Tag: #wordpress

Geely to buy Lotus. Yep. Chinese car company Geely is buying Lotus. Let that sink in. It’s brilliant.

There’s a few reasons why it’s brilliant.

First, Geely already owns Volvo. In 2010, the Chinese company rescued the Swedish manufacturer from the mildly incompetent clutches of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group (look, it wasn’t great…although out of that arrangement, Volvo came out best) and the brand has been cranking out some belting cars. The XC90 is brilliant (although we won’t see it here on these pages) and the Polestar variant of the S60 was a blinder.

The fact Geely owns Volvo and has done a great job with it feeds into the second reason it’s great – Geely clearly knows to leave things alone while injecting capital to make things happen. Lotus has had a bit of a revolving door of late. Since  1996, Lotus been owned by Malaysia’s DRB-HICOM (which owns Proton, another part of the deal).

Recent Lotus history

From 1986 GM owned Lotus and wasted lanveryone’s time (a pattern will emerge). Mad and loveable Romano Artioli bought the brand in 1993 while at the same time owning Bugatti. Artioli threw money at Lotus and the company duly delivered with the Elise, still in production today and better than ever.

When ol’ Romano ran out of cash, Proton stepped in and bought the company. Heads were duly scratched, but the company’s engineering arm was the point of the purchase, to help sort out Proton cars and make them ready for prime time. Proton’s money dried up, just like GM’s. Although the Elan went back into production in limited numbers for a while. That was slightly crazy, and not just because Kia built it.

Even crazier were the Lotus badges slapped on the back of Protons, although the Satria GTi was alright.

Lotus has soldiered on for years, spinning new cars off the Elise platform, the Exige and Evora and doing things no car maker with such a small budget should. The Tesla Roadster and Hennessy Venom GT were also built on Elise underpinnings, so it’s obviously a quality bit of kit.

Danny Bahar came over from Ferrari, kicked out five concept cars and completely embarrassed himself before being removed from his post for allegedly being very naughty. Which was good, because his ideas were in direct contravention of Lotus’ decades of history and tradition.

What will Geely do?

The deal includes 49 percent of DRB-HICOM (i.e. Proton) and a controlling 51 percent stake in Lotus.

If I was to speculate, this is what I think will happen:

• New Elise
• Switch to Volvo powertrains
• New Evora
• New Exige
• New something

Lotus will be able to raid Volvo’s extensive parts bin, which includes some excellent turbo and twin-charged four-cylinder engines. Then there’s the hybrid powertrain…

The new Elise will probably be more like Alfa Romeo’s lively 4C, so a carbon tub with a properly nutty four-cylinder turbo.

Money has been tight for the last decade, so Geely will hopefully be the great lifeline the company needed.

I am extremely pleased. I can’t wait to see what happens.

What is a performance car?

It’s a serious question that fuels debate on and offline – what is a performance car?

I asked myself that question after I decided to reboot the site.

What sort of car belongs on The Redline?

I had to think long and hard about what would appear on these pages. I’ve been reviewing cars for a while now and it’s a fundamental question that journalists argue over during those long dinners at product launches. Those arguments often spill over into the flight home, coffee meet-ups and Facebook feuds.

Power and Passion

When I were a lad, if a car did less than nine seconds to 100km/h (62mph), that was a performance car. I remember reading a story by one of the greats saying that there were doubts over his manhood at handling a vehicle that could complete the benchmark time in under eight seconds.

That car was the Jaguar E Type. Performance car? You betcha.

A car that “quick” today is considered normal. A BMW 120i will do it in 7.1 seconds.

One of the great complaints of two iconic Japanese sports cars of today – the Mazda MX-5 and the Toyota 86 (and Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S) is the lack of power. These things will show an E Type a clean pair of heels, finding the ton in around seven seconds. Too slow! they cry.

Wrong. These cars are both fantastic. They really are. Give them more power and they might be more fun, but they won’t be as satisfying as they are fresh off the floor. They’re about Getting It Right, making the most of what’s available.

Let me throw you another one. The Suzuki Swift Sport. 100kW/137bhp and 160Nm/118lb ft, means it’s not very fast at all. But with a set of 17-inch rims wrapped in RE.050 rubber, it’s a hoot to drive.

What – or whom – is meant to perform?

This is the question I came to as I thought more about this post and about the site. What – or whom – is meant to perform? It very much depends on the car. In the case of a Ferrari 488 GTB, not only does the car perform – you’d be slightly cranky if it didn’t given the money it costs – but it pushes you back. Come on, it says. Push me. Perform. And you will. You can’t help it.

The Suzuki Swift Sport is a cheap car, but it’s a lark. Come on, push me. But it adds another phrase, one you won’t hear from the Ferrari. I won’t bite because I can’t. Unless, of course, you’re driving like a total idiot. It’s really important that drivers of all levels – skill and experience – can find a car that pushes them to perform. I am not a terrible driver but I’m not a racing driver either. I stay well within the limits of a Ferrari 488GTB, and not just because the ones I drive don’t belong to me. But a Swift Sport, Mazda MX-5, Toyota 86, they’re all about you and you can find the limits easily and safely in the right setting.

And there’s plenty of cars in between that will push you and pull you along. Some will out-perform you, some won’t. Not enough power in the 86 is plenty for some as they chase the balance and the precision of a lovely chassis with that important piece of tech – the limited-slip diff.

Technology

This is one that really gets people talking. Technology takes the decisions out of your hands.

In some cases, yes. Another Ferrari, the incredible F12 berlinetta, is far too fast for mere mortals like me to jump in and hammer. When I first drove the F12, I was utterly terrified. By the time I handed it back, I’d moved from terrified to respectful. Without all the tech, the possibility of going from “terrified” to “cut-from-the-wreckage” was much higher.

Here’s the thing about the F12 and cars like it – they are way too fast for most people. YouTube isn’t all cat videos. There are also many idiots crashing exotic cars because they think they don’t need the tech. Ferrari’s ability to tune its F1-TRAC diff, engine and stability management to make you feel heroic – Push me! – is astounding an welcome. I love it because I can feel like I’ve performed to my best despite the car’s peak being way past my limits. But it’s still my favourite car. And the tech takes some decisions out of your hands because otherwise you might die.

What’s The Redline, then?

The Redline is a site for performance cars. There will be lots of very, very fast cars here. I can’t wait to get the first few videos in the can (for younger folk, that means shot and edited, not in the toilet) and start releasing. But there will be some slower ones, too, along with me telling you why they belong on a site where performance lives.

The Swift Sport deserves a place here just as much as a McLaren P1. The site will feature fast SUVs, warm hatches and electric cars that aren’t Teslas. It’s going to be grand.

Oh, and feel free to argue with me and each other. Keep it clean, keep it nice and keep it fun.

The Redline’s Audi RS7 review video has been a long time coming. Sorry about that. Been a bit busy. No, you are.

Audi RS7 Review

The Audi RS7 is an absolute animal. Twin-turbo V8 with stonking power and torque figures, driven through a ZF eight-speed automatic and a rear-biased Quattro all-wheel drive system.

The one we drove – around Australia’s Philip Island racetrack and the streets of Sydney – not only had that awesome matte grey paint job but it also had the incredible carbon-ceramic brake discs. Coupled with the sharp set of threads and those amazing 20-inch wheels, it’s still a sleeper. Nobody knows what it is until they hear that V8 roar and bark and see those LED taillights disappear down the road.

The TFSI engine pumps out a mighty 412kW (560PS/564bhp) and 700Nm/516lb ft of torque. Let that sink in. And in the sportiest mode hisses and spits like a Lamborghini Huracan. It’s an unforgettable, addictive experience just to accelerate in a straight line, let alone find a set of corners through which you can have a tremendous amount of fun.

The Redline’s Audi RS7 video review is right here. Don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t already.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-_RZLFl6bM[/embedyt]

To kick things off, here’s my Audi Q5 TDI Review – Road Trip from a couple of years ago.

Haven’t done much with The Redline for a while and this is a test post to see what’s what with the new theme. Let me know if there are any problems, dramas, ideas you’ve got to improve things.

Audi Q5 3.0 TDI S-Line Review

I shot this video in January 2015 during a terrific holiday in the UK. Audi Australia (because they are brilliant people) very kindly organised an Audi Q5 TDI (3.0-litre turbodiesel) for two weeks to take me and my family on a bit of a winter wonderland trip around Scotland and Northern England.

It was a great holiday except for…well, watch the video. And subscribe to the channel, obviously.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ruS_gBdWA0[/embedyt]