The last few weeks have seen some great news and some bad news for the industry - on two and four wheels. Personal transportation is going through a difficult time yet there are some highlights. On two wheels, The Economist magazine reported that Harley-Davidson is going through a rough patch - not the first in their 116 year history. In the US they have seen sales figures … [Read more...]
Star Motor Company
There were at least two manufacturers or brands called Star. One was made by the Durant Company in the US and one was based in Britain and is the subject of this article. The Star Motor Company was started in 1898 and lasted for about thirty years into the Great Depression. Like many compatriot companies, Star started out making bicycles in 1893 as Sharratt and Lisle, the … [Read more...]
Creating a New Brand is Risky
India and specifically Tata have found in recent years just how difficult it is to run a car company - or race team, with several struggling financially or not able to get product to market. Recently Force India changed hands, the Formula 1 team was put into administration in August by the High Court in London. At the time I suspected that Lance Stroll, a junior F1 driver would … [Read more...]
Malcolm Sayer
This designer’s legacy can be summed up by those immortal words from Enzo Ferrari about the Jaguar E-Type: “The most beautiful car in the world”. Malcolm Sayer was an aerodynamicist at a time when aircraft knowledge was flowing straight to racing cars. Ask many people who he is and they probably won’t know his name, yet his design work lives on in the industry. Born on the … [Read more...]
Waymo Buys More Vehicles
Motoring Weekly has written about robo-taxis before and this segment of the public transportation market is appears to be growing. Earlier this year, Waymo, a spin off from Google - but still owned by the parent company, Alphabet, committed to buying 62,000 Chrysler Pacifica mini-vans! However, all was not what it seemed. At the time it made headlines due to the size of the … [Read more...]