What lies beneath.....

Mergers, partnerships and strategic alliances have been with us since the birth of the first business venture. Companies have always seen the benefits of acquiring their competition in the form of a merger or creating a strategic partnership.
Carmakers throughout history have merged, spilt and in many cases sold parts of their business to the highest bidder. Lines that were originally drawn in the sand by carmakers between them and their competition, no longer exist. Carmakers everywhere are reaping the benefits of economies of scale, working alongside their competition, they can exchange ideas and allow their products to be used in other carmakers vehicles.
A classic example would be the recent story of BMW's engines finding a home in Saab vehicles. Saab, which had recently been sold off, no longer had protective umbrella of General Motors. So in what would be considered a daring move approached another premium carmaker for the use of their engines.
The use other carmakers components; is common practice within the industry, carmakers have even gone to the extent of building an entire car within these partnerships. Citroen, Peugeot and Toyota on face value would be recognised as bitter rivals. But on closer inspection have worked together to produce a car. The cheek of it was that each manufacturer released the same car to the buying public, but only changed the badges and a few design details to distinguish the cars from each other.
Another common practice is building a component with the help of other carmakers, the turbo-charged engine found in the Citroen DS3 racing and the Mini Copper S, was built within a partnership between BMW and PSA (Peugeot Citroen). This engine has found a home in several vehicles that both companies produce.
However, the most common practice is carmakers to have several brands under their control; the best example would be Volkswagen. In a scene reminiscent of Chronos devouring his children, Volkswagen has bought various companies within the industry and used them increase its vast market share across the globe. The brilliance of their plan; is that many of the cars that the Volkswagen group release, share platforms, engines and interior trim. The only bespoke thing about them is the car shell.

So Daimler (Mercedes) and Renault-Nissans recent announcement about their strategic partnership came as no surprise. The European Union's stranglehold over legislation, has had many carmakers deciding that to remain in business, working with the enemy isn't such a bad scenario. Especially with the demand for electric cars gathering speed, the technology to mass produce electric cars has hit a snag. The obstacle is both the cost to develop and to sell the cars at an affordable price. So with odds stacked against them, they created a partnership that would see them benefit from reduced research and development costs, which would allow them, to reduce the price of their electric vehicles. Electric technology is not the only beneficiary, both companies can pool in their vast knowledge of vehicle production. In Mercedes and Renault-Nissan's case, Mercedes can offer them platforms and engines, which would be to costly to develop and Renault-Nissan can do them same. Thus cost to engineer an entire new car is reduced dramatically.
Though it could be seen as a win-win situation, they has been many cases of companies falling into bankruptcy because of a merger. Mercedes were brought to brink of collapse, after their colossal mistake of merging with Chrysler. They had made decision with intent of using Chrysler as a doorway into the U.S market. But due to Chrysler's dismal performance and inferior products, Mercedes was forced to abandon the merger.
The decision to unite under the banner of cooperation, is now a common occurrence; within an industry that prided itself on individuality. So next time you pay a premium for any of premium carmakers, remember it might be budget brand that you are buying.

Daddy, what’s that car? Well it isn’t British; that’s for sure…

The public is in an uproar over yet another car manufacturer having met its demise at the hands of the recession, politicians throughout the country try to point fingers, hoping the blame will fall on someone else. Heads are bound to roll once it is revealed who caused the downfall for yet another British car maker, but this isn’t British Leyland on the ropes, coughing up blood and Margaret Thatcher isn’t in power. This is the present day; nearly all-British carmakers are now under foreign control, with many becoming market leaders within their sector and enjoying greater prosperity under their new owners.

The carmaker that is about to meet its maker is Bristol. The eccentric’s choice, a car bought by the likes of Sir Richard Branson, Tina Turner and Bono. Unfortunately the company has now gone into administration, with 20 of its employees now made redundant at the Bristol factory and 2 of the 7 at its London showroom also facing a lay off. Chairman of Bristol Cars Toby Silverton said 'It has not been possible for the company to continue to trade in its present structure and while the decision has been taken regretfully, I am confident that a future for the business will be found.'

“Do you expect me to talk? No, Mr Bond. I expect you to die!”

Espionage, spies and conspiracy aren’t the words you normally associate with car manufacturing, however it doesn’t mean that spying isn't unheard of and in industry as competitive as the car industry, any means to gain the upper hand over a rival is always welcomed even if the acquisition could be deemed to be illegal. As the old adage goes “Never look a gift horse in the mouth.”
In early January, three Renault executives were accused of selling information to rivals, the men in question were Michael Balthazard, senior vice president for advance engineering, his deputy Bertrand Rochette and Matthieu Tenebaum the deputy head of the electric vehicle programme. All men denied the accusations and launched lawsuits for defamation against Renault. The investigation only began because of a anonymous tip-off last September, this information was immediately presented to Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault-Nissan, with both Renault’s internal security department and DCRI, France’s domestic intelligence agency, an investigation was initiated. Though no fingers were pointed at China, many believed that they were the culprits, which China vehemently denied. Since Chinese car makers have a past record of copying entire cars and they’ve been cases of Chinese employees working for American car companies, who have been accused of trying to sell secrets to Chinese car manufacturers.
While on French television, Carlos Ghosn spoke about the scandal, believing that Renault’s investment model for electric vehicles had been sold and not its technology.
It was later determined that the scandal may have been a hoax, since the investigation hasn’t come up with any evidence, though DCRI are still investigating the matter, a senior executive within Renault accepted that the industrial spy scandal was a hoax.
It has lead to relations between the government and Renault to become strained, Patrick Pelata, Renault’s chief operating officer had this to say “A certain number of elements have led us to doubt, either we are facing an act of espionage and a member of our security team is protecting his source . . . or Renault is the victim of a manipulation . . . which could take the form of a fraud. In this case, we would offer to reinstate the three executives and Renault would make up for any injustice”.

When a collision causes a storm……

The world of motor sport is fraught with danger at every corner, it isn’t much of surprise when a crash occurs. However, when that crash involves a formula 1 driver, who was competing in the Ronde di Andora rally, then the world tends to take notice. Motor sport has always been niche sport, its coverage only kept to back pages of any newspaper and sport sections of a news bulletin, only rarely does it get full global media coverage, this wasn’t the case, when Robert Kubica, a formula 1 driver for Renault formula 1 team, crashed his rally prepared race car. The horrific collision, had him rushed to intensive care, in which he had to endure several hours of surgery to both his right arm and leg. Fortunately, Jakub Gerber, Robert’s co-driver escaped unharmed, he described the crash as being serious. This story sent many newspapers in a tail spin, will he or won’t he be able to drive for Renault this season became the hot topic. Which in hindsight did prove to be a touch insensitive, when the state of his injuries were still in question. The reports all differing, some reporting that may not have career left at all, while others even going as far to say Renault were looking for his replacement. It was until Robert Kubica spoke out about the crash that the matter was finally settled. The extent of his injuries read like Stephen King novel, a partially severed hand, huge amount of blood loss, several fractures on both his arms and legs and not forgetting actual memory loss of crash itself. Any observer would believe that he was lucky man to have survived that crash, with the laundry list of injuries and the state in which his car was left in after the crash, but I believe it is a testament on how far race cars have come in terms of safety and crash protection.