This is very exciting news. The most significant part of this venture is its indirect development of the automotive parts supply base as the market matures. This is just some much needed baby steps.

These are some more photos from the Innoson factory.

[img]http://www.sunnewsonline.com/images/auto%20palnt,%20Nnewi.jpg[/img]



The cars are being made as Completely Knocked Down(CKD) kits from Wuling auto in china. Wuling Auto specializes in minivans and buses and only recently ventured into producing passenger cars through their partnership with GM. They would also be powered by four cylinder engines supplied by Wuling. some Wuling models that would carry the Innoson badge once production commences are shown below.


[img]http://www.rowdy.dk/pics/Wuling_0_5MT_Cargo_Van.jpg[/img]



Here's the aforementioned passenger car from Wuling which was made using the underpinnings of the old GM Buick Excelle shown below it. One can imagine the progression that is possible with this first step by Innoson.


Wuilng minicar front

Wuling minicar rear

Buick excelle

Seen the robot wheel renderings and I like them both. resichilds version looks very different from the sketch and has more angles to it, but they both have similar concepts. zPixel's is spot on. It looks exactly the same right down to the details. That shows your some skill. Awesome work from both of you. Now I can't wait to see some textured renders.

No problem Zpixel. It would be my pleasure. And grafikdon, I can't wait for this your series. It looks exciting already.

Hello fellow nairalanders, its been a while since I visited the site and Its just thrilling to see all these great artworks.

My hats off to all the artists. I'll like to comment on a few.

zPixel your 3d work is top notch. very realistic great modelling and rendering skills. I've tried learning 3d modelling, but always cannot make any progress, so when I see some outstanding work I salute. keep it up.

Artboy cool cars. like to see I'm not the only one into cars here. Your models look very good in 2D form and so does your 3D work, but it looks like there's room for improvement in the rendering department. awesome work.

grafikdon what can I say. been a fan of your work from day one, but after watching the 1st episode your series, I can't help but wonder where you had the time and patience to complete that. the quality is terribly good too. You've got the foundation of your animation down from conceptualization to execution. all it needs is some replication and we would be seeing a full feature series from you soon.

iparrot your 3D work shows extreme variety. kudos to another great 3D modeller

bseweje1 some neat photoshop artwork. simple yet interesting. I definitely admire your work greatly.

Lafem ah what a relief. All your characters are hilarious and look like they are about to jump out of the screen. I commend your style. It shows some flair characteristic of classic cartoons. pls pls keep developing this technique.

finally heres something I would leave you guys with some recent design sketches all done in photoshop.


acura concept


Porsche concept


a sketch from way back


honda crx concept

The iphone was put on the biggest PR roller coaster ever, and everyone wanted it even if they don't really need it. After playing with the phone's interface at an Apple store, I found that its pretty nifty as a hand held PC, but not very ergonomic to use as a phone. And if you want to use it as an ipod replacement, you will be disappointed. The maximum memory of 8GBs just falls way short of the more than 30GBs ipod users are used to. So the phone does have a lot of short comings. The most interesting part is the dynamic touch screen interface which could keep you busy for a while. Browsing is not as fluid as the commercials suggest. It still doesn't come close to laptop friendliness.

Apple is very smart. Just when the market was getting over RAZR fever, apple brings its own fever to keep the market spiced up. They will use it as a platform to extend their evergroing empire of electronics and software. And unsurprisinngly it set new profit margin records for apple. Every iphone costs apple approximately $220 to make check out the businessweek article http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jul2007/tc2007072_957316.htm?chan=search

The phone is good for those who just want to have it, but for someone actually looking for a phone, look someplace else. If you just need to play with the interface, wait for next year when the price goes down. As for me If I/m just fine with my $40 nokia, It makes calls and sends text, no fancy stuff. If I need music and videos to escape boredrom at work, my ipod takes care of that and for photos my canon powershot sd800 does that very well and yes I carry all three everywhere I go.

If its fuel consumption you are concerned about, driving the the AC at speeds above 55mph(88km/h) is more efficient than leaving the windows down at such speeds. The reduced aerodynamic drag compensates the increased stress on the engine. Its when AC is used in stop and go traffic that the consumption increases dramatically.

A good tactic would be to turn on your AC once you get on the highway and turn it off once you get off. The irony is that its in those stop and go traffic that you REALLY need the AC, so only do this if you don't mind the heat.

Straying from the topic a bit, I've always wondered why there is no wet suit for terrestrial purposes. It would reduce the need for AC significantly because water is a very good insulator from heat or cold. thats how come scuba divers don't go into hypothermia (low body temp.) without wearing huge coats. The thin layer of water trapped in between the wet suit insulates them from the surrounding cold water.

Whats the use for all the wheels??

Apparently adding extra front wheels improves traction in the wet and gives better braking because of the two extra brakes. Covini drew drom the Tyrell P34 Formula1 car that had a 1-2 finish in 1976.


Although the car was retired from racing because Goodyear the tire supplier found the development too expensive and shifted focus to the other four wheeled cars. Most of the racing teams in that era had six-wheeled prototypes ready for the next year.

Its advantages were evident for the era and most of the challenges like irregular wheel lock-up could be solved by ABS today. The problem is its advantages still outweigh the cost as tire and suspension technology has given four wheel cars some reinforcement. Its interesting that Covini is building the car. Although not as elegant as the four wheels our eyes are used to, it adds variety to the supercar market.

, did I forget to say the styling is not my cup of tea? I do like the idea though.

In terms of conceptualization. I've come a long way. details would be posted on my blog next week, but thats just conceptualization. The real test is to execute this in the nigerian environment, something that is a little out of my way now that I am not in Nigeria. Thats why I wanted to raise interest so people could just see the possibilities that are usually hard to visualize.

Of course Honda has always had better designs than Toyota. Toyota's designs are very unoffensive and bland. no excitement. Honda manages to make quite good looking cars, if not as exciting as designs by European car makers. I agree that the 2007 Camry is one of the best designed Toyota. The Yaris in Europe is another very good design by Toyota. other than those two everything made by Toyota is too boring.

Thanks nazzyon I haven't lost hope at all. This idea is one of my biggest passion and once that s there hope cannot be taken away.

By the way I have a hard time finding what is going on in the parts manufacturing sector of Nnewi and Aba. It would be nice to get a lead that knows what goes on in these areas as well as the steel and aluminum industry. sharing that informing is greatly appreciated and highly needed.

To all that show some interest in this idea, thanks. To those who refuse to understand, so be it.
I have not kept up with my blog lately because motivation was lost for a while and other things took up my time. naijacar was created to raise interest and awareness for the nigerian public on building a car.

There is no reason why Nigeria should not be building her own cars today. Like has been stated in my first post, other countries have had successes with their own locally developed cars. Nigeria should not be left behind. I will begin updating the blog with news and developments in the Nigerian industry and the progress of naijacar.

I think if you do a search on www.alibaba.com you may find some contact info.

Thanks everyone for the comments. I'm just doing my thing. It all comes from practice and i'm still trying to improve. Its great that some nigerians are actucally showing some talent in graphics.

The work was done using a mouse and the path tool in photoshop.

hello everyone, interesting stuff i've seen so far. here's my work



I used Adobe Photoshop

As you can see I mostly design cars. My portfolio is at http://www.cardesignnews.com/site/designers/portfolios/display/store5/item36482

I just updated the naijacar blog with an early illustration of a possible nigerian car.


The design was made simplistic intentionally for ease of manufacture. An outline of the technicals would be made available so students and mechanical tinkerers can study the design. With all heads together this will be a reality.

Ok I admit I messed up for not stating the class of vehicle I meant by "luxury cars" I was referring to the high end class which consists of the BMW 7 series, Audi A8, Lexus LS430, Jaguar XJ, and the S-class. Mercedes does not have it easy in the lower luxury segments, but at this level its total domination. The outgoing model was still at the top of the sales charts when the new one was introduced, something that raely happens.

About Dieter Zetsche a.k.a Dr. Z. He was put in place by the then Daimler Benz CEO Jurgen Schremp to head chrysler after the takeover. Dr. Z took psoition of CEO when Schremp resigned last year because of his leadership helped make Chrysler the only profitable member of the daimler Chrysler family.

Back to the Maybach. The car is heavily overengineered and is a loss making model. All I have been trying to say is why buy a MayBach when you can get all it has in the 3 times cheaper S-class. Mercedes will learn their lesson from the current Maybach and make the next one worhty of the price. For now it looks like an ugly bloated S-class, It lacks the sense of occassion that Rollsroyce and Bentley exude.

A couple of personal flying vehicles
the airscooter avalable for $50,000 is the closest we have ever come to a flying car. and it does not need a pilot's licence. Although the functionality is geared towards recreation than Personal transportation.



the GEN H-4 from japan is even smaller than the airscooter and cheaper too. It sells for $30,000. heres the H-4 in action

[img]http://www.gen-corp.jp/GENH-4_en/figure/top_jon.jpg[/img]

and finally the now defunct solotrek that never made it past prototype stage. The company that started it quit after a couple of crashes in testing and evaporation of funds.


Perhaps the most well engineered of the three. The cowled propellers is one of the necessities if we don't want to chop each other's head off. The irony is the propellers amall size and elegance is what caused its instability. The larger propellers are far more stable, hence their success. Engineering is an art of compromise.

These early flyers are still noisy because of the propeller and wind interaction, but they show that it is possible. The thing with inventions like this it takes time. You all should know that the car was not just invented by Karl benz in 1885, but it was a gradual tinkering among gutsy engineers that date back to Cugnot's steam powered car in 1769


Thats a timeline of 116yrs, and it took another 30yrs for the evolution to reach something close to what we have now. There WILL be a flying car. The concept is already viable, all we need is some fiesty marketing genius to change our perception, and a need for them is created. Gottlieb Daimler was that man for the automobile industry, Bill gates for the computer industry. We just need another one for the personal flight industry.

[quote="zebudaya"]hope you know Mercedes is now American owned Daimler Crystler[/quote]

No Its the other way around. DaimlerBenz the parent company of Mercedes took over Chrysler in 1998. That makes Chrysler a german company. Your generalization is quite true, but totally ignorant. Although mercedes has been off their game since 1995, Today their quality is up to standard. They are still the undisputed champions in Luxury cars. The S-class has been top of its class for ever and despite stronger models from competitors, it still outsells its closest rival 3-1.

The maybach is still a waste of money. It does not too much advantage over the S-class compared to its stratosperic pricetag. That explains why the maybach has never sold more than half of its forecasted sales figure of 1000 a year. When it comes to top luxury, S-class is king. If its ULTRA luxury, Rollsroyce and Bentley have a better image.

Cheeruper your plan is not clear could you elaborate how it would work.
first of all do you just need organizers, have you checked the viability of other places apart from abuja, and what type of racing are you intersted in doing?. is it tarmac or dirt?. Small dirt track racing are the easiest to fund. there's no overhead infrastructure cost. drivers pay a small fee to be members and race for bragging rights or trophies, training on racing techniques is given. as poppularity grows vendors are charged to set stands around the race track. Big time sponsors are attracted and it goes from there. this is a graduall process, but no less exciting.

the other way is go tarmac at once. Attracting sponsors would be the biggest task. so prepare a clear and sensible business plan. A racing body is organised. a track is designed and built, racing begins.

A recognized seasonal racing league is highly welcomed and would help develop nigeria's engineers, improving our stand in the automotive world.

This can definitely work in Nigeria, but not until the producer can make a profit from TV shows. Because the show has to make money to love-vendor the rides. I don't know how much the nigerian networks are willing to pay for such a show sometimes forgetting the advertising potensial is huge. On the other hand it can be done on a milder scale. just bringing the car back to brand new and skip the useless expensive TV screens and sound systems.

that is the 1997 concept from the tokyo motor show. this is the longwheel base version of the production car.


not much difference apart from the headlights. I personally see the Maybach as waste of money. When you can buy 3 S-class 550s and still have change. The S550 is the best mass production luxury car in my books.

Nice work by holden. Their engineering might is ever increasing. first they designed and built the new generation GM V6 used in Cadillacs and now Holden itself, now they engineer the platform that GM would use to revive RWD cars in USA and most importantly as the basis for the stunning camaro


The styling of the car is on the conservative side though. My only problem with this car is with fuel prices going nowhere but up. these Big engined holdens would suffer (the base engine is a 3.6L V6), now even more so as Australia is dropping their outragious tarrifs on imports (Toyota camry comes to mind). With $920million invested development seems like a huge gamble. I will be watching how it performs in the market.

I think he's referring to the model names in Nigeria. In Nigeria Honda sells the European/Japanese accord as "accord V-tech" to differenciate it from the larger american version which is simply called "accord" It is different from the VTEC variable valve timing mechanism used in all honda cars.

[img]http://arabam.milliyet.com.tr/fuar/2003/frankfurt/honda_accord_xx.jpg[/img]
EU/Japan accord "accord V-tech" sold as Acura TSX in the US




American accord "accord"

as for price difference I have no clue. I just know that the accord is always more expensive than the accord V-tech

;

I am fully aware of that, that does not mean the guy is dead. We can still join our efforts to make his dream a reality.

Now I'm thinking of following the blueprint of TATA motors $2,200 "Indian peoples car"  which would be assembled on site at the dealerships. Complete kits would be manufactured at one factory, then components shipped to dealerships where they would be assembled on demand. At first I doubted such a scheme would work, but after thorough review of the concept, it began to make sense. It would avoid the huge overhead costs for factory equipment and transportation cost, as it is easier transporting stacked car parts than a fully assembled car. This method is very similar to what the Swedish retail giant IKEA does.

heres a link to the progress of the TATA project  http://www.dancewithshadows.com/one_lakh_car.asp

hers a draft of the early technical specs and layout the press release is below that

Tata Motors on Friday July 7 said it would launch the much-touted Rs one lakh car in early 2008, as the company had completed its styling and designing and tested the prototypes within the plant.

Tata Group Chief Ratan Tata told shareholders that the launch of the car would create a new paradigm in low-cost personal transport, carve out a new market segment and reach a broader base of the pyramid.

"The styling and designing of the car have been completed and prototypes are being tested in the plant. It will be a rear engine, 4-5 seat, four-door car with about a 30 horsepower engine," Tata said in the company's annual report for 2005-06.

The car will be launched in early 2008 and we believe it will be extremely attractive to the Indian consumer, particularly younger families, at a price level of about Rs one lakh, Tata said.

First steps have been taken to locate the manufacturing plant near Kolkata, he added.

Stating that rising fuel costs added strain on the automobile industry in both commercial vehicle and passenger car segments, the Tata Chief said it calls for more fuel- efficient engines and will spur the development of alternate fuels and energy sources for vehicles of the future.

"Tata Motors, like other automobile companies, is exploring various new technologies to meet the new challenges arising from spiraling energy costs," he said.

[size=14pt]This is what Nigeria Should be doing[/size]

One thing is competition to market. there is no greater motivator than competition. At this point only Izuogu's Z600 has reached some sort of national awareness, although I remeber seeing a car built by a professor at UNILAG called the "Tinubu" at the 2002 Lagos trade fare, just before I came to the US for higher education. Since then I haven't seen nor heared nothing about it.

If you have two or more people competing to sell the "first Nigerian car", and it's fueled by much media fanfare, it would involve the public more and speed up the forces to make such happen.

Sometimes too an organised competition would provide intense motivation.  Organisations like Lever Brothers Nigeria PLC, MTN Nigeria, etc could sponsor a competition for "1st to build a Nigerian car AND actually sell it" The companies could provide a lump sum as reward to pay for development expenses. Such motivation would help, because what I see in Dr. Izuogu's Z600 case is a car that is known by only a small circle of people and near 0 motivation and 100% obstruction. I think that should be reversed.

I have already started sending emails to most big companies in Nigeria on this sugestion. Hopefully something comes out of it.

Regarding AMAMCO, they are still fabricating busses powered by mercedes diesel engines albiet in small numbers. Peugeot Association of Nigeria (PAN) is currently the only assembler of paasenger cars. Their business model still bogles my mind, because a brand new 504 is 2 million naira. Now who in their right mind would spend that much money for such an archaic design( aprt from the government officials), when a more modern imported kia or hyundai costs a lot less.

PAN and ANAMCO are partly government owned. there in lies the issue. government owned car companies are always slugish because every worker goes there to make money for himself like you said my2cents. Not only nigeria, but other countries suffer the same reality, Proton of malaysia is the best example. Only in China do government owned carmakers perform well because of the unique internal competitive environment china creates.

We DON'T NEED any government backing to make this happen. read the short history of the sri-lankan car and notice it took just two years to go from prototype to sales, although they had a little government support, that is pretty quick. Izuogu's 1st prototype was completed in 1997 and no sales yet 9 years later.
I would sincerely like to say that Izuogu's car is not necesarily what we have to follow, its just a refrence point. The design has aged so much that even if it enters production people today would not accept it as much as they would 9 years ago.

Lets take a page from the entrepreneurs in the Nigerian movie sector, those folks never waited for the government. they just did what they had to do.

I've moved my forum from naijar..com to naijaCar.proboards99.com

I've always wondered why there is no Nigerian car yet and you have nigerians working for all other international carmakers.

So lets reignite the topic of a Nigerian car, remember the 1997 Z600 by Dr. Ezekiel Izuogu? I remember at that time it was all over the news. That car never came to fruition and Other african countries like South africa and Senegal are just begining to show interest in it.


Izuogu's 90% local content nigerian made car prototype.

What if Nigeria had a national car, , what would it be? thats why I've started the blog naijacar to research ways it can be it can be done. I personally am an amateur car designer and believe strongly in nigerian talent, my portfolio  is at cardesignnews

The first thing that comes to mind is that a nigerian car should be cheap for the masses, much like what the 1903 Ford model T was to USA. we could learn from the renault engineered dacia logan http://renault-logan.eastrolog.com/



the sri-lankan micro car http://www.globalautoindex.com/maker.plt?no=2309&g=Micro


Many other developing nations are leaving nigeria behind in the car maufacturing sector, its high time we show what we can do.

Hello this is my first time here
I have started an online forum http://naijacar..com for nigerians to come together and build a nigerian car.
I am trying to create awareness so as to help advance nigeria into the automotive engineering & manufacturing elite. Please help tranfer the link to students, and others who might be interested.

I am experimenting if open source platform can do for car industry what it has done for the computer industry. what do you think.