Archive | August, 2008

GM Defensive After IIHS Test of Equinox

By on August 20, 2008 in Editorials, News

By Kevin Miller

08.20.2008

General Motors is on the defensive today after the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) released its latest test results for small SUVs. Possible IIHS ratings include Good, Acceptable, Marginal and Poor, and are based on results of front and side crash tests plus evaluations of seat/head restraints for protection against whiplash injury in rear crashes.

The 2008 Chevrolet Equinox (and its badge-engineered cousin sold as the Pontiac Torrent) received Marginal scores for the side impact tests for front and rear seat passengers. Note that the Equinox tested was not equipped with optional side airbags, When side airbags are optional, the IIHS policy is to test without the option because this is how most of the vehicles will be sold. A manufacturer may request another test with the optional airbags if the automaker reimburses IIHS for the cost of the vehicle. General Motors didn’t request a second test of the 2008 Equinox; curtain airbags will be standard in the 2009 Equinox which the IIHS plans to test later this year.

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Aston Martin Introduces Keyless Entry Wristwatch

By on August 20, 2008 in Editorials, News

By Kevin Miller

08.20.2008

Aston Martin AMVOX2 DBS Transponder Today Aston Martin has unveiled a really fancy watch which is also the keyless entry/keyless start transponder for its DBS coupe. In conjunction with its watch partner Jaeger LeCoultre, the automaker has created the AMVOX2 DBS Transponder.

The AMVOX2 DBS Transponder combines traditional watchmaking expertise and high-tech engineering. Available exclusively to owners of the Aston Martin DBS, the transponder watch is the latest design and engineering collaboration between the two high-end manufacturers. The electronic transponder which would typically be embedded in a key or fob is instead integrated into the body of the watch. As you can see in the photo the watch itself is an expensive looking piece, though its design is quite masculine. Perhaps a ladies’ version will be available by the time the Rapide hits the streets.

By integrating the transponder circuit into the body of the watch, Jaeger-LeCoultre has created a fashion accessory that is functional both as a timepiece and as a key. Aston Martin’s press release refers to the AMVOX2 DBS as the “ultimate accessory for the ultimate sports car.”

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The Tucker Torpedo…What if?

By on August 20, 2008 in Features

By Chris Hussey

08.20.2008

As a native of Tupelo, Mississippi, one of my favorite places to frequent is the Tupelo Automobile Museum. While I love perusing the entire collection, I am always drawn to one vehicle: Preston Tucker’s 1948 four-door sedan, affectionately known as the Tucker Torpedo. Billed at the time as “The Most Completely New Car in Fifty Years,” the Tucker surprised the entire automobile industry by living up to that billing. The Tucker 48 represented the car of the future to a car-starved post-WWII America.

The 128-inch wheelbase Tucker was only 60 inches high, which is much lower than other automobiles of the era. However, Tucker didn’t stop there. He added an independent suspension and a rear-mounted flat six engine derived from a war-time air-cooled helicopter unit featuring a fully sealed water cooling system, another first in the automotive industry.

The Tucker was also years ahead in terms of safety features. With a padded dash, front passengers had a “safety chamber” where they could “dive” in case of pending collision, and the windshield was designed to pop out harmlessly upon impact. The most noticeable difference was the central “Cyclops” headlight which turned with the front wheels. Luxury automakers have just recently (60 years later) attempted similar rotating headlights. Continue Reading →

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GM Re-Introduces Employee Pricing for Everyone

By on August 19, 2008 in News

By Chris Haak

08.19.2008

Beginning tomorrow, August 20, 2008, GM will roll out employee pricing for everyone in an effort to clear inventories of remaining 2008 model year vehicles. According to GM’s press release, the only 2008 model year vehicles excluded are medium duty trucks. The employee discounts are also extended to a handful of 2009 model year vehicles, including the Cadillac CTS, Chevrolet Cobalt and HHR, Pontiac Vibe and G5.

GM isn’t making it as easy on customers as it potentially could have, because they are not releasing the details of employee prices to online shopping sites such as Edmunds or TrueDelta, but instead ask that customers visit their local GM dealer to inquire about pricing.  Update 8/20/2008: GM has put up a website giving the employee price (without options) for all of the eligible models. The site can be visited here. Note that there appear to be at least a handful of errors on that site at the moment (such as a $23,435 2009 Chevrolet Cobalt SS appearing with an employee price of $14,554.15, when it should actually be just over $20,000), but it can be a helpful tool for ballparking the price of your new car.

Of course, the last time GM rolled out employee pricing for everyone in summer 2005, the promotion was an immediate success, with sales leaping by double-digit percentages. The problem last time, though, was that not only did Chrysler and Ford quickly match the deal, but all three continually extended the promotion into the fall, at which point its impact was blunted and the impact on sales slowed dramatically. The steep discounts in the summer months also pulled ahead purchases that buyers otherwise might have done later in the year, harming late-year sales results. Finally, dramatically lowering the price of new vehicles caused instant harm to residual values of used cars. Some of this residual value fallout from 2005 is likely partially to blame for the huge lease losses incurred by Chrysler, Ford, and GM and their captive finance companies over the past few months. Continue Reading →

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Beware of the Fleet Queens, 2008 Edition

By on August 19, 2008 in Editorials

By Chris Haak

08.19.2008

Just over a year ago, I wrote a piece covering which vehicles were being sold primarily to fleet customers. Fresh data in hand, I thought it would be a great time to revisit this analysis for mid-2008.

First, a little background information about fleet sales. You’ll hear many manufacturers attributing falling sales numbers to a strategic decision to reduce their fleet sales. Fleet sales are categoriezed in three groups: sales to government agencies (police cars, repair trucks, etc.), sales to commercial buyers (work vans, pickup trucks, taxis, limousines, company cars), and sales to daily rental companies (Avis, Hertz). Fleet sales to commercial and government buyers aren’t necessarily a bad thing; generally these fleet buyers hold the cars for a longer period of time (usually about three years), have a limited number of different drivers for each vehicle, and maintain them fairly well. Commercial and government fleet buyers also tend to pay a discounted, although fair, price for the new vehicles. The advantage to automobile manufacturers in selling to commercial and government fleets rather than daily rental fleets is that because these buyers hold the vehicles longer, the used car market is not flooded with low-mileage used cars that are less than a year old, thus depressing resale values for retail customers.

Sales to daily rental companies, on the other hand, which make up about 65% of all fleet sales so far in 2008, are not ideal for manufacturers. The cars are generally sold at a steep discount (usually a loss), are driven by people who don’t care about the car (try Googling ‘rental car abuse’ to see what you find), and as mentioned earlier, hit the used car market relatively quickly, driving down values of new cars. Customers logically ask themselves why they should buy a $20,000 new car when they can get the same car (albeit with a rental car past) for $13,000 with only 10,000 miles on the odometer. Continue Reading →

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Rare Vehicle Sighting: Toyota Sera

By on August 19, 2008 in Features

By Kevin Miller

08.19.2008

Toyota SeraLast month I was on Washington State’s Whidbey Island, and I saw something I had only seen before in a car magazine. In the early 1990s. It was a Toyota Sera coupe.

The Sera was instantly recognizable, in its signature “Greenish Yellow Mica Metallic” with its distinctive greenhouse and headlights. As I spotted it parked, I didn’t have the chance to check out its gull-wing doors in action.

I was on the island for a family member’s wedding and its associated events, and when I arrived at the inn where we were staying I mentioned to my brother that we had seen a Toyota Sera on our way up the island. My brother told me that he had actually been behind that Sera in the ferry line earlier in the day on his way to the island, and had a brief conversation with the owner. He found out that the Sera’s current owner bought the car on eBay from somebody who had gone to the trouble of importing it to the US. The owner said that the car attracted a lot of attention. I can only imagine. Continue Reading →

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Little Miss Sun Roof

By on August 19, 2008 in Features

By Candice Hightower Taylor

08.19.2008

This wasn\'t Candice\'s first car.There’s nothing better than firsts: first love, first home and above all your very first sun roof. Not very impressive for most, but the first car I purchased on my own was a Pontiac with absolutely no bells and zero whistles. I’m not exaggerating. We’re talking no sun roof; no power locks, windows or seats; no cassette or CD — just a radio. To top it off, in my world, popping the trunk or the little door housing the gas tank would have required an act of God. And her performance in the multi-inch midwestern snow? You guessed it…donuts all around.

Despite her shortcomings, I affectionately named her Rae after the salesman that sealed the deal. She boasted nothing more than the basics and I loved her to pieces anyway because she was mine and undoubtedly a trooper. Never garage kept and frozen solid in below zero temperatures more times than I can remember, Rae started up everyday without fail until the end, of course. And even when she died, it took some strong arming to get me to replace her. She sat lifeless in front of my house for nearly two weeks before I finally gave in. Continue Reading →

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2009 Jaguar XF Supercharged Review

By on August 18, 2008 in Reviews

By Chris Haak

08.18.2008

For decades, Jaguars have been thought of by many as unreliable, old English, snooty vehicles that had bodies that had, shall we say, a traditional appearance. In spite of having high quality leather and other interior materials, Jaguar found itself stuck in a rut, and became a veritable money pit for Ford, as consumers moved onto competitors’ vehicles and Jaguars just didn’t sell.

Fortunately, the 2009 XF immediately takes the book containing everything that people think they know about Jaguar and drops it into an industrial paper shredder. The XF is, quite literally, like no Jaguar ever before it. The car’s designers bestowed it with a modern, elegant feline form, while at the same time managing to maintain a few styling nods to Jaguar’s past (namely, the mesh-look grille, hints of circles around the one-piece headlight units, and the vertical fender vents). The car’s proportions are no doubt modern; it has a fashionably high beltline and fairly tidy overhangs. My top of the line test vehicle had 20 inch wheels, which manage to very nicely fill the wheel openings, and visually add weight to the lower half of the car, giving observers the impression that the car is crouched and ready to pounce. Pounce on what, I’m not certain, but in the flesh, the XF is an object of beauty, particularly in darker colors.

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Cadillac’s Made-in-Sweden Wagon Chases Elusive Euro Success

By on August 17, 2008 in Features

By Andy Bannister

08.17.2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cadillac, that quintessential all-American luxury marque, is having yet another attempt to conquer Europe…with a little help from the Swedes. GM’s luxury division is currently trying to tempt European station wagon buyers of out their Audis, BMWs, Volvos and Mercedes with a heavily-disguised Saab 9-3, the Cadillac BLS wagon.

A BLS sedan has been available for a couple of years already, but has so far been greeted with almost total indifference across the continent. The scale of Cadillac’s desperation can be seen by the company’s fortunes in the UK, despite the company expensively engineering right-hand-drive versions of some of its key products to suit the needs of buyers here.

In 2007, Cadillac’s UK sales – in a market of over 2 million cars a year – were just 345, though at least that was an advance on the 294 sold in 2006. So far in 2008, though, Caddy has sold only 94 units in its first seven months. Continue Reading →

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2008 Pontiac Solstice GXP Review

By on August 15, 2008 in Reviews


By Brendan Moore

08.15.2008

The first day of the week-long time I had the Pontiac Solstice GXP, one of the residents of my neighborhood told me he really liked the way the Solstice looked and asked me what kind of car it was. I told him it was a Pontiac and he expressed surprise at that, saying he couldn’t believe the little convertible was a Pontiac. “It looks Italian to me”, he said, somewhat shocked.

“But is it a real sports car”, he asked, “Or is it a sheep in wolf’s clothing?”

You know, it is a real sports car. That means it brings with it all the good and bad points of a real sports car.

It’s small and cramped for a guy that is my slightly above average size (6 ft, 210 lbs., or, 95.25 kg, 1.83 meters), it has virtually no storage in the cabin, and very little in the trunk when the top is down, and it’s not a great car for commuting because it’s a pain to drive it in slow heavy traffic. Continue Reading →

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