dutchie01

Exactly that and the most important thing is there is hardly a market for it compared to an audi or bm. Steal it and then what? no market for spare parts and selling is 1000 time more difficult than selling a 3 series. So why bother. get the Audi! On the prevention front, switching off the easy entry function so the car does not radiate a signal anymore could well help. The bandits operate in groups and work area after area first skimming the presence of what they want, for instance Audi A4. when that's in their spreadsheet return to see if they can pick up a signal and presto car gone. Anything that complicates the theft will be a reason to move quickly to the next target. So a steering lock or bear lock to the gearbox will definitely help. Having said that car theft is getting less popular as easier to roam the area for steering wheels etc. faster less hassle and 850 euro per airbag on the black market. In one night they can do over 20 cars! ( but no Lexus as no market for the airbags there are not enough Lexii about).

not sure about germany but here in The Netherlands you dont pay VAT, no road tax and can get 4000 euro support. For company car drivers taxing is some 14% lower than a fossil car. So, yes heavy fiscal stimulation is definately part of the deal and for most people the decisive factor

Exactly that is one of the drivers behind the EV success. Already diesel cars ar banned from inner cities in for instance Germany. Next step will be a ban of all fossil cars and only electric vehicles will be allowed to enter. They do this by giving BEVś a special licence plate so easily controllable. This year BEV sales in germany are expected to be around 25% of all new car sales.

I just wish Lexus had something like this!

the ionic 5 seems something very special. i still cannot think of the actual size of the car it looks small on pictures really lancia delta size but i know it must be way bigger. love the styling and i am seriously thinking of getting one myself. First have to see it in the flesh though. Jonny nailed it in his vid. This car is a fine example of development at kia/hyunday. Every new car they bring out is not a small step compared to the outgoing model but a real leap forward.

i had one of those Saabs, one of the worst cars i ever owned judged by chassis dynamics. Driving in the rain was like on ice and on a bad road it was outright dangerous. Just a dangerous as my Ford Mondeo Diesel that was so unbalanced it had sudden death understeer mid corner and hen just went straight on. BMW did investigate if their customers did know which wheels were driven and the vast majority had no clue.. My wife drives a BMW RWD 1 series but she has no idea nor do my neighbors or sister or .... I personally prefer RWD and if possible will base my decision to buy a car on it but i don't think there are many out there anymore. Most FWD cars now are above acceptable to drive just look at the Audi's Volvo's etc. I do think Genesis will be a big success in the states and Asia. Overhere they have to start from scratch and that as we all know is incredibly difficult not even Lexus is succeeding. Genesis is rapidly electrifying its range as well but as nobody knows them they could be seen as one of the Chinese companies currently entering the EU market. That will take a long time i hear you say? Well.. one of the biggest just started in Norway and have an engineering center in Oxford! www.nio.com

https://about.bnef.com/electric-vehicle-outlook/ As we have seen Toyota will introduce 70 new electrified models by 2025. The above Bloomberg report shows where the market is heading.

Only found this thread now and yes we had The Series in the Netherlands as well. I dont remember the names but the tension when international rescue came into action.. Surreal at the age i was watching ( black & white tv !!!). Thunderbird one.... Thunderbird two.... great stuff. Regarding the demise of the British Motor Industry ( still 987k produced in the UK last year with 3.7 million in Germany, 8,8 milion in the states and twenty five point two million in China!!) it looks like a complicated issue to say the least. Apart from strikes and trade unions maybe product quality and putting the customer first were not the most important topics?

I get regular calls from Jim/John/Jeffrey from Microsoft company. Jim does not sound like a Jim, hardly speaks English and in the background you hear at least a dozen of other Jims informing people they have a problem with their computer. From Jims accent it seems most of these calls originate from India. Remember the Nigerian scammers telling people their brother who was minister and sitting on millions and please give me money so i can deblock the account stories? Always successfull, people do fall for this. SMS or mail scams are more dangerous as they want you to click on their bait. Once you do their systems could infect your computer with malware. Be warned!

Renault 25 that brings back memories. Dark blue and cream interior. Not leather but super comfortable cloth type. Engine great and reliable but yes electronics... Everytime i did start it up a female voice said, Welcome i am the on board computer ( In French !!). This was in the EEC days, no EU yet, no Schengen treaty, no Euro. Bordercontrols when entering and leaving, Rows of lorries waiting for the needed stamps on the documents, French Francs, you get the picture. Why would it be that for instance French and Italian cars are not as reliable as Japanese? What is the explanation? could it be cultural?

Is France / Macron really intending ( as he says ) to stop all electricity supplies to this nation of Jersey, thereby putting lives at risk ..... hospitals, the old and vulnerable the disadvantaged, poor and needy ......... oh, and the EV owners to re-charge their cars ........... coz he needs the Jersey fishing grounds which are sacrosanct to the rightful owners of those grounds ... Jersey oh dear, we thought Brexit was done and dusted 😲 I don't want to scare anyone but Fishing grounds have been quite a popular topic in starting a war. Just look at the Dutch - Anglo fishing wars in the 16 and 17 hundreds. Having said that it might be helpful to remember that the French are probably the best negotiators within the EU and this fierce rhetoric from Macron will serve another goal. In the end the French always seem to get their way.. If only they built better cars hey!

My first reaction was woo, 1977, that IS long ago. It took me some time to figure out i got it in 1979!! Time seems to move faster than we think!

I learned something new yesterday. I guess most of us will know the irritating sound in today's hot hatches when the gearbox shifts to the next gear something between a firecracker and a gunshot. Loud anyway. Well, this can be added to your car by chip-tuning! ( provided you have a turbo) They even gave it names you can choose from ! Pops/Bangs/Crackle/Burble on overrun/ Schubblubbern. No idea what these are but if you are under 25 you will know. Any interest?

Vasileios out of curiosity, what did you replace it with? another EV?

completely incoherent design. front, middle section and rear do not talk to each other even seems to be made from different cars. Melted comes to mind. beeing the top ford in the days they still had some street cred though!

Hey Chao, Enlarge the picture and you see the wiki heading haha!

Innocenti of course from Italy and based on a mini

My most hated car designs are the boring ones. The hamburgers of McDonalds that nobody hates and nobody likes, the grey anonymous mice that nobody sees that do not draw attention that are the best sleeping pills seeing them is yawning. The corollas, accords, passats, jettas, a4 estates, outlanders. Remove the badge and nobody knows what brand it is. Lazy design inspirationless and most likely the result of car clinics. Design a car ask 1000 people for an opinion and oh no! 200 do not like it, redesign and do it again. Compromise after compromise leading to utterly boring middle of the road musac anodyne cars that are mostly sold in a grey color.

autobianchi ( based on fiat 127)

daihatsu cuore?

When you talk about the engine only there is a massive difference between EV and IC. EV is smaller, lighter and has way less movable parts in it ( average 20 compared to 2000 in an IC) which means less maintenance and less things to go wrong. EV engines seem to keep on going forever unlike the traditional combustion versions. less maintenance means no oil, no gearbox, no valves, no distribution chains, no nothing. Customer service is all fine but when there is no need to visit your dealer as frequent that will become difficult? Brands like VW and KIA/HYUNDAY give 8 years warranty now and 8 years free maintenance. This might become the standard. I do think dealers, that already are struggling to be profitable will find it increasingly difficult to stay in business. Already now most profit comes from selling liquids like oil, brake/cooling fluid etc. When that disappears and you only sell a car, see it back every 2 yrs for brakes and filters where do you get your profit from? EV's have become driving computers and that is where it can go wrong. Software and hardware alike. Then overall build quality of course. Without engine noise you hear everything else 10 times over. So Lexus could shine here. Tesla's build quality is rated as mediocre at best. I sincerely think the future competition for Lexus is not coming from Europe or the states, it is from Asia. South Korea but especially China. The speed at which car manufacturers are developing there is mind boggling.

With electrification of the automotive landscape well under way i was wondering what this could mean for Lexus as a brand. Throughout the years Lexus spend vast sums on being market leader in NVH, Noise Vibration, Harshness. quiet isolated cabins, humming smooth engines, no vibrations and so on. This became a real thing that was different to most other brands. Then the well know reliability no arguments needed. And now we see combustion engines being replaced by electric motors. What are advantages of those engines? Silence, NVH, utter reliability to name a few. All of a sudden some of the most unique selling points of Lexus are spread throughout the market and even a little Kia of Peugeot will have them. Will the market become more uniform now like driving fridges? How can a manufacturer set itself apart? BMW is know for its wonderful six in line engines for instance. Now every marque drops EV's doing the same. And now what? Any Thoughts on this?

opel gt of course. and the vw isnt that a jetta? and that orange this is a vw as well built in i think mexico