he could form his own opinions. So copying
was very hono urable. I’m supposed
to be hono ured if a company turns out a
product that looks like an old Volvo. It came
to a head again recently with th e Range
Rover Evoque copy [the X7 by Landwind].
But copying is over in China. Companies
have proper design departments and that’s
given them confidenc e.’
Isn’t the ‘new’ vehicle for London Taxi
International (a brand also owned by
Geely) and unveiled in the capital in
October as part of the Chinese pres ident’s
state visit to Br itain, a bit derivative too
though? ‘When the job to design the next
London taxi came up I thought, “that’s a
great swansong”. And the brief was totally
clear: it had to look like a London taxi. But
it’s not a repeat, it’s a reminder.’
To be fair to Horbury and his team, he
hasn’t simply updated the latest TX4.
Instead he’s ‘gone ba ck to the future’, taking
design cues from the earlier 1958 FX
Fairway, including the longer bo nnet,
vertical grille and ro und lamps, plus a
shoulder line that kicks up over the real
wheel. It’s also longer to fit six passengers,
has a large glass panoramic ro of so tourists
can take in the city skyl ine and returns to a
C-pillar-hinged rear door to make it easier to
get into the ba ck after chatting to the driver about his willingness
to gosouth of the river.
Oh, and the drivet rain is a plug-in petrol/electric hybrid
promising 50-plus kilometres in full electric mode and has a
modern driver’s cabin with a large float ing centre console and
colour touchscreen plus switchgear similar to the latest XC90’s.
Are some in fact the same? ‘I can’t tell you,’ Horbury chuckles.
‘You’ll have to make that co nclusion’. Designed in Geely’s
Barcelon a studio and built in a new purpose-built factory in
Coventry, the idea is to sell the taxi well beyond London and in
other spin-off shapes to help its business case. Me anwhile, a new
range of Geelys sharing Volvo platforms are coming to Western
Europe by 2018 to boost global sales from just over 400000 in
2014, starting with a Qashqai-sized crossover – what else? – that
will, says Horbury, match Ford quality. Will he have his feet up
on a ro und-the- world cruise by then? He laug hs at the thought.
‘I have an eigh t-year-old daug hter and two sons aged 35 and 33,
so I won’t be going to play golf. I’m staying young...’Geely’s 2009 GE. Confucious say ‘He who knocks
off Rolls shall in herit Peter Horbury’Horbury’s
‘S80’ concept
was one of
the cars that
transfor med
Volvo from it s
‘bri ck-like’
image. New
TX5 taxi set to
do the same
for cabbies?
MASERATI’S FUTUREmodel strategyis a
moveable feast. The world fell in love with last
year’sAlfieri concept(pictur ed), and optimists
expected it in 2016 with a roadster following a
year later. But theLevante SUVis runninglate ,
and resource is currently being channelled into an
electric SUV forthe Chinese marketwith an
unnamed local partner.
So the Alfieri pair have beenpushed back to 2018
and 2019. They will run the3.0-litre V6turbo
rated at 305 or 388kW.
Today’ sGranTurismo/Cabriomust soldier
on wi th a new infotainment system and the oddrefresher until late 2019 or early 2020. Thenwe get
a roomier 2+2- seater based on the Ghibli platform,
with a bigger boot and a choice of305kW V6and
3.8-litre V8in 395kW Sport and 447kW MC
flavours. What about that rumoured MC12-
style Birdcage supercar? ‘N ot right now,’ says
boss Harald Wester. ‘No budget, no engineering
capacity.’
Talkin g of budgets,Wolfsburgwhispers suggest
Volkswagen’s cost offixingeachEA 189 diesel
defeat device is ar oundR3 000 for software-o nly
cases, andR12 000for softwareandhardware.However, asTopCarwent to pr ess, the contagion
is threatening to spread to Audi and Porsche
V6 diesel engines, and potentiallysome petrol
engines...
TopCarbroke the story that secret talks were
underway betweenBMWand McLarento co-
develop a new BMWsupercar(above), mating a
560kW GermanV8 with a British carbonfibre tub.
Frank van Meel, head ofBMW’s M Division, has
poured cold water on the story – for the simple
reason he naturally wants his team to produce
any future supercarin-house. Which avenue
BMWwill go downis still up in the air, but rumours
suggestinga supercar partnership with Le xusare
unfounded – at least according to on e BMWboard
member who quipped ‘only over my dead body’.Juicy gossip from the grapevine
We hear