In what might be one of the quickest shifts to a styling change in recent memory, it appears Chevrolet might be into the idea of fixing the gaping maw on its Camaro SS by repositioning its bowtie.
Gee … if only someone had mocked up such a fix in the form of a hastily-cropped image. Oh, wait! That’s right! We did just that last week.
Thank you for listening, GM.
The Rare Rides series featured a vintage Aston Martin once before, when we took a look at the luxurious Lagonda sedan from 1984. Today we move forward in history a few years to see a luxurious, large coupe that’s more along the lines of what you’d expect from the Aston Martin brand.
It’s a Virage, from 1990.
Porsche is fleshing out its Panamera lineup by incorporating the Sport Turismo into the GTS trim and slathering on an extra 20 horsepower. Slotting in just below the Turbo, GTS-trimmed Panameras place an added emphasis on performance — swapping the base 3.0-liter V6 for a less rowdy version of the 4.0-liter V8, without forcing customers to write a check in excess of $150,000. It sounds a little odd saying this, considering the model’s elevated price points, but the GTS is the “value option” for serious enthusiasts.
While we’re happy to see a peppier GTS, the big get is that Porsche is willing to bless the wagon with a more-affordable V8. Hopefully it means we’ll see more of them on the road, as these rigs are exceptionally easy on the eyes. (Read More…)
The scandal has raged for over three years, and Audi clearly wants to be done with it. The company said in a regulatory filing Tuesday that, like Volkswagen, it will not fight a fine handed down by German prosecutors over the selling of rigged diesel engines in that country.
Earlier this month, Audi said auf wiedersehen to jailed CEO Rupert Stadler, who’s accused of fraud in relation to the diesel emissions affair. Now, the automaker will hand over a towering pile of euros to finally close this messy chapter in its history. (Read More…)
A big question mark hanging over the auto industry concerns the rate of electric vehicle adoption, but BMW — unlike some of its rivals — isn’t prone to wild predictions about the public’s enthusiasm for clean, green EVs.
Despite rolling out a global plan earlier this year for 25 plug-in hybrid or electric vehicles by 2025, the automaker knows customers won’t abandon their love of inline sixes and turbo fours just because a big battery batted its eyelashes. It’s keeping diesels around, too. Those other guys, the company’s R&D chief implies, just don’t know how to make them right. And politicians are being unfair.
As for EVs, too many people have unrealistic expectations, he adds. (Read More…)
A certain Lincoln owner I know was forced back to the dealership yesterday. The problem? A worrying diagnostic message on his crossover’s gauge cluster. Don’t worry, he’s covered, and the trip offered him a chance to roll outta there with all the swagger of John Shaft — surrounded by all the opulence a Ford Fusion platform can carry.
Naturally, this man, who we’ll call Adam T. (or A. Tonge, whatever he prefers) jumped at the chance to pilot a Continental loaner for a couple of days. Who can blame him? It remains an intriguing, plush sedan that unfortunately garners fewer buyers with each passing month. As he triumphantly posted images in our Slack chatroom, a conversation sprung up around a feature common to all present-day Lincolns, something for which no one can muster much enthusiasm: the push-button shifter.
In the Continental, the placement of the buttons just to the left of the center touchscreen calls to mind a bank of radio presents and generally seems out of place. Lincoln’s not giving up on this, however. So, if buttons there must be, where and how would you like to press them? (Read More…)
Usually, talk of an extended warranty is waved off as a money-making scam by thrifty buyers in the final moments of a sale. And, usually, it’s the dealer offering the coverage. The buyer sees their total amount owing skyrocket on the finance manager’s computer and quickly signs for the agreed-upon amount, thankful to have escaped the building with his or her original payment calculations intact.
Uncertainty lies years down the road, but the thrill of new vehicle ownership muscles those fears to the back of the mind as the driver motors home, fingers crossed.
General Motors wants buyers to embrace that extra peace of mind, but it wants the coverage to come from the factory, not from a dealer extended warranty or service contract. On Monday, the automaker announced an extended factory warranty for vehicles spanning its four brands, and, right on cue, complaints arose from those tasked with selling the cars. (Read More…)
Nio, originally launched as NextEV in 2014, announced that it had delivered 3,268 electric SUVs in the third quarter of 2018. Not only does this beg the question of when Nio swapped from Formula E and electrified hypercars to utility vehicles, but it also makes us wonder how a burgeoning EV firm managed to surpass production goals. Aren’t all zero-emission automobiles that aren’t developed by established automakers supposed to languish in purgatory?
Answering the first question is easy. Nio started deliveries of the ES8 crossover last June, though it still sells the high-performance EP9 for $1.2 million. We doubt that model provided any significant contributions to overall volume in Q3. The trickier bit of this equation is figuring out how the Nio moved all that metal. While 3,200 cars is a paltry some for a mainstream manufacturer, it’s pretty damn good for a company that just started building a volume electric. Even Tesla would have been envious in 2012. (Read More…)
Porsche’s Taycan, a slinky electric sedan that used to carry the Mission E moniker, is only a starting point for the German performance brand. Several EVs are sure to follow that model’s 2019 debut, a couple of which saw light shed on them last week.
For the Taycan, it seems Porsche has plans to instill a little 911-themed heritage into its green car flag-bearer, starting with the car’s roof. (Read More…)
A major product shift and looming job cuts have some Ford dealers nervous about the future. Many would like to know what to expect under their showroom lights in the coming years, and this week brings an opportunity for the automaker to ease those worries.
Under Hackett’s leadership, communication often seems to take a backseat to vision, so the annual Ford dealer meet-up in Las Vegas brings with it high expectations of a great game of show and tell. (Read More…)
That’s right – we’re doing that thing again where we, the TTAC tastemakers, pick our best and worst cars of 2018. And by “we” I also mean you, the B&B.
Just like the last time we did this, you’re invited to submit your nominations. More on that in a second. There won’t be any prizes this time around, but you might get your words splashed across these virtual pages, and isn’t that reward enough?
Volkswagen’s Passat has long been the choice for Euro-fetishists who believe themselves too good to purchase a Honda Accord or Toyota Camry. That decision was easier to make in 2012, when VW moved 117,023 of them in the United States, diesel cars were still tolerated, and Japan had basically given up on styling its vehicles. But things are different now.
Diesel might as well be a four-letter word when not affixed to trucks and Japan’s automakers have gone mental with their newer designs. Volkswagen only sold 60,700 Passats in the U.S. last year. The automaker needs to work some real magic if it hopes to bring that number up in the years to come. While Europeans get ready to wrap their paws around an MQB-based Passat, Americans remain stuck with an older platform shared with China, South Korea, and the Middle East.
Fortunately, it looks like VW has been hard at work in Asia, delivering a sharp new sedan for the Chinese market that it might share with the U.S. next year. (Read More…)
Sure, let’s start with week with a political question. Why not? It’s not like we’ve never had an opinion or two around here (that goes for both the writers and readers).
Last week, noise was being made and digital ink was being spilled concerning the issue of ethanol. What do you want to see in your tank?
Until recently, anyone wanting a purely electric vehicle capable of driving beyond the confines of a daily commute was stuck shelling out the big bucks. Then Chevrolet introduced the Bolt in 2016, proving that 200+ miles of range wasn’t out of the question. With most EV competitors achieving just over half that, it seemed like […]
Oldsmobile has been gone since 2004, which makes it hard to believe that the Olds Cutlass spent most of the period from the middle 1970s through the early 1980s as either the #1 or #2 best-selling car in the United States. For 1979, the Cutlass came in second place (behind the Chevy Caprice), and thus these downsized A/G-body fourth-generation Cutlasses once crowded North American streets.
Now, most are gone, but this primered ’79 Cutlass Supreme coupe nearly made it to age 40, ending its days in a Denver self-service wrecking yard. (Read More…)
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