The upscale Lexus brand and the car-kichi people that frequent the Tokyo Auto Salon usually go together like tailcoats and a Dirty Rotten Imbecils concert. As in not. This year, the Lexus booth is a major attraction, despite the fact that many people, including me, had to be told that Lexus is at the show. They are there under (a black) cover and under a false name. The designers of the Lexus booth pulled-off a whimsical and humorous concept, from the design of the all-black-on-bare-concrete booth to the choice of cars on display. It starts with the name on the booth. It says 2UX3J. But it’s Lexus.
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Our NAIAS preview post revealed a common theme of dissatisfaction with the slow-striptease style of product reveals, where manufacturers “leak” teaser shots ad nauseam in the run-up to a product launch. It seems the readers are tired of it, and frankly, I am too. So what’s to be done about it?

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I wavered on whether to request a Malibu 2.0T from Chevrolet. My review of the 2013 Malibu in Eco form allegedly helped make it “the most disliked car of the year,” and I’m not one to shoot fish in a barrel. But I did allow that the upcoming conventional engines could make for a better […]

When I lived in California, I’d see R107s in self-service junkyards all the time; since moving to Denver a couple of years back, I see them only occasionally. There was this ’78 450SLC last summer and that was about it. Last week, though I found this screaming yellow Malaise Era kokainwagen. (Read More…)

Today at the Tokyo Auto Salon, Nissan unveiled its worst-kept secret. Assisted by attractive dancers dressed in white, Nissan “took the covers off of the highly-anticipated Juke Nismo” as the press release puts it. No, it’s not the highly anticipated Juke R, the cross-over with the GT-R engine. That has to wait for another Auto Salon. Or possibly one of the upcoming A-events. (Read More…)

Toyota’s Akio Toyoda never stops warning about the hollowing out of Japan’s industry. Today at the Tokyo Auto Salon, Toyoda gave a spirited speech praising the virtues of customization of the hachi-roku, Toyota’s 86 (aka GT86, Scion FR-S, Subaru BRZ). Today at the show, one gets the impression that customizing the hachi-roku definitely is a huge growth industry. (Read More…)

Hi Steve and Sajeev:

My daughter has been driving the Saturn Astra recommended by Steve for a few months now and we can all say that it is a nice car — screwed together well, efficient and kinda sporty.  I consider it to be a win. Except for a minor key issue. (Read More…)

As I gear up for NAIAS (read: do laundry, look for my passport), I am scanning the schedule for what press conferences are worth going to and what’s worth skipping? If you have any special requests, speak now in the comments or forever hold you peace. Personally, I’m most looking forward to seeing the new GM full-size trucks. I liked the old GMT900 pickups, but the bar has been moved forward consecutively by both Ford and Ram. The old formula of a simple, honest no-frills truck may not be enough – and that could be a disastrous miscalculation by GM, leading to a Civic/Malibu-esque need for a mid-cycle refresh.

Nissan will make good on its $1.4 billion DOE loan, and finally start building the Leaf EV right here in America. In addition to the Leafs going off the assembly line, Nissan will also build the battery packs at a separate plant next door. Nissan hasn’t set production targets for the Smyrna, Tennessee plant, though Leaf sales have been flat over the last year, despite projections of them doubling.

Obsessive-weirdo fans of low-cost cars can get their thrills at Chevy’s NAIAS stand; despite the new full-size trucks and the C7 Corvette being on display, myself and a cadre of mouth breathers will no doubt be poring over the low-cost cars being put on display by the Bowtie brand, for no other reason than to avoid the rush of anxiety-inducing crowds.

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The most satisfying parts of this job isn’t the constant flow of new cars or the luxury vacations with colleagues who never learned how to hold a kinfe and fork properly. It’s watching them look for a sacrificial lamb to offer up to the Gods of The Wobble and then see it survive the slaughter, only to maintain its death grip on the market. In this case, I’m referring to the banner year that the 2012 Honda Civic enjoyed, prior to its quick mid-cycle refresh.

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Here’s the first picture of the 2014 Lexus IS. This example is an F-Sport model, complete with the big wheels and some more aggressive body treatments. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait a little while longer to see what the regular and hybrid models look like.

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Camry or Accord?

Back in the early 90’s, most non-enthusiasts with who admired certain small cars as long-term transportation modules would wind up at a Toyota or Honda dealer. Civic, Corolla, Camry, Accord. The majority of these blase buyers would price out their Toyonda car with nary a fleeting glance toward the Nissan side of the world.

Those early-90’s Sentras may have eventually yielded a bulletproof powertrain for the developing world and a wonderful SE-R model as well. But nobody cared back then.  The Stanza? Still stuck in the 80’s school of design  with a 90’s price tag.

Nissan was the least loved child of the Japanese Big 3 among those who least loved cars in general. But then the market slowly changed.

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Ford will be giving away its SYNC AppLink to any automaker or Tier 1 supplier, as it looks to make SYNC the standard for in-car connectivity systems.

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A mix of good and bad news for fans of European forbidden fruit – the Audi SQ5 will be coming to our shores, but with the familiar 3.0T V6 rather than the Euro-spec TDI powertrain initially shown earlier this year. And I think that’s a big mistake.

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