Another week, another Fast News Friday…
Sure to warm you up on even the dreariest of October days, this week’s round up is full to the brim with the spiciest morsels of automotive and EV insight. Get stuck in below.
1. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It’s a flying Porsche!
Porsche is joining forces with Boeing it seems, having signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore the ‘premium urban air mobility market’ and the transition of urban traffic into the airspace. According to Porsche’s news site, engineers from both companies will implement and test a prototype. Detlev von Platen, Member of the Executive Board for Sales and Marketing at Porsche AG said, “We are combining the strengths of two leading global companies to address a potential key market segment of the future.” Does this mean we’ll see a flying Porsche concept revealed in the not too distant future? We wouldn’t bet against it.
2. Dyson pull the plug on EV plans
Dyson, the highly successful British technology company famous for its innovative handheld vacuums, and more recently hairdryers, has today announced that is has decided to scrap its electric vehicle project because it is not commercially viable. Which really sucks, doesn’t it? Jokes aside, British inventor Sir James Dyson, said its engineers had developed a “fantastic electric car” despite the plans. Could this be the perfect opportunity for another large car maker to take the failed EV project on? Or, perhaps someone such as Richard Branson could step in and rebrand it as a Virgin EV? Stranger things have happened.
3. When it comes to EVs, Ian Callum bets on automotive brands over Apple
In a well timed remark, given the Dyson story detailed above, legendary car designer Ian Callum recently told team FP that while Apple or Amazon may have the vote of many consumers, when it comes to the expertise needed to build a truly brilliant EV, silicon valley will never match up to the industry we know and love.
In this voxpop, recorded live at our Electric Is Live panel discussion last week, he quipped ‘you wouldn’t throw an iPhone at a wall at 30mph and expect it to survive’—pretty difficult to argue with that, if you ask us!
4. The Taycan / Tesla rivalry is heating up!
We chuckled at this article in Australia’s Herald Sun this week, which rounds up the latest from either side of Porsche and Tesla’s increasingly heated competition to claim the title of fastest EV on the market. Or more specifically, the fastest EV to complete a lap of the Nürburgring track.
With Porsche’s Mayk Weinkötter offering up gems such as “We love competition, that’s for sure. But we need apples-to-apples comparison, not apples-to-pears” —it’s worth a read for the fighting talk alone. Pass the popcorn.
5. Chandhok’s hot lap terrifies unsuspecting passenger ahead of Japanese GP
In this entertaining short clip, racing Driver, television Presenter and F1 commentator Karon Chandhok is seen delivering a particularly ‘hot lap’ at the wheel of an Aston Martin Vantage ahead of this year’s Japanese GP, much to the terror of his passenger. We wouldn’t condone this sort of behaviour here at Foxtrot Papa of course, but you have to admit, it certainly makes for entertaining content. Our thoughts go out to her.