car comparison tests

Hyundai will start offering the best and most expensive wheels even for ordinary cars, they will come in hundreds of thousands

today | Petr Prokopec

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Foto: Dymag Wheels

It’s hard to say how many people will reach for such an offer, given the ratio of the price of the wheels to the price of the car itself, but it will certainly be an interesting offer for enthusiasts. In terms of unsprung weight, up to 50 percent lighter carbon wheels for “petrol sticks” are a dream.

Koreans repeatedly try to prove to us that in their case the world is still right. It can also be seen in the fact that if you desire the Hyundai i30 N, i.e. the sporty version of the 4,340 millimeter long five-door hatchback with 250 horses, you have to reach into your pocket for an acceptable 719,900 CZK. In the case of such a Volkswagen, for the same money you would get a Golf fitted with a liter three-cylinder with mild-hybrid technology and 110 horses. Actually, it is not surprising that the sales of the German car are rather falling. In contrast, the i30 N is slowly becoming the buy of the year.

The sporty hatchback was only the first swallow for Hyundai, the portfolio has grown properly since its arrival in 2017. After the i30 N Fastback variant, the smaller i20 N model was also revealed, as well as the first ever sharp-tuned SUV Kona N. Recently, the Koreans also revealed the first sports electric car, namely the Ioniq 5 N. Due to the price far exceeding a million crowns, it will definitely not be your cup of tea coffee for everyone, after all, it will be difficult to get anywhere quickly with it.

However, the automaker has decided to expand its reach in other ways as well. It has recently entered into a collaboration with the British specialist in cast and forged wheels, Dymag, as well as composite experts from Hankuk Carbon. The goal of this mission is to offer today’s best carbon rims, which will be used precisely by the cars of the sports division N. This step will be especially welcome for lighter gasoline vehicles, which will also help with the reduction of unsprung weight.

Only partial information is available for now, however it has already been announced that the wheels will use a carbon composite outer ring, while the center will be forged from aluminum alloys. As a result, compared to traditional cast rims, the novelty should weigh 40 to 50 percent less. That is seriously not enough, but the question is how much such savings will cost you. They are not only the best bikes, but also the most expensive. And when Renault offered carbon wheels for the Mégane RS Trophy-R in 2019, it charged £12,000 (approx. CZK 336,000) for them. We will definitely be talking about hundreds of thousands in this case as well.

Only the very dedicated and well-off enthusiasts will likely reach for carbon wheels, but in the case of the aforementioned i30 N, the rims alone would raise the final bill by almost 50 percent. Nevertheless, Dymag has announced that it is close to concluding a similar agreement with other car companies, which could eventually bring the price of alternative bikes down at least a little.

Hyundai will offer carbon wheels on its N division sports models. It will be a very expensive, but welcome alternative. Photo: Dymag Wheels

Source: Dymag Wheels, Hyundai

Petr Prokopec

All articles on Autoforum.cz are comments expressing the editor’s or author’s opinion. Except for articles marked as advertising, the content is not sponsored or similarly influenced by third parties.

2023-07-29 07:46:57
#Hyundai #start #offering #expensive #wheels #ordinary #cars #hundreds #thousands

Interest in motorhomes is plummeting, but the worst is yet to come

7 hours ago | Petr Prokopec

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Foto: Airstream

To be honest, it was to be expected and it is a surprise that it is only happening now. In short, the world is returning to its old ways and recognizing that despite all the advantages of the second way, “hotel” and “hotel on wheels” are not one and the same.

In the spring of 2020, almost the entire Earth was paralyzed by the coronavirus and the response of individual countries to it. No one was prepared for the arrival of a new infectious disease, so initially there were really drastic interventions in the daily running of the entire planet. Airplanes started to disappear from the sky, then cruise ships from the seas. Not only borders were closed, but also hotels and restaurants. So if someone wanted to go on vacation, they could often only do so in their own cottage or cottage. Interest in them skyrocketed, as did prices.

However, if you have recently looked at the offer of real estate agencies, then you surely know that the current situation is noticeably different. There are plenty of cottages and cottages to be had, often again at prices close to those of pre-pandemic times. With the opening of borders and restaurants, and with the return of ships and planes to the surface and into the air, people resumed their previous habits. So they mostly spend their holidays abroad in air-conditioned hotel rooms.

This state of affairs also has an impact on other sectors that have experienced a meteoric rise in connection with the coronavirus. Because of those restrictions, the sale of motorhomes and trailers has been growing rapidly since 2020, and we have also been paying more attention to them since then than before. However, the results for the first half of this year are not very encouraging. Sales of camper trailers in the United States fell by 53.9 percent year-on-year from 228,740 to 105,975 units. That’s downhill at a rocket pace.

A slightly smaller drop is associated with motorhomes, which are down 17 percent for this year. At the same time, a 34.1 percent drop is associated with the largest, and a 29.1 percent drop with the medium ones. The smallest class C, i.e. those cars that use a standard cabin, but supplemented with a residential superstructure, on the other hand grew, but only by 2.9 percent. With 13,235 units sold, however, it is by far the most numerous, with 5,500 units for Class A and 6,758 units for Class B this year.

When we realize that in the past three years manufacturers have often reported sales growth of several hundred percent, then the outlook for the future is not very optimistic, precisely because of the return of the world to its old ways. It is then a question of how the many start-ups that have sprung up like poppy seeds will turn out. On the other hand, a number of them really offer technological gems for which a few dozen buyers are sure to be found every year. However, their creators should not have thought about more.

The organization RVIA, which aggregates the desired data, states that sales should increase in the second half of this year, but virtually no one believes this anymore. Not only because of the reasons mentioned above, but also due to considerable inflation. In connection with it and the fact that we are in the middle of summer, and therefore after the season, so to speak, other experts suggest that the second half of the year could be an even colder shower.

The camper trailer designed by the Porsche design studio in collaboration with Airstream will probably have no shortage of customers. Otherwise, however, sales of hotels on wheels fell by 53.9 percent year-on-year. Photo: Airstream

Sources: RVIA, RV Travel

Petr Prokopec

All articles on Autoforum.cz are comments expressing the editor’s or author’s opinion. Except for articles marked as advertising, the content is not sponsored or similarly influenced by third parties.

2023-07-29 11:08:02
#Interest #motorhomes #plummeting #worst

The prices of used cars in the Czech Republic are finally falling, but the development in the field of drives is a warning for car manufacturers

9 hours ago | Petr Prokopec

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Photo: Škoda Auto

The constantly rising prices of the most miserable used cars are finally a thing of the past, and buyers are once again starting to have more trump cards in their hands. But what can be perceived as good news for ordinary people is bad news for car companies. The market is once again increasingly clearly dominated by diesels, which manufacturers are abandoning.

Between 2020 and 2022, the production of new cars stagnated, which, together with other macroeconomic factors, mainly of a political nature, led to their considerable increase in price. This also had an impact on the second-hand market, as the supply thinned out. And since the demand increased in comparison, the prices began to skyrocket in this case as well. The average for the first quarter of this year rose to 299,000 crowns, which was unimaginable not long ago. Only then did the turning point come – in the second quarter the average dropped to CZK 293,000, so we are finally witnessing a reduction in prices, clearly not only in statistical terms.

However, a closer look at Cebia’s new report shows that all is not rosy. The average age of imported cars increased from 10.6 to 10.8 years in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year. Although the share of cars older than 10 years decreased by 2.15 percent to 49.41 percent, the share of cars older than 15 years increased from 22.81 to 23.47 percent. This means that cars from the beginning of the millennium came to us mainly from Germany, which were banned by legislation in many German cities, which is quite an expected development, but also a bit of a double-edged sword.

Despite everything mentioned, however, the average age of all passenger used cars decreased year-on-year, by five months to 9.1 years. This is mainly due to a shift in cars with Czech origin, which have become younger by 1.5 years to an average age of 7.2 years. Mainly new cars from terminated operating leases entered the market. Stabilization is also taking place in this respect, although it is still necessary to remember that we are still far from the pre-pandemic years. After all, at the end of the first half of 2019, the average price of a used car was CZK 227,900.

In the top ten best-selling used models, we can find four cars from the Mladá Boleslav car company, and Škoda has a total of 21.23 percent of the market. The leader is still Octavia, which takes care of 10 percent of all transactions. The second most frequently represented brand is Volkswagen, followed by BMW, Hyundai and Ford. The blue oval used to traditionally be the top model of both Focus and Mondeo, but its offer has thinned out considerably, first after the sedan’s departure and then after the end of production.

The look at the types of drive is very interesting, as it clearly indicates to car companies what ordinary people are interested in. After a few minor hesitations, diesels again took over the reigns and clearly dominate the market with 49.57 percent, followed by gasoline cars at a smaller distance, which account for 46.41 percent. Battery cars remain on the fringes of interest (0.88 percent), after all, in their case the average price is 999 thousand crowns. In this development, betting everything on electric drive is, in a word, foolish, people are obviously leaning back (and not only in our country) to very efficient and affordable diesels. On the other hand, the car companies are increasingly removing them from their offers, so the current situation is another warning in a series of warnings for them.

As for color, the share of gray and white cars increased year-on-year. The average mileage then dropped by two thousand kilometers to 147,000 km, but the Cebia company once again points out the ever-increasing risk of speedometers turning off. In addition, the original owners hide the accidents, because according to the advertisements, only 0.76 percent of the used cars sold were involved in accidents. However, according to actual statistics, such a share is 25 percent for five-year-old cars, and even 60 percent for ten-year-old cars.

The average price of used cars in the Czech Republic fell to CZK 293,000 in the second quarter of this year, and the most popular model was, as before, the Octavia, followed by the Fabia and the Superb. It is fascinating to see the return of the dominance of diesels, which, despite everything, obviously do not lose their popularity among ordinary people. Graphics: Cebia, printing materials

Source: Cebia

Petr Prokopec

All articles on Autoforum.cz are comments expressing the editor’s or author’s opinion. Except for articles marked as advertising, the content is not sponsored or similarly influenced by third parties.

2023-07-16 14:21:35
#prices #cars #Czech #Republic #finally #falling #development #field #drives #warning #car #manufacturers

2023-06-11 08:47:59
#Honda #sale #raising #eyebrows #big #loser #heading

2023-06-10 11:47:26
#electric #car #starting #called #ID.Buch #exploded #charging #days #caught #fire