To any driving enthusiasts looking to relocate to that sceptered isle that is England, particularly with an interest in rubbing elbows with the Royals, there might be a job opening for you. The British Monarchy’s official website has just posted a listing stating that Buckingham Palace is looking for a new chauffeur.
A lucky applicant will be selected to shuttle around Queen Elizabeth II herself, as well as members of the Royal Family, guests, and household officials. They’ll even get to pilot the Bentley State Limousine, an Arnage R-based custom coach given to The Queen for her golden jubilee in 2002.
The claret-colored Queenmobile is powered by a twin-turbo 6.75-liter V8 that produces 400 horsepower and 616 pound-feet of torque. When things get hairy, the monocoque bodywork is armored, as is the glass and can even be sealed air-tight in case of a gas attack. Her garage is also packed with a collection of other cars equally as amazing (and purple), like an official state 1954 Land Rover and a whole pack of vintage Jaguars.
As the chauffeur, candidates will be required to maintain Her Majesty’s fleet at a high standard of presentation, must be able to plan efficient routes, and is someone who can be calm under pressure. Corgis can be vicious, after all.
If being in the presence of her illustriousness herself isn’t enough of a reward in itself, The Royal Mews will be willing to pay an annual salary of £24,000 or roughly $37,000, part of which pays for your live-in accommodations.
The deadline to apply is the 8th of March, so anyone interested better bone up on the metric system and get used to driving on the left as soon as possible.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.