Talented Alex has designs on your next new car

A MERSEYSIDE dad has spoken of his pride this week after his son landed a dream job designing a Chinese car company's latest models.

Jeff O'Brien, from Thornton, told Life On Cars that after impressing car industry executives with his design flair his son Alex has now jetted off to Shanghai to help design vehicles for Qoros, a joint Israeli-Chinese firm which will be launching its first cars in the UK next year.

Mr O'Brien said yesterday: "Alex's designing and sketching skills are out of this world, and after completing the car design course at the University of Coventry he impressed a lot of design executives for different companies, who all saw what he'd come up with and wanted to take a look. One of them was a manager at Qoros, who spoke to Alex and was absolutely delighted with him.

"Alex wanted to work with Qoros because it's a new company, and they're really keen to use some of his design skills in their models."

The model which former Manor High School pupil Alex created to conclude his design course, a sports car design aimed at supercar builders Bugatti (pictured above), attracted attention from car industry executives at an exhibition, used to showcase the UK's latest car design talent, held in Coventry last year. Father and son worked together on the car, with Jeff, a retired Craft, Design and Technology tutor, helping to fashion the wheels for the model of Alex's sports car design.

Although work commitments in Shanghai meant Alex was unavailable to speak to Life On Cars, a Qoros spokesperson said of its new range of cars: "Qoros is a fresh, new brand without legacy. It is driven by a passionate international team of expert designers, engineers and marketers who are united in their desire to develop sophisticated and highly individual products.

"The company is dedicated to meeting an ever-increasing demand for cars that are highly differentiated from other products within a crowded automotive marketplace. In addition to design that is both elegant and functional, Qoros products will be distinguished by a strong focus on state-of-the-art technology, with high levels of user-friendly in-car connectivity and vehicle safety standards which compare to the best in Europe."

The first Qoros car to be sold in the UK, an as-yet-unnamed four door saloon, will make its European debut at the Geneva Motorshow next March.

Is the writing on the wall for troubled Saab?

I BEGIN this week not with an intro, but a disturbing statistic. In December 2011 just eight of you treated yourselves to a brand new Saab.

That's not just the figure for a particular showroom or part of the north west, but for the whole of the country. I've refrained from writing too much about Saab's slow and painful demise until now because the story's a bit too soap opera even for this column, but unless a miracle of Lazarus proportions heads their way it's safe to say the Swedish firm is another motoring name consigned to the history books.

Which is a shame, because Saab made some cracking cars right up until their final dying moments, even if they did knock a few stinkers out along the way. They were a firm renowned for sticking their fingers up at the motoring establishment and insisting on doing things differently. Even when it annoyed the hell out of General Motors, their very boring and very American former owners.

How else do you explain efforts like the fabulous 99 Turbo, a quirky saloon renowned for its mid-range punch? Or that middle class icon, the original 900 Cabriolet? Admittedly, they weren't cars modelled on jet fighters (despite what the ads would have you believe) but nor were they automotive flotsam created by committees either.

My own favourites are the two generations of the 9-5, which disguised their humble Vauxhall origins to offer up their owners a masterclass in comfort and refinement.

Their killer problem was that 99% of the potential buyers decided they'd still rather have the BMW 5-Series instead, leaving the Saab to survive solely on its “at least it's not a BMW” appeal.

Saab could and should have flourished once it passed into independent ownership, but GM's insistence that nobody should have access to its technology has ruined any chances the Swedes had. There are all sorts of complicated reasons why the firm's Dutch owners have gone bust, but a big part of it was that General Motors vetoed any ideas of Beijing's car makers coming to the rescue in case the Detroit-funded tech underpinning today's Saabs fell victim to a bit of a Chinese takeaway.

Ford happily lets Indian-owned Jaguar use its technological know-how, and BMW grants MG's Chinese custodians the same privelige, but the idea of a Chinese firm getting GM's inside info via Saab just proved too much for the Americans.

Unless Saab is treated to a miracle which brings its UK sales above eight a month, I think the writing's on the wall.

Life On Cars has just enjoyed its best month ever, with the site being viewed more than 3,500 times in January! I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who reads and enyoys this site and the column in The Champion (published each Wednesday).

If you've got a motoring story or event you'd like to share get in touch by sending an email to david.simister@hotmail.co.uk or leave a comment below.

China wants foreign companies to disclose EV secrets

Trouble seems to be brewing in one of the world’s largest automotive markets, China. It has been reported in the Wall Street Journal that the Chinese Government wants to force foreign companies to reveal their electric vehicle technology before they can sell their wares in China.

The country’s current proposition says that foreign automakers wishing to produce electric technology must form a joint-venture with a Chinese company. In the joint-venture, the foreign company would only hold a 49 percent stake, which basically means the Chinese company will hold a majority stake.

This is all part of the government’s 10-year plan, at making the nation “the world’s leader” in developing and producing battery-powered cars and hybrids, according to executives of four foreign auto makers. The Wall Street Journal says that the plan is to develop three to five Chinese companies into global EV and hybrid players by 2020, along with two to three global suppliers of key components such as batteries and motors.

This will be a dangerous balancing act for foreign companies as China has a lot of leverage, being one of the biggest auto buyers in the world, while revealing their tech secrets could see it being used for other purposes. The plan will be distributed among other government agencies and state-owned automakers to gauge their opinions on the matter. There is a likelihood that the technology transfer clause could be changed or even modified before the plan is commissioned. If there is no opposition to the plan, it could be put in place as soon as next month.

A very scary thought, but if Toyota’s actions are a precursor to other automakers actions, we could see a major pullout of foreign companies from China. Toyota have postponed the release of its latest generation Prius hybrid in China (which has been on sale in many other market since 2009) until they get confirmation on China’s plan.

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB40001424052748704394704575495480368918268.html