Electel Blogspot

The present post is a slightly modified version of a post I wrote in 2013 for my Art Contrarian blog. For a couple of decades, we in North America became used to seeing Lincoln automobile grilles that looked like these shown below. These are Lincoln Town Cars, a model produced for many years.  The upper photo is of a 2002 model, the lower shows a Town Car from around 2011.  Their shield-like grille shape dates from the 1993 Lincoln Mark VIII, though rectangular grilles with wide chrome frames and thin, vertical bars continued on some models until the 2002 model year. Changes in grille design rapidly accelerated by 2007 as Lincoln sales continued to dwindle from the 1989-90 peak.  2013 models had faces such as on the MKZ model shown here. I don't like that grille design.  But I do find it interesting how Lincolns stylists raided the marque's historical parts bin, so to speak, in a search for a different theme 1993-2007 and the 20-odd years before that. Consider the Li...

In recognition of the role that its Sprinter van plays in delivering all varieties of Christmas goods and essentials across each of the 25 years it has been on the market here, Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles division is undertaking a series of interviews with leading Sprinter users for sharing through social media channels in the lead-up to Christmas, writes Trish Whelan .  Amongst the high-profile users whose dependence on their vehicles becomes most acute at Christmas time, and whose experiences of Sprinter will be recorded, are Kerry couple, Tony and Mary Heffernan. Through their Saoirse Foundation, Tony and Mary were motivated, through tragic circumstances within their own family, to establish in 2013 the familiar Bumbleance ambulance service dedicated to the transport of sick and terminally ill children. Acknowledging the support given by Mercedes-Benz in helping to bring their brainchild to fruition, the service began with one unit and has since expanded to 13 units, thr...

BMW built 328-series sports cars and successful racing cars in the late 1930s, as t his Wikipedia entry mentions.  I wrote about some of those cars along with more recent concept versions here . The original 328 was simply a model sequence number.  In the mid-1970s BMW initiated its 3, 5 and 7 Series numbers (more were added later).  The 3 Series included the number 328i starting in model year 1995, based on its six-cylinder motor's displacement.  328i's were produced from 1995 to 2000 and from 2007 to 2015. This post presents a few 1930s examples along with some of the later cars.  Nothing profound here ... I simply thought it would be an interesting juxtaposition. Gallery 1936 BMW 328 Roadster, Car Magazine image An early 328.  No bumpers, tall windshield and leather hood straps. 1937 BMW 328 Mille Miglia "Büegelfalte" - RM Sothebey's auction image I wonder if Bill Lyons might have used this as partial inspiration for his Jaguar XK120 design. 1948 Jag...

This was always going to be an interesting drive, writes Brian Byrne . Volkswagen's ID.3 has been much awaited, and as the brand's first dedicated electric car, a seriously important one for them. The ID.3's production and launch was carefully choreographed. A constant stream of information in advance of its reveal made it clear the company were intent on the car becoming a game-changer and a bench-marker. When it came to actually opening the door to potential customers, they streamed out a social media-based programme. Would-be buyers could register interest and were then invited to lodge a €1,000 refundable deposit which would keep them in the loop for early order and delivery. In Ireland, more than 400 keen punters put up the money. A year ago they saw the car in the metal at a static presentation and got a two-month window to confirm their order. The first deliveries here were in September. In that month, the ID.3 was the best selling car in the country, a feat repeated...

Time for another change of pace.  In my possession is the July 1955 issue of Road & Track magazine -- cover below: Note that one of the featured items is a "Styling Critique."  It occupied nine pages: an introduction; two pages devoted to "Classic Styling" (1928-1941); two pages to "Modern Styling" (1935-1951); and the rest to "Contemporary Styling (1951-1955). The styling evaluators were Strother MacMinn (a well-respected instructor at the [then] Los Angeles Art Center School and former General Motors stylist), and Bob Gurr , who worked at Ford before becoming a designer for Disney.  He wrote the classic, early styling book " Automobile Design ."  Some additional comments were by John Bond, the magazine's editor. Below are three scanned pages that might provide some flavor of the critique.  Click on them to enlarge. Gallery Gurr thought "Frankly, the Continental is an over-rated piece of Styling."  Fortunately, both like...

Skoda’s first electric car, the Enyaq iV, will arrive here next June with pre-grant prices starting from €46,570 for the Enyaq 60 and €54,630 for the Enyaq 80, writes Trish Whelan .   All vehicles are priced exclusively with a 3-year service and tyre plan. Skoda have also welcomed the recent grant confirmation from the SEAI for BEVs next year. Up to €7,800 of grants and incentives are available to Enyaq iV customers in 2021. Demand is expected to outstrip supply with only 350 Enyaq iV units available in 2021. For this reason, together with the Covid-19 restrictions on showroom visits, Skoda has decided to launch an online deposit reservation process or pre-booking as it is commonly known. On Thursday 26 November at 9am prospective customers can pay a refundable €1,000 deposit to secure priority ordering access to the earliest vehicles. Skoda have confirmed that each depositor is not guaranteed an Enyaq iV in 2021 as production is limited and cars will be allocated on a first-come,...

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles’ 211 offers include a 0pc APR Finance offer for the all-new Mark 5 Caddy, writes Trish Whelan . Low-rate finance and purchase contributions start at €1,500 on the new Caddy 5 and a 0pc APR Finance Rate on all orders before 31 December 2020. The new Caddy has just been launched to the Irish market priced from €15,733 ex VAT and comes with a choice of Cargo, Business, Edition, Cargo Maxi, Business Maxi and Edition Maxi specifications. The sixth-generation Transporter is priced from €22,307 ex VAT and comes with a €2,750 Purchase Contribution and an APR Finance Rate of 2.9pc. The Crafter is priced from €25,853 ex VAT and comes with a €3,500 Purchase Contribution and an APR Finance Rate of 2.9pc. New leasing offers mean customers can get into a new Volkswagen Commercial Vehicle for low monthly costs, road tax included, no deposit to preserve cash flow in their businesses and the option to have full maintenance and tyres all built into a single payment each ...

I sat in on one of Volvo Cars's Studio Talks yesterday which turned out to be one of the most slick and well-managed of recent 'remote' launch and automotive information events, writes Brian Byrne . It was based around how the Swedish carmaker is using technology developed for gaming to provide state of the art simulated driving and allied events such as sudden braking and automated motoring. I have been to many such events 'live' over the years, but it was really pleasant — and arguably no less informative — sitting at it from the comfort of my own home and winter fire. The 'ultimate simulator' live stream centred around technology that included a mixed reality headset from specialist Varjo that allows a seamless mix of virtual and real world 3D imagery. A full-body 'haptic suit' from Teslasuit allows testers to physically feel small reproductions of the forces one would experience in a crash, while experiencing no actual risk. The suit also enable...

There's a quirk in the Volkswagen Group setup that quite often means the compact hatch from its SEAT subsidiary, the Leon, is a more stylish competitor to VW's modern icon, the Golf, writes Brian Byrne . I think they have done it again this time. It might be that the company has always been very careful not to interfere greatly with basic style cues that have rolled through all the generations of the Golf and which make all of them recognisably related to each other. The latest version of the SEAT Leon landed in Ireland in the middle of the year, and it is not just the most stylish yet, it begs consideration as the best-looking car in its class this year. You can see that for yourself in the pictures. A front end with a lot of character and shape. Edgy and with very sporty elements but in a very coherent way. The 'S' motif in the centre of the grille is just the right size (it's amazing how much difference a detail like that can make). The creasing of the character ...

In a partnership with SSE Airtricity, all buyers of the new Honda e electric car will get a free home charging system, writes Brian Byrne . The car is due to go on sale here at the end of the month, priced from €29,995 after grants and VRT relief. Reflecting the urban direction of the new car, there are five dealerships selling the model, all in the major cities. They are Des Darcy Honda, Swords Co. Dublin; Clonskeagh Motors Honda, Clonskeagh Road Dublin 14; Kevin O’Leary Honda, Silversprings Co. Cork; T Sheils Honda, Limerick, and T Sheils Honda, Galway. SSE owns and operates 28 onshore wind farms totalling 890MW across the island of Ireland, offsetting over 700,000 tonnes in carbon emissions annually. So the partnership means that the electricity consumed by Honda e owners will be a green as the car.