The Changing Auto Industry – Part 1

Earlier in the year I wrote an article on the changing colour and shape of the auto industry. It didn’t really go anywhere and sort of sat around. Obviously a lot has changed between then and now. Before I drop the article that looks at the situation as it is today, I’ll publish the first [...]

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Used Car Buying Tips

Thinking of buying a used car? You’re not the only one – while car sales are down as a whole as the economy takes a nose dive, the figures are suggesting that more people are getting behind the wheel of second hand cars or nearly-new car in efforts to get more for car for their [...]

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Is the SEAT Ibiza More than a VW Clone?

The Seat Ibiza is a sort of cross between the VW Polo and the VW Golf. As Seat are owned by Volkswagen many of the recent Seat Ibizas have been built on the same platform as the Polo and therefore they share many of the same characteristics. However, more recent Ibiza’s have adopted some of [...]

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Tailor-made, for a whole continent?

The new Kia Cee’d was designed with one thing in mind: pleasing European motorists. Yet things that are designed by committee usually emerge into production as something that hints at many applications but achieves none – putting a faint smile on most faces but really pleasing none. The saying “you can’t please all the people all [...]

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Killed Off For Looking Bland?

While making the motoring public and press aware of the many benefits and features of their new executive model, there was little column space given to the fact that the birthof the Insignia bought about the death of one of Vauxhall’s longer-term vehicles: the Vectra.

It could almost be suggested that the Vectra was being done [...]

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Insignia takes European Car of the Year

After a dramatic entrance in London last year and a world premier at the British Motor show in July of 2008, the new Vauxhall Insignia has been announced as this year’s European Car of the Year with just a single point victory above its competitors.
The new Vauxhall Insignia dropped in on London, literally, in a [...]

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5 Cars to watch out for in 2009

It’s been a tricky time for the automotive industry as the recession has plunged it’s claws in deeper with every passing month, will 2009 see it recover? Not an industry to rest on its laurels, there’s some great cars launching to keep an eye out for in the coming year with something for all tastes [...]

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Would You Drive A Diesel?

Diesels. There, what was your response? They say (in the hallowed boardrooms of advertising) that we all have an initial response to something be it a word or a picture. This is driven by personal experience, peer pressure, media content, advertising and so on. But can this change? Has the motor industry done enough to [...]

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BMW: What’s In A Badge?

In terms of branding, BMW is known in the automotive world for three things. One of which is the more recent facelift and redesign of its models that divided the motoring critics into love-it-or-hate-it camps. The two longer standing brand identities associated with BMW are its logo and the numerical nomenclature used in the naming [...]

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Making Rings: How Audi Got Its Emblem

In the automotive world, imagery is vital from designs of cars to the identifying badge on the grills and hoods. From charging wild horses to ovals and flying ladies, brand identity is highly held though often unknown in its origins.
Take Audi’s emblem, for example: four overlapping rings, but what do they represent? A few may [...]

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