By Chris Haak

03.26.2009

Today, Tesla took the wraps off of its Model S sedan.  The company actually did an unusually good job of keeping the car hidden until only a few hours before its live reveal, with the exception of one leaked interior photo and two leaked exterior photos earlier in the day.  (Digg founder Kevin Rose “accidentally” leaked those photos on Twitter a few hours before Tesla’s live reveal news conference.)

After seeing photos of the Model S (both the press photos from Tesla and the live reveal photos from Autoblog), I’m very impressed with the car’s appearance both inside and out.  It has a very curvy shape that seems to take many of the best styling cues from Jaguar (there’s a lot of XF in the rear end), Aston Martin, and Maserati and combine them into a more or less cohesive design.  It’s definitely a curvy affair, with prominent rear haunches, large 21 inch wheels that fill the openings, and swept-back headlights and roofline, plus swept-forward taillights.  The Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid sedan, with which the Model S will surely be compared, also has a similar shape, but reports of the Karma’s interior volume – even for just four passengers – have been less-than-glowing.

There are many who, fairly, question whether Tesla will actually be around long enough to see the Model S reach production, which is scheduled for third quarter 2011.  Yes, that’s 2 1/2 years away – or an eternity in terms of an auto industry that is in the midst of daily gut-wrenching changes.  I thought that GM revealed the “production” Chevy Volt too early before its true production date, and I think Tesla revealed the Model S way too early before its true production date.  Bearing these caveats in mind – the fact that Tesla may or may not be around in 2011, and that a so-called “production” car made its debut 2 1/2 years before its mass production begins – the remainder of this article will assume that everything Tesla said the car will do or will have is actually the truth. Continue Reading

By Chris Haak

03.26.2009

President Obama today, during an online news conference, said that the US auto industry is unsustainable and that his administration would announce plans in the next few days to provide additional aid to the industry, but only if the industry agreed to accept “painful” changes to the way it does business.  Obama said that the industry must accept reality and deal with longstanding problems. “That means that everybody’s going to have to give a little bit — shareholders, workers, creditors, suppliers, dealers — everybody is going to have to recognize that the current model economic model of the U.S. auto industry is unsustainable,” he said.

As President Bush had to do in December 2008 when he decided to use money from the TARP financial-industry rescue plan to save GM and Chrysler from imminent collapse, Obama said that while the aid is politically unpopular, he had to weigh the cost of the potential damage to the overall economy if GM and Chrysler, as well as all of their suppliers, were allowed to collapse against the cost of providing additional aid.

While bankruptcy remains a possibility (and with Chrysler hinting that if it didn’t get additional funds, it would be forced to use the last of its dwindling cash hoard to wind down operations for good), the President’s task force has said that “bankruptcy is not a goal.”  The President himself said today that if the companies and their stakeholders are not willing to make the difficult choices in restructuring, he would not be willing to throw good [taxpayer] money after bad and would let them fail. Continue Reading

By Chris Haak

03.26.2009

Although the rumored pricing of Honda’s Insight hybrid didn’t quite pan out in reality (first it was $18,500, then it was “below $20,000,” while finally it turned out to be about $20,500 including destination), it still does have honor of calling itself the lowest-priced new hybrid vehicle available in the US.  It undercuts both the Chevrolet Malibu (mild) hybrid and the hybrid standard-bearer, the Toyota Prius.

Just as Honda introduced the Insight because it was not content to forfeit the “green” company mantle to Toyota after launching the first mass-produced hybrid car for sale in the US, Toyota is not willing to allow Honda to take that back without a fight (in spite of the fact that the Insight’s less-sophisticated hybrid system results in inferior EPA numbers to the 2010 Prius’).  The result:  Toyota confirmed that it is working on a Yaris hybrid for the next generation of the car, due for the 2011 model year.

The Yaris hybrid will undercut the Prius by several thousand dollars – in fact, it will probably undercut the Insight by several thousand dollars.  A “regular” Yaris three-door liftback starts at $12,925 including destination, so even adding a $5,000 hybrid premium (plus additional premium equipment that is sure to be required on the hybrid model) still puts the car likely under the $20,000 mark.  Fuel economy will probably be excellent (if not superior to the Prius’ ratings), because the Yaris is such a tiny car to begin with.  While it will probably have less battery capacity than a Prius and significantly less interior room and comfort, the potential to beat Toyota’s own best effort (at least in my speculation) is a pretty exciting prospect. Continue Reading

By Brendan Moore

03.26.2009

I talk to a lot of people about cars, I talk to them about the industry, etc. Some of the people I talk to are hard-core auto enthusiasts, but most of the conversations are with regular people who are not aware of which new models are coming out, have no idea how much horsepower their car has, and are aware that the auto industry is in a bad spot, but only in the most peripheral way.

For the hard-core enthusiasts, these are certainly depressing times. I know a lot of enthusiasts that are just in a funk, and have been for some time. Every day seems to bring more bad news about some company’s financial health, more bad news about new models being cancelled, etc. The steady drip, drip, drip of negative news coverage is just wearing them down. And it’s wearing down their interest level in all things automotive and it’s wearing down whatever love they have for things automotive.

We’re no different here at Autosavant; we’re susceptible to the same feelings as any other enthusiast, except perhaps more so. We read everything, and when everything you read is awful, it’s tough to maintain an impartial view of the industry’s problems. There has been a lot to write about in the auto industry lately, but the steady drumbeat of bad news tends to tamp down a writer’s enthusiasm for reporting or commenting on it. Continue Reading

By Chris Haak

03.26.2009

Bucking a trend that has the Tokyo auto show itself shortening its overall length by four days due to the poor global auto market, Inside Line reported that Toyota will cheer things up a bit with sports cars at two extremes of the market.  At one end is the Toyota-Subaru joint venture sports car, which some have speculated will resurrect the Celica name,and will reside on the Subaru Impreza platform and feature a four cylinder boxer engine with a Toyota-designed head that allows it to produce 220 horsepower without any forced induction.  At the other end of the spectrum for Toyota in Tokyo is the company’s performance flagship, the Lexus LF-A 600+ horsepower supercar that spent countless hours in light disguise lapping the Nurburgring circuit last year and earlier.

The Lexus LF-A should prove to be a formidable competitor to European exotics like the Ferrari F430.  I’m still not completely sold on the car’s shape (based on photos of disguised prototypes, plus the two LF-A concepts displayed in Detroit over the past few years), but at least Lexus has finally grown up from its derivative styling.  It’s fair to say that Lexus isn’t really swiping styling cues from Ferrari, Lamborghini, or Porsche in the LF-A’s design.  In spite of an obvious desire to spend some time behind the wheel of a Lexus LF-A, both times I saw the concepts in Detroit, I never paid them much mind, and instead took a few obligatory photos and moved on to something that actually had an engine under its hood like the rip-snorting IS-F sedan. Continue Reading

By Chris Haak

03.24.2009

It’s hard to imagine Daimler AG as anything other than the quintessential German car company (its star-crossed ownership of Chrysler from 1998 to 2007 notwithstanding), but the fact is, as of last Sunday, Daimler now has two major shareholders in the Gulf region.  Most recently, Daimler issued 96.4 million new shares to Abu Dhabi’s Aabar Investments PJSC.  The shares, priced at €20.27 each, raised €1.95 billion ($2.67 billion) for Daimler and mean that Aabar now owns 9.1% of the company.

The additional share issue, of course, dilutes the ownership stake of existing shareholders (which is why shareholders hate when companies issue additional shares).  Feeling a real impact from the share issuance is the Emirate of Kuwait.  The Emirate previously was Daimler’s largest shareholder, and saw its 7.6% stake shrink (as a percent of the company) to 6.9%.  Altogether, this means that between Kuwait and Abu Dhabi, Arab countries now own at least 16% of Daimler.  That’s still a minority stake, but it’s also an interesting twist for the company that invented the automobile – and is so proud of being a German company – is still based in Germany, but is gradually slipping out of German hands.

Daimler’s move came less than 10 days after BMW’s controlling Quandt family (which owns 46% of the company) put a proposed 7% equity swap between the two companies on ice amidst concerns that Daimler would dominate the partnership, as it did with Chrysler.  (Funny thing about karma, huh?  Perhaps the Quandts would have been more amenable to a pairing with Daimler had the company treated its red-headed step child in Auburn Hills a bit better).  As reported by German publication Spiegel, instead of a broader alliance, the two companies will now focus mostly on joint purchases of unseen components such as batteries to get volume discounts, and possibly jointly develop a small-car platform at some point in the future.  PSA, who is BMW’s joint venture partner in an engine alliance, nixed the possibility of Daimler joining the alliance. Continue Reading

By Brendan Moore

03.24.2009

The Tata Nano was rolled out to the press yesterday in India by a beaming Ratan Tata, it’s father and CEO of Tata Motors. Production this year is expected to top out at 35,000 units, but that is because of production constraints, not market demand. There is a base model available for $2230 USD, which is widely expected to be quite popular in India, the Nano’s home market.

But all is not well.

Tata is in a tremendous cash squeeze and had it’s first quarterly loss in seven years. They have delayed payments to suppliers and vendors as a result. Their new acquisitions, Land Rover and Jaguar, are struggling along with everyone else in the awful new-car market. There are also doubts about Tata’s ability to keep costs (and therefore retail prices) down on the Nano in the future, as well as concerns about the company’s production capacity.

There are also questions about the market segment the Nano now occupies (by itself). Just how big is the market? What geographic areas comprise the market? Will a “loaded” Tata sell in Western countries? When will competitors show up?

Lastly, environmental groups are up in arms about the potential prospect of millions of inexpensive cars adding to the cumulative total of greenhouse gases being spewed into the environment. Tata, for it’s part, says that meeting the emissions regulations of the EU or the US is not a problem for their Nano.

None of this matters to Tata, at least in front of the press. It was all smiles yesterday, and any potential issues were brushed off in statements to journalists. Continue Reading

By Chris Haak

03.24.2009

The insurance industry-funded Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has released its first roof-strength test results for small SUVs, and the results were mixed.  Of the 12 vehicles tested, 4 got the top “good” rating, 5 got the next “acceptable” rating, 2 were rated “marginal,” and 1 was rated “poor.”

The test is conducted by pressing a metal plate against one corner of the roof.  Depending on how many multiples of the vehicle’s weight the roof can sustain without crushing the roof five inches inward, the vehicle receives different ratings.  SUVs rated “good” need to withstand four times the vehicle’s weight.  Those rated “acceptable” need to withstand 3.25 times the vehicle’s weight, and those rated “marginal” need to withstand 2.5 times the vehicle’s weight.  Any vehicle that can’t reach the 2.5 times threshold is rated “poor.”  A NHTSA proposal is for the 2.5 times the vehicle’s weight to be the standard required of all new vehicles, but that is not yet a final rule.  The current standard, dating back to 1973, is for just 1.5 times – and clearly isn’t sufficient.

Models rated “good”:
Honda Element
Jeep Patriot
Subaru Forester
Volkswagen Tiguan Continue Reading

By Andy Bannister

03.23.2009

British Leyland, that great corporate hotch-potch of the 1970s whose creation destroyed the reputation of many once-great marques, continues to unravel, years after the state-owned firm’s unlamented demise.

Whilst makes like Triumph, Austin, Morris, Wolseley and Riley are long since history, the rump of the company, MG Rover, only went out of business in 2005. China’s SAIC and Nanjing (themselves since merged) are currently keeping the MG name going, so technically that badge remains alive, if only just.

The best-placed survivor of the BL era is Mini, the marque revived by BMW during its brief and disastrous ownership of Rover, which has prospered worldwide and still makes cars at the historic Cowley plant, once home of the Morris Minor.

The other main ex-BL nameplates, Jaguar and Land Rover, latterly abandoned by Ford to the mercies of India’s Tata, are currently looking in rough shape and face a very rocky few months.

It’s the least-heralded and in many ways most unlikley survivor of the bad old days of BL, a company once known as Freight Rover and now called LDV, which looks set to hit the skids first and drive another nail into the coffin of Britain’s struggling motor industry. Continue Reading

By Chris Haak

03.23.2009

The much-hyped 2010 Chevrolet Camaro pony car finally began production last week in its newly-refitted flexible manufacturing plant in Oshawa, Ontario.  Sadly, what was to have been a plant that produced nearly all of a new generation of Zeta-based GM rear wheel drive vehicles (Camaro, Pontiac G8, Chevrolet Impala, future Buick, future Cadillac) will now build only the Camaro – which, in spite of its appeal, price, and performance, will not do much better than fill a niche in the Chevrolet lineup.

3.6 Liter V6′s Highway Fuel Economy is 29 Miles Per Gallon
The base Camaro is powered by a 304-horsepower 3.6 liter direct injection V6, and coupled to a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission.  Its 17 mpg city/29 mpg highway fuel economy figures are significantly better than the Mustang V6′s 17/26 or Challenger V6′s 16/25, despite offering significant power advantages over both cars (the Mustang V6 is rated at 210 horsepower and the Challenger V6 is rated at 250 horsepower).  In the V8 trim levels, the Camaro again wins the fuel economy skirmish, with the automatic rated at 16/25 and the manual rated at 16/24.  The Mustang GT is rated at 17/23 (automatic) and 17/24 (manual), but is down 111 horsepower relative to the Camaro SS with the manual transmission.  The very fun, but gas guzzling 425-horsepower Challenger SRT8 isn’t even close in terms of fuel economy, with the manual rated 14/22 and the automatic rated 13/19.  The more tame Challenger R/T model rated at the same 16/25 regardless of the transmission choice, but is down 54 horsepower. Continue Reading