Hybrid, Electric, Battery, etc
Thursday, December 24, 2009Last five years, we realized that the whole world is mess and we did lots of wrong things. Hopefully we realized after decades later. And as soon as we realized this, we jumped into our hybrids and save the planet. Or we thought that we were saving the planet.
Everyone has something to say about hybrid and electric cars, which company will make more profit, German or Japanese be dominant and it is going like this. However nobody is asking, where does the lithium is coming from. Lithium-ion batteries are everywhere in our life, from laptops to mobile phone and electric cars. In current technology, it is the most effective way to store energy.
But lithium does not grow on soil or you cannot find in Gulf countries unlike petrol. %50 is in Bolivia ! I don't wish to comment about the condition of Bolivia. However, this hybird, electric or whatever technology will do something very clear; create new rich people in Bolivia. As the lithiums demand is increasing, we could see some aritifical islands made by Bolivia.
In addition Chile holds the second biggest lithium reserves.
Pilates for Luxury Segment
Wednesday, December 23, 2009Pilates is a very popular physical fitness exercise. This exercise helps to strech your muscles, increase your concentration, control your breathing, better precision and more. I am not an expert on this, however I know that if you could manage to do it, it is good to do it.
In last decade; automotive companies also started to do pilates for luxury segment. However their pilates was not like the normal one! Instead of calming yourself and developing your physical health, this pilates made them more angry and agressive.
The ambition to jump luxury segment has some reasons; some brands desire to have a flagship model to strength their brand image and develop high technologies for flagship and transfer to other models (VW Phaëton model), some brands wanted revive a died brand and increase their market (Mercedes Maybach model), some brands extend their brand to extend it, even though they knew that they will fail(Renault VelSatis, Peugeot 607) and lastly some brands shift their brand image into luxury by revealing a new model (Hyundia model).
All of these models did not work as we all know that. Phaëton is an excellent car with very sophisticated technology but it didn't sell much but its structure is used for Bentley Continental Family which is very rational in economic terms. Mercedes Maybach was great project and introduced great cars which look likes old Mercedes S Class (W220) from outside and also from inside, despite the space age technology, it could not race with Rolls Royce or Bentley. Renault VelSatis was great looking and that was all, Peugeot 607 was a try to jump to a new segment and failed. However Hyundai made some success with Genesis in US market and that motivation gave more motivation and they will introduce a car for international market to compete with S Class, BMW 7 Series and Audi A8 and that is called Equus. Okay, Equus might be selling very well in Asia but the world is not Asia.
In general; a car company cannot go up into higher segments, the brand is mostly stuck on the segment which was emerged. Mercedes is always a luxury brand despite A Class, Rolls Royce is always super luxury brand, Peugeot will good price, good looking brand and Hyundia will be remembered with their Excel and Accent. It is nearly impossible to go up in automotive industry, even Mercedes spent lots of money and failed. Yes, Lexus made it but only in US. Even in Japan, their people don't buy it because they don't perceive Lexus as luxury brand.
These companies did brand extension, strecth the cars for upper segments, increase concentration, control your breath. The result? Not a good way of relaxing like Pilates. Don't strecth too much.
The best solution is to focus on increasing quality, better design and extend brand to lower segments. If the company has know-how and money like VW, go head introduce car like Phaëton. It won't hurt you, unless try not to do that.
Fiat perfezionerà entro fine anno l'acquisto del 67% di Zastava
Il governo serbo e Fiat hanno concordato il completamento dell'acquisto da parte del gruppo italiano della quota di maggioranza del più grande produttore di auto del Paese, Zastava Automobili. Nel 2008 il governo serbo e Fiat hanno creato una joint venture da 1 miliardo di euro, Fiat Automobili Srbija, in seguito alla quale Fiat acquistava il 67% di Zastava, mentre il governo serbo deteneva la partecipazione rimanente. La crisi finanziaria ha portato Fiat a rinviare l'investimento in Zastava. Il 20 dicembre scorso l'AD Fiat Sergio Marchionne, durante un incontro a Torino con il presidente serbo Boris Tadic, ha garantito che l'intesa con Belgrado sarà firmata questo mese, secondo una nota emessa dagli uffici di Tadic. "Entro fine anno, Fiat farà il suo primo pagamento di 100 milioni di euro, quello che rimane sarà pagato con cadenza trimestrale", ha detto Tadic, secondo la nota. In Serbia viene assembleato il modello Punto per la vendita in Serbia e nella parte serba della Bosnia. Nel 2009 verranno costruite 15.000 Punto.
(Fonte: http://it.reuters.com - 21/12/2009)
Volvo 中国商品 (Made in China)
Todya Ford announced their plan to sell Volvo to Chineese car manufacturer Geely. This news was expecting to be announced for long time. For nearly three years, Ford was willing to sell Volvo but always denied this fact. As the financial pressure increased this strategy started to rise. As expected a Chineese manufacturer would buy the Volvo, this business deal between Ford and Geely is a milestone for Chinese automotive industry. By this way, Chinese jumped to luxury car maket with Volvo brand. Even though, Volvo is suffering serious problem in competition and could not keep up with Germans, Geely's motivation to enter luxury market will play significant role in following years.
However; there is a very important fact, does Geely has enough know-how to compete with Germans? This is one of the main reason why Volvo lost its competition power as the Germans revealed much better cars with same safety features. Therefore, Geely should also find very intelligent engineers to increase the competition power Volvo brand.
As everyone is concerning, what will happen to platform sharing with Ford? Ford Focus and Volvo S40 are basically same cars and this means, Geely also bought the some of the Ford's know-how!!!
Volvo promises future and right decisions would help to go back to good old days :)
Caterpillar Ships First AC electric drive Bulldozer
Caterpillar today presented the keys of the first innovative AC electric drive track-type tractor in the industry to long-time customer, TJ Lambrecht. The revolutionary electric drive system developed for track-type tractors gives the D7E an unmatched combination of power, sustainability, control and maneuverability.
"Our customers are being challenged to do their work more efficiently with less impact on the environment," said Caterpillar Group President, Doug Oberhelman. "The D7E demonstrates Caterpillar's commitment to the industry with a machine that does more work and consumes less fuel and parts, providing customers with lower owning and operating costs." Oberhelman was recently named Caterpillar Vice Chairman effective January 1, 2010.
TJ Lambrecht, headquartered in Joliet, Illinois, is one of the most recognized heavy, civil, and earthmoving contractors in the country, with one of the largest and most current fleets of Caterpillar equipment.
"Caterpillar has been a great partner over the years, and we have a solid relationship with our dealers," said Dan Klingberg, President, TJ Lambrecht. "Case in point was the opportunity to demo the D7E at our O'Hare Modernization Project jobsite this past summer. We think it's going to help us mitigate fluctuations in fuel prices, as well as address the growing scope of emissions regulations. Our whole organization is very excited about it."
The Cat C9.3 ACERT(TM) diesel engine, rated at 235 net horsepower (175 kW) in the D7E, drives a powerful electrical generator that produces AC (alternating current). Current flows through special armored cables and military-grade connectors to a solid-state inverter, then to the propulsion module. Within the propulsion module are two heavy-duty electric motors (using AC current) that drive through common gearing into the differential steering system. Power from the steering system is transferred via axles to mechanical, double-reduction final drives to provide smooth, infinitely variable driving force to the tracks. The engine in the D7E is entirely beltless, eliminating the need for belt maintenance and replacement.
Headquartered in Elmhurst, Illinois, Caterpillar Dealer, Patten Industries, was instrumental in the sale of the D7E.
"This revolutionary design consumes fewer resources over its working life than any other track-type tractor in its class. All major components are engineered to be rebuilt or reused in the future," said Patten Executive General Manager, Larry O'Neill. "Our customers are looking for these kinds of solutions, and we're pleased to provide them with a competitive edge."
Schumacher is back :O
Schumacher signed a deal with Mercedes for next year's season. It was obvious that he was willing to return to F1. As he still has the potential he wants to use it in F1 instead of on top of the motorcycles.
Next year, he will be driving Brawn F1 car and as we all know from last season Button won F1 with that car. So what will happen next? We will have a flashbacks of Schumacher. Last corner Schumacher is coming !!!
Good for Mercedes, for long time they were trying to hire Schumacher, now they have achieved.
Brawngp.com
Today, Tomorrow, Cheaper, Toyota
I am not a great fan of Toyota, actually I would never buy one but their cars reliable, problem free and doesn't have soul. Design and interior quality of Toyota is always problem, their design has never been competitive like European brands and their ergonomic, plastic quality is always lower than Germans. Therefore I could not like any Toyota.
Now they have announced that, Toyota is pressing suppliers to reduce their prices up to %30. Guess, what would happen? The quality which I don't like in Toyotas will be worse. Toyota must increase the interior quality, they don't have problem with reliability but they should not sacrifices any other quality. Okay, they could not make profit after 60 years, just couple of years bear the loss and increase quality.
Unless, Toyota will never be a real competitors of Germans and customers of German brands will not prefer Toyota.
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