Maserati Travel Kit Capsule by Fendi

I was expecting for this news from Maserati! They finally have a travel kit from a luxury brand. I know it is not shocking news but Maserati is one of the closest brand that can engage with fashion easily. Unlike other brands, Maserati design consist of notions that are related with the fashion. Especially the GranTurismo and GranCabrio models are designed based on the curves of female and male bodies. And this design concept leads Maserati to be differentiate from the competitors, also creates a link with fashion. Unlike other brands, Maserati is not only promoting power and technology, they also promote their timeless design. Moreover, the colour scheme, interior production and the leather quality always give that feelings.

Now, Maserati started to offer a travel kit designed by fashion brand Fendi. Fendi offers hats, sunglasses, valets, small bags, big bags, key rings, scarf and luggage. Don’t ask for the price, I have no idea and I don’t think they will be cheap!

More photos: Cars & Life Facebook Page

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Maserati

The Best Car on Earth! The Most Complicated Question

The best on earth is the most complicated question on earth! Everyone has a different opinion, even every nation has its unique opinion. Most of the time, people never agree on a single brand for the best! The conversation starts with Mercedes, jumps to BMW, later on Land Rover, just pass by Audi, moves to Aston Martin, quickly ends up with Bentley! In the meantime, someone says something about Bentley and we start overall again.

In order to resolve this very important issue, I end up with making the best car on planet from the brands that we know. First of all, all electronics are made by Bosch and Siemens. You cannot change this, and I am moving on.

Here are my categories for the best car!

Exterior Design | Engine | Transmission | Chassis | Suspension | Interior Design | Safety | Computer Interface | Ignition Key

I start with Exterior Design; I suggest Frank Stephenson as the best designer. His work can be spotted anywhere on earth and probably his designs are more popular than the Da Vinci’s paints! Welcome to world of social media.

Engine should be designed and manufactured by BMW. They offer the lowest CO2 level and efficiency with the best power output. Also, BMW has Formula 1 racing history. Don’t start saying, Ferrari is better. I am trying to find the best of everything.

Transmission should be manufactured by Ferrari. Their new double clutch gearbox is a state-of-art technology, which combines the comfort of a conventional automatic gearbox with the aggressiveness of Formula 1 shifting speed.

Chassis is really important and should be done by McLaren. They introduced the first carbon fibre technology in Formula 1 races and they always use this material for their road cars (Such as; Mercedes McLaren SLR and MP4-12C). In addition, nobody can manufacture the carbon fibre faster and better than McLaren.

Interior Design, this category has one option and it is called Rolls Royce. They are the best in interior design and comfort. All their cars are beyond extreme comfort. You have to experience it, before judging it.

Safety is the job of the Mercedes-Benz. They introduced the ABS, ESP, ASR, crash prevention systems. Nearly every three or four years, they introduce state-of-art road safety technologies and the competitors cannot keep most of the time.

Computer Interface! Unfortunately, automotive industry still is not good when it comes to design user interface for cars. I cannot ignore the improvement, but still the screen quality is low, menus are sometimes complicated, touch screen may not be that good at sensing the touch. So, there is only one company left for this and it is Apple. Just look at the iPhone, iPad or iPod; they all easy to use and work seamlessly.

Lastly the ignition key! I cannot think any other brand than Aston Martin for this job. They are doing amazing job with their crystal ignition keys.

In the end, in order to manufacture the best car, you need to combine many different brands that would lead to destroy the excitement of driving a car! Each brand has its own unique characteristics, which makes them unique and diversifies from others. So, the best car is the best one that satisfy your need, not others!

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Apple, Aston Martin, Rolls Royce, McLaren, Ferrari, BMW

Interview with Frank Stephenson

My trip to McLaren Technology HQ and interview Frank Stephenson (Design Director of McLaren).

Firstly I would like to start with Frank. He is the design director of McLaren and worked in Ford, BMW, Mini, Ferrari, Maserati, Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo and McLaren. You can find more information on interview. I had a great time with Frank in McLaren; he toured me around the building and showed every single place. The McLaren is really huge and I cannot define how it looks wonderful! After today, I can clearly say, Frank is a great designer and also a very nice person; and passionate with this work. When you listen to him, you understand the meaning of being a designer. And explain the designing a car with very simple words. I cannot ignore his passion to motorcycle. Honestly, after I had chat with him my perception towards motorcycle are changed. I never approach to them from the perspective Frank described me. You can find more about him in interview where you can find below.

Let's go back to McLaren headquarters in Woking, UK. Woking is a very nice, small city, silent, relaxing and lots of green. Inside the green, there is the McLaren HQ. The structure of the building totally part of the nature, there is an artificial lake, precisely placed tree. While I was there, the view from the window was like a canvas. The building and nature so well integrated with each other and you would never think that McLaren is producing cars here, but they do.

I want to talk about the building a little bit more. It is a total perfection, everything is perfectly designed, measurement are precise. The air is in same temperature in each room, there is no thermal shock here. You don't feel the cold weather from outside. And they achieved to isolate the smell in the food court from the rest of the building. By maintaining different air pressures.

The front part of the building is covered with glass and there are some curves. When it was first made, the wind was vibrating the glass. And McLaren F1 engineers designed a metal structure to eliminate this vibration through F1 technology.

And the corridors, when you first get inside you have the feeling that, I am in a James bond movie. Everywhere is perfect white, no dust or dirt at all. You go from tunnels, take lift with circular glass doors. There is nothing can annoy you with the building. Don't think that, it is just limited with the management part.

I visited the manufacturing site of MP4-12C, where they produce the car. Manufacturing plant is usually involves with dirt, oil, bad odour. However, it looks cleaner than hospitals. I am extremely serious! The manufacturing site is so clean, and you started to question your personal cleanliness.

The paint shop? It is supposed to be dirty but it is cleaner than my five start hotels! Each car is painted by hand with people who are expert on their job. Perfection does not finish here, McLaren does not paint the parts of the cars separately. In order to sustain the same level of paint, all parts are painted together.

Later on, the rain test. I was expecting to see some water but no! They test each car with rain test and no single drop at all. And last, the high speed test inside a glass room. It is also supposed to smell exhaust gas but again there is no smell at all.

I saw manufacturing plants but I have never seen something like this on earth. And possibly cannot see in future as well. Even the manufacturing team wear Hugo Boss dresses from head to toe! They don't have that ugly dresses like in other companies.

The MP4-12C, I witness to each stage of this car manufacturing. From naked chassis to ready for delivery. The manufacturing is so perfect, there is nothing wrong with the car. It is built like a luxury sedan. Parts are matching with no gap, the door is opened by sliding your fingers. The rear air brake works with hydraulic and acts as a proper air brake like in an airplane. One other example, navigation screen placed vertical to keep the car narrow!

The best part is the front head lights, at night you see the McLaren’s logo illuminated with LEDs and fins of sharks below it.

Lastly, McLaren is going to reveal more models! I don't want to give more details. But I assure that, Veyron will not be alone anymore.

From what I see today, if you are planning to buy an exclusive sports cars. There is only one choice, McLaren MP4-12C. From design studio to customer delivery preparation, everything is perfect!

Is that all from McLaren, of course not ;) I want to keep some secret...

For more photo: Facebook Gallery

And here is my interview with Frank Stephenson

Frank Stephenson

A few hours ago, I found some interviews with Frank Stephenson on YouTube. If you don’t know Frank, I am sure you know his designs; BMW X5, Mini, Maserati MC12, Maserati Quattroporte, Ferrari F430, Ferrari 612, Fiat 500, McLaren MP4-12C and many other cars. In my opinions, he will be remembered as one of the most influential car designer in his era. Especially his interpretation of the new Mini and new Fiat 500 are the most remarkable cars of this century, and never getting old Quattroporte!

We will find more about him on these interviews. And additional information to his Wikipedia page, he stayed in Istanbul, Turkey for six years!

Part 1

Part 2

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Mini, Fiat, McLaren