Salt Truck: Life-Saving QR Codes, Mazda rumours, and Lister is back (kinda)

This is the first weekly edition of Salt Truck, a column that dissects automotive news to let you know who’s cooking with steam or just blowing smoke.

During the run of a week, we run into numerous stories that require a grain of salt to become palatable. Other stories require a metric ton of sodium chloride just to get past the headline.

We’re here to save you from automotive hypertension. This is the Salt Truck.

Right cart, wrong horse

While there are a vast number of Luddites that exist in the automotive industry – especially automotive journalism – I tend to be of the mind that more technology is better. Not that technology, in and of itself, is a good thing. But, technology that can make my day-to-day tasks easier, allow me to enjoy more quality time with friends and family, or (best of all) save my life, I’m typically very much a proponent.

Mercedes-Benz – builder of the S-Class, which is arguably the most technologically advanced sedan year after year – has announced they will deliver vehicle schematics to first responders by way of QR codes.

QR – or Quick Response – codes were first devised by the automotive industry in Japan as a way to track components and cars during the manufacturing process. Since then, numerous corporate entities, including advertisers, have attempted to co-opt the technology for their own gain.

In the case of Mercedes, by scanning a QR code affixed to the vehicle in question, first responders will then have access to detailed vehicle information to assist them in extracting you safely from a wreck. By safely, I mean for you and first responders. With today’s hybrids and electric vehicles, the last thing a firefighter needs is an unexpected defibrillation by way of cutting through a high-voltage cable or battery.

Except it’s a horrible solution and, at best, it might save one or two lives. Globally.

On one hand, Mercedes should be commended for making an effort to provide our first responders – many of them volunteers – with the information they need to stay safe.

On the other hand, QR code technology is (basically) dead. Very few members of your local fire department are going to be whipping out their iPhone to scan a sticker with their camera phone on a gas filler door.

Part of this has to do with the fact the vast majority of smartphones lack support for QR code scanning without first having to download an app to scan the 2-dimensional Minecraft barcodes.

“The current reality is that [QR codes] are still potentially useful in the public safety environment,” explained Darrell Reid, Deputy Chief of Communications and Technology for Toronto Fire Services.

“Although technologies are emerging that have distinct advantages over QR codes.”

Mercedes-Benz Rescue Assist. Click image to enlarge

He later explained having vehicle schematics pre-loaded on devices would be the best solution. However, those same devices would likely be able to scan QR codes as well. Toronto Fire Services is working toward rolling out tablet- or smartphone-based solutions in the next couple of years.

If you’re wondering, ‘What’s a QR code?’, thanks for driving my point home a little bit further. Even though QR codes have been used for a number of years now, most people still don’t know what they are. There’s even a Tumblr page dedicated to the fact nobody scans QR codes, called ‘Pictures of People Scanning QR-codes,’ where not a single image has been posted.

Mercedes-Benz is doing a great thing by approaching vehicle safety from another perspective, but I’m afraid they’ve attached their cart to the wrong horse.

Choose your Own Salty Adventure – Mazda6 Diesel Hybrid, Mazda6 Coupe, Mazdaspeed3, Etc.

The folks at Motor Trend seem to know everything there is to know about Mazda for the foreseeable future. Including the much-rumoured and almost-certain Mazdaspeed3, MT spins a whole article about plans for a number of models, most of them vapourware.

Other than the Mazdaspeed3, MT believes will see the following Kodo-faced cars in the next couple of years:
Mazda6 Diesel Hybrid
Mazda6 Coupe
Mazdaspeed6
Mazdaspeed2
Mazda1
RX-9
Unnamed electric vehicle
Rotary engine range extender

Let’s start with the plausible options, of which a hybrid with a rotary range extender actually seems the most likely.

Mazda in North America has only a mild-hybrid system, called i-ELOOP, which uses regenerative braking to supply power to electrical components by way of a capacitor instead of a traditional battery pack. Even though Mazda has one of the best CAFE ratings of all brands available in the US, the little Japanese independent needs a hybrid in their ranks to bring in another type of buyer.

A full hybrid with a small rotary engine – something Mazda has already demonstrated with their current generation Mazda2 – seems like something the automaker could put together in fairly short order. And considering the small size of rotary engines, it could easily be put to use in small cars, a segment where it’s harder and harder to find significant fuel economy gains from an engineering perspective unless you go full electric, or nearly. Mazda could also use this for a Mazda6 Hybrid, but…

2015 Mazda3 Sport GT, 2014 Mazda6 (actual factual production cars). Click image to enlarge

… a Mazda6 Diesel Hybrid? Not a chance. At least, not a chance on our shores. Mazda needs to first bring us the non-hybrid diesel they promised us two years ago before they even think about bringing us the vaunted holy grail of fuel economy.

Just as likely is a Mazda6 Coupe. If Motor Trend said there’s a chance of getting a Mazda3 with two doors instead of four, that might be somewhat believable, but the two-door midsize market is dead with only Honda still fielding a competitor with the Accord Coupe.

And do you know what definitely isn’t going to happen before 2020? Any performance Mazda model outside the established MX-5 and Mazdaspeed3. Being an independent automaker allows you some creative license, but also limits your possibilities at the same time. Unfortunately for us, Mazda just doesn’t have the capital to fund development of five different performance models, even if they are using similar components.

Which brings us to the remaining member of the list – the Mazda1 – a car that hasn’t had much buzz around it. There’s a reason for that as well.

Unlike other builders of small cars, Mazda does not currently operate in one of the biggest emerging markets in the world: India.

CEO Masamichi Kogai hinted the automaker could return to India and also use it as an export hub. But, until a solid decision is made on the future of Mazda in emerging markets, consider the Mazda1 an idea sitting in the freezer.

Lister Has Been Resurrected (And It Needs Your Money)

Remember Lister?

In the recent past, you could drive the wedge-shaped Lister Storm in earlier incarnations of the Gran Turismo video game franchise. If you were fairly rich and wanted to go racing, you could even buy one for yourself and head out on track with other rich gentleman.

But, since the Storm was introduced in 1993, a new model wearing the Lister marque has not seen the light of day.

That is until last week when Lister said they were developing a new V12-engined hypercar that will cost – wait for it – $3.6 million CAD.

Yeah, back up the salt truck right here, please.

Lister Hypercar Concept. Click image to enlarge

AutoExpress, who had an exclusive article on the new car, said this:

Lawrence Whittaker, managing director of Lister Cars, exclusively told Auto Express that he plans to take on the Ferrari LaFerrari, McLaren P1, Pagani Huayra and Koenigsegg Agera models with a 7.8-litre, supercharged V12 which will put out 1,000 bhp and be capable of 250 mph.

To his credit, Whittaker has brought back the infamously pretty 1950s-era Lister “Knobbly” Jaguar to critical acclaim. The nine Knobbly recreations that have been built so far have garnered incredible interest and helped raise money and increased awareness in the reborn marque.

However, there is one sentence in the article on AutoExpress that truly explains the situation.

“The company is currently seeking investors to support the project.”

Unless a nutter equally as crazy as Whittaker is willing to part with his cash, consider this project as dead as salt cod.