Tick off all the boxes on an Audi Q5 order form, and you’ll find yourself staring at a $58,350 tab. Too much for a compact crossover? Well, the example seen here will set you back $20,000 less. Now I know what you’re thinking: “A mere $38,400 for a right-sized chunk of German engineering? Sign me up!” Not so fast—to save twenty large you must give up something. But what?
Since my daily-driver ’92 Civic is about to become a much less civilized car (plus it’s finally made the transition from “somewhat rough” to “total beater,” I need to start shopping for another DD very soon. Since I’ve developed a fascination with Japanese luxury cars of the 1990s (the era before the Japanese Big Three de-Yakuza-ized the souls of their American flagships and started out-German-ing the Germans), I’ve decided it’s time I owned one. The question is: which one? (Read More…)
Derek Kreindler’s provocative defense of the Maserati Kubang sparked off an interesting discussion among TTAC’s Best and Brightest yesterday, about the the macroeconomic outlook for luxury brands. Sure, the American economy is struggling to stay out of a double-dip recession, credit is no longer as available as it was in the pre-Lehman days, and some argue that worse is still to come… but for the moment, the high end of the luxury market couldn’t be doing better. Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes tells Reuters [via AN [sub]] that his brand will set a new sales record this year, and that the outlook for 2012 is good, saying
I have not seen any reluctance to consider buying a Rolls-Royce. I do not feel that sentiment is deteriorating in the luxury market. We are dealing with people who are unusually wealthy and never really have to ask themselves, can I still afford this or not?
And it’s one thing to just talk, but Rolls is also putting its money where its mouth is, initiating a $16m expansion to its Goodwood plant. And it’s not the only luxury brand that seems to be confused about this “recession” that the peasants keep going on about…
Let’s face it, hybrids are boring. They are slow, complicated, come with hard tires and soft suspensions, sloppy handling, and they look weird. We’ve heard the story before: this hybrid is different. First Lexus gave us the GS and RX hybrids claiming V8 performance with V6 fuel economy, but the result was more like V6 performance with V6 economy, not really a great sales pitch. Still, hybrids sell well and with Infiniti marching towards mainstream luxury success they “need” a hybrid. Of course, with Infiniti aiming to be the “Japanese BMW”, performance is obviously a prime concern, so the claim from Infiniti that the M35h will deliver “V8 performance and four-cylinder economy” was expected. But is it another case of leather clad disappointment? Let’s find out.
Paul Fussell’s brilliant book Class describes a BMW as a car for an upper-middle class professional, while a Mercedes-Benz is too ostentatious. The true upper-class vehicle is a beige Dodge or Ford, generally filthy and driven at 10 mph under the speed limit.
Fussell’s book was first published in 1983, and I’ll give one of my favorite authors the benefit of the doubt – not even such an astute and visionary social critic could anticipate the massive explosion of (credit fueled) affluence that has swept our society. Today, a Mercedes-Benz can be leased for the same cost as a Honda Accord, a BMW is what you buy for your daughter, and a Dodge isn’t even fit for your maid to drive. Which brings us to the Maserati Kubang.
Even as GM may or may not be pursuing an alliance of some kind with BMW, it’s putting the final touches on its new Cadillac ATS, which is supposed to compete directly with BMW’s 3 Series. But according to the only report on the possibility of a GM-BMW tie-up,
BMW’s Chief Executive Norbert Reithofer has previously said that BMW would be interested in selling engines to other companies so long as such a move wouldn’t strengthen a direct competitor’s position or damage BMW’s own image
Will GM’s first “true” Dreier-fighter scare BMW away from an engine deal with The General? Until we get a sense of what exactly GM is pursuing, and how BMW feels about being pursued, it’s impossible to say. But the timing of all this certainly is interesting.
I was listening to a local radio station and as will happen in a regular Detroit newscast, they mentioned something newsworthy going on in the domestic auto industry. In this case they said that Ford would be spending $1 billion on 7 new products to revamp the Lincoln brand. Well that wasn’t really news so I wondered what really was going on and it turns out that the radio station’s news team grabbed a headline from an Alisa Priddle article at the Detroit News. Though the headline was nothing new, Priddle has interviewed Ford designers and product managers and has managed to give us a better idea of what the Lincoln brand will mean once Lincoln’s new team of 120 or so engineers, designers and marketing experts gets done reinventing the marque.
Traditionally, when Detroit mass-produces luxury, it stamps out heraldic crests and classy-sounding names by the ton. Back in the day, the East Saginaw Lux-U-Ree Works worked three shifts belting out chrome-plated pot-metal emblems for the Big Three, but everything had gone to plastic by the Reagan era. I had forgotten about Salon-edition cars until last week, when I spotted this one at a Denver wrecking yard. (Read More…)
You might think that now that Mercedes is coming out with a four-door-coupe-wagon, the four-door-coupe craze of the last several years might be ready to disappear in a puff of internal contradiction… but you’d be wrong. So focused was it on the four-door-SUV-coupe and the bloated-sedan-hatch-cum-GT niche, BMW completely slept through the four-door-sedan niche that Mercedes first attacked in 2004. And as far as the Bavarians are concerned, it’s better to attack a niche late than never. And they’re doing so with a “GranCoupe” that is remarkably similar to the existing 6er coupe… only with two doors. The entire premise behind the four-door-coupe is that it combines the practicality of a sedan with the panache of a coupe. The problem, in this case, seems to be that BMW’s 6er coupe has so little panache, this four-door model blends right into Bee-Emm’s increasingly indistinguishable lineup. Between that and the late attack on a played-out segment, it’s difficult to harbor high hopes for this latest niche-warrior.
If Ferrari is known for one thing, it’s super-fast, good-looking cars. But if Ferrari is known for two things, that second thing would be its uncanny ability to separate the wealthy from their hard-earned (or not) cash. And apparently the brand is so good at extracting revenue from its super-wealthy clientele that it doesn’t mind a little competition. The Wall Street Journal reports that, when asked by the Italian paper Republica how governments should overcome their budget crises, Ferrari Chairman Luca DeMontezemolo replied
You have to begin by asking it of those who have most, because it is scandalous that it should be asked of the middle class
Class warfare, or just the natural perspective of a guy who regularly charges the super-rich $2,300 for Alcantara trunk liner and $1,800 for a spare wheel? We report, you decide…
But… shouldn’t it be? Oh, Ford. You come up with something sexy and desirable, and you can’t help but slap a blue oval on it, can you? Ford Design Boss J Mays explains the choice, saying
We wanted the Ford Evos Concept to give a clear message about where Ford design is heading – shaping vehicles that are fun to drive, have a strong premium visual appeal, and above all, are stunningly beautiful. Our exciting new design DNA has been developed and refined by an intensive effort by all of our talented global design team. As a team, we wanted to create a more technical design vocabulary to help communicate the smart technology that is now core to the Ford brand. In addition, we worked particularly hard on meeting the high-expectations of a new generation of buyers – a group of consumers who have grown up surrounded by beautiful, premium design work on even the most affordable products.
Which leaves Lincoln… where?
It’s been 12 years since BMW offered a four-cylinder engine on a US-market offering, but starting this October, US dealers will begin offering new “TwinPower”four-pot versions of the Z4 roadster and 5-series sedan. And, as BMW’s US-market boss Jim O’Donnell explains to Automotive News [sub], there’s no reason to fear the four… anymore.
It wasn’t in line with our image, because it didn’t have the performance of the six cylinder. We were selling ourselves as the ultimate driving machine and really it wasn’t. Now that the engines have developed so far, it’s not an issue at all.
But now BMW is offering four-bangers because they offer an even better driving experience, right? Less weight, better turn-in, that kind of thing… right?
(Read More…)
This Cadillac ad is the latest in a series of seriously good spots for the CTS-V, which started with this “Competition” ad from last Summer. But then, as I found in a short drive, the CTS-V writes its own ad copy, 556 HP at a time. And this latest spot has one minor truth-related omission: though GM rightly claims that Magneride Magnetorheological suspension was “perfected” in the CTS-V, it actually debuted in the less ad-dollar-worthy 2002 STS. And there’s no mention of the fact that the technology was developed by Delphi, then a technically independent firm, and the technology has since been sold to Beijing West Industries. Of course, these details aren’t exactly worthy of the limited time available in a 60-second spot, but it’s the truth, dammit. “Just sayin…”
In the interests of timeliness, we’ve been posting press shots of the latest unveils from Pebble Beach as they happen, but our man on the ground, Alex Dykes, is updating us with his own photos and commentary as well. In his latest update: live shots of the Cadillac Ciel, a 1931 ‘llac, the last of the four-cylinder Lotus Exiges, a $52k Rolls-Royce-trimmed MINI, a Spyker and the Landie Evoque. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Pebble Beach.
(Read More…)
Phew! Can you say “American Rolls-Royce Drophead?” In sharp contrast to its last concept, the awkward subcompact Urban Luxury Concept, the Ciel is pure old-school Caddy. A huge car with huge presence. Of course, this exact car will never go into production, but it’s good to see more flowing lines, subtle surfaces and classical elements working their way into Caddy’s sharp-edged, stealth fighter design language. After all, the cartoonishly vertical headlamps indicate just how close the pure “Art & Science” approach is coming to an evolutionary dead-end. In any case, with rumors circulating of a “true flagship” going into production around 2015, the Ciel is sure to rile up the Cadillac faithful. [Press release here]
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