The future of motoring?

Of the many words you might use to describe the BBC’s Top Gear programme, “profound” isn’t usually one of them. But when Clarkson and the boys delivered their verdict on the Honda Clarity, that’s exactly what it was.

The contrast with the other “eco-friendly” model featured on the show – the battery-powered Tesla supercar – could not have been starker.

In a straight line, the Tesla may have outperformed the Lotus Elise it is modelled on, but it costs £90,000-odd, takes all night to charge up, and appeared to run out of juice in next to no time (getting you just far enough to get really stranded!).

The outwardly unremarkable Honda, however, you filled at the pump in a matter of minutes just like a normal car (only with compressed hydrogen, rather than petrol or diesel), a full tank giving you a range of around 270 miles.

James May delivered the critical analysis:

I’m absolutely convinced that the Clarity is the most important car for 100 years and there’s a very good reason for that… We’ve built our lives around the car as we know it. You get in. You drive as far as you want to go. You fill up. You drive some more. That is the freedom that a petrol-powered car gives you.

If its replacement is something that goes for 10 yards and then takes 4 hours to bring back to life, we’ll have gone backwards. The Clarity, though, is different. It fits the life we already have. The reason it’s the car of the future is because it’s just like the car of today.

It’s those last couple of sentences that are the really important bit.

As long as consumers are asked to make major compromises, or to pay substantial premiums, in the name of more eco-friendly performance, products and services will only ever appeal to a well-to-do niche who are prepared to make those trade-offs.

Generating mass-market appeal requires them to at least match (and preferably outperform) competitors in terms of costs and benefits to the consumer – only then do their eco-credentials become a genuine differentiator.

It’s analogous to Treacy & Wiersema’s concept of value disciplines in approaching corporate strategy – not only do you need to choose to excel in one particular dimension of value to achieve competitive advantage, but you also have to meet threshold levels of performance in all the others.

That’s where the Clarity really scores. The idea of a hydrogen-fuelled car, whose only exhaust output is water, will undoubtedly attract a lot of people. What will ultimately sell it, though, is the absence of the usual downsides.

It’s likely to cost more or less the same as a “normal” car. It’ll be infinitely more reliable (indeed, it may even avoid the need for regular servicing), since there are no mechanical parts to go wrong. And most importantly of all, realising the benefits of the technology won’t require the user to change their behaviour.

Green AND sexy – introducing the new MacBook Pro

It’s a pretty tangential claim to fame, I know, but my father was the first to recruit Jonny Ive out of university – a guy now justifiably recognised throughout the world as a design genius.

As a result, I’ve always had a soft spot for Apple – something that’s been continually reinforced by the seemingly effortless elegance and simplicity of their designs, and the appeal that (despite being characterised by some as a lifestyle brand) Apple’s “coolness” is firmly rooted in genuinely innovative engineering.

The new MacBook Pros are a case in point (see the launch here), utilising the same technology used in the production of the stunning MacBook Air.

The case is machined from a solid block of aluminium, producing a machine that’s not only thinner, lighter and more robust, but also infinitely more recyclable. And that’s just the start…

The LED-backlit display requires 30% less power and, unlike conventional CCFL displays, is both mercury and arsenic free.

Similarly, unlike other manufacturers who have only pledged to remove PVC and brominated flame retardants from enclosures and circuit boards, Apple has removed all forms of bromine and chlorine throughout the whole machine.

Oh, and the packaging is nearly 40% smaller too.

The embedding of such green components in Apple’s constant quest for innovation adds yet another good reason (as if I needed one!) to head for the Apple Store for my new notebook.

There’s no compromise here. This is high-performance, green and sexy, and that’s got to be a winning combination.

Authenticity: it’s the little things that matter

As some of you will know from a previous post, I’m a big fan of comedian and regular Now Show contributor, Marcus Brigstocke. It was therefore with a great sense of anticipation that I took delivery of his first live stand-up DVD, Planet Corduroy, this week.

I’m pleased to say it didn’t disappoint. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed even before I’d viewed any of the material…

The DVD was packaged in a way I haven’t seen before – an exclusively cardboard design with absolutely no plastic parts, 100% biodegradable, with the DVD simply resting on a little cardboard insert.

Why do I bother to bring this up? It just struck me as a great example of how even the smallest details can have a tremendous impact on people’s perceptions.

Would the material have been any less funny had the DVD been packaged in the conventional way? Of course not.

But when his routine hits the topic of global warming, the fact that it isn’t (as David Taylor might say) adds some extra “sizzle” to the already excellent “sausage”. Whether or not you agree with his politics, you can’t doubt the authenticity of his ire, and that’s a key ingredient of the Brigstocke ”brand”.

Of course, authenticity – trustworthiness, genuineness, undisputed credibility – is key to any successful brand. What’s interesting to me is the thought that literally everything you do, however small, can have the power to enhance or erode it.