Saab & Holden Integrate Business Entity in Australia

Effective January 2005, General Motors is merging its Holden and Saab operations in Australia, as announced earlier this week. The local integration will achieve savings through economies of scale and common back office systems such as finance, information systems and fleet management.

Both companies, Saab Automobile Australia Pty Ltd (SAA) and Holden Ltd, are wholly-owned subsidiaries of General Motors. The integrated organization, which will retain the name Holden Ltd, will be housed next year in Holden's new headquarters in Port Melbourne.

Both brands will maintain exclusivity within the merged company, with the integration invisible to the customers and have no impact on customer, sales, service and warranty operations. An exclusive Saab brand team will operate sales, aftersales, marketing and public relations functions for Saab.

Project Sound : The Bose Advanced Suspension System

A while back I posted an article on how Bose is developing an advanced suspension system. The details were revealed to the media late last month.

While active suspension has been around for a while, until now all of them, even the later variants such as Mercedes-Benz' Active Body Control and Audi's Dynamic Ride Control, rely on mechanical and hydraulic systems. Bose has developed an active system based on electric motors, which it claims provides better body and wheel control and a better ride than either hydraulic or conventional suspension.

The Bose system uses a conventional MacPherson strut suspension for the front wheels and double wishbones at the rear. An extremely fast acting linear electromagnetic motors replaces the suspension/damper strut and moves the wheel up and down in response to a set of mathematical algorithms that send commands to a switching power amplifier. When electricity is fed to wire coils inside, the motor expands and contracts so quickly and forcefully that it prevents pitch and roll during times when the car is driven hard, all the while maintaining passenger car isolation from the sort of wheel impacts that would typically slam your head to the ceiling. Anti-roll bars are no longer necessary.

That's the good news. The bad news -- at least until now -- is weight and cost. As it stands, the Bose system is much heavier than a conventional suspension. According to Bose the weight increase in a car would be around 100 kg. As for cost -- let's say that you won't find this system in a Hyundai anytime soon.

According to Bose, the plan is start working with an interested automaker in the next 12 months and with five years have the system appear in a production car.

BMW Recalls Slidecarvers

Looks like every manufacturer is faced with a recall campaign lately. But BMW is faced with another problem in the US. The carmaker must recall one of its lifestyle merchandise! Last year, BMW started peddling a three-wheeled folding scooter, or kick scooter, called the Slidecarver.

Did I mention it costs $ 700? Granted, the Slidecarver is a "three-wheeled scooter with adjustable hydraulic twin-disc brakes, front and rear wheel steering system and a folding mechanism". But is a kick scooter after all.

BMW of North America is now recalling all 161 Slidecarvers sold though its dealers and on-line. Customers are asked to stop using the Slidecarver immediately and return the product to BMW dealers for a full refund.In addition to a full refund, customers will receive a $200 gift certificate that can be redeemed for BMW lifestyle merchandise at the dealership where the product was purchased.

The product, sold from December 2003 until July 2004, could have been made with a component that does not meet manufacturing specifications. The supplier did not follow specifications and changed the manufacturing process on a front structure part from a forging to a casting. The cast parts do not meet impact resistance standards. If a Slidecarver with a cast front structure runs into a rigid object with significant force (e.g., a curb), breakage to that structure could occur. Breakage of the front structure may cause the operator to lose control and result in a fall, possibly causing injuries.

According to BMW, it has received one report of an incident with minor injuries.

Porsche To Build New Museum

Porsche AG has just announced plans to build a new museum directly on Porscheplatz at the company's main Zuffenhausen site in Stuttgart, to display its collection of historic Porsche road and race cars.

Scheduled for construction beginning in 2005, the new Porsche Museum will be part of the current complex that includes the sales subsidiary and showroom, the production plant and the tourist delivery center. When completed, the museum will house some 80 vehicles and contain an operating workshop, where visitors can observe the skills involved in historic-car restoration. The museum will also provide a convenient attraction for owners taking European delivery of their new Porsche sports car at the factory

The current Porsche Museum calls about 300 cars its own, but lack of space (the existing museum has room for only 20 cars) means that those which have been restored can only be exhibited according to a rota system.

Herbie's coming back to the silver screen

Michael Keaton will join Lindsay Lohan in Herbie: Fully Loaded, a new movie in Disney's venerable Love Bug franchise. Angela Robinson is directing. Herbie will continue to be a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle.

The original 1968 The Love Bug starred Dean Jones and Buddy Hackett in a comedy about a Volkswagen Beetle with a mind of its own. Tom Lennon and Robert Ben Garant wrote the new Herbie, which sets the story in the world of NASCAR racing. Everybody's favorite Beetle is going to try to win the Winston Cup.

If you are in California, there are some big scenes in the works where the general public can catch a glimpse of the action. Those will be at California Speedway in Fontana, CA. in the beginning of September. Rumour has it that they will be filming during the NASCAR races there.

The movie is due out June 2005.