The Jaguar XF was meant to be a clean sheet car for Jaguar – a reboot of the brand, to use filmmaker parlance. With that in mind, Jaguar was planning on ditching the 'Leaper' hood ornament altogether. But old habits die hard, as I observed in my local shopping mall today. Presumably, too many people said to Jaguar "But it's supposed to have a leaper on the hood." They made their bed, and now they can lie in it. It looks horrible and out of place on the XF, which is a sleek and modern car. While cars themselves and many components tend to be phallic, this is just a little too far. Even if the XF's front end is a little bland, you don't want people to immediately know it's a Jag if it's going to look silly like this. But what's most important here is the lesson in listening to customers. Sometimes, manufacturers and dealers need to just say no.
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We aren't the only ones who question the viability of the Volt. U.S. News has jumped aboard the bandwagon, asking "What is the Chevy Volt, and Why is GM Advertising it During the Olympics?" Observing that GM is pushing the Volt as though it was readily available at your corner Chevy dealer, they state "The car won't reach showrooms until 2010, if it reaches them at all." They wonder about Chevy advertising director Kim Kosak's statement to Edmunds: "We wanted Volt to be an important punctuation to the spot. It's the first [ad] where we've brought [Volt] to the market this clearly." I have to wonder about that one too. After all, don't you have to have a viable product before you can bring it "to the market?" No, wait, that's right… GM's marketing the concept, not the vehicle. And apparantly they're doing a good job of it. Right after the commercial, the Volt jumped to the number eleven search on Google. "Now," as U.S. News notes, "all GM needs to do is actually build one."
While any move to improve fuel efficiency in full-sized trucks is a move in the right direction, you have to wonder if GM's straining at gnats while swallowing camels with their latest move: XFE versions of Silverado, Sierra, Tahoe and Yukon. The press release brags the changes make them "the most aerodynamic full-size pickups in the industry." To accomplish this, they'll install a soft tonneau cover on the pickups and extend the front air dam, lower the suspension, revise the chassis tuning, use aluminum in the wheels and engine and install low rolling-resistance tires. And what's the gain for all these changes? One whole mile per gallon on both the city and highway ratings, which "reflect[s] GM's quick adaptation to an evolving market that remains a very important segment." They haven't said how much all these changes will cost, but just like with the hybrid versions. it's bound to take a while to offset the additional cost with fuel savings.
The weak link for Audi (aside from yes, I know already, the reliability of the breakdowns and electrical glitches) has been the lack of a competitive V6 in the US for the past few years. It's not that the 255 bhp 3.2 liter V6 was bad (smooth as dulce de leche in fact), it's that numerically it was at a disadvantage against BMW's 300 horsepower turbocharged I6, Benz's 268 hp V6, and pretty much everybody else in the 300 horsepower neighborhood. At times, in the big A6 with required automatic transmission, the engine just felt like it could use an inhaler. To get back in the hunt, Audi is offering the 3.0 liter supercharged V6 previously announced for the A4. It's rated at 300 horsepower and 310 lb ft of torque – about on par with where Audi's 4.2 liter V8 was just a few years ago. The 3.2 liter V6 will soldier on for A6 models equipped with the suicide-inducing FWD/CVT combination. Move up the range from those two V6 engines and you can pick up the 4.2 liter V8, now offering 350 horsepower (some 30-40 shy of the competition again). And then we move into serious performance territory: The 5.2 liter V10 S6 with 435 horsepower, and the properly bonkers RS6 with a twin turbocharged, dry sump 5.0 liter V10 and 580 horsepower. The rest of the facelift is superficial, mostly limited changing the front and rear lights. This writer quite liked the A6's own taillight styling, more or less carried over from the last generation to the current – but out it goes, in the name of sausage design and engineering. The A6 also picks up LED headlights up front. Still no word on the 3.0 liter V6 diesel. As for the gas engined cars, we'll bring you pricing and fuel economy numbers as soon as they're available.
My lady and I cruised down to San Diego on Friday for a wedding. When we got to Orange County, we were suddenly in Corvette Country. I mean like serious Corvette Country. The highlight (of course) was the cherry red split window coupe. But we also saw C3s, C4s an overload of C5s and lots of C6s. While I was explaining the difference between the LS1, LS2, LS3 and LS7 mills, my girlfriend (between yawns) asked, "Why do all the drivers look exactly alike?" And… she was right. All of them were wearing open-collared shirts and dark aviators. I explained to her the rivalry between the 911 and the Corvette, and while the butt-engined Porsches are technically more expensive, Porsche guys get around that by dismissing the new models as having lost the plot and only buying used. Until the new ones come down in price and they can then afford them. Los Angeles, where we live, is Porsche 911 Sudetenland. Yeah, we got Boxsters, but Boxster owners aren't Porsche guys. Boxster volks just like driving (or being seen), but 911 guys are a different animal entirely. And they all dress exactly alike, as if any minute they might be forced to show up on a red carpet and pound red bulls till 4:00 am. Porsche guys of course despise Corvette guys, and vice versa. The funny part is that each thinks their particular mode of transport is the very, very best in existence. I find them all tedious and prefer spending my time in the company of Viper or Se7en owners. You?
Big Cadillacs are an endangered species. Unnamed "people familiar with the situation" told Bloomberg that Caddy is adding more versions of the CTS and smaller SUVs while putting the replacements for updating the DTS and STS on hold. The Hamtramck, Michigan plant where the DTS is built alongside with the Buick Lucerne is scheduled to switch over to produce the Volt in 2010. What happens to the biggest of Cadillac's cars after that is pretty much up in the air. The future of the STS, which is built in the same plant as the CTS, is equally uncertain. While some industry experts say "it's the absolute right thing to do right now" because of declining sales of the big cars and stricter CAFE standards, they're missing an important point completely: when the DTS goes, Cadillac's last ties with its past also go – remember, DTS originally stood for "Deville Touring Sedan." It will mark the final step in taking Cadillac totally downmarket and mainstreaming a brand that once had a proud luxury heritage. Lincoln's done it and now Cadillac is doing it. Sad. Truly sad.
Press releases aren't supposed to be funny, but occasionally, one comes out that you can't help but laugh at, either for the product it's promoting, the way it attempts to make it sound unique, or both. Case in point: Toyota's release describing the "Design Ins and Outs of the 2009 Toyota Venza." Having seen pictures of this bastard child of a Camry and an Aztek, I think it would be better described as the "Design Do's and Don'ts," with emphasis on the don'ts. They struggle to find a way to describe it, settling on "not an SUV, not a wagon, not a coupe and not a sedan." So what the Hell is it? They say it "incorporates SUV utility and roominess, while maintaining passenger car essentials, such as ease of ingress/egress, performance, a lower, sleek
side profile with aerodynamic lines." Uh… doesn't that pretty much describe a station wagon? Anyway, the design incorporates "Toyota's design philosophy, ‘Vibrant Clarity'" (which sounds like a Honda FCX with a tire out of balance) to produce "look-at-me" styling. Inside, it has a "floating…60/60 center dashboard" that makes spatially-challenged drivers and passengers "feel as if 60 percent of the space is in their personal zone." There's more, but I'll let you read it for yourself.
If you're a manufacturer with operations all over the globe and a model is bombing in one market, what do you do? You send it to other markets to see how it fares. At least that seems to be Toyota's plan for the Tundra and Sequoia, according to Steve St. Angelo, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky Inc. Automotive News [sub] reports he stated today that the humongous "trucks could be attractive to overseas buyers." They have to do something to reclaim their investment in design and manufacturing as they aren't selling here. They halted production on both last Friday to try to clear an inventory backlog, with plans to resume production – most likely at a greatly reduced rate – in November. St. Angelo didn't say just where they plan to sell these gas-sucking mega-trucks, or who they think will buy them, but I have a feeling Europe and Japan are pretty low on their list.
GM dealers are catching it from all directions. The General cutting back on leasing (with a very sharp knife) even as the troops wait for central command to fix the mix, And now the corporate mothership's gutting the dealers' GM Mark of Excellence 2008 Recognition Programs. A message to dealers outlined the "difficult" changes that resulted in canceling "select rewards" but added new cheaper incentives. Travel rewards are toast. In their stead: prepaid $1k debit cards and "exclusively yours®" reward points. "GM PerQs" are also gone, whatever the Hell they are. On the positive side, GM's cut the dealers' monthly enrollment fee by 50 percent. However, any refunds for prepaid feeds will "be applied to the Dealer's Open Account." Click here for a PDF of the complete communique. If a GM dealer or an industry-savvy member of our Best and Brightest can parse this for us, we'd be much obliged.
The Olympics kicked off Friday in Beijing, with a bright beige, smog-filled sky, intense pyrotechnics, and some incredibly impressive artistic performances by the Chinese. I missed nearly all of it due to preparation for my upcoming Iraq deployment, so I ran into my apartment, threw my flight gear into the corner and flipped on the TV to grab what was left of the Opening Ceremonies, Instead, I watched a tribute to the GM brand in rabbit-eared-fuzzy glory. Brandi Carlile belted out "The Story" as the redundant seemingly endless range of GM vehicles paraded across the screen. I got choked up, not because of the truly good GM products they displayed (CTS, Enclave, Camaro), but because the Volt concept was shown, still with a debut date of 2010. As the tag line, "Something Shiny, Blue, and Beautiful" flashed across the screen under the GM logo, I wondered if GM still thinks a well-done commercial tugging our heartstrings and a vehicle powered by hope and pixie dust will actually restore faith destroyed by three decades of lousy products and service. Then immediately after, a local ad proclaiming $10k off new Suburbans blared out, blasting the Velcro patches off my flight suit. My sense of reality was restored. GM, you can do it. I've seen glimpses of it. I've driven it. But don't think you can erase all the bad times with sentimentality and soft-focus screen shots. Make it happen in cold, harsh daylight reality. But thanks anyways for supporting our Olympic athletes.
There's a lot of buzz around the web about the new Mercedes McLaren SLR Speedster. While some may not consider the model photochop-worthy (it's just another version of the lame duck SLR), fans of the brands have shown a real interest in the open-cockpit vehicle. I rendered this chop after analyzing the photos of the camouflaged test vehicles. The image shows dual front lights (same as the rest of the SLR family); the other lamps present on the test cars are there only to confuse onlookers. The side line with strong shoulders and arched rear fenders are completely new to this car. It will definitely feature two wind deflectors to add some aerodynamic comfort. Other details– like the shape of the doors and the front spoiler– can also be divined through the test car camouflage. We'll have to wait and see if it'll become a collectible item for those who remember the days of Stirling Moss, or just so 'mo bling-bling for those who listen to themselves on the hip-hop station.
[More of Andrei's photochoppistry at avavarii.com ]
“Hot enough to boil a monkey’s bum!” I don’t know exactly what that means, but it was that hot in North Texas the afternoon I picked up my 2008 Scion xB. How appropriate that the old Flying Circus reference should flash through my mind; the xB looks like something out of a twisted Terry Gilliam animation. Now that Graham Chapman resides in an urn, all of the Pythons could fit in the xB, although 6’4” tall John Cleese would be uncomfortable in any seat. But the newly redesigned boxy Scion is more than a surreal comic sketch. Or is it? And now for something completely different…
I live just off Blackstone Boulevard (GPS coordinates available for GM Black Ops rotary winged aircraft). It's RI's urban highway: two-lanes in each direction with a large, leafy central island (once a streecar route, now joggers' paradise). The Boulevard is also the Mother of All Speed Traps; I'll pay anyone who can drive down that piece of tarmac at 25mph to wear one of those Mission Impossible masks and sit through my kids' school plays. Well, that's the way it used to be. Suddenly, Renaissance City Planners have added a bike lane to Blackstone Boulevard, restricting traffic in each direction to a single lane. As a two-wheeled boulevardier, I can only say WTF? The new lane places two-wheelers closer to the traffic (there's a lane for parking next to the curb). Why didn't my unelected representatives ban parking and put the bike lane next to the curb? And now I hear these self-same traffic planners [sic] are going to install speed bumps. All I've got to say about that is this article about a Canadian traffic calming strategy gone serious awry. "[Local resident Brenda] White says cars and a motorcycle have spun out of control after hitting or dodging [constricted] curbs. Some cars spin onto lawns, she said. Some shear off trees or dent traffic signs and cable boxes. Curbs are chipped and blackened by the many tires that have struck them. A recent survey found residents are almost as concerned about the curbs as they are about speeding. Their concerns are justified. Between 2004 and 2006, five drivers lost control on Heritage Drive and crashed. Five more vehicles crashed for other reasons. One of these 10 collisions claimed a life."
Like its LA equivalent, The New York Times is making gloat while the price of gas hurts. That said, The Gray Lady's Op Editorialist begins with an [ironic?] back pat for the great American SUV buyer's eco-political awakening. I mean, former SUV buyer. "We have heartily applauded Americans’ collective decision to recognize the finite nature of the world’s supply of fossil fuels and to start driving sensible vehicles. But we must also acknowledge that this abrupt change of heart is creating a new national challenge: what to do with the suddenly redundant S.U.V.?" After a quick acknowledgment of the financial pain caused by SUV backwardedness and the trapping of buyers' bucks therein, the NYT offers a practical idea for ditching the tree-hugger's four-wheeled bogeyman: "We suggest exploring foreign countries. The Russian market for cars, for instance, is booming — thanks to a fast-growing economy and generous government subsidies that are keeping a lid on the price of gas. The best part is that Russians prefer secondhand imports over domestic Ladas and Volgas." Huh? How's that going to work? And I thought The Times was anti-SUV on global warming grounds. Alternatively… "Then there’s the scrap market." Or, finally, "The artist John Chamberlain made a name for himself making sculptures out of crushed automobile parts. Cadillac Ranch — an array of graffiti-covered Cadillacs protruding at an angle from a field near Amarillo, Tex. — has become one of the nation’s landmarks.With a few adaptations, a Lincoln Navigator might make a nice streetlamp." Who said the Times doesn't have a sense of humor?
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