Though it was British Foreign Secretary Austen Chamberlain who originally coined it in the 1930s, and Robert F. Kennedy who re-introduced it to a new-generation in the 1960s, the quote ‘may you live in interesting times’ appears to have its origins in a Chinese curse..
Either way I can’t think of a better way to describe the state of the motor vehicle industry at the moment.
Electric cars, self-driving cars, even just the wholesale change in buyer preference has my head spinning.
If you or I were to believe everything we read, in fact, ‘the future’ is going to be a pretty depressing place, particularly if there is still the odd red corpuscle circulating in your blood stream.
On one level, for instance, I am all for a safer, and more democratised form of daily public transport. And if that means autonomous ‘cars’ or some sort of shared hire ‘cars’ which we only use when we need to get from A to B then all I can say is sign me up!
However, because I derive a lot of my personal ‘pleasure’ and with it, self-worth, from the act of ‘driving’ a motor vehicle on as well as off the road, I worry that rather than trying to ‘keep me safe,’ the whole electric/autonomous vehicle thing is simply (yet) another example of ‘Big Brother’ (further) eroding my rights as an individual living in a democracy to do, within reason and the law, what I bloody well want to, when I bloody well want to!
But enough of this – no doubt needless navel-gazing, crystal ball polishing and chicken entrail analysing. Leighton Smith and Mike Hosking are much better at it than I am anyway. What I wanted to talk about this month was HSV’s decision to replace the Commodore as its signature ‘base’ model and replace it with the Colorado double-cab ute.
Yes I know that here Ford’s Ranger, and across the Tasman, Toyota’s Hilux, outsell all other individual ‘car’ models. But knowing that still didn’t really prepare me for a ground shift as seismic as the HSV one.
Sure the Aussie-designed-and-built Commodore is no more. But what about the new V6 turbo import?
No. After years wrestling with the issue the company has decided its future – or at least the volume side of it – lies with enhancing, mainly for on rather than off-road use - the humble 2.8 litre turbo-diesel double cab Colorado.
Really?
Really!
And do you know what? I think it’s a great idea. For all sorts of reasons too.
Like many of you I have come to appreciate the practical, user-friendly nature of a modern double-cab turbo-diesel 4WD ute.
And just the other day I was discussing with my rep mate what he needed to do to make his Ranger (which, by the way, he loves like no other ‘company car’ of his recent acquaintance) vehicle handle better at, er, higher speeds on the road.
So yeah, a big ‘on ya!’ to HSV for making such a big call, one which, if nothing else, is a vote in the sort of ‘both-feet-on-the-ground’ future most of us will inhabit….as opposed to the ‘pie-in-the-sky’ one most of the current commentators would have us believe is our destiny.
To read every story in the February 2018 issue of NZ4WD go to Zinio.com (Jan 20) or purchase your own hard copy at the Adrenalin store.
