Take a good long look at the Bentley EXP 9F. When I asked a few months ago what the next rapper car du jour will be, I didn’t know that a Bentley SUV was coming. Now that I do, expect this to be everywhere that rappers, athletes and plastic-fantastic housewives are, stealing the Maserati Kubang’s thunder with a perverse status display.
TTAC was all set to depart for Switzerland to cover the 82nd Geneva Motor Show when tragedy befell us. My usual suite at the Hotel d’Angleterre (with a view of Lac Léman) was occupied by one B. McAleer during press days, and upon arriving at the airport, our corporate-owned Falcon 7X was padlocked, the plane saddled with a lien from a Columbus-area guitar dealer alleging non-payment by an employee of our fair publication. Nevertheless, we will be covering the show somehow. Here’s what to expect from all the big players.
On the back of last year’s win for the Nissan Leaf, the Chevrolet Volt and Vauxhall/Opel Ampera has won the 2012 European Car of the Year award, beating out the Citroen DS5, Fiat Panda, Ford Focus, Range Rover Evoque, Toyota Yaris and the Volkswagen Up!
Global sales of Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz car brand rose a whopping 20.3 percent in February compared to February 2011, Reuters says. A lot of this growth comes from a country already pronounced a basket case by some: China. Read More >
Vellum is a material at the heart of Automotive and Industrial Design. Venom is something this website has in spades: so a few positive comments from a recent Piston Slap column brought the two concepts together. Before we start; some ground rules: I analyze what’s seen from my camera phone, no press cars and therefore no time to second guess my thoughts.
And a few shout outs: Read More >
Every country and culture seems to have to go through its fads and fashions. China does it at breakneck speed. Last year, it was gold. Now, the Bling Dynasty is succeeded by The King. Elvis-style pink cars suddenly are all the rage, and who else than Carnewschina to keep track of them? Don’t fancy Chinese and The King? There you go: Suddenly, cars are pinkos in Red China. Read More >
The UAW and other unions are on the case of Honda, Hyundai, and Daimler again. They threaten to picket dealers of the carmakers, and to disrupt their stockholders meetings. (Good luck doing this in Japan, Korea and Germany.) What did Honda, Hyundai, and Daimler do now? They did nothing, and the unions say it’s an outrage. Read More >
Major carmakers around the world had their eyes on Hyundai’s growing muscle for a while. In the business, you call that benchmarking. Now, the benchmarking sensors sound alarm: Hyundai announced yesterday that its February global sales jumped 28 percent from a year earlier. Read More >
We live in a conservative country. No, I’m not talking about the politics. Or our style of dress for that matter. I’m talking about our taste in cars.
This is a land where Camcords have reigned supreme with the occasional Taurus thrown into the mix. We like simple lines. Drop dead reliability. Plus a heaping load of quietude when it comes to highway and in-town driving.
The Cruze comes from a long line of ‘good enough’ cars. The Cobalt, pretender to the market leaders of a few years ago, was usually good enough for rental fleets and those who valued the deal over the car. The late 90’s to mid 2000’s Malibu was likewise a rental fleet special which only enjoyed a healthy retail following during the Clinton era.
As for the Cruze? Well that’s a different story. It is a market leader and probably is more responsible for GM’s recent image enhancements than any other vehicle in their lineup. Which brings me to a simple thought. Why?
TTAC’s “Two Minutes Hate” was nearly torpedoed today – our best story was about a “wealth manager” and an Audi RS5. It turns out that we have some real news with which to aim our invective; GM is suspending Volt production again to eliminate excess inventory.
An Automotive News story today reported on an incredible – dare I say, game changing – method of corporate governance over at Ford; swearing at, and attempting to physically attack your co-workers!
It looks like the German new car market decided: “Last year was nice. Let’s do it again.” For a few months, the German market had retraced the prior year. In February, the prior year number has been hit with 0.0 percent precision. Read More >
It’s a situation in which many an auto enthusiast has found himself: You go to an auto show, hoping to see the newest Krautwagen Alpha-Numerical-Alpha Extra Designation Denoting Actual Engine Size, and they have the car locked so you can’t rub your hands and body all over the interior to find out if said interior contains any deadly spikes, sharp corners, or sub-par LCD screens. What do you do? For most normal people, the answer is suck it up and go live the rest of your life. For self-proclaimed “wealth manager” Joshua Smith, however, the answer was slightly different: he sat right down and wrote a letter. Little did he know that Audi was about to make him approximately as famous as Kevin Federline… (Warning: plenty of NSFW language to come)
The Ford Focus Electric has been rated by the EPA at 105 MPGe combined (99 MPGe on the highway and 110 MPGe in the city), with a range of 76 miles.
When Toyota announced an ambitious sales plan for 2012, and the intention to raise sales in Japan by 36 percent, a common reaction was: “Excuse me?”
In February 2011, sales of passenger vehicles excluding minivehicles had been down 14.3 percent. Sales in Japan had been down for most of the year, as a result of cut subsidies. When smaller inducements came back in fall, sales were up again. We are comparing with a low base. As matters are coming back to normal we better get used to a stretch of double digit gains.
Compared to the low base, Toyota’s plan is entirely doable. So far, the market complies and Toyota is on target. Read More >
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