Since I wrote an article on the Hummer being resurrected which was was just based on rumors (You can read it by clicking here) since then new information has surfaced. So, I decided to give a short news update.
GM – the Detroit automaker confirmed the plans for resurrecting the Hummer and teased us with 4 videos (linked below) for the “GMC Hummer EV pickup”. They have also scheduled a 30-second Super Bowl ad for the vehicle featuring NBA star LeBron James. The spot is scheduled to air during the second quarter of Sunday’s game.
The Hummer EV pickup (acc. to GM) will feature 1,000 horsepower and 11,500-pound-feet of torque. It would take just a blink of an eye for the Hummer to reach 60 mph from a standstill (0-60 mph takes just 3 seconds!) No price has been announced yet. Phil Brook, GMC vice president of marketing said, “It’s a combination of an incredibly capable truck and a supercar. Those sorts of times are in that ballpark.” He also went on to term the EV has an “all-electric super truck”. “It is very different from anything we’ve ever done before,” Brook said. “This is the start of big things in the electric space. This is GMC and how we’re moving into that space in a big way.” GM has no plans to build a gas-powered Hummer with an internal combustion engine, according to Brook which is actually a very sensible decision. GMC plans to release 20 new vehicles globally by 2023 and using the Hummer EV as a pivot in the all-electric vehicles market.
The Hummer EV pickup is expected to go into production in the fall of 2021 at a plant in Detroit, followed by sales starting toward the end of the year. There is no news for a Hummer EV SUV counterpart though. Moving on to discuss the teaser videos, they have details regarding the specifications and a preview of the front of pickup. The front features a new iteration oh Hummer’s well known slotted grille with the branding “HUMMER” being backlit. It looks futuristic with some pinches and hints of the old-school off-roader. The teasers also include a tagline on which GM is branding their new product. It is taglined as “A Quiet Revolution” “All-Electric. Zero emissions. Zero limits.”
People seemed to be very optimistic about the launch of the new Hummer as the poll on my previous article showed positive feedback. The YouTube comments section for the teaser videos was no different. Everything seems to be going for the Hummer. It has got public recognition, nostalgia, great advertisement, great specifications and most importantly a great start with a lot of positive feedback. The only let down could be the pricing which has not yet been decided. The Hummer needs to be priced effectively because it is wanting to enter a pre-established market with gasoline trucks as well as new EV pickup trucks like the Rivian, Cybertruck, electric F-150, etc.
Let me know your opinions down in the comments below. Remember to follow me on Instagram for future updates! @revv_reviews
Maruti Suzuki has launched the BS6 Ciaz along with a new sport model named the Ciaz S. The prices start at ₹ 8.31 lakh and go up to ₹ 11.09 lakh. There is no Diesel engine on offer as Maruti Suzuki is phasing out its Fiat-sourced 1.3-liter unit and the in-house developed 1.5-liter engine as neither will be upgraded to meet BS6 norms. The Ciaz S is priced at ₹ 10.08 lakh. On the heart of the matter, the Ciaz is powered by a 1.5-liter petrol engine with Suzuki’s Smart Hybrid tech churning out 105hp.
All black Interior
Now moving on to the changes that Maruti has to offer with the new Ciaz S over the normal Ciaz. The Ciaz S is based on the top trim Alpha with a manual transmission. It is available in three colors- Sangria Red, Premium Silver, and Pearl Snow White. On the exteriors, the Ciaz S gets a body kit with signature dual-tone sporty exteriors and intense black accentuations on the side & rear underbody, trunk lid spoiler, ORVM cover, and front fog lamp garnish. All this is perked up by multi-spoke 16-inch alloy wheels which are also in dark finish. All this sport appeal doesn’t end there but also continues on the inside with black interiors adorned with silver accents on the door trim and instrument panel.
My opinions/rant
Some of you may consider this as a rant but the terms – “RS”, “S” etc. don’t have any sort of meaning in Maruti’s world where they are just terms attached as a suffix or a prefix to an existing car name to make them sell even more. Sportiness doesn’t come from slapping on a body kit along with the color black all over the car. Sport has a certain feel to it. Car enthusiasts such as myself will hate to even put an eye on these cars. I am having my exams next week and haven’t been very active since the last few days to post but I had to bring this in the limelight because adding an ‘S’ and applying cosmetic mods doesn’t make a car sporty! Tata has done great with its JTP versions. Fiat had changed the Indian hot hatch game back in 2015 with the release of its Abarth Punto in India. Volkswagen has proven how performance can strike a balance with practicality and value for money with its Polo. All this yet the general public is still blind enough to go buy a Baleno RS with a puny 1-liter 3-cylinder 100hp producing motor. Ask yourself enthusiasts – ‘Is that a true hot-hatch?’ And if any part of your body says yes to that car being a hot-hatch then you are sadly no longer a person who sees cars as an emotion and more than just a machine taking us from point A to point B. I completely understand the fact that Maruti has to create mass-market cars and has to keep them affordable but why use the term such as ‘sport’ to market them. They couldn’t have done any engine modifications as that would have increased the price by a lakh or two. We all are aware of the fact that car enthusiast centered brands have always failed in our market.
Lastly, I would like to say – “All that glitters isn’t gold and all that’s black isn’t sporty”.
Do let me know your opinions on the pseudo sport sedan in comments below, it would be great to have a discussion on this topic.
News and rumors suggest that one of the most iconic cars of the century might be coming back. The Hummer is a brand in itself, you will hardly find someone not knowing about it. An army vehicle that was urbanized and found space in people’s hearts was discontinued a decade back when GM (General Motors) was in bankruptcy and the demand for the Hummer had fallen. The lack of demand was because the Hummer represented gaudiness at a time where the economy was starting to slow and gas prices were at an all-time high. The hummer was a gas-hog and the conditions didn’t do it well. The Hummer is set to come back in 2023 as an electric pickup truck and not an SUV. As the new Hummer is to rival Rivian and Tesla, the question emerges ‘How would the range be affected as the hummer was known to be bulky and a very capable off-roader back in the day?’. Only time will tell whether the Electric Hummer would be successful or will it meet the same fate that it had 10 years ago! No specifications or data is available which tells us anything about the Hummer but it sure is coming and is expected to hit the markets by 2023. *happy Arnold Schwarzenegger noises*
Did you like the idea of resurrecting a legendary truck? Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Feel free to ask any questions.
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Surprise! Surprise! Sony has revealed its first electric car this CES 2020 and no one was expecting that from a brand that makes TVs, PlayStations and other tech. Once all of you have let that unforeseen news sink in, I am going to give you my opinions and an overview of the car.
First coming to the design of the car, It looks very Tesla-like and also reminds me of the Porsche Taycan due to those headlights and certain design elements. On the inside, Sony has taken a very subtle approach which is good considering the fact that at least it doesn’t look like a car from 2050 which continues to remain in development as a prototype. This gives me hope that we might actually see one running on roads in a few years time. The dash feels well laid out with a panoramic display, Sony might have just nailed it by striking a great balance between a futuristic yet basic and airy looking cabin.
Front
Rear
On the heart of the matter, Sony says that the car is powered by a pair of 272hp electric motors and could reach 0-60 mph (0-100 kph) in just 4.8 secs with a top speed of 149 mph (239.79 ~ 240 kph). Sony being a tech giant has fiddled about with the autonomous driving part as well with 33 sensors of varying types; these can identify people and objects both inside and outside the car as part of a ‘safety cocoon’.
The car’s autonomous driving skills are Level 2, at this stage. The car is equipped with lidars (Light Detection and Ranging) and camera sensors made by Sony itself. This leads to an oval system (as Sony likes to call it) i.e. high sensitivity, high resolution, high dynamic range(HDR), LED flicker mitigation (LFM); this is achievable due to the CMOS image sensors. Sensor fusion as the name suggests uses raw data from the Radar, Camera and Lidar and processes it to achieve high dynamic range(HDR) and better object recognition in any condition.
Oval System
Also 360-degree audio made an appearance in the Vision S. The future of in-car entertainment has been one of the big talking points of CES 2020 so far, with the Sony news following on from an earlier announcement that Sennheiser and Continental have joined forces to create a speakerless in-car audio system.
Sony isn’t the first tech firm to show interest in the automotive world. Apple has previously evaluated its own autonomous car project, while Samsung has an automotive division working on advanced autonomous systems.
That’s all we know for now. Now the questions remain that how much will it cost? What is the vehicles range? And will it be able to compete against the EV giant-‘Tesla’? Let’s see how things take a turn and does Sony manage to find a space in the EV market whilst changing the game. Also, can we drive this in Sony’s racing simulation video game-‘Gran Turismo’? Let me know your views in the comments section below.
The FCA (Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles) launched the Jeep brand in India with the Jeep Compass as the debut vehicle in 2017. The car at that time lacked certain features that came in later like the sunroof. The Compass missed out on a diesel automatic too. The diesel AT then came in with the Jeep Compass Trailhawk (the hardcore off-road variant) which meant if you wanted a diesel AT you had to pay a lot more extra for the top of the line Compass with all the off-road drive modes which you didn’t need as much. The FCA has finally solved this problem by launching the Diesel Automatic with the 4X4 variants of the Compass. Yet the 4X2 variants still lack this option. Also, cruise control is now on offer in other variants as well (it was only offered in the Trailhawk earlier as I remember).
Dr. Parth Datta
Upon asking Dr. Partha Datta, President and MD of FCA India, that why the diesel AT was first rolled on to the Trailhawk, then the 4X4 and why is it still not available to the 4X2 variants. Dr. Partha Datta answered by saying that Jeep as a brand has a true off-road spirit and the brand is staying authentic and original to it and that is why this is being offered to the 4X4s. Yet they are evaluating the 4X2 segment and market as well. You can expect the diesel AT to show up in the 4X2s in the future.
Dr. Partha Datta also said that Fiat has not exited the Indian market and is still present, manufacturing engines though and Fiat might return upon consideration in the future. Dr. Parth has been appointed the president when the Indian Auto-industry is going through a rough time and is very value sensitive. Also, the market is more SUV based at the moment which has been working out pretty well for Jeep so far even though the Compass is the only product the company depends upon as there isn’t a market for the iconic wranglers at the moment. Also, the 7 seater Jeep Compass has no new updates. Now the demand for the diesel AT has been fulfilled and the company is expecting an increase in sales.
Jeep Compass Trailhawk
Do you think that Jeep should increase variety in its Indian line-up let me know in the comments section.
With the global fossil fuel reserve to run out in a stubby 55 years (estimated) the question is drawn – ‘What will be the future fuel for cars and other vehicles?’ The first thing which comes to our mind is electric-vehicles. There is no doubt about the fact that EVs (Electric Vehicles) would be the future but the dilemma is whether to produce electricity on the go or store electricity in lithium batteries and recharge them. More to that in a bit.
We tend to draw a parallel between Teslas and electric vehicles because of the massive head-start Tesla has had in the EV industry but other manufacturers have started to catch, investing millions and billions of dollars in the research and development of EVs. Tesla has been controlling a chunky 60% of the US zero-emissions electric car market but that accounts for only 2% of the entire US car market. Tesla is like the Maruti Suzuki (India) of the US electric car market.
Now we know that EVs are the future but as always there is further division in the group i.e. Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs). Tesla has gone the BEV path yet many other manufacturers such as Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, etc. have gone the FCEV way. Elon Musk (CEO of Tesla) has openly condemned the FCEV technology in the past and has gone to calling them ‘Fool Cell’ instead ‘Fuel Cell’.
It is important to know the basic difference between the two. In a BEV the electricity is stored in lithium-ion packs which make a battery, This battery could then be charged at a charging station by plugging the car just like plugging in your phone to charge its lithium-ion battery before it exhausts. A Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle uses hydrogen to generate electricity on demand to run the electric motors and hence the car. A FCEV is filled up with pressurized hydrogen gas from a hydrogen station just as one would fill up his/her gasoline car. This hydrogen from the storage tank is made to react with oxygen for the air, this produces electricity which powers the electric motor while the only emission being water vapors. The electricity isn’t stored in FCEVs like BEVs but is produced on demand.
Hydrogen + Oxygen = Electricity + Water Vapours (emission)
Seems quite magical and great doesn’t it, you must be pondering about why isn’t this actually being used instead. Well, that is because of its disadvantages such as lack of required infrastructure, etc.
Why doesn’t a daily commuter want to try out a BEV?
1) He/she is so used to the 2 min pitstop to get refueled that waiting for the car to charge for an hour doesn’t seem feasible to them.With a gas car, one can always get it filled up in minutes from any of the nearest gas stations but this is not the case with BEVs as range anxiety is always an issue. Even if you do have plenty of charging stations nearby, waiting for the car to charge in the middle of a commute is sort of inconvenient as an easy 5 to 6 hour trip by a gas car could become a 7 to 8 hour trip with a BEV including the charge time.
2) The average BEV has a range of 240 miles. For example, Chevy Bolt (259 miles), Kia Niro EV (239 miles), Nissan Leaf (226 miles). Even the best of Teslas have a range of 300-370 miles which is a lot but that comes with a price bringing us to our third point.
Kia Niro EV
Nissan Leaf
Tesla Model 3
Chevrolet Bolt
3) The average cost of an Electric is way more than that of a gas car with the Nissan Leaf starting at $30,000, the Tesla Model 3 and Chevrolet Bolt starting at $36,000 and $37,000 respectively.
The FCEVs tackle most of these problems such as reducing the fill-up time to 3 mins, the same as an ordinary gas fill-up. The range anxiety is gone as fill-ups are quick and the FCEVs have an average range of 300-380 miles. Such as, The Toyota Mirai (312 miles), Honda Clarity (360 miles)and Hyundai Nexo (380 Miles).
Honda Clarity
Hyundai Nexo
Toyota Mirai
FCEVs too have their disadvantages and limitations-
1) The infrastructure isn’t yet ready for Hydrogen Fuel Cell. For comparison, there are 1600+ Tesla Chargers in the US but only a weak 44 in number Hydrogen stations for Fuel Cell owners.
Tesla Supercharger
Hydrogen Station
2) Even the pricing for a FCEV is much more than that of a BEV with all the 3 FCEVs cars mentioned above starting at about $59,000. This exuberant cost is due to the lack of production and market for these cars which is a result of the lack of infrastructure. Where only a few 100 FCEVs are produced every year.
3) Another disadvantage to the FCEVs is the efficiency i.e. the cost to run per mile which is way more than that of a BEV.
4) Also, Hydrogen is highly inflammable and very risky to handle but also Lithium batteries are highly inflammable so that debate ends there and the need is to improve infrastructure to handle such a potential rich fuel.
ELON MUSK
Elon Musk gave his reasoning for not considering FCEVs feasible as – “Hydrogen does not occur naturally on Earth, so it is *not* itself an energy source. Energy is required to make hydrogen, and then even more energy is needed to compress it to very high pressures or liquefy it.” He also said, “except for the upper stage of a rocket, hydrogen makes no sense.”
According to me, FCEVs hold great potential in becoming our future fuel assuming the infrastructure has been developed until then. While BEVs are limited in their range, it is just a numbers game for FCEVs. To get more range out of a BEV a bigger battery is needed which adds more weight as well. After a point adding a bigger battery doesn’t yield more range due to the law of diminishing returns as the bigger battery keeps on adding more weight to the vehicle. FCEVs don’t have this limitation and having more hydrogen stations equal more FCEVs and that equals more affordable Fuel Cell vehicles. This is an experiment to see which type comes out on top overcoming its limitations. Only time can answer this question yet Hydrogen does have a greater potential, unlike Musk claims it to be absolutely stupid.
An Electric Charging Station in India
News is there that Hyundai might be launching its Fuel Cell vehicle, the Hyundai Nexo in India. While the Kona has failed it won’t be a surprise to see the Nexo fail in the Indian market as well because of the unavailability of hydrogen stations. India needs to up its EV game and install charging stations creating a good network for EVs, only then can the automobile industry move ahead. Hydrogen Stations in India is a very far-fetched dream.
Tata EV line up launching next year
The EV industry might get serious next year with the launch of Tata’s EVs which include the Nexon, Tiago and Tigor EV and many more. Many EVs can be spotted running as taxis such as the Mahindra Verito EVs etc.
So, I am going to review the BMW X5 which was launched 2 decades back. BMW likes to call the X5 an SAV i.e. Sports Activity Vehicle instead of an SUV i.e. Sports Utility Vehicle. BMW has just nailed the ‘S’ in the word SAV completely! The car comes in 3 variants – 2 Diesel variants and 1 Petrol variant.
The 3L twin-turbocharged straight-six produces 262 bhp and 629 Nm of torque in the diesel variants while it produces a whopping 335 bhp and 450 Nm of torque in the petrol 40i M-Sport variant. The car comes with an 8-speed automatic Dual-Clutch gearbox and a 4WD and AWD (xDrive) drivetrain option. The X5 also comes with a load of optional extras to choose from. The X5 is priced between 73.3 to 82.9 Lakhs (Ex-Showroom).
First Impressions
The exterior of the car is just surreal and true to the BMW style of vehicles. The car is just shy of 5 meters in length and 2 meters wide which just gives the car so much of road presence. The kidney-shaped grill is a 2-piece unit on this model instead of a single piece one like on the newer X5 and other BMWs. The X5 looks stunning from almost any angle and the massive 20-inch wheels add to this with 275 / 45 R20 at the front and 305 / 40 R20 at the rear. The size of that rear tire is almost identical to that of the Lamborghini Huracan i.e. 305 30 R20!
As we swing the door open, we enter into a world of luxury and perfection. The doors shut with a thud and are beautifully finished with an array of different materials. The leather-wrapped steering and gear-knob feel very premium, just as you would expect from a car of this segment. The center console is massive and that’s a good thing, the textured interior wood trim gives dashes of an even more upmarket look. The infotainment system is a touch-screen unit (can also be controlled with a ceramic controller) which comes with Apple Car Play but no android auto connectivity.
The cluster is a digital twin-circle BMW unit (6 WB) which I like the most and feels the closest digital thing to an analog cluster, while the 2019 X5 gets BMWs new digital cluster of which I am not a big fan of. The car gets 4 basic drive modes – Eco Pro, Comfort, Adaptive(custom) and Sport and Sport+. The digital cluster changes depending on the mode you are driving in. The car saves fuel and drives more economically in Eco Pro, Comfort is the standard setting, Adaptive is custom as you may configure it or let the car configure the settings for you based on your driving style. In Sport mode the suspension stiffens up, the steering weighs up and throttle response is sharpened. The main difference between Sport and Sport+ is that Traction control is ON in Sport mode and OFF in Sport+.
Eco Pro Mode
Sport Mode
The seats feel good and plush, under-thigh support is good in the front as well as the rear, headroom is almost no problem in this car. Rear seat comfort is also good while the rear AC vents compartment might protrude in the rear, the floor is almost flat and 3 people and comfortably sit in the back.
Front Seat pushed all the way ahead
Front Seat pushed all the way back
The car is very practical, has a lot of cubbyholes and spaces to keep stuff, all 4 doors could fit a 1L bottle easily, the front center armrest is very deep and spacious, the boot space in the X5 is 645L which just adds to the practicality. The mileage is 13.38 kmpl (ARAI) which is good for an SUV. The 2019 X5 comes with air suspension at both the front and the rear which allows the ride height to drop or to be raised on command, this wasn’t possible in the 2018 X5 as it had adaptive air suspension only at the rear. The panoramic sunroof just adds to the airy feel inside the cabin. The soft-close doors feature acts like icing on an already perfect cake.
Front Door
Rear Door
Features/Optional-Extras
The BMW X5 comes feature loaded with a dozen of optional-extras. The main features are – a 4-zone climate control system, front and rear parking sensors with a rear camera (360° camera in 2019 model), 12-way electronically adjustable front seats, steering electric adjust, PESS (passive entry and keyless start/stop), auto-dimming IRVM, Front seats with memory function, all 4- one-touch up-down windows, cooled glovebox, electronic boot release, LED headlamps with DRLs (Laser as an option), led tail lamps, panoramic sunroof, automatic headlamps and wipers, cornering headlights, ambient lighting, touchscreen infotainment system with a 18 speaker setup by Harman-Kardon, digital cluster, paddle shifters, steering mounted controls, cruise control, 8 airbags, TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system), ABS with EBD and ESP, traction control, brake assist, hill-hold control, hill descent control, BMW’s xDrive system and many more features.
rear seat view
Front Center Console
Some of the optional-extras in this car are –
1. 19 Inch Lightweight Alloy Wheels W-Spoke style 447
2. Textured interior wood trim
3. BMW Intelligent Adaptive QUAD LED headlights with high beam assistance, cornering function and anti-glare beam
4. Digital Multi-Information Display Cluster
5. 18 Speaker 850W Harman-Kardon surround sound system
6. Space saver spare wheel
7. 12 Way Electronically Adjustable Seat with Memory package
8. Dynamic Air Damper Control
9. Adaptive Suspension with ‘Comfort’ and ‘Sport’
10. Soft-close function for doors
11. Trapezoidal Exhaust Exit Pipes
The X5 is just slewed with features. Even I might have missed out on some, so please do excuse me.
Panoramic Sunroof
The Ride
This is the surprising part as you may think that a car that ways 2 tons and is so huge in dimensions would lack that BMW feel but you are wrong. The X5 is able to escape the limits bound by its dimensions and deliver above expectations. The ride is comfortable and the car just evens out all the bumps. The X5 is a car to be driven as well as driven around in. The rear seats offer great ride quality just like in the front seats. Even with the traction control OFF the car’s xDrive system will prevent a wheelspin during launch and would be whispering past 100 kmph in no time. Put the car into sport mode and you unleash the beast that it is. The steering weighs up beautifully in sport and the suspension stiffens up as well, the car is ready to be thrown into a corner. For an SUV that weighs about 2 tons, the X5 does an amazing job in the handling department and feels just like a road-hugging sedan.
The X5 does a 0-100 kmph sprint in 6.7 seconds, the quick and smooth shifts add to the frugal acceleration. The car revs till 5,500 rpm (diesel) and is very refined but past the mid-range, it gets a bit vocal. Even past the mid-range, the engine produces a melody to a gearhead’s ears (a sporty note). Turbo-lag is very well contained and the power is just a tap away. The X5 has a punchy low-end and mid-range but the high end is a bit empty. Although it’s no worry cause the automatic gear-box would be shifting at 4200 rpm keeping the car in its power band (when in auto not in manual). The car would not upshift automatically if in manual mode, which is good if you want to hold onto a gear. The only issue with the X5 is that it is a little bit too wide and can be a hassle to park.
Verdict
Who says big things can’t come in big packages, the BMW X5 is a perfect example. The X5 has got a good and catchy exterior as well as interior. There isn’t much to nit-pick about the X5. The car is feature-loaded and the ride is comfortable. In sport mode, the car surprises the driver as it just doesn’t feel its weight and handles like a dream for a large SUV. The X5 is a soft-roader but wouldn’t mind a splash of mud off-road and is capable both off-road and on-road. The linear power delivery along with the wide tires and xDrive system does put a smile on your face and each time you put your foot down a surge of confidence can be felt which urges you to go beyond the limits each time. If you want an SUV in this budget and size, the X5 is no doubt the one to go for until now. Although one may peer into the Porsche side of SUVs with the new Macan.
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