Archive for October, 2009

Mustang Car Stunts

Extended scrappage scheme starts today

The extended scrappage scheme comes into effect today and now it includes cars aged nine years old or more rather than ten.

The age qualification for car owners now extends the benefits to cars registered on or before 29 Feb 2000 (V registration).

The new rules also mean van owners looking to trade in their vehicles will now be able to scrap their eight-year-old van instead of the previous 10-year requirement.

Last month the Government said it would extend the £300 million scheme with extra £100 million worth of funding. This extra cash injection means that up to 400,000 vehicles can be bought under the scheme.

The Government says it had ‘listened to industry’ that was fearful the end of scheme would see a dramatic drop in new car sales.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said: ‘Consumers and businesses looking for a new vehicle should make the most of the scrappage scheme now. With the new terms, the Government’s scrappage scheme makes it accessible to even more consumers, but it has to end when the funding runs out.

‘Industry figures show that the scrappage scheme is continuing to boost the market. The automotive sector is a cornerstone of British manufacturing. That is why the Government plans to extend this successful scheme with an extra £100 million of funding.’

The scheme will come to an end in February 2010 or when the funding runs out, whichever is sooner.

Sourced via channel4.com

Arrival: 2009 Audi A4 Avant 2.0T quattro

You’ve got to give it up to the Germans. No matter how out of fashion the wagon has become in this crossover-crazy land of ours, they keep bringing them over. So we figured,what the heck, instead of testing out Audi’s new A4 in sedan form, we’d add the 2009 Audi A4 Avant 2.0T quattro Tiptronic (say that five times fast) to our long-term fleet. Is it hip to be square? We’re going to find out.

Looking at the numbers, it’s a virtual dead heat at the dragstrip between the Avant and a similarly equipped 2009 A4 sedan we tested last year. Audi’s 211-horse, 2.0-liter turbo is as stout a four-banger as they come and boogies the Avant to 60 in 6.4 seconds and on to a 14.9-second quarter mile at 90.8 mph (the sedan hit 60 in 6.5 seconds and the quarter in 15 flat at 92 mph). Ah, but the wagon has way more cargo room, you say? Not exactly. The A4 sedan’s trunk holds 16.9 cubic feet, just 0.4 less than the Avant with the rear seats up. As you’d expect, the Avant wins hands down with the seats folded (50.5 versus 34.0), and of course, its hatch makes loading cargo easier.

You’ll pay more for the added room though, as the Avant’s base price is roughly four grand more than the sedan’s. Our tester, which started at $35,675, got the kitchen-sink treatment, with the $7850 Prestige package featuring an assortment of upscale touches including Bluetooth, a Bang & Olufsen sound system, power tailgate, and Xenon headlamps. For $2500 we also checked off the navigation option with backup camera that integrates with Audi’s slick Multimedia Interface system.

Bringing both bling and grip to the Avant is the S Line package, which for $2450 adds a sport tuned suspension, 19-inch rims shod with high-performance summer rubber, steering-wheel-mounted shift paddles, and several interior and exterior trim bits-including some sweet, black Alcantara-leather-swathed buckets. We also opted for the Audi Drive Select feature ($2500), which allows the driver to choose several vehicle setups from comfort to sport. The upgrades helped the Avant pull a very respectable 0.93 g on the skidpad and buzz through our figure-eight course in 26.3 seconds at 0.66 g.So the Avant can carry the mail and canyon carve all the way home-it’s a formula all those cool crossovers aspire to, but only unhip wagons can really pull off. Yep, we’re looking forward to our year of being square.

Sourced via motortrend.com

Honda president says he has ‘no regrets’ about Formula One pullout

Honda president and CEO Takanobu Ito told a group of reporters on Thursday night at the company’s Tokyo headquarters that the decision to quit Formula One racing last year was absolutely necessary for the company’s survival. And even after watching Honda’s former team, now named Brawn GP, win both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships this season, Ito has no misgivings about pulling out of the sport.

“[I have] no regrets,” he said through an interpreter. “After our withdrawal, we’ve seen our team doing extremely well. The reason why I say this is because of all the efforts we put into the team prior to our withdrawal that led to this result,” Ito said.

The decision to quit F1 was made by Ito’s predecessor, Takeo Fakui. Ito took the helm of Honda in June.

“Just a year ago, Mr. Fakui made the decision to withdraw from Formula One racing and I think it was the correct decision,” Ito continued. “We do love Formula One racing, but even more than that, we had to think about our company; following the [worldwide recession] our management environment had truly deteriorated, also due to the need to comply with environmental needs, [which meant] we had to develop new technologies. So this came first.

“I can surely say the few hundreds of people that were working on Formula One and the tens of billions of yen used for Formula One, this has been converted to the development of environmental technologies.”

Ito said the decision to get out of the money-swallowing series was not all that difficult for Honda.

“Usually when we decide to withdraw our team from Formula One racing, there are fights and anguishes … fortunately the team has succeeded. It has produced very good results, so people seem to be very happy which is quite unusual.

“Honda is very proud of the fact that we were able to make such a smooth withdrawal based on a very well-thought out plan…. I think we did very well with the withdrawal and after the withdrawal, we managed very quickly to inject all our resources into environmental technology development. [We are] very proud the management was so speedy in making this change,” Ito said.

Among auto manufacturers in racing, Honda had gained a reputation for taking bright, young engineers and assigning them to racing teams, where they have to make quick, correct decisions. Because of the demands of racing, this training ground for engineers hones their analytical and decision-making skills, and when they leave racing and return to making road cars, those skills are then shared throughout the company.

But Ito said the world has shifted, and with the demands placed on car companies today, engineers can find all the challenges they need making road cars.

“I cannot deny the fact that racing is truly challenging and trying. Yet in looking at the situation we are faced with right now, we are truly pressed for time to develop these technologies even more than we were pressed for time during our Formula One racing. And the output expectation is bigger. I think the engineers do have a training ground here by working on these technologies we are working on now.”

Lost marketing

Honda, the previous owner of the Brawn GP Formula 1 team which clinched both the drivers’ and constructors’ world championships last weekend, missed out on at least $255 million of brand exposure during the course of the season, according to Margaux Matrix. The U.K.-based media analysis agency evaluated TV broadcasts and advertising rates in 18 countries during the first 15 races of the season.

According to its results, the two Brawn GP race cars benefited from 8.5 hours of international coverage in those races, more than three times Honda’s number in 2008. When Honda quit Grand Prix racing at the end of last season, it said it would save at least $221 million a year in operating costs.

Sourced via autoweek.com