Back in January it was reported that Waymo was partnering with Magna, the contract vehicle builder, to start assembling full autonomous vehicles in Michigan. Magna, based in Canada now owns Magna Steyr, an Austrian company that used to build their own cars however in the last few decades has been building cars for others including Jaguar. At the time, the Michigan Economic … [Read more...]
Jaguar C-X75 Engine
Remember the Jaguar that starred in Spectre, part of the James Bond series of films? The Jaguar C-X75 (named after the anniversary of the company) never made it to production even though it was a leading light in new (at the time) plugin hybrid propulsion systems - that concept ended up reaching the market via Ferrari with their LaFerrari and track based FXX-K models. The … [Read more...]
Industry Ups and Downs
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...]