Sometimes you feel like a BMW… and sometimes you don’t. Volvo has caught wind of this, and offers the 2011 S60 in hopes of adding the Bavarian-ambivalent market to its solid Swedophile base. What Volvo seems to have forgotten is that part of the BMW appeal is that the brand can be successfully marketed without resorting to worn-out terms like “naughty.” At least it could, once upon a time.
Does anyone have an iPad? Hyundai’s clean-up on aisle six Concept proves that all the sales momentum in the world can’t prevent the occasional tone-deaf design study. Or an unfortunately hilarious nomenclature. Given the recent improvements in Hyundai’s production car styling, the i-flow concept is something of a look back to the wild “emotion lines” of its late 90s design work. In short, not a step forward. Meanwhile, despite achieving true originality in its ugliness, the i-flow also manages to incorporate the same weird sedan-hatch-coupe packaging as the Opel Flextreme, Mercedes F800 Style, and Subaru Hybrid Tourer. Back to the drawing board!
The first Opel concept based on GM’s Volt extended-range electric platform was the Ampera, a cheap rebadge that made onlookers exclaim “lands alive, that’s a cheap rebadge!” Since the Ampera debuted, a river of bad blood has flowed under the bridge of GM-Opel relations, and in an apparent pique of independence, Opel has declared its freedom from the corporate mothership with this re-imagining of the Volt, called the Flextreme. And it might just show the way out of GM’s European family feud: GM technology underpinning starkly Teutonic, vaguely upscale designs which stubbornly refuse to acknowledge their technical roots sounds like as good a vision for Opel as we’ve heard yet. Too bad about the money problems. And the Flextreme’s less-than-subtle Lexus LF-A cues. And the fact that the Flextreme would make a crap Buick.
When Jaguar’s new XJ hit the car show circuit, many found themselves remarking that the latest big cat bears more than a striking resemblance to the Citroen design language. No surprise then, that Citroen’s sister brand has built a concept version of a forthcoming midsized sedan that bears a number of similar styling cues. Thanks to Ian Callum’s adventurous experiment, the Five by Peugeot Concept can almost be compared to an XJ, which is more than can be said for any American-market midsize sedan. Perhaps we could still learn a thing or two from the French.
The Mazda5 has long been an under-considered little MPV, competing in a niche that only the aging Kia Rondo dare set foot in. Mazda’s solution to weak sales: overwrought, tacked-on styling flair. But let’s face it: until a major brand brings competition into the compact MPV segment (which will likely first occur when Ford brings its C-Max stateside), the Mazda5 will continue to wander the deserts of weak consideration.
At the Geneva car show, this year’s bon mot among the journos is: there are two kinds of auto companies, those with problems and those that will have problems in the future. That’s one of the many reasons to take interest in the latest crop of concept cars: today’s concept could just be tomorrow’s catastrophe. Look past the bright lights and posed displays, and you can see visions of designers gone mad, branding gone astray, and a complete lack of any managerial imagination. Luckily, not all is dark on the horizon…
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Honda looks 50 years into the future, and comes away with the 3R-C Concept, an EV commuter that has a surprising amount in common with the Neighborhood Electric Vehicles of that became hugely popular during the high gas prices of the Summer of 2008. The 3R-C will debut at the Geneva Auto Salon.
Kicking Tires calls these “the first official photos of the production version” of the next-generation Chevrolet Aveo. They show a subcompact that’s definitely less showcar-ish than the Aveo RS concept from NAIAS, but is still in the computer-generated “uncanny valley” between the realistic and real. Or maybe I’m just getting used to the idea of a halfway-appealing Aveo.
Well, the death of the Sebring name anyway. The Detroit Free Press reveals some of the first details about Chrysler’s all-important refresh of the Sebring/Avenger, a vehicle that CEO Sergio Marchionne recently admitted (in what was surely a Lutzie-award-worthy understatement) is “not the most loved car by car enthusiasts.” The biggest detail: it won’t be named Sebring. This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, considering that the Sebring’s issues are less related to a tepid reaction from the enthusiast market, and have more to do with the fact that even the least car-literate Americans recognize the Sebring name as a symbol for all that is wrong with America’s auto industry.
Is it me or has the new Odyssey Concept, which is supposed to preview the styling of the next-gen model, taken a few too many protein pills? Let’s hope that the production version (arriving this fall) will capture a little more of the original Odyssey’s clean, stripped-down look. Remember, if we’ve learned anything from the Nissan Quest, it’s that minivans can easily be overstyled into irrelevance.
Carscoop dug up these drawings from a Chrysler patent filing for the Dodge-branded version of the forthcoming 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Autoblog figures Dodge will drop the Durango name in favor of resurrecting the Magnum moniker, though given that model’s distinct lack of success, that would be a questionable strategy. On the other hand, the Durango name doesn’t have a lot of tread left on it either… but then what Chrysler Group nameplate does? [UPDATE: Grand Cherokee pricing/trim levels apparently leaked here, with prices reportedly ranging from $31,480 to $45,770 ]
What can I say, I’m a child. Then again, this 100hp, Renault Twingo-based Wind coupe-convertible is one silly toy. With an 11-second 0-60 time from its 1.2 liter engine, there’s some question of whether the Wind could even outrun a fart. But hey, at least you’ll look cool trying, in an adorable, non-threatening, French kind of way.
Yesterday we confronted established automakers’ fears of the disposable automobile imported from China or India, but as Automotive News [sub] reports, the majors aren’t just sitting still on the issue. Nissan, which already sells a decontented Versa for $10k is planning two more vehicles at that price point for the US market, based on its new low-cost “V” platform. “The V platform will be sourced in Mexico” reveals Nissan’s North American chairman. Three vehicles will actually be produced in Mexico on the platform, but only two of them will be sold stateside.
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