Whether it's from the www, the latest motor show or the back doors of a carmaker near you, Carsales Network Confidential features the good oil other sources either won't publish, don't care about or don't know. Heard an automotive rumour or new model tip? Then let us know here
>> Beep, Beep be damned
With his Lexus background, HSV's MD, Scott Grant, appears to be exactly the right person to head up the limited production vehicle manufacturer. At the LS3 launch earlier in the week, he related an anecdote concerning a disgruntled customer, who -- against the advice of friends, neighbours, colleagues and relations -- had bought an HSV.
The HSV owner apparently went to some pains convincing all the nay-sayers that his HSV would be a good car. So, of course, when the local Holden dealer provided 'JD' with a Barina as a loan car come the first service, there was a considerable loss of face.
JD's complaint rose to the highest level of the company and prompted the MD to point out to that dealer specifically -- and others in general -- that you can't expect an HSV owner to be satisfied with a Barina while his or her ClubSport/Senator/Grange/et al, is being serviced.
"His whole thing was 'I didn't buy a Holden, I bought a HSV'," Grant said.
This incident may not have been the only tipping point in Grant's one-man crusade to focus the attention of Holden dealers' service departments on customer service, but it was certainly a prominent one.
Grant's time with Lexus before HSV has given him a powerful working model of the way in which owners of prestige cars should be treated.
In changing the dealer network's thinking in respect of HSV customers, Grant said: "It's not being implemented as quickly as we would like".
>> Heat-beating botox required for Grange
Still on HSV, the first 150 units of the CSV (Chevrolet Special Vehicle) CR8 have been sold in the Middle East. For those who had forgotten (more here), the CR8 is a left-hand drive version of the ClubSport R8, replete with brand-specific badging. The cars already sold there were powered by the LS2 engine and, now that the LS3 engine is online, HSV is planning to resume production of this export vehicle this month.
But since Middle Eastern buyers acquire so many of the long-wheelbase Chevrolet Caprice (based on the WM Holden Statesman/Caprice), why not a Grange-style entrant from HSV for those Arabian customers?
Scott Grant told the Carsales Network that HSV has no plans in place for a Middle Eastern Grange. He said there were various stumbling blocks involved.
"The front fascia of that model is not heat-rated for that market, to give one example," he said.
>> Flagging interest from regulated drives
OH&S continues to raise its ugly head at media launches. During the safety briefing for the launch of the new FPV range, Ford's Manager for Public Affairs, Sinead McAlary, made it clear to drivers that pushing the boundaries of commonsense would result in said driver being metaphorically black-flagged -- and literally 'excused' from the drive program.
Holden has allegedly taken to video-taping these safety briefings to avoid liability issues arising from a vehicle drive program undertaken by the media. Certainly, HSV had a video camera taping the presentation for the new LS3-engined range and the safety briefing at the end of the session.
HSV also ensured that there would be no naughtiness during the drive program, by placing a 'red-flag' Calais V at the head of the convoy of new cars -- with strict instructions to drivers that the lead car was not to be overtaken.
Apparently it has got to the stage where Blue Oval management doesn't even want their execs sitting in the cars during drive programs, because the executives are employees of the company and are -- by law -- covered for death or injury while on the job. That's a cost borne by the company -- in one way or another.
Already, Ford engineers conducting extreme handling tests are required by the company to stop the car and ask any passengers to get out first.
>> Lives saved by Yin and Yang
The eternal struggle between Ford and Holden (good and bad, bad and good, depending on your respective views) continues. We already reported that the FG Falcon Ute is not fitted from launch with DSC (stability control) and that Sinead McAlary, Manager of Ford's Public Affairs Department, had attributed this to a "resource issue" (more here).
One can't do everything at once, in other words -- and it was more important to get the new light commercial range out in the market than delay the launch further while DSC was developed for the Falcon Utes.
Both Ford and Holden, then, have exercised the prerogative of engineering and marketing expediency. Ford has left an active safety feature out of the Falcon Ute's specification and Holden chose to launch the VE Ute range without the side-impact airbags that are optionally available for even the basic Falcon Ute.
Both companies tell us that the relevant safety features will be incorporated as a matter of course. In the meantime, it sounds like new Ute drivers should exercise the same restraint that Ute drivers have always needed to exercise in corners.
Still, like most things in life, it all works out on the swings and roundabouts. If the car's tail swings, the side-impact airbags will keep, but for negotiating slippery roundabouts, you'll want the stability control.
>> Fast fount of knowledge
Asked whether there was any news on the next-generation NSX, Honda Australia director Lindsay Smalley admitted he got his info like the rest of us: scouring the 'net and joining fan sites and blogs.
The discussion came up during the launch of the new Accord Euro in Vienna. There Smalley told CN Confidential that most he knew of the H-branded supercar was from updates posted at the 'Temple of VTEC' website for enthusiasts of Honda and Acura models. Of course, there's a dedicated section for threads on NSX. See www.vtec.net
It's generally agreed the new NSX won't be around 'til 2010 and that it will have a V10, but there's debate, among other topics, as to if it will use AWD and front-engined arrangement or if the latest NSX will maintain the original's midship layout...
>> Honda's sky profit in flight
Managing Director of Honda UK, Ken Keir remarked to Aussie journalists during the Accord Euro launch that he was pleasantly surprised how well the HondaJet was doing since its release. Orders will be taken in Europe to add to presumably long waiting lists for the light jet, which was announced for sale in 2006 at the National Business Aviation Association convention in North America, then priced at US$3.65m.
The HondaJet (pictured) utilises an over-the-wing engine mount configuration to optimise fuselage space and reduce drag, and 'natural laminar flow' concept over wing and fuselage for efficiency. Honda boasts class-topping cruise speed of 420 knots and a 30-35 per cent gain in fuel efficiency versus other jets of comparable performance.
According to local Honda boss Lindsay Smalley, Australian customers have expressed interest in the jet but such is the demand for it in the USA, "we can't get it." And Europe will have to wait, too.
"They can't get enough of them," said Keir. "Already they're talking about developing more manufacturing facilities."
>> UK auto industry woes over
Honda UK chief Keir remembers the bad old days of UK auto manufacture but believes the industry is back on track. According to ex-BMC boy Keir, the UK auto industry built just under 1 million cars last year but the turnaround in perception of vehicle quality and manufacturing strength has a longer term benefit.
"The UK manufacturing industry is as strong now as it's been... Maybe ever. There are different names, but it's as strong now as ever," he said.
Honda's manufacturing plant in the UK, Swindon, opened in 1989 producing engines for the Concerto and Rover 200/400 Series. The site now has two car plants in addition to the engine plant. Combined, production capacity is 250,000 units a year and the engine plant is capable of producing 1000 units per day.
The Swindon factory employs nearly 5000 Honda "associates" and produces the Civic hatch and CR-V models. Steeped in UK engineering history, Swindon was formerly a railway town and locomotive works for the Great Western Railway, and Honda's factory site incorporates an old airfield used by Vickers Supermarine as part of a test strip for the cars.
"There is an element of pleasure and surprise when we see quality product coming out of the UK… and it is quality product. The cars produced, in our case, at Swindon are as good as anywhere else.
"What it's done for us in the UK has given the people a degree of confidence on an emotional basis. A lot of people in the UK are proud of the fact we're producing cars and we're producing them at a quality that will match anybody.
"If you're over 50, you'll remember the dim and distant past of the bad days... the SD Rover," he offered.
"It's important to Brits that they do have an auto industry."
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