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Mazda - 5 Things You May Not Know About
Mazda is one of the older Japanese automakers and it has built a well deserved reputation as a builder of quality economical cars and trucks. Mazda vehicles are known both for their high level of performance as well as their modern look and features. The Mazda car company was founded in 1920 and went through a number of changes over the years, including being a major manufacturer of weapons during World War II, before emerging as one of the more unique and highly respected car companies in the world. But, here are five things you may not know about Mazda.
- From 1991 through 1994, Mazda marketed an SUV called the Mazda Navajo that was essentially a Ford Explorer. The Navajo sold so poorly that it only lasted four years while the Explorer went on to enjoy a ten year run as the most popular SUV in America.
- The famous “Zoom Zoom Zoom” song that has appeared in Mazda television commercials since 2000, first appeared in the 1993 movie Only The Strong, a film about the little known Afro-Brazilian martial art known as Capoeira.
- When Henry Wallace became the head of Mazda in 1996, it was the first time a foreign born person had ever been named to head a Japanese car company.
- Mazda is not only the main producer of automobiles that utilize the Wankel rotary engine, it is the only major automobile manufacturer to ever produce a rotary engine powered pickup truck, station wagon, and bus.
- The original name of the Mazda car company at the time of its founding was Toyo Cork Kogyo, Ltd.
With its commitment to originality and the fact that it is sought after by performance car enthusiasts every where, Mazda has set itself up to be one of the more popular car companies for years to come. Mazda has developed a reputation as one of the more creative car manufacturing companies that is not afraid to try something new. This has paid off well over the long run of the company’s existence as it has endeared itself to car owners who crave something that they cannot get from other manufacturers. The Mazda company will continue to enjoy its lofty place in the automobile manufacturing hierarchy as long as it sticks to these ideals.
Tags: Car Brands, Mazda
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Lamborghini Profile
The commonly called Lamborghini is an Italian based sports car manufacturer named Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. The company was founded by the Italian businessman Ferruccio Lamborghini in the year 1962 who previously owned a successful tractor factory named Lamborghini Trattori S.p.A.
The reason why Ferruccio started producing Lamborghini is quite different. Ferruccio owned a Ferrari 250 and once he met with a clutch problem. When he went to meet the Enzo Ferrari to complain about the quality of the clutch in his car, he was insulted by telling him to go and drive his tractors as he was not able to drive the cars. When Ferruccio examined the car at his factory he found out that Ferrari’s clutch supplier was also the clutch supplier to his tractor company. He then installed a stronger clutch from his warehouse and thus solved the clutch failure.
He was very much upset by the way Enzo Ferrari behaved and he determined not to buy any Ferrari cars. More over he decided to beat the Ferrari by producing his own superior cars. Ferruccio decided that his cars should compulsorily have V12 engine. For that he appointed Giotto Bizzarrini, a former engineer of Ferrari who had expertised in the development of V12 Ferrari engine. The engine which he developed had 350 hp. The body of the first Lamborghini was designed by Franco Scaglione. As Ferruccio born under the sign of the Taurus, he chose bull as the emblem of his Lamborghini cars.
After the production of the first car the Lamborghini 350GTV prototype was introduced in the year 1963. Ferruccio wanted to design a more practical model and for that he paid a huge amount to Carrozzeria Touring. This design was used for the production of 350GT.
Followed by 350GT, the company introduced 400GT and the profit which the company earned from the sale of 400GT was enough to start the production of sports car. The first sports car of Lamborghini was Lamborghini Miura which was named after the famous bull fight trainer Don Eduardo Miura. The car was introduced in the year 1966
Miura was a huge success which created a good name for the Lamborghini. Espada was the second model followed by Miura. It was a four seater car with a V12 engine having front engine lay out. The more interesting feature of Espada is that it has a top speed of 150mph. Till 1972 the company introduced different models. All of the models were unique and were a huge success.
In the year 1972 the company faced a major obstacle when a bulk tractor order from a South American nation was cancelled. Keeping the order in mind Ferruccio spent a heavy amount for the upgradation of the company to meet the increasing demand. Financial crisis forced Ferruccio to sell a part of his tractor company’s share to fiat. Later the tractor company was eventually moved on to the hands of SAME. Though the automobile industry remains profitable, Ferruccio sold the remaining stocks to a Swiss based investor.
The increase in the oil prices affected the sale of all sports cars. As a result the Lamborghini was declared bankruptcy in the year 1978. In 1984 the company was sold to Swiss based Mimran brothers. Surprisingly the company was sold to Chrysler Corporation in 1987. At that time the Company was developing the famous model Lamborghini Diablo. It was under Chrysler, the company was very well developed.
Due to poor financial situation, Chrysler decided to sell Lamborghini in 1994. It was sold to an Indonesian based company. Again due to the poor financial situation, Lamborghini was sold in the late 90’s. This time the German luxury car manufacturer Audi AG showed interest to buy the Italian company. After a series of complex transactions, Audi became the sole owner of the Lamborghini. Currently Audi is holding this Italian company.
It was the design of Lamborghini models which has brought such fame to the company. Audi has been admired by the Lamborghini’s model and has given technical assistance to produce sophisticated cars in the world.
Earlier the founder had set a rule that Lamborghini would not participate in races. He felt it as an expensive program and utilizes much of the company’s resources. Till now Lamborghini does not participate in any races.
Tags: Car Brands, Lamborghini
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Bugatti Profile
The Bugatti car company was founded by Ettore Bugatti in the year 1909. The original company which was situated in Molsheim region of France was known for its some of the exclusively designed and fastest cars in the world.
At his young age Bugatti was very much fascinated by the automobile technology. During his time automobile industry has been a new field which was recently emerged. When he was 17, he was able to develop a tricycle which runs on motor. With his first motor vehicle, he participated in the race. Till 1909 he worked in different companies and developed different models. It was after the birth of his third son Jean Ettore Bugatti; he decided to start his own company. Initially he got loan from the bank to produce a few automobiles and five aircraft engines.
The first automobile from the Bugatti car company came out in the year 1910. In the same year, Bugatti cars participated in the races which was a turning point for the historical triumph of Ettore’s racing cars. Ernest Fridrich, the most reliable assistant of Ettore, represented Bugatti in races.
In the consecutive years, Bugatti won a series of races. Thus Bugatti’s remarkable performance made an innegligible presence in the races. In 1911 Bugatti entered in to contract with Peugeot to make engines for the production of Bebe Peugeot which eventually becomes a huge success.
At the time of First World War, Ettore Bugatti developed airplane engines for both the American as well as French government. The money which he received for this work brought him the necessary capital to enable him to expand the operations in the Molsheim plant. Thus the number of employees as well as production was increased. This was a milestone event in the history of Bugatti.
In the following years, Bugatti dominated in almost all the races by constantly acquiring first, second or third places. Till Great Depression of 1929 the company was at its peak. During 1914 itself, Ettore Bugatti dreamed of building a most expensive legendary car in the world. As a result of his hard work, his dream came in to realization on 1926 through the introduction of Royale models. Even according to the present market, it is the expensive car in the world. But it hit the market in the wrong time i.e. at the time of Great Depression. This expensive model severely affected the company’s financial position.
The Second World War and employees’ strike followed by the great depression very much affected the financial position of the company. The death of Ettore’s son Jean was also another important factor which very much affected the company’s existence. The production was declined due to insufficient capital. After the death of Ettore Bugatti in 1947 the company could not make a come back. The later models such as Type 251 failed to fulfill the expectations.
The company was later sold to Hispano-Suiza in 1963. From Hispano-Suiza it passes over to Snecma in 1968. The Bugatti was later acquired by Messier in 1977 and was later known as Messier-Bugatti. In 1998 Volkswagen legally acquired the name of Bugatti and start producing cars under this brand name. Under Volkswagen it developed many brands such as EB118, EB218, 18/3 Chiron etc. In the year 2000 Volkswagen founded Bugatti Automobiles SAS and it introduced the most powerful car ever seen, Bugatti Veyron 16/4 with a top speed of 253 mph. It is a 1000 hp car with sixteen cylinders. The car takes only 2.5sec to reach to reach 0-100kmph. A Bugatti Veyron 16/4 costs around $2.3 million, not including taxes.
Till now Bugatti works separately as a subsidiary unit of Volkswagen. The future project of Bugatti is Bugatti Lydia which has an astonishing 1175 hp with a top speed of 280 mph that costs around $3million.
Tags: Bugatti, Car Brands
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Aston Martin Profile
Aston Martin Lagonda Limited commonly known as Aston Martin is a luxury car unit whose headquarters is situated at Gaydon, England. The company was founded in the year 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. As the name (Aston Martin) suggests it is derived from the name of the founder (Lionel Martin) and from the Aston Hill Climbing Race situated at the Aston Clinton. As Martin often raced at Aston Hill, he decided to include it in his Company’s name.
In the year 1912 itself both Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford joined together to sell the cars made by the Singer where they also made services to other vehicles. In 1913 both had decided to start their own automobile company and the first Aston Martin came out in the year 1915 which was designed by Lionel Martin. The first car includes a Coventry-Simplex engine with four-cylinders. They were not able to continue the production due to the broke out of the First World War where Martin and Bamford had to join in the Admiralty the Royal Army Service Corps respectively.
The company again started its production after the completion of First World War. In 1920 Bamford resigned from his ownership. Later the company was financially supported by Count Louis Zborowski. Bamford and Martin again joined in 1922 with a view to produce cars for French Grand Prix. Due to poor financial condition, the company was liquidated in 1924 and the company was bought by Lady Charnwood. Once again the company failed in 1925. With the leaving of Lionel Martin the company was forced to close in 1926.
Later a new management took the charge which includes rich investors such as Bill Renwick, Augustus Bertelli and even including Lady Charnwood. This time the company was renamed as Aston Martin Motors. Renwick and Bertelli concentrated to improve the goodwill of the company as they had heard news that company was no longer in production. Till 1937 Bertelli hold the responsibility of technical director and designer of the Aston Martin cars. Not only Bertelli was a good racer but also he was very eager to race the cars which he made. Thus the fame of Aston Martin Motors increased in the national as well as international races.
Once again the company met with financial crisis in the year 1932 and this time
Prideaux Brune came for the rescue before the company was transferred to Sir Arthur Sutherland. Under Sir Arthur Sutherland, the company concentrated on the production of
road cars. Till the breakout of Second World war the production was so limited that only 700 cars were made. During the war time production was completely stopped and aircraft components were made.
The Aston Martin Motors was taken over by David Brown Limited in the year1947. Now it was the turn of Sir David Brown, the managing director of David Brown Limited to rescue the company after war. In the same year David Brown acquired the Lagonda and
both the companies shared the resources. It was during the period of David Brown, the classic DB series car started producing.
The company was often troubled by financial problems regardless of the rise in value of its cars. The company was sold to William Wilson in the year 1972 which he later passed on to Peter Sprague and George Minden, the two North American businessmen in the year 1975. It was under them the company was modernized by producing models such as
V8 Vantage, Volante etc.
When the sale sales of Aston Martin shrank, Minden and Sprague decided to stop production. Later Victor Gauntlett became a major share holder of Aston Martin and it was during his period the company’s fame spread to the gulf countries.
From Gauntlett, Ford took over the Aston Martin and placed it in the Premier Automotive Group. Under Ford, Aston Martin was very well developed. Due to financial difficulties Ford decided to sell its luxury car units like Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo car units in 2006. On 12 March 2007, Ford sold Aston Martin to David Richards, chairman of Prodrive for £479 million. Ford has also a stake in the company.
With the appearance of Aston Martin in the James Bond series films, its publicity has increased and the sales shoot up. According to Ian Fleming’s novel Aston Martin is the official car of James Bond.
Tags: Aston Martin, Car Brands
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Five things you don’t know about Lamborghini
Some of the more exciting and fantastic cars ever made were produced by Lamborghini. The name Lamborghini means a great deal to sports car enthusiasts, it signifies luxury and high performance and a certain degree of unattainable status in that only very few people can actually afford them. Lamborghini cars have been featured in a number of movies as well as driven by a number of celebrities, they have achieved a certain level of status as the kind of vehicle that only the most descriminating people can drive.
Here are five things that you may not know about the Lamborghini car company.
1. The bull on the logo of the Lamborghini comes from the fact that company founder Ferruccio Lamborghini was born under the astrology sign of Taurus.
2. The first Lamborghini sports car produced was the Lamborghini 350GT, the total number of 350GT’s sold was 130.
3. Founder Ferruccio Lamborghini initially made his name in motor vehicle manufacturing by designing and producing tractors.
4. After , Lamborghini became a subsidiary of Audi which is also a subsidiary of Volkswagen.
5. From 1987 to 1994, Lamborghini was actually owned by American automobile manufacturer Chrysler.
There is nothing that can be done to tear down the Lamborghini name in the mind of fans of the finest in sports cars. The car company worked hard to develop its reputation as not only the maker of some of the finest high performance vehicles ever, but also some of the hardest to find as well. The market was never flooded with Lamborghinis and that has helped drive the interest in them to at or near the top of any sports car enthusiasts list of the finest cars available. Lamborghini will continue for many years to be at the front of the pack of high performance sports cars manufacturers.
Tags: Car Brands, Lamborghini
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