A USA Today interview with Sergio Marchionne revealed some interesting details about Chrysler’s future product plans – among them, a wider adoption of the Dodge Dart/Alfa Romeo Giulietta platform, a possible small hatch dubbed the “Chrysler 100” and Alfa Romeos built on American soil.
Today, TTAC was treated to what might be the first look at Acura’s newest flagship. While we saw renderings of the new car, we weren’t allowed to take photographs – but none of the information released was embargoed.
Google’s nutty pseudo-utopian autonomous car project faced a reality check at a legal symposium sponsored by the Law Review and High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University. Among the challenges raised were the prospect of insuring such a car, and whether the car would be able to stop for law enforcement or construction workers.
We’ve all heard anecdotal evidence of just how important cars like the Cayenne and Panamera are for Porsche’s financial health. Freelance analyst Timothy Cain has done the unenviable task of analyzing the data and his findings show just how important the apostate P-cars are for the company.
Toyota is launching a hybrid version of the Yaris, and will likely be the European substitute for the Prius c/Aqua that Bertel drove just last week.
If there’s one thing that enthusiasts and the general public can agree on, it’s that minivans are deeply uncool. The terms “swagger wagon” or “man van” may seem like oxymorons, but the minivan marking has seen slow growth this past year. Read More >
Are body-on-frame SUVs long for this world? Not according to Toyota USA President Jim Lentz who made the bold prediction that “By 2025, I think one can assume that most of the frame-based vehicles will be gone.”
Could Saab end up in Turkish hands? According to Bloomberg, Turkish private equity firm Brightwell Holdings will bid for the remnants of Saab, with a view to producing cars again.
Many of us consider Mitsubishi to be on its deathbed (as an automaker – they still make TVs and cell phones, right?), but the brand is apparently showing an all-new car at the Geneva Auto Show, destined to be the new face of the brand. But nobody knows what the hell it’s going to be.
Our European Best and Brightest dropped some knowledge on us, informing TTAC that the Fiat Panda, was not going to be Fiat’s new 5-door vehicle coming to the U.S.
A panel convened by the National Academy of Sciences is calling for NHTSA to “become more familiar with and engaged in”. What does this mean for you? More government intervention in new cars, of course.
Fiat will uneveil a bigger, five-door model, possibly related to the 500, at this March’s Geneva Auto Show. The new car will be built in Fiat’s Serbian plant and was designed with the U.S. market in mind, according to Automotive News. Europe will receive the new model before we do, and hopefully Sergio Marchionne isn’t “naively optimistic” about the car’s success in America. No word on whether or not it’s the Fiat Panda. We hope so.
UAW president Bob King endorsed the 54.5 MPG CAFE standard for passenger vehicles while testifying at CAFE related hearings in Detroit. Automotive News quoted King as saying “The proposed rules are sensible, achievable and needed.” The standards would have to be met by 2025 and work out to about 40 mpg in the real world.
Lincoln’s free-falling sales will apparently be remedied by allowing customers to watch their cars get serviced via smart phone, if you can stomach the party line coming from Ford marketing boss Jim Farley. Also outlined were Lincoln’s idea of “luxury” and powertrain details for the upcoming MKZ
Nissan’s Scratch Guard, which was completely forgotten weeks after its announcement revolutionized the industry, has now been applied to an iPhone case. The expanding resin can fill minor scratches within half an hour. Major damage may take longer. But is the “ScratchShield” just hype?
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