A biweekly roundup of automotive news, good, bad and just plain weird:
Automakers move to stop home car repair and modification
Well here’s an odd one — the Alliance of Global Automakers, a powerful lobbying group representing multiple manufacturers, is moving to apply the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to cars. The idea is to prevent owners from doing their own repairs or performing modifications to a vehicle, claiming that tampering with a car infringes copyright.
Remember the old anti-piracy, “You wouldn’t download a car,” ads? Well, this is that same idea made reality. As our cars get more and more computerized and electronic safety systems more complex, it seems as though manufacturers are concerned with how customers might endanger themselves by improperly fiddling with something.
Oh, let’s be serious — they’re worried about the legal implications of somebody re-flashing their ECU for more turbo power and accidentally turning off the automatic braking. As patent law doesn’t really cover personal modifications, the DMCA is the only way to go after DIY customizers.
On one hand, maybe there’s a point to be made here. Have you seen this whole hella-flush and stance craze, where cars zip around with ludicrously stretched tires and ridiculous camber? Looks cool, makes a car slow, prone to blowouts, and handles like the worst shopping cart at the supermarket.
As for repairs, ever pop the hood on a modern car? They already cover everything up with plastic shielding, to the point where you can’t even tell if there’s an engine in there or just a photocopier. RIP the days of DIY.
However, manufacturers who don’t want people to fiddle with their cars are going to be fighting a losing battle. Customizing and simple stuff like changing your own oil is practically a way of life for many, and good luck trying to stop it.
Lamborghini and Land Rover launch heritage restoration divisions
One of the major problems faced by any car company is how to preserve heritage while still embracing future technologies. Lamborghini, for instance, will struggle to meet emissions requirements without turning to turbocharging and hybridization, both things they’re resistant to embracing. Land Rover’s in the same boat, having killed off the iconic Defender lately, and no replacement in sight.
It makes sense, then, that both companies have decided to cater to those clients who prefer their greatest hits albums to the new electronica. Lamborghini now has Polo Storico, a dedicated facility focussed on preserving not just significant models, but capturing the techniques used in their construction. Land Rover likewise has their Heritage division, located in Warwickshire, U.K.
While the Lamborghini facility is more of a museum and archive, providing extremely skilled technicians with the information they need to accurately put together a period-correct Jalpa (or what-have-you), the Land Rover version’s a bit more hands on. If you’d like, you can sign out a historic Landie and take it for a romp across a 200-acre test facility. Mud, after all, is part of the heritage.
Subaru lifts JDM-only Exiga wagon
Why should you care about strange Japan-only Subaru wagons? Short answer: you shouldn’t. Long answer: unless they happen to show up here sometime soon.
Say hello to the Exiga wagon, a seven-seater Subie that looks a lot like a larger Outback. Aha, that got your attention, active and outdoorsy families. What are you supposed to do if you need a third row occasionally, but are a fan of Subaru’s all-wheel-drive ruggedness?
With the death of the Tribeca, Subaru has three crossovers but none with three rows. While the Exiga isn’t bound for our shores any time soon, you can look at it and extrapolate what a new Tribeca might be like.
Subaru reports that the North American spec three-rower will be significantly larger than this current car, but where the Tribeca went wrong was trying to aim for a polished finish like every other crossover/SUV. If the new Tribeca is to succeed, it’ll be like the Exiga, a blend of offroad looks and practicality over all else.
Brabus shows off Range Rover pickup truck
This actually isn’t the worst idea in the world, it’s more the execution that’s so horrible. Specialty German tuner Brabus just showed off a customized Range Rover in Shanghai, one fitted with a short pickup truck bed.
You used to be able to get the old Defender as a pickup truck, and it made for a useful farm vehicle. This thing — bright red, slitted fender vents, 500+ horsepower supercharged V-8 — looks like the sheep it’d carry would be wearing leather pants and gold chains.
It’s the worst bits of a Lincoln Blackwood and a Chevrolet Envoy XUV, wrapped up into one terrifically expensive package. Awful.
Watch this space for all the week’s best and worst of automotive news, or submit your own auto oddities to [email protected].
