Sunday 20 November 2016

Electric Cars; the future of cars

Today I'll be discussing electric cars. These are the future of cars and are likely to become much more common. One of the biggest problems with electric cars is the size of their batteries. The cars take several times longer to charge than petrol or diesel cars which puts many people off buying them. There are still many other issues which also have to be addressed regarding electric cars. There still needs to be far more infrastructure put in place for electric cars such as an increased number of charge points. There also needs to be much more investment put into electric cars to improve the speed at which they can be charged.

Although some incentives have been put in place to encourage the use of electric cars such as tax reliefs,more needs to be done to make them more attractive to buyers. In the UK, only 1.3% of cars are electric according to nextgreencar.com (http://www.nextgreencar.com/electric-cars/statistics/). These statistics are thought to be similar in most countries around the world. If the electric car grows in popularity, we will benefit from significantly less air pollution and a reduction in the speed of climate change.

Friday 18 November 2016

The Small Car; Who do they appeal to and why

One of the major problems associated with having a car in the city is trying to find spaces to park. It is a nightmare. In most cities around the world people have resorted to using forms of public transport such as trains, buses, trams etc.. However, some of us choose not to avail of these public transport services on are daily commute into work because we have to walk to far, share small spaces with many different people or for a number of different reasons. So these people end up having to drive.

There are number of small car models on the market.These brands include the Mini Cooper, Ford Fiesta, Nissan Micra and the Fiat 500. These models are very common today with so many people living in cities and large towns. According to study from prb.org (http://www.prb.org/Publications/Lesson-Plans/HumanPopulation/Urbanization.aspx), half of the world's population lives in urban areas. This figure is around 74% in developed countries. We also shouldn't forget that people living in rural areas may also want to buy small cars. This means that brands who make small cars have a very large target market.
Another thing that makes small cars appealing is their prices. According to truecar.com (https://www.truecar.com/prices-new/smart/fortwo-pricing/2016/) the average small car costs just $17,732 which makes them very affordable. Most small cars are also much more efficient than larger cars. Many small cars are actually hybrid or electric cars which reduces CO2 emissions. For example is the Nissan Leaf.
My favourite small car would have to be either the Mini Cooper or the Fiat 500. I think that these cars are both so elegantly designed that it was too hard to choose between them.
Thanks for reading my blog today. Next time I'll be discussing electric cars.



Sunday 13 November 2016

Volkswagen Group and their longrunning success

If you read my last blog you would have realised that the Lamborghini may not have been in your price range. So today I'm going to talk about cars which are slightly more affordable. The company I'm going to discuss is one of the most successful car companies of all time. They are currently the most profitable company on the planet.





Volkswagen Group was founded in 1937 in Berlin, Germany. Their first model was known as the Beetle. The vehicle was designed by Ferdinand Porsche, whose surname you may recognise from the popular car brand who are actually owned by Volkswagen Group. The group owns a range of car brands from luxury brands such as Lamborghini, Porsche, Bugatti and Bentley to affordable car brands such as Seat, Skoda and of course Volkswagen. They also own other brands of motor vehicles such as Audi, Man, Scania and Ducati.









In 2015, Volkswagen suffered from an enormous scandal that received worldwide interest. The US agency known as the EPA ( Environmental Protection Agency) discovered that Volkswagen had installed devices in their cars that enabled them to cheat emissions tests. The devices were activated during the tests so that the cars appeared to be much more fuel efficient than they actually were. When the cars were went onto the road, their emissions were found to be 35 to 40 times the limit. The company could receive up to $18 billion in fines and a prosecution case against them is almost certain. Volkswagen admitted that 11 million cars worldwide had been fitted with the cheating software. The crisis became so bad that their CEO, Martin Winterkorn was forced to resign.











Volkswagen have many famous models such as the Polo, Golf, Passat, Caddy, Scirocco, Tiguan and Jetta. My favourite Volkswagen model is the Golf because it is small, practical car that is very affordable and it also looks quite appealing. I also like the Tiguan because I think that it is very stylish.




Lamborghini; an extraordinary luxury car brand

Today I'm going to talk to you about my favourite car brand of all time. They have come a long way since they were founded in 1963 and too me personally, they are absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately they are not the most affordable, though I would really recommend them for anyone who can afford to splash out.



Lamborghini was founded by a man called Ferruccio Lamborghini who the company is named after. Before he launched his brand of sports cars, Ferruccio had made his money in the business of tractor manufacturing, which he launched in the years following World War 2. In 1963 he began making sports cars with the intention of competing with the likes of Ferrari. He was a very successful businessman during this time period and the company developed rapidly. However his business began to struggle after the 1973 oil crisis.He ended up selling the company and retiring in 1974.



The ownership of the company changed several times and it is owned by Volkswagen Group since 1998. The company has faced some hard times over the years with the years. They went bankrupt in 1978 and they had a drop in sales of nearly 50% following the financial crisis of 2008. However they are still one of the most popular and loved luxury car manufacturers in the world today.



My favourite Lamborghini model is the Aventador. These cars have an elegant design and they are also incredibly fast. They can reach a speed of 0 to 60 mph in just 2.9 seconds.

Friday 14 October 2016

The birth of cars

Cars as we know them today were first invented in 1886 by a German called Karl Benz. You may recognise the name Benz from the popular German carmaker Mercedes-Benz which  is still around today. The first car that was ever invented was called the Benz Patent Motorwagen (See picture below).





 Mercedes Benz was officially formed on 28 June 1926 when Karl Benz merged with Daimler Motors Corporation (called DMG in German).The Mercedes brand first began to become popular in the 1930s in Nazi Germany. Even Adolf Hitler is known to have driven a 770 model during his reign of power. The name Mercedes originates from the daughter of an Austrian entrepreneur who worked for DMG (the entrepreneur's name was Emil Jellinek and his daughter's name was Mercedes Jellinek).
According to Forbes website (www.forbes.com), Mercedes are now worth $26 billion as of May 2016. Their CEO is Dieter Zetsche and they have had sales of over $105.8 billion since they were founded. According to quora.com Daimler, who own Mercedes, are the third most profitable company in the world behind Volkswagen Group and Toyota Motors.

Personally, I am very fond of Mercedes because of their elegant design and comfortable interior. My favourite Mercedes mode is the E Class Saloon.







Thursday 6 October 2016

Introduction to my amazing blog

My name is Donal. I live in Ireland. I am deeply passionate about luxury cars, sports cars and basically anything that moves on roads. This blog is going to be all about cars and why I have such a love for them.