مجله خودرو ام وی ام

مزدا بالاخره از روش‌های اشتباه خود در استفاده از مقادیر زیادی پلاستیک سیاه پیانو در مناطق داخلی با تماس بالا یاد می‌گیرد. CX-90 PHEV 2024 بلندمدت ما به طور هوشمندانه ای از مواد براق استفاده نمی کند، و این برای آن بسیار بهتر است.

من این موضوع را مطرح می‌کنم زیرا مدتی است که یک نقطه چسبندگی دردناک با فضای داخلی مزدا بوده است. من خودم می توانم آن را تأیید کنم، همانطور که هرد، که اولین مزدای جدیدش در سال 2006 خریداری شد، زمانی که شرکت برای اولین بار شروع به پاشیدن مشکی پیانو در اطراف کابین خود کرد، می توانم آن را تأیید کنم. متاسفانه به جایی نرسیده کنسول وسط مزدا CX-50 Turbo Premium Plus مدل 2023 (در زیر) را به عنوان مثال در نظر بگیرید.

من این عکس را فقط چند روز پس از اینکه CX-50 برای آزمایش یک هفته‌ای در خیابان من ظاهر شد، گرفتم (در آن زمان کاملاً تمیز بود)، اما تقریباً در مدت کوتاهی از قبل پوشیده از گرد و غبار و لکه بود و کثیف به نظر می‌رسید. پلاستیک مشکی پیانو آخرین ذره کثیفی را که روی آن می‌نشیند را نشان می‌دهد و برای تمیز به نظر رسیدن نیاز به پاک کردن تقریباً روزانه با میکروفیبر دارد. و هنگامی که تمیز است، به عنوان یک ماده براق و مجلل نشان داده می شود که در عکس های آشکار خودروهای جدید زیبا به نظر می رسد. واقعیت مالکیت بسیار بدتر است، زیرا خراش ها به سرعت و به راحتی جمع می شوند، به خصوص زمانی که روی یک سطح صاف و اغلب لمس شده مانند دور دنده باشد.

در همین حال، CX-90 درازمدت ما، طراحی اطراف دنده مشکی پیانو را به نفع یک الگوی مش فلزی اسپرت (و زیبا) که نه گرد و غبار را جذب می‌کند و نه هر خط مویی را نشان می‌دهد، از بین می‌برد. نگاه کردن به آن بی نهایت جالب تر از پلاستیک مشکی براق است و همچنین به طور قابل توجهی کاربردی تر است. همان مواد استفاده شده را روی درها خواهید دید، جایی که به همان خوبی کار می کند. تنها جایی که می‌توانید از پلاستیک مشکی براق استفاده شده در داخل خودرو پیدا کنید، روی دکمه‌های فرمان است. البته، آن نوارهای کوچک پلاستیکی اثر انگشت را جمع آوری می کند، اما در مقیاسی است که من می توانم با آن زندگی کنم.

و اگر نگران بودید که فقط تریم برتر Premium Plus ما در CX-90 است که از مشکی پیانویی اجتناب می‌کند، مطمئن باشید که سایر تریم‌های این مجموعه برای راه‌حل‌های مختلف دیگر از آن صرفنظر می‌کنند. مزدا قادر به انجام این کار است و در نتیجه فضای داخلی CX-90 آن کمتر مجلل یا مجلل به نظر می رسد. بسیاری از OEM های دیگر می توانند از این موضوع یاد بگیرند.

ویدیو مرتبط

Well-heeled fans of the Mercedes-Benz 300SL gulling have the chance to pick up the only example to have left the factory in a striking green color known as Mittelgrün, German for “medium green.”

The car is listed for sale on Hemmings by the dealer NV Classics for an asking price of $2.595 million.

That’s a steep price, even for original gullwings, and it’s quite the premium on the $1.815 million the car traded for only a year ago at a Mecum auction.

The car is a numbers-matching 1955 example bearing a chassis number ending in “263.” It was originally shipped to Mercedes-Benz Distributors of New York, Mercedes’ U.S. importer at the time. This was the outfit of Max Hoffman, who was influential in convincing Mercedes to turn the original SL race car into the 300SL sports car, so he could market in the U.S. Hoffman also convinced a fledgling Porsche to start selling cars here.

1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL gullwing in Mittelgrün – photo credit: Mecum

The green 300SL’s early history is unknown, but in 1973 it was purchased by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Foundation and was on display periodically at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum Collection up until 2020. A full restoration was done in the late 2000s, and some touch-up work was done by expert Mercedes restorer Scott Grundfor Company prior to its previous sale.

Included in the latest sale is a copy of the original build sheet.

Like all 300SLs, the car is powered by a 3.0-liter inline-6 with fuel injection. The engine, rated at 215 hp in original form (later builds were offered with a 240-hp upgraded camshaft option), is mated to a 4-speed manual and spins the rear wheels.

A total of 1,400 300SL gullwings were built from 1954 to 1957, and 29 of them were lightweight models with aluminum (instead of steel) bodies that helped shave 187 pounds. One of those lightweight cars sold for almost $7 million in 2022.

SAN FRANCISCO —  Elon Musk’s decision to gut Tesla’s electric-vehicle charging team is scrambling plans for rolling out new fast-charging stations and may delay President Joe Biden’s efforts to electrify U.S. highways.

Last year, the Biden administration announced rules for an ambitious plan to expand the country’s charging infrastructure and jump-start EV adoption. Under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, the government is doling out $5 billion to states over five years to build 500,000 EV chargers.

EV market leader Tesla, which also operates the largest network of fast chargers — called Superchargers — in the U.S. and is the biggest winner so far of those federal funds, was seen as a crucial part of that plan.

Since news of Tesla’s abrupt EV charging layoffs surfaced, however, executives at charging companies say they have been receiving phone calls from landlords looking for a new partner for their private charging projects after Tesla pulled out.

Now, the charging companies are preparing for Tesla to pull out of the federal program. That, they say, could throw a new wrench into an already-slow rollout.

“It’s going to delay NEVI rollout. There’s no question about it,” said Aatish Patel, co-founder of XCharge North America, which makes EV chargers for fleets and charging station operators.

If Tesla backs out, then the solicitation by states for NEVI-funded charging projects starts over, he told Reuters. “A lot of these sites aren’t going to get built this year, or within the time frames that were initially dictated.”

Patel said real estate companies representing about 10 non-NEVI sites in Texas, Louisiana and New York had called since news of the layoffs, saying that Tesla was pulling out and they were looking for a replacement.

Tesla has won awards to build chargers for 69 of the 501 NEVI-funded sites announced so far, according to San Francisco-based research firm EVAdoption.

“I’m speaking to any NEVI sites they’ve been awarded. They’re not going to move forward on those,” Brendan Jones, CEO of Blink Charging, told Reuters. Blink has received three inquiries in two states about multiple private sites where Tesla had backed out of since the layoffs, he said.

Rollout of the federal program has been already sluggish. Long-awaited rules on eligibility for federal funds were finally laid out early last year. Only a handful of federally funded charging stations have been opened up for the public.

PULLING THE PLUG

Since the layoffs, Musk in a posting on his social media platform X said Tesla plans “to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace for new locations and more focus on 100% uptime and expansion of existing locations.”

He did not respond to questions from Reuters on the implications of his decision.

A spokesperson for the federal Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, which oversees the NEVI program, said in an email it does not expect individual business decisions to impact EV charging projects funded by the government.

States that awarded Tesla NEVI sites are closely monitoring the situation.

Colorado will adjust its program as needed, said Kay Kelly, chief of innovative mobility for the Colorado Department of Transportation. Texas — the biggest beneficiary of NEVI funds — said it does not anticipate any impact from Tesla’s layoffs.

Tesla’s change of plans, however, will affect the entire EV industry. Almost all automakers decided last year to adopt Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) for their vehicles from next year. That could provide a silver lining for other charging startups — and recently laid-off Tesla employees.

“There will be a lot more NEVI sites available if Tesla backs out of projects they have already won, or withdraw their applications,” Rick Wilmer, CEO of charging company ChargePoint, told Reuters. “It will be an opportunity for others to jump in and fill that void.”

Rivals like EVgo are looking to hire those let go by Musk. “If you were impacted by the recent Tesla layoffs, we invite you to explore EVgo’s diverse range of job openings,” a talent acquisition manager at the charging company said in a post on LinkedIn.

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Historic British brand Alvis was revived last decade with a plan to launch “continuation” examples of original pre- and post-war Alvis cars, some of them using parts that have been in storage since the original company folded in 1967.

The latest in Alvis’ continuation series is the post-war Graber Drophead convertible, of which just two will be built in 2024. The company will also build a pre-war Lancefield in 2024, making the year a record in terms of production for the modern company.

Other models in the series include the Vanden Plas, Bertelli, Park Ward, and Graber Super Coupe.

Graber was a Swiss coachbuilder that supplied bodies for Alvis’ chassis during the 1950s and ’60s, including for the Graber Drophead and Graber Super Coupe. The Alvis team today recreates the bodies using an original archive of over 25,000 drawings and 23,000 car records, which the company said enables the modern builds to remain faithful to the originals. Traditional methods are used wherever possible, including hammering and rolling of metal.

Alvis continuation series production

For the powertrain, in this case a 3.0-liter inline-6, Alvis uses original engine blocks built almost six decades ago. They are fitted with modern technologies like fuel injection and electric engine management, and also benefit from a higher 9.5:1 compression ratio as well as CNC machining to achieve tighter tolerances. The result is an engine that’s 32% more powerful than the original at a rating of 172 hp, as well as being emissions compliant.

The engine is mated to a 5-speed manual transmission and can hustle the car to a top speed of 120 mph. According to the company, pre-delivery test drives take place on the same roads around Warwickshire, U.K., that the original Alvis used.

For the interior, Connolly leather is used for the trim while wool cloth is used for the headliner of the three-layer convertible top. Should the customer desire, modern amenities like automatic transmissions, power steering, climate control, and audio systems can be fitted.

Pricing for an Alvis continuation car starts at 295,000 British pounds (approximately $370,000).

Donald Trump told some of America’s top oil executives that he is willing to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental policies and stop new ones from being enacted on his first day of presidency, if the oil companies agree to raise $1 billion to return Trump to the White House. The Washington Post spoke to people with knowledge of the meeting on the condition of anonymity for this news.

Trump, the guy who currently owes over a half-billion dollars in fines and fees from his array of court cases, is obviously in desperate need of money for his personal expenses and for his reelection campaign. He is willing to risk exacerbating the climate crisis and creating a more dangerous world for his own children just so he can make money. Like Trump, oil companies are proponents of perpetuating humanity’s centuries-old dependence on fossil fuels despite climate change’s rapidly accelerating and devastating effects on humanity.

Oil companies have lobbied against eco-conscious legislation for decades to continue to capitalize on the world’s dependence on fossil fuels and earn more money. As a car enthusiast, I’m trepidatious about the future of the automobile, but as a 28-year-old who hopes to enjoy many more years on this planet, I’m deeply concerned about the impacts of climate change. The Washington Post reports,

As Donald Trump sat with some of the country’s top oil executives at his Mar-a-Lago Club last month, one executive complained about how they continued to face burdensome environmental regulations despite spending $400 million to lobby the Biden administration in the last year.

Trump’s response stunned several of the executives in the room overlooking the ocean: You all are wealthy enough, he said, that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House. At the dinner, he vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.

Giving $1 billion would be a “deal,” Trump said, because of the taxation and regulation they would avoid thanks to him, according to the people.

Trump’s remarkably blunt and transactional pitch reveals how the former president is targeting the oil industry to finance his reelection bid. At the same time, he has turned to the industry to help shape his environmental agenda for a second term, including the rollbacks of some of Biden’s signature achievements on clean energy and electric vehicles.”

President Biden calls climate change an existential threat, and his administration has finalized 100 new environmental regulations aimed at cutting air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and more, despite oil companies spending $400 million to lobby for Biden last year. At this dinner, Trump vowed to auction off more leases for oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico on day one of his presidency, should he get elected. He also vowed to immediately end Biden’s freeze on liquified natural gas (LNG) exports and said he would reverse restrictions on drilling in the Alaskan Arctic, several hot-button topics holding oil companies back from potentially earning billions of dollars.

Trump, who has frequently called opponents puppets controlled by other forces, is straight up telling oil companies he will be their puppet if they give him enough money. Politics aside, humans want to continue living happy and healthy lives for many generations in the future. I want to continue living a happy and healthy life for as long as possible, and I don’t see increasing Gulf oil drilling operations or Alaskan Arctic oil pipelines contributing to the longevity of our species.