This week's snippets of automotive news include news on Audi's Formula E team, the Dacia Duster, Ford’s growing parts inventory and Seat’s naming contest.
Audi on Formula E:
Audi’s Formula E team boss and former Le Mans winner Allan McNish admits it’s a lot easier being a driver than a team principal. “You don’t have to deal with drivers [as a driver],” he joked. As a boss, “you’re trying to get a group of people working for the one goal. As a driver, the reality is that you as an individual are there to win. But when you stop looking through a visor, then you see there are two cars and the infrastructure behind it all.”
Dacia Duster:
One is a cut-price SUV, the other a mighty muscle car, but Group Renault design chief Laurens van den Acker reckons the Dacia Duster is Dacia’s equivalent to the Ford Mustang. No, really. He explained: “The Duster for Dacia is a little bit like the Ford Mustang for Ford: it’s an iconic model with a big identity that’s stronger than the brand.”
Ford’s growing parts inventory:
Ford must now stock 300,000 parts at its Daventry-based parts centre rather than the 100,000 it stocked in 2004, owing to the expansion of the range and the greater technical complexity of modern cars. That said, 105,000 part numbers will cover 98% of the demand for production.
Seat’s naming contest:
Seat says the popularity of its contest to name the new Tarraco will ensure that its trend of naming models after Spanish geographical locations will continue in the future. The new SUV was launched last month in Tarragona, the modern city that was formerly known as Tarraco. Seat boss Luca de Meo said: “Naming a car after a Spanish city is not a novelty for us. It’s a way to mark our identity.”
Read more
Seat Tarraco flagship ‘to be sportiest’ in class
Dacia Duster review
Audi quits Le Mans and WEC for Formula E
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If you can organise it, then
If you can organise it, then i would certainly recommend a guided tour of the Daventry parts facility. I had one when i was working for a Ford Dealer, which was organised by our rep from Ford Parts Plus (anyone else remember that?) - the hall they store engines in is massive.....
Larger Ford inventory is probably a good thing!
As the proud owner of a Ford Puma I recently had to buy a replacement dashboard clock off Ebay, and discovered that the same clock fits the Fiesta of the same period (no surprise), the same age Focus..... oh, plus that aspirational vehicle the Transit!
Which is proof positive that around the year 2000 Ford probably stretched the concept of raiding the parts bin about as far as many owners would have liked......
grimble33 wrote:
The Puma is a lovely and striking design and was bought not for its parts bin interior, but for that exterior. If the Puma had not existed, would you have instead bought the Fiesta with the similar interior parts?. Those who parts bin sharing is anathema, should simply buy the cheapest model featuring these bits and miss out on the exterior design that marks out wonderful cars from the mundane.