Complexity adds cost, too. If you’re going to make 90% of cars with electric windows then 10% without, the enormous $50 that you save on plastic and rubber parts (and a motor and maybe extra little buttons for the driver to press) is offset by the extra cost of inventory because there are now twice as many door…

Hooray for 1990s badge engineering!

Audi did a clever variation on this, in the UK, a few years ago. Viewers see a man taking an Audi for a test drive and they gradually realise he’s selfish and sexist and shallow and arrogant so they stop identifying with him. At the end of the test drive, he says it’s not the right car for him.

Based on an earlier Berliet design!

I like the Cybertruck. It looks like something that I drove in an Amiga game in 1990. Can he make a Batmobile next?

This is good Jalopnik.

Volvo Concept Estate. If they had actually put it into production, I’d be in the queue outside the Volvo dealership with my chequebook at 08:00 on the Monday morning. Along with, um, maybe three or four other enthusiastic buyers - nobody outside of Jalopnik would have bought it.

The Telegraph elaborated that the car wasn’t unfeasible so much as it was undesirable to a certain GM exec:

You won’t believe what happens next!

I think the Renault-Nissan alliance has helped both teams, but it could have helped both more if they committed to it more. There could have been bigger synergies. Although in some markets you can buy almost identical cars with the two different badges, that kind of internal competition is a small price to pay for…

But let’s just look at who this thing is marketed to, and how it’s intended to be used: it’s not for people with disabilities, it’s for able-bodied, albeit older, people, and it’s shown driving on the sidewalk.

Can I get it as a wagon, in brown?

Did you see the 404 page on Peugeot’s website? Simple genius.

Rotor tip jets don’t just have a noise problem, they have problems with maintenance and vibration and safety and so on. It’s one of those ideas which seem tempting on tweet or a Powerpoint slide, until you get actual experts to dig into the detail and they discover all the implementation problems down in the details.

Cf…

Louvres are the solution. Never forget the 1980s.

Rally Porsche is best Porsche.

Volvo S40. Sorry. I was in my twenties, and prematurely old, and a Volvo S40 seemed like the kind of car that a responsible adult would drive. It served me well, quietly, no drama.

Wake up, truck-geeks! That’s a Club Of Four cab which was, confusingly, used by many more than four truck brands. Here it is on a Mack:

A lot of the industry hoards that precious data, alas.