According to a recent projection, GM will be selling over 2m vehicles on its Gamma (Aveo) platform by 2016… and thanks to Cadillac’s Urban Luxury Concept, we know what the most profitable iteration of that platform could look like. Yes, it’s the new-wave Cimarron of the future, inspired by such pedigreed city-car competitors as the Aston-Martin Cygnet and the Bugatti Petit Sport Sang de Navet. And with Lambo doors and a grille that would put a crunk rapper to shame, the littlest Caddy certainly does everything it can to distract from its humble (presumably budget Korean hatchback) roots. Because, as lead designer Frank Saucedo puts it
There is no minimum size for a Cadillac driving experience.
But there is a minimum volume per platform target… and the importance of this metric almost guarantees that, in some way or another, the Cimarron will ride again.
With strong new C-segment competition coming in the form of the Chevy Cruze, Hyundai Elantra and Ford Focus, upcoming refreshes of the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla seem to be taking a low-key approach to the extroverted upstarts. Are the kings of the compact class resting on their laurels? Can they afford to coast on reputation alone? History tells us that complacence leads to trouble in this industry…
GM’s Korean partner GM-Daewoo has an Aveo-based “SUV” in the final stages of design development… and it definitely looks like the 2007 “Chevy Trax” concept, right? Wrong. Of course.
Design chief Taewan Kim insists the design is “still not fixed” for production but the detailed study is finished to the sort of standard designers reach before wheeling in The Boss to sign it off as ready for production and the interior ‘mock-up’ looked all but sorted to give the suppliers the go for first off-tool samples. Looks? Cameras were banned but think ‘I shrunk the Capitiva’ and you get the idea.
Don’t know what a Captiva is? Well, do you remember the Saturn Vue? No? Well, there’s a new one anyway… take a look after the jump.
That’s right kids, automotive design does matter… even in the search for New York City’s Taxi Of Tomorrow. Which weird-looking van do you prefer? Vote here.
On a recent visit to HATCI, TTAC’s Michael Karesh was granted a peek at the forthcoming Hyundai coupe, known in concept form as Veloster. As our graph of the day shows, Hyundai’s never had great sales success with its front-drive coupes. At its best, the Tiburon hit 20k annual sales for a few year with the last design, but the appeal wore off and sales dropped to about half that level. And with sales of the Genesis sedan and coupe combining for fewer than 24k sales through October of this year, it seems that Hyundai isn’t setting the US coupe market afire with its rear-drive offering either. For comparison, the Chevy Camaro racked up at about 71,500 sales through October. But with 40 MPG highway apparently on-tap for this new Elantra-based coupe, the Velostiburon is on track to out-green the hybrid Honda CR-Z. And by the looks of things, it should at least give the Scion tC a run for the extroverted budget-coupe market. Could Korea’s coupe curse be on the way out?
Conjecture that Lambo might be getting rid of the V12 in its flagship turns out to have been way off-base: in fact, Lamborghini has just announced specs for its first clean-sheet V12 since the 1964 350GT. Its 6.5 liter displacement is good for 700 high-revving horsepower (but “only” about 500 lb-ft of torque), thanks to aluminum-silicon alloy four-valve heads and an oversquare design. The new engine also comes with a new type of automated-manual gearbox that Lamborghini calls an “Independent Shifting Rod” transmission. We’ll publish more technical details as they become available, but for now let’s just take a moment to lap up the visual feast. New Lambo V12s don’t come around every day… in fact, given past practice and future emissions standards, this may well be the last of the breed.
If you’ve ever been to a topless beach, you know the basic problem: you expect a bunch of topless Jags and Maseratis, but what you actually get is this, the Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet. Four thousand pounds of roly-poly crossover blessed with the totally misguided belief that people want to see it with its top off. And it would be one thing if this were just a one-off concept, but it sounds like Nissan is considering actually making this thing. We’ll keep a corner of our eye on this as the LA Auto Show kicks off… but we’ll be sure to avoid eye contact.
The second-best thing about this video? The Dodge rep specifically notes that it’s embargoed until Monday. The very best thing? It’s been on Youtube for nearly a week. Autonetwork doesn’t play the embargo game… and as a result you get a quick peek at some new Dodges as well as a taste of the tedium that is a press launch event. Enjoy it while it lasts!
Now that Chrysler has released full side-on images of its new “200” sedan, its Sebring heritage is plain to see. But will a new name, a new V6, improved handling and a new interior be enough to get D-segment shoppers to forget the Sebring’s ignominy and head back to Chrysler showrooms?
Hyundai’s Sonata overhaul has been well-received by critics and customers, and the next-gen Elantra looks set to move the magic to the C-segment. But what of the Accent? If there’s a vehicle left in Hyundai’s lineup that recalls the bad old days of Hyundai’s bargain-basement past, it’s the current sub-$10k base price Accent. Of course, that’s all about to change, as a new Accent is hitting the roads in Korea… and like most of Hyundai’s new product, it looks like a huge step up from its predecessor. TTAC’s man in Korea, Walter Foreman, was kind enough to send in this mega-dump of over 80 images of the new Accent, noting
The car is 172 inches in length with a 101.2 inch wheelbase and a height of 57.3 inches. No news on the claimed curb weight yet.
The 1.4 liter engine is rated at 108 hp and 37.8 mpg with the 5-speed auto and 42.3 with the 6-speed manual [all mpg numbers on Korean test cycle].
The 1.6 liter engine is rated at 140 hp and 39.3 mpg with the 6-speed auto and 42.8 with the 6-speed manual.
Hyundai’s Dan Bedore leaked this covered-up snap of the new American-made Elantra to Twitter, with the caption
Just received this from our friends at the plant in Alabama.
Hyundai’s done a good job of keeping quiet about the new Elantra, but anyone who pays attention to cars has seen the Elantra before… hell, we’ve even seen it park itself. Not that we’re jaded or anything. Luckily we’re still going to be able to get our new-Hyundai kicks today, as we just received a treasure trove of new baby photos from Korea…
According to Auto Motor und Sport, the next-generation Porsche 911 (991) will have its wheelbase extended by ten centimeters compared to the current model, a concession to US emissions standards which are categorized by footprint. The new elfer will also lose about 88 pounds and gain stop-start technology, in yet another nod to tightening global emissions standards. Oh yes, and the handbrake will become an electrically-controlled switch similar to the unit in the Panamera. Otherwise… has anything changed? These Erlkönig spy shots reveal the biggest non-story in all of automotive-dom: the 911’s styling really won’t change all that much for its newest iteration. Yes, the most consistently-styled car of the modern era will get slightly steeper front headlights, a more tapered rear end, and fewer vestigal cooling vents that survived the switch from air-cooled to water-cooled engines, thanks to the Porsche’s legendarily stubborn styling department. Otherwise, the updates are incredibly subtle (those side vents are taped-on camo, according to AM und S).
Can the Carrera continue like this forever? Will faithfulness to its classical form ever wear thin? A quick comparison of 911 sales to Boxster/Cayman sales (4,751 to 3,036 in the US, year-to-date) suggests that’s not going to be a problem anytime soon…
Thought the idea of a four-door coupe was confusing? How about a five-door coupe? Or, is that a four-door shooting break? While the debate rages on, Mercedes has announced that it will produce a wagon version of its CLS four-door coupe, because, as the video above states
Mercedes is committed to the development of the coupe.
To develop the coupe you must destroy the coupe… or at least the significance of the word “coupe.” By that measure, Mercedes has done quite nicely with this car, and it doesn’t look half bad either. We’re just starting to get a little worried about where all this coupe “development” is going to end up.
About a month ago we saw the first renderings of the 2012 Nissan Versa, and were more than a little taken aback at the model’s apparent move from geeky hatch to sleek sedan. Now the first images of the Chinese-market Nissan Sunny have hit autohome.com.cn [via Burlappcars.com], and they show a rounded little sedan that’s equal parts Altima and IS250. The Sunny nameplate is known as the Sentra in the US, but there’s some speculation that these images actually portray the next-gen Versa (based on their similarity to the earlier-leaked rendering). Alternatively, Nissan could be going for a similar look for both its compact and subcompact offerings. In any case, these pictures hint that Nissan is not taking improved offerings like Chevy’s Cruze and the forthcoming Ford Focus and Hyundai Accent sitting down. The compact and subcompact segments are heating up as designs improve, and Nissan is not about to be left behind.
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