Automotive

I’d argue that one of the most under-appreciated automotive lamp types of all time is the humble side marker light. With some exceptions , most designers seem to treat these helpful orange-and-red reflector/lamp combos as an afterthought, at best. This wasn’t always the case. When these lights first became required, at least one automaker celebrated them, before gradually sliding into apathy. The automaker was Pontiac, and the car was the Firebird. Advertisement Side marker lamps first became legally required in the United States for the 1968 model year. At first, they just had to be either a lamp or a reflector, red for the rear, and either amber or clear for the front. By 1970, both electric lights and reflectors were required. Now, in general, automakers tend not to be too crazy about new regulations, but the usual pattern is that initially, their efforts are just to meet the law, and then a few years down the line, when they’re used to it, they can … [Read more...] about The Pontiac Firebird Had the Most Dramatic Range of Side Marker Lamp Design in Motoring History 

Intel has big plans for Ohio, lawmakers want to know what Tesla’s plans are in one of China’s most embattled regions and Renault is ditching the old plan. All that and more in this Friday edition of The Morning Shift for January 21, 2022. Advertisement 1st Gear: This Will Fix Everything The chipmaking giant has announced the construction of two fabrication plants on a 1,000-acre site in New Albany, Ohio, outside Columbus. (Columbus does have some automotive industry to call its own; Honda’s big American factory complex is there.) not saying cars won’t be a priority, per Automotive News : “At this early stage, we aren’t specifying which particular products will be made in our Ohio factories,” Intel spokesman Jason Gorss said in an email to Automotive News. “That said, automotive is a very important market to us.” Whatever Intel does intend to make there, the company’s CEO Pat Gelsinger is bullish about it: “We helped to establish the … [Read more...] about Intel’s Grand Solution For The Chip Shortage Is A Big Plant In Ohio

A regulator is actually regulating Tesla for once, Volvo The Morning Shift for June 28, 2021. Advertisement 1st Gear: Almost All Of Tesla’s Cars In China Need This Safety Fix Thankfully for anyone with a Tesla in China, this can be fixed with a free software update alone, as Bloomberg reports: The State Administration for Market Regulation said in a statement on Saturday that the action involves 211,256 locally produced Model 3 vehicles and 35,665 imported ones, as well as 38,599 China-made Model Ys. The California-based carmaker only began deliveries of the Model Y sports-utility vehicle in January, so the recall will affect pretty much every driver who bought one. The Chinese agency said the vehicles’ autopilot systems can be activated automatically, potentially leading to crashes from sudden acceleration. In most cases, the fix should be able to be made remotely with an online update to the cars’ active cruise control feature. Tesla will … [Read more...] about Tesla Recalls Almost Every Car It Has Sold In China

Perusing the menu of cars Volkswagen sells in Europe can be a little disorienting, given that in the States VW seems intent on eking out every last dollar that it can from ICE cars like the Taos . Not so across the pond Advertisement The E-Up! is the electric version of the Up, a city car, which slots in below the Golf and is only sold in Europe. It has been around since at least 2009 as a concept before it went into production in 2013, quietly selling a few thousand a year The only problem was that the E-Up! was, at that level of demand, unprofitable, according to Automotive News , leading Volkswagen to take it off the market. And then the Renault Zoe, which stayed on the market, became a massive hit, with six-figure sales in 2020 and 2021. And now the E-Up! is coming back. Probably because VW figured out a way to make money on it. From Auto News: “We had temporarily taken the e-Up off the market in 2020 because delivery times had risen … [Read more...] about There’s Only One Thing Wrong With The Volkswagen E-Up!

A secret operative near the North Carolina Center for Automotive Research test track took a little hike through the woods and discovered something pretty exciting: a very stripped-down Ford Mach-e doing donuts, drifting, tearing ass and generally hooning like a delighted loon. What’s going on here? Is this an official Ford project? Let’s do some speculating! Advertisement First, everyone should watch the video. I suggest watching to the end, where you get to see our intrepid videographer realize he may have been spotted and then tearing some ass of his own, on foot, through the woods: Damn, they’re really wringing the electrons out of that thing, aren’t they? The Mach-e is very stripped down, and, looking at the front end, I think I significantly uprated cooling system has been installed, with a large radiator with dual fans (presumably for battery cooling?) that wouldn’t appear to fit under the stock bodywork: The rear also seems to have … [Read more...] about Someone Seems To Be Testing Some Kind Of Mystery Racing Ford Mach-E And It Looks Like A Lot Of Fun

It’s been slow going, but my little Pao is now almost fully repaired after I smacked into a (possibly inebriated) deer a few months ago. In that Pao-vs . O Advertisement As you may be aware, I’m sort of an automotive lighting fetishist, and one of those ways this particular affliction manifests itself is that I really like yellow fog When I got my Pao, I was delighted to find that it came with the factory-option light bar and yellow fog I freely admit they’re sort of an affectation. They don’t do a whole hell of a lot when it comes to lighting up the road, but they make me happy, dammit, so that’s good enough. Save $59 Apple AirPods Pro Hear the difference The newly refreshed, 2021 AirPods Pro with MagSafe charging get their first big price cut. Buy for $190 at Amazon Anyway, as you saw in the picture up there, one’s dead, murdered by the uncaring, furry flank of some buck, so now … [Read more...] about I’m Not Really Sure If This Asymmetrical Lighting Setup On My Pao Works