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BMW : One of the Oldest Aircraft Manufactures and the Leading Motorcars Giant of Today’s Time

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Humans have always been obsessed with speed. Ever since the emergence of automobiles, our top priority has been to build a machine, which is faster, and at the same time, reliable. One company that has gained the trust of the millions around the world is BMW.

Bavarian Motor Works or Bayerische Motoren Werke is a Germany based automobile manufacturing giant. Founded in the year 1916, by Franz Josef Popp, BMW has a total workforce of more than a hundred thousand employees. The company headquarters are located in Munich, Bavaria and, Germany. It is an international acclaimed manufacturing unit and the most reliable and trusted brand in the global market.

BMW headquarters
Image Source: bmwblog.com

The company is the twelfth largest motorcars producer company in the world. Awarded at several events, the motorcars manufacturer hold Guinness World Record for longest sustained drift by BMW M5 model. BMW produces cars in Germany, China, India, South Africa, UK and US. Today, it is the most desirable car brand besides Mercedes and Audi.

The Emergence of the Company

During the initial days, BMW started as an aircraft-manufacturing firm named Rapp Motorenwerke. By the end of 1918, the manufacturing unit of the firm was forced to cease the aircraft engine manufacturing, and later, in the year 1923, it switched to motorcycle production. The transmission was not that easy, however, it bought golden luck for the company. Soon, the firm started manufacturing and producing motorcycles on a commercial scale.

In 1930, the firm regained authorization to manufacture aircraft parts. But by the end of 1959, due to the cost constraints, the firm had to discontinue the aircraft production. The company then decided to switch to automobile manufacturing, which proved to be a vital changing phase in the future of the firm.

Transition as Automobile Manufacturer

Right after the switch, BMW bought Hans Glas in 1966. The first car released by the company was Dixi. The car’s design was based on Aston seven model. The Dixi had a top speed of 75mph, which was pretty fast in those times. In 1992, BMW acquired a big California based industrial studio, and later, annexed British Rover Group.

Rover brought bad omen for BMW, and as a result, the company decided to sell Rover to Phoenix Consortium. The company ever since then involved exponentially in car designing and manufacturing process. It has a customary blue and white logo derived from ancestral Rapp Motorenwerke. The company has estimated more than six assembly lines and four operating division mainly BMW Motorrad, Mini, BMW Motorsport and BMWi. In order to meet the requirement of the global market, the company has tripled its production units in recent years. At present, the company has a revenue of astounding $97.48 billion. The brand has established its name as one of the leading car manufacturers. The BMW cars are quite popular among celebrities as well.

Car Racing Industry and BMW

The BMW brand has dominated the Formula1 tournaments as well. The advanced engineering solution has not only evolved the cars for a better result but into a racing machine. Every year a significant number of BMW cars take part in competition around the world. BMW is not only deluged with success but clients and media attention. European golf events, PGA Championship, Football clubs and United States Olympic Committee are just a few of many clients that BMW looks after as a prominent sponsor.

Awards and Recognitions

According to several magazine and tableau, BMW is among the top 10 automobile manufacturing companies in the world. It earned 2012’s best buy award in engine and premium compact car category. In 2011, the company won The Red dot award for product designing. It was also awarded the Euro Car body award in 2017. Recently, BMW M5 has been voted the world’s best performance car of 2018.

Volkswagen: A Startling Story of Success in the History of Automotive Industry

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Who doesn’t want to have a fancy lavish car and ride it all around the city? Even a 5-year-old kid drools over the cover page of his favourite car magazine and dreams of having one of those someday. And one such company that has made people go crazy with its classic designs and impressive capabilities is none other than Volkswagen.

Volkswagen is a huge German based automobile industry founded on 28th May 1937 by the German Labour Front. The company has its headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany and currently Dr Herbert Diess is the chairman of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand. Volkswagen is the German meaning for “people’s car”.

Volkswagen: A Walk Down to the Historic Lane

The Early Phase

During Hitler’s reign, especially in the 1930s, Hitler put forward ideas and scheme, so that every German could drive their own car. Under one of those schemes, the German Labour Front started making various prototypes of such cars (“KdF-Wagen”), and Volkswagen was one of them. The company was first established in the name of “Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagens mbH” in 1937 and was renamed as “Volkswagenwerk GmbH” on 16th September 1938.

volkswagen
Image Source: thenypost

The vehicles that were produced in the plant, during early 1938, were designed by Ferdinand Porsche. In May 1938, a new plant was built in Wolfsburg, which shortly after manufacturing a handful of cars, started making military vehicles due to the war (Second World War). A lot of prisoners were forced to work at the plant during the war, which included prisoners even from concentration camps. This led to the filing of a lawsuit against the company in 1998 for compensation for the forced labours. So, in September 1998, a fund was built by Volkswagen AG to reimburse the compelled workers.

During the period of post-war, in June 1945, the charge of the company was handed over to the British Military Government, where Major Ivan Hirst took the responsibility of management. He was the prime person behind the existence of the company post-war, followed by mass production of Volkswagen Beetle. Not a single person expected the company to stand on its own, especially after the factory was bombed and captured by Americans.

In 1948 Heinrich Nordhoff was recruited to run the plant, and in 1949, Hirst left the company. After Type 1 (“Beetle” sedan), the production of Type 2 started in 8th March 1950. Soon, there was an increasing demand for “VW Bully” (The Volkswagen Bus), and in 1956 a separate manufacturing unit was built in Hanover for the production of the Transporter.

The Intermediate Phase

In 1961, the company introduced 4 new Type 3 models, and in 1969, Type 4 models were introduced. The latter came with much-modified technology, which included automatic transmission, electronic fuel injection, sturdier power plant and many more. On February 1972, Volkswagen broke the record of world car production, and the Beetle outweighed the popularity achieved by a model commonly known as “Tin Lizzy” by Ford. In 1973, Volkswagen Passat came into the market, followed by Volkswagen Scirocco, in 1974.

In 1974, the Volkswagen Golf was introduced, which set a legendary mark as a turning point of the future of Volkswagen. It was followed by Volkswagen Polo, in 1975, and since then, the company gave some serious competition in the automotive industry.

In June 1983, the company started producing the second generation of Volkswagen Golf, and it was the first time robots were placed in the manufacturing of vehicles. In the next decade, the world witnessed the second generation of Passat, Scirocco and Polo, which increased the production of the company on a very large scale.

In 1994, Concept One was launched, which had a retro theme and was a blend of Polo and Beetle. In 1999, the company hit another major success when they introduced Lupo 3L TDI in the market. This car consumed only 3 litres of fuel per 100 kilometres, and hence, became the world’s most efficient car.

The Modern Phase

After Bernd Pischetsrieder became the CEO of Volkswagen Group, many new models were introduced. In 2002, the production of Touareg, a luxury car marked a totally different segment of the company in the market. In 2003, the fifth generation of golf was launched, and since then, a lot of modified version of existing models were produced with an excellent change in design engineering.

In 2018, Volkswagen announced that they would stop the production of Beetle by 2019, the car that brought dynamic changes to the fate of this company. The company said that it would like to grow to keep the same pace with modern technologies, and hence, would introduce electric cars in future.

In 2019, they also announced to launch a Jetta sub-brand in association with FAW Group Corporation. Currently, China is responsible for the company’s 40% sales and is the biggest market for Volkswagen.

Awards: A Few From the Ample

• Volkswagen was awarded European Car of the Year award thrice till date.

• It has been awarded five times in the United States Motor Trend Car of the Year award.

• The Volkswagen Type 1 Beetle was named as the fourth most influential car in the 20th century.

• It has been awarded four times with the World Car of the Year Award.

When companies rejected to take over the plant during the post-war period, the company rebuilt itself and surpassed all the efficient ones. Thus, from collapsing into the grounds to making all the way to the top, Volkswagen is indeed a story of real success the world has ever witnessed.

Jaguar Cars : One of the Most Luxury Automobile Manufacturers in the World

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Jaguar Cars, the name speaks for itself. The brand is almost a hundred years old and has seen its own ups and downs. It has been the provider of most luxurious cars that are at the same time the best at performance and technology. Jaguar is known for its exclusive designs and exceptional comfort and as the producer of one of the fastest cars in the world.

History

Two motorcycle enthusiasts, William Lyons and William Walmsley, from the UK, came together with an idea to start a business of manufacturing motorcycle sidecars and founded Swallow Sidecar Company, in 1922. In 1934, the company was renamed as the S.S. Cars Limited, making the shares of the company public.

The next year, the company manufactured the first 2½-litre engine sports car, with the name SS Jaguar 2½-litre, followed by another sports model with a 3½-litre engine SS Jaguar 100. After the second world war, the shareholders of S.S. Cars Limited decided to rename the company to Jaguar Cars Limited, in a meeting held on 23 March 1945, so that to have a unique name for the company and to avoid any connection with acronym S.S.

jaguar
Image Source : motortradenews.com

In the late 40s, the company dealt with a huge issue of shortage of materials, particularly steel, becoming entirely dependent for their bodies on external suppliers. But, by the mid-50s, the company started achieving fame after manufacturing a series of powerful sports cars, including Jaguar XK120, Jaguar XK140, Jaguar XK150, and Jaguar E-Type. At the time, all of those sports cars were powered by the jaguar’s twin-cam straight-six engine, that provided the maximum efficiency. The manufacturing of the cars was based on the Lyons’ mantra of “value for money” and followed the slogan “Grace, Space, Pace.”

Winning the Le Mans 24 hours race, firstly in 1951, and again in 1953, were two major benchmarks for Jaguar, in the long history in motorsport. Lyons was always focused on manufacturing the world-class sporting saloons in larger numbers than the sports car market could support, and as a result, Jaguar was able to achieve a financial stability and a status for distinction with a range of elegantly styled luxury saloons manufactured under its name. The luxurious and stylish saloons cars included the 3-litre and 3½ litre cars, the Mark VII, VIII, and IX, the compact Mark I and 2, and the XJ6 and XJ12.

Pressed Steel Company Limited, manufactured all the major parts of the Jaguar cars, and in mid-1965, British Motor Corporation (BMC) and the Austin-Morris, together, acquired the Pressed Steel Company Ltd. Later, BMC also acquired Jaguar and started a joint venture British Motor Limited, in 1965, that was renamed to British Motor Holdings at the end of 1966.

In 1968, British Motor Holdings, under the government pressure got merged with Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd. and was formed as British Leyland. But, the poor decisions made by the company as well as the financial difficulties, could not make the deal last longer, and due to monetary success, the companies eluded. In 1984, Jaguar also emerged as a separate company and under the leadership of chairman, Sir John Egan, started to rise rapidly.

The Jaguar engines became famous due to its ubiquity and longevity, and the next powerful engine introduced by Jaguar was Twin OHC XK Engine, that was used in the XJ6 saloon from 1969 through 1992. It even empowered the British Army’s Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) family of vehicles, the Fox armoured reconnaissance vehicle, the Ferret Scout Car, as well as the Stonefield four-wheel-drive all-terrain lorry.

In November 1989, Ford offered the Jaguar’s US and UK shareholders to buy their shares, and in 1999, Jaguar became a part of Ford’s new Premier Automotive Group along with Aston Martin, Volvo Cars and, from 2000, Land Rover. At the same time, Jaguar shared a common sales and distribution network as well as some components with Land Rover. All these years, Jaguar made no profits under Ford’s leadership, and in 2007, Ford announced a sale of Jaguar as well as Land Rover, together. On 2 June 2008, Tata Motors of India, acquired both companies by paying £1.7 billion. The Tata Group further established Jaguar Land Rover Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary and renamed the parent company to Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC.

Currently, Jaguar is a manufacturer of the car models including the F-Type convertible, the Jaguar XF, the Jaguar XJ, the Jaguar XK, and the Jaguar R models. In the future, we can expect to see a C-X17 and a four-door compact saloon known as XE.

Since the beginning of the manufacturing of Jaguar Cars, all of the vehicles had the iconic chrome-plated Leaping Jaguar, known as the “The Leaper” on the cap of the radiator of those vehicles. The same leaper is also a part of the logo of the company. But, due to some safety reasons, the leaper has been dropped from the current Jaguar models.

Yandex’s Driver-less Cars are Out Running on the Roads of Moscow

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The Google of Russia, and the most used search engine of Russia, Yandex, is doing way beyond a search engine must do. The largest technology firm of Russia started its journey by setting up a search engine in the late 90s and by the end of 2018, it has spread its wings in other fields too. On Tuesday it announced the launch of a self-driving autonomous taxi service, that will soon run on the roads of Moscow.

yandex
Image Source: hearstapps.com

Yandex launched the prototypes of the driverless cars last year, in the month of May, and had already announced Europe’s first autonomous taxi service, back in August this year. The self-driven cars, Waymo by Google, are already running in Silicon Valley, and a launch of such cars out of Silicon Valley is a big achievement for Yandex.

Yandex initially will have two types of vehicles, based on the driver-less technology, and will run in the 400-hectare region of Skolkovo, in the Innopolis technology park. The car will have fixed fares for particular destinations, and the user can choose the destinations through an app, on their smartphones.

The self-driven cars by Yandex have sensors, video cameras and lidar, that enables the cars to judge the distance from other cars and other obstacles, using lasers. The odometry, used in the car, calculates how much the tyres of the vehicle have moved, and in which direction. The vehicle is embedded with the technology, that can identify the traffic lights, road marking, and the road signs. The vehicle can also predict the next situation as according to the makers, no one follows all the rules properly, so the car must be intelligent enough, to plan and predict the next step, that must be executed to avoid any type of mishappening.

Although the car has been tested with all its features and is good to go, for now, there will be a human driver sitting on the other seat of the car, to take over the driving at the time of emergency. The driver will be removed soon from the car, and Yandex is planning to reach out to more places, in Russia, where it can impose those self-driven cars. It is also planning to make the technology compatible with different brands cars.

Soichiro Honda : The Founder of the Honda Motor Company

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Some achievers are not only achievers but are also the trendsetters. Those trendsetters bring a revolution in their field and get their name registered in the history for their contribution to the world. One such trendsetter is the Japnese Engineer, Soichiro Honda. It would be difficult to find even a single person who is not aware of Honda Motors or hasn’t seen a Honda vehicle. The owner of the company of 100,000 people, did not have an easy ride, but without struggles, there can’t be any progress.

Early Life

Honda was born to a blacksmith, Gihei and a weaver, Mika, on November 17, 1906. His father ran a bicycle repair business. Honda was never interested in the traditional education and used to forge his family’s stamp on the school grade reports, using a rubber bicycle pedal cover. Honda once went to see a demonstration of an aeroplane, that made him fascinated about machines and grew a love for them.

Soichiro Honda
Image Source: youberelentless.com

Career

Honda’s career did not start very smooth. He was just 15, when he moved to Tokyo, and joined a motor garage, as a mechanic. He worked there for over six years. In 1928, he moved back to his hometown and started his own repair business, at the age of 22. He became more interested in automobiles and motor machines, becoming engaged among new experiments with the engines.

Building Honda Motor Co. Ltd.

In 1937, he started producing piston rings for the major car manufacturing Toyota, under his newly founded company, T?kai Seiki. After two years, the second world war occurred and two of his factory plants, of T?kai Seiki, got destroyed in a US B-29 bomber attack (1944) and in an earthquake (1945). After selling the salvageable remains of the company to Toyota, for ¥450,000, in October 1946, he founded the Honda Technical Research Institute. He became the president of the company and stayed the one until he retired in 1973.

Honda designed a mass-produced engine, that he used in the Type A motorised bicycles, that his company sold till 1951. In 1949, he manufactured the first model in the Dream series of motorcycles, that became a landmark of Japanese Automotive Technology. Just in a few years, his company’s turnover was in billions, and it became an MNC, producing the bestselling bikes, in the world. Soon, his company motorcycles were competing with the sales of Triumph and Harley-Davidson. Honda Motors opened its first abroad plant in the US, in 1959.

Even after he retired from his post of President in 1973, he remained as the director of the company and became the supreme advisor of the company, in 1983.

Personal Life & Death

Honda was married to Sachi Honda till his death. His only son, Hirotoshi Honda, followed his lead and became an entrepreneur. He was the CEO of Mugen Motorsports, that produced original racing vehicles.

Honda was very active as a sports person even at the age of 77. He and his wife loved outdoor activities like golf, hang-gliding, ballooning and skiing. On August 5, 1991, Soichiro Honda died, due to liver failure.

Honda has made an impact on the industry of personal motor vehicles and was listed, among the 25 most intriguing of People magazine, in 1980. He was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, in 1991, and even got established Soichiro Honda Medal by ASME, in his name. The medal is given for the outstanding achievements or significant engineering contributions, in the field of personal transport motor manufacturing.

Volkswagen Unveils MEB Platform Electric Vehicles at the AAI Event 2018

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Volkwagen-ID-Buzz-Cargo
Image Source: express.co.uk

Volkswagen has got into the electric vehicles production to promote the ‘Electric for all’ motto, with its MEB (Modular Electric Drive Kit) platform launch this week. Volkswagen unveiled its series of the all-electric commercial vehicle at the 67th IAA Commercial Vehicles show, in Hannover. The main attraction of this launch was the new I.D. BUZZ CARGO.

The I.D. BUZZ is the joint venture of the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and Volkswagen Passenger Cars. The two-toned cargo micro bus gives a retro feel as it is the look-alike of the micro-buses of 60’s. The I.D. BUZZ is manufactured on the Volkswagon’s MEB platform, that is designed to support a variety of battery sizes, according to the purpose and the budget of the vehicle. The different battery size support makes the micro bus run for 330 to 500 km, in one go, when the battery is fully charged.

The I.D. BUZZ is capable of carrying a payload of 800 kg. The vehicle is almost 5 meters long, 2 meters wide and 2 meters high. The windows from the back of the driver seat have been dropped this time and the vehicle is having a solar roof and wide-opening doors, at its back. There is only three seats in the I.D. BUZZ, the one for the driver, and two for the passengers. The passenger seats can be folded to make more space for the cargo. It has shelves inside the backspace of the vehicle and the driver’s door, as well as the sliding door, opens electrically.

Many manufacturers are venturing into production of electric vehicles, and Volkswagen had also launched its first all-electric, a panel van, e-Crafter, back in August. At the AAI 2018, Volkswagen also added other vehicles to the electric vehicle family, including the ABT e-Transporter, ABT e-Caddy and Cargo e-bike. Volkswagen has designed the ABT e-Transporter and the ABT e-Cabby, jointly with Abt e-Line GmbH and will arrive in the middle of 2019. The vehicles are focussed on zero-emission and the I.D. Buzz can take some time to reach the markets, most probably by 2022.