Many of us will be now have tried, and probably failed, to connect a car's on-board electronics to the internet by pairing it to our smartphone. It's a process that's often fiddly, usually fails and if it does work costs you a bomb in data charges.
That could all be about to change, though: according to tech magazine CNET, the sales of cars with internet-connected 4G SIM cards already built in is set to explode. Indeed, according to CNET, sales of such vehicles are set to rise from around 1.2 million at the moment to more than 16 million by 2017.
Such connectivity (paid for as part of a lease or your regular finance repayments) would allow car makers to include a huge number of whizz-bang add-ons to existing car electronics, including more accurate traffic information, on-board concierge services and more.
Worries are already being raised about the potential for a car's movements to be tracked via such a chip, but then, we've all got a smartphone in our pockets already, haven't we?
Irish used car sales increase almost 20%
The number of used vehicle transactions rose 19.2 per cent in the first four months of 2014, to 368,272 compared to 308,843 in the same period last year, according to the latest data from car history checking website Cartell.ie. These transactions include used car sales of all types, not only from dealers to private buyers, but also trade-ins and those between dealers. It effectively represents the number of change-of-ownerships during the four-month period.
Used vehicle activity rose in every county, according to the data from Cartell.ie, with Dublin recording the highest number of transactions at 110,603. There was a significant rise in all types of activity, but inter-trade deals – those between dealers – were up 28.1 per cent on the same four months of last year.
Ford vehicles topped the list of brands transacted in the used vehicle market for the first four months of 2014, followed by Volkswagen and Toyota.
According to John Byrne of Cartell.ie: "The market has picked up considerably in 2014 compared to the same period in 2013. Every county in Ireland has recorded more used vehicle transactions this year. In particular, transactions have been strong in Galway where unit transactions have increased from 14,157 to 17,440, representing a very healthy 23 per cent growth year-over-year."
Two wheels better for Peugeot's new rally car
Peugeot has given us some more details of its new Dakar Rally machine, the 2008 DKR. Supposedly based on the 2008 crossover, don't expect to see too many of these down your local supermarket. Out goes the conventional 1.6-litre diesel engine and in comes 340hp twin-turbo V6 diesel instead. Isofix fittings? Not so much, no, seeing as the engine is where the back seats usually are.
Interestingly, the car isn’t four-wheel-drive. “When it comes to cross-country rallying, the biggest question is whether to run with four-wheel-drive or just two. After a detailed study of the question, we decided to go for two-wheel drive transmission which presents a number of interesting benefits,” said Peugeot sport director Bruno Famin. That decision allows the car to be lighter and to use larger wheels for crossing ever-rougher terrain. The next Dakar rally isn’t until 2015 but expect Peugeot to be making noise about this return to front-line motorsport between now and then.
European car sales up by 4%
Car sales in Western Europe rose in June to the tune of four per cent, in spite of a two per cent dip in the key German market. The figures for Germany were somewhat balanced out, though, by accounting for extra national holidays, with the adjusted figures actually rising slightly. Sales in Spain were up 24 per cent in June, part of a general recovery across the battered southern European markets. UK sales rose by six per cent, France was up by three per cent and Italy climbed by four per cent.
