Updates from May, 2012
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Ford says the long-awaited Ford C-Max Hybrid is now available for order.1:27 pm on May 17, 2012
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1:00 pm on May 17, 2012
It’s inevitable really. Take six guys, any six guys, give them each a motorcycle and, well, sooner or later, a race will ensue. Actually, any number greater than one is enough to initiate the trash talking. Truth be told, if we’re alone, we’ll just race ourselves.
It doesn’t matter if we’re old or young, rich or poor, experienced riders or complete newbies; we could even be the imminently responsible motorcycle journalists (he says, his keyboard fairly dripping sarcasm) Honda Canada has brought to its Spanish NC700 launch. The equation always remains the same: Men plus motorcycles equals race.
We’ll race for millions. We’ll race for peanuts. Heck, we’ll race for dibs on the post-race porta-potty. Our demented need for speed requires no financial incentive. Indeed, our greatest reward is the — either spoken or unspoken but always understood — “I whipped your ass.”
We’ll race sport bikes. We’ll race dirt bikes. As much as we revile those awkward Can-Am Spyders, chances are we’ll race those, too. Scooters are not safe in our hands and pretty much every red-blooded male I know has drunkenly raced his kid’s tricycle and has the scars to prove it (OK, that might be just me).
The point I’m trying to make, of course, is that testosterone and speed are two ingredients essential to most males’ psyche. So, flaunting an entire passel of dirt bikes (even if they are little CRF100F minibikes) and what looks like a miniature oval dirt track at a group of ego-driven motojournalists is the proverbial red flag in the bull’s face; inevitably, there will be much charging to and fro. One just hopes it can be contained within the arena.
The only problem is that we’re at a riding school and, as anyone familiar with instructional colleges knows, there is nothing as earnest as a motorcycle riding instructor. Fun is not on the curriculum of any rider training school I’ve ever attended, so I shouldn’t be expecting any here either.
But this is Spain and even a short ride through Barcelona reveals a joi de vivre — at least on wheels — that belies the dire economic news dominating the Iberian peninsula. Indeed, we are told that hooning around on the little off-roaders is actually part of today’s instruction. It could all just be a desperate ploy to keep we ADD-ed moto-scribes from wandering off to chat up Spanish señoritas (again, that could be just me), but, whatever the case, we six cynical Canadian “experts” agree to a full day’s instruction, the play bikes our reward for the tedium surely to ensue.
Damned if we didn’t all learn something.
Honda Spain’s Safety Institute is unlike anything we have here in the Great White Frozen North. For one thing, it is owned, funded and run by the local Honda distributor. And, while Honda Canada is imminently supportive of private training facilities (donating scads of bikes to approved facilities) and runs the self-funded Junior Red Riders facility, having the entire program run corporately has advantages. The instructors are full-time employees and the selection of available bikes is incredible (from mini- to super-bikes and scads of scooters in between). And, since it’s in Mediterranean Spain, the school runs 11 months of the year; hence why, in its 20 years of operation, it’s trained 174,000 newbies, young and old alike.
What this means is that the school has the curriculum down pat, even for know-it-all, been-riding-for-30-years motojournalists. Indeed, besides the aforementioned motocross track, there’s a fairly complex pavement course, a tricky trials section and a low-mu (that’s me wanting to sound learned when all I had to say was slippery) wet section to demonstrate the wonders of anti-lock brakes on motorcycles. Even those who claimed not to have learned anything new admitted that the refresher course was a great way to greet the spring after a winter’s worth of motorcycle-riding rustiness.
By far the most edifying experience was riding the outrigger-equipped CBF600 and SH125 scooter used to demonstrate the benefits of anti-lock brakes. While ABS is a boon to automobiles, the technology is of even greater import to motorcyclists. Experienced riders learn to treat their front brakes with equal measures of respect and fear. Eighty per cent of a motorcycle’s stopping power comes from the front disc, yet locking the front tire almost always results in a crash. There are entire generations of bikers for whom using the front brake was verboten. I vividly remember the first time I tested the ground-breaking 1988 BMW K100’s anti-lock brakes; it took me at least 10 attempts before I squeezed the front brake lever hard enough to initiate ABS action. My mind said yes, but a certain nether region more atuned to pain and calamity kept overruling my right hand.
The outrigger bikes were liberating. Freed from the trepidation of sliding along on one’s butt, I was able to lock up the front brake and, for the first time in this motorcyclist’s life, experience a “crash” without the requisite trip to the hospital. As a demonstration of the benefits of anti-lock brakes on motorcycles, this exercise knows no equal.
Of course, that still left those aforementioned dirt bikes and that beckoning oval. Now, were I more mature or mindful of other people’s feelings, I would be reticent to reveal the result of our inter-media competition. But the aforementioned tricycle racing injuries have finally healed and, hell, I’m a guy, so the truth is we spanked ’em.
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11:55 am on May 17, 2012
Search for Volkswagen's Swedish headquarters using Google Street View and parked right in front of the main door and you’ll find a little Fiat 500. Punk'd!
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It's back. Big, bad and with four doors, rear-wheel-drive performance will return to the Chevrolet sedan lineup in 2013, simply called the SS.11:34 am on May 17, 2012
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Honda's Acura brand is recalling 56,881 TL sedans from model years 2007 and 2008 in North America to replace a power steering hose that could leak over time and potentially cause a fire.10:57 am on May 17, 2012
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Honda's Acura brand is recalling 56,881 TL sedans from model years 2007 and 2008 in North America to replace a power steering hose that could leak over time and potentially cause a fire.10:22 am on May 17, 2012
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9:24 am on May 17, 2012
LONDON — General Motors will build the next generation of its Astra compact in Britain after workers at its factory in Ellesmere Port, northwest England, overwhelmingly agreed to a new labour deal, leaving its plant in Bochum, Germany in danger of closure.
The carmaker said on Thursday it would invest $202-million in the Ellesmere Port plant, where assembly of the new vehicle will start in 2015.
Britain’s Unite union said 94% of those balloted voted in favour of changes to working conditions and that some 700 jobs would be created at the plant, securing its future until 2020.
“It’s almost certain that one of GM’s German plants will now be closed, probably the plant in Bochum,” a source close to the negotiations said.
GM, which sells under the Vauxhall brand in Britain, is expected to halt production of the Astra, its most important model, at its main plant in Russelsheim, Germany, making the car only at Ellesmere Port and at Poland’s Gliwice plant from 2015.
The source added that some production of GM’s Chevrolet marque could be shifted from Asia to Europe, with Russelsheim the likely beneficiary. This would leave the Opel factory at Bochum as the most likely site to be closed.
The decision is one of the most dramatic so far as Europe’s carmakers look to restructure or consolidate in response to more than four years of falling demand and profits.
Many factories are running at partial capacity — analysts estimate automakers have cut some 3-million cars, or 20%, from their production lines — and still producers struggle to sell their wares.
Opel made a loss of $757-million last year.
The U.K. deal means an extra third production shift will be added at the Vauxhall factory to ensure 24-hour a day running, as well as the introduction of weekend working to guarantee the factory works at full capacity.
The source added that production at the plant, whose sole product is the Astra, would initially rise from 140,000 cars a year to 160,000, with the potential to hit around 220,000.
Workers agreed a four-year pay deal including a pay freeze for two years, followed by rises of around 3% for the next two years, the source added.
“We have been able to develop a responsible labor agreement that secures the plant’s future,” Vauxhall chairman Duncan Aldred said.
“This is assisted by the government‘s industrial strategy, increasing its focus on the manufacturing sector and creating ideal ground for companies to build up long-term investments.”
There had been speculation earlier this year that the plant could miss out on investment by GM because it sources most of its parts from Europe and exports the majority of its cars there.
The deal will provide a boost to the British government, which is grappling with a recession and weak opinion poll ratings.
Securing increased production by foreign-owned carmakers based in Britain has been one of the few bright spots in a drive by politicians to boost manufacturing and rebalance the economy away from financial services.
“Once again we have seen the success of the U.K. automotive industry and the crucial role it plays in growing and rebalancing our economy,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said.
“This has been a real team effort with the government, the company, unions and workers all focused on keeping production in the U.K.”
Japan’s Nissan and Toyota as well as Tata Motors’ Jaguar Land Rover have committed their futures to production in Britain in recent months.
Britain now exports more cars than it imports for the first time since 1976, official figures released on Wednesday showed.
© Thomson Reuters 2012
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GM's European unit, Opel/Vauxhall, will build the next-generation Astra compact in Britain and Poland starting in 2015 after workers at its factory in Ellesmere Port, northwest England, overwhelmingly agreed to a new labor deal, leaving Opel's plant...8:52 am on May 17, 2012
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PSA/Peugeot-Citroen, GM's new alliance partner, faces tough times, but the automaker can achieve a turnaround as early as this year. "They are not out of the woods, but the situation is not as desperate as some people might think," said an analyst.1:01 am on May 17, 2012
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Analysts and investors alike will be watching the ticker closely this week to see how the market responds to word that the “Oracle of Omaha” has grabbed 10 million shares of GM stock.4:33 pm on May 16, 2012
