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With a brand new BMW 3 Series in development, BMW has updated the current-generation coupe and convertible. Or has it? Say what you want about the Bangle era, in those days a mid-cycle refresh was a mid-cycle refresh.
“Scion is pretty much a North American brand, so that is why it is very natural to think more development, more design work, should be done in North America,” Yoshi Inaba, president of Toyota Motor North America tells Automotive News [sub]. In other words, fans of Scion’s first generation of JDM confections who railed against second-gen bloat are probably out of luck. Sure, model four in the Scion lineup will be the iQ minicar, which is small and weird enough to have been a member of the Scion invasion team, but after that? It’s all bloat and bigger blind spots from here on out. It’s what America wants.
Mercedes sold only 2,825 R Class “Grand Sport Tourer” models in the US last year, confirming once and for all that the eigenwillig CUV is a bonafide flop in this country. So much so that a GL-inspired restyling is already under development, possibly with a GL-inspired name as well: GLR.
Pickup Truck def: a vehicle designed to haul cargo that the owner picks up and places into its cargo bed.
I may be in the minority, but that’s how I use my truck. I haul gravel, compost, dirt, and mulch, and shovel it out the back, which is the most efficient way to do it, short of a dump bed. I also haul junk to to the dump, and load loose items by tossing them over the side of my truck’s bed, and unload them the same way. I can readily lean over into my bed’s side and reach all the items in there. I easily tip large appliances single handedly into and out of the bed. That’s why I have a truck, and that’s what I expect it to be able to do. But there are times when I think I might like to ride in something a little more comfortable and safe than my 1966 Ford F-100. So I head down to my local Ford dealer and check out a new truck, starting with the business end: Read More >
After backing away from the ridiculous torque figures it gave with its R8-based e-tron, Audi is having another crack at the electric sportscar theme with a second e-tron concept at the NAIAS. Of course by not giving it a new name, Audi created the impression that this might be a very similar concept to the R8-based model it says its going to build at some point. The e-tron mk II is, however, a very different beast. Where as the first e-tron was an electrification and restyling of the R8, the e-tron 2 actually previews the look of an eventual R4 sportscar, based on Volkswagen’s Blue Sport concept. If Audi eventually sells an EV version of that vehicle (and they say the e-tron name will become a brand for Audi EVs) and it’s materially the same as this concept, it would be the first RWD production Audi since… well, why don’t we have some guesses?
Another year passes and another Lincoln sprouts a baleen-feeder snout. Because familial consistency is more important than allowing innocent retinas to go unseared.
The Cadillac XTS Platinum Concept, which debuts today at the NAIAS, is a look at the new Cadillac flagship which goes into production in early 2012. The XTS’s brief is to replace the moribund DTS and STS sedans, a task that Cadillac desperately needs done properly if it wants to be taken seriously as a luxury competitor. So why is the XTS concept little more than a glorified Buick LaCrosse?
Ok, it’s not exactly a new phenomena: car company shows a low and slick concept, and the final product looks like an obese baby seal. We took GM to task with its Volt bait-and-switch routine. And now we take on Honda, although probably not quite so ferociously; given that the gap between the CR-Z concept and production version is a tad bit narrower than the Volt Grand (Lie) Canyon. But the Volt was always intended to be a four-seater; not the CR-Z. Therein lies the Honda lie: it’s ok to just chop off the back of a sedan and call it…not good. Read More >
You might need to click through to the gallery to fully grasp the stunning blandness of its New Coupe Concept, which just debuted at the NAIAS. Volkswagen has said again and again that it plans to take over the American market by screwing its loyal followers and selling out for mainstream appeal. The NCC is the apathy-osis of this philosophy, showing an approach to the sports coupe genre that makes the business of car look like a less glamorous offshoot of the packing materials industry. It’s a hybrid. It’s a “poor man’s A5.” It’s a dust bunny to the Scirocco‘s sandstorm. Most of all though, it’s a sign of how misguided VW’s approach to the US market really is.
Ain’t it Granite? As Curbside Classics recently explored, GMC has a long, proud tradition of uglifying otherwise palatable Chevrolet products. In this case, the Chevy Cruze-based Orlando compact MPV was beaten with GMC’s patented professional-grade ugly stick, transforming it into the this “Urban Utility Vehicle.” “Granite was conceived as a new type of vehicle from GMC – one that could stretch people’s ideas of what a GMC can be,” said Lisa Hutchinson, product marketing director for GMC in the Granite presser. Which is a fantastic-sounding way of announcing the destruction of the last remnants of GMC’s truck-tough image. But hey, at least the core brand value of cubist-nightmare styling remains intact.
When the Ford Focus first went on sale in the US, it was a rare glimpse for the still-SUV-centric US market at how the rest of the world gets from the Blue Oval. Of course, as time went by, Ford eased away from the Euro-funk of the first generation, first blandifying the model with a mid-cycle “refresh,” before eventually replacing it with the current embarrassment to the nameplate. And it’s not just the current model’s Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers-meets-Pep Boys look that makes it unworthy of the Focus name: the whole idea behind the original Focus was the dream of a world car, that would be sold, largely unchanged, in markets around the world. With the 2012 model, now being previewed before the Detroit Auto Show [press release here], Ford has gone back to the model’s original vision.
In the past, Jeep’s done it up big for the NAIAS, unveiling wild concepts, driving new production models through plate glass, and the like. This year though, things are a bit tight. Instead of throwing a booze-soaked bash around some miles-from-production concept, Sergio Marchionne is going to lay out some saltines and Tang and let visitors paste some cheap decals he picked up in China on a Wrangler. All this in celebration of Jeep’s first new products in ages: the Unlimited Mountain and Islander edition Wranglers. Featuring the cheapest, most gimmicky-looking graphic decals and upholstery ever foisted upon the buying public (random latitude/longitude readings? really?), these “special” editions need to keep Jeep gasping along until ChryCo can get the suppliers lined up for the new Grand Cherokee. Meanwhile, stand by for more special editions from Chrysler, hinted at in the firm’s five year plan. This is going to get even uglier before the actual Fiat products show up later this year.
This is reportedly the new Aveo RS concept coming to the Detroit Auto Show, and apparently a near-production look at the next-generation Aveo. Well, you weren’t expecting it to look worse than the current model, were you?
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