Memo to self – be a little less facetious. Put ‘off on a desert safari’ in my Skype status to explain my absence and was greeted on return with ‘how was your vacation?’ from several who had apparently envisaged Sheikh Roberts wafting gently across the Sahara on a camel. Nope, I was in California’s Mojave, being (willingly) baked alive by Kia.
It was a rare opportunity to see a hot weather test centre in action. Jaguar apparently also has one somewhere up that way but appears to restrict access to high-falutin’ consumer journalists from south-eastern publishing houses. Kia, figuring most consumer journos really only want to drive cars, instead assembled a motley crew of ‘trade’ writers – most agreeable company – and shipped us west.
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Coming from a country with an evil amount of UV in its sun, I recall coloured English dashtops in batches of 1970s full imports turning from purple, blue, brown and green to toast black inside 18 months (the English are never much good in strong sunlight, it being relatively rare here) thus showing us why the local assemblers only ever specified the black option. Then there was the batch of brown cloth trim used in both imported and local build models which turned green in about the same amount of time. That looked just great across the top of the back seat. You rarely see such discolouration these days which reflects both the advances in materials and the results of automakers like Kia subjecting whole cars, nose clips, tailgates, light fittings, sunroofs, interior trim pieces and a whole host of exterior widgets to ‘accelerated weathering’ tests under the likes of harsh Mojave sun – 105F the day we visited (though winter snow is not out of the question).
As well as providing an interesting insight into how they do things, Kia also had some interesting side tales about relocating tortoises to build the actual proving ground, the boss’s snake-catching abilities and coyotes who keep an eye out for wet-surface brake tests in the hope of a free drink. The human water ration is two gallons per person a day if you work outside.
We also visited Kia’s own American design centre – proudly independent of parent Hyundai’s since 2008. Unfortunately, Kia’s product plans and styling ideas for the next five to 10 years were not available but we enjoyed an interesting insight into how the place works and learned how a concept car goes from restaurant tablecloth sketch to wow-at-the-Detroit-show in less than a year.
Colleague Simon Warburton has been keeping a close eye on the latest industrial niggle affecting car output in South Africa. This time it’s a metal worker’s strike which knocks on to the component industry and has reduced or stopped output at some automakers. As we note, the country has only just recovered from last September’s disastrous three-week walkout that cost the automotive sector US$58m a day and concerns have been raised continued industrial unrest is harming the country’s reputation as an automotive supplier to international markets. The country is now a critical export hub for some models and you do have to wonder how much more the international automakers will take before pulling the plug on further, export-led investment. Would emerging assembler countries on the continent like Nigeria provide a more stable industrial relations environment if given the chance?
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By GlobalDataAnd I finally got around to having a go in the Volvo diesel PHEV launched last year. Impressive tech.
Also this week we learned what former Ford chief Alan Mulally is doing next, kept an eye on the possible ZF-TRW merger, heard Fiat deny VW merger talks, and considered whether we, really, need Facebook in the car.
Me, I’m still California dreamin’.
Have a nice weekend.
Graeme Roberts, Deputy Editor, just-auto.com
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