Tempora mutantur, or in Boy Dylan’s words, the times they are a-changin’. Last year, luxury cars were pretty much unsalable. This year, they are the hottest commodity. Especially in Germany. Which isn’t doing so well generally. Germany’s car companies on the other hand are working at warp speed. Daimler already had announced their best June ever. What about BMW and Audi? They are doing great. Danke, Euro. Xie xie, China. Read More >
Poetry, Wordsworth told us right before he and that dope fiend Coleridge pissed all over English literature with the freakin’ Lyrical Ballads, is “emotion recollected in tranquility.” By “emotion”, he meant having a nice walk in the Lake District, and by “tranquility”, he meant the sweet, sweet song of opium. Hate that guy and his wack-ass aversion to meter. You want to read some real literature, I recommend Pope’s Epistle To Dr. Arbuthnot. But I digress.
While Acura struggles with its current beaky big rig, reviewed by Mr. Karesh yesterday, I thought I would recall some emotion in tranquility and detail my drive of the 1998 Acura 2.5TL. Truth be told, though, there wasn’t much emotion involved. Perhaps this is tranquility, recollected in tranquility. Never mind.
It is a five cylinder Acura,
And it cost about twenty-five G.
“By thy frameless windows and generic grille,
Now wherefore stopp’st thou me?
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In a deal to prop up their books, GM is selling more assets to the Chinese. GM sold its Nexteer Automotive steering-parts unit to China’s Pacific Century Motors, a company formed by China’s Tempo Group and the Beijing government’s investment arm E-Town. Read More >
Where would the automotive world be without China. From Daimler to Volkswagen, all send daily prayers east, in the general direction of the Middle Kingdom. (No much aiming precision is needed. It’s a big country.) Even Lamborghini has high expectations. This year, they will sell record numbers of Lambos to China. Read More >
In the previous edition of the Big Buff Book Cover-Up series, we looked at the Cumberford Martinique, a BMW & Citroen based retro roadster designed by a small startup that never got beyond prototypes or demonstrators.
The last of the three-part series shows (for starts) that you don’t have to be a small startup for your concept to stall at the prototype stage.
You can be a small British luxury marque with a storied but financially checkered past. Read More >
Nissan has released more teasers for its forthcoming 2011 Quest, and we’re starting to get the feeling that it could just be the first mold-breaking minivan in some time. It’s not necessarily the most exciting looking thing, but under that blunt-nosed skin, this Quest likely boasts the RWD/AWD chassis of the newest Japanese Elgrand van and an optional 3.5 liter VQ V6. We’ll wait for official details before we start getting too crazy, but the possibility of a 300 hp, RWD minivan is a little to perversely thrilling to ignore. With all the talk of “Swagger Wagons” and “Man Vans” lately, Nissan may just have the most exciting minivan since the first-gen Mazda MPV (to date, the only minivan to be appear in a rap video) hiding up its sleeve…
This segment is another big one, representing a number of four-door sedans that are either larger than another same-brand, D-Segment offering (i.e. Impala, Maxima), or a premium or “junior luxury” sedan. That throws cars as diverse as the Charger and the BMW 3-Series into the same segment, and though less than perfectly-focused, it makes for some interesting comparisons. Take, for example, the fact that the 3-Series has sold better so far this year than the Charger. Or the fact that Acura’s divisive TL is selling considerably better than Hyundai’s white-bread Genesis. So much to learn…
Audi is apparently cashing in on the universal paranoia of having your car at the dealer as well as the distinctly British love of video surveillance, by offering AudiDirect Reception, which allows owners to watch their car go through maintenance. According to a press release [via WCF], the new program makes Audi technicians wear video cameras and two-way communication systems, allowing owners to constantly watch over their shoulders and interrupt their work. Or, as Audi puts it
Candid cameras will soon be focused on all Audi Centre service areas as part of a new Direct Reception initiative being rolled out across the network that will enable Audi customers to view in ‘real time’, and communicate with, technicians as they carry out diagnosis and repair work.
Up next? Chat Roulette!
With commentary on today’s Acura TL review struggling to move past the sedan’s jarring styling, this seems like a good time to discuss alternatives to the TL… or, at least the alternatives to that jangly beak. Remember, even if you like your TL enough to get past the “distinctive” looks, the rest of us still have to look at it. Here, for your consideration, are a number of ways to improve the looks of the TL, starting with Acura’s official cure, the “Full Nose Mask.”
Read More >
Ford was the best-selling brand in America over the first half of 2010, outselling second-place Chevrolet by over 70k units. Sadly, we don’t have the fleet sales breakdown for this data, because both Ford and Chevy have been dogged by indicators of heavy fleet-sales reliance all year. And volume means very little if it’s hurting resale and eroding a brand. Speaking of brand erosion, did you know that the zombie brand Saturn sold better (6,480 units) since January than Jaguar or Saab? With Hyundai-Kia headed for a combined million-sales year, there’s a new pack forming behind the Korean brands, composed of Subaru, VW and Mazda. Neither true mass-market brands nor premium players, these three brands will be interesting to watch over the next several years.
Mid-to-large unibody crossovers are a large segment covering a wide variety of prices and capabilities, but the competition is tight as can be. Ford’s Edge joins its Escape sibling in bringing the second 2010 YTD crossover sales award back to Dearborn… but only barely. And not if you count the Enclave and Acadia to GM’s Traverse numbers (Lincoln MKX sold only 10,289 YTD, MKT moved 3906, keeping them both off this chart). Once again, we have more proof that the Ford brand is plenty strong, but that Lincoln is still badly enough wounded to keep Ford from hanging with The General. Meanwhile, Hyundai, Kia and Subaru are charging into this segment with guns blazing, and the Toyota Highlander seems to be taking much of the hit from the new competition.
The European Commission concluded that the sale of Volvo to China’s Geely would not significantly impede competition in Europe (well, that would have been a stretch), and approved the transaction, says Reuters. Read More >
Italian supercar upstarts Pagani started with one car, the Zonda, and have maintained a laser-like focus on that single nameplate ever since. Former supercar heavyweight McLaren is re-entering the road car arena with its V8-powered Ferrari Italia-fighter, the MP4-12C, but is fast-tracking the development of its range-topping supercar, pitched as a neo-McLaren F1 and aimed at the Zonda and its hypercar ilk. Recession? What Recession?
People have different ideas on what constitutes a good car. Some people think driving dynamics are the key, which explains the sales of cars like BMW and Ford. Others look to reliability, which accounts for cars like Toyota and Honda. Then you have the skinflints who consider value their key factor, Hyundais and Kias. While each car brand stands for something, there are many people who want a mixture of many factors. After all, a car is a major purchase and you’d want it to perform well over many areas and not just excel in just one. You car is your transport, it keeps your children safe, keeps you entertained in traffic and keeps the rain off your head. And all it asks for is a tank of petrol and regular servicing. So maybe there’s more to buying a car than just branding? So here’s the question of the day: Which one does it all? Read More >
At least four of the country’s top rental car firms sell information on their customers to a photo enforcement firm. American Traffic Solutions and its subsidiary, ATS Processing Services, signed contracts through which Avis, Budget, Hertz and Advantage agreed to hand over information on renters so that ATS can collect extra money on photo tickets.
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