Keeping up with the international motor industry is a lot more complicated than Keeping Up With The Kardashians – with just as many family squabbles, scandals and break-ups.
Emerging at the top of the family tree is Volkswagen, ending 2016 as the world’s largest automaker with sales of 10.3 million; just a shade more than Toyota. Face-saving news after pleading guilty to three charges in the diesel emissions affair and paying a $4.3-billion fine to settle the US Department of Justice investigation.
And remember the German giant includes Audi, Bentley, Bugatti and Porsche. In turn, Audi owns Lamborghini, and Lamborghini owns Ducati. Yes, it’s complicated.
The number three spot goes to General Motors (GM) – or to be more accurate General Motors Company LLC – emerging with a changed name from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009 thanks to a multi-billion-dollar bailout from the US Treasury.
Most of that money has been paid back and a study by the Centre for Automotive Research reveals that the GM bailout saved more than a million jobs and preserved nearly $35 billion in tax revenue.
All of the Big Three made it onto the list of finalists for the South African Car of the Year 2017. Volkswagen with the new Tiguan, the most stylish Passat ever, and the technically supreme Audi A4.
Toyota ticked the right boxes with the rugged yet comfortable Fortuner (the bestselling SUV in the country) and have kick-started 2017 with record sales and the claim that one out of every four new vehicles that found homes at the start of the year was a Toyota or affiliate brand.
GM waded in with the Opel Astra which has been gathering international and local awards along with cousin Corsa.
The voguish Astra won the 2016 European Car of the Year award in one of the toughest automotive battles of the decade and the Corsa 1.0T Enjoy drove off with Compact Hatchback of the Year at the Cars.co.za Consumer Awards.
There has been a quiet revolution happening in the ‘more affordable’ car sector over the last couple of years. In essence, it used to be a sector where (and I’m not joking) a passenger airbag was considered to be an optional extra. And ABS was by no means standard!
Now many models hovering around the $25,000 mark boast more standard features than the luxury sedans selling for four times the price tag.
Take the Opel Astra 1.4T Sport. Cruise control, halogen headlights, daytime running lights, tyre pressure monitoring, side blind zone alert, hands free parking and heated sports seats and steering wheel are all included.
And there’s more… the Driver Assist Pack helps to warn drivers of an impending collision, picks up speed restriction signs along with the following distance and automatically throws out emergency anchors to reduce the impact of an unavoidable collision.
While the tech boffins in Stuttgart and Munich seems to be intent on making simple functions like turning down the aircon a life study, the Opels are blessed with IntelliLink – the most amazingly simple communication and media platform. Which complements the modern, free-flowing interior where the instruments are stark and easy to read and the controls are ergonomically excellent – or more simply, right there at your fingertips.
Although the budget hatches seem to be poured out of a common mould, the Astra manages to distinguish itself with a touch of exterior style – in fact the Sport model is quite a stunner.
You don’t have to spend too much time on engine choice. They are all petrol and all turbo charged. Starting with a single liter of displacement, through the 1.4l to the 1.6l manual which has a claimed top speed of 235km/h and hits 100 in less than seven seconds. Youssou N’Dour would be proud.
All very impressive – as it should be. There have been many decades for research and development. The Astra has been around for more than 80 years and sold over 25 million units!
Again it’s one of those intricate family affairs. Production hasn’t been consistent since 1936 and you may be more familiar with the name Kadett. And to complicate things even further, the UK models fall under the Vauxhall banner.
Now the new Opel era beckons. The Rüsselsheim-based carmaker has enjoyed the highest sales in five years with an increase of 46,000 units. The Astra was the main driver of increased sales across Europe, being newly registered more than 285,000 times. Overall Opel managed to increase sales in 18 of 22 markets including Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Poland.
The resurgence of Opel in South Africa is gaining momentum – over the past two years Opel sales have grown by 9.6%, compared to the market decline of 15.5% over this same period.
And no resting on their laurels. Opel is in the midst of the biggest model offensive in its long history and intends bringing 29 new models to market before 2020. Seven of them this year – hence the motto ‘7 in 17’.
“With these seven new models for 2017, Opel will become a completely different brand within the next 12 months,” says Opel CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann. “We are making electro-mobility feasible for everyday driving with the Ampera-e.”
The Ampera-e, introduced at the Paris motor show, is designed to be the compact range champion with the ability to clock up 500 kilometers on a single charge with sports car performance.
Then the flood gates open with the new flagship Opel Insignia Grand Sport, an all-wheel drive sedan with a coupé-like silhouette. The Sports Tourer, the Country Tourer, the Vivaro and the Crossland X – a new stablemate for the Mokka X.
So the future looks bright for Opel, but it may not be with General Motors as parents. They have been in talks for some time with French automakers Peugeot SA (which includes the Citroën brand) and some say it is a done deal which will rock the European industry.
The major concern is that the deal with PSA and BNP Paribas doesn’t introduce any new barriers of additional tariffs in the shadow of Brexit.
With the addition of Opel and Vauxhall, Peugeot SA will become the second largest automotive company in Europe with a market share of 17%.
“We are proud to join forces with Opel/Vauxhall and are deeply committed to continuing to develop this great company and accelerating its turnaround,” said Carlos Tavares, chairman of the Managing Board of PSA
And back in Detroit, despite ending 2016 with $11 billion of cash on the automotive side, the share price took a knock. Why? Well mainly because of President Donald Trump’s threatened wall. A full 14% of vehicles sold in North America are manufactured in Mexico!
Indeed there is more intrigue in the global car field than you will find in the 13th season of the Kardashians… even with Kanye West joining the fray.

Nomical

Astra-Nomical

If history wasn’t your strongest subject at school, don’t try to analyze Audi’s journey through the automotive world. As a crib note, all you need to know is that a fellow by the name of August Horch founded a string of companies using his surname in the early 1900s.
The problem was Horch fell out with his fellow directors and started yet another company under his name. In an ironic twist, he was sued for trademark infringement and the German Reichsgericht (Supreme Court) in Leipzig found that the Horch brand belonged to his former group.
So, he set up a meeting with a few business associates to find a new name.
The old timers were getting nowhere until one of their sons piped up with a logical suggestion. Because “horch” means hark or hear in German, why not call the new outfit Audi – the singular imperative form of audire, to listen, in Latin.
Thus, on April 25, 1910, the Audi Automobilwerke GmbH Zwickau was born. But there have been around a dozen name and organizational changes along the way.
Twenty years later, the rift with August was forgotten. Horch and Audi merged, along with two other German manufacturers, DKW and Wanderer. And the new Auto Union was represented by the now famous four rings.
Yes it is close to the Olympic logo and don’t think the legal beagles of the IOC didn’t notice. They sued Audi in 1995 for copying their trademark&#8230; and got counted out in that fight.
So we’ve got a name and a logo – time to talk cars and money.
To say that there have been some rocky roads on Audi’s journey would be like saying that Stephen Hawking overcame a few challenges.
When World War II broke out, the Auto Union plants were switched to military production. As a distinct target for Allied bombing, they were badly damaged. The entire assets of the company, down to the last spanner, were appropriated without compensation and the name of Auto Union was deleted from the commercial register.
A slight setback to be sure. The flickering flame was kept alight by the former Audi factory in Zwickau starting production of pre-war models in 1949 and a new Auto Union was launched in Ingolstadt with hefty loans from the Bavarian state government.
Today, a new war has broken out. Audi, BMW and Mercedes Benz are battling over sales. But it seems that logic may be flying out of the electric window, with profits being the casualty.
The clash for clients is on three fronts. Develop enviable technology, build a string of new factories and put as many new models on showroom floors.
Audi’s armory for this all-out war may surprise you. Going by last year’s production figures, BMW led the way with 1.81 million cars and Audi were only 70,000 behind, with Mercedes only managing the bronze medal. In fact, Audi led the way in worldwide sales for the first two months of this year and have already sold in excess of 1.3 million vehicles up to September.
Even a motoring hack can tell the difference between sales and profits. Audi has earmarked 26 billion euros for expansion, including new factories in Mexico and Brazil, and is preparing to extend its range to 60 models by 2020.
Audi’s chief bean counter, Axel Strotbek, put a delicate spin on it at a news conference.
“The profit development will continue to reflect our company’s extensive expenditure for the future. We are shouldering massive upfront investments.”
In the heat of battle, the Teutonic trio are boosting sales volumes by building smaller, more affordable cars. But some analysts say that it doesn’t boost the bottom line with Audi’s pre-tax profit running at about $500 per car less than Mercedes Benz.
Yet this is all small potatoes compared to the rise of Audi over the past two decades.
The early eighties brought some catastrophic setbacks, like the raft of reported incidents of so-called sudden unintended acceleration linked to the Audi 5000 models in the United States.
Although the distinction between a manufacturing fault and driver error was never definitively proven, sales fell dramatically to a pathetic 12,283 units amid the recalls and modifications.
Resale values plummeted, reliability and service levels were ridiculed and the future of Audi looked bleak.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-4371" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Yauhen_D-Shutterstock.com-02-232x300.jpg" alt="" width="232" height="300" />
Audi, however, reinvented itself. New technologies and features, along with engine upgrades and aluminum construction, helped turn the tide. Extended warrantees and service plans brushed the cobwebs from the order books.
Worldwide sales almost doubled in the first decade of the new millennium. Africa, along with the Middle East, Eastern Europe and China, spearheaded the revolution. Audi was on its way to becoming the profit engine of Europe’s biggest carmaker – Volkswagen.
Now the aim is to overtake BMW as the top seller in the German luxury car market.
Going small may be the focus of the crusade for sales, but the latest offering is at the other end of the scale! Enter the all new Audi Q7, which was first launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show a decade ago.
I tested the Audi Q7 3.0 TDI Quattro Tiptronic – a hefty description of a hefty seven-seater SUV – although it has slimmed down by 300 kilograms thanks to the aluminum suspension and weight-saving in almost every department.
Stylish may be an extravagant term in the brutish SUV market, but that massive Audi grille makes a statement and the interior is elegant and contemporary in its simplicity. It’s all about functionality and every control seems to be right at your fingertips.
What is impressive is how smoothly and quietly the new Q7 rolls over South African terrain, which seems to be laced with more potholes and speed humps by the day. You will struggle to find a more comfortable SUV.
The rumbling power belies the quoted 0-100km/h acceleration of 6.9 seconds and this is not a vehicle that wants to take on all-comers at the lights. But then you wouldn’t be buying a SUV of this size if you were still a boy racer.
What you are getting is the very latest technology – from the much less thirsty and more efficient diesel engine to refined driving aids and safety features.
The list of safety aids is endless. Emergency braking for cars, bikes or pedestrians you may not have seen, warnings if you open a door and there is an oncoming vehicle, and even self-steering when reversing with a trailer.
This Q7 could make you feel overconfident as it keeps in the correct lane and plays follow the leader with the car in front.
“Audi is currently the leader in autonomous driving research on a global scale,” says Audi South Africa’s PR Manager, Sameerah Bhabha.
“Matrix LED headlights is another highlight unique to the market,” says Bhabha. They shine around oncoming cars.
While some Audi models are in the late stages of their lifecycle, 2016 promises to be a bumper year with the launch of the all-new Audi A4 in February followed by the exhilarating R8 Coupe and a facelifted A3 range towards the end of the year.
And it’s not all about South Africa.
“We view the sub-Saharan market as a major growth opportunity and intend increasing the Audi footprint to key areas where we are currently not represented.”
The gloves are certainly off for the pretenders to the luxury car market throne. In the process, this trio will probably bring about the biggest changes in the most dangerous thing we do every day… open the car door.
August Horch would be proud.

Let’s Hear It For Audi

Automotive design is split into the following components: exterior, interior and color or trim elements. The exterior design stylist develops the shape, proportions and surface of each vehicle, and sketches are done manually or using a series of digital renderings. Next, models are made from clay, and carved to exact specifications using CNC Milling machines. The first use of clay modeling has been attributed to Harley Earl, head of General Motors (GM) styling studio in the 1930s. When it comes to the interior, ergonomics and comfort take precedence, but the procedure followed is the same described above for the outside of the car. Color and trim designers are responsible for the layout and use of various materials, where attention to the unique combination of patterns, textures, contrast and sensory nuances is key.
The high turnover of vehicle design we are so accustomed to today, finds its roots in a term called “planned obsolescence”. In 1924, the American car market had reached saturation point and GM’s Alfred P. Sloan Jr. creatively suggested that car designs be changed each year, in order to convince owners that they needed to regularly replace their vehicles. By contrast, Henry Ford was a proponent of functionality and design integrity, and suffered the repercussions of his decision to stick to his principles. In 1931, General Motors overtook Ford’s car sales and went on to become the dominant force in the US motor industry. As marketing is driven primarily by aesthetic design, Sloan’s philosophy had far-reaching and powerful implications. The downside of this strategy for consumers, apart from the obvious, is the risk that manufacturers make use of less expensive components, in order to fulfill the product’s lifetime projections.
But not all automotive designers had their eye on mass production and capturing as much market share as they could muster. The most famous of all car design companies is Pininfarina, founded by Battista ‘Pinnin’ Farina. Born in Italy in 1893, his nickname came from being called the youngest, or smallest—pinnin—of the family. Farina began working in his brother’s car body shop at the tender age of 12, and his passion for cars saw him absorbing whatever knowledge he could until he was ready to begin designing his own. Famously, Battista started doing work for Ferrari in 1952 and officially changed his surname to Pininfarina in 1961. The list of cars the company is credited with designing defies belief; and includes Peugeot, Lancia, Fiat and Alfa Romeo and in recent years, they’ve begun focusing on cars propelled by electricity and solar energy.
Another stalwart of automotive design was founded in 1912 by Giovanni Bertone. The company successfully partnered up with some of the greatest designers of the time: Franco Scaglione—responsible for the creation of the Alfa Giulietta Sprint, which launched Bertone into mass production—Giorgetto Giugiaro, as well as Marcello Gandini—the great Lamborghini Countach was his brainchild. Typified by the use of angular and wedged shapes, Bertone-styled cars always appeared futuristic and the Opel Astra Coupé is a modern vehicle still employing the artistic skills of this famous company.
While other designers stemmed from Great Britain and the United States, none had the formidable success achieved by Pininfarina and Bertone.
Time marches on and with it comes unique problems, as well as the advancement of technology, that have a direct influence on how modern cars look and function. The proliferation of internet access on our cellphones, computers and iPads has seen motoring manufacturers quickly integrating online functionality in their cars.
Advances in aeronautical engineering will soon see drive-by-wire navigation become commonplace in modern production cars. As opposed to direct mechanical controls, a drive-by-wire system senses the driver’s physical interaction with the hand control—replacing the traditional steering wheel—and converts this into a digital signal that goes to an actuator that controls the wheels. What this translates into in terms of car design, is that future vehicles will no longer need a steering column or pedals, resulting in more space for the driver. Another spin-off is that heavy mechanical components will be obsolete, and this means greater fuel efficiency and less environmental impact. Hand controls will house the throttle, braking and steering elements while gears would be selected by the touch of a button.
J Mays, Global VP of design and chief creative officer at Ford Motor Company, feels that a direct result of cellphone technology has been that consumers no longer view physically small items as being a sacrifice in terms of product delivery. It seems then that future generations might eventually break the mold of wanting huge luxury sedans, but rather concentrate on cars that are pragmatic, have less environmental impact, but that deliver on all the other factors that we require for travel; namely safety, comfort, technology, entertainment, fuel efficiency and low cost of maintenance. Mays doesn’t imply that this shift in perception would in any way relinquish the power of status appeal; status in future might be reinterpreted along different lines.
“Design is a communications tool for the brand. It’s a visual communication with the customers we want to contact and have a dialogue with,” he says.
In the next 10 years, Mays feels that the design of cars won’t change per se, but rather the skill set of those doing the designing.
“A lot more digitally-oriented designers will be coming into the auto industry and helping us change the model of why you buy an automobile.”

Tag: Automotive

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

Astra-Nomical

Let’s Hear It For Audi

Desirable By Design