January 12, 2010
American Cars Have European Flair at Detroit Auto Show
After three decades of looking to Asia for automotive ideas and integrity, the American market is pirouetting toward Europe for inspiration. According to USA Today, the about-face is driven by Europe's emphasis on smaller vehicles powered by smaller engines that emit little yet make big power. The cars also often manage to combine refinement and driving fun. Automakers believe such a vehicle formula now will appeal to a profit-generating number of U.S. car buyers. Examples of such coming models are seen throughout Detroit's Cobo Center at the North American International Auto Show. "Europe is five years - I don't want to say ahead of us, but every car you see" at big European auto shows trumpets low greenhouse-gas emissions, often more boldly than horsepower or price, says John Krafcik, CEO of Hyundai Motor America. But perhaps no company is so committed to a salute to Europe as Ford Motor. For decades at its European headquarters on Henry Ford Street in Cologne, Ford has designed and developed models that have been rated highly by critics, valued by buyers, embraced by driving enthusiasts - and not sold in the U.S. Click here for a gallery of European design-inspired vehicles at the Detroit auto show. For full coverage of Europe's influence on vehicle design and engineering, click here.
Toyota to Roll out Family of Prius Models
According to The Detroit News, Toyota Motor Corp., seeking to build on the popularity of its Prius hybrid, announced Monday that it will create a family of Prius cars that will include a gas-electric compact based on the FT-CH concept car that it unveiled here. Click here for a photo of the FT-CH. "The Prius name has great value," Toyota Motor Sales President Jim Lentz said at the North American International Auto Show. "I think in the future, the No. 1 nameplate in the U.S. will be the Prius, not Camry," he said in reference to Toyota's top-selling sedan. Designed at Toyota's French studio in Nice, the FT-CH is smaller, lighter and 22 inches shorter than Toyota's midsize Prius car. Toyota's plan to create a collection of models associated with the Prius will allow the automaker to extract more value from the hybrid technology that Toyota and its Japanese rival Honda Motor Co. pioneered. Honda and Toyota officials say that their conventional hybrid technology is still the best way today to satisfy customers' desires for cleaner cars that can be easily refueled. At the show, Honda unveiled a sporty two-seater hybrid, the Honda CR-Z. Click here for more on Toyota's plans to roll out a Prius lineup.
Hyundai Set to Unleash 7 Models over 2 Years
The 2010 Santa Fe crossover Hyundai unveiled Monday is the latest of seven new models slated to come to market over the next 24 months designed to sustain the South Korean automaker's recession-defying growth in the U.S. According to the Detroit Free Press, Hyundai raised its U.S. sales by 8 percent last year amidst the weakest new vehicle market in about three decades. It expanded its market share to 4.2 percent from 3.0 percent in 2008, partially through its Hyundai Assurance program that allowed buyers to return their vehicles with no penalty if they lost their jobs. Last month in Los Angeles, Hyundai unveiled a new Tucson crossover and Sonata midsize sedan. The Tucson went on sale in December. The Sonata should reach dealerships in February. A hybrid version of the Sonata will reach dealerships in the fourth quarter of this year, said John Krafcik, president and chief executive officer of Hyundai Motor America. Hyundai is also showing a plug-in hybrid concept called Blue-Will, which it showed last year in Seoul. In the second half of 2010, the new Equus luxury sedan goes on sale with an expected sticker price between $48,000 and $58,000. Click here for more on Hyundai's upcoming models.
Marchionne Upends Chrysler's Ways
Declining sales isn't the only big problem facing Chrysler Group LLC. Another, according to Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne, is the almost ingrained tendency to react to falling sales by slashing prices. For the past seven months, the 57-year old Italian-born Canadian has been working to shake up Chrysler and move the company away from old ways that forced it into bankruptcy reorganization last year. According to the Wall Street Journal, he has ousted several veteran executives, flattened its bureaucracy, and, according to people who have worked closely with Marchionne, injected an element of fear into its ranks. One of the more frustrating problems for Marchionne has been the fixation on using hefty rebates and other incentives to maintain sales. Marchionne took the helm at Chrysler in June, when the company exited bankruptcy protection and formed an alliance with Italy's Fiat SpA, where he also serves as CEO and which owns about 20 percent of Chrysler. In November, he laid out a turnaround plan that calls for Chrysler to launch a series of small cars designed by Fiat, and envisions Chrysler breaking even in 2010 and returning to profitability in 2011.Click here to read more about Marchionne's methods to shake up business as usual and return Chrysler to profitability.
Review: A Hatchback for High Rollers
According to Lawrence Ulrich at the New York Times, over the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo is like waiting in an alley outside the hottest club in town. The view gets better inside. Not exactly a wagon, not entirely a hatchback, and surely no crossover BMW's latest big-dollar broadside against convention might well wear a badge that says "Thingamabob." Yet once you and your coddled passengers are belted in, the snark melts away: Beneath the styling is a silk-purse driving experience. The 550i GT is a relative deal: an autobahn flyer with the room, luxury, technology, and superlative handling of BMW's flagship sedan, at a price ($64,725 base) that undercuts the 750i by about $19,000. Though its length and width are roughly equal to the Porsche Panamera's, the BMW feels entirely different - it's an overachieving luxury sedan, while the Porsche is a four-door sports car. That sensation springs from the BMW's longer wheelbase, taller stance, nearly six-inch-higher roofline - and at nearly 5,000 pounds, roughly 900 pounds of extra weight. But it has a much roomier back seat than the Porsche and a larger cargo hatch. The Porsche out handles the BMW, not to mention most four-door vehicles on earth, but it costs $25,000 to $60,000 more. Click here for a photo gallery. Click here for Ulrich's entire review of the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo.
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