evo fall out with 'major manufacturer'

[lauda]

Have just been reading Nick Trott's 'Ed Speak' section in this months evo and was wondering which manufacturer he is refering to;

'I've fallen out with a major manufacturer. Press officer wouldn't speak to me at the Paris show. Arguments rumble on about using non-press cars in features. Fundamental differences but I'm hopeful of a compromise.'

Now I have absolutely no more information than that but I don't think that should prevent some wild and uninformed speculation! My guess is Ferrari purely on the basis that it always seems to provide a fleet of mechanics with its press cars, particularly when they are being figured.

Anyone else in the know (or otherwise) care to comment?

[lauda]

fizz876 said:

Im guessing its most likely Ferrari- their PR machine would make Hitler look soft.

One word wrong and you better be sure you have an explaination as to why?

Not the first time this this has happenned - I heard rumours a few years back TG got in trouble with Aston and they refused to give them cars for a while but the power that TG is they had to relent - i heard they were not to happy with James May sitting naked in one of their Aston and the fact they didnt tell them the car would be leaving the UK...

Acutally, I seem to remember that there have been some 'differences of opinion' between evo and Ferrari previously over a Car of the Year feature when the latest Ferrari which had received across the board rave reviews came second to a Porsche. Can't remember which Ferrari that was or how long ago it was though.

[lauda]

E30M3SE said:

Bingo.

Indeed, that seems to have cleared that one up! I guess the question is, why does Ferrari care so much about it? It's slightly petulant behaviour - it's not like a brand new customer 599 GTO is going to be any different to the press car. Is it...?

[lauda]

Tyre Smoke said:

lauda said:

fizz876 said:

Im guessing its most likely Ferrari- their PR machine would make Hitler look soft.

One word wrong and you better be sure you have an explaination as to why?

Not the first time this this has happenned - I heard rumours a few years back TG got in trouble with Aston and they refused to give them cars for a while but the power that TG is they had to relent - i heard they were not to happy with James May sitting naked in one of their Aston and the fact they didnt tell them the car would be leaving the UK...

Acutally, I seem to remember that there have been some 'differences of opinion' between evo and Ferrari previously over a Car of the Year feature when the latest Ferrari which had received across the board rave reviews came second to a Porsche.

Can't remember which Ferrari that was or how long ago it was though.

Evo is Porsche biased? No! Surely not!

I wasn't suggesting they were biased More that Ferrari had a toys out the pram moment because their best had been deemed not quite as good as the competition!

[lauda]

Just finished reading the Veyron SS road test in this months issue and the overall conclusion seemed to be less critical than many previous articles I've read, including evo (not that the Veyron has been heavily criticised previously, just that many journos don't seem to have emotionally connected with them like they have the Zonda, for example).

This is then followed by a piece from Mr Metcalfe on the process and logistics of ordering one. Surely the Metcalfe chequebook hasn't been out again so soon after the Lambo?! Are we now to be subjected to constant praise of the Veyron rather than the Zonda? Call me cynical...

[lauda]

Mastodon2 said:

Is the new Evo on sale yet?

My subscription issue arrived this morning.

[lauda]

Jobbo said:

Harry Monk said:

Who remembers Sutcliffe and Goodwin at the Ferrari 360 launch? lol

Didn't Ferrari shun Autocar for a while after that little mishap too?

Was that the incident where Goodwin drove the 360 into the back of a 911 Turbo which wasn't supposed to be in the vincinity?

[lauda]

TonyHetherington said:

I'm not so sure - they do praise other cars, and heavily so. It's just they like the GT3 RS best.

Agreed. I've been pleasantly surprised by how ready Chris Harris (a self-confessed Pork obsessive) has been to praise the 458 and GTO recently, and to put his money where his mouth is. I think the issue in the Porsche v Ferrari debate is that Porsche seem to provide the more pure, mechanical experience (particularly in GT/rs variants) whilst Ferrari become evermore electronically sophisticated.

Considering the evo staff are a bunch of fairly hardcore petrolheads, I don't find it particularly surprising that they prefer the ethos of Porsche whilst acknowledging that modern Ferraris are exceptional machines, albeit providing a different experience for the driver.

[lauda]

I don't think they've really made up. evo wasn't invited to the initial launch of the FF despite every other publication being there and despite the fact that Harry had parted with a deposit for one. They did get a press car from them after the initial launch event though which features in a video review on the website.

I think Harry tweeted that they had been excluded from the initial launch event because of their use of non-Ferrari supplied cars in the magazine. Pathetic really.