2011 Was A Difficult Year For Japanese Car Manufacturers

Monday, 31. October 2011

You have to have some sympathy for Honda after our hearts go out to those that died in the Tsunami then over the last few days those that have lost their lives in the Thai floods. But talk about bad choices of location, Honda shut down production for most of the summer following the tsunami and we now hear that following the severe floods on 4th Read more »

Japanese Car Manufacturers On Road To Recovery

Tuesday, 27. September 2011

There are some encouraging signs coming from the Japanese manufacturers with regard to recovery following the tsunami. Toyota and Nissan are working close to capacity now to fulfil orders and to replenish inventory of cars and parts depleted as a result of the March 11th disaster. Whilst car production was ready to roll very quickly it was a Read more »

Do We Need A New Car Model Every Year?

Friday, 23. September 2011

Isn’t it about time the manufactures started to put their design staff on some internal company awareness courses or set them to work planning the layout of the staff canteen or something? Why should they do this? Because we have far too many cars and variants. Over the years we have seen the manufacturers start to change their cars every year with Read more »

Growing Support For Alternative Car Manufacturers

Friday, 23. September 2011

Years ago stand up comedians like Bernard Manning could fill a complete stand up slot with jokes about Ladas and Skodas, you didn’t measure their speed in miles per hour but feet per week etc. Nissan was called Datsun and called cars after flowers and birds, like Primrose and Bluebird. In those days they simply didn’t get it in the same way as our Read more »

What Makes Eco Friendly Cars Green/Blue

Tuesday, 20. September 2011

VW Polo Blue Motion

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Car manufacturers love to confuse us poor customers. Just as we had firmly fixed in our minds the colour green as being representative of  anything that was environmentally friendly, not only in the UK but around the world, they decided that blue would be the new green (was this a careful ploy on the part of the Conservative party I ask myself). Read more »

Car Makers & Electronic Manufacturers Join Forces

Thursday, 1. September 2011

Logo of General Motors Corporation. Source: 20...

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No sooner have I reported on the new association between General Motors and LG to develop new electric cars than I’m told of the new association between Volvo and Siemens to do the same. It very much looks as though this will be the trend. Apparently Siemens have been having discussions with several car manufacturers but decided upon Volvo Read more »

Do New Cars Have A Run-In Period?

Sunday, 14. August 2011

Virtually every car I provide is new so I’m often asked what is the ‘run in period?’ This won’t mean much to my younger readers and enthusiastic followers of my musings but this was a practice that car manufacturers insisted upon to ensure that your car lasted beyond its one year warranty and you didn’t end up driving a car with an engine that Read more »

Graham Hill Reveals The UK’s No.1 Car Manufacturer

Friday, 12. August 2011

Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK Ltd in Sunderlan...

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Who is the biggest UK car manufacturer? Nope not Vauxhall or Ford, it’s Nissan! Yep, their Sunderland plant has broken all production records in the UK and produced over 400,000 cars in 2010. Considering the current economic climate that is absolutely amazing but, in my opinion, not surprising. We have seen some aggressive marketing of the Read more »

Good News For Lotus Cars

Thursday, 11. August 2011

Lotus 56 STP Oil Treatment (Graham Hill) in 19...

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Another good news story comes from Lotus who are to take on up to 1,200 new staff over the next 5 years even after missing out on the £27.5 million regional growth fund. Chief executive, Danny Bahar said that they could end up losing jobs when the decision was announced but due to demand they are now looking to take on between 600 – 1,200 more staff. And if the Norfolk firm continues to see its achievements grow in F1 I can see the car growing even bigger. I’m personally really pleased with the growth of one of the county’s land mark car manufacturers. But then with my name and given the special relationship between Colin Chapman, Lotus creator and Graham Hill the racing driver it’s hardly surprising. By Graham Hill

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Heart Attacks From Diesel Fumes?

Saturday, 6. August 2011

Edinburgh University has carried out a study into the effects of diesel fumes with some not so good results. They have found that after exposing volunteers to diesel fumes containing particles over a long period it led to blood clots forming in arteries that could lead to heart attacks or strokes. So whilst CO2 emissions are less with diesel the Read more »