Happy Fast News Friday automotive fans! From Ford’s ‘What Car? Car of the Year’ win to Porsche’s trend-defying sales figures, there’s plenty to celebrate in this week’s edition and plenty more to get excited about. Electric Hummer anyone?
1. Guess who’s back? The Hummer is reborn, electric
General Motors’ iconic Hummer is about to make a comeback as loud and dramatic as its manufacturers bankruptcy was a decade ago. The Detroit company is planning on reviving the rugged off-road vehicle to sell a new family of electric pickups and SUVs, starting from 2021. The brand had reached peak sales around 2006 and then rapidly declined due to the swelling of fuel prices, a deal-breaker for its gas-guzzling H2. The ‘Hummer by GMC’ moniker, which was almost sold off to an obscure Chinese machinery maker during the aforementioned financial woes, will now be a key asset for GM’s ambitions.Ford, Tesla and Rivian will be keenly following the developments as they battle for dominance over what is a largely untested segment of the EV sector, with an underlying high-profit potential. Popcorn anyone?
2. Roaring success: Ford Puma is the What Car? Car of the Year 2020
Another comeback story: this year’s Puma is the first Ford vehicle to use its feline name since 2001—and what a triumphant return! The small SUV has just been crowned ‘What Car?’s Car of the Year’ 2020, beating models such as the Tesla Model 3, Range Rover Evoque, Skoda Scala and Audi Q2. The Puma was praised by judges for being a fun drive, cleverly packaged and well priced, leading Ford to its sixth victory at the awards, the first since Fiesta’s in 2009. We’re celebrating Ford’s achievement on location, as our team is currently in Malaga launching the award-winning Puma to the European press. Check out our instagram for a flavour of what they’ve been up to.
3. Porsche defies sector gloom with rising sales
With news of a sales slowdown constantly dominating industry headlines, Porsche put a smile on our face this week when they announced that they’d successfully bucked the trend. The German manufacturer reported record deliveries for 2019 and is fully confident the upcoming launch of its EV, the Taycan, will keep the momentum going. The 10% rise in global deliveries was mainly driven by the Macan’s and Cayenne’s customer appeal, and has filled its order books for the electric launch of 2020. Porsche thus remains Volkswagen Group’s most profitable division and is quickly quashing fears that its history of producing combustion-heavy fast sports cars would not be easily translatable to an EV future.
4. 007 or 4-3-3? Nissan goes silly in Bond parody ad featuring Man City stars
Man City is not having the best season, so it is understandable that its stars might want to take the opportunity to go undercover. Nissan offered them precisely that in its latest silly ad, an espionage parody that plays on the rising Bond-mania gripping the country in anticipation of the upcoming latest installment of the 007 saga. The film features Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker and Ikay Gundogan as wannabe actors coming to grips with greenscreen sequences and studio-shot car chases, guided by a bumbling director. The chemistry and banter between the teammates comes off as honest and genuinely amusing, and the Nissan Juke still receives all the attention it deserves, despite the star-studded cast surrounding it. The campaign was designed for social channels, probably with high hopes of going viral, and is sure to be a great success. More of these mash-ups, please.
5. Smart cars for smart homes: Renault is linking our thermostat to our dashboard
Renault waded in on the 5G hype this week, announcing a partnership with smart-home specialist Otodo that will see consumers able to sync their homes with their cars once the network is live. One of the most anticipated tech revolutions of the coming decade, 5G promises to make the Internet-of-Things a true reality. This means that our thermostats, fridges, lightbulbs and even showers will become fully synced with our digital lives, including (if you drive a Renault Zoe, Clio or Captur) your car’s dashboard. Early adopters will be able to control objects in their home form their vehicle’s dashboard or even use their smartphone or smart speaker to prepare their Renault car for a drive while still indoors. The snazzy Leaving/Arriving Home presets will also allow users to put their homes to ‘sleep’ by setting certain object functions (such as shutters closing or temperature lowering) to activate whenever the vehicle leaves or reaches the building or a defined ‘parking’ area. This will all be very useful, until the smart thermostat uprising.