No Comment: Tesla Model S - Maserati GranTurismo

Maserati GranTurismo and new Tesla Model S

Pictures are taken from;

Maserati and Worldcarfans Websites

Fuel Cell, this is real cell :)

For long time, I was waiting to see a hydrogen car. I know they don't very different rather than the normal ones but I would like to see how it drives and how it looks like. Hopefully today I saw three of them at the same time. They weren't production models but at least they were hydrogen powered cars.

They were looking very nice for prototype and actually looking better than many Toyota cars! However the interior is a total catastrophe! Of course, it is pointless to expect to see very high quality interior from an university prototype. These cars have a range of 160 km. And very silent! Actually they are too silent and you may not even notice that a hydrogen car is approaching to you.

Finally, I really don't know where they fill up the car. It is sure that, they are filling up them somewhere but I didn't see.

VW China, hybrid bicycle !

Nowadays bicycles became very popular to car companies! May be focusing on China market and involving with their culture influence the manufacturers and they decided to manufacture bicycles besides cars. Yesterday I mentioned about the pointless and good looking Lexus hybrid bicycle and today VW announced their hybrid bicycle!

However, VW's bicycle looks quite descent. It worth to be tried at least once. But I would not planning to buy it! VW's bicycle might be good for riding for once but if I wish to own a bicycle I would be buying from bike company! I guess, VW and Lexus are focusing on how to increase our market share in China with whatever product we can make :)

Picture is taken from;

Worldcarfans Website

Enviromental Bicycle by Lexus :O

In automotive industry you can find many interesting things! As I mentioned earlier, you can have Porsche power drill, weird looking car branded shoes, pointlessly expensive car branded pencils and many interesting things, until now. Today, the world's the most boring car brand announced something more pointless than Porsche's power drill. Hybrid bicycle! Yes, a hybrid, an environmental bicycle. People who has nobody about hybrids, I would like to explain quickly. Hybrid is a technology which combine electric and petrol engine together to reduce CO2 level and offer more economy. This technology is designed for vehicle which are running with combustion engine not with feet!

Lexus's obsession with hybrid concept helped to reveal this ultimately pointless bicycle. Who on earth will going to buy a hybrid bicycle. I know there are many people who bought Apple iPad without knowing what to do with that but this is more pointless than iPad. Bicycle suppose to be ride by feet for sport or for fitness not to save the earth! Or to show off that I care environment and I ride this pointless thing.

The batteries are charged by regenerative brakes, I hope that these brakes are working properly. And it has 8 speed auto gearbox with 240W electric motor. Actually there is one thing nice in this bike, its design. Lexus's success on dull design on cars cannot be seen on this bicycle and I do hope that they will try this on their cars also ;)

Pictures are taken from;

Lexus and Worldcarfans Websites

Inside out Jeremy

Sometimes I do like Clarkson's non objective review on cars. Mainly I agree on many of them. And he is mentioning the right points which are ridiculous. Especially I cannot agree more on his thoughts on American cars. In some cases Mercedes public bus is a better choice! And last year, we all how other perceive American cars.

One of the most interesting things about American cars is where they were using wood! Clarkson mentioned this many time because it is senseless way of using it. Some American cars were using wood as a part of paint in outside of the car! It is similar to a dress on salad which supposes to be inside the salad. Hopefully they are doing this anymore.

Clarkson missed one point though. In UK they do the same thing. Just look at the buildings which were built between sixties and eighties. They look like a wood covered American car. Why? The material which was used outside on those buildings supposes to be inside the walls. Not inside the building, inside the walls! As you could see from the picture, it looks totally ugly, boring and lack of everything. Hopefully they are not constructing buildings like that anymore.

Pictures are taken from;

Guardian's Website

HowStuffWorks' Website

High Heeled Boots and SUVs !

Nowadays the products and their names are not meaning the same thing! Their functionality and their name suppose to fit with each other. If they were named as boots, you suppose to wear them when you have to wear boots! Also a four wheel drive SUV is suppose to be driven in places where you need four wheel drive! But the marketing tactics and evolved demands of customers changed everything. Nothing is doing what it suppose to do. I know you will be saying, this fashion and it is dynamic, it is changing all the time. That's the nature of fashion. I do not disagree with this and I like the way how the fashion is changing over the years. Unless everything will be boring and nobody would like to buy anything! Also our incentives for buying will be blinded.

It is very usual to see unusual things in fashion and people are buying those unusual things as they knew those are unusual. Sorry, it sounds very complicated! In short term, nobody cares what its functionality, they just want to buy it :) You can easily see this by Versace's new high heeled boots! Yes, these are boots and they suppose to be used during cold winter or while snowing. However, wearing these boots during winter, especially during snowing is a bit crazy! They are not designed to be worn during winter and nobody is expecting this. Boots is just a word to define these shoes. And I am sure that nobody is going to wear them during winter!

Automotive business behaves like fashion business. Every year a new car is introduced and the other models looks like pre-historic. Fifteen years ago, everything was very simple. Family sedan was a family and four wheel drive was a four wheel drive. Now family sedans are capable of doing more than 300 km/h and four wheel drive vehicles especially SUVs’ off road ability is limited to climbing pavements. They are like the fashion boots, name and functionality do not match with each other. Nobody will ever try to climb a mountain with a BMW X5, because it is not going to climb! It does not have that ability. It is like wearing these Versace boots in winter, your feet will be frozen. However their names are promising to be worn during winter and reaching top of the mountains.

Actually, nobody is expecting to walk with Versace high heeled boots in winter and they do not wish to do it. These boots are not for that purpose, they have totally different purpose of usage. If Versace was offering boots for winter, it would sound weird. Boots just a name to differentiate the product from other shoes. And it is the same for SUVs. Nobody is willing to do off road with BMW X5 and if they try, you can see what happens in YouTube. If BMW was offering something for serious off road, they would be weird! Like the high heeled boots, SUV is just a name to differentiate the vehicles from others.

Pictures are taken from;
BMW and Net-A-Porter Websites

Home made Ad Blue

As far as I could from the reports from Google Analytics, Ad Blue is top of the Google search results for my blog. Some of the were looking for what is Ad Blue, what we can use instead of Ad Blue. For those of you who don't know anything about Ad Blue. I would like to explain it quickly.

Ad Blue is a liquid which helps to reduce NOx in diesel engine. Unlike petrol engine, diesel engine are producing NOx as a result of combustion process. So Ad Blue is something very environmental and easy to find :)

Like car companies suggested, try to buy Ad Blue from petrol station and do not use your own! Yes, everyone has Ad Blue :) Because it is pee or we can say it more polite urine! If you need Ad Blue in the middle of nowhere, you can use yours ;) But be very careful!

Pictures are taken from;

Mercedes Website

Fat Maybach

In 1997, I can clearly remember the date when I saw first pictures of future Mercedes which will be named as Maybach. Maybach was left sleeping for nearly four decades and Mercedes launched the brand with an electro shock which was done by old Mercedes S Class (W220). Finally Maybach was on production in 2002! The features and technology was beyond imagination like its price tag. At the same time, Rolls Royce was working on new Phantom and Bentley was refurbished by Volkswagen. So the competition was getting tougher!

And Maybach revealed to market, however it was sharing too much in common with S Class. Actually Maybach was a stretched and pumped version of S Class. Or I can summarized it like this; Maybach is paint which was done by Botero.

Botero is well known painter who is expressing his ideas in terms of fat people and objects. He is exagratting the figures and objects to express the ideas. Maybach was like that, expressed the passion of Mercedes to go fight with Rolls Royce and Bentley with a S Class. It was basically a S Class with luxury.

And weirdly, current S Class is offering very similar features like Maybach and relatively cheaper! This also had impact on Maybach's sales performance. Despite its enormous engine power which can be used in World Rally Championship did not help Maybach to win! In UK last year, only seven Maybachs were sold. Just 7!

A few days ago Mercedes revealed a video for face lifted Maybach which will be introduced in China Motor Show. And the movie was took place in China with Chinese casting. This clearly Shows that, Mercedes is hopeless for Western market and they try their last chance in China. As matter of fact, Maybach is a great car but too expensive for a Mercedes

Pictures are taken from;
Mercedes Website and NTV.com.tr

Dolce Vita of Mercedes

Year 1997; mobile phone was a symbol of wealth, except talking it was just offering games to play. You would not able to imagining to watch a movie in your mobile phone. The Brave Heart won the Academy Award. Internet was something very privileged, only a small portion of people were able to use and it was just pictures and text and some animated pictures and that was all. Sure, there was nothing called Internet Explorer, actually there was but nobody was using it. Netscape Navigator was the navigation for internet. There weren't any organic vegetable section on markets because everything was organic! The world was cooler than today and global warming was just an issue, if you were in Cyprus or Malta during your holiday. People were still trying to find their friends through their home phones which is odd for new generation. And there was a space station in space which is called MIR. And IBM' Deep Blue super computer was a super computer. Nobody ever heard of Paris Hilton and Jennifer Lopez was just an actor. And there was the Mercedes CLK!

CLK was a breakeven point for Mercedes, it was the reflection of new era. From the boring face of Mercedes to timeless design. The CLK was the icon of timeless design with its magnificent colours. I still remember the first time I saw the CLK, it was a CLK 320. CLK 320 was powered by an atmospheric engine which was producing 218 horsepower. Today Golf has more power! The eye catching point was its design. From front end to back end it was beautifully design and nothing was annoying your eyes! It was both having lovely curves and aggressiveness. Mercedes was able to combine this at those years. Also the interior was not invaded by plastic or ugly designed buttons! Everything was perfect, fitting extremely well and you understand that you are in a luxury car not a car which was suppose to be expensive! It was the era when Mercedes cars were over engineered and their parts don't fall or they don't show any errors. That CLK was the most beautiful CLK model. And you never get bored of seeing it

Now, Mercedes named CLK as E Coupe. Yes, it is a very good looking car but nothing special. It has many new technology, it is able to understand anything if you are planning to pay a price of small island for a 1,8lt car! It could automatically stop, predict accident, offers hundreds of different varieties of gray and black! Including spare wheel, everything is optional and overpriced. If you are not going to buy V6 or V8 engines, you will be using the same 5 speed automatic gearbox which you could find in a 1997 CLK! Unfortunately, you will be finding very "high" quality plastic interior. Mainly interior is invaded by plastic in the name of cost minimization, profit maximization. Even the lever for opening your optional spare wheel is made from very high quality plastic. And also it has a huge screen which could annoy you any time by saying "Please Visit Workshop". Sure, engines are more efficient, it has diesel, it is more aerodynamic, safer, cleaner, sexier, more expensive. And more things you could find in its catalogue which does not make any sense at all!

I really don't like old cars but CLK is something totally different, it was the Dolce Vita of Mercedes which will never ever happen again. In next one decade, Mercedes will be racing with Lexus for producing more boring car with some unknown technologies. Despite the technology is moving forward, everything else is going backward. Unfortunately, this happens to many car company and they are offering more and more senseless cars to market. I don' have any Great Expectation from Mercedes anymore.

Pictures are taken from;

Mercedes Website

Baby Maserati

Today Maserati announced about its entry level (€55 000) model to be produced. And they are planning to increase their market share with this expansion. It will be very clear that, this new entry level model will be offering the most exquisite design for this segment. There is one thing is clear about Maserati, despite their bad reputation for breaking down, they are the most attractive, most beautiful cars on planet. Aston Martin, Ferrari are making great looking cars but nothing can replace the place of Maserati!

Maserati is the only car which you would not care about its technical feature, Mercedes CL might offer more sophisticated technologies but it cannot offer the same level of beautifulness in a car. There is no ugly car in Maserati and it won't have in future!

Pictures are taken from;
Maserati Website

TAG Heuer Meridiist, Don't Drive and Text !

TAG Heuer is one of the most magnificient watch brand on earth. If you are car lover and if you don't love TAG Heuer Monaco; you either have no idea what that is or you don't love cars! Nothing on earth can replace the place of Monaco :) Its unique character and being part of motoring world created this unique essence. Of course, TAG Heuer is not only Monaco, the Carrera, SLR Calibre and many other hand made watches are beyond the word of watch. Every unique model of TAG Heuer reflects a unique identity and targets different customer range and people who are buying each model are looking for something different.

Recently TAG Heuer introduced a mobile phone called Meridiist. It has the same unique identity like watches. Hand made with perfection of ultimate production, every button fits on this phone is made so precisely you have the same feeling like a handmade watch. Meridiist is one the best luxury mobile phone which can be purchased.

However I have found something really shocking! The teaser on Meridiist's website is showing a man texting while driving. Yes, I found the same video clip on YouTube and the man is driving Mercedes McLaren SLR and while driving he is texting with Meridiist. As far as I know, driving and texting or talking is strictly forbidding anywhere on earth and TAG Heuer is playing a video which is showing texting and driving. I am pretty sure that, they have missed this point unless they will not place this video on internet.

You can understand this on picture below and please watch the time frame 0:55 and you will notice it.

Alternative link for video: http://www.vimeo.com/11075535

Pictures are taken from;
TAG Heuer's Website

Sorprendente Fiat Panda

SUV, I think anyone what this stands for! It is more common and more involved in our lives than ABC :) In automotive industry nearly every brand has an SUV model, even the Dacia. It became so popular and cash making even the Aston Martin considered to produce one as Lagonda!

This popularity had adverse impacts on SUVs' off road ability and really who needs that! Therefore, many SUVs are offered by optional off road package or nothing. People do not wish to take their SUV to mountains, the only obstacle is the pavements! That's the main advantage of SUV on city jungle, parking on pavements :)

Actually I like SUVs, my favourite is the first generation Mercedes M Class which was looking better than the current model. Also Range Rover is a good option with prehistroic option list. Sorry, it is not very competitive like others. And there is the Fiat Panda 4x4. Yes, Fiat Panda! It is one of the cheapest and very functional SUV on market and capable of doing real off road. How? As the Panda is a very light car unlike Range Rover, it does not suffer much on climbing or crossing rough terrain. Its traction control helps to cope with adverse conditions. I am pretty sure that nobody ever thought of Panda 4x4 as a good option for off road but that's the fact!

 

Picture is taken from;

Fiat Website

Video is taken from;

Fifth Gear

New Geely is very Geely !

Recently Geely announced its face lifted luxury car. The previous model was looking very similar to Rolls Royce Phantom, a very interesting incident! I guess this car did not have a very good impact on automotive market and Geely decided to introduced a face lifted model. Autocar mentioned this as Rolls Royce look alike but they were wrong!

This new model is totally new has essence from different brands. The front grill is looking very familiar with Maserati Quattroporte’s front grill. The real end, especially lights are very similar to Mercedes S Class and very similar boot lid. This new model is not look similar to one car, it looks similar to many cars. Honestly, one rear seat option is very creative. Some people might wish to have only one seat in the rear! Contemporary way of king transportation :)

Pictures are from;

Worldcarfans, Maserati, Mercedes Website

The art of Aston Martin

There is a long debate about marketing; whether it is science or art. I cannot definitely say marketing is art of science. In some cases, it is reflecting the characteristics of science and in some cases it is reflecting the edges of creativity.

As you know that, couple of months ago Aston Martin announced its pocket sized model Cygnet. It is based on Toyota iQ (with working throttle pedal). Aston Martin just changed its interior and exterior and offered as a new Aston Martin. Engine, transmission and other things did not change, they are the same with normal Toyota iQ. It can be defined as packaging!

Why Aston Martin did this? Last year, every car company realized and felt the reality of global economy and how it can ruin their business. Especially luxury market is serious affected from the crisis and they have to make money to sustain their business. They know the end of story, if they cannot manage their brand properly. So Aston Martin have to produce something relatively cheap and create demand.

It was not easy for Aston Martin as they don’t have any experience on small cars. Also how to sell this car? This is serious marketing issue; if they offer a cheap Aston Martin, everyone will buy one and their next competitor will be Hyundai for next year. Aston Martin will no longer be a James Bond cars. What they have done is something very clever to save the business for future. If you have already have an Aston Martin, you are eligible to buy Cygnet. By this way, the Cygnet which we will on street means that, this person has a decent Aston Martin and this is for daily driving.

This strategy is very clever way to increase sales and protect the brand reputation. They will be many complaints for its performance, handling and other issues but in terms of marketing, this is very a clever method. Except with one drawback; they will sell to people who already to have Aston Martin but how they know that, those people may sell this car for higher price in grey market! Especially emerging markets will be their main environment.

Next year, we will be able to buy a Cygnet in Turkey without having a decent Aston Martin. Aston Martin’s brand image will change in those markets. Many people will not know Cygnet for only Aston Martin owners, they will think “that’s a cheap Aston Martin”!

These kinds of risky marketing strategies have always weakness and Aston Martin knew this. In order to increase sales figures significantly in luxury segment, you have to take risky decisions. What Aston Martin did for Cygnet can be considered as an art of marketing. Ordinary rules for marketing may not help Aston Martin to achieve high sales with Cygnet and protect brand reputation.

Pictures are taken from;

Aston Martin and Toyota Website

The Glamour of Porsche Cayenne

Porsche Cayenne was a disastrous looking SUV when it was first revealed. It was sharing too much common with VW Touareg, lack of Porsche character and was not looking very nice either. And interestingly Porsche was offering rear and centre differential lock and low range gear box for an SUV which was supposed to design for high speed driving. Of course it was not Porsche’s decision, it was the decision by VW and they were technically the same SUV.

Despite these adverse points of Cayenne, it did not suffer any problem in sales figures. It was one of the most profitable cars of Porsche and that made it clear that many people don’t understand what 911 is! Now Cayenne has a new model, and it is the best looking SUV on market. Both in inside and outside! This new model wiped out the adverse parts of previous model and definitely offering a real Porsche SUV. Interior is sharing same bits from Panamera and that’s normal and I would rather prefer this than sharing with Touareg. The evolution did not end up here; Cayenne is no longer offering low range gearbox which was only adding more weight. But its off road ability did not vanquish, actually they

did something really clever.

New Cayenne is offering eight speed automatic gearbox, and the first gear was designed as low range gear for off road driving. This is very clever, nobody is driving in fourth or fifth gear on mountains and if they want to do this, they should buy something else. I know that this new technology might lower its ability to tow but please do not tow any stupid thing with Porsche. Just go and buy some other SUV.

This new Cayenne is the most charming, most sexy, most beautiful SUV on market. Forget the Range Rover, BMW X5 or Mercedes M Class. This is new Cayenne is offering you what you really want to have in a car.

 

Pictures are taken from;

Porsche Website

The thin line between rich and poor

For many times, I looked for Nespresso Machine in many stores and the result was the same. Ridiculously over priced coffee machine! I really could not understand why they were charging more than the ordinary espresso machine. They both basically do the same thing, espresso! But Nespresso was nearly twice the price of an espresso machine. As I noticed Nespresso does not offer any an extreme sophisticated technology. It was just making coffee!

Eventually it was not very hard to understand why they charge more! That’s a luxury product, George Cloney was the brand ambassador in advertisements. Nespresso was mentioned in luxury magazines. Coffee machine was evolved from daily usage to reflection of welfare. It was the invisible line between poor and rich. In its website, it was defined as timeless design, high level functionality, user friendly and you know the rest. They should have written the reflection of your money to society! It is just starting from nearly €150, I am trying to approach optimistic and it was just rising like a boomed stock exchange. In addition, you have to buy your coffee capsules from Nestle, because it does not work with other coffee. In summary, Nespresso is something which you would buy when you win the lotto! And never use it again!

This just reminded me BMW. Of course, when you buy a BMW you would drive all the time. However, it is like Nespresso machine! Especially the 1 Series. It is as big as Ford Focus or VW Golf and offering pretty much the same. You cannot have the sophisticated technologies from 5 Series, but a bit more than Focus or Golf. Unfortunately, for that unnoticeable difference, you suppose to pay very noticeable price! Hopefully, 1 Series does not work with BMW petrol, you can fill it up in anywhere on earth. Like Nespresso machine, 1 Series is a small hatchback. It is just a symbol of wealth. I have more money than you and I did not buy a Golf or Focus. Audi A3 is expensive also it looks really fine. However, 1 Series is expensive and also ugly. So ugly that, I could not find a angle to see it beautiful.

So if you wish to show your wealth, just buy Nespresso machine with BMW 1 Series.

The king ? Audi

Mercedes and BMW are like Coca Cola and Pepsi, when you talk about competition in automotive business, nobody ignores the Mercedes and BMW competition for long years. Nearly their whole model range is a substitute for other brand. And Mercedes was always the winner for selling more cars than BMW, thanks to Mercedes S Class and E Class, sales are always ahead.

Fifteen years ago another German brand became serious competitor, Audi! Audi's model range is also very similar to Mercedes and BMW but it never had the clear brand image on society. Mercedes is luxury and comfort, BMW is luxury and sport. What about Audi? Luxury and be different ?! Probably, because it cannot offer the same sportive character of BMW and also it cannot offer the same sophisticated comfort features like Mercedes. It was stuck in the middle but that was not a good position. People who got bored of Mercedes and BMW had the chance to taste something different, Audi!

As the years passed, Audi increased it quality and became a more serious competitor. Also its price was relatively cheaper than its competitors. It was not a bad decision to buy one and also it was offering Quattro, four wheel drive technology. This stability on Audi was reflected on sales figure also. And for the first quarter of 2010, Audi sold more cars than Mercedes! Yes, more cars than the definition of luxury car on earth. This is a serious success for Audi and a big question mark for Mercedes. It is very clear that Mercedes is not alone, unless they don't do anything Audi might be the new king.

Mercedes sold, 248 500 cars and Audi sold, 264 100 cars. Not a very big difference but an important signal!

Pictures are taken from;

BMW, Mercedes, Pepsi and Coca Cola Websites