new product that is safe and easy to manufacture. Michelin has developed an airless tyre that is 3D printed rather than moulded using several materials for structure and life. The name of this project is “the Visionary Concept” and the idea was … [Read more...]
Will Opel Shift Jobs Rather Than Redundancies?
Several months ago Motoring Weekly wrote an article about potential job losses at Opel and that was a follow up to an update to the purchase of Opel by the PSA Group who own Peugeot and Citroen. Last month (September), PSA announced that they had found a way to get rid of jobs and therefore reduce costs in the Opel/Vauxhall division - they would hopefully transfer them to … [Read more...]
The Electrification of Europe
I read an interesting article about the electrification of Europe namely how the big manufacturing groups are retooling their factories to produce more electric vehicles. Firstly, there was an announcement by Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), a major battery supplier in China, who are building a factory near Erfurt in Germany to satisfy orders from companies such as … [Read more...]