4 Responses to “GoinGreen: G-Wiz!”

1. Michael Langridge:
   May 12th, 2007 at 6:27 am

   The UK national press carried shots of a crashed G-Wiz yesterday citing:

   DEADLY DANGERS OF A G-WIZ ‘GREEN’ CAR IN A 40MPH CRASH (Daily Mail)

   There are terrifyingly dramatic pictures here,

   http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=453565&in_page_id=1770

   Knowing the G-Wiz and having spoken to the Traffic Research Laboratory this morning, I believe this story is contrived, misleading and potentially, if unwittingly, racist.

   Whilst the facts stated are true they have been presented by the parties involved to reinforce popular prejudices (against small electric vehicles; against Indian manufacture) for the commercial gain arising from the publicity surrounding a popular “good story” - rather than any genuine public interest.

   I test-drove Going Green’s G-Wiz three years ago as part of my ongoing research to abate the environmental and societal damage which has arisen from widespread car use. I’m no parody enviro-oddball, I know and love vehicles, drive a BMW 528iSE and ride a 1200cc Suzuki.

   The G-Wiz was small and quick and drove like a dodgem, handling extremely well. The weight was incredibly low making the vehicle uncannily stable, the steering was responsive and whilst it’s max speed was just 40mph it reached 30mph (the local speed limit) very quickly.

   I didn’t like the styling or the “micro-car” packaging and bought the big BMW for my infrequent but lengthy, motorway business trips. The BMW was more suitable to my needs and the status it confers is something I value. If I made frequent short trips in London and wasn’t working I’d have bought the G-Wiz.

   Car-glamour magazine Top Gear mocks small inexpensive cars for amusement - with an affected air of editorial sneer. These journalists are not the target market for small cheap vehicles and it’s no surprise that they don’t like them, but to mislead the public and undermine the target market by concocting a fake scoop on the G-Wiz being unsafe is irresponsible.

   The G-Wiz didn’t fail mandatory Transport Research Laboratory tests – there is no requirement for such a test for this class of vehicle.

   Moreover, the G-Wiz was crashed at it’s maximum speed of 40MPH. If the TRL crashed my BMW into a wall at its maximum design speed, the body would be similarly crushed.

   Top Gear paid for the tests to generate a story. The Transport Research Laboratory crashed the vehicle at 40mph as they are a commercial organisation paid to do so by Top Gear. TRL’s innocent actions are put over as statements by The Mail and Top Gear in a misleading, selective and potentially racist way, like this

   “so concerned were the TRL about the Indian-made G-Wiz that they refused to risk their more sophisticated £130,000 crash test dummies - full of electronic instruments - in the test for fear of them being wrecked.”

   This statement fails to acknowledge the terms and purpose for which Top Gear paid for the “tests”. The G-Wiz isn’t designed as an 80mph+ motorway car, capable of sustaining a 40mph impact without damage to a test dummy. If Top Gear had offered to pay for the damage to the dummy then the lab would have used it.

   The association between country manufacture and safety concerns is as regrettable as it is inaccurate, “so concerned were the TRL about the Indian-made G-Wiz…”. The alleged safety issues arise from reasonable design compromises (this is a vehicle with a 40mph maximum speed) not manufacturing defects. The G-Wiz was designed in California, but this location does not conform to popular prejudice in expectations of low quality and is overlooked.

   If climate change is real, and carbon dioxide a major cause; if and cars a cause of that in turn - then society needs to change the way we use cars. If car use is growing in India and China then that is where change can be most effective – free of the inertia of established habit. Even if climate change is not real, or cars are not a big cause then we must still change the way society uses cars - congestion is real and present enough, and fast-moving motor vehicles are most prevalent in the most highly populated areas. The rapid degradation of any territory unfortunate enough to be sited over an oil resource, and the competition for these mineral rights and the conflict this causes, are further valid reasons to abate the use of oil, and abate the use of motor cars dependant upon it.

   Is the G-Wiz deadly and dangerous? Any motorcar is. Drinking excess tap water is also deadly and dangerous.

   There’s an irony about a bunch of attention-seeking buffoons smashing a tiny slow car at a wall - almost faster than it can go under its own power - then highlighting their “safety concerns” before hammering yet another rocket car around a track almost killing themselves in the process.

   Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a Mercedes 280 - a safe car by any standards it would perform well in a 40mph crash-test but, being capable of 180 mph, it was being driven at that speed. Speed thrills and speed kills. The G-Wiz does neither to excess.

   The major threat to life for a driver of a G-Wiz is from a collision with another vehicle. I have heard Top Gear commending parents for choosing large 4×4’s as they are safe for the occupants. In a collision in a populated area this differential safety benefit to the occupants is directly prejudicial to the safety of other road users –larger heavier cars present more danger to people outside the vehicle involved in a collision than smaller lighter cars do.

   The G-Wiz is not dangerous or deadly

2. T Swalm:
   May 13th, 2007 at 8:53 am

   Why can the tech poor citizens of the USA by this car IN THE USA!!!!!!!! Another beautiful car that doesn’t use oil - MUST be illegal to have here!

3. D Wilson:
   July 15th, 2007 at 4:18 pm

   I live here in the USA and I would love to buy a G-Wiz. We all need to push to have them imported here. If Al Gore gets elected president in 2008 I know the USA will import the G-Wiz!!!!!

4. John Gardner:
   November 8th, 2007 at 11:10 pm

   This car is incredibly dangerous. Please read the recent news of its engine blowing up and its failing crash test rating significantly. It is made with very cheap materials under extraordinarly poor manufacturing practices — it may have an angle of environment but that is a facade for pollutive corporate moneybaggers

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