Articles by Ray Massey

Boutique British sports car maker Morgan has booted its former boss, Charles Morgan, from the company that has borne his family name for over 100 years. The grandson of the company’s founder Henry Morgan was removed from the Morgan board this week, sparking an online revolt from employees in support of the 62 year old.Charles Morgan stepped down from the role of managing director earlier this year, and has since retained the title of ‘ambassador’ and board member for the historic brand.However, the company’s current managing director Steve Morris announced this week that Charles Morgan would no longer have any role within the organisation – with his removal forming part of a company restructuring.Supporters and staff have taken to Twitter to express their disapproval of the move. One employee tweeted: “We can’t believe the company is not being run by a Morgan family member. The general feel around the factory is we would like Charles Morgan back.”“Can’t see how the current management team can be better placed than Charles Morgan to lead the organisation,” said another supporter. One abruptly noted: “Morgan without Charles Morgan isn’t Morgan. Idiots are throwing away their heritage gold card.”Morgan replied to his Twitter supporters: “Thanks from the depth of my heart. You are the lifeblood of the company.”At a conference of business leaders this week, Morgan --who has pledged to appeal the decision-- implied that a family feud could be behind the move, citing his sister and his brother-in-law as relatives who still hold a key role in the family’s finances.Charles explained that he holds a 30 per cent share in the company, and is a beneficiary of a trust whose two trustees share 48 per cent of the company. “One of the trustees is the husband of my sister. My sister has a 10 per cent holding. At this stage this is all I am prepared to discuss,” Morgan said.The Morgan Motor Company was established by Henry Morgan in 1910, who ran it until his death in 1959. Charles’ father Peter succeeded him until he was replaced as chairman by non-family director Alan Garnett between 2003-06.From then, the company was run by a four-man management team that included Charles before he became managing director in 2010.The Morgan Motor Company is set to sell a record 1200 vehicles in 2013 from its range of classic sports cars that start at £33,000 ($55,420) in the UK. In Australia, Morgan currently retails three versions of its classic roadster, kicking off with the Plus 4/4 model at $72,600, and topped with the Morgan Roadster at $129,900. 

With a name like 'Scary Spice', you'd imagine the singer Mel B would drive something a little more challenging than a run-of-the-mill family car. But you might not expect to find her behind the wheel of an armoured fortress bristling with hi-tech anti-personnel gadgets. However, now that the former Spice Girl is carving out a successful TV career hosting shows like Australian The X Factor, she has decided that what she really, really wants is a £200,000 ($345,000) specially modified attack-proof Cadillac Escalade capable of destroying the tyres of pursuing vehicles.Melanie Brown has joined the growing band of jittery U.S. celebrities who are driving armoured vehicles which can withstand bullets, bombs and chemical attacks. Her giant, gas-guzzling sports utility vehicle will even give an electric shock — up to 240 volts-worth of 'non-lethal current' — to car-jackers, paparazzi or anyone else foolish enough to grab the door handles in a bid to gain entry.At the push of a button, it will belch out dense white smoke to help the driver evade any pursuing vehicle, and pump out small spikes to puncture their tyres. Some customers specify pressurised cabins and on-board oxygen supplies to protect against chemical and gas attacks.Mel B's specially armoured and fully loaded seven-seater vehicle was delivered to her at her home in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, recently by Jason Forston, vice-president of the Texas Armoring Corporation in San Antonio. His 38-year-old Leeds-born client also has an armoured Range Rover and Mercedes-Benz S-Class on order, he said.Texas Armoring employs 50 people and customises about 200 vehicles a year, usually for heads of state, politicians, business executives, diplomats and royal families. But more recently, Hollywood celebrities and sport stars have sparked a mini-boom in armoured vehicles as the worsening international climate — from chemical strikes in Syria to terrorist attacks in Boston and Kenya — have made them twitchy about their personal safety and the risk of kidnap or worse.These stars include British actor Sacha Baron Cohen and the rapper Kanye West, who recently ordered two outrageous Latvian-built Prombron Iron Diamonds costing around £800,000 ($1.4m) each. They are made by Dartz Motorz, the same company which built Sacha Baron Cohen's gold-plated presidential SUV which featured in his film The Dictator.Texas Armoring's Mr Forston, 32, said: 'Five years ago we had no Hollywood celebrities as customers. Nowadays, we have anywhere between 10 to 15 orders a year from celebrities and professional athletes.' They include Steven Seagal and rapper TI, who has a blinged-up version of Mel B's Cadillac Escalade, including a 32in flat-screen television with satellite TV and mobile Wi-Fi.Love-cheat golfer Tiger Woods is also understood to have one of the firm's armoured cars, which is presumably more than capable of withstanding a sustained attack from an angry wife wielding a nine-iron. Mel B — who is a judge on America's Got Talent and has been co-hosting NBC's Today show — and her producer husband Stephen Belafonte have opted for a traditional family-friendly interior to suit the lifestyles of her daughters Phoenix, Angel, Madison and stepdaughter Giselle.Mr Forston said: 'I delivered it to their house in Beverly Hills. They are very good people. We all went for a test drive so they knew how to use all the different options. Her husband is a big car guy. She drove it for a while — and on the right side. 'It's pretty much the standard leather interior. They've got kids so are pretty down to earth about things.'From the outside, these cars are virtually indistinguishable from the standard models — but have been stripped down to the frame and rebuilt with armour and hi-tech gadgets. In a country where guns are part of the fabric of day-to-day life — 'I carry a gun in my pocket every day: we're in Texas,' says Mr Forston — customers can specify a special gun-port through which to shoot at attackers on the outside. And Texas Armoring clearly has supreme confidence in its product.In an astonishing video on the firm's website — which comes with a 'don't try this at home' health warning — president and chief executive Trent Kimball is seen crouching behind a sheet of the company's bullet-proof glass while a young employee shoots at him with an AK-47. He lives to tell the tale as the triple-glazing shows up the spider-web impact of the bullets which nevertheless fail to penetrate the glass.But the American firm draws the line at emulating one South African security company which fitted a flame-thrower to a top-of-the-range BMW. At the push of a dashboard button, it shoots up a wall of fire outside the driver's car door in order to incinerate any would-be car-jacker.Demand for armoured cars is also on the increase on this side of the Atlantic. In Britain they are popular with Eastern European oligarchs. Luxury car-makers such as Jaguar Land Rover, BMW, Bentley and Mercedes-Benz already have their own 'in-house' security arms which build in armouring from scratch. Mr Forston acknowledges their high level of expertise, but says his company — which takes apart existing cars and customises them with armour and gadgets before re-assembling them — can do almost as high a specification but at a fraction of the cost.Among the car makes they tackle are Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Lotus, Audi, BMW, Porsche, Maserati, Volvo and even the more humble Honda, Volkswagen, Toyota and Ford. The most expensive car Mr Forston has sold to date is a customised and armoured £500,000 ($870,000) stretch Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon for an unnamed client.When he was Prime Minister, Tony Blair took delivery of a fully armoured BMW 7-series — dubbed the 'Blair Panzer' after the German word for armour. Ironically, on delivery in London, police found that illegal immigrants had stowed away in the container lorry transporting it to Britain.David Cameron has, as his official car, an armoured, top-of-the-range Jaguar XJ. But trumping them all is U.S. President Barack Obama with his gargantuan armoured Cadillac-style limousine, dubbed 'The Beast', which follows him around the globe on official visits. Security expert Robert Siciliano, in New York, says that for the super-rich earning millions, the cost of an armoured vehicle is a drop in the ocean and a sensible investment.'What's your life worth?' he says. 'A bullet costs about 25 cents. It will go through a non-armoured vehicle pretty efficiently. So to spend three-quarters of a million dollars on an armoured vehicle isn't that outrageous.' No doubt, Scary Spice would agree. The former Spice Girl's current vehicle certainly brings a whole new meaning to the term 'girl power'. 

Back seat driving might be the biggest annoyance, but it’s the front passenger seat that is most distracting, according to a study in the UK. More than a third of the motorists surveyed say their spouse or partner is the passenger that distracts them most, increasing their chances of crashing. When asked who their least favourite passengers were, 16 per cent said their significant other. Just 12 per cent said hitchhikers. The survey, by insurance comparison site Confused.com, found a fifth of drivers have had an accident when someone else was in the car. One in 14 of those drivers blamed the behaviour of passengers for the crash. When it came to naming passengers’ most annoying habits, back-seat driving came top. Other things that drive us up the wall include too much talking and fiddling with the radio. Overall, more than a third of drivers (35 per cent) say passengers do affect their driving behaviour. The survey of 2000 motorists highlighted how travelling with a troublesome passenger can impact on a driver’s behaviour in a number of ways. More than one in five drivers (21 per cent) admit getting more easily distracted when they have a passenger in their vehicle, with a further one in seven (15 per cent) admitting to getting stressed by the actions of their passengers. One in four motorists (25 per cent) also claim to feel nervous when they have someone travelling in the car with them. Parents top the list as motorists’ least favourite car companion (16 per cent), closely followed by drivers’ husbands or wives (14 per cent). Drivers are most likely to change their behaviour when travelling with children (32 per cent) in the car, the research reveals. Of these, more than three quarters (79 per cent) admit driving more carefully with children on board, with a further 29 per cent saying that they concentrate more on the road with little ones on board. Younger drivers, aged 18 to 34, appear to be the most affected by their passengers, with nearly half of these motorists (47 per cent) admitting that their driving can change according to who is sitting in the passenger seat. And one in seven (15 per cent) of motorists admitting singing along to music and playing games (10 per cent) with their random companions.

Rolls-Royce says the Wraith is the most powerful car they’ve ever produced. It is also probably one of the sleekest machines to bear the prestige marque.For those qualities alone, the £225,000 ($331,445 AUD) Rolls-Royce Wraith is one of the stars of the Geneva Motor Show. But this car is rather clever, too. It can read the road that hasn’t quite come into the driver’s view yet.Using GPS mapping, it pre-selects the correct gear for what lies ahead – even when confronted with potentially complicated situations such as roundabouts and motorway junctions.A company spokesman said: ‘The satellite aided transmission uses GPS data to see beyond what the driver sees; it anticipates his or her next move based on location and current driving style, then selects the most appropriate gear for the terrain ahead.’Naturally the driver retains ultimate control of the car’s automatic gearbox through the brakes and accelerator. Apart from the transmission, the latest technology is also deployed in the Wraith’s steering and suspension and in its voice-activated controls – ‘the on-board valet’.These include the satellite navigation, meaning the car can simply be told its destination. The low-slung Wraith has the sweeping styling of a ‘fastback’ coupe and Rolls-Royce describes the four-seater as ‘the ultimate gentleman’s grand tourer’.The latest car to bear the Spirit of Ecstasy Flying Lady figurine is powered by a mighty 6.7 litre V12 petrol engine developing 458 kilowatts – equivalent to six Ford Fiestas. Linked to an eight-speed automatic gear-box, the Wraith will accelerate from rest to 100km/h in 4.4 seconds with its top speed artificially limited to 249.45 km/h.Rolls-Royce said the car, reviving a name first used in 1938, goes on sale in late autumn. But you’ll need deep pockets for the fuel bills. The Wraith averages just 20.2 miles to the gallon.The company said: ‘It has the most powerful, involving driving experience of any Rolls-Royce in history. Rolls-Royce was founded after sales and marketing genius Charles Stewart Rolls, a passionate racing driver, balloonist and aviator, met engineer Henry Royce at the Midland Hotel in Manchester on May 4, 1904, with the aim of creating the world’s finest car.BMW bought Rolls-Royce Motor Cars from Vickers PLC in 1998 following a bidding war with Volkswagen, which secured Bentley. It employs 1,050 staff at its boutique factory near Chichester, having taken on an extra 100 staff last year. 

Thousands, it seems, are using smartphones to log on as they drive, as well as sending emails, tweeting and texting. The lure of Facebook, Twitter email and texts is just too much for a fifth of drivers aged from 17 to 24, who admit to endangering lives so they can keep up with their online contacts at the wheel. The lengths to which they will go for their fix were revealed by the RAC in Britain in its annual report.Road safety experts say the situation is getting worse because using a phone is not yet as socially unacceptable as drink-driving for young motorists. Eleven per cent of all drivers also looked at apps and websites, listened to music or even played games on their phones. Drug-driving is also on the rise, particularly among younger drivers, despite Government plans for a crackdown. The number of 17 to 24-year-olds driving after taking drugs has nearly doubled from 5 per cent to 9 per cent. RAC technical director David Bizley said "The growth of the new breed of motoring offences, like drug-driving and social networking behind the wheel, is highly concerning. These offences don’t yet have the same social taboo that drink-driving holds." Studies by insurers show that drivers using hand-held phones are twice as likely to crash, while research by the Institute of Advanced Motorists and the Transport Research Laboratory at Crowthorne, Berkshire, concluded "Using smartphones for social networking while driving is more dangerous than drink-driving or being high on cannabis behind the wheel." Police figures suggest phone use is a contributing factor in 2 per cent of road fatalities. However, the RAC report says too few offenders are prosecuted, adding "Only 124,700 people were given a fixed-penalty notice for driving without a hands-free kit last year." Too many motorists do not treat using hand-held mobiles as an offence, which suggests that current penalties aren’t working." According to the RAC report – from a survey of 1,002 motorists – 42 per cent want to see drivers banned for mobile phone-related offences. But almost a quarter think they are unlikely to get caught if they break traffic laws. Although the 17 to 24-year-olds were the worst offenders when it came to using smartphones for emails and social networking behind the wheel, their older counterparts aren’t far behind. Of those aged 25 to 44, 18 per cent owned up to the offence – up a half from 12 per cent last year. Drivers caught using a hand-held phone at the wheel face three points and a £60 (equivalent to $97) fine, which is set to increase to between £80 (equivalent to $129) and £100 (equivalent to $161). Serious offenders may be banned and fined £1,000 (equivalent to $1,609), and a driver who kills someone while using a phone can be jailed for 14 years.  

If you fancy a nifty, not-so-thrifty top-down car, this could be the one for you. (If you don’t have a spare $1500 for every 1 km/h of speed you want to squeeze out of a car, look away now.)Top speed is 317km/h. The base model costs a fraction shy of $490,000. But boy, is it fun. Very naughty. But fun. Rocket-like acceleration. The raw figures — from 0-100km/h in 3.8 seconds — don’t do it justice, especially if you have the top down.This is an awesome, fire-breathing dragon, and it sounds like one when you press the ‘start’ button to ignite the engine. Chief engineer Scotty from the Starship Enterprise would struggle to get more warp speed out of this beast. It makes a sweet and deep noise from the exhaust when you floor the accelerator. Three modes of driving — comfort, sport and sport plus. I had it in sport for most of the time. It hares off as if dragged by wild horses. The torpedo-like bonnet is a beauty to behold. Snug and sumptuous inside while still being sporty. Nice brushed metal switches and tactile feel to the leather interior and dashboard.You sit low as if you’re a pilot, in a spacecraft-like cockpit. This car will certainly get you noticed. I attracted an inordinate amount of female attention (and not all down to my stunning good looks). The car’s pulling power had something to do with it.Let’s face it, unless you are a top footballer or a business chief with enough spare wonga to splash out the equivalent of a one-bedroom flat in a desirable suburb, forget it. The base price of this car is $487,500, but there is a long list of extras that can be loaded on to it. AMG ceramic brakes or the AMG Designo metallic silver paint will each set you back close to $30,000, carbon fibre engine cover is $12,600, cabron fibre interior styling package is $11,025..,that's just a taste of the top shelf options.And at 13.3L/100km — and 20L/100km around town — it’s a true gas-guzzler. It certainly awakened the inner ‘flash git’ in me. But it also raises the ire of other drivers. They really don’t like you. Best to wear shades. Amazing how many white-van men and young punks with their seats set low and their baseball hats high want to race you. Get a life. Rise above it. You can’t compete.

But things are changing quickly, and China’s capital city will probably have nine million cars soon as well.This is why the centre of gravity in the motor industry has moved East and all major car companies — including Jaguar, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin and Ferrari — made a beeline to exhibit their wares at the Auto China 2012 motor show this week.China is the world’s largest car market. It passed the US in 2009 in total sales numbers — shifting 18.5 million vehicles last year. Carmakers expect annual sales in China to rise to 30 million vehicles a year by 2020. Several hope to double their sales from the 2011 levels by 2015.So it's no surprise that the flavour of Beijing show is hinting at that future. Star of the show was the outrageous Lamborghini Urus — a bullish supercar sports utility vehicle from the Italian car-maker.The Urus, set to go on sale from 2016 is a beast that Volkswagen-owned Lamborghini reckons will be the fastest-accelerating 4x4 on the planet, with a 0-100km/h time of less than 4.7 seconds and a top speed of about 300km/h, thanks to its hybrid four-litre petrol engine linked to an electric motor. Just the thing for the school run.Volkswagen showed off a sporty Beetle roadster that took my fancy. And there weren’t as many knock-off lookalikes as in previous years, though some Chinese makers had a crack at a Rolls-Royce and a Mini.And in China, the People’s Flag may be deepest red, but they also like to fly the Union Jack. The British flag was much in evidence, especially on the Chinese-owned MG stand, where it adorned a map of the British Isles, and also on the German-owned Mini stand. Indeed, Mini went the whole hog with what looked like models posing as flat-capped cockney barrow boys.Hats off also to MG, the once-great British sports car marque, now owned by Shanghai Automotive. Brilliant stand and it won the show’s best ‘concept’ — the MG Icon, a 21st-century take on the MGB, which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary. 

How exciting to see Victoria Beckham unveiling the special edition Range Rover Evoque, which she helped design.Land Rover chief designer Gerry McGovern was at pains in Beijing to point out that he actually designed the car. Posh contributed ideas on how a special exterior and interior trim might look. Super-talented and immaculately dressed Gerry, himself no shrinking violet in the ego stakes, said that when it comes to cars, Posh ‘reports to me’.My spies tell me that what was at the heart of the chippiness was a row over darkened glass. Victoria wanted it. Gerry didn’t. That may go some way to explaining his comments such as: ‘She’d be the first to admit she’s not a car designer.She’s a fashion designer. Victoria has brought something to it, which is quite unique. She very soon became part of the team. But if I didn’t like something, it was not going anywhere.‘But we had a great belief that we were doing something that would give credibility to the Range Rover brand. ‘She’s a real precision merchant. She is incredibly uncompromising.’ So there! 

In a repeat of the MG Rover fiasco, they fear up to 1,400 UK jobs could be lost and the 60-year-old business exported lock, stock and barrel to the communist People’s Republic.Lotus was sold 16 years ago to Malaysian car-maker Proton which developed and nurtured the firm.This year, it was on the brink of a massive £500million expansion when a new and bigger set of Malaysian owners – the industrial conglomerate DRB-Hicom – took it over.This business, however, is said to have little interest in making Lotus cars and has appointed City firm KPMG to find a potential Chinese buyer, Parliament has been told.DRB-Hicom insists no decision has been taken on Lotus’s future. But it will not rule out a sell-off.Lotus chief executive Dany Bahar, on a pay and bonus package worth £1.2million, had his employment extended in December, just a month before the Malaysian deal was revealed.It now includes a controversial bonus clause worth millions of pounds in the event of a sell-off which MPs were told means he is ‘incentivised to sell Lotus’.Conservative MP for South Norfolk Richard Bacon told Parliament up to 1,400 British jobs are at risk if the UK factory in Hethel, Norfolk, is dismantled and production moved to the Far East.Ministers pledged to ‘keep Lotus in Britain’ when Mr Bacon was granted a Commons’ debate on the issue late on Tuesday. Mr Bacon said: ‘The fact that KPMG has been appointed with a mandate to sell Group Lotus to the Chinese is not an encouraging sign.’Business Secretary Vince Cable raised concerns with Mr Bahar on Tuesday – less than a day after the car boss’s return from Beijing where he unveiled a new model specifically for China. The company has struggled to make a profit in recent years and it recorded pre-tax losses of £26.1million last year.Mr Bacon said industry experts have warned him of a ‘worst case scenario’ in which Group Lotus would be put into administration, allowing a Chinese buyer to acquire it cheaply – as happened when MG Rover collapsed in 2005, with the loss of 6,000 jobs. A rump of production was eventually resumed at the Longbridge plant two years later.Lotus strenuously denied suggestions that a ‘fire sale’ strategy was being contemplated, or that it could be put into administration, but bosses have not ruled out selling the firm.Group Lotus has ambitious five-year expansion plan for the Hethel plant, which would create 1,000 new jobs, and the Government rubber-stamped a £10million taxpayer-funded grant last year.But that regional growth fund grant is now on hold while Lotus’s new Malaysian owner decides its future.Prospective bidders are likely to include China Youngman, which has been Lotus’s importer in China for the last five year.Business Minister Mark Prisk said Lotus ‘must remain in Britain’, adding: ‘Ministers at the very highest level are taking this matter very seriously. We are working to make sure the new owners understand Norfolk is the home of Lotus.’The Government remains ready to press ahead with its £10million grant to Lotus – but only if the expansion plans for the UK go ahead.Norfolk Council leader Derrick Murphy said: ‘It is important we continue to press the case for the company as so many livelihoods depend on Lotus being based here in Norfolk.’Lotus said: ‘Dany Bahar remains totally committed to Lotus. His over-riding priority is securing the future of the company and protecting its employees.’E FOR ELITELotus was founded in 1952 by car engineer Colin Chapman with the help of a £50 loan from his wife HazelHis initials still form part of the marque’s badgeThe Lotus name is said to come from Chapman’s nickname for his wifeMost models begin with an E – a tradition started with the Lotus Eleven. Chapman liked the way the letter soundedHe died of a heart attack aged 54 in 1982. 

She’s tried music, proved herself a success in the world of fashion and now she’s having a go at motor cars. Nobody’s suggesting she has had a great deal to do with developing the 4x4’s engine or engineering its six-speed automatic gearbox. Instead Mrs Beckham is responsible for giving the vehicle what’s called an ultra-modern exterior – quite an achievement given that the original car hasn’t been around very long anyway – and a luxury interior. This week she unveiled the car at the Beijing Motor Show and clearly China’s super-rich are part of its target market. However, motorists who want the Beckham touch need to hurry. Only 200 models will be released by Range Rover. At £80,000, the Range Rover Evoque Victoria Beckham Special Edition costs more than twice as much as the standard model. Powered by a 2-litre petrol engine, it has top speed of 135mph and can reach 60mph in 7.1seconds. Mrs Beckham said she used her own experiences of luxury cars in her design to create something she and her husband David would want to drive. She said at the motor show: ‘I want a car that reflects my personality.’ The Evoque has deep-pile mohair floor mats after Mrs Beckham insisted on recreating the feeling of luxury carpets she experienced in her father’s Rolls Royce as a girl. Rose gold accents on the vehicle’s 20in gloss black alloy wheels look like spinning golden bands when the car is in motion. There are rose gold-plated highlights on the dashboard and air-conditioning buttons and soft tan leather on the seats. Built at Jaguar Land Rover’s Halewood factory on Merseyside, the car has a stealth grey matt exterior.  The launch comes almost two years after the former Spice Girl unveiled the original Evoque at Kensington Palace.