Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 - Nocturne, Soleil de Nuit, Sang d’Argent

[Ferrer]

What?

I don't know whatever. Including making cars out of paper. No, that'd mean I'd have to cut trees and it wouldn't be green. Blackmailing everyone in the EU until they left us alone. No, that could get us into legal trouble.

But certainly not try to pass a Toyota as an Aston.

[Kitdy]

This seems to make sense as a practical solution. It doesn't disturb me too much.

What would bother me is if their other cars were bad, which they aren't.

Ignore the bad, embrace the good.

[LeonOfTheDead]

But certainly not try to pass a Toyota as an Aston.

I don't think that's what they are saying, that's a aesthetically redesigned iQ and it's extremely obvious, more than the fact that the Cayenne is a Touareg and is using engines from Audi, with at least the petrol ones redesigned.

Would you have preferred a pointless electric Vantage with 50 km of autonomy and 120 km/h as the top speed, if not even less given it wasn't designed to be electric, or if you prefer, the electric engine wasn't designed to deal with such a car. Or perhaps an hybrid Vantage, with the Prius or HS 250 h engine. 0-60 in what, 20 seconds? that's not an Aston either.
Assuming they could produce them in enough (proposed) units.
No wait, I have an idea, an SUV based on the Lexus RX 400h.

Whatever they would decide, they would need to rely on an existing car to have a solution ready on the short term. At least this has sense (as a tender, which is how they are marketing it), and it's so different from an ordinary AM that it just makes me smile. Whatever else would have been too serious, and as such I would have criticized it much more. No point in selling a Prius. Yes it's green, but it lacks the practicality of such a small and smart car as the iQ is. It's not funky.

Proposing at your current owner a tender to use where you're in a jammed city seems pretty obvious though. I'm pretty sure Ferrari and Maserati would have done the same with the Fiat 500 just replacing the badge if they needed to do that.
Porsche was going to buy VW to say its ass, and its ass got frigged.
Bentley rebadged Golf? Oh wait, that we have already...

IF someone is to blame, that's the law, surely not AM which has the only fault of being basically the only independent sportscars maker.
I'm fine, I think it's a funny and transversal idea, and a good way to gain some time until AM manages to reduce the environmental impact of its cars.

[Ferrer]

What about reducing production to qualify as a low volume manufacturer and therefore being exempt from emissions regulations.

Or something.

[LeonOfTheDead]

What about reducing production to qualify as a low volume manufacturer and therefore being exempt from emissions regulations.

Or something.

Less than 500 units per year when at the moment you are producing 10 times that? Obviously not possible.

Ironically Bugatti would fit the bill.
And even more ironically I don't think there are automakers which produce around 500 cars per year and which manage to survive without being part of a major group.
Maybe Alpina, but I don't know either their production figures or what's their average pollution or whatever it takes. But they could just produce 1 Series too and be most likely fine if they aren't already.

[Ferrer]

Pagani and Koenigsegg? Spyker before they decided they had to have an F1 team?

[Kitdy]

What about reducing production to qualify as a low volume manufacturer and therefore being exempt from emissions regulations.

Or something.

That basically say it's ok for low volume polluting cars to be ok. Essentially: it's ok for the rich to pollute, but not the poor.

Hmmm...

[Ferrer]

That basically say it's ok for low volume polluting cars to be ok. Essentially: it's ok for the rich to pollute, but not the poor.

Hmmm...

What it would actually mean (if it wasn't sarcastic) is that usually supercars are used less on the road so they pollute less than a normal car.

Being serious for a moment though, not sure giving Aston buyers another car is very ecological.

[LeonOfTheDead]

Pagani and Koenigsegg? Spyker before they decided they had to have an F1 team?

They all produce much less than 100 cars per year. Actually, there are just a bit more than 100 Paganis in the whole world, about 80 Koenigseggs and iirc less than 300 Spykers (255 identified cars so far). Overall figures since their starts, 1999 for Pagani, 2002 (production) for Koenigsegg and between 2001 and 2003 iirc for Spyker.

What I actually meant is that I don't think there are or could be automaker producing around 500 cars per year, and still managing to survive without being part of a major group.
Producing 500 cars per year requires quite some technology and machinery, let alone workers (both blue and white collars). On the other hand the exclusivity of the brand wouldn't be so strong to allow to demand high prices for the cars. Focusing on more than just one product could help lowering the production figure per model, but it would also cost a lot more. That's what I meant.

On the other hand, koenigsegg isn't all that healthy, and Mr K already sold up to 85% of his company. Spyker keeps running just because Mr Muller is dead rich period.
Pagani should be fine afaik, a much more solid business I'd say, mainly because they were in the automotive sector since the eighties, and also because they have such a strong relationship with Daimler.

[henk4]

Spyker keeps running just because Mr Muller is dead rich period.

Not quite, also because it is controlled by Russian/Latvian banker Antonov.

[LeonOfTheDead]

Not quite, also because it is controlled by Russian/Latvian banker Antonov.

Still not thanks to the company's own profits