Wider car industry news

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Carpocalypse

Carpocalypse

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I'm not sure if this is something I can create, but I thought I would create a thread for events that may affect the car industry as a whole. I saw this article this morning:

www.autocar.co.uk

Europe just moved closer to getting its own tiny, affordable 'kei cars' | Autocar

European Union president vows to support industry through new ‘E-car’ category as Chinese threat looms
www.autocar.co.uk www.autocar.co.uk

If it comes to fruition, we may see kei-spec cars in the EU.
 
They would make a lot of sense in the EU, especially in dense old downtowns. Kinda weird that Europe never adopted it altogether but these days even the smallest "normal" car is actually pretty large. Japan's rules could easily work inside the biggest cities in Europe.
 
There is an EU vehicle categori for microcars, called quadricycles. They're not nearly as high performance as the Kei cars of Japan though. The lower class is limited to a top speed of 45 km/h and 0.5 decilitre engines while the higher class is limited to 90 km/h and 20 bhp.

1758125964787.webp
 
Keef
Kinda weird that Europe never adopted it altogether but these days even the smallest "normal" car is actually pretty large.
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If you get into the history of the nonsensical emissions regulations the EU has been applying for a few years, lobbying from German manufacturers versus lobbying from French manufacturers boils down to a battle between heavy complex cars (ze Germans), and relative lightweight simple cars (le French)... it's apparent the Germans won that battle.
 
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It’s also crazy how micro cars just about began in Europe and they faded away. Even Mercedes(Daimler-Benz) tried again through the turn of the century.
 
05XR8
It’s also crazy how micro cars just about began in Europe and they faded away. Even Mercedes(Daimler-Benz) tried again through the turn of the century.
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I'd say they emerged simultaneously out of the countries most ravaged by the second world war - Germany, East Germany, Italy, Japan and to a lesser degree the UK. All these countries had a few things in common - lots to rebuild (meaning people needed to get around on unpredictable routes) and not a lot of money. The US had different needs and was busy building the massive interstate highway system, which actively dissuaded small cars. Europe's prosperity over the last 50 years has meant less desire for small cars - and e-bikes with good cycling infrastructure kind of kneecaps the lower end of the market anyways.

Related: Anyone else feel like the Slate truck is more or less the second coming of the Trabant? Perfect for an AI-slop economy where there are a handful of absurdly rich people and everyone else is machinery or how capitalism horseshoe-d itself into the Soviet Union. To be fair, I'm a fan of the Slate....and the Trabant.
 
I was always amazed how the variety of cars in Japan is so big compared to other markets. I mean it's just ~120 million people and the variety of cars is much bigger than elsewhere.

If they were to bring it over I would switch to one of them immediately. I currently drive a Toyota Aygo and wouldn't mind a true Kei car. The amount of choice in this segment is so small nowadays...
 
05XR8
It’s also crazy how micro cars just about began in Europe and they faded away. Even Mercedes(Daimler-Benz) tried again through the turn of the century.
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Price is probably the main reason. If a "real" car costs 20.000€ or so, a microcar should be in four digits to be a realistic alternative. Unfortunately you can't build anything with bearable quality for that little money and at that point people will understandably just buy the small normal car instead.
 
timekiller001
I was always amazed how the variety of cars in Japan is so big compared to other markets. I mean it's just ~120 million people and the variety of cars is much bigger than elsewhere.

If they were to bring it over I would switch to one of them immediately. I currently drive a Toyota Aygo and wouldn't mind a true Kei car. The amount of choice in this segment is so small nowadays...
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Here in Australia, that pretty much doomed the local manufacturing. Too many choices for a 20 million population. Plus being able to import cars from everywhere.

I still see a good amount of new Kei cars my area, but does seem to be slowing. At the moment, Rangers and Mustangs are king. Teslas seem to be next popular.
A new Tesla dealer opened in my 'hood, but I can't see them doing any good with what Musk has done in the USA since the start of the year.
 
Some people in our government are pushing to remove the 100% tariff on Chinese EVs here in Canada. I’m on the fence about this, does anyone here own one?
 
Veinz
Some people in our government are pushing to remove the 100% tariff on Chinese EVs here in Canada. I’m on the fence about this, does anyone here own one?
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They've become incredibly popular here in the UK. No doubt down to perceived value for money, in the same way Korean cars did in the 90/00's and Japanese cars did in the 70/80's.

As a life-long 'car guy' who prides himself on 'knowing about cars', i'll see cars on the road now that i've never even heard of the manufacturer before. It's like a real life GTA. If i drove past a Karin Asterope GZ tomorrow i doubt i'd give it a second glance.
 
Lots of Chinese EVs here in Australia. Not a fan of the car not starting if your seatbelt is not engaged. Even if you want to hop in to move it one foot real quick.
Then again, I see so many videos of people losing it accelerating into objects from rest.
 
Eunos_Cosmo
Related: Anyone else feel like the Slate truck is more or less the second coming of the Trabant? Perfect for an AI-slop economy where there are a handful of absurdly rich people and everyone else is machinery or how capitalism horseshoe-d itself into the Soviet Union. To be fair, I'm a fan of the Slate....and the Trabant.
Click to expand...
Not a fan. I was getting ads nonstop for that stupid thing and it was driving me nuts. There were several fantastic startups like Canoo that could've used plenty of investment but American billionaires wanted to be the ones running the show so they refused to invest in the actual innovators and decided to create their own. It won't work, it won't get my support, and I haven't even bothered watching journalist takes on it because they're feeding right into the scam. I will support legacy makers advancing technology and startups innovating new technology but I will not support billionaire pet projects.

Speaking on the Kei cars, one thing I would absolutely support would be an introduction of Japanese Kei regulations in the US, allowing both import and new manufacture. I spend a lot of time in NYC and LA at work and I think these tiny cars would be pretty excellent in places like that. In NYC the space saved would be incredible.
 
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Keef
Speaking on the Kei cars, one thing I would absolutely support would be an introduction of Japanese Kei regulations in the US, allowing both import and new manufacture. I spend a lot of time in NYC and LA at work and I think these tiny cars would be pretty excellent in places like that. In NYC the space saved would be incredible.
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I would say it's more likely that Japan would be coerced into importing a minimum quota of Ford F150s at this point in time.
 
Yangwang just moved the world into the slow lane, blasting by at 472.41 km/h! Watch the insane video and study the speed profile. It reveals the multiple phases of the driver's tire warmup strategy.

electrek.co

Yangwang U9 Xtreme cracks 300 mph to become fastest production car EVER [video]

The BYD Yangwang U9 Xtreme cracked 308 mph at a German test track to become the fastest production car EVER made! [video]
electrek.co electrek.co
 
GBO Possum
Yangwang just moved the world into the slow lane, blasting by at 472.41 km/h! Watch the insane video and study the speed profile. It reveals the multiple phases of the driver's tire warmup strategy.

electrek.co

Yangwang U9 Xtreme cracks 300 mph to become fastest production car EVER [video]

The BYD Yangwang U9 Xtreme cracked 308 mph at a German test track to become the fastest production car EVER made! [video]
electrek.co electrek.co
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3000hp and only 4mph faster than the Chiron SS that had almost half the power. Either the electric motor gearing is seriously wack or the aerodynamics are utter garbage.
 
How heavy is it? If the MG Cyber is anything to go by. Maybe the batteries weigh a literal ton per 1000hp.
 
AudiMan2011
3000hp and only 4mph faster than the Chiron SS that had almost half the power. Either the electric motor gearing is seriously wack or the aerodynamics are utter garbage.
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I think we're also hitting the point where diminishing returns in performance are making it more and more improbable to overcome the forces of physics. These numbers aren't even possible without a specially designed track, custom made tires and output specs that make the car utterly useless for anything but making grabs at the speed record, so it's pretty clear that things are fast reaching the plateau in terms of what conventional technology can achieve.
 
AudiMan2011
3000hp and only 4mph faster than the Chiron SS that had almost half the power. Either the electric motor gearing is seriously wack or the aerodynamics are utter garbage.
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Because electric motors have a physical limitation, the faster they spin the less torque they produce. The only way around that is the same as an ICE car, a multi-speed or CVT type gearbox. Or you just gear it really tall and compromise off the line acceleration like a salt flat car lol
 
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AudiMan2011
3000hp and only 4mph faster than the Chiron SS that had almost half the power. Either the electric motor gearing is seriously wack or the aerodynamics are utter garbage.
Click to expand...
The car was still accelerating until it had to slow down for the banked corner at the other end of the 4KM straight.
 
It appears that the tyres are only rated to 500 km/h

cleantechnica.com

BYD’s Yangwang U9 Xtreme Sets New Top Speed & Nürburgring Lap Records - CleanTechnica

Over the weekend, BYD announced on a RedNote livestream that the U9 Xtreme version has now broken the overall production car top speed record, clocking in at 496.22 km/h (308.37 mph). The car had just set the EV top speed record of 472.41 km/h a few weeks ago. In addition, in its first test at...
cleantechnica.com cleantechnica.com

And it's certainly true that the U9X was still accelerating when the driver started to slow down. The straight sections of the track are only 4.0 km long according to their official website

You can see the speed chart in the screen shot below

1758649951758.webp
 
I swear that whoever designed that Yangwang's livery has been in the Waifu Wars.
 
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GBO Possum
It appears that the tyres are only rated to 500 km/h

cleantechnica.com

BYD’s Yangwang U9 Xtreme Sets New Top Speed & Nürburgring Lap Records - CleanTechnica

Over the weekend, BYD announced on a RedNote livestream that the U9 Xtreme version has now broken the overall production car top speed record, clocking in at 496.22 km/h (308.37 mph). The car had just set the EV top speed record of 472.41 km/h a few weeks ago. In addition, in its first test at...
cleantechnica.com cleantechnica.com

And it's certainly true that the U9X was still accelerating when the driver started to slow down. The straight sections of the track are only 4.0 km long according to their official website

You can see the speed chart in the screen shot below

View attachment 1481242
Click to expand...
I actually think the top speed may be limited by battery capacity. At 2220kw and 80kwh, the battery would fully deplete in just over 2 minutes at maximum output. Depending on how charged the battery was, temperature, the condition, how much power was used to get up to the "cruise speed" of 300kwh, it's plausible the car depleted the battery or hit a threshold-low level and effectively shut down at the 2:13 mark - it did seem like there was a decent amount of straight left. Regardless, the top speed at these power levels is going to heavily depend on how much energy you are bringing with you.

I can't image how hot the leads to the motors were at 2220kw :eek: That's double the amount of power required to melt a literal ton of steel in an arc furnace.
 
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