The world’s biggest auto manufacturers have many strings to their bows
Graham Hope
EVERY week we bring you news and reviews of all the latest models from established brands and those new to the market. But many of these companies make far more than just cars, producing everything from aircraft to sausages. We take a look at some of the diverse products these automotive firms also manufacture.
Robots TESLA
ROBOTS made by car companies are nothing new. Honda’s Asimo, for example, was a regular on the motor show circuit. But none has come with the hype or weight of expectation as Tesla’s Optimus, which CEO Elon Musk has said will “ultimately be worth more than the car business and worth more than full self-driving”. But Optimus’s debut in 2021 was far from auspicious – it was a person in a robot suit.
But as Musk considers Tesla cars the equivalent of robots on wheels, perhaps a humanoid version is inevitable. Optimus uses a central computer, a 2.3kWh battery pack and structural actuators to allow it to move, and long-term the plan is for a commercially available version to be able to perform mundane tasks such as mowing the lawn.
Pepper mills PEUGEOT
WHILE Peugeot is synonymous with cars in the UK, there are other countries in which it is arguably more famous for its famous pepper and salt mills. After all, that’s where it all started for the French manufacturer more than 180 years ago It was way back in 1840 – some 49 years before Peugeot made its first, steam-powered vehicle – that the company designed a coffee grinder that paved the way for production of a range of mills used to grind beans, pepper, salt flower and even sugar.
To this day, pepper mills are still manufactured in the Peugeot factory in Doubs, France, and are then exported to more than 80 countries around the world to take pride of place on dinner tables and in upmarket restaurants.
Smartphones NIO
WITH connectivity already such a key element for cars – and likely to become even more so in the next decade – smartphone compatibility is set to be ever-more integral to the vehicle ownership experience. So, in September last year, hi-tech Chinese EV maker NIO took the inevitable step of producing its first smartphone.
