Autocade reaches 34 million page views

22.12.2023/10.18

We crossed the 34 million page view mark at Autocade a few days ago, with the counter currently on 6,444,257. Add that to the 27,647,011 that we netted before the old server was decommissioned, that’s 34,091,268. The site is sitting on 4,872 models, quite a few of which were uploaded while I put together […]

Nissan, get ready to pay up: Carlos Ghosn’s after US$1 milliard

20.06.2023/23.49

Good on Carlos Ghosn for filing his lawsuit against Nissan Motor Co. and others, including Hari Nada, as reported in Automotive News. Things you won’t have heard since Ghosn fled to Lebanon: In 2020, a UN panel found that Ghosn’s detention in a Japanese jail for more than 100 days was neither necessary nor reasonable […]

Ford means nothing at all

20.04.2023/22.11

I followed a Ford Ranger today and felt nothing. This isn’t as strange as it sounds. Ford has become a truck company here, too, and there’s nothing about the blue oval that stirs the soul any more. Mustangs are rare, and Ford—which once democratized flash—doesn’t have the brand equity that it used to. Never mind […]

Are hybrids better for the environment than pure EVs?

19.08.2022/04.20

Shared by a family member. Hear out Dr Graham Conway, principal engineer in the Automotive Division at Southwest Research Institute, and why zero-emission vehicles are not truly zero-emission. It’s a point I’ve made way, way back (in the 2000s) when I cited a study which showed the Ford Fiesta Econetic, a diesel car, was the […]

If corporate America says it, it’s probably untrue

16.07.2022/23.53

Le dernier. I see the Le Snak range has now left us, after its US owner PepsiCo cited a lack of demand. I call bullshit, since during 2021 it was becoming increasingly difficult to find them on the shelves. Throttling distribution is not the same as a lack of demand, something you see time […]

Most of our top 10 sellers reflect our ignorance

25.03.2022/01.22

The Suzuki Swift: one of the saving graces on New Zealand’s top 10 list. At the Opel relaunch briefing yesterday, I was shocked to find that these were New Zealand’s top selling vehicles for 2021. I knew about the first two, but had always assumed a Toyota Corolla would follow, plus some regular cars. […]

GM and Ford keep falling down the top 10 table

30.10.2021/11.55

It’s bittersweet to get news of the Chevrolet Corvette from what’s left of GM here in New Zealand, now a specialist importer of cars that are unlikely to sell in any great number. And we’re not unique, as the Sino-American firm pulls out of entire regions, and manufactures basically in China, North America, and South […]

Have you driven a Ford … lately? Probably not

13.09.2021/12.09

Ford’s Brazilian line-up, 2021. Once upon a time, there were locally developed Corcels and Mavericks; even the EcoSport was a Brazilian development. Today, it’s Mustang, a couple of trucks, and a rebadged Chinese crossover. We heard a lot about the demise of Holden as GM retreats from continents at a time, seemingly in a […]

Brand, sub-brand or model? China’s getting into a confusing phase

16.02.2021/11.28

The Dongfeng Aeolus AX7. But just where does Aeolus sit when it comes to indexing in Autocade? This is something that might have to come out in the wash, and it might take years. I think we can all agree that Ssangyong is a marque or a make, and Korando is a model. Never […]

How Jaguar Land Rover can still win its Land Rover Defender IP case against Ineos

09.08.2020/11.29

I haven’t read the full judgement of the Land Rover Defender case, where Jaguar Land Rover sought to protect the shape of the original Defender under trade mark law, to prevent Ineos from proceeding with the Grenadier. According to Bloomberg, as reported in Automotive News, ‘The judge upheld the findings by the IP Office […]