Showing posts with label McLaren. Show all posts
Showing posts with label McLaren. Show all posts
Hugo Boss + McLaren = Don't Buy
Monday, March 21, 2011I don’t want to use many words for this post. McLaren has never been my favourite car but I always admired its technology, even though the new MP4-12C sounds like a MP4 player. Despite their non-creative effort branding, McLaren decided to focus brand extension.
As McLaren and Hugo Boss have been working for thirty years, they decided to reveal McLaren Hugo Boss shoes! When you first read, you might be thinking Hugo Boss would make very stylish shoes. However reality is exactly the opposite. The McLaren shoes are the most terrible shoes I have ever seen. I don’t like to use this expression but they look terrible and nobody would like to wear them, unless people who love McLaren.
Hugo Boss could have achieved much better design! And I definitely sure about this.
Pictures' Copyrights
McLaren
Senna Movie
Tuesday, February 15, 2011(Today I was going to write about Aston Martin Rapide but recent news from Twitter amend my plan.)
I don’t really remember many things from 1994. It is just like other years, I was in middle school, and the most interesting thing was attending to school and watching TV. There was no internet, at least not at homes. When I consider, those years very plain compared to nowadays but I clearly remember one moment from those plain times, Ayrton Senna. 
It was the 15th May, one day after Senna’s accident in Imola. Unfortunately the news was not spreading like nowadays but his accident was on everywhere. Even people who don’t have any interest on Formula 1 knew his name and everyone started to talk about him. Morning of 15th May, one of my friend at school told us, Senna is dead! I think I won’t ever forget that moment, in my whole life. Actually I was not expecting to hear this, Formula 1 “suppose” to be safe! They had lots of regulations, so how this thing happened. There were many suggestions, review, opinions, expert views but nothing explained the real reason. 
I was not fan of Senna at those years, he drove McLaren and after Williams. At those ages, you want to be a fan of brands like Ferrari, Mercedes. You want to understand what that brand really means! But Senna driving made all those competitors looked like shopping trolleys in circuit. He was incredible fast, beyond the laws of psychics. I still cannot understand how he was driving like that. Those cars were just made from plastic and engine, nothing else. And those engines had huge turbos, which means thousands of horse powers. Just imagine driving a car which is basically same as a remote control and equipped this engine. Drivers of those years really deserve respect and Senna deserves more.
At those ages, I was thinking maybe I can see him one day when he retires from Formula 1. Because you expect him to retire with great successes not with a tragedy. He was everyone’s hero and nobody ever think, he would die. Heros never dies in movies, unfortunately that’s only in movies and we learnt this by Senna!
17 years has passed, today’s Formula 1 drivers were trying to learn walking at those times. Safety regulation improved and hopefully Senna is the last person to lose his life in a circuit. Hopefully nobody ever forgot him, especially after Top Gear’s excellent episode on Senna, new generation learnt who he was. And there is a movie of Ayrton Senna, Directed by Asif Kapadia. This movie is called “Senna”. Unfortunately mass-media did not revealed much news about this, I don’t know why they did not mention. Of course, they have more important news like X-Factor, Big Brother, New Top Model, Cooking Shows! There is no need to bother viewers with news like this! Media forgot the days when they boosted their ratings with Senna news! Hopefully contemporary social networks talking about him and I found the theatre released date for UK; June 3rd 2011.
Lastly, many people think about why there is a thing called Formula 1? I want to explain basically, if there was no Formula 1, we still have cars more or less safer than a can! All those technologies we have in our cars are the results of Formula 1. From traction control to seat belt technologies. I have a suggestion for McLaren, they have just revealed their new super car MP4-12C, which is one of the fastest and lightest car on market now. Why they don’t make Ayrton Senna special edition? I am sure that, many people would like to buy that car.
Starts on paper, ends up on paper
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Usually I don’t watch the videos on iPhone applications. They might be boring, too long or I just don’t bother to watch. This time I wondered the Fendi’s video section on iPhone application and watched it. It was an interview with Karl Lagerfeld. As you can imagine, it is all about fashion but I like the last sentence of the interview. Fashion starts with paper and ended up in magazine or newspaper, paper is the starting point and where it ends up. This sentence basically defines the fashion business.
From this point of view, cars stars with paper and ended up in paper also. The design stage, sketches mostly starts on paper, then to computer and later on with clay models. The production is done with metals and finally the pictures are printed on magazine or newspaper. I know the end up product of design is a car and made by steel, however every car built on earth printed on paper. Either it is nice or ugly, you can find a picture of each car printed on somewhere. As Lagerfeld mentioned, starts with papers, ends up with paper! I think cars and fashion have more common aspects than we know!
Pictures' Copyrights
Fendi, Land Rover, Mercedes McLaren
Interesting review from McLaren
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Recently Ron Dennis made revealed his feelings about Bugatti Veyron! He defined the world most expensive and most powerful car as piece of junk. He cannot find a single thing which makes him happy about Veyron. Also Veyron could not beat McLaren F1 in Top Gear's lap time chart.In some points he is right but in some point he is wrong! First of all; why he did wait for so long to express his feeling about Veyron? And the timing is a bit interesting! They have just announced their new car McLaren MP4-12C. I know that, MP4 is not a rival for Veyron but they are both offering high performance. MP4 offers the F1 technology for a road going car and it does not have nonergonomical character of McLaren F1. F1 was really interesting car, it had a fuse switch which is exactly same like in your house. And it was able to accommodate three people. Yes, it was handling really good and may be better than Veyron and it can have many other aspects which are slightly better than Veyron. But Veyron is not offering F1 style handling, Veyron is a totally different. Bugatti's involved with luxury details, high performance and comfort. Veyron is the harmony of these things.
Also Veyron had many state of art technology, this does not mean MP4 of F1 don't have, they do have but Veyron is a great car also. I really wish that Ron Dennis made this announcement a couple of years ago. By the way, they manufactured the Mercedes McLaren SLR which was a totally disaster! A super car which was using a five speed auto transmission which you could find in Mercedes A Class and had the same interior with SL and many more thing which made many people to dislike SLR! I think Ron Dennis should have commented on SLR also ;)Pictures are taken from;
Worldcarfans Website
McLaren Aether, better than MP4-12C ?
Saturday, March 20, 2010
I don't like to start writing from a negative side but I have to start this time. I have always supported that a car should have a proper, pronounceable name! Car companies especially McLaren which is perfectionist is able produce the most sophisticated car on earth and name it like MP3 player!After the McLaren F1, we did not see a road going version of a McLaren until the disaster of SLR McLaren. Technically SLR McLaren was a piece of engineering and it became very popular in second hand market what a coincident. Engineers and consumers are thinking totally different. We can see by the words which are reflecting those people! Engineer, it hinders the word engine! That's the most important part of the car and made from steel. So it is very solid. Consumer, hinder the word consume. And that means buy and throw it away. When these two words intersect on business environment which is called car dealer, things may not go that good all the time! Consumers are looking more than engineering in a car. They want passion, uniqueness, excitement and also a good name. Not something a like a chassis number or MP3 player as a name.
Unfortunately, McLaren's success in car engineering cannot be seen while naming the cars :( May be Ron Dennis doesn't like branding, marketing and these kinds of intangible things. I really don't know. But they should also focus on this. Nowadays; if you are going to reveal a car and including Financial Times is making it cover news, please focus on branding a little bit more. Why? Because, people should remember it easily, when they desire it or to emerge a desire! People will remember this car's name by MP3 or MP4 players. Come on, even the king of MP3 player iPod does not have a MP something name. It is just iPod! So why uncle Ron decided on this ridiculous name?Why I do write these thing on a Saturday night? Because, ideas were so strong in my mind and I could not stop writing it! This car is one of the most smart car on earth and it is not produced in Germany! That's the important point, if a car is not produced in Germany and offering very sophisticated technology you must keep an eye on it :) I will mention only one feature of this car. On board diagnostics, it may sound senseless for some of you but it is totally a revolution in car business. This car detects a problem, identify it and communicates with workshop for preparing necessary part (it will communicate by mobile infrastructure not a magical way). This kind of technology can be seen in some trucks or in air planes. Mainly, in many cars there will be a orange light will show off or a stupid "please visit workshop" message and that's all. It won't give you an exact detail like this and communicate with workshop.
McLaren is offering a new era in automotive industry and ignoring the second most important thing after engineering in automotive industry, branding! Remember the Bugatti Atalante! My suggestion; name this car as McLaren Aether. Aether is the first-born elemental gods. He is the personification of the upper sky, space, and heaven in Greek Mythology. How long did it take to find this name? Only half an hour of reading a book about mythology :)By the way, SLR McLaren’s problem was not the branding, it was totally something different. Lack of passion, more serious problem.
The Best Car Designer: Frank Stephenson
Friday, January 8, 2010
Most of you have never heard of this name. But if I wrote Tom Ford, everyone will know it :) However, Stephenson is a very successful car designer like the fashion designer Tom Ford. The cars he designed are the ones we felt in love with them. This is ability is very rare, even the very well know car designers have disaster designs (eq. Chris Bangle: BMW X3) but Stephenson has none. All of the cars he designed are piece of art and turn into money maker. I cannot find an ugly car from Stephenson's design! Whatever he designed, it is magnificent. 
These are the cars which he had designed;
Mini
BMW X5
Ferrari F430
Ferrari 612 Scaglietti
Maserati QuattroporteMaserati MC12
Lancia Delta HPE
Fiat 500
McLaren MP4-12c (McLaren should find a better name which we could remember "easily".)
As you could see there are no "ugly" cars in this portfolio :) And you don't have to be rich to drive his cars :) Like, Fiat 500 ! BMW should have kept him. If they have done that, there won't be so much scary BMW around us. The best one is the Maserati Quattroporte, this is my choice :)
I am pretty sure thati you cannot deny that any of these cars are not beautiful unless you are not looking somehwhere else now :)
Pictures (in order);
Fiat 500
Ferrari 612 Scaglietti
Maserati Quattroporte
Picture are from;
Fiat Website
Ferrari Website
Maserati Website
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)