Main page | September 13, 2007 »

Backseat Driver: Bentleys Rule

Check out my piece on Bentleys this Saturday. The story is pegged to a 1924 3-liter green beauty owned by Dr. Paul Sydlowski of Bristol.

He has restored and tweaked the monster into the kind of racer that dominated European race tracks in the late 1920s, most notably the Le Mans 24-hour Endurance Race which the marque won in 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930.

Sydlowski is the kind of collector who not only likes to drive his vintage cars, but to thrash them, as we say in Britain. On a 60-mile jaunt through southern Rhode Island on a recent sunny afternoon, he showed Journal photographer Steve Szydlowski and myself what his car can do when pushed, thundering along at 60-70 mph and taking corners at incredible speeds.

The fact is these cars were built to be fast tourers and then tweaked for the race track. With someone like Sydlowski, a very experienced driver who races his car on tracks and takes it on rallies around the world, at the wheel the car really shows off its stuff.

As he says, he loves the Bentley because it keeps up with modern traffic. No pottering along the road in a Model A at 35 mph for him; that kind of driving he describes as being "a menace to yourself and everyone else."

The mechanical genius behind these gorgeous machines was Walter Owen "W.O." Bentley who developed the engines following work on railroads, motorcycles and airplanes. Indeed, it was his engine that powered the famed Sopwith Camel biplane that fought the German Fokker triplane of Red Baron fame in WWI.

But he is mostly remembered for the fabulous cars his company produced from 1921 to 1931, when the company was bought out by Rolls-Royce.

Happily, Rolls kept the marque alive as the sportier counterpoint to its luxury cars and in 1998 Bentley was acquired by Volkswagen which has revamped the marque, creating some of the finest luxury sports cars in the world.

And VW has even brought the marque back to Le Mans where Bentley interrupted Audi's dominace over the last eight years to win the legendary race in 2003.

As I said, my piece on Sydlowski's 1924 Bentley will run this Saturday. See you there!

- Peter C.T. Elsworth

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:22 AM to commentary | Permalink | Comments 0

Toyota Considering New Plant in China

Toyota said it might need more production capacity in China to meet demand as sales there rise at about nine times the pace of those in the United States, according to a business brief in the New York Times.

“We are looking at the possibility of a new plant,” an executive vice president, Mitsuo Kinoshita, said at an investor conference in New York, without elaborating. Toyota, based in Toyota City, began building its seventh factory in China in June.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:21 AM to China , Toyota | Permalink | Comments 0

Germans See Imitation in Chinese Cars

FRANKFURT, Germany — It’s hardly surprising that a car that bills itself as the “ultimate driving machine” would inspire imitation. But to BMW, the CEO, a Chinese sport utility vehicle, is less respectful homage than brazen knockoff, according to the New York Times.

Charging that the CEO is a copy of BMW’s popular X5, the company has filed suit to prohibit its sale in Germany by the Chinese carmaker Shuanghuan Automobile.

That did not prevent Shuanghuan’s European importer from showing off the CEO on Tuesday at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

It was a vivid illustration, on the show’s first day, that the struggle over intellectual property rights between China and the West — a battle that has ranged over products from designer handbags to computer chips — now extends to cars.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:17 AM to BMW , China | Permalink | Comments 0

Sustainability Takes Center Stage at Frankfurt Auto Show

European automakers, stung by criticisms from environmentalists and government regulators that they are late to the green party, will be using the 2007 Frankfurt motor show to showcase everything in their alternative fuel and powertrain arsenals, according to the New York Times.

The biennial show, the 62nd Internationalen Automobil-Ausstellungen Cars, will be held at the mammoth CongressCenter Messe Frankfurt convention center from Thursday through Sept. 23.

Press preview days began Monday night and continue through Wednesday. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, will open the show to the public on Thursday.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:13 AM to Alternative fuels , Auto industry , Design , Environment , Fuel economy , Shows , Technology | Permalink | Comments 0

Mercedes-Benz expects to profit on hybrids

FRANKFURT, Germany -- Mercedes-Benz expects to turn a profit on vehicles using the sophisticated new hybrid system it developed with General Motors Corp. and BMW, DaimlerChrysler CEO Dieter Zetsche said Tuesday, according to the Detroit Free Press.
GM has conceded it will initially lose money on the system. Zetsche credited his more optimistic expectation to Mercedes' higher sales price. Despite that, Mercedes will use the system on only one of the many hybrid models it plans to introduce over the next several years, he said.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 9:59 AM to Mercedes-Benz | Permalink | Comments 0

New Jeeps help Chrysler hang on to market share

At a time when crosstown rivals are seeing their U.S. market share decrease, Chrysler LLC has been able to hold steady in large part because of its new Jeep vehicles, according to the Detroit Free Press.

For Chrysler, it's been a mix of incentives on Chrysler and Dodge vehicles and the introduction of new Jeep products -- Compass, Patriot and the four-door Wrangler -- that are helping prop up the Auburn Hills automaker in a year when General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. have seen significant declines, experts agree.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 9:56 AM to Chrysler | Permalink | Comments 0

UAW-automaker talks ramp up as deadline nears

DETROIT — Negotiations between the United Auto Workers and Detroit automakers are intensifying as both sides try to settle on a new contract before the current four-year pact expires at midnight Friday, according to USA Today.

After Friday, the risk of a strike increases. Negotiators worked through last weekend attempting to hammer out a new contract, but deliberations are focusing on a complex health care deal that might take longer to hash out.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 9:53 AM to Chrysler , Ford , GM , Unions | Permalink | Comments 0

Amid all the cars at Frankfurt, a Lamborghini and a rock star

FRANKFURT, Germany — Got a spare $1.4 million? Want a Lamborghini Reventon? Get in line and start saving your money.

The Italian carmaker has made just one of the cars so far and unveiled it at the 62nd International Motor Show in Frankfurt, Germany, according to USA Today. It plans another 20 for 2008.

They've already been ordered and down payments banked, said Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann. Each Reventon is a symbol of extreme exclusivity, even by Lamborghini's standards.

Winkelmann said the name itself, like the company, has a storied history. Reventon was a fighting bull, owned by the Don Rodriguez family and is famous for killing famed bullfighter Felix Guzman in 1943.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 9:49 AM to Lamborghini , Shows | Permalink | Comments 0

Oil above $78 as OPEC fails to calm market

LONDON - Oil held above $78 a barrel on Wednesday, close to its record high, after OPEC's modest output increase failed to allay fears over stock levels during the coming winter, according to Reuters News Agency.

U.S. light crude for October delivery was 7 cents higher at $78.30 a barrel by 8:15 a.m. EDT, after coming within a whisker of August 1's record high of $78.77 on Tuesday.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 9:47 AM to Crude oil market | Permalink | Comments 0