The question for Suzuki is whether Kizashi sales will be hurt by the poor economy or helped because consumers see the car as a good value. Suzuki, long a bit player in the American market, said its goal was to move from being an alternative to mainstream brands (Chevrolet, Ford, Honda, Toyota) to being an alternative to aspirational brands (Mini, Volkswagen, Mazda). That will be a tall order indeed, but certainly the Kizashi is a big step in the right direction.
The Jetta platform will provide the basis for VW's new workhorse for the American market, and the company is "pretty much convinced" that Jetta will be the name as well, Mr. Jacoby said. But he promised a retooling that would try to blend European design and allure with Americans' practical needs.
For instance, there will be more and different types of cup holders -- a must-have for American consumers.
A different suspension will yield a smoother ride. Folding mirrors, a necessity in tight European streets, will not be standard. The acceleration and braking pedals will be farther apart in response to American complaints that it is easy to accidentally press both simultaneously.
And some other device will replace the balky dials used to recline seats in European cars. Market research in the United States found that "women break their fingernails or scratch their hands," Mr. Jacoby said.
Volkswagen is also slowly asserting firm control over its dealer network, long a source of irritation among American buyers. They complained about bad after-sales service on top of quality problems, such as electrical systems, with VW cars.
2011 Volkswagen Jetta - Tailored especially for unrefined Americans.
From C&D:
"Why is VW walking away from global cars, especially at a time when other automakers are globalizing? The company feels that American and Asian customers don't appreciate the refinement of its current offerings. "U.S. customers look at car size and engine displacement. They won't pay a dollar extra for a Passat over the Camry just because of its finesse and attention to detail," a company executive told us in Wolfsburg."
I hope that VW realizes that many of us by a VW JUST because they are refined - and are willing to pay a little more. Build your car for the masses - just please keep sending the Passat, Golf, etc., for those of us who appreciate the difference.
Continue reading "Tailored especially for unrefined Americans." »
At a time of financial meltdown, is it any wonder the board looked at the embarrassment of its F1 programme and identified an easy nine-figure saving each year? BMW was the victim of a confluence of factors: a progressively technically strangled F1, the inopportune advent of an expensive technology with an economic downturn, its brand's sensitivity to lack of performance and its own very specific and confident timetable for success, something that always made its prospects somewhat brittle.
-- Mark Hughes, Autosport
Do new-car buyers even drive clunkers ?
Am I driving a clunker because I cannot afford a 4 year old car ?
Will an extra $1000 trade in afford me a new car (or 14 month olf d car) ?
Update 2009 June 30:
"It has to be worth not very much and it also has to get very poor E.P.A. fuel economy," said Jack R. Nerad, the executive editorial director and market analyst for Kelley Blue Book. "It's a fairly narrow profile. You're talking about people who are probably economically challenged to begin with and they have to be able to qualify for a new car purchase in the midst of a deep recession. Those are some difficult parameters."
The case of the sad SAAB, junked with a work badge.
In what ways are the new pony cars like and unlike the predecessors they at once pay homage to and claim to surpass?
-- Stanley Fish capture the appeal of retro cars like the MINI, new Beetle, Camaro, Mustang and Challenger.
On Monday I placed an online order with CarsDirect for a Honda Pilot. Dealer Invoice was $32,507 (that's what the dealer pays), and MSRP was $36,040 (the recommended price). Anything above the invoice price is profit for the dealer. The CarsDirect price was $33,306. That leaves $800 in profit for the dealer and CarsDirect to split. Seems fair to me. An hour after I placed the order I had a ten minute conversation with a CarsDirect rep named John. I confirmed I wanted the car, discussed the pros and cons of buying a black vehicle with him, and he promised to call back when he found the car. Twenty minutes later he called back and said he found the car with the options and colors I wanted. He asked when I wanted it and if I wanted it delivered. I said "tomorrow, and yes please deliver it to my house". Total time spent: about 30 minutes.
Good rant about car ads
The other side of the equation? VW's "Un-Pimp Mein Auto" spots. Swedish actor Stormare is obviously playing off his Uli Kunkel/Karl Hungus character from Lebowski, and while it should be funny to see Stormare goofing on Deutschland, VW poking fun at itself and to watch ludicrous tuner cars get lunched in ridiculous ways, it's too fratty and over-the-top. The wink; the nod; they are too broad. Instead of just being clever, they shout, "Let's show you how clever we really are in a bro-down kind of way. Seth Stevenson has an excellent deconstruction of Crispin Porter + Bogusky's recent ads over at Slate.
Alert: The muchly annoying robo calls are under investigation.
This is the second warning that the factory warranty on your vehicle has expired.
ATTORNEYS GENERAL in several states are investigating what they suspect are telephone sales scams promoting extended car warranties, often by calling cellphones or numbers that are listed on do-not-call registries.
The Connecticut attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, said his office had received "a huge number of complaints -- hundreds of complaints." Connecticut is part of a large, multistate investigation into such calls, he said.
Another of those states is Iowa. "They are trying to trick you into believing that the communication is coming from the auto manufacturer and that your warranty is about to expire and you need to do something to extend that warranty," said William L. Brauch, a special assistant attorney general and director of the consumer protection division in Iowa.
But automakers are not behind the policies, Mr. Brauch said, and after purchasing such a policy it may be difficult if not impossible to get reimbursed for a repair.
"A number of these companies tend to routinely deny paying, they come up with various interpretations, shall we say, of the agreements, which they say justify them not covering whatever the ...
Fill story after the jump
See also: Amazon Prime $79 Refund class action suit.
Continue reading "Telephone sales scams promoting extended car warranties" »
The X5 has a feeling of sullen mass being bullied around by unsympathetic power and technology. Put another way: the X5 drives like a Formula 1 forklift. ... A tangled skein of electronics and digitally remastered suspension, brakes, engine controls, all required to negate the effects of more weight, requiring yet more weight (wheels and tires, brakes, engines, up and up and up) ? In this most elegant of vehicles, where's the elegance in that ?
Dan Neil and Bill Howard in 2008 August Roundel.
Have you ever tried to talk someone out of a bad idea?
Some people are going to be open-minded and listen to your objections,
and if you're actually right, they'll consider the evidence and take
your advice. Some people will get defensive, however, and refuse to listen.
Some people will get so defensive that they'll actually double down to
prove the nay-sayers wrong--they'll marry that bad boyfriend or put more
money into the bad investment. They will, rather than risk the chance that
they might get proven wrong and open themselves to a chorus of
"I told you sos", will live in denial about their bad decisions until the last
possible moment when it's becoming clear that they cannot sustain this
bad decision any longer.
Having framed the question, the fact that America's reaction to
increasing evidence of both peak oil and global warming would be to
reduce our average gas mileage was entirely predictable.
...
it was inevitable that a high percentage of people would like SUVs not in spite of their low mileage, but because of the low mileage. Instead of wishing human nature to change, then, I'm going to suggest that the people who exploited this rationalization tendency hold the lion's share of the blame. For people who wanted to engage in wishful thinking about the relationship between oil and environmental problems, right wing pundits, car companies, and oil companies did all the hard psychological rationalizing work for people. They painted critics as effeminate hippies that are just trying to tell you what to do because they're sanctimonious and nosy. (That some really are sanctimonious only made the situation worse.) They gave people pseudo-scientific explanations they could latch onto.
Autolog has cleaned up its design, and keeps posting
about twice an hour.
Notable: Relaunch and companion Autoblog Green lusts after
the new MINI Cooper D.
Previously: Autoblog enjoyed the MINI back in 2004, too.
“From a dollars-and-cents point of view, it doesn’t make sense,”
said Jesse Toprak, director of industry analysis for Edmunds.com,
a Web site that offers car-buying advice. “There’s no way you’re
going to drive it enough to justify the purchase, so it’s more of a
psychological decision.”
That is particularly true for premium models, like the Mini Cooper,
as well as cars in Toyota’s Scion lineup. When decked out with
options like aluminum wheel covers and leather seats, their prices
can climb well above $20,000, the same as a family sedan or a
midsize S.U.V.
Fast Lane Daily portal of driving and automotive blogs.
Fourtitude community of Audi, and like makes.
Events like
Audi Forum Meet
Showing of the new Audi R8 at the Audi Forum New York City
has been confirmed as a go. This Saturday, October 28 from
3-5 o’clock PM, Fourtitude readers will have a chance to get
up close and personal with Audi's new supercar one last
time before it is packed up and shipped out of the Audi Forum.
Of course, the Audi Forum holds up to five cars, so accenting
the R8 will be a 1939 Auto Union Type D silver arrow racecar,
an RS 4 sedan, a Q7 and a $175,000 A8 W12 kitted with just
about any option quattro GmbH can dream up.
While many guests will be local Manhattanites, we hear some will
be travelling from far-flung places like Florida and points west.
Look for a little something special for the person coming in from
the furthest point on the map.
Audi Forum Director Axel Catton will offer a short presentation on the
forum and the cars, followed by a casual time where visitors can
examine the cars, ask questions of Audi and Fourtitude staff on
hand, and simply enjoy the atmosphere.
The Audi Forum New York City is located on the South East corner of
Park Avenue and 47th street in the heart of Manhattan.
Five generations of VW Rabbit, Golf, Golf, Golf and Rabbit.
Ten inches longer, 1000 pounds heavier, and twice as powerful.
Matte black looks great on the new Honda Civic Type-R.
Analysis. Would look good on a new Bangled 5er or
Lexus IS, too, with their superflouos stealth
fighter curves.
Update 2006 Nov:
As show-stopping designs go, none proved more popular
with the paparazzi than a black 575-horsepower Mercedes
-Benz CLS55. This wicked witch was built by a noted
customizer, Matthew Figliola of Ai Design in Tuckahoe, N.Y.
The car’s buffed matte black paint looked like burnished
steel. Why did it work?
Because of the “flop”, said Mr. Foose, who is also host of a
customizing show, “Overhaulin’,” on the Learning Channel.
The flop is the break in light and dark shading across a vehicle’s
character lines.
“When you bring in a matte color, it may have a really beautiful
flop to it,” Mr. Foose explained. “You know, a light side and a dark
side, and your eye can focus on that surface. With all the polished
and reflected surfaces around it, it gives a quality texture.”
Mr. Foose uses matte or flat black surfaces to relieve the
“Christmas ball effect” that he says can overwhelm some of
today’s more extreme designs.
“When you have a full-polished surface, all you are looking at
are reflections,” he said. “When you open the hood of a car, and
you look at the beautiful reflective body forms, you are going
down to a chrome surface on the engine, and you’re looking
at a color right next to it that is all polished. It starts looking
like a Christmas ball next to another Christmas ball next to
another one.”
The danger of dull black finishes, Mr. Foose said, is that when
they are poorly executed “it doesn’t convey quality.”
“It’s kind of like, ‘O.K., we didn’t have enough money to finish
this car, so we just matte-finished it.’ ”
-- SEMA 2006.
STL BMW CCA aka STL BMW Club gave a great technical event: Gateway Tech.
STi page is at stylizedfacts.com/STi/.
Hips are about sexuality.
-- Joel Piaskowski, chief designer at the Hyundai Kia Design
and Technical Center in California.
Hips are also about hipness, or youth.
But these judgments are often made by designers and auto executives
who are no longer young. Something may seem hip to them because it
evokes their past; to young people, something may be cool because it
envisions their future.
-- PHIL PATTON, NYT.
Mapping the 2006 arctic expedition.
Planning threads:
MINI2
NE MINI
Arctic MINI reference by Ross Trusler.
Itinerary
More about Newfoundland:
Picture gallery by Jerry Curtis.
Weather:
Saint John's: BureauMétéo
Increasing cloudiness. Snow at times mixed with ice pellets beginning overnight.
Snow and ice pellet amount 5 to 10 cm. Wind becoming east 20 km/h then increasing
to 40 gusting to 60 overnight. Temperature rising to zero by morning.
Various MINI Cooper-sized tires available:
$50 on ebay.
Listings: Solo2, northamericanmotoring, sccaforums.
195-60-15
2 with 60 % tread; 2 with 30 % tread
$50 solo2, northamericanmotoring
Listings:
Solo2.org
June was Lane Courtesy month.
Keep right except to pass.
Slower traffic keep right.
It's the law.
Uptick's arctic trek gallery.
Ross Trusler's Arctic MINI and Dave Rose' DuctTape.
Peter 'Uptick' Wan' s photo galleries include NYC MINI.
Peter E (nakedpillowfight) 's gallery.
NE (New England / North East) MINI thread on Hudson trip.
Misc. highway photography and roadgeek forum by
Carl Rodgers.
Example: I-880/CA-262 Interchange in Fremont, CA
Field report:
Your odds are much better when placing an online ad for your used
MINI, in the main "outlets" such as Cars.com and Autotrader.com. A
dedicated MINI website for this purpose could not always be a successful
thing because buyers out there interested in MINIs (mainly, classics are
a more confined market)are also shopping for other vehicles as well.
I sold my '04 MCS in Cars.com, just 6 days after placing the ad
with 12 photos. The buyer of the car is a local resident, so you never
know who may show interest in your car.
Motorist news covers sppeding tickets, enforcement,
traffic calming and road imrprovements from a motorist's
point of view.
James Bay road's wide shoulders offer progressively deeper
snow the further off road you go. The centre of the road
offers a thin layer of packed snow and ice.
Part 3: Montreal to Mont Laurier
3a Montreal to Ste-Agathe-Des-Monts on Hyw 15
3b Ste-Agathe-Des-Monts to Mont Laurier on Hyw 117
Montréal (pont Champlain) – Jcn A-40 (Montréal)
Jcn A-40 (Montréal) – Ste-Thérèse
Ste-Thérèse – St-Jérôme
St-Jérôme – Ste-Adèle
Ste-Adèle – Ste-Agathe
1. March 6 Australian GP - Albert Park
2. March 20 Malaysian GP - Sepang
3. April 3 Bahrain GP - Bahrain International Circuit
4. April 24 San Marino GP - Imola
5. May 8 Spanish GP - Catalunya
6. May 22 Monaco GP - Monte Carlo
7. May 29 European GP - Nurburgring
8. June 12 Canadian GP - Montreal
9. June 19 United States GP - Indianapolis
10. July 3 French GP - Magny-Cours
11. July 10 British GP - Silverstone
12. July 24 German GP - Hockenheim
13. July 31 Hungarian GP - Hungaroring
14. August 21 Turkish GP - Istanbul Kurtkoy International Circuit
15. September 4 Italian GP - Monza
16. September 11 Belgian GP - Spa-Francorchamps
17. September 25 Brazilian GP - Interlagos
18. October 9 Japanese GP - Suzuka
19. October 16 Chinese GP - Shanghai International Circuit
Winter driving report
Location: Sandy Hook Manitoba Ca
Extreme cold temp. report
The over night lows here are hitting -30F and with the windchill it feels like
-45F
My MC starts every time,first time,with no block heater.
Harris Yong's (snow driving) and car and tire reviews.
Pics index, and Dragon drive review, and cupholder movie.
AutoBlogging Friday compared dreamy showcars vs dreary their
production descendants.
Case in point: the Subaru Re1.
Rennwerks is a German car tuner in Silicon Valley, and builder of winning racecars.
Go Motoring, MINI Cooper blog-portal aggregator.
Motoringfile, best MINI Cooper blog.
Based in Chicago, USA.
