Mazda to Increase CX-5

The new CX-5 is proving to be a bright spot for Mazda, which has announced plans to increase production capacity of the compact crossover by 20 percent, from 200,000 to 240,000 units per year. This will be achieved by expanding production from Mazda's Ujina Plant No.2 in Japan to also include Ujina Plant No.1.

The news follows a previous announcement from the automaker that it would expand production of the CX-5 from 160,000 units to 200,000 units. 

The Japanese brand said that since sales began in February this year, demand has far surpassed initial estimations and that it has upgraded its annual global sales target from 160,000 to 190,000 units for the fiscal year that ends on March 31, 2013. 

According to the company, as of July 1, it has received 24,000 orders in Japan, more than doubling the annual domestic sales target in less than five months from the beginning of sales, while in Russia, there are more than 10,000 orders compared to an annual sales target of 12,000 units. In the States, Mazda has sold a little over 16,000 CX-5s from the end of February through June. 

In related news, Mazda announced it will be doubling production capacity of its SKYACTIV-D diesel and SKYACTIV-G gasoline engines, which are offered on several models including the CX-5 and Mazda3 (only the petrol unit), from 400,000 units to 800,000 units per year in October 2012. 

Both types of engines will be offered on the brand-new Mazda6 coming next year. 

Mazda is targeting annual sales of 1,700,000 vehicles globally in the fiscal year ending March 2016, with 80 percent of these cars to employ SKYACTIV TECHNOLOGY. 

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Gimmick Cars

It has been getting more and more under my skin as time has gone on, with motoring manufactures producing cars with no purpose or reason other than to fill a gimmick market for people with too much money or too little sense.

These worthless monstrosities haunt the roads in all their overpriced “facebooked” up hype. They serve no purpose; no segment of the market no ingenuity. They are there simply to exploit the person with money and no sense, the person that likes to buy clothing from a certain brand that puts rhinestones and big gaudy tigers on their clothing. So I will have to pick on two cars to make my point, two cars that have been bugging me since their first inception and every time I see some dim-witted person driving them around. Drum rolls are not needed here more like a firing squad, for the Polo Cross and the Toyota Prius.

So let start with the Cross, so just when you thought that the Polo range was too small and limited VW bring on the Cross, an off-roading Polo. So when you think of and off road car you think rugged and tough with plenty of ground clearance and 4WD. Not a Polo with slightly raised suspension, and some plastic bits covering the bottom half of the body work. Not to mention the on-off road 17” low profiles that makes it that much easier to hit the beaten track and absorb those rocks and ditches. And when you think off road you know, just know it must come with a 4WD system of some sorts like the Suzuki Jimmy that cost considerably less… Well no, the standard gearbox is good enough with front wheel drive to boot, once again just what you need when you hit the muddy hills and snowy roads. Okay I know I am going on a bit but, when a Standard Polo 1.6 costs around R20, 000 less and is just as capable off-road as the Cross and probably more suited to doing the dual role you have to ask yourself what’s going on. The reason I think they called it the Cross is because that’s what you’ll be when the light bulb finally turns on.

Now for the Toyota Prius, an eco friendly car for people that want to save the world one litre of fuel at a time. Well no not really let’s be honest it is shockingly ugly, like the designers got bored at the roof and gave up. Yes, I know it’s to help aerodynamics but a Ferrari 458 Italia is aerodynamic and doesn’t look like aerodynamically shaped loaf of bread. The goal of the car is to save fuel with its hybrid drive but, it doesn’t. You’ll never ever hit the Toyota’s claims, well unless you drive everywhere at 20km/h downhill. You would be much better off buying a Euro hatch with tiny a turbo petrol and much better looks. But I suppose then you will not get the adoring looks from the tree hugging ladies out there. In my mind the only hybrid that should be allowed on this planet is the Jaguar C-X75 which uses jet turbines to power electric motors and the Audi R18 e-tron Quattro Le Mans car. These serve a purpose push the limits and progress us as humans, the latter only seems to show how dumb we still can be and how easily we are convinced. This all knowing  that your are destroying the environment even faster by buying this “eco-friendly” nonsense

So to sum up you have to really, really know nothing about cars at all to spend your hard earned cash on these gimmick cars. And I know that these aren’t the only ones out there, I just chose to pick on these two because, I see so many of them out there. They are cars that serve no purpose other than to rob you of your hard earned money and make you seem extremely gullible. You have to completely believe the brochure and everything the salesman tells you. While ignoring facts, research and commonsense walk right past everything else (which there is a lot of) and go for a “Gimmick Car”. I know there are going to be people throwing toys out of their cot that I insulted their car that they have spent their hard earned money on. Well “Mr Eco Smug” and “Ms Urban off-roader” if you are going to do the crime then be prepared for the hail of sniggers and pointing fingers, as passers-by stair at you. And I don’t mean stare like ooooooh there goes a Lamborghini but, the other kind like you’re back at school and you have a piece of toilet paper sticking out of your pants… You have been Warned even though I know that no one will take a blind bit of notice of this and  these will still continue to fly out of the showrooms and clog up our roads.

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New Jaguar XJ_e Plug-in Hybrid

Jaguar chose the Goodwood Festival of Speed that runs from June 28 to July 1 for the world premiere of a new technology study based on the XJ limousine. 

The new XJ_e was created to exhibit Jaguar-Land Rover's (JLR) capabilities and future plans as in theory, the concept's plug-in hybrid drivetrain can be used in most of the group's models. The study follows other hybrid research demonstrators from JLR including the Limo Green and Range_e vehicles. 

Before we dive into more details, we should note that the XJ_e project was part funded by the UK Government’s Technology Strategy Board through the REEVolution project, and engineered in partnership with several UK technology companies "to help develop expertise for ultra-low carbon vehicles within the supply chain". 

The XJ_e is fitted with a parallel, plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) system, which combines the JLR's 2.0-litre turbocharged direct-injection petrol engine with a hybridised 8-speed automatic transmission for a combined output of 329hp (334PS). 

The hybrid system makes use of a 69kW motor/generator and a 12.8kWh Lithium Ion battery pack, which can be fully charged by a 240V domestic supply in about four hours. 

Jaguar says the XJ_e can run on pure electricity for up to 40km (25miles), on gasoline power alone, or a combination of both. 

The plug-in hybrid version of the XJ is capable of completing the 0-100km/h (62mph) sprint in under 6.5 seconds and has a limited top speed of 250km/h (150mph). 

According to the British company, the XJ_e achieves CO2 emissions of "less than 75g/km" and an average fuel consumption of 3.2lt/100km (88.3mpg UK or 73.4mpg US). 

The XJ_e will be displayed in the FoS-TECH Technology Pavilion at Goodwood over the weekend.  

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