There is obviously something in the water over in China that is encouraging otherwise sane motor company executives to think that a small two-seater all electric vehicle is the motoring way forward. It would appear now that Ford Motor Corp.’s execs have been drinking the very same water.
China’s Alibaba wants to make buying cars “as easy as buying a can of Coke” with the announcement that it will be building its own automobile vending machine. We first saw one in Hangzhou, then in Texas and recently, a mammoth one in Singapore, and now the world’s largest retailer (Alibaba surpassed Walmart to clinch that title last year) is also following suit; this has us thinking that maybe this isn’t just some marketing gimmick after all, and could be how people buy cars in the future.
Results just published by JATO gives the title of planet’s bestselling vehicle thus far this year to the Ford F-Series. With sales of 519,000 since January, a 9% increase over last year, the mighty Ford has outsold the Toyota Corolla by almost 50,000 units, beating it into second place.
Jakarta has signalled that it will be following Hanoi’s lead, with a phased restriction on where and when the riders of motorbikes can use the roads, in a bid to ease traffic congestion and pollution. Anyone who has travelled around South Asia’s rapidly developing cities has had to battle with the anarchic motorbike masses, who seem to have a complete disregard for traffic rules as they ignore common sense, just in a bid to get to wherever they are going that tiny bit sooner.
Amongst all of the background noise over the eventual death of the internal combustion engine, there is a small, almost timorous voice in the background, announcing a breakthrough in petrol engine technology that could give the average combustion engine as much as a 30% improvement in fuel efficiency.
Going on a long car journey with a bunch of rugrats is enough to drive even the most placid of parent to the very edge of insanity. Don’t be fooled with the ability to give your little cherubs various electronic devices – these only have limited effect and can induce car sickness, and the ensuing projectile vomiting will have you rueing your decision to procreate; that is if the constant cries of “are we there yet?” don’t get you first.