These Were The Top 10 Most Popular Searches On Google In 2014 Each year, Google releases a list of the topics we’ve collectively sear...
Showing posts with label 2014. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2014. Show all posts
The 10 most expensive auction cars of 2014
According to the market experts at Hagerty, 2014 was a banner year for collector-car sales, with more than $1.3 billion in action from th...
Auto Expo 2014: 10 launches to watch out for
The 12th edition of the Auto Expo is all set to begin on 7th February. With as many as 70 new cars expected to break cover during the even...
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Showing posts with label 2014. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2014. Show all posts
Wednesday, 31 December 2014
These Were The Top 10 Most Popular Searches On Google In 2014
These Were The Top 10 Most Popular Searches On Google In 2014
Each year, Google releases a list of the topics we’ve collectively searched for the most over the past 12 months. Each year, I try and see how many I can guess beforehand.
This year, I got about half. How many can you get? [Pro tip: remember, people generally search for depressing/scary stuff more than pretty much anything else.]
Google released two lists this year — one for US search trends, and one for worldwide search trends. The lists are mostly the same, with just a few differences.
US Trending Searches:
- Robin Williams
- World Cup
- Ebola
- Malaysia Airlines
- Flappy Bird
- ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
- ISIS
- Ferguson
- Frozen
- Ukraine
Global Trending Searches:
- Robin Williams
- World Cup
- Ebola
- Malaysia Airlines
- ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
- Flappy Bird
- Conchita Wurst
- ISIS
- Frozen
- Sochi Olympics
The two lists are strikingly similar, save for the global list leaning toward Conchita Wurst and the Sochi Olympics in place of Ferguson and Ukraine.
Interesting to note: this is the first year in a few where an Apple product didn’t make the cut. (2010 had iPad; 2011 featured both iPhone 5 and iPad 3; 2012 had iPad 3 again; 2013 had the iPhone 5S in spot #2)
Also of note: as far as I can recall, Flappy Bird is the first mobile app to crack Google’s top 10. Having a wildly successful app is one thing — but an app that becomes one of the most searched for things around the entire world? Achievement unlocked. (Google notes that 2048 and Flappy Bird, both one-man projects, beat out Destiny, the most expensive game ever developed.)
(Note: this list is based on year-versus-year search trends; it’s about how popular a topic is this year versus last, not raw frequency. If it were just raw frequency, Google says the most popular searches wouldn’t change much.)
Monday, 29 December 2014
The 10 most expensive auction cars of 2014
According to the market experts at Hagerty, 2014 was a banner year for collector-car sales, with more than $1.3 billion in action from the major events in Arizona, Pebble Beach and elsewhere. Here's the Hagerty list of the 10 most expensive cars sold at auction this year
Forget Wall Street, or Silicon Valley. Oh, to be a dealer in exotic cars. Your biggest problem would be where to stash all the loot.
Consider that 2013 was surely thought to be a high water mark in the collectible car world, with $1.2 billion in auction house sales. But 2014 will beat that, notching $1.3 billion in hawked sheetmetal — about a third of that during Pebble Beach’s iconic auction week — thanks in large part to vintage Ferrari sales that continue to beggar belief.
Consider that the 10 most expensive cars sold this year were all Prancing Horse models from the ‘50s or ‘60s, which combined brought in north of $125 million. For just ten cars.
Numero uno? A 1962 Ferrari GTO that Bonhams sold for $38 million. Second? A 275 GTB/C for $26 million hammered down by RM Auctions. Well, let’s see, what’ll it be today, a new sprawling ranch in Colorado, or a car?
“It was another banner year for classic cars, with gains at the top-end and more modest growth for the bulk of the market,” says McKeel Hagerty, CEO of the classic car insurer Hagerty, which tallied the 2014 auction stats.
While the Ferrari numbers don’t surprise Hagerty, interest in cars for far saner prices suggest 2015 may witness a new crop of stars coming to the fore. “For example,” he says, “as some people have been priced out of the Shelby Cobra market, they have shifted their focus to Sunbeam Tigers, a lightweight British roadster with an American V8.”
Conversations with execs from four top auction houses echo a few overlapping themes, while revealing some disagreement over some hot models will continue their meteoric rise.
For starters, everyone’s in agreement that these prices are no fluke. Unlike the crazy and largely speculator-driven boom in the late ‘80s, when seemingly anything exotic sold for comical multiples of its true value, today’s huge sales are for vehicles that could well be considered rare automotive art.
“There is a solid foundation around the current boom,” says Alan Squindo, vice president at RM, whose top three sales were the aforementioned 275, a 1964 Ferrari 250 LM ($11 million) and a 1967 Ferrari 275 ($10 million).
“What you won’t hear about are the cars that did not sell for $10 or $20 million. It’s only the cream that rises,” he says. “It’s the best color, the best restoration, the best history. You’ve got to have the perfect storm.”
David Gooding of Gooding and Company is adamant “we’re not in a bubble,” and in fact is not so secretly pleased whenever high-priced cars that perhaps aren’t quite superstars fail to achieve sales figures that should be reserved for truly rare steeds.
“Some cars’ (valuations) had been going up too fast I thought, which wasn’t sustainable, so it’s great to see sanity prevail,” says Gooding, whose top three sellers were a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT ($15 million), a 1955 Aston Martin DB3S ($5.5 million) and a world-record setting McLaren F1 GTR ($5.2 million). “Naysayers say cars not hitting their mark is a sign of weakness (in the market). No, I say that just shows that there is always strong demand for fresh, quality cars at the right price.”
Frank Mecum, 2014 represented “our biggest year of growth yet, in fact, we are enjoying peak years that I feel will continue for another two or three.”
Mecum’s outfit is particularly known for its sales of classic American iron, and this past year saw some big numbers for a range of machines. Topping the heap was a 1964 Ford GT40 Prototype, which fetched $7 million. Next was a 1971 Plymouth Hemi Cuda at $3.5 million, and third was yet another Ferrari, this one a 1961 Ferrari 250 Series II Cabriolet at $2.2 million.
“For 2015, I’m predicting more growth in a broader range of marques,” says Mecum. “And I’ll go ahead and say that the biggest growth could be in motorcycles. For such a long time it’s been a small hobby, but I see that changing.”
Drew Alcazar of Russo and Steele says he has been through three classic car booms and busts. And while he’s been the beneficiary of this most recent explosion in values — top three in 2014: 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300SL at $1.3, 1966 Lamborghini 350GT at $740,000 and a 1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona at $730,000 — he thinks today’s prices are causing some exotic owners to be overly optimistic.
“It’s interesting, today you talk to someone about consigning their (Ferrari) 330 GTC or even a Daytona or Dino, and they don’t want to sell them,” says Alcazar. “They seem sure their cars will be worth double soon. But will these prices leap exponentially as they have in the past 18 months? No.”
He uses the example of a classic ‘50s Mercedes Gullwing, which in roughly six years has tripled in value from $500,000 to $1.5 million. “Will that car triple again by 2020?” he asks. “I doubt it.”
Like all the top auto auction houses, Russo and Steele looks to the annual week-long car extravaganza in Pebble Beach as both a showpiece and guideline for the industry. While this past summer’s event raked in an impressive $430 million, Alcazar saw hints of sanity in the crazy sales.
“I noticed a leveling at Monterey this year, a hesitancy to perpetuate the exponential compounding of values for some cars,” he says, pointing specifically to Porsche’s legendary air-cooled 911 sports car. While very special editions of the model continue to see mushrooming values - such as rare RS, Turbo and Speedster variants — Alcazar says that 2015 may be the year that more pedestrian model values fall back to earth.
“The 911 is a special car, but it’s important to understand there are a ton of them out there,” he says, and Porsche itself brags that some 70% of its vehicles are still on the road today. “People will always pay for stellar, no stories cars. But the rest, they may not.”
As the new classic car auction calendar unfolds in Scottsdale, Ariz., next month with events from Gooding, RM, Barrett-Jackson and others, it will be interesting to see what their top sales tell us about the year to come.
Saturday, 1 February 2014
Auto Expo 2014: 10 launches to watch out for
The 12th edition of the Auto Expo is all set to begin on 7th February. With as many as 70 new cars expected to break cover during the event, the 2014 Auto Expo will be the biggest India has ever witnessed. As we are gearing up for the comprehensive coverage, here’s a look at the 10 hottest launches to watch out for.
- Maruti Suzuki is all set to launch the Celerio hatchback at the 2014 Auto Expo. Expected to be the most popular launch of the year, the Celeriogets a 1.0-litre, 3-cylinder K-Series petrol engine that develops of 67bhp and 90Nm of peak torque.
Celerio will introduce Auto Gear Shift, which will have the flexibility of both manual mode and auto drive mode in the same car, with a simple shift of gear lever. Maruti claims a mileage figure of 23.1kmpl
Hyundai Grand i10 was one of the most popular launches of 2013. Hot on the heels of this grand success, Hyundai will unveil a sedan version of the Grand
Expected to be launched in February 2014, the Grand sedan will be priced aggressively to take on Honda Amaze and Maruti Dzire
Nissan has re-launched the Datsun brand after 32 years. Datsun will launch its first car early this year called the Datsun GO. The Datsun GO will be priced under Rs. 4 lakhs in India and will be powered by a 1.2-litre, 3-cylinder engine, paired to a 5-speed manual gearbox
The same engine does duty on the Nissan Micra Active, producing 68 PS and 104 Nm. However in the Datsun GO, the company might detune the engine in the interest of boosting fuel economy
Honda will re-launch the revised Jazz in 2014. Although the first generation Jazz had a much-loved design, poor pricing resulted in bad sales
The 2014 Jazz will certainly be aggressively priced and will also have the advantage of a diesel powertrain and a futuristic design
VW's Taigun is likely to be the first car on the Up platform (codename: PQ12) to come to India. The Taigun concept, based on a stretched version of the VW Up's NSF (New Small Family) platform, made its debut at the Sao Paolo International Motor Show in October last year and previews VW's future SUV face
With its bold, clean styling, the Taigun is sure to appeal to the Indian psyche. It looks a lot less radical than the Ford EcoSport and its less controversial lines are designed to appeal to everyone and offend no one. As for the interiors, VW designed it to resemble the simplicity of the latest smartphones. Its clean, minimalist look aims at being visually clear and simple to use
Mobilio, the third car to be built on the Brio platform, marks Honda’s entry into the MPV segment in India. The Mobilio will be available with the 1.5-litre i-VTEC petrol and 1.5-litre i-DTEC diesel options
Both engines will be mated to a five-speed manual transmission. The production version of the Mobilio is expected to be unveiled at the 2014 Delhi Auto Expo
Audi is all set to unveil its A3 sedan at the Auto Expo. It is Audi’s first compact sedan in the luxury segment to come into the Indian market
Along with the A3, Audi will also showcase special editions of Q3, Q5, the sportier SQ5, Q7 and its recently launched sports car Audi RS 7 Sportback
The BMW 3 Series GT will be one of the most important launches by the Bavarian carmaker at the Delhi Auto Expo
The GT model is 200mm longer, 50mm taller and 17mm wider than the regular 3 Series model. The GT 3 Series comes with a 2-liter diesel engine producing 184bhp, while the petrol variant gets 2.0-liter motor developing 245bhp of power output
Mercedes-Benz India will unveil the dynamically styled Concept GLA and CLA45 AMG at the 12th edition of the Auto Expo. Focusing on the company’s ‘Year of Excellence’ strategy, Mercedes-Benz will also launch its first SUV Guard
The AMG 2.0-liter turbo engine, with a maximum output of 265 kW (360 hp) and up to 450 Newton meters of torque, is the most powerful turbocharged four-cylinder engine in series production in the world
Hyundai will launch the new Santa Fe in India at the Auto Expo. The full-sized SUV is expected to undercut Toyota Fortuner in terms of pricing when it is launched. To achieve this Hyundai will assemble the Santa Fe at its Chennai plant
The new Santa Fe will have a more appealing presence, derived from Hyundai’s fluidic design philosophy
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