How’re you holding up? Trouble concentrating? Me too. There’s a Czech word for that – litost. The author Milan Kundera caught it – “a state of torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery.” Ok, ok, so misery is maybe a bit strong (but not for many who really are in actual crisis) […]
Seems that car makers are having a lot of fun right now. For all the doom-mongering from disruptionistas around an imminent collapse of the mainstream manufacturers, there sure is a press-storm of news about their plans for our future. From stalking the edges of SXSW for the last few years to this year’s floor shows […]
A conversation yesterday around the Picking up the pace post flicked a lightbulb (LED?) on about the current debate around what ‘drives’ cars; and if, perhaps, our cars are potentially this Century’s ‘difference engine’? A word of warning, though. I’m not at all certain where this is going, or even if there’s a point to […]
It seems that last year may have been the year when the automotive industry turned a corner, leaving behind a century of steady development, and entered a brave new world where its decades-old business model becomes increasingly irrelevant, thanks in no small part to the involvement of (or interference by, depending on your view) the technology sector.
Motor shows continue to be snubbed by big automotive brands, who are increasingly attending events such as the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). This year’s CES saw myriad automotive-related products and services launched, including important announcements from Faraday Future, Harman, TomTom and Delphi, while the keynote address was delivered by Carlos Ghosn (Chairman and CEO of Renault and Nissan, and Chairman of Mitsubishi Motors).
A fair few articles last year were based around imaging future shapes for car dealerships, and the consequent changes these adjustments might bring to the experience the real estate might provide. All the posts (I think) were predicated on keeping the cars. But what might happen to the places we’re building should the current usage […]
Prompted by an article forwarded to me today, in Autocar, where BMW were reported as speculating (as always) on the future shape (and even future of) the car dealership, I remembered the day before news about Shanghai studio Neri&Hu’s project, converting an old missile factory in Beijing into an office… …and car repair garage. The Garage […]
Yesterday, Geely, owners of Volvo, launched a new car brand: Lynk & Co. The company also launched its first product – the logically-named 01 – which follows the Qoros and Borgward approach of ‘designed in Europe, made in China’. The car itself looks conventional, albeit contemporary – an SUV with a choice of conventional, hybrid […]
On first glance, I thought this was a comp from a pitch-deck by an ad agency or media co. …but no, it would appear that we have a new new-media opportunity, courtesy of the Ubernauts, using drones to fly messages to drivers; in this case, asking them why they’re stuck in a jam and not […]
Spotted on FastCo’s design magazine, here’s the thing: how do you design packaging to protect its contents without spending more money on expensive protective materials? The answer is… you don’t. You make use of an ingenious camouflage: No matter who was doing the shipping, too many of our bikes arrived looking like they’d been through […]
This is a simple re-post from the Bank of England Bank Underground blog, but well worth a read, especially given the recent reports about the UK economic prognosis for the next year. Question is, is a predominantly finance-driven new car sales culture going to sustain the dealership business model? If not, what are the alternatives? […]
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