World Car Awards

I am not into too much about World Car of the Year award however, this year I really appreciated the winner! Volkswagen UP. Most of the times, I am not paying very high attention to  this award and sometimes I really don’t agree with their decision. But, Volkswagen is a realy revolutionary car for urban transportation without scarifying ride comfort or ergonomy. I really like the UP and it would be a great solution to tiring and boring urban transportation.

They also awarded, Range Rover Evoque as the World Design Car of the Year, Porsche 911 as the World Performance Car of the Year and Mercedes-Benz S250 CDi as the World Green Car of the Year. I agree with Evoque, they created a new path for the urban SUV market and developed a new design language. 

Mercedes-Benz S250 CDi offers the smallest diesel engine (2,2-lt), the lowest consumption 5,7lt/km diesel and cleanest CO2 level 149g/km on its segment. 

However, I would not award the new Porsche 911. Because, its steering wheel replaced by an electric steering wheel that reduces the connection with the road and McLaren MP4-12C offers much better performance levels than the 911.

Pictures' Copyright

Mercedes, VW

Volkswagen Cross Coupe

Range Rover Evoque was the last year’s the most outstanding vehicle. It received an unbelievable level of demand; even the Land Rover was not expecting this! However, there is a downside. If a car receives a very high demand, in following years you may see it everywhere and it diminishes some of its demand or prevent customers to buy it.

At that moment, they will look a good substitute and VW realised this possible scenario and released the Cross Coupe concept in Geneva. In my opinion, this is the best-looking VW for ages. Most of the VW vehicles have that conservative family car looking except some models like Golf R and GTi, but the rest have that DNA inside.

However, VW is changing it DNA and it is very clear with Cross Coupe. If they put this car in production, it will be the one of the major rivals of the Range Rover Evoque. Actually, it looks better than Tiguan and Touareg!

This Cross Coupe is planned to be TDI plug-in hybrid powertrain. 2,0-lt turbo diesel engine is connected with two electric motor and creates the a consumption of 1,8lt/km and 46g/km CO2 level. And combination of all electric motors and diesel engine, it will produce 306 PS with outstanding 700 nm of torque. Acceleration to 100 kph (62 mph) in 6,5 seconds and top speed of 220 kph (137 mph).

These figures are really good, keep eye on Cross Coupe!

For more photos: Cars & Life Facebook Page

Pictures' Copyrights

VW

Bentley SUV Press Release Mistake

Bentley is going to reveal an SUV in couple of years. I already mentioned this in my blog previously like many other journalist mentioned. It was very obvious that, Bentley will reveal an ultra luxury SUV to consumers, who are not satisfied with the Range Rover. Reasonable decision and they will definitely make lots of money!

However, they made a minor mistake during the press release recently. Bentley CEO Wolfgang Dürheimer said  “we will be first to use a 12-cylinder petrol engine in a luxury SUV. I like this idea; it makes clear whose car is the boss.” Actually he made a minor mistakes in this sentence, there was a 12-cylinder petrol powered SUV. And it is made by VW, the Touareg W12! From his point of view, Touareg is not in the same leauge with Bentley’s SUV and that is true, but he should have said ultra luxury.

Many consumers perceive Touareg as a luxury SUV, which is based on its price tag. Thus, Bentley’s SUV is an ultra luxury SUV. Not luxury!

Pictures' Copyrights

VW

Ford is Coming: EVOS! Don't Confuse with VW EOS

EVOS is the Ford’s new concept vehicle, which was revealed in Berlin couple of days ago. And EOS is the VW’s coupe cabrio model. Many of you might have typed Ford EOS on Google, or VW EVOS! And I was expecting this to happen, not something surprising! Ford invented a new brand name that is very similar to an existing brand. Eventually, many people will struggle to remember it properly and hopefully Google will correct the mistake. 

Anyway, let’s focus on new the Ford EVOS. This new concept vehicle is a flash forward of Ford’s new design and technology philosophy. Firstly the design, Ford defines this vehicle as drop-dead four-door fastback. This car has four doors, don’t be confused with the seamless design. Unidentified rear door concept is not very familiar with the Ford, usually we see this with Alfa Romeos. So that’s makes it very clear that Ford is going to shift into a unique design philosophy with the new Mondeo in 2013. 

In 2005, Ford revealed the Iosis concept vehicle and the design concept shift into a totally different level. More competitive and more distinctive. With EVOS concept, I am expecting to see more competitive Ford models in next decade. This indicates one thing, new Ford models will be competing with Audi! They already mentioned this couple of years ago. Ford is targeting to Audi’s segment and they are planning to be there less than a decade! 

EVOS concept vehicle proofs this strategy. EVOS offers more adaptive technologies, new Ford’s will be understanding the drivers’s habits (New Fords will be monitoring driver’s heart-rate and adjusts the vehicles according to driver, no more pushing comfort button for comfort), clean the air more comprehensively with the climate control, connects with the cloud technology. Basically, new Fords will be more competitive than ever. 

I hope that, Ford will not use EVOS brand for production. They should consider the side effects on Google search.

For more photos please check the Facebook Page

Pictures' Copyrights

Ford

Published at: http://uygarr.blogspot.com http://carsandlife.net

Car of the Day # 20 Volkswagen IROC Concept

This photo is from 2006, Auto Show Istanbul. And this is the IROC concept, which became Scirocco.

Published at: http://uygarr.blogspot.com http://carsandlife.net

Volkswagen is Peaceful with the Green: Lupo 3L

Nowadays, there are some campaigns against VW's environment concern. When all these things happened, I remembered a car from 1999! VW Lupo 3L; this car was introduced at 1999 and achieved 3 lt of petrol consumption per 100 kilometres! Sounds crazy but it achieved this crazy figure. If you don't use lt per km scale, it is 94 MPG!

This car had a 1,2 lt turbo diesel engine with 61 hp, aerodynamic design, low weight materials (whole was 830 kg) and automatic transmission. And it was capable of achieving 1000km with 34 lt of diesel! It was creating only 79gr/km CO2 on 1999, twelve years ago! But at those years, people were not concerned about CO2 or environment and the demand was too weak. As VW is a company to make profit, they stopped the production. Honestly, they did everything to sustain production until 2005 but customers did not wish to buy an environmental small car! 3L Lupo had a wrong schedule!

By the way, in automotive industry low weight materials mean one thing. It is more expensive! It is not cheap to make a car weight less. Lower weight means more composite components and this means complicated manufacturing. And this leads to increase manufacturing costs. Basically, making something lighter is more expensive than the standard production.

Before criticising an automotive company, please think twice and also consider the demand of consumers to products! It is not always possible to sustain a product with a very low demand. If you want to see the efficiency improvement in automotive industry just check the consumption of a vehicle in 2000 and now! You will see the difference.

And I am sure that VW will reveal a 1 lt vehicle soon to market.

Pictures' Copyrights
VW


Published at: http://uygarr.blogspot.com http://carsandlife.net

Volkswagen CrossPassat matches with Louis Vuitton!

Again the same; VW is going to offer a taller Passat Estate and brand it as CrossPassat (Audi did it this by turning A6 Estate into A6 Allroad). It will probably have four-wheel drive and many plastic bumpers! Similar Audi A6 Allroader and BMW 5GT, I don't see an emotional reason to buy these vehicles.

On paper, this type of vehicles fills the gap between the SUV and the estate. These cars are not as high as SUV and more practically than usual estate. However, consumers never think like this and usual find vehicles like Audi A6 Allroad, BMW 5 GT and upcoming CrossPassat a bit odd! You can see this from the sales performance of Audi Allroad family and BMW 5GT. Unfortunately, a similar scenario may happen to VW CrossPassat. I wish it won’t happen but history tells the opposite.

The rendered picture of CrossPassat reminded me Louis Vuitton Zipped Totebag. It looks very similar to SUV-Estate cars. It offers different colours in the same bag! The black parts look like the black plastics of CrossPassat. Based on this product evaluation, I can see that Zipped Tote bag is as practical as a CrossPassat or Audi Allroader. If you are planning to you buy this type of car, you should also buy this bag.

CrossPassat in second picture is under heavy camouflage!

Pictures' Copyrights

BMW, Audi, VW, Autoblog.nl, WorldCarFans, Louis Vuitton

Published at: http://uygarr.blogspot.com http://carsandlife.net

Volkswagen Eos vs Volkswagen Golf Cabrio

You didn't read wrong, VW revealed a new Golf Cabrio. After this car, VW's cabrio strategy became more complicated than Paris Hilton's love life! Currently in VW range, there is a car called Eos and this is a cabrio, actually it is a coupe cabrio with a metal roof. However, it is open top car! And VW decided to stop Golf Cabrio, when they revealed the VW Eos and it was a very good decision. Because, Eos and Golf Cabrio would definitely collapsed with each other.

Interestingly, VW changed mind and revealed the new Golf Cabrio. It is not a coupe cabrio with a metal roof, it has a soft top but still open top car. I really wonder how consumers will react to this; they both offer four seat and they look very similar to each other. And I find really hard to find a different among these two cars! My opinion is still Eos is a better option, thanks to its metal roof. Unless you buy a Rolls Royce or Bentley, I don't like soft top cars.

Probably, either Eos or Golf Cabrio will be erased from production, and it will be decided by the consumers!

I didn't wish to discuss the technical features, because they are identical with each other! VW, unexpectedly revealed a car that is going to be a competitor of their own car.

Pictures' Copyrights

VW

Published at: http://uygarr.blogspot.com http://carsandlife.net

Bentley Continental SUV

During last one decade, we couldn’t ignore two things. SUVs and Google! They suddenly take a part in our lives whilst we are not aware of their existence. Google started as a basic search engine web site with a plain design. As the years have passed, they developed more and more and more. Finally, end up with taking your home’s photo and publishing on Google Earth.

SUVs are the same, it started with a plain design of Mercedes M-Class and chased by Dinosaurs in Jurassic Park! After this traumatic event, SUVs started to chase us in everywhere. Nearly, each manufacturer thought about an SUV model inside their model range. “It would not be a bad idea to offer an SUV, everyone likes it”. Even the Dacia’s ultra-cheap SUV received a respectful demand from all around the world. I am not saying the demand to BMW X Series, Mercedes ML, Range Rover, Porsche Cayenne, Audi Q7 and the others.

As the SUV became so addicted to automotive industry and impossible to take out from the market. Some manufacturers started to think about their own interpretation of SUV. I mean the Bentley Motors. If you don’t know let me tell you, Bentley is owned by Volkswagen and Continental family shares many parts with VW Phaëton. Anyway, Bentley received unexpected demand around the world since it was reveal on 2004. It was offering everything; powerful engine, luxury, four-wheel drive, exquisite design. But, it is not an SUV, that’s the minor problem. People want to have a luxury SUV not a four-wheel passenger car.

If you want to buy a luxury SUV, the alternative is extremely clear; Range Rover. That’s the best luxury SUV on planet. Unfortunately, rest of the competitors are imitating Range Rover’ style but it is not working that well. Ask anyone for the ultimate luxury SUV, they will say Range Rover. From this basic scientific research, we can assume that; there is a great market for luxury SUVs.

Let’s go back to Bentley HQ; most probably they received some reports from Germany for a potential SUV model. It will be explaining how great it would be to have SUV under the Bentley brand and how we can make money from this. Honestly, this is totally right. People would definitely buy a Bentley Continental SUV. Because, it is an SUV and it is a Bentley!

So, the problem is production; and it is easy also. Audi Q7 has meaningless big and long chassis for and Audi but it would be a great match for Bentley. Just change the exterior design and use the chassis. The interior will be same with Continental FlyingSpur, so there is nothing to worry. The drive train would be the same with Q7 but they should have low range gearbox (take from VW Touareg) and a better off road capability than the Q7. It will be expensive and try to compete with Range Rover. Therefore, it should offer state of art off road capabilities. And customer will be expecting to see something similar to Range Rover, even though they would never ever use on off road.

Basically, in next five year I am expecting to see a Bentley Continental SUV based Audi Q7 chassis, using VW Touareg’s off road gearbox and interior from FlyingSpur. They only need to design exterior and do the necessary long term testing, which they would be doing at the moment. There were some rumours about this and Bentley denied the SUV. Let’s make a flash back to year 2001, Porsche mentioned, “we will never use a diesel engine” but they are using now. So, it won’t be a surprise to see one.

Pictures' Copyrights

Land Rover, Bentley, Audi

Published at: http://uygarr.blogspot.com http://carsandlife.net