Jan. 18, 2007 - 2007 North American International Auto Show, All Others

The North American International Auto Show is an international event (says so right there in the title), and while the domestic two and a half automakers did dominate the proceedings, the foreign brands did not hold back.  Here are some highlights:

Toyota showed its assault weapon of choice in the pick-up truck wars, which has been dominated by the domestics as long as there has been a pick-up truck market.  The new Texas built Toyota Tundra—and its massive quad cab derivative-- is the first Asian brand truck that might stand a chance against such segment stalwarts as the Ford F150, Chevrolet Silverado, and Dodge Ram.  It certainly has the size to compete.  And while the Tundra’s power-train options are not as varied as that of its US competitors it will be interesting to see how much of an impact it can make in the most nationalistic of market segments.

Proving that nobody is immune from the Toyota onslaught, the Lexus division kicked off the “F brand” within brand.  When it comes to solid luxury, Lexus has no equal, but when it comes to driving enthusiasm and passionate performance, Lexus is left wanting.  Like spilled coffee on a messy desk, the Toyota machine is seeping into every open segment, niche and crevasse in the market.  The IS-F is the first of the performance tuned Lexi put up to do battle against the M, AMG, and RS branded cars from the Fatherland.  With a 400 plus horsepower high revving V8 engine, 8 speed auto-manual gearbox, massive Brembo brakes and stiffer springs, Toyota has the basic formula down.  The question remains if all those parts come together in a satisfying package.  At the very least, those less hard edged people that went to BMW M or Mercedes AMG because there was little other choice now might find the perfect compromise between bullet proof quality, seamless luxury and at least some sport over at Lexus.

Mitsubishi introduced their new Lancer compact sedan, which shares the global DCX platform on which the Dodge Caliber and Jeep Compass/Patriot also ride.  Along with the updated Lancer, which is actually quite handsome for its class, they showed the “X Concept” previewing the next Evolution.  Labeled a concept, I can’t imagine how much more toned down it needs to be to be called production.  My guess is that the exterior of the concept is exactly what we can expect on the next Evo X.  Most of the interior save for some of the switchgear and the suede dash covering will make it into production as well.  With a rumored 300 plus horsepower turbocharged engine, rally inspired all wheel drive, and aggressive handling this will be one fun car.

The BMW group chose to show off a trio of new convertibles, from its premier brand Rolls-Royce to MINI and BMW in between, all brands had a new ragtop of sorts to show off.

MINI unveiled for the first time to the American public the second generation new MINI.  Slightly larger in almost every way, the new for 2007 MINI and MINI Cooper S is a very calculated evolution over the last generation which was so successful.  The 07 MINIs don’t break any new ground in exterior styling.  Underneath and inside is where the redesign action went with a set of new engines and better quality interior materials.  Gone is the engine that was developed jointly with DCX and built in Brazil and in comes a new range of engines, this time jointly developed with Renault.  The little 1.6 liter 4 cylinder now has BMWs patented fully variable valve lift and timing VALVTRONIC engine technology.  The base engine has 120 hp and the Cooper S engine with added turbo-charging musters a 175 hp and 177 lb-ft torque, with an over-boost effect during hard acceleration providing brief bump up to 192 lb-ft torque.

The new MINI Convertible is actually the old MINI with a new name and equipment package.  Called the MINI Convertible Sidewalk it is based on the outgoing model and makes due with unique colors, graphics, and equipment.

The most impressive display of hardware at the show was tucked underneath the BMW lounge mezzanine towards the back of BMW’s display.  They had every iteration of M car available on the market today parked in a single row—all in sparkling alpine white paint—ready to pounce.  Lexus and its “F” cars have a long way to go to match BMW’s rich heritage in the factory tuned category.

The fourth generation of BMW’s four seat 3 Series convertible, now with a folding hardtop in place of the usual cloth, took center stage up front.  The new convertible will come in 328 and 335 guise and offer all the amenities already available on the 3 Series coupes.

The most outrageous car, and one I must confess that I absolutely love for its pure (and fitting) audaciousness, was the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé.  This is a larger than life car befitting the long and storied history to the Rolls-Royce marque.  With its optional brushed stainless steel hood section and teak wood deck that covers the largest convertible top on the market (while its stowed beneath the belt line) the Drophead is a $400,000 plus jaw dropper.  The convertible Roller shares much of its underpinnings and drivetrain with the sedan, but gets unique styling including a swept back grille flanked by menacing looking lights.  If I had the money, this car along with its sedan brother would be in my fleet…

Audi brought their mid-engined super car, the R8, to Detroit with little fanfare, having already introduced it in the streets of New York back in the fall.  Based on the Lamborghini Gallardo chassis, the R8 is very much its own car nonetheless.  One of the most beautiful cars at the show the R8 is currently outfitted with the RS4’s 420 hp V8 engine but it is rumored that it may eventually have a sport tuned diesel engine in honor of Audi’s diesel powered LeMans winning prototypes.

What really had people singing over at the four ringed VW offshoot was their ridiculous Q7 6.0 V12 TDI concept SUV.  Sporting a 500 hp, 737 lb-ft 6 liter diesel engine, the Q7 concept car was meant to showcase… what I’m not exactly sure.  It did have the whitest of white pearl paint and enough bling accoutrements that would make the most ostentatious of hip hop stars happy.

Porsche continued its assault on its good name by introducing an even uglier Cayenne sport-ute.  The only saving grace at the Porsche stand was the white GT3 tucked in the back corner.  Let us have a moment of silence for what Porsche was, and still could be as proved by the GT3, were it not for the overthrow of the engineers by the marketing and finance departments.

Back in Italian row, where Ferrari, Maserati, and Lamborghini were situated not much new was debuted.  Then again, if you’re Ferrari, Maserati or Lamborghini and you flank your lust worthy cars with beautiful models you don’t really need to show much new to keep the hoi polloi journalists salivating.  A new automatic transmission for the Quattroporte, 60 year anniversary for Ferrari, and a new engine at Lamborghini sums up the news from Italy.

So the North American International Auto Show in Detroit may be a home team favorite, but it has enough clout in the world of car shows that even those pesky foreigners show up with serious iron.  

A side note about the venue: we get predictions every year that the show will lose its stature if floor space isn’t increased and every year we get grandiose plans to fix this, yet Detroit politics being what it is, nothing ever gets done. 

The automakers may complain that they need more space and the journalists may bemoan the idea of coming to Detroit in the winter, but the character of this show would surly be missed if it were changed dramatically or didn’t exist at all.  Its relative compact dimensions compared to the foot blistering, time wasting expanses of Frankfurt or even Chicago may worry the organizers and local politicians but not me.  You’re blinded by all the sights and sounds the minute you step into Cobo Hall thanks to displays set up back to back and side to side with one another.  How interesting would Tokyo or Manhattan be if it were spread out like Los Angeles?  It’s the density of sensory delights that makes the Detroit show what it is, and while it could use some more space because of the increasing number of cars and brands in the market, I hope it never grows too large.

More info and pictures at www.vrperformance.com/mt

Jan. 16, 2007 - Vee Dub Marketing Round Three

Back in May of 2006 I ran some stories about the marketing campaign at VW.  First there was none and then there was what I considered the annoying “Fast” and German professor ads.  The ads were entertaining yes, but not exactly a call to action for me to buy a GTI or any other VW.  The brains behind the campaigns were VW executive Kerri Martin who came from MINI and ad agency Crispin Porter who helped Ms. Martin with the MINI marketing while her tenure there.

Well, the in your face ads brought attention the VW but not sales.  As a result, Martin is gone and Crispin Porter may be on thin ice.  Check out the full story here:  http://adage.com/article?article_id=114283&CFID=3452585&CFTOKEN=98052162

Jan. 12, 2007 - 2007 North American International Auto Show, the Home Team

For more info and pictures, go to http://www.vrperformance.com/mt/

Oct. 30, 2006 - C30 Designer Blog

If you're like me and appreciate great small cars, and particularly great small car design, there's a very interesting blog up and running that you should check out.  It's populated by Simon Lamarre, a Canadian born designer working for Volvo design in Sweden, and it’s about Volvo's new small car, the C30. 

The first time I saw the C30 show car I was immediately smitten by its muscular stance, nice proportions, and its nod to Volvo heritage while at the same time remaining completely modern.  It carries forward the new corporate design language expertly; which seems to work as well in this small package as it does in the rest of the line. 

Anyway, if you ever wanted to know how a single car is designed, from a designer’s perspective, check out Simon's blog: http://c30designerblog.blogspot.com/

Oct. 25, 2006 - Let’s Get Real, Who Needs Whose Help at DCX?

The media is at it again, breathlessly reporting on the supposed collapse of the Chrysler unit of DaimlerChrysler AG. And automotive trade publications seem to be regurgitating the same crap. The story goes that Dr. Z, under pressure from the German dominated supervisory board, had to send in—irony of ironies—a German manager to help the hapless staff operating behind the big “penta-star” window at Chrysler HQ in Auburn Hills, Michigan to cut costs. Are they serious? Who taught whom how to cut costs at DCX? It sure as hell wasn’t Mercedes, or anyone from the bloated half of the merger of equals.

The inefficiency at Mercedes was as legendary as its once vaunted quality. At the time of the merger, the Mercedes unit was in a perfect storm of high costs and terrible quality that thanks only to its century old reputation and aging, slightly senile owner group it was able to weather. Mercedes was saved years of painful reorganization by lifting ideas from the systems that Thomas Stalkamp, Dennis Pawley, Bob Lutz, and gang fostered at Chrysler before the merger was even a twinkle in Schrempp’s eye. Chrysler brought efficiency and low cost to the table, Mercedes brought high price points and arrogance.

And now what do we read in the papers and on the automotive websites? The Detroit News reports: “With the Chrysler Group once again sapping DaimlerChrysler AG, the company has assigned teams including top Mercedes-Benz managers to find ways to increase efficiency and cut costs by $1,000 per vehicle at the Auburn Hills automaker.”

The fact that Chrysler may report a $1.5 billion loss in the third quarter is not due to inefficiency or unit costs, but instead is a result of building the wrong vehicles at the wrong time for way too long. And it was Dr. Z and his minions at the time that prescribed loaded full sized Dodge Rams, butt ugly Jeep Commanders and Dodge Durangos for a buying public that was becoming increasingly sick of high gas prices. The result can be seen all over the metro Detroit area—once empty lots are now packed full of unsold Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep products. Dealers are choking under the force feed antics of Chrysler’s sales and marketing group, headed by yet another one of those “top Mercedes-Benz managers.”

Talk to any Chrysler engineer or manager below the top floor and you’ll hear the same thing over and over—the troops are over worked and under staffed and because of that completely demoralized. This latest round of search and destroy cost cutting, ceremonially headed up by papa Mercedes may look good to the German investors and the sloppy media, but it will do nothing for Chrysler in the long run.

The time and effort should be spent designing, building and marketing great new cars. Chrysler is losing its edge thanks to razor thin staffing leading to underdevolped vehicles, big time blunders by sales and marketing, and spotty (read: ugly) styling… not because the cars they are building cost too much.

Read more at www.vrperformance.com/mt

Apr. 30, 2006 - The Decline and Fall of Car and Driver, or Where the Hell is Brock?

I’ve been an unabashed fan of Car and Driver magazine for damn near twenty years now.  The filter through which my automotive ideals are seen is tinted by the many years of reading the works of William “don’t call me Bill” Jeanes, Don Sherman, David E. Davis. Jr., Patrick Bedard and Brock Yates—all writers for Car and Driver at one time or another.  Of this esteemed bunch of automotive hacks, my favorite has always been Brock Yates. 

While working at Car and Driver in the 1960s Yates, along with Davis, revolutionized American automotive journalism.  Enthusiast magazines up to that point were either successful hobby centered tomes like Hot Rod magazine, or quaint periodicals run by anglophiles that liked to extol the virtues of outdated little sports cars from across the pond month after month.  Car and Driver was arguably the first magazine to take the craft of automotive criticism seriously.  And I do not mean without humor, instead I mean the writing was of a caliber equal to the best of any magazine or newspaper on the market.   All types of automobiles from around the world were actually tested, analyzed, studied and reported on.   The editorial content dealt with matters beyond the car, delving into politics and social issues.  Car and Driver became known for it’s often times irreverent view of the automotive landscape and the characters prancing around in it.

David E. Davis, Jr. bounced around the automotive magazine business, leaving C&D for the advertising world, coming back to C&D, and finally leaving again and starting his own automotive magazine, appropriately named Automobile Magazine.  Brock Yates on the other hand, stayed with Car and Driver in one form or another through those many years, contributing articles and editorial content monthly.  He carried on the rebellious, sometimes shocking, yet serious journalistic spirit we have come to expect from C&D. 

Brock Yates is much more than just the modern patriarch of Car and Driver; he is probably the best American automotive pundit on the market today.  The decision to retire him from the magazine’s masthead (as announced in the May issue) is perplexing.  And worse yet was the rather dismissive way it was announced; a few sentences in the last paragraph of the current Editor-in-Chief’s editorial column.

It’s been speculated that Car and Driver has some serious cost issues, as well as a desire to cater to a younger demographic, which has lead to the decision to “early retire” Brock Yates among other changes.  I will not get into the speciousness of this move, but to say that a proper editorial send off was in order nonetheless.  I would have expected some sort of retrospective that dealt with the contributions that Brock Yates has made not only at Car and Driver, but to the world of automotive journalism.  He has written many award winning books, movie scripts, and has worked as an on-air commentator. His work should have been celebrated and not just grudgingly acknowledged.

Whatever the behind the scenes reasons were, the character of a publication is the extension of that of its editors and in this case Car and Driver was left seriously wanting.

Mar. 26, 2006 - Piling On

Mar. 12, 2006 - Vee Dub Marketing Round Two

I don’t mean to be picking on Volkswagen, but I have a follow-up to a post from a few weeks ago wherein I complained that VW was not marketing the new GTI very well (see “A Little Marketing Would Help” February 3^rd, 2006).  Since then the GTI has been splashed all over the place, you can hardly browse the internet without seeing a GTI ad pop up somewhere.  TV has seen a full array of GTI spots, and a GTI ad is in all of the enthusiast magazines as well as many lifestyle rags-- so much for not marketing the GTI (though my complaint of tardiness still stands).

What I have to complain about this time is the way it’s being marketed; specifically the latest round of TV ads featuring the SNL style German Professor “Wolfgang” along with his dominatrix female side kick, “Helga”.

The first wave of TV spots, introduced during the Olympics, featured ordinary looking 30 something males being possessed by an evil looking rabbit called “Speed.”   These ads are just off kilter enough to be noticed, while remaining funny in a perplexing sort of way.  Okay, you get an evil mascot when you purchase the rather benign looking GTI (maybe that’s the point: the evil rabbit makes you overlook the uninspired design of the 5^th generation Golf).  These ads may not have been stellar but they got the point across and they did highlight features of the new GTI.

The second round of ads first seen on alternative cable TV channels such as MTV, are the ones making me scratch my head.  You have the aforementioned SNL style characters thumping around to a European discothèque rap and destroying outrageously garish tuner cars.  The point being that the GTI needs no tuning because the standard German engineering is all that’s needed.  This may be a valid point for the parents of the target consumer, but not for the kids in the market for a hot hatch.  My question is this: does it make sense to denigrate the potential consumer of your product?

Contrast this approach with that of Honda and its new Civic Si, a direct competitor to the GTI, and also vying for the young male demographic.  Where Honda has finally embraced the market it almost single handedly created in the 1980s with its Civic line by working with the aftermarket, working with the “tuner” clubs, VW has decided it will make fun of them.  Honda is showcasing everything from tasteful performance tuned Civics to wildly outrageous customized cars and their ads have a video game feel perfectly in sync with the target audience.

It remains to be seen who wins this battle of the sport compacts, but my money is on the Civic Si.  Not because the car itself is better—they are both very evenly matched—but because of the audience appropriate marketing.  Honda has really immersed itself in the enthusiast culture and has gained respect for it.

Kerri Martin, the director of VW’s brand innovation department came from BMW’s MINI group.  And she brought with her MINI’s ad agency, Crispin Porter+Bogusky.  The “brave” marketing may have worked for a brand like MINI which was going after a style conscious, older demographic, but it will not work at VW.  At least not from what I have seen thus far.  And I really like the GTI.

Feb. 13, 2006 - New Media v. Old

I was reading Peter DeLorenzo’s appropriately categorized “rant” against the car magazine business the other day at http://www.autoextremist.com/page2.shtml#Rant and felt compelled to write a little something myself.  Visiting the autoextremist.com site is fun every now and again, not for any pithy insights into the auto industry, or cogent arguments but for how the various authors-- and Peter being the biggest culprit-- can take idle gossip and spin it into a credible sounding story.

But I digress; back to the rant against car magazines.  He argues that the ability of the web to instantly disseminate information around the globe necessarily makes print media obsolete.  He goes on to say the cozy relationship that the manufacturers have with the big print media outlets has castrated the irreverent writing of yore.  While I can somewhat agree with the latter in regards to new model reviews, I take exception with the former.  If car magazines were only about automotive news, scoops and daily press releases they would have been done in by newspapers and weeklies long ago.  Sure monthly magazines print spy photos and scoops long after the internet has beamed the information to legions of automotive junkies around the world, but that misses a big part of the magazine’s mission.  

The monthly magazines offer considered insight into the products made by the automotive industry.  Full on tests and reviews of new models do not need to be broadcast instantly.  Nor do travelogues, interviews, criticism, or analysis.  All of these categories within automotive journalism benefit from a reasoned approach to assembling, interpreting and presenting the information.  I have found that often times the immediacy of information availability on the internet has lead to a loss of the big picture.  Instant information alone cannot provide the proper context for understanding.  And that doesn’t even take into consideration the propensity of internet information being inaccurate.

Witness how real time reports from the front lines of the war on terror often illicit knee jerk reactions from the public and politicians alike.  Without a reasoned consideration of the facts, the information fog of war distorts the reality on the ground. In a much more trivial way this fog can distort what is the truth in the automotive world as well.   

Those who embrace new technology often times predict the immediate demise of the old way, yet historically some things just refuse to be replaced.  Just as television did not replace movies, VCRs and DVDs did not replace the movie theater, and videos did not kill the radio star, the internet has not, and will not completely replace the newspaper, magazine or book.

Feb. 3, 2006 - A Little Marketing Would Help

Sometimes a little marketing would help.  To make my point, I give you the tale of two sport compacts.  Both are icons that have gone through several generations, lost their ways a bit in recent years only to be reintroduced like twin Phoenixes in the sport compact sky.  I’m speaking about the VW GTI and Honda Civic Si if you haven’t already figured that out.

Honda is doing well and there is a reason.  They have learned from there past mistake of ignoring the modern tuner market, a market they almost single handedly created, and introduced the new Si brilliantly—so well has their approach worked that there is a three month waiting list at the dealer for the model here in the Detroit area. 

Thanks to Honda’s foresight, the Civic was the car of the Specialty Equipment Marketing Association’s (SEMA) trade gathering this past November and tuned models were all over the show floor.  Honda passed out Civics to many well known tuning shops around the country before it was released to the public, giving these shops precious time to develop performance bits and bling before the first customer took to the road and just in time for SEMA.  A great positive buzz was created and the result is customers lined up at Honda dealers with cash in hand today.

Volkswagen took the stealth approach, either by design or giant bureaucratic corporation ineptitude (I suspect the latter).  Sure they did show their wares at SEMA last year just as Honda did, but it was a shotgun blast across the entire range instead of a rifle shot at any one model.  To make matters worse, as of this writing there is still no information about the GTI at VW’s North American website; nor do the dealers have any literature.  But they have cars, more cars than customers apparently because the dealer I visited today had several color and option combinations to choose from.  How can a car company launch such an important car with so little marketing effort?  Sure the GTI is not a big money maker for the company, but it does excite enthusiasts who have been known to recommend cars, and car companies, to people with a little less gasoline in their veins.

The new GTI is a great car, possibly even better than the new Civic Si, yet little things like information on the website, brochures at the dealer, and trained salespeople are keeping people from noticing it.  This is not to say that VW doesn’t have a big marketing campaign up its sleeve—it might—but if cars are already at the dealer one would hope that some effort would have already been put forth.

Jan. 30, 2006 - Find Out What it Means to Me...

It’s been a rough week here in Detroit.  Ford announced it could do without 30,000 employees and 14 manufacturing plants, GM posted an almost inconceivable loss of $8.6 billion dollars the past year, and Chrysler quietly slashed its workforce here and in Germany by about 6000.  All very miserable news if you’re one to root for the home team like me. 

Where did it all go wrong?  Has America lost its love affair with the automobile?  Will we lose our automotive industry completely to bankruptcy or foreign ownership like Great Britain did?

I don’t think we are losing our love affair with the car as many have been suggesting of late.  We’re still buying new cars at a record clip, the aftermarket accessory business is 30 some billion dollars annually according the SEMA, and the car hobby—everything from hot rod cruises to tuner car shows—is as strong as I’ve ever seen it.  The Woodward Dream cruise in Motown’s own backyard has become such an event that an estimated one million people come from the world over to witness classic cars overheat in the hot August sun every year.  I think the passion is still there.

We already lost one major car company to a foreign competitor, with Daimler-Benz buying out the Chrysler Corporation.  Is Ford or GM next?  If you believe the Wall Street types, Toyota has enough cash on hand to buy all three of the above mentioned companies if it wanted.  But Toyota is large enough (and smart enough) that it will stick with growing from within and not through mergers and acquisitions, no matter how easy it would be.  No I don’t think Ford or GM are ready to be merged with, taken over by, or bought out by any other automaker anyway.  They are much larger than Chrysler was at the time of its so called merger with Daimler, and the product portfolio they both have would overlap with almost every other car maker out there. It simply would not make much sense from a market penetration stand point.  And with the liabilities that come with GM and Ford, including their UAW workforce (those working and those in the “bank”), the pensions owed and under utilized factory capacity, they look downright undesirable.

So what went wrong?  How did the big three get into this predicament?  I posit it was the loss of respect, first by the big three towards its customers, and then the customers towards the big three. 

Back in the bad old days of the American automotive industry the big three were foisting such tarmac terrors as the Pinto, Mustang 2, Vega, Chevette, Aspen, and Dart onto the unsuspecting consumer.   Worse yet might have been the gas guzzling behemoths with Corinthian leather and Landau roofs.  Cadillac called its two and half ton Eldorado a “personal” luxury sports car and the Corvette had less than 200 horsepower and a suspension design going on twenty years.  On top of all that, quality was as esoteric an idea as the career of Paris Hilton.  The American car companies took their 90% share of the US market for granted and allowed utter garbage to pass through their factory gates while at the same time agreeing to terrible union contracts that would haunt them in the future.  The entire industry was fat, lazy and completely oblivious to the growing number of unsatisfied customers that were looking for a better alternative.

First to the scene were Volkswagen and its Beetle and then decades later Honda’s Civic.  Slowly but surely these foreign upstarts began making inroads in the US by selling small, efficient cars that were fun to drive compared to the large American offerings.  The wealthier style makers on the coasts became interested in cars from Mercedes, Porsche and BMW.  Alternatives began popping up at all price points and vehicle categories; the American consumer soon had a foreign choice in almost every category.  By the time Toyota introduced Lexus, the US manufacturers were already in their downward spiral.  They began to feel the affects of a decade’s long disregard for the tastes and desires of its customer base.   The more the public asked for alternatives, the more the US makers switched from selling the vehicle to selling the deal.  Rebates, leasing and other kickbacks became the way to pawn the cars off their dealer’s lots.

It’s this disrespect that American car makers showed its US customers that drove them to seek out alternatives.  When the consumer found out that these foreign brands were actually listening to what they wanted, and offering cars that not only lived up to expectations, but exceeded expectations in terms of price and quality, the game was forever changed. 

Now the US companies have to fight to regain our trust and respect.  And the only way they will do it is with consistently good product at the right price coupled to a dealership experience that is honest and professional.  With commercial successes like the Chrysler 300 and enthusiast achievements like the Corvette Z06 and Ford GT they deserve to win back some respect.  The key will be the follow-up (and product line follow through) to these incremental accomplishments.  Will they continue to build on the successes, or will they retreat into their bad old habits as they have so often done in the past?

Jan. 13, 2006 - NAIAS Impressions

The press has moved out, the big charity gala is coming to a close, and soon the public will be welcomed into Detroit’s Cobo Hall wherein the North American International Auto Show resides.  I present to you some humble thoughts on the past weeks events from the press days at the auto show.

The new Ford exhibit is very well done, with plenty of open spaces to congregate and catch your breath.  All too often car makers try to cram way too much stuff onto their precious floor space; sometimes less is more.  The redesigned exhibit at Ford worked much better than GM’s new crib, where the floor space is not as intuitively laid out.  Many brands in the GM portfolio become lost in the shuffle of the masses migrating though the exhibit.  For instance, I’m still looking for Buick (which, fittingly, is still trying to find itself as well).

The folks at DCX, particularly the American brands of Jeep, Chrysler and Dodge continue to prove that running an auto company can be fun.  There is a definite atmosphere of enjoyment in the air whenever you visit one of their displays, talk to their PR people, or attend one of their press conferences. 

Speaking of press conferences, the Chrysler group knows how to put on a show.  I witnessed what will certainly become the most talked about conference of the NAIAS, if not of all shows this year.

The PR gurus at DCX brought in “Slava’s Snow Show” pantomime troupe from off Broadway to help present their new production vehicles including the new Dodge Caliber compact car and Chrysler Aspen SUV.  The Broadway style show vignettes included clowns, bubbles, and a literal blizzard of confetti.  All of this was sprinkled with plenty of self deprecating humor by the current litany of big names at the Auburn Hills headquarters.  The executives at Chrysler continue to be the most accessible and enjoyable personalities in the business today, which I’m sure provides dividends with the media that may be hard to quantify, but is most definitely positive.

If the size and effort that is put into a show stand is any indication of how the parent company feels about the brand, Maybach is in the doghouse.  Cast off to the side of the Euro-modern Mercedes stand (itself nothing special) a single Maybach sits roped off and forlorn.  An ego driven creation meant to compete with BMW’s Rolls Royce, the Maybach is a sad pastiche of a true luxury brand.  And now that the new Mercedes S-Class mimics the design of the Maybach flagship so closely, the reason for its existence is even more questionable.

Sometimes you can just tell when you’re in the presence of greatness, and at the Nisaan press conference introducing the new Sentra and funky concept car called the Urge, that feeling came across in high definition.  Not that the cars were that spectacular—none of Nissan’s products really are—no it was the speaker Carlos Ghosen.  He made us all believe; period.

The juggernaut that is Toyota continues to do what juggernauts do best—move forward ceaselessly.  Walk around the Toyota and Lexus displays and you’ll see why Toyota is capturing the hearts, minds and money of people all around the world.  There is nary a dud to be found and their already good cars are becoming better.  It seems that just a short while ago a new Camry was introduced, yet there is a bran new one on the rotating stand.  The new Lexus LS flagship line has matured to the point of having its own personality.  The entire line-up has moved past its European competition with distinctive styling and innovation all its own.

So that’s the show part of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, more on the cars later.

Jan. 4, 2006 - And the Award Goes To...

It’s the season for awards—the glitterati on the West Coast honor themselves with a host of entertainment awards while the auto hacks in the Rust Belt declare what the best car and/or truck was for the year that just passed.  In the spirit of arbitrary award giving I have come up with my own sealed envelopes for the car world.  Here are the categories, and the winners, in no particular order:

The Lemming Award goes to:  Audi and Mercedes Benz for lifting the single worst thing that has been added to a car in the last decade, BMW’s iDrive.  The new Mercedes S-Class interior mimics the BMW 7 Series so blatantly that I swear you can see the star begin to spin like a propeller.  More than just the dreaded iDrive, these formerly prestigious German marques are so comfortable stealing each other’s styling/manufacturing/engineering ideas that soon their cars will be coming off the same assembly line and nobody will notice.  

How Not to Make a Marque Defining Grill Award goes to: Audi.  What are otherwise drop dead gorgeous cars, the products from Ingolstadt are cursed with the now familial Audi grill from Hell.  The large front overhang-- which is necessitated by the Audi practice of placing the engines in front of the front axle-- doesn’t help.  It is like having a big wart on an already large nose, the last thing you want to do is draw attention to it.

The Brand I Miss the Most is: Alfa Romeo.  Okay, so this is not exactly an award, but it is true nonetheless.  With such stunning cars like the Brera Coupe and 156 and 159 sedans and sport wagons I’m certain they could make a good go of it here.  Let’s hope somebody figures out how to bring back the Alfa.

Biggest Disappointment Award goes to: the Honda Civic sedan.  From the homely Saturnesque front end to the sad sack rear end and funky two tier interior in between, the Civic sedan just doesn’t feel right.  It is probably the best car in its class, and the engineering that went into is wonderful, but the overall execution leaves a lot to be desired.  I’ll take the European 5 door version over the US sedan any day.  Not only does it look better, the packaging is so much more thoughtful. None of these complaints apply to the Civic Si however.  The whacky interior and lack of space do not detract from this reinvigorated boy racer one bit, to the contrary it fits the image.  And thanks to the sport tuned suspension and limited slip differential; it drives like a Honda sports coupe should.

Ugliest Premium Car Award goes to: the BMW 7 Series.  I wonder if the pimps and blue bloods who drive these cars actually realize that the rest of the world is laughing at them.   Despite the many visual tweaks applied to it this year, this car’s basic bone structure is so bad that not even the namesake wizards of McNamara and Troy could help.  It is particularly egregious considering the price point the car demands; cars costing this much ought to be beautiful.  A close second: the 5 Series.  A close third: the 3 Series (which was just voted the ugliest car of the year by the blokes over at Top Gear magazine).

Most Excited About Award goes to: the resurrection of the pony car.  The only good thing Ford produced this past year was the new Mustang.  And not just because the Mustang is a good car, it has spurred the other big names in Detroit to resurrect their pony cars. The Chevy Camaro and Dodge Challenger will soon go from show car glamour to Woodward Avenue reality and the street wars will begin anew.

Most Excited About Award number two goes to: the resurrection of the small car in America.  With such excellent cars like the Audi A3, VW Golf GTi and Jetta GLi, and Honda Civic Si already available the good small car is making a comeback.  Let’s hope that these cars are successful enough to lure in more companies with small offerings.  One car that comes immediately to mind, and is already available in Europe, is the 1 Series from BMW.

Dec. 24, 2005 - Lose that Weight!

It’s time to come up with those fleeting New Year’s resolutions again.  We all have good intentions, but seldom do we have the fortitude to carry them out.  Much like in our personal lives, car companies also have good intentions, but often fall short of carrying them out thanks to the confluence of government mandates, marketing ploys and customer whim.

Another parallel that car companies share with us is weight gain.  Just as the average weight of an American citizen continues to grow unabated year after year so too has the weight gain of our favorite cars.

The fact is that weight is the enemy of everything that enthusiasts stand for: spirited handling, communicative steering and precise stopping.  The more weight a car has the more energy is required to change its direction, accelerate it and stop it.  To keep the same level of performance of a light car, the heavier one needs a bigger engine, bigger brakes, and worst of all bigger wheels and tires.  All of this conspires against that feeling of connection one has with really good cars.

Consider the standard BMW 3 Series throughout the years.  Back in 1977 a brand new 320i weighed in at about 2500 lbs.  The following generation gained 200 lbs.  The 1992 E36 325i arrived in the showrooms at 3140 lbs, give or take an option or two.    The lightest of the E46 3 Series cars is over 3200 lbs. 

BMW talked a great deal about the weight savings built into the new E90 3 Series introduced this year with exotic metals being used in the engine, high strength steel in the body, aluminum in the suspension and enough lightweight plastics throughout the car to make Mr. Robinson proud.  After all the blathering to the media about weight saving innovations, the E90 is still around 3300 lbs.  That’s a weight gain of 800 lbs since the introduction of the 3 Series 30 years ago,

BMW is not alone of course; the average weight of almost all cars and trucks has crept up incessantly over the last few decades.   And it’s not all the car makers fault.

Government wants a totally safe car that uses little to no natural resources to run.  Marketers want a car that offers everything to everybody at little to no cost.  And customers want something to make them feel better about themselves— better than the neighbors.  What is a car company to do?  Many of the wants and needs require the cars to have more stuff, and stuff weighs.

In order to get a safer car, the structure is not only designed better but it is also reinforced with more material.  Stronger roof pillars, door intrusion beams, safety cells are not the only things that weigh down the car— all the electronics required to operate the smart air bags, anti-lock brakes, and anti-skid mechanisms pack on the pounds.

In order to please the consumer the marketing guys like to add on the goodies.  Power windows, cd players, navigation systems, leather seats, sunroofs, big wheels all load up the car figuratively and literally.  Since we’re all getting bigger ourselves, so too do the cars.  Civics are now the size of Accords, the 3 Series is now the size of the 5, the “baby Benz” C Class is now the size of an adolescent.  It goes without saying that this size inflation in and of itself adds weight.  Add to the size all the “must have” items noted above and you get a 3 Series that is 800 pounds heavier than its progenitor. 

Thankfully automakers like BMW, Jaguar and Audi have recognized this and are trying to do something about it.  They are trying to at least stem the weight gain by engineering smarter and using more of the aforementioned exotic materials in each new generation of car.  Let’s hope they can stick to their resolution better than we can to ours.

Dec. 11, 2005 - A Homerun Brand

I was thinking about brands the other day and what makes some better than others.  One of the conclusions I came to was the companies that best care for their products are the ones that continue to grow and prosper as a brand.  Since we are all car people here, let me take this notion from the purely philosophical and apply it to cars. 

BMW continues to rank at the top of the list when it comes to brands that people understand and respect.  If you look specifically at the 3 Series line of cars from BMW the idea of a company caring for their brand becomes clear.  BMW has continued to refine the 3 series for thirty years now, never straying far from the original mission of a compact sport sedan that offers the enthusiast a spirited driving experience.  It can be argued that each new version of the 3 series is better than the one it replaces, and it remains the benchmark for the competition year after year.  BMW could have easily rested on it laurels after the 2002 was introduced, but it didn’t.  It could have easily stopped after the E30 3 series and waited until it was absolutely necessary to create another homerun, but it didn’t.  Instead, what BMW did was continuously improve the brand—sometimes incrementally and sometimes a great deal—but it never left it alone to wither. 

Honda has done the same with the Accord.  It’s been around almost as long as the 3 Series and it too continues to display the best its manufacturer has to offer generation after generation.  The same can be said for Toyota’s Camry and Mercedes’ S Class. 

Honda, BMW, Mercedes, and Toyota all seem to able to muster just as much energy and enthusiasm for each new generation of vehicles as for the last.  Compare that to GM, Ford or even Chrysler.  They have all allowed many of their cars to die in the market because they seemly lost interest in them.  The Ford Taurus was a revolutionary hit when it was introduced in the 1980s.  The third generation was equally as revolutionary, but unfortunately for Ford it was only a controversial styling exercise and not a continuation of the basic goodness of the original.  Now the Taurus is relegated to fleet sales and will soon be replaced by the 500 and Fusion.  Chevrolet had the Malibu, than it disappeared when the forgettable Lumina hit the scene, only to be resurrected again after the Lumina lost its spark.  (I think it’s very telling when a car company changes the name of its cars when a new generation is introduced).  

I don't often use sports analogies, but here’s one that I think works.  It seems to me that the US auto industry likes to hit one out of the park, score a homerun and than sit back the next few innings and relax.  The Germans and Japanese quietly work at scoring with singles and maybe a few doubles each inning-- ultimately winning the game.  Long after the star player has been traded, it’s the consistently good team that one remembers and respects.

Nov. 27, 2005 - In Appreciation of Diversity

The average modern family hauling, grocery getting, vehicle is quite good.  The range of goodness used to be rather large with the Honda Accord way out front, the Ford Taurus in the middle somewhere and the abominations from GM, Chrysler and Hyundai bringing up the rear.   Not so anymore.  Buying a Hyundai now no longer elicits snickers from your neighbors, Chevy’s have their heartbeat back and Chryslers are actually cool.  You have this great conflagration of fine mid sized automobiles all hovering around the reigning champion from Honda.  The problem is the major car companies have all done their benchmarking so well that they tend to produce similar standard issue cars.  So while the cars are all equally good, the segment has become all too boring. 

Some say that is the natural evolution of things: products are compared and copied so meticulously that with each passing generation there is less differentiation between the best and worst examples. 

The same can be said about the SUV segment and even to some degree the “sport sedan/ near luxury” class where everybody wants to be the next BMW 3 Series.  While this inevitable narrowing of distinction is true in the heart of the market-- in the high volume segments-- there is hope on the fringes or the so called niche markets.

Cars like the Ford Mustang, Hummer H2 and Dodge Viper show that money can still be made following your own inspiration.  It’s also with these niche cars (though with Mustangs selling in the six digit range, you can hardly call it a bit player) that the national character of a car comes forth.  What other country could create the aforementioned vehicles but America?  Where else can a red hot Ferrari come from but Italy?  The cool precision of a Porsche 911 can only come from acerbic German engineers and the flawless efficiency of a Lexus from the humble minions of Japan.

And there is more on the horizon.  Prompted by the success of the old school Mustang and iconoclastic Chrysler 300C, we’ll be seeing a concept-soon-to-be production car Dodge Challenger (thanks Kaptain) at the Detroit auto show.  The General promises a reprise of the Camaro at the same venue.  What other auto companies could pull off stupidly inefficient large rear wheel drive coupes powered by big V8s other than our own domestics?  I’m totally excited about the prospects of competing pony cars back on the market.

The Germans have their own thing going on that’s adding to the topographical character of the automotive landscape.  If you haven’t noticed, there is a horsepower war going on over in the Fatherland-- and in typical Teutonic fashion.  The hot rods coming from Mercedes, BMW and Audi have engines with absolutely mind blowing technology mated to autobahn sturdy chassis’.  Where else would you expect to find a screaming V10 engine with an F1 style 7 speed gear box in a midsized sedan but in a German car?

If you want technology harnessed to save the Earth, go to Japan.  I’m not just talking about hybrid technology and micro sized engines, no other auto industry has consistently produced such a variety of good small cars as Japan.  The new Honda Civic Si is one of the best of the recent examples.  Even Toyota is showing its quirky side to small car entertainment with its line of Scions.

So while the heart of the market continues to get better as it becomes more homogenous the world over, enthusiasts can still find very distinct models and personalities from the major auto producing countries.  And the trend is such that even more diversity is on its way, and that’s something I can appreciate.

Nov. 11, 2005 - Jaguar: Gorgeous?

What the hell are the people at Jaguar smoking?  Have you seen the new ads for Jaguar?  Not since Nissan’s Infiniti ads starring rocks, water and trees, has there been a more obnoxious campaign.  Call it the “gorgeous” campaign, since that’s the most prominent word in all of the ads.  Looking more like an updated Calvin Klein perfume ad destined for “Cosmo” the emphasis is certainly not on the car.   Instead what we get are a bunch of washed out images of supermodel-like creatures and their euro trash friends wistfully hanging onto their tragic lives. 

“Gorgeous trumps everything” is the title of one of the ads.  Just what does that actually mean?  Style over substance, I suppose.  Is that really what you want people to think of your car?  If Jaguar wasn’t a lost cause before, it sure is now.

It’s a damn shame because Jaguar has so much to offer, yet the marketing people feel compelled to emphasize fashion.  The long history of Jaguar is part of every enthusiast’s knowledge base.  And the current use of lightweight materials to produce efficient, well mannered cars is a modern story worth telling.  

Ironically, the current crop of cars is in all actuality pretty good.  The XJ is arguably the best large sedan on the market, eschewing the over the top techno-wizardry of the Germans and offering much more soul than any of the Asian brands.  It is an honest to goodness sporting luxury sedan.  The new XK, while not as “gorgeous” as it could be is a wonderful GT car—a poor man’s Aston, so to speak.  Even the S-type is now better than ever before and able to keep up with some of the current rivals on the market.  The only real dud in the lot is the X-type, itself not a bad car, just not good enough to be called a Jaguar.

It’s always worrisome when the marketing people take over.  They created the Yuppie BMWs of the 1980s, and now they are destroying what’s left of Jaguar by ignoring the car and going after the lifestyle.  If product sells, then sell the product.

Nov. 6, 2005 - SEMA Notes

I just got back from SEMA, that hot rodding/tuner/customizing automotive aftermarket orgy held every year in Las Vegas—itself an orgy of other sorts.  It’s a fascinating event that often foreshadows automotive trends.  In the last few years it’s become a favorite place for OEMs to gauge the market, and more of them are participating at higher levels than ever before. 

This year Honda paid enough money to have the Civic become the car of the show.  Honda more or less created the tuner market with its early Civic models but not until recently has it acknowledged the fact.  The company line was actually to the contrary and Honda purposely went out of its way to distance itself from the tuner market.  After seeing the good will (and sales) Toyota has received from its fledgling Scion brand Honda has changed course. To try and recoup some of this lost love Honda gave away some pre-production Civics (particularly the Si) to a few reputable tuning shops and gave them free reign to modify the sport compact.   I dare say the result was satisfactory to Honda, since the amount of buzz created by this before, during and now after the show is invaluable.  That all important young buyers demographic is on board and I’m sure you’ll be seeing a great many enthusiasts plunk down deposits on a new Si very soon.  And its not just marketing hype, by all accounts the car is good.  The tuned cars I saw at the Honda stand were awesome and I can’t wait to take one out for a spin myself.

The rear wheel drive Chrysler trio of 300, Magnum and Charger were also plentiful at the show.  They were not the official cars of SEMA but they certainly caught the fancy of many hot rod and customizing shops—especially the bling crowd.   The big chrome wheel people all had at least one of the three in their booth right next to Bentleys, Ferraris, and Hummers.

The aforementioned Hummer has certainly taken the Escalade’s spot as favorite rap star/music mogul special.  Even the comparatively small H3 was present in decently large numbers.

The spinner wheel is out, by the way.  The number of spinners at the show was down dramatically from years past (thank God), but the size race continues to go unabated.  And chrome is still king when it comes to the bling set.  A new and disturbing trend-- to those with taste-- is the bejeweled appliqués finding themselves onto the flanks of the big wheel cars and trucks.  If gold wasn’t gaudy enough, now we have cubic zirconium.

There is room for everybody in the market and I do applaud the craftsmanship that goes into everything from hot rods to Hummers; but, I hope the tuner set that craves performance over show will win out in the end and we’ll see more fun little cars.  I have hope now that the Civic Si is back to form (as is the VW GTI) and cars like the STi and Evo continue to mature. 

Oct. 29, 2005 - Hatchback Adverse or Just Bad Memories?

The thing with conventional wisdom is that it’s seldom wise.  The conventional wisdom, probably backed by some focus group data, is that Americans don’t like hatchbacks.  Nonsense if you look at all the SUVs, crossovers and minivans out there; they all have a hatchback like cargo door.  Many modern SUVs and crossovers even have that familiar hatchback silhouette, what is often termed as a “two box design”.  So in essence, Americans don’t have an aversion towards the hatchback door, nor do they have a problem with the basic proportions of a hatchback design.  So why does every automaker doubt they will be able to sell 3 or 5 door vehicles in this country? 

What we have is an aversion towards cheap little cars, which back in the terrible 70s and early 80s usually came with that large hatch in the back.  Remember cars like the Chevrolet Chevette, the Ford Pinto or even the Dodge Shadow?  All terrible, cheap little cars that just happened to have only one thing going for them: t