Jeremy writes:
I’d love to know your thoughts on the proliferation of plastic cladding on pretty much every CUV/SUV on sale today. I’ve noticed that pretty much everyone does it now – Toyota, Mazda, Ford, Jeep, BMW, Mercedes, Land Rover, the list goes on.
A California man is looking for answers — and repairs — after he claims his five-day-old Tesla Model X unexpectedly accelerated into a building at full speed as he was attempting to park.
Puzant Ozbag took to the Tesla forum to describe the June 5 incident, which launched his vehicle into the wall of an Irvine store and left his wife with minor airbag-related injuries. (Read More…)
After entering the hot Chinese car market two years ago, Lincoln Motor Company now wants to start building its vehicles there, sources close to the matter tell Bloomberg.
Lincoln is reportedly in talks with partner Changan Automobile Group to build a manufacturing facility — which would serve as an export hub — as early as 2018. Timing of production depends on whether sales continue their upward path. (Read More…)
The three-row Buick Roadmaster and Chevrolet Caprice wagons of yesteryear are gone, but Mercedes-Benz now offers a modern, refined alternative to minivans and crossovers for the few who want it.
The German automaker’s E-Class Estate bows this fall on the far side of the Atlantic (a little later here), in both luxury and sport-minded guise. It’s the wagon you’d drive if you had to drive a wagon. (Read More…)
One supermarket’s loss was Ehren Thompson’s gain.
The Sydney, Australia man was able to use a 77-pound wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese he found at a local grocery store to get himself into a used Peugeot hatchback, according to BuzzFeed News. (Read More…)
Stop. Wait a second before you get in. Study the Mazda 6’s curves and tell me this isn’t the best-looking car in its class.
Alright, now hop in, depress the starter button, and listen to that sweet honey of a 2.5-liter inline-four purr. Ah, see, I tricked you into associating a gorgeous exterior (and interior) with other qualities you seek in a new car, and you up and let your imagination run away with itself.
Purr? In the 2016 Mazda 6, it’s more like a groan, a bellyaching protest, a teenager hiding under the covers after you remind him that science class begins in 17 minutes. (Read More…)
Women play a very large role in the purchase of new vehicles, and automakers are scrambling to tap into the demographic — among them, the staid, dignified and traditionally male-centric Mercedes-Benz.
The German automaker wants to throw off that old image and make itself the top premium car brand for women by 2020, according to Automotive News. (Read More…)
When is a Range Rover Evoque not a Range Rover Evoque? When it’s a Landwind X7 — a carbon copy Chinese imitation that Jaguar Land Rover wants out of the picture.
According to a report in Reuters, the automaker recently served China’s Jiangling Motor with legal papers over their copycat crossover SUV, alleging the vehicle amounts to copyright infringement and unfair competition. (Read More…)
It’s D-Day, so what better time to dish details on Cadillac’s secretive Project Pinnacle?
The luxury automaker plans to completely revamp how its dealers interact with customers — a strategy that even changes how its salespeople dress, according to a draft document obtained by Automotive News.
Under Project Pinnacle — the brainchild of brand president Johan de Nysschen — U.S. dealers will be grouped into five tiers based on expected sales. When the operation kicks off on October 1, car shoppers can expect a higher-end experience at their local Caddy dealership. Get ready to be coddled. (Read More…)
Okay, I admit: I subscribe to the Wall Street Journal. It’s not really for me; Mrs. Baruth works in finance. (Without which, as you pimps and players out there should know, there’s no romance.) Rarely do I read the whole thing. This past Saturday afternoon, however, I broke the pull-cord of my son’s TopKart. Then he ran out of gas for his motorcycle. Which consigned us both to an early afternoon inside the house, because I was too lazy to address either situation.
Imagine my surprise to find an advertisement for an independent leasing agent in the last of the Saturday sections, back among the lifestyle articles and the usual Dan Neil attempt to sound like a more fey version of Oscar Wilde. Those members of the B&B who were born prior to the release of “Appetite For Destruction” will remember that stand-alone leasing shops were once very big business. They bought their cars from franchised dealers, often well after they’d obtained the customer’s signature on their own paperwork, and they relentlessly cross-shopped banks for rate and residual deals.
Often, these firms focused exclusively on members of the professional class; the big hitter in central Ohio during the ’80s was un-self-consciously titled “Physicians Leasing Co.” They were largely driven from the field by the beginning of this century by aggressive captive finance providers like BMW Financial. The tendency on the part of most banks to view the end-of-lease termination process as an additional and very lucrative profit center, a tendency that became more exaggerated as the prime rate fell and banking profits sank accordingly, didn’t help their business model one bit.
Nevertheless, here we are, in $THE_CURRENT_YEAR, with a manufacturer-agnostic leasing company advertising in the WSJ. So let’s see what the deals are, and what lessons we can learn from looking at them.
In 1979, the Riviera moved onto the front-wheel-drive Toronado/Eldorado platform, continuing the tradition of rococo Riviera personal luxury coupes that started back in 1963. This version of the Riviera was built through the 1985 model year, so we’re looking at the very last year of the V8 Riviera in this weathered Denver car. (Read More…)
Elon Musk tweeted his joy when a Norwegian paper announced a proposed ban of fossil-fuel-powered vehicles in the nordic country by 2025.
The proposal itself is built upon good intentions. By eliminating sales of fossil-fuel-powered vehicles, tailpipe emissions will slowly reduce. The country is famously energy independent, thanks to massive offshore oil reserves, which can be converted into hydrogen or used to generate electricity. And electric vehicles are increasingly popular in the country thanks to massive incentives funded by oil exports.
The proposal has me wondering about something else entirely: could the fossil-fuel-vehicle ban have serious political ramifications in Europe? Norwegian serial drama Okkupert — Occupied in English — might have some answers.
Tesla Model X owners might want to double check their insurance coverage before hitting those rural highways in search of ecologically sensitive adventure.
Now that the electric SUV is rolling out of Fremont in bigger numbers, owners are starting to experience the normal headaches that come with vehicle ownership. One nagging issue owners are discovering is the cost of replacing the acres and acres of glass that make up the vehicle’s panoramic windshield. (Which happens to be the biggest in the industry.) (Read More…)
Drivers aren’t getting the same deal at the pumps as they were last winter, and the gas mileage of new vehicles shows it.
Researchers at the University of Michigan say the average sales-weighted fuel economy of new vehicles hit 25.4 miles per gallon in May, the highest figure so far this year. It’s still less than the all-time high set in August 2014, but it shows not every car buyer is going for the thirstiest vehicle they can afford. (Read More…)
It’s supposed to be about celebrating sugary rings of fried dough, but automotive enthusiasts know what National Donut Day is really about.
Our vehicles, for the most part, put up with a life of endless drudgery. Driving stoplight to stoplight, hunting for parking at Walmart, putting up with a general lack of maintenance from most owners — it’s a hard, mostly thankless existence.
Sometimes, though, our cars get a chance to break free (well, at least their back ends) and come alive for the pleasure and enjoyment of everyone around. (Minus the police. Police do not like this). Doing a donut — or as the Australians lewdly call it, “circle work” — is an act of free-wheeling rebellion that guarantees a smile, at least until the driver hits something they didn’t see.
Rather than show you fancy driftwork in a purpose-built supercar, we figured undervalued people carriers deserved some limelight. So, check out these tired old mares kicking up their heels before they’re sent off to the glue factory: (Read More…)
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