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Subaru USA claims August as best sales month in company’s history

Subaru USA has reported that August 2017 has been its best sales month in the company’s history. It stated that 63,215 vehicles have been sold in that month which accounts for a 4.6% increase compared to the same period last year.

This marks the first time that the automaker has managed to shift this many vehicles in one month. The previous sales record was in December 2016, when the company sold 63,177 vehicles in total.

This has helped bolster Subaru’s sales yearly figures even further with an 8.1% percent increase with 423,728 vehicles sold, compared to the same period in 2016. This also means that August marked the 42nd consecutive month with 40,000+ vehicle sales for the company.

Demand for models like the Crosstrek, Impreza and Outback were considerably strong, Even its niche sports car, the BRZ, enjoyed a surge in sales compared with August 2016. This means that the trust of US car buyers have in the brand is growing with each passing year.

“It was our 69th consecutive month of yearly, month over month sales increases. Our retailers gave a truly exceptional effort and we are on pace for our 9th consecutive sales record,” said Jeff Walters, senior vice president of sales, Subaru of America, Inc.

“The Crosstrek easily had its best month ever and we welcome the all-new 2018 model with the introduction of its advertising and marketing campaign in September that we know will resonate with customers,” he later added.

Subaru has had a strong presence in the US car market for several decades and is considered one of the most sort after/ trusted Japanese brands. Here in Malaysia, demand for Subaru vehicles have started to increase as well, thanks to enticing new models with relatively affordable price tags.

Alcraft GT is a British EV concept car with supercar credentials

Alcraft Motor Company, a UK based electric vehicle manufacturer, has revealed details of its creation, called the Alcraft GT. It’s a shooting-brake styled sports car that is able to function as a 2+2 seater rather than just have the conventional two seats.

Design wise, it looks spectacular from the minimalist wedged shaped styling at the front to the the angular subsection of the rear. It incorporates conventional sports car dimensions that have been re-purposed to fit in with the shooting-brake style body design.

The panoramic roof does provide the cabin with an airy feeling which ties in with the all-glass design theme of the A and B pillars. This allows for a luggage capacity of 500-litres, which is quite impressive for any sports car.

The exposed carbon-fibre B-pillars and roof structure are part of the aesthetic but serve as both a safety cell and reduce overall weight. Though its yet to be proven, this should help protect occupants in a high speed collision.

Carbon-fibre has been used in the body’s construction but the exact amount or total composition has not been revealed. As such, its considered a lightweight car with that has decent weight balance thanks to a T-shaped battery pack that is mounted between and behind the driver and passenger seats.

Alcraft has given the car three electric motors that channel power to all four wheels via its 4WD system. The company’s virtual engineering tests peg total power figures to be about 600bhp and 1139Nm of torque.

Being a 100% electric car, the Alcraft GT will have a range of 483km and be able to sprint from 0-100km/h in a mere 3.5 seconds. This puts it in the same league as automakers like Tesla as well as on par with petrol powered supercars.

Alcraft Motor Company has been founded by businessman David Alcraft. The team includes Charles Morgan, previously of Morgan Motor Company, ex-Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders CEO Christopher Macgowan, designer Matt Humphries who also spent time at Morgan, and ex-Toyota, Daewoo and Michelin senior executive Mark Carbery.

The company has partnered with Delta Motorsports to help develop and builds its new vehicle. The later’s expertise in electric drivetrains and battery systems has seen it involved in projects with established vehicle manufacturers as well as Motorsports teams.

Speaking of the Alcraft GT, Alcraft Motor founder and managing director, David Alcraft said, “We want to build a British car company which brings together traditional skills and high technology for the emerging low carbon car market.”

“We’re about combining great design, outstanding dynamics and the visceral thrill of electric powertrains to create products that are high in performance and desirability but very usable. We hope this will establish a niche For Alcraft Motor in Britain’s renowned specialist low-volume car industry, ” he later added.

Alcraft will partly rely on crowdfunding for its source of income with the rest coming from equity funding. Those involved in the crowdfunding efforts, depending on the investment, will be rewarded in a unique way.

These rewards include VIP days at Silverstone with rides in a development mule for the GT, featuring similar battery, motor and torque vectoring technologies to those which will be in the GT, and exclusive electric bikes by Cyclotricity and wristwatches by Matthew Humphries Design.

There’s no news yet on when the car will be launched, but if you would like to know more, head on over to the company’s website at https://alcraftmotor.com.

Mercedes-AMG to unveil supercar at Frankfurt

Formula 1 is considered the pinnacle of competitive Motorsports and is the platform that established manufacturers use to display their engineering prowess. This isn’t its only purpose though, because technology that’s developed for F1 cars, especially those that help improve stability and driver management, eventually make their way into mainstream vehicles.

Such is the case with Mercedes-AMG. The company’s F1 team, which has proven to be an unstoppable force these past few seasons, has enjoyed a string of victories because they’ve developed a car that is blindingly fast, agile around corners and pretty reliable too.

Now, the company has decided to bring the same technology and magic of this F1 car, into a road going car. Called the Mercedes-AMG Project ONE, it’s a two-seater supersports showcar that will showcase the brands capabilities.

Slated for reveal at the International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt, the car is said to encapsulate the very latest and efficient, fully-fledged Formula 1 hybrid technology for the road. It’s a high performance supercar that will be powered by a hybrid powertrain that is able to output more than 1000bhp.

According to the automaker, the car is expected to have a top speed exceeding 350km/h and will offer the best of both worlds. Meaning, it will combine exceptional racetrack performance with sensible day-to-day practicality.

Little else is known at the moment, and the only proof we have of the car’s existence is a rather vague image of it’s front end. Based on what we have gathered, it draws quite a bit of design inspiration from the brand’s past race cars, which is a good thing. Stay tuned and will let you know more about the car as soon as we find out.

Owner of E36 M3 goes to great lengths to protect his ride from hurricane Harvey

Hurricane Harvey has caused serious problems in Texas. The Category 3 hurricane, which made landfall about two weeks ago, has laid ruin to homes, vehicles and other property caused by its strong winds and heavy flooding.

Some experts estimate that the damage left in Harvey’s wake may take years and considerable amount of money to undo. As bad as this sounds, things might get even worse as weather forecasts say that there’s more heavy rainfall expected in the coming days.

This is especially bad news for car owners over there because all vehicles, from the least expensive to the ultra rare collectibles, weren’t spared from hurricane Harvey’s wrath. Places like Houston have been the worst effected regions in the state, which is why we think the recent news about a certain BMW enthusiast to be of worth mentioning.

Owning an E36 M3 is a challenge, even when everything is going fine with the car. Knowing the consequences if things went south, this Texan went to great lengths to ensure that his M3 was kept out of harm’s way. The car was kept on lifts to ensure that flood waters wouldn’t be able to reach it.

It isn’t the only Bimmer in his possesion mind you, he also owns an X5 and and another E36 that is kept on a trailer. Check out his video on the TEXAS E36 Garage’s video on Youtube as he takes viewers around his home and garage to show the aftermath of the hurricane.

Detroit Electric to reveal future plans after heavy investment from joint venture

Detroit Electric, the UK-based firm that showed great promise a few years ago, will reveal its upcoming plans at the Cenex’s Low Carbon Vehicles (LCV) 2017 event held in the UK. It’s here that the company will share its strategy which includes plans of launching a range of electric vehicles in the coming years.

The company has ramped-up operations after receiving an injection of US$1.8 billion (RM7.7 billion) in capital from a joint venture agreement. This has helped the firm stabilize its financial health as well as complete a major recruitment programme, which will see it employ between 150 and 200 posts by next year.

Chief Technical Officer and Company Director Richie Frost, said, “Having secured the solid financial foundation to embark on our business plan, we’re now building up our team to enable us to deliver our ambitious vehicle engineering programmes.”

“This represents an opportunity to be a major part of an incredibly exciting, fast-moving company, as we begin the most exciting EV development projects in the UK. We’re looking forward to having a chance to meet some of UK’s most talented engineers in this field expected at Cenex and to share these exciting future plans with them,” he later added.

Detroit Electric will also be investing heavily in expanding its engineering and manufacturing centre in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, to create a state-of-the art R&D facility, alongside its engineering hub in China.

A few years ago, the EV automaker showcased some pretty exciting Lotus-based EVs that never made it onto the showroom floor. Now, with this new joint venture, the company should be able to deliver, with better reliability, on the rest of its future plans.

BMW’s i3 now offered with a sportier and more powerful variant

The ever popular small premium EV, the BMW i3, has received a mide-life facelift in the shape of some design tweaks and increased performance. As a whole, its still the cheerful car as before but now has a wider track and wheel arch molding contours that run along the body, horizontally.

New to the range is the addition of a sportier version called the i3s. Though similar in design, there are subtle hints that make it out to be the sportier variant of the lot. These features include, at the front, the bumper inlay and its U-shaped surroundings are in black finish.

The front fascia’s side sections are bordered on their lower edge by accent strips in BMW’s i Blue or Frozen Grey colours. The contrasting scheme does add a sense of sportiness to the car.

The signature kidney grille is painted in high-gloss black and consists of a more prominent design. Such is the case for the the rear apron which has a black surround frame that is extra wide and comes with body coloured inlay.

Underneath the new exterior, the i3s is fitted with a sports suspension, which drops the ride height about 10mm compared to the base car. Exclusive 20-inch lightweight alloy rims are standard for the variant too, which are slightly wider than before.

Overall the i3 now has an improved Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) system and a faster responsing Traction Control System. This means that drivers can now have a bit more fun before the safety net cuts in and spoils their fun.

BMW’s standard i3 is powered by a 170bhp synchronous electric motor but the i3s comes with a slightly more powerful 184bhp one. Due to the increase in power, the latter is also about 0.4 seconds faster from 0-100km/h at 6.8 seconds.

The new i3 is also available as a range extender version that features a two-cylinder petrol engine, which generates electricity to the electric motor once the car’s battery pack has depleted.

Speaking of power, BMW is now offering an electric charger called TurboCord that has the ability to charge the i3 three times faster than what the standard charger is capable of.

There are a number of driver assistance systems that are availble with the car aside from the latest iDrive 6 interface, which include Active Driving Assistant and Active Cruise Control with Stop & Go.

Other than that, there’s also Advanced Real-Time Traffic Information and ConnectedDrive Services and a navigation system. When equipped with the Technology and Driving Assistance Package, Apple CarPlay can be enabled and the i3 also gets a useful system called Park Distance Control.

This 2018 i3 will debut at the International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt in September 2017. Check out the the picture gallery below and let us know whether the i3 is more appealing than the vehicle it replaces.

Denmark to reduce import taxes of vehicles from 180% to a more ‘reasonable’ 100%

Denmark, unlike many other countries in Europe, isn’t particularly welcoming of car enthusiasts. According to Bloomberg, the reason for this is that the Danish government imposes hefty registration taxes on new vehicles. Initially the tax was pegged at 180% but was recently reduced to a more moderate 100%.

This makes it considerably more expensive for someone to own a car in Denmark than in a country like Germany or Poland. Putting that into perspective, A base model Volkswagen Golf 1.0L Trendline costs about $34,000 in Denmark compared to $21,500 if it was purchased in Germany.

This difference becomes far more apparent for more expensive vehicles. A base model Porsche 911 Carrera costs about $306,600 in Denmark but only a mere $117,900 in Germany. As ridiculous as this may sound, the country began imposing these taxes at the start of the 20th century and has hiked it even further on several occasions.

The country has resorted to this as a means to increase its income, but has now decided that it wasn’t the best of strategies. Despite being one of the wealthier countries in Europe, car buyers in Denmark do not have the financial freedom to pick and choose the vehicle of their liking. However, that should soon change with this new tax revision.

Most Danish commuters get around town either by using public transport or resorting to pedal power with a bicycle. The exorbitant sums required for the purchase of a basic vehicle, have made the idea of owning a vehicle less desirable.

Source: Bloomberg

Ford and Domino’s team up to test self-driving delivery vehicle

Ford has teamed up with Domino’s, the world renowned pizza maker, to develop autonomous delivery vehicles for the latter’s customers. This effort will enable the Blue Oval to study the role that future delivery pizza delivery vehicles might play in our lives.

Researchers from both companies will also investigate customer reactions to interacting with a self-driving vehicle as part of their delivery experience. They consider this of paramount importance because it will help them better understand customers’ perspectives regarding the future of food delivery with self-driving vehicles.

“As delivery experts, we’ve been watching the development of self-driving vehicles with great interest as we believe transportation is undergoing fundamental, dramatic change,” said Patrick Doyle, Domino’s president and CEO.

“We pride ourselves on being technology leaders and are excited to help lead research into how self-driving vehicles may play a role in the future of pizza delivery. This is the first step in an ongoing process of testing that we plan to undertake with Ford,” he later added.

Like many other mainstream automakers, Ford is still developing its self-driving vehicle business. Collaboration with other companies, will enable it to conduct valuable research that will be crucial to ensuring that the technology is applied in ways that benefit consumers.

The Blue Oval plans on rolling out production ready self-driving vehicles by 2021, and with that it hopes to meet the needs of companies and customers alike. But for Domino’s, currently a Ford Fusion Hybrid Autonomous Research Vehicle will be used to deliver pizzas to randomly-selected Domino’s customers in Ann Arbor, USA.

It wil be manually-driven by a Ford safety engineer and staffed with researchers. Customers who agree to participate will be able to track the delivery vehicle through GPS using an upgraded version of Domino’s Tracker®.

Text messages will be sent to respective customers once the delivery vehicle approaches their location. And will also guide them to retrieve their pizza using a unique code to unlock the Domino’s Heatwave Compartment™ inside the vehicle.

The Ford Fusion used here was retrofitted with the required hardware by Roush Enterprises which include the pizza container and Domino’s Heatwave Compartment. This vehicle was completed in 2015 and was put through preliminary testing in a simulated urban environment before it was let loose here.

It will be awhile before we start seeing such systems become common place at our local Domino’s outlet, but its comforting to know that Ford already has plans to ensure we get our pizzas on time.

Omologato watches tailored to the needs of the Tifosi

What do Ferrari fans and timepieces have in common? Well, its #Tifosi by Omologato Watches. It’s a model that prides itself on being affordable, durable and classy for racing/automotive fans. The company is marketing these pieces as beater watches, ones that you wouldn’t mind getting scuffed while enjoying wheel to wheel action at a racetrack.

A first for the company, #Tifosi watches will be offered in a variety of different designs and nomenclature that pay homage to some of the more memorable names and places in motoring and Motorsport. They are, Stuttgart, Hethel, R, Weissach and Fiorano, which are words that might be lost on the layman, but not to the Tifosi.

Omologato founder Shami Kalra said, “We are delighted to launch the new #TIFOSI watch. It is a truly affordable and durable timepiece, which we designed in a number of different styles to accommodate all audiences. It is a watch bespoke to you.”

He then added, “Deriving its name from the Prancing Horses’ legions of fans, the #TIFOSI was a truly apt title to give to the people who wear our watches and share their travels of Motorsport events from race circuits and car meets around the world. We are all #TIFOSI.”

These five different names correspond to five bespoke designs that encompass a robust 40mm stainless steel case and the Omologato logo featured in the seconds hand. There a number of double-layered nylon NATO to choose from. Their design and colour combination emulate that of racing liveries found on a variety of famous race cars or teams.

In case you didn’t know, the word Tifosi is commonly used to describe Ferrari’s legion of fans that live and breathe the brand. In fact, the word is widely used all over the world to describe Ferrari loyalists. However, it is actually an Italian word that means “fans” and is used to describe a group of supporters of a sport or something similar.

Prices for these watches start at £149 (RM821) in the UK, and if you would like to know more or place an order for one of these watches, visit the Omologato website at www.omologatowatches.com.

Honda will unveil EV at Frankfurt Motorshow

Honda will be using the upcoming 2017 Frankfurt Motorshow as a platform to showcase its electrification plans for its European car range. Part of that plan is the introduction of the Urban EV Concept, which will provide the general public with a glimpse into the direction Honda will take for future EVs.

Unlike Nissan, Honda and Toyota don’t have their own versions of EV contenders, choosing instead to rely solely on hybrid propulsion system for its electrification product portfolio. This is why its Frankfurt announcement will play a major role in gauging the automaker’s seriousness to take on EV competitors like Tesla and more recently, Volvo and VW.

Apart from the new vehicle, Honda will also be unveiling a hybrid version of the CR-V in prototype form. The move is meant as a precursor to the launch of the all-new CR-V SUV which should take place soon. The public will get to witness first hand, the best that Honda has to offer.

Flanking this new vehicle are the facelifted Jazz supermini as well as the new diesel-powered variant of the current (10th) generation Civic hatchback. Honda Motor CEO, Takahiro Hachigo will unveil the Honda Urban EV Concept at the Honda Press Conference on Tuesday 12 September.

The diesel powered vehicle will probably utilizes the new and improved engine from the previous generation car. A detailed article regarding that particular powerplant has been covered in a previous article, click here to read it.

This is great news for Honda fans, because like a number of other mainstream automakers, it too will be going ‘all in’ on the EV revolution.