A biweekly roundup of automotive news, good, bad and just plain weird:
Australia falls in love with the Mustang
Once upon a time, Australia had its own domestic car industry, catering to the specific needs of the country. You know, little corks all the way around convertible tops, paint codes to match the colour of Vegemite - that sort of thing. But no longer.
The spread of globalization means that Down Under now gets the same sort of cars we drive up over. If you're an Aussie Ford fan, that means goodbye to the Falcon, and hello to a right hand drive version of the same Mustang the rest of the world gets. The reaction from Australians? They can't get enough of it.
That's speaking literally, by the way; Australia can't actually get enough Mustangs. Within just a short time of Ford's pony car going on sale, it's already sold out as far as the end of next year.
Australians seem mostly to be opting for the 5.0-litre V-8 and the coupe over the convertible; not a bad idea for the country that invented Mad Max. Forgive me for wishing global manufacture worked both ways, and that we could see the mighty Falcon giving family guys a chance to have a sort of four-doored Mustang.
Chinese university develops mind-controlled SUV
For all its shiny app-centric touchscreens, the future isn't really all that exciting. Self-driving cars? You're basically turning everything into a glorified robo-taxi.
But a two-tone SUV that's controlled by brain waves? Now that's Jetsons-style futurism you can get behind.
Researchers at China's Nankai University in Tianjin have done just that, creating a "crown" of 16 sensors that hook up to a laptop and let the wearer drive a Great Wall SUV around with the electrical impulses of the brain. Brakes, acceleration, turning - it all works, even the door locks.
Practical applications? There aren't any, not really. The speed with which the rest of the industry is moving towards an autonomous future means that the brain-controlled car's usefulness for, say, paralyzed drivers will shortly become moot.
But on the other hand, brain-controlled car! How neat is that?
Maranello clamps down on rental Ferraris
One of the problems of visiting Ferrari's birthplace is that the screaming engines and history of speed gets under your skin. You want to go fast. You need to go fast. And hey, that guy over there will rent you a red car with a horsey badge. Uh oh.
For the citizens of Maranello, this situation is a recipe made for maximum annoyance. Lead-footed tourists are scorching all over the place, making normal life impossible. Sure, having the odd speed machine scorching around a test-track is OK, but not all these low-talent half-wits going 10/10ths on city streets. Even Ferrari's had enough, and is banning all advertisements of rent-a-Ferrari services from near their museum. The police are out in force cracking down on speeders, and the hours that rental companies can operate are strictly limited.
Ford tattles on hit-and-run driver
Is there anyone worse than a hit-and-run driver? Maybe that horrible guy who jacked up the price of HIV medication. But for one Florida woman (and it's always Florida, isn't it?), karmic retribution wasn't about to let her get away with her nefarious deeds. She crashed into another hapless road-user hard enough to deploy the airbags, and then fled the scene. Her Ford, however, wasn't going to let it be a clean getaway.
It called the cops.
Essentially, the Ford in question was fitted with a safety system to alert emergency services in the event of a crash. If you were seriously injured, this'd be a great boon as it would save precious minutes getting help on the way.
In this case, the Ford alerted dispatch, but the woman claimed she'd been the one hit, before changing her tune to say she'd never been in an accident. Suspicions were raised. The police popped over and found the car with massive front-end damage, including paint smears to match the other car. Case closed, and serves her right.
Porsche renames Boxster and Cayman
The 911. The 918. Most of Porsche's sportscars, new and historical, have come with some sort of numerical indicator. Now, the Cayman and Boxster get the same treatment. Mind you, Porsche nerds have been calling the cars by their internal model designations (987, etc.) for years. This is different: this time the company is putting the code on the badge. The change comes with the new generation of Boxster and Cayman getting four-cylinder turbocharged power to replace the screaming flat-six. Base cars get 240 horsepower, S models 300 h.p., and GTS versions something like 370 h.p. Additionally, the Boxster now swaps places with the Cayman, becoming the slightly more expensive option.
The 718 was a succesful 1950s racing machine, so Porsche is seeking to use a little heritage to calm those who fear that they're diluting their smallest sportscar in the name of emissions and economy. How successful will they be? Nobody mention the VW-engined 914.
Watch this space for all the week's best and worst of automotive news, or submit your own auto oddities by email to [email protected].
