Wednesday 4th February 2015

Reasons To Be Cheerful, part II: PH Blog

If PH actually did have sleeper cells around the car industry 2015 would seem to be their year

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If electric steering wasn't going to kill our steering feel and automated gearboxes remove our mechanical interaction with our engines rising fuel prices and eco pressures were going to force us all into electric cars and hybrids. Or so it felt not so long ago.

Don't like the idea of a twin-turbo Ferrari?

And yet in the space of 24 hours we had news of a brand new twin-turbo Ferrari offering a modern twist on the 288 GTO, a new fast Ford RS hero with four-wheel drive and a restrained but unmistakeable visual menace, a drive in new manual Jaguar F-Type and news that Porsche seemingly has listened to folk like us and built a hardcore Cayman based on 911 GT3 bits and without even the option of PDK. Even the price seems - relatively speaking - reasonable.

Most of the above cars will make public debuts at Geneva in a few weeks where we'll also see the rebirth of the Civic Type R, an even faster McLaren 650S derivative, a track inspired but road legal Aston Martin Vantage and the 911 GT3 RS. Let's not forget the looming arrival of the fourth-gen MX-5 either, Mazda apparently able to buck industry trends by making the new car smaller, lighter, simpler and more stylish than before while even sticking with a high-revving normally aspirated engine.

OK, what about a manual F-Type?

Whether your new car budget is £20K or £200K, 2015 looks like being a very, very good year. Or possibly a tricky one, if you're indecisive. Still, nice problem to have.

What's especially pleasing is that in companies large and small the enthusiasts seem to have been given a voice. Listen to Andreas Preuninger talking about the Cayman on Autocar and you get the sincere impression all that wittering about PDK in the GT3 and Cayenne's bankrolling more interesting cars has been taken on board. Given the target audience for the F-Type Jaguar probably didn't need to invest money in building a manual version to meet its sales targets. But it has anyway and whether you're buying one new this year or on the hunt for one a few years down the line in the PH classifieds it's great to know such a thing exists.

You don't need £££s to enjoy 2015's bumper crop

And while all this news was hitting the PH homepage I was at Lotus where final touches are being made to a heavily revised Evora range (watch this space) also due for a Geneva unveiling and American dealers were getting the factory tour and sideways demo runs round the Hethel test track from Gavan Kershaw. Optimism in Lotus's case inevitably carries the prefix 'cautious' but we live in hope. On the way home I called in at Zenos, based just down the road from Lotus and gearing up for production of the first customer E10s. Co-founder Mark Edwards admits to being blown away with both the interest and - more importantly - sales, suggesting the business model they set themselves may actually have been a little cautious. It seems customers are willingly upgrading existing E10 orders to turbo S spec and five-grand premium doesn't seem to be an issue - he reckons eight out of 10 cars built are going to be turbos.

It's a deep-rooted British characteristic to greet what seems like overwhelmingly good news with a degree of wariness. But even on a grey and bitter February day it's hard to have anything but a sunny outlook on the year ahead.

Here's to it!

Dan

Andreas Preuninger talks to Autocar about the Cayman GT4

[Sources: Autocar]

 

 

 

 

[anonymous-user]

Any chance of some punctuation in the first paragraph?? ;-)

PH said:

If electric steering wasn't going to kill our steering feel and automated gearboxes remove our mechanical interaction with our engines rising fuel prices and eco pressures were going to force us all into electric cars and hybrids.

[LordGrover]

Looking forward to MX-5 ND. Any idea when PH will get their/your hands on one?

[SpudLink]

I do love a 'good news' story.

At both ends of the sports car market they're going out of their way to make cars for drivers to enjoy, not just to meet the sales targets.

Mazda deserve a special mention for making a car that's actually smaller and lighter than it's immediate predecessors. That's almost unheard of from a modern mass manufacturer.

I'm looking forward to getting my Zenos in the summer. A new company that will hopefully remind Lotus what it is people used to love about their cars.

[jamespink]

The Cayman GT4 is going to be an absolute blast... Most of a GT3, and for £64k...

[Dave Hedgehog]

give me a GT3 RS and i will be a happy bunny

[Nuvo]

The new MX 5 more stylish than before? So the tackiest car of the year is actually stylish? Go Trent, it would look nice in the garage beside your Pontiac Aztek.

[PorkRind]

Reason to be sad: I cant afford any of them..