AutoZine Blog

Having not updated AutoZine for one and a half month, my mailbox is full of reader’s emails asking what happened to me…

“I’m worrying if you are ill or any accident happened to you…”"Monsieur, are you dead ?” (this is probably the silliest question in the world !!)

“Are you maybe tired of maintaining this highly respected but non-commercial site, or you have too much of your regular work ?”

Well, I am fine and living well. In fact, in the past month or so I have been working busily on another project. It is probably the most important project to me since establishing AutoZine… and now I think it is time to announce it to my readers: I am going to get married next Saturday !!!

Surprise? unbelievable that I got time to date with girl? you might remember in 15 Steps to create something like AutoZine, I wrote that in order to run a high-quality web site, you have to work days and nights, cut all other hobbies and split with your girl friend ! that was what I did many years ago… but you know, when the time comes, when the right person arrives, there is no way to escape… (oh, poor Mark !)

So, the only solution is to marry with my girl, turning her into my wife. That should save me enormous time for dating and watching those silly Hollywood movies ! besides, someone will take over the cleaning job in my house ! Suddenly I found the investment in the past few years is worthwhile, haha !

Well, back to reality. If you are interested to hear my true feeling and know about my love story, you may visit our wedding homepage and drop me some words there. But warn you, our story is 100 percent unrelated to cars, so don’t complain for boring you !

Regarding AutoZine, I expect there will be few updates in the following month or so as we will move into a new home and take some time to settle down. I hope my kind readers will understand.

Despite of my marriage, the long term development of AutoZine is guaranteed. By next September, it will be 10 years old (how many 10-year-old automotive web sites are still running today?). There could be some big changes to my job next year as various opportunities are emerging and it’s time to think whether to continue or to take other opportunities… On the other hand, commercializing AutoZine will be on the agenda, most likely through donation or advertisement. Hopefully that will generate extra income to allow me spending more time on AutoZine. There are plenty of opportunities lying ahead, but right now only one thing matters: get well prepared to be a handsome groom !

2006-12-06

Mark Wan

Manufacturers page updated to 2005

After a lot of research, I have finally updated the Manufacturers page to 2005 production / sales figures. When you read the figures, please don’t forget I spent a lot of time to search for the data, including searching in manufacturer’s press release and reading dozens of annual reports.

During the research I found most Western car makers are willing to disclose details of their sales and production data, especially Germany car makers, which reveal production figures for each models. Japanese car makers are not so transparent. Hyundai group even revealed contradictive data. However, worst of all is Proton, which is so far yet to provide sales or production data for 2005. Its annual report is also the only one in the car industry without giving the very important unit sales or production figures. Instead, it spent dozens of pages to introduce its board members and top managers (like advertisement). From these tiny things you can see a corporate culture and forecast its future.

Old reports recovered

Good news ! as you know, I lost most of the old reports because I didn’t save them until last year. Now thanks to the advice by a reader, I can recover most of the reports from Internet Archive server http://web.archive.org. There are reports for 132 model families already recovered (although most photos are not recoverable). I will put them in The Graveyard after edited.

The following reports are unrecoverable:

BMW 8-series

Chrysler JA series – only brief report found

Chrysler Sebring old

Chrysler Voyager

Fiat Punto I

Fiat Coupe

GM Chevrolet Lumina

Honda EV-Plus

Honda Civic (pre-2001)

Honda Acura CL (pre-2000) – only brief report found

Lancia Dedra

Mazda 929 – only brief report found

Mercedes C-class / C43 AMG old

Mercedes E-class old

Mitsubishi Lancer (pre-2001)

Nissan 200SX / 240SX

Opel Sintra

Subaru Vivio

Toyota Tercel

Toyota Lexus LS400

Toyota Previa

Toyota Soarer / Lexus SC

Venturi Atlantic 300

Fortunately these early reports were not very well written. Apart from 8-series, Fiat Coupe and Venturi Atlantic 300, I don’t feel much regret of losing them.

Welcome to the facelifted AutoZine !

This is the first major facelift for 5 years. We have a homepage which looks more professional while keeping the merit of the old page: clear and easy to navigate.

Apart from the new look, we have added some features:

1. AutoZine Blog

This is the page you are reading now. It is used to publish:

-          Editorials (all the past editorials have been uploaded)

-          Instant thoughts

-          Site update announcement

-          Recommended readings

-          Reader letters: your emails will be published here if they are worth sharing with other readers.

2. Editorials

Simply a link to the Editorial category of the Blog.

3. The Graveyard

The new archive for placing reports for outdated cars. Whenever a car has ceased production, its report will be moved from New Car archive to The Graveyard.

4. History

A brief history of AutoZine.

5. April Fool’s joke

A collection of the past April Fool’s jokes.

6. Search in AutoZine

A search function powered by Google.

HOW TO USE THE NEW FEATURES:

Note that the AutoZine homepage hides behind the AutoZine Blog window. You can move the split frame to reallocate the area between the homepage and the blog.

That’s all. It’s user friendly. Isn’t it? Now enjoy your ride !

Mark Wan