TALKING SHOP: Did you know
that working from home was “invented” by IBM in the late 70’s? And did
you know the main reason your employer doesn’t want you working remotely
is exactly the same reason you want to work remotely? Yup, the big boss
man assumes your lazy ass isn’t getting a damn thing done.
(BroBible.com)
Friday, April 6, 2018
Sorry, But There Is No Longer An 'Affordable' Sports Car
Matt Prior: The affordable performance car might die
With emissions regulations getting increasingly strict, manufacturers may struggle to produce such cars
[I]magine you’re a big car maker and you want to make a fast, relatively affordable car: a hot hatchback, small sports saloon, little coupé or convertible variant – that sort of thing. The route traditionally available to you – sticking a big engine in it – suddenly becomes extremely difficult, because it’s hard enough to get your regular range of vehicles down to the 95g/km average without sending a group of enthusiastic engineers off to install a fire-breathing motor into something, thus pulling the average up again.
So now, that kind of car would not only have to cover its own development cost but would also have to sell in sufficient volume – or at a sufficiently high price – to cover the additional cost of engineering the rest of the range to have a lower CO2 output, to balance out the fast one.
Which sounds unlikely. So it could have to have a lower CO2 output itself, but that means it’d probably have to be partially electrified. And that probably means it’s no longer a cheap performance car. Or it could, of course, get slower, which might not be a terrible thing, either. But then: how much of a performance car is that?
You see the problem? Perhaps this is already happening. Perhaps that’s why the Subaru BRZ and Toyota GT86 have only a mild engine. Perhaps it’s why the Alpine A110 weighs nothing and costs £50,000. Perhaps it’s why the Honda NSX has three electric motors.
So perhaps it’s already giving us some fantastically interesting but not, I suspect, huge-selling sports cars.
And I worry about that. Because these cars will get signed off based on how many people will buy them, so the thinking won’t be: let’s build a fast one. It’ll be: should we build a fast one? And that’s not always a question with a positive outcome.
(AutoCar.co.uk)
With emissions regulations getting increasingly strict, manufacturers may struggle to produce such cars
[I]magine you’re a big car maker and you want to make a fast, relatively affordable car: a hot hatchback, small sports saloon, little coupé or convertible variant – that sort of thing. The route traditionally available to you – sticking a big engine in it – suddenly becomes extremely difficult, because it’s hard enough to get your regular range of vehicles down to the 95g/km average without sending a group of enthusiastic engineers off to install a fire-breathing motor into something, thus pulling the average up again.
So now, that kind of car would not only have to cover its own development cost but would also have to sell in sufficient volume – or at a sufficiently high price – to cover the additional cost of engineering the rest of the range to have a lower CO2 output, to balance out the fast one.
Which sounds unlikely. So it could have to have a lower CO2 output itself, but that means it’d probably have to be partially electrified. And that probably means it’s no longer a cheap performance car. Or it could, of course, get slower, which might not be a terrible thing, either. But then: how much of a performance car is that?
You see the problem? Perhaps this is already happening. Perhaps that’s why the Subaru BRZ and Toyota GT86 have only a mild engine. Perhaps it’s why the Alpine A110 weighs nothing and costs £50,000. Perhaps it’s why the Honda NSX has three electric motors.
So perhaps it’s already giving us some fantastically interesting but not, I suspect, huge-selling sports cars.
And I worry about that. Because these cars will get signed off based on how many people will buy them, so the thinking won’t be: let’s build a fast one. It’ll be: should we build a fast one? And that’s not always a question with a positive outcome.
(AutoCar.co.uk)
I Agree . . . .
Stop Painting Auto Show Supercars Black
I have nothing against black cars in general. You want to buy a black Camry and look like an Uber driver? Go right ahead. You want ride around like a person who winks at cops and smells like cigars in a black S-Class? I won’t stop you.
I just wish automakers would stop painting their show cars black, because I can’t fucking see what’s going on.
You want to see the contrast of the carbon weave with the metal bodywork? Too fucking bad, buddy! You want to experience the light bouncing around the corners, curves, bends and edges? Look elsewhere.
(Jalopnik.com)
I have nothing against black cars in general. You want to buy a black Camry and look like an Uber driver? Go right ahead. You want ride around like a person who winks at cops and smells like cigars in a black S-Class? I won’t stop you.
You want to see the contrast of the carbon weave with the metal bodywork? Too fucking bad, buddy! You want to experience the light bouncing around the corners, curves, bends and edges? Look elsewhere.
(Jalopnik.com)
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