Day One at the Motor Show - Revisited
Apparently today is day one, and so yesterday must have been day zero, and the press launch would have been day minus one. I apologise for any confusion this may have caused.
Yesterday's interesting little factoid about SUVs brings us to the question which I intend to skirt around and eventually fail to answer in this blog - is the motor industry starting to move in the right (low emissions) direction, or is the occasional bit of good news just greenwash to keep the likes of me happy whilst everyone else gets on with the serious business of getting a bigger, shinier car than their neighbours? Motor shows are supposed to give you a feel for what the cars of the near future will look like, so what sort of future is on display at the Excel centre?
There are a few electric cars here from specialist companies, and lots of manufacturers are beginning to produce hybrid models with significantly lower emissions than their pure petrol powered counterparts, but that itself is a puzzle - whilst electric vehicles may not be the comprehensive solution for sustainable transport, why is it that the major manufacturers will only put an electric motor in a car if they can put a petrol one next to it? I shall ask and report back later.
But on a less technical level, are the ghosts of traffic jams yet to come generally getting more eco-friendly or not? Starting with the more distant future, the motor show has a display of 'famous' cars from the big and small screens. Most of these are from sci-fi or fantasy films, and perhaps they give us an insight into what 'blue skies thinking' comes up with on the automotive drawing board.
We'd better hope not, as this sort of blue skies thinking isn't going to do much for keeping them blue. The smallest car in this section is a Jaguar (Del Boy's Reliant van must have been unavoidably detained), and there are Land Rovers from Tomb Raider, Judge Dredd and a more lightly armed one from Emmerdale Farm. What struck me particularly was the continuing fetish for long phallic bonnets - I'll save the freudian analysis for my planned entry ' Girlz on the hood - spokesmodels past and present', but there is something worth looking at here. Two of the 'famous' cars, from Thunderbirds and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, are pretty much the batmobile on viagra, and the worrying thing is that they are echoed in the manufacturers' concept cars (a concept car is, I think, a prototype which won't go into mass production).
Mercedes have produced something called the 'Exelero' which is built on the chassis of the Maybach limousine - the largest and most expensive car Mercedes make. This is a two seater sports car approaching the length of a stretch limo. Apparently the Maybach's 12 cylinder biturbo 5.6 litre engine needed extensive work in order to provide sufficient power. Why would such a car be necessary? As a fire engine for formula one racing? Nipping to Waitrose when you live in Outer Mongolia? As a demonstration that SUVs aren't really that bad? Nothing so practical - the Exelero was designed to test bus tyres at high speeds. Allegedly.
These are the people who'll make CSR statements about environmental protection being their top priority. That and safer bus tyres.
Peugeot also has a twelve cylinder monster sports concept on display, long, black and very shiny, but they've covered their backs with a relatively efficient diesel hybrid concept. Guess which one is hidden away at the back of their stand?
I'm hoping that all this is just some sort of folorn last hurrah from car designers realising that their dream vehicles are going to have to stay in the realm of concepts, but it's alot of money to spend on a lost cause.
Tomorrow, back to the reality based community.
Comments
Presumably the Thunderbirds car would be quite small - be careful you don't tread on it. And I imagine Alan Moore tearing his hair out at the thought of a League-mobile.
For those who wish to investigate the ongoing effect of Hollywood's free advertising for one of the most self-indulgent, destructive industries on the planet, visit Cars of the Stars in Keswick. While you're there, you can also visit the pencil museum.
Posted by: Jamie@GPUK | July 21, 2006 11:15 AM
The new 4x4 video is stupid in using insults like "Prick" & "Wanker" ....yes Greenpeace's words. It would be more relevent to say "Thoughtless" or "Selfish".. You are sinking to the gutter if this is supposed to be persuasive....it makes it easy to ignore the real policy point
Posted by: Phil | July 21, 2006 11:31 AM
Hello Phil. I'm sorry if you've found some of our language a bit fruity - the reason is that the video in question is something we're hoping will go 'viral'. That is, we'd like it to spread by being emailed between friends who find it amusing. The detailed reports we have produced on the subject in more formal language wouldn't do this, although we would definitely prefer people to read them. Please look on the video not as an arguement in itself, but as an invitation to find out more.
Posted by: Graham | July 24, 2006 2:52 PM
Instead of prick and wanker, which my mother taught me from a very early age were "bad words" that could cause offence, why not use "Clarkson" and "Hammond" instead? Afterall, most rational people realise this pair of pricks are total wankers, but you don't have to lower the tone with such crude language.
Posted by: Benjamin | July 24, 2006 4:04 PM
hows about you all stop and think outside the box for a second. if not for the prototypes and concept cars designers would not feel inspired to make further advancements, if not for motor racing then engine development would not have come as far as it has. think about it...lemans was won by a diesel this year, do you think that was a fluke "hey, lets put a bus motor in a race car and see how we go??" moment, or years of technical development that made a car running on an alternate fuel not only win, but go more laps between pit stops than any other car ever has? development is based on dreams, if you tell a car designer that he or she cant designer the most advanced car imaginable then no body will move forward. And as far as hybrid goes...and i'd hope you all know this...last time i checked you still burn fossile fuels to put energy in the batteries, and it takes more btu's of energy to create a solar pannel than you will ever get out of it so that isnt efficient either...at which point i suggest you put a sail on your car and hope for enough wind to keep you out of the way of the people who are ready to blame you for the "traffic jams yet to come". i might seem like I'm ranting...but i know enough about this topic to know your full of it...i drag race electric cars, they are not a practical solution...move on.
Posted by: craig | September 23, 2006 2:25 AM
Hello Craig, thanks for your contribution. We'd like car designers to be freed up to design genuine steps forward in this field, and some of them are. What we object to is the major producers' obsession with anachronistic technology which is already recognised as obsolete by everyone who understands the situation. The problem we're facing is not that most cars aren't fast enough - the majority of them can do double the speed limit - but that they're making the planet uninhabitable. Winning Le Mans (lemans is an accountancy firm) helps to solve a non-existent problem, and is a waste of all those talented designers' time. Regarding hybrids and electric cars, they have problems, largely caused by manufacturers' procrastination and timidity, which I'm sure you would be the first to condemn, but even at this early stage there are cheap and practical electric cars for city use and hybrids which are significantly more efficient than their old-fashioned internal combustion equivalents. You can find out more about these by reading the rest of the blog, particularly day 2 and day 7. Your suggestion of attaching a sail to your car has already been taken up by Clarkson and co. You can see a picture on day 11.
Posted by: graham | September 27, 2006 3:24 PM