Frankfurt is the show where the Germans are in charge and traditionally they show all their wears for the forthcoming season but this year there was a focus on the electric cars and the future of the internal combustion engine.
Volkswagen announced that they will be shifting most of their cars towards hybrid and electric and that includes the four main breadwinners SEAT, Skoda, Volkswagen and Audi all moving towards the end of the diesel/petrol problem that hanging around like a bad smell.
This is all great news for consumers as there will be a choice in the electric car market but the problem for VW is that the Koreans have gotten quite a head start and now Nissan has the new Leaf on the way and the Model 3 from Tesla it might be a hard climb for Volkswagen to make.
BMW’s Boss Harald Kruger has come out and said that “We have never manipulated our cars, our cars are clean. There is no cheating in the BMW Group.” Which is an interesting statement that puts a little daylight between BMW and the other German car makers? Between the statement and BMW announcing 25 new electric models by 2025, it’s going to be an interesting few years.
Mercedes showed off the AMG Project One which is a 2.5 million Euro car that only the obscenely rich Lewis Hamilton will be driving because he helped design some of it. I’m fairly sure that Mercedes Ireland won’t be letting me test one as they seem to find it difficult to bring anything beyond hybrid to the market in Ireland. I’ve had loads of you get in touch about the modern fleet that is Mercedes and the younger ones all same the same thing, Mercedes is for old men.
Dacia is bringing a new Duster and it’s about time because Dacia have been plugging away in the background but failing to shine a light anywhere but “affordable cars” and they deserve better.
Kia showed us the Proceed Concept which brings the brand right up there with the German car makers. The Proceed has been quite an international success for Kia and now they really want to challenge the Korean concept with the design. Let’s hope the Fearless Leader of North Korea doesn’t do anything stupid in the near future.
Volkswagen again with the T-Roc which is a car that everyone seems to be waiting on, there may already be a waiting list starting to form around this car but you didn’t hear that from me. The T-Roc is a soft roader but will come in all kinds of youthful colours and engine line-ups. I’ll be testing the T-Roc as soon as it releases in Ireland for 2018.
Honda blew everything else out of the water with the Urban EV which is a concept type car but it’s showing where Honda design is headed. There are “suicide” doors and a charm that harks back to the early Fiat days. Honda also confirmed that by 2025 it will feature electric so that means we’ll be waving bye-bye to VTEC engines.
The future of cars and engines might be changing but it’s still bright. There’s no doubt that electric cars are now very much at the forefront of car makers minds but currently, the Irish Government haven’t got a clue what they are doing.
I have heard about a lot of lobbying going on at the moment so it might be time to get some independent advice about the future of propulsion in cars. Maybe they should come along to a huge talk I’m giving in Citywest this October called Crashtech which has electric skateboards, drones and the future of cars.
SEE ALSO – Bob Flavin: We have to start seeing a rise in demand for cleaner cars
