ACEA’s monthly reports on European car sales are always interesting and this week we decided to drill down a bit and see if there was anything in the January data – and that for 2014 – worth keeping an eye on during the rest of 2015. There was.
Leading up to Geneva there has naturally been a lot of new model news, some of which seemed to involve dragging select media (we’re not) off for the day to Somewhere in Europe, blasting them with ear-bleed music and coloured light shows, giving the design director just enough time to explain how some styling feature was inspired by the petals of an alpine flower that blossoms for two minutes during the summer solstice, handling out a USB stick with a few photos and bare tech specs, and sending ’em home again. Full details to be revealed on the eve of show or thereabouts.
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So we now know a bit more about a posh new Skoda sedan and a mid-size Hyundai SUV (NB welcome return to model names instead of pointless letter/number combos) as well as the UK spec of the upcoming Honda HR-V (whaddya mean, 2WD only?), Rolls-Royce plans to join the SUV craze (that spinning sound on the wind is probably Messers Rolls and Royce rotating in their graves) and Kia giving its initial take on the one-litre I3 turbo a new trim level of its own.
Having vowed for years never to get caught up in Apple hype, the gift of an old, ex-contract iPhone to Mr Gadget by traitorous colleague Simon Warburton set me off on a love of all things i and I’d quite like to follow my [third] iPhone and iPad with an iCar, if Apple ever builds it. Various sages have since popped up to ask ‘do they know what they are getting into?’ to which a certain Mr Musk might have a useful reply and a bit of advice. We, too, gave it some thought. Apple also made our news today as there’s a bit of a tiff going on over alleged employee poaching from a battery maker.
We also learned this week Honda may cut the number of model variants it makes in an effort to avoid a repeat of its recent spate of new model recalls (eg Fit) and that the long running US west coast ports dispute is causing production planners in both the US and Canada a bit of grief. When a number of your models are selling well, taking 25,000 cars out of the plant schedules because a few bits from Asia aren’t getting through is a blow.
Have a nice weekend.
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By GlobalDataGraeme Roberts, Deputy Editor, just-auto.com
