New cars, new automakers, new optionsEditorial |Autočkář.cz

Although it may not be known at first glance, the automotive industry is a relatively conservative environment.Now you want to argue that the technology is driving leaps and bounds, but is it really?Can the automotive world compare with other sectors?A recent case around computer chips could tell lecos.What did it happen?When I say it in short: the whole world has stopped due to Covid and then restarted.Weaned factories used forced pauses to modernize and world manufacturers of computer chips rearm.Now spews even more and even more powerful chips than ever in the past.This in itself sounds great, but we already know that it was not great, the automotive industry has planted this development another blow.The automakers do not want new chips, they need the old ones.

It can be argued that the old chips are perhaps more durable and reliable and maybe there is something true, but it does not change the fact that the world of cars is and has always been a conservative industry.Just look at electronics or architecture.Check out the period photographs of some buildings and focus on the cars that stand in front of them.Acts like another century..

Or electronics.Modern cars are truly remarkable in this respect, such as new Mercedes and their displays - fantastic fine graphics, instant response, 3D effect of the instrument shield (it is not possible to show it, but believe me, the illusion in the levitating device is really perfect)And even some of the jokes such as voice assistant or small Easter Eggy (changes in graphics according to important days etc.), all of this is truly remarkable.Except for the fact that at all.The virtual assistant Siri appeared on phones with a delicious apple ten years ago, and even the 3D effect with floating icons has been showing you for a long time.

It seems that everything works a little different in the car world.There is still honest craft and modernity over the good old piece of iron wins very slowly.It is all such a closed club, automakers spill their capital, connect and diverge as in an endless Latin American soap opera, but no one new among themselves will not let go.It would not even be.A sense of fine tuning the car to work exactly as it should, it is a little science, a little magic.You must have experience.A new car manufacturer without the help of a deserving pardal in the field has no chance.

And then Tesla came.It is hard to accuse me of some faning towards this American brand, but the truth is that Tesla has changed the rules of the game.It is not a traditional car manufacturer, it is not a brand created by one of the established concerns.In fact, it is a company that was created in the heads of several enthusiasts at a UFO hunter, a prototype of a car manufacturer that has no chance in the field.And we can swear at the imperfect body joints or other nonsense, but in the end we still have to admit that Tesla has done it.

Of course, the phenomenon of electromobility is the fundamental moment for the start and success of Tesla.Elon Musk bet on battery electric vehicles and that turned out to be the right step.It is a significant step, but not so huge.The electric car is nothing but an electric car.It's still a car, just has a different engine.The designers still have to deal with the stiffness of the body and its deformation zones while maintaining the maximum space for the crew and a good view out.There is still hanging, tuning the chassis, there are still brakes, assistance and comfortable systems, ergonomics, lighting… All those things we thought could only be built by an established car manufacturer.

Paradoxically, it turned out that the problem actually had the established automakers.Tesla Model S has been here with us for ten years.Over the ten years, Mercedes-Benz introduced two brand new generations of their highest class S.Two cars, completely newly designed, scheduled, tested and launched.Meanwhile, the S Model S is produced in virtually unchanged form, yet none of the established giants with a patent for automotive reason and a giant budget could not catch up with.

It may look like a glorious ode to one crazy self -sufficient visionary, but that's definitely not.Tesla is not alone.Other companies that build electric cars are starting to appear.And do not imagine some funny looking cars attempts, these are real competitors established production.Let's look at Lucid Air.Lucid Motors was founded in 2007 and maybe you have never heard of it.However, you will probably hear about it in the future and not once.Her first model, Lucid Air sedan enters the market.And it really is no crush.Elegant lines, beautifully made details, functioning radiomap and actually the whole car, including several truly innovative elements.

And parameters, do you ask?Oho, if you expected to catch Lucid on plums, it was a big mistake.The performance of a thousand horses and a range of 520 miles (840 kilometers) per charge.And no, they didn't mean that, this is the result of an independent EPA measurement.The maximum speed is as in any correct serious sedan electronically limited because this is no sporting nonsense for hooligans.In this case, it is therefore limited to 349 km/h.Really!Lucid Air with a deactivated limiter still 30 km/h higher pace.

True, Lucid is not a completely cheap car, the customer pays over 170 for the top specification.000 dollars, but given the performance and overall focus of the car it is not even a complete nonsense.Basic version (480 hp and 406 miles) with the price starts in half of this amount and this is definitely interesting.Electric pick-up can be purchased for similar money.Now I'm talking about the R1T model presented by Rivian and launched its production in September last year.

Rivian R1T does not interfere with the design and used technologies and does not have to be afraid to step boldly between pick-ups, a segment that is very closely monitored in the United States.Rivian has everything she should have.There is plenty of space, it is solidly built and the designers have not forgotten to offer something extra.In the case of R1T it is primarily a closed luggage compartment, something that pick-ups generally desperately miss.Thanks to the possibilities offered by the construction of an electric car, Rivian has even two luggage, one under the front hood and the other located behind the cabin in places where the fuel tank would otherwise be.Parameters are not bad at all, with 135 kWh batteries manages the electrotruck range over 500 kilometers per charge, the plan is also a version with a battery of 180 kWh.

However, the pick-up R1T is not the only model of the brand, and the R1S SUV is also derived in preparation.This is not so interesting about itself, technically it is the twin model R1T, but the body of the SUV is much closer to us, European customers.Yes, Rivian counts in the foreseeable future with the entry into the European market.

And when we are talking about Europe, we should not forget Rimac.You probably already know this Croatian company.For the first time, the world has been around the news of the menacing -looking Rimac crash controlled by the star show The Grand Tour, Richard Hammond.It was still possible to talk about the promising, but after all the startups after all.Indeed, the crashed piece was one of the eight Rimac Concept One cars produced, no more of them were.But in 2018, Porsche bought a 10% stake in Rimac and since then we have to take this company seriously.Even more important trade took place last year - Rimac bought a majority stake in Bugatti.The newcomer has entered the club of established automakers and in the style of style.

The future of the automotive industry will definitely be interesting.I am not afraid of falling large brands, on the contrary, I look forward to the new competition will force the sleepy automotive world to engage more fantasy and offer us even more interesting, imaginative and fun cars than we know today.And this is definitely not bad news.