![[ Auto Express ]](http://photos.autoexpress.co.uk/front_website/images/ae_website_logo.gif){kind=logo}
Andrew English's column
Do supercars have a relevance and place in this new century? Andrew English thinks not
I wasn't surprised to see Jaguar's ill-fated XJ220 listed in a new book called Naff Motors. Perhaps it's my age, but I've really fallen out of love with high-performance supercars. We're suffering a bit of a glut of the things at present. Apart from the endless derivatives of the Pagani Zonda, Koenigsegg and Mercedes McLaren SLR, we're also supposed to drop our jaws at Lexus's supersaloon and Honda's NSX replacement soon, while Alfa has recently announced it will make the 8C. At the Paris Motor Show this month, there will be another totally unrealistic Peugeot supercar concept that will never be made, as well as Audi's de-tuned and rebodied Lamborghini Gallardo, the R8. Sorry, but the only jaw dropping I'll be doing is a great big yawn.
We're supposed to salivate at the thought of a £150,000-plus two-seater built of unobtanium and capable of a zillion miles per hour, but I don't. After the initial motor show fandango and the fight for the first road test, these things simply disappear. You never see them on the road (oh, all right, you might spot a few German XXX-film directors skedaddling around in an R8), because the very few that are sold end up in air-conditioned bubbles in secret hideaways.
Manufacturers will tell you they have achieved new levels of safety and driveability in their supercars, but that's ludicrous. A reliable supercar that you can use every day is a contradiction in terms. Supercars should be dangerous, uncomfortable and hopelessly prone to breakdowns. In that respect, the last proper examples were probably the DeTomaso Pantera and Ferrari F40.
With a growing number of rich in the world, however, car makers can't help themselves. In 1986, Forbes magazine identified 140 dollar-billionaires in its annual survey; in 2003, that number had risen to 476. This year it was 793, worth a total of .6trillion. Russia has 33, China has eight and India 10 - including Kingfisher beer magnate Vijay Mallya, who wants to build his own supercar.
Oh blimey, where does it end? While most of us are worrying about our anti-matter pensions or getting used to oil running out, in supercar world we are invited to ogle over a display of ostentatious fuel-burning that makes Siberian gas-flaring or Amazon forest-burning look like dripping taps. I'd be more impressed if all that engineering effort went into a truly economical supercar, such as VW's 282mpg one-litre concept. It might even impress those young, hip billionaires.
This latest batch of super machines tells us we are burning rubber towards a financial cliff edge. Supercars mean super recessions. Marcello Gandini launched his Lamborghini Countach and Jaguar its 5.3-litre V12 just in time for the oil-price shocks of the Seventies. They were lucky to survive. The recession of the early Nineties saw the doomed introduction of the Jaguar XJ220 and Bugatti EB110, along with the demise of Giorgio Moroder's Cizeta, the Monte Carlo Centenaire, the Vector A-WX3 and Yamaha's plan for its own supercar, the OX99-11. Was anyone listening then? It seems not.
No one appears to be listening much now, either. Or perhaps I'm just being a grumpy old man, and supercars do have relevance and a place in this new century. What do you think?
Andrew English is motoring correspondent for the Daily Telegraph
 | |
| We're supposed to salivate at the thought of a £150,000-plus two-seater built of unobtanium and capable of a zillion miles per hour, but I don't | |
 |
We're supposed to salivate at the thought of a £150,000-plus two-seater built of unobtanium and capable of a zillion miles per hour, but I don't. After the initial motor show fandango and the fight for the first road test, these things simply disappear. You never see them on the road (oh, all right, you might spot a few German XXX-film directors skedaddling around in an R8), because the very few that are sold end up in air-conditioned bubbles in secret hideaways.
Manufacturers will tell you they have achieved new levels of safety and driveability in their supercars, but that's ludicrous. A reliable supercar that you can use every day is a contradiction in terms. Supercars should be dangerous, uncomfortable and hopelessly prone to breakdowns. In that respect, the last proper examples were probably the DeTomaso Pantera and Ferrari F40.
With a growing number of rich in the world, however, car makers can't help themselves. In 1986, Forbes magazine identified 140 dollar-billionaires in its annual survey; in 2003, that number had risen to 476. This year it was 793, worth a total of .6trillion. Russia has 33, China has eight and India 10 - including Kingfisher beer magnate Vijay Mallya, who wants to build his own supercar.
Oh blimey, where does it end? While most of us are worrying about our anti-matter pensions or getting used to oil running out, in supercar world we are invited to ogle over a display of ostentatious fuel-burning that makes Siberian gas-flaring or Amazon forest-burning look like dripping taps. I'd be more impressed if all that engineering effort went into a truly economical supercar, such as VW's 282mpg one-litre concept. It might even impress those young, hip billionaires.
This latest batch of super machines tells us we are burning rubber towards a financial cliff edge. Supercars mean super recessions. Marcello Gandini launched his Lamborghini Countach and Jaguar its 5.3-litre V12 just in time for the oil-price shocks of the Seventies. They were lucky to survive. The recession of the early Nineties saw the doomed introduction of the Jaguar XJ220 and Bugatti EB110, along with the demise of Giorgio Moroder's Cizeta, the Monte Carlo Centenaire, the Vector A-WX3 and Yamaha's plan for its own supercar, the OX99-11. Was anyone listening then? It seems not.
No one appears to be listening much now, either. Or perhaps I'm just being a grumpy old man, and supercars do have relevance and a place in this new century. What do you think?
Andrew English is motoring correspondent for the Daily Telegraph
0 Comment
Sponsored Results
More ANDREW ENGLISH'S COLUMN articles
- News
- Auto Express News: Andrew English's column
- Auto Express News: Andrew English's column
- Auto Express News: Andrew English's column
- Auto Express News: Andrew English's column
- Auto Express News: Andrew English's column
- Auto Express News: Andrew English's column
- Auto Express News: Andrew English's column
- Auto Express News: Andrew English's Column
- Auto Express News: Andrew English's column
- Auto Express News: Andrew English's column
- Auto Express News: Andrew English's column
- Auto Express News: Andrew English's column
- Auto Express News: Andrew English's column
- Auto Express News: Andrew English's column
- Auto Express News: Andrew English's column
- Auto Express News: Andrew English's column
- Auto Express News: Andrew English's column
- Auto Express News: Andrew English's column
- Auto Express News: Andrew English's column
- Auto Express News: Opinion column
Company Website | Media Information | Contact Us | Privacy Notice | Subs Info | Voucher Codes | Sitemap
Our Other Websites: Computer Buyer | Computer Shopper | Custom PC | Den of Geek | Evo | Fortean Times | IT Pro | Know Your Mobile | London is Free
MacUser | Men's Fitness | Micro Mart | Mobile Computer | Octane | PC Pro | The First Post | iGizmo | iMotor | DigitalSLR photography | bit-tech | Dennis Comunications | Mac Channel | Channel Pro
Our Other Websites: Computer Buyer | Computer Shopper | Custom PC | Den of Geek | Evo | Fortean Times | IT Pro | Know Your Mobile | London is Free
MacUser | Men's Fitness | Micro Mart | Mobile Computer | Octane | PC Pro | The First Post | iGizmo | iMotor | DigitalSLR photography | bit-tech | Dennis Comunications | Mac Channel | Channel Pro