The civilian version of the car shown in the video will soon be available for purchase, reports TheTycho from Beijing. It won’t come with the microphones and the stand-up podium behind the driver. Instead, it will have full reclining seats in the back. Read More >
You know… that’s not a horrid-looking little interior right there. What does an adorable little “yacht tender” Aston Martin Cygnet cost, anyway Jeeves? £30,995 base? Why that’s a duke’s whisker away from fifty thousand of those colonial greenbacks! One could nearly afford three Toyota iQs for that amount of filthy lucre… and aesthetic improvements aside, they’re the same ruddy vehicle! But then, one imagines that the Aston version at least offers the sporting thrills one expects from such a storied… what’s that now? It takes 11.8 seconds to reach 62 MPH? Egad Jeeves, we’d go faster if you pushed me in the old S3! In fact, a peasant-powered Bentley is both lower-emissions and infinitely more befitting ones station than a rebadged Toyota. So much for all that “progress” nonsense…
It’s been a short, strange trip for Maybach, as Daimler’s über-luxe branding effort went from toast of the nouveau riche to played-out self-caricature in a few short years. Needless to say, TTAC has been awaiting the long-overdue death of that brand for some time now, only to be stymied by a “final” facelift and a Xenatec-developed Coupe. Now, with Aston Martin reportedly working on the new look of the brand that “nobody at Daimler wants to let die,” Maybach’s masters are finally admitting to the fact that TTAC pointed out back in 2007: The Super S-Class was “born old hat.” Autocar reports:
Originally created to be profitable at 800 cars per year, Maybach has regularly struggled to sell half that annually since the launch of the 57 and 62 in 2002. Insiders now admit the decision to base the Maybach on the platform of a two-generations-old S-class, the W140, was a mistake.
Doing so prevented Mercedes from updating the upmarket limousine’s standard features with new navigation, communication and entertainment systems, as well as new safety features owing to an incompatible electronics platform dating back to 1990.
D’oh! But don’t worry… this won’t happen again. Honest.
The Blue Oval is trying to make the case that, after years of tolerating decline at its luxury brands, the fight to bring Lincoln up to snuff is deadly serious. But if admitting you have a problem is the first step on the road to recovery, CEO Alan Mulally may just have kicked off Lincolns rehabilitation with a minor stumble, telling Automotive News [sub]
we didn’t tarnish the brand. We just didn’t invest in it.
You say tomato, Alan, we say tomahto. If neglect won’t “tarnish” a luxury brand, nothing will. But now that the requisite excuses have been made, what is Ford going to do to bring back its lagging luxury brand?
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Hyundai’s Azera has long flown under the radar in this country, offering a near-luxury option that’s (at least) as stolid as it is solid. But because the Azera has never connected with America’s love of flamboyance, few know that the Grandeur, as it’s known in Korea, has a long, proud history full of grandiose names. Did you know the Grandeur was originally a rebadged Mitsubishi Debonair, and that these two suave nameplates were jointly developed for at least one generation? Only the second domestically-produced front-drive sedan on the Korean market, the first generation had to be made from Mitsubishi knock-down kits so the Korean automaker would have a luxury car ready to transport dignitaries in time for the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. It unseated the Daewoo Royale (an Opel Rekord/Senator mash-up) as Korea’s top luxury car, and eventually became the country’s best-selling car.
Yes, the “Azera” has had a more storied history than its near-invisible styling, marketing and name in this country seem to suggest… but back in Korea it’s making waves again. The latest Grandeur launched last Thursday, and our man in Korea, Walter Foreman, has sent us the latest production-model press shots, which give a far better sense of the car than the last set of spy shots and renderings. And though Hyundai says it expects to sell 100k Grandeurs in 2011, Reuters reports that a US launch is not going to happen until 2012. In light of the new design direction, perhaps they’re taking the time to rethink the “Azera” nameplate…
Lexus entered the „premium compact“ segment today by launching their CT 200h hybrid hatchback in Japan. They could call it CT 200hhh – as in harmonious hatch hybrid. We’ll get to the harmonious in a minute. Read More >
Buick’s Verano aims to bring a touch of class to the compact segment, and what’s classier than a Latin motto? Especially Ad Astra Per Aspera (Through Hardship, To The Stars), the motto used by such refined institutions as Dr Challoner’s Grammar School in Buckinghamshire, England and (of course) Starfleet. Unfortunately, the Buick Verano isn’t aiming for the stars… it’s got more humble foes like the Audi A3, Volvo S40 and Lexus IS250 in its sights. In fact, it’s actually “from” the stars… well, it’s closely based on the Opel Astra, anyway. So, make that “Ex Astra Per Aspera.” Although, come to think of it, it didn’t really come through “hardship” so much as “China.” So I suppose the official classy Buick Verano motto should probably be “Ex Astra Per Sina.”
The hardship part comes when GM tries to slot this bad boy between the $22,695-$26,780 Cruze LTZ and the $26,995-$36,105 Buick Regal. Or when they realize that neither the Audi A3 nor the Volvo S40 cracked 7k units last year (Lexus doesn’t break out IS250 numbers, but if were half of the IS-line mix, it would have sold 17k units last year). Keeping it classy in the compact segment just isn’t that easy.
Yes, you read correctly. For less than $200 I recently added a brand new Cadillac to my garage. The catch: it has only two wheels and I must supply the power myself. Read More >
Speaking of platform-sharing between brands, Volkswagen’s division of labor debates have been progressing this year with the result that Audi will develop the conglomerate’s SUVs, while Porsche is in charge of sportscar development, as well as the erector set that will become VW’s modular platform menace. Future luxury sedan development (think Porsche Panamera, Lamborghini Estoque and Bentleys) are also said to be the purview of Porsche, although the German newspaper Der Spiegel recently revealed that
Volkswagen’s boss recently decided that, in 2014, the brand will distance itself from sportscars, instead offering a sedan based on the Audi A8.
Which is an interesting choice. After all, the king of über-luxury sedans, the Rolls Phantom, is based on a unique platform, whereas the A8 shares greasy bits with even the lowly Volkswagen Phaeton. Initially the Bugatti sedan strategy was to build the most expensive luxury sedan (as envisioned by the Galibier Concept) on the market to out-Phantom the Phantom, while (VW-owned) Bentley nips at its heels with the new Mulsanne, but that plan fell apart as a worldwide recession took hold. Now the idea seems to be to create something considerably more modest and brand-engineered… which doesn’t sound like much of a payoff for the most superlative of modern brands. We’ll just have to wait and see where this goes.
On the list of things that should not have survived the last two years of Carpocalypse, Maybach pretty much takes the cake. Even before global credit markets froze up and luxury car sales plummeted, Maybach’s appeal was wearing thin: as one TTAC writer put it, the brand built on lavishly trimmed S-Classes was born old hat. Or, as another Maybach gravedigger put it,
To paraphrase Kurt Vonnegut, the Maybach experiment was a conspiracy between Daimler and the rich to make the rest of us feel smart.
Well, get ready to feel extra-smart. While Aston is prepping a new look for the brand, the old Maybach is having one last hurrah, thanks to the German custom house Xenatec, and the Saudi-based Auto Kingdom. This “Cruiserio” Coupe is the product of a €70m Auto Kingdom investment, and was built by Xenatec with cooperation from Daimler. And with 100 units planned at €715,000 each, Auto Kingdom stands to make €1.5m profit on the project… provided they all sell. And if they do, this garish, gargantuan coupe is just the beginning. According to Jameslist,
The AutoKingdom’s investment in the project is but the first in a series of projects the company is working currently on, [Auto Kingdom Chairman Waleed Abdullah Al-Hokair] noted, adding that details of 3 such projects will be revealed in the near future.
They say that “everything sells at a price,” but right now no amount of money will buy you a Fisker Karma. And, according to a leaked internal email obtained by Fiskerbuzz.com, the price of the Valmet-built luxury plug-in hybrid is rising.
In 2008, pricing was originally estimated to be around $80,000. This estimate was then more clearly defined in 2009 as an MSRP of $87,900 and has now increased another $8,000 to the final pricing of $95,900 for the EcoStandard model.
Is this price bump in any way related to Fisker’s recently-announced production delay, or is it just bad Karma? Fiskerbuzz pleads for calm:
The Karma’s solar roof, the largest continuous and most highly curved solar roof in a passenger car, was planned to be a $5,000 option. The roof is now standard.
With an MSRP of $95,900 the Karma is within 10% of the originally announced MSRP of $87,900 announced in 2009 – an incremental change over the course of two years.
More pricing info and apologia/perspective (depending on how you look at it) after the jump…
Road & Track magazine may think Suzuki enjoyed
huge success following the introduction of the Kizashi,
but the numbers don’t really back that perspective up. With 21,347 brand-wide sales year-to-date, the Suzuki brand about as popular as the Dodge Nitro, and only 5,269 of those sales were Kizashis. For a product that was supposed to keep Suzuki in the game in North America, there’s no way around the fact that Kizashi hasn’t “moved the needle.” On the other hand, Suzuki hasn’t done much to market the Kizashi (outside the pages of R&T anyway), and Suzuki is trying to turn things around with a series of ads that are kind of a weird mix of GM’s “May The Best Car Win” selective comparison strategy and Chrysler’s “World’s Best Vehicle (?)” absurdity. There’s been some mainstream media chatter about Hyundai and Buick’s ability to attract luxury brand buyers now that “value for money is the new black” (gotta love that MSM)… and Suzuki clearly wants in on the anti-snobbery bandwagon. But are these ads enough to put Suzuki on the radar?
Read More >
Talk about a blast from the past: TTAC first took note of talks between Aston Martin and Daimler nearly three years ago, and the Maybach connection first shows up a few months later. But all this time later it doesn’t sound like a whole lot of progress has been made. The FT reports that the two sides are still
sounding out a partnership in which Aston Martin could take engine technology from the German carmaker in exchange for building the cars“Aston Martin needs engines and nobody at Daimler wants to let the Maybach brand die,” said one industry insider.
Mercedes may have taken a light hand with the exterior design of the facelifted 2011 C-Class, but under the skin some big changes await. According to Auto Motor und Sport, all updated C-Classes will have stop-start-equipped direct-injection engines, as well as the option of upgrading to all ten of the latest driver-assistance systems from the CLS, E-Class and CL. With more power (306 HP) and better efficiency (from about 29 MPG to about 34 MPG, European test cycle) and a touch more life to its classy but somewhat characterless looks, the updated C350 should help spearhead Benz’s attempt to regain the US-Market’s luxury brand crown (just not the wagon version… musn’t hurt the GLK). Of course the C-Class will still probably be beaten silly by the 3-Series, but then everyone’s used to getting beat by the Dreier.
There’s a strange rumor afoot, which traces back to mibz.com, and it goes a little something like this:
Fiat plans to introduce a European version of the Chrysler 200. But the model will be sold by Lancia, with the Fiat logo on the front grille.
It looks like Fiat is not sticking to their initial plans, saying they will sell the Chrysler models under the name of Lancia. Unofficial sources say that the New Chrysler 200C will be sold on the Old Continent under the Fiat logo and not Lancia, as was anticipated. The reason is relatively simple, but a fair one: the American brand is not able to match the quality and luxury level of Lancia, a brand seen by many as a premium competitor.
We’re not yet completely convinced by this rumor, which flies in the face of Fiat’s plans for a Lancia-Chrysler co-branding experiment. Still, if the facelifted Sebring, pardon, 200 isn’t “premium” enough to be a Lancia, is the 300 up to the task? To help you formulate an answer we present Chrysler’s latest dump of high-resolution pictures of the new Chrysler flagship.
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