Technology

Boo for Britain

This week’s Globe Drive section (Globe and Mail, July 8, 2010) highlights the British auto industry’s ongoing infatuation with the old, and soon to be obsolete.

Dinosaur thinking continues unabated at Britain’s top 3 vehicle brands (though owned by BMW, VW or Tata of India). The soon to be released new Rolls Royce mid-size Ghost produces 563 horsepower using a V12 turbocharged engine, and is projected by the manufacturer website to weigh in at 5150 lbs.!!! The new Bentley Continental Supersports, with its twin turbo W12 engine, can fly from
0 to 100 km/h in 4.1 seconds!!! And, as the manufacturer notes, it has been put on a diet --so it only weighs 2, 395 kg or 5281 lbs!!!

Finally, there is the new Range Rover which produces up to 510 horsepower using a supercharged V8 engine. Again, weight is high at 2,672 kg or a whopping 5892 lbs!!!

So, the pride of Britannia continue in the old ways --even under non-British ownership. Obese vehicles that drink gasoline as if it were free; to feed engines so enlarged or supercharged as to be on steroids – all to appeal to drivers who wish to travel at or near the speed of light on regular roadways.

Forget that it is now 35 years since the trauma of the Arab oil embargo and the ever increasing price of fuel. By 2016, vehicles sold in the USA (and by extension Canada) must meet substantially reduced gasoline consumption targets, and in Europe, 2016 is also the end date for new, more stringent vehicle emissions targets.

Good luck Britannia in meeting these goals. Your crown jewels may look shiny and appeal to the super-wealthy today, but soon your vehicles will only be seen in museums -- as your factories close!