Last year, Ford debuted the latest generation of its famous muscle car, the enduring Ford Mustang. Fittingly, this was also the year of the horse, the corresponding zodiac of year as marked by the Chinese Calendar. It came to an end recently (February 18th for you Gregorian calendar types), prompting Ford to give it a thoroughly horsey send-off by sending the Mustang to China to gallop in celebration.
We’ve all fantasized about it: taking our car of choice, thrashing around the city, wishing that it could, for a day, be bereft of people, traffic, and police. Ford went ahead and brought this fantasy to life, taking the Mustang to Ordos, a city located in Inner Mongolia, resplendent in huge buildings, spacious plazas, and imposing statues celebrating the Mongolian heritage of the region. It’s a city that has the capacity to house hundreds of thousands of people, yet the Mustang has it all to itself. The city of Ordos is empty.
The reason for this massive ghost town is a small part of larger story concerning the Chinese housing boom, as nearby coal mines prompted farmers to sell land to developers, on which buildings and large municipal projects were built. Today, it’s the playground of the Ford Mustang GT, having freedom to utilize all of the 435 horsepower available from its 5.0-liter V8 engine.
It’s interesting to see the Detroit-born Mustang trotting around a city in the heart of the Steppe region, given that it’s only this year that it becomes a globally marketed car. It takes some getting used to, we suppose. In the mean time, we’re off to find ghost towns within driving distance.
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.