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First “Entry Level” Ferrari California Sold For $500k

Автор: HallieGuy | среда, 30 сентября 2009 г.

Although not scheduled to make its first official appearance until next week at the Paris auto show, the first “baby” Ferrari California was sold at an auction recently for nearly double its projected retail value. Hosted by California Governantor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the auction was held to benefit the After School All Stars program, an initiative which dispenses funds to underprivileged school children. Held in both Maranello, Italy and Santa Monica, California, the charity event successfully hauled in a significant chunk of change for California’s disenfranchised demographic, ultimately awarding the coveted pre-production baby Ferrari to the highest bidder for an estimated $520,000. Since it’s for a good cause, I’ll refrain from making any of the usual remarks about the obviously insignificant size of the buyer’s genitals.[News Source: Auto Unleashed]

Mitsubishi Soldiers On With Lancer Evolution MR

Автор: HallieGuy |

Lancer Evolution MR

Despite Mitsubishi’s difficulties from the very beginning in making much if any headway financially in the U.S., the Tri-Diamond has held fast with their committment to make a go of it in America. Likewise, Mitsubishi’s approach for the last several years to their performance models is equally consistent and exemplified in the latest example in the Evo line; the Lancer Evolution MR.

2008 Lancer Evolution

Following delays to the advanced tuning of the MR, the Mitsu dynamo has been in showrooms since June and by almost universal accounts is an incredibe vehicle. One way you can gauge a car’s fun-factor is how much time a reviewer spends talking about cupholders and electronic gizmos inside. With the MR interior appointments are essentially irrelevant and a mere footnote to the way it handles and moves. In almost all ways aesthetic, the car varies only slightly, but distinctly, from the lower Lancer model. Outside the Evo has a big, dark trapezoidal grille, three hood scoops and a big wing and Evolution badge on the back.

Aggressive Evo Snout

Inside, the Evo gets leather and suede Recaro bucket seats that are DEFINITELY a must given the cars cornering abilities and differs from the Lancer’s back seats, which do not fold down because the battery and washer fluid have been moved to behind them to make room for the most significant difference in the two cars; the engine.

Evolution Engine

The 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbocharged and inter-cooled engine produces 291 horsepower and 300 lb-ft of torque which in relation to the car’s displacement is phenomenal and is mated to a slick six-speed twin-clutch Sportronic shift transmission.

Twin Clutch Transmission

While 0-60 times are achieved in the 5.2 seconds range and the car can reach over 160 mph, the car’s real forte is in it’s handling and braking capabilities. According to testers, pulling in and out of slides is a piece of cake in the all-wheel-drive Evo, only requiring a steely resolve to continue pushing the gas and not jumping on the brakes; the car’s capacity to get itself pointed in the right direction will do the rest.

Evolution Interior

Not that practicality is a huge consideration for those interested in this car, but despite a limited trunk and fold-down rear seats, it can seat 4 in relative comfort making it not a completely frivolous vehicle. But assuming you will be driving it with a moderate amount of aggression it does suck down gas (17 mpg combined) and eat tires at an accelerated pace. And it is pricey, starting at $38,940 and approaching 50 grand with all the bells and whistles. However, I will note that in terms of performance the Evo MR delivers a better and more affordable overall driving experience than the similar offerings from BMW and Mercedes.

2009 Ferrari California: Beautiful “Baby”

Автор: HallieGuy | вторник, 8 сентября 2009 г.

Schumacher-endorsed 2009 Ferrari California

There is a certain arrogance implied when a company limits production of a new car to just two colors. As if, “this is what we are offering, take it or leave it, we don’t need you.” Henry Ford telling customers they can have a Model T in any color they want as long as its black comes to mind. But when the company is Ferrari and the new car is the 2009 California you tend to forget about such trivialities. And if those two things still can’t convince you, Michael Schumacher’s endorsement of the new “Baby Ferrari” should put you over the top. (Even if the two colors are red and a rather depressing blue.)

Ferrari poster boy Schumacher is often called upon with the unenviable task (tongue firmly in cheek) of track testing new Ferraris and also was involved with development of the 430 Scuderia–which he calls the “very essence of a Ferrari,” while the California is more of an “everyday” ride. Schumacher’s totaling of a Ferrari prototype during testing last week notwithstanding, we’ll take his thumbs up on the new “Baby Ferrari” seriously. The “baby” moniker seems hardly accurate at first glance, especially if you check out the sticker price which will be approaching the neighborhood of $200,000. Offered only as a folding hardtop convertible, the California is focused towards the ultra rich who crave both open-air and Grand Tourer driving. The powerplant of the California will be Ferrari’s 4.3-liter V-8 mounted in the front and producing 460 horsepower at 7500 rpm. Less than the 483 hp mid-engined F430 coupe/spider and F430 Scuderia that cranks out 503 hp, which is where the “baby” title comes in I suppose. As with all Ferrari’s the body and chassis is aluminum.

Seating is of the 2+ arrangement, which in Italian means you can fit a couple of bags behind the seats after your shopping trip to buy tube socks and Alpo at Wal-Mart. I am usually turned off by sports cars that have more than two seats….or two doors. It reminds me of myself telling my girlfriend and future wife that my Honda Prelude was “practically a sports car.” (I am shamed by that memory) But the California is absolutely beautiful; and although I am not usually a fan of convertibles, this car makes me want to rethink that philosophy with it’s Pininfarina-engineered retractable aluminum hardtop

Purportedly, though I am hereby formally requesting a personal test drive from ridelust, Ferrari is quoting 0-62 mph times at a nip under four seconds. (It always takes me a second when I see 0-62 before I have a “Look at the brain on Brad” moment over the metric system conversion.) At any rate, as far as a “daily driver” Ferrari goes, I’ll take it…in red please.

The Ferrari California has a Web site for those wishing to indulge their ears to the sounds of the engine, as well other goodies to help you day dream or in my case go completely nuts. I actually caught myself saying “Ferrari California” like Governor Schwarzenegger. You know….CALEEFORRRNYA…..sorry.

The car makes its public debut at the Paris motor show in early October.

Monterey 2009: Not Just the Classics

Автор: HallieGuy | пятница, 21 августа 2009 г.

Aston Martin One-77

I have a certain appreciation for classic cars. But it’s the designs and technology of today that really get me excited.

The fact that the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance had its share of new-car debuts mixed in with the classics was great news for people like me. Even better were the kinds of cars that bowed down in California this weekend: A $500,000 American supercar, a Japanese sport sedan, an exclusive Spyder, and an all-new Bentley are among the favorites.

If you’re in the market for an ultra-exclusive supercar, you typically look to Europe and search the offerings from Italy, Britain, and Germany. But if you want to buy domestic, now you have a real option in the 2010 Devon GTX. This American-made work of art will cost you a half-million dollars, but provides a carbon-fiber body, an 8.4-liter V10 engine, and 650 hp. Get in line now, because only 36 will get built per year!

2010 Devon GTX

Even the Dutch came to play in California, as Spyker unveiled the C8 Aileron Spyder, a convertible masterpiece with an Audi 4.2-liter, 400-hp engine. Check it out:

Spyker C8 Aileron Spyder

Dropping down the exclusivity scale a few notches, Infiniti showed off its new M sedan, which thankfully took styling cues from the absolutely stunning Essence concept. While the “wow” factor of the Essence didn’t translate fully into the sedan, it still looks like the car can beat BMW and Mercedes, at least in the design department.

2011 Infiniti M

And then came Bentley… waiting until the last day of the concours to unveil the all-new Mulsanne. I know a lot of people out there love Bentley, but seriously, I still maintain that it’s the least-attractive member of the ultra-car club. While the headlight placement on the Mulsanne is a definite improvement, it still has a most unfortunate Chrysler-like grille. The rest of the car looks like a droopy hearse. If I were developing a TV show based around an ugly-but-likable car, I’d call it “Ugly Bentley.”

I'll pass, thanks

If I’m dropping enough money to buy a (really) nice house, I’m opting for something more along the lines of the Aston Martin One-77, pictured at the top of this story. Now THAT is classy!

Which of these cars would you want to grace your driveway?

-tgriffith

There Are Supercars and There Are Supercars

Автор: HallieGuy | среда, 19 августа 2009 г.

Aston Martin V12 Vantage I would put supercars in two classes: the near-racers and the refined. The near-racers, like the older Lambos, are fast turning into cars like the Ferrari 458 that tgriffith recently oogled over. Why so? There’s no place to really drive these beasts, and people want to show off and have fun with something they paid 300-large for.

Cars like the Aston Martin V12 Vantage are just too special to hide—not to mention too expensive to buy for the masses. Such cars represent a certain peak of the automaking art, and in that regard some would consider the Vantage, at $250,000 or so, a bargain.

With 510 bhp, 420 lb-ft of torque, 4.1 seconds to 60 mph, etc., etc., you don’t worry about performance. You luxuriate in it.

Some of these thoughts are occasioned by Jeremy Clarkson’s video as he drives the car and muses that these vehicles may well be coming to the end of their road. I hope he’s wrong, but you decide.

Do you believe the days of such supercars are numbered? Give us your thoughts.

—jgoods

Vintage Imagery

Joining Forces to Conquer (and Confuse?) the Car World

Автор: HallieGuy | четверг, 6 августа 2009 г.

Wolfgang Porsche

I honestly don’t know what to make of this story. Porsche, as we reported two weeks ago, was about to sell its sports-car business to Volkswagen, then denied it. Yesterday, the two families that control the companies announced they had a deal to merge them, with Porsche remaining “independent” and issuing stock to help pay down its corporate debt of some $12 billion.

The financing and other details have yet to be revealed, so this Porsche story is really just a teaser. What we do know is that Wolfgang Porsche (Porsche board chairman) and his cousin Ferdinand Piëch (VW’s chairman) have been feuding for years, but finally (pending another denial) have come to some kind of agreement, which in turn is pending approval by the workers’ union and the state of Lower Saxony, which owns 20 percent of VW.

Ferdinand Piëch

The family history is fascinating:

Piëch’s grandfather, Ferdinand Porsche, was behind Hitler’s People’s Car, eventually to become the VW Beetle. Post-Second World War investigations into links between the Nazi regime and Ferdinand Porsche, his son Ferry, and son-in-law Anton Piëch, created an uneasy tension within the family.
The Porsches and the Piëchs settled in Austria, hand-building sports cars and creating a distribution network for VW cars. After his schooling in Switzerland, Ferdinand Piëch joined Porsche as an engineer, and in the 1960s designed the company’s ground-breaking 917 racing car.
Aggressive, brooding, but above all strong-willed, Piëch rose to become an influential figure in Europe’s motor industry, and few people were surprised when in 1993 he became chief executive of Volkswagen. But his management style was not to everyone’s taste. German newspapers called him “Lord of the Manor.” A General Motors executive called him “quasi-psychotic.”

What’s interesting beyond the family drama is the present push to combine, á la Fiat, and create a ten-brand car-making enterprise that would be one of the world’s largest. I can think of only eight, however: Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, SEAT, Skoda, and VW. Take that, Marchionne!

What does it all mean? Too soon to tell, but clearly the U.S. is selling brands; the Europeans are buying them. Carmakers are looking for scale, even as the industry contracts. If you can make sense out of these contradictions, please leave us a comment.

Will the Porsche-VW deal be a good one for car buyers?

—jgoods

The Future Looks Clearer . . . and Dimmer

Автор: HallieGuy | четверг, 23 июля 2009 г.

Chrysler Assembly Plant, Belvedere, IL

Yesterday we explored some headlines about the auto industry bailout.

Today we create three more, based on what Chrysler and GM revealed in their submissions to the feds yesterday:

We Need $21.6 Billion More Now, $39 Billion by 2012

GM Says Bankruptcy Would Cost the Government up to $100 Billion

Nobody Is Going to Be Willing to Foot This Bill

GM Assembly Plant, Janesville, WI

Ford Assembly Plant, Atlanta, GA

Both Chrysler and GM offered the by now familiar cost-cutting measures—and the projections of people out of work, cities in decline, factory closings, parts and feeder industries affected all make your stomach turn. See details of the companies’ proposals here. But there has to be a lot more bullet-biting. For Chrysler, the Fiat alliance won’t be enough.

And, as we all know, there are too many brands. Brands require vehicle development, production, marketing, dealers, and more. So the companies are being given old business advice: Focus on your core business. The Saturn story is a particularly sad example of how GM lost its way. That brand was left to languish for too long, and now that they have good cars that aren’t selling, they’re being put on the block. Hummer and Saab also reflect bad business decisions.

The problem goes well beyond cutting costs, however. It’s really about boosting sales, and how is that going to happen in this economy? Getting people to buy cars still comes down to the same old value proposition: Building sufficient value into the product so that “buyers” will part with their coin. Today it’s impossible to make people overcome their economic fears and forego savings to buy outmoded vehicles.

At the same time, we believe the auto industry has got to survive, and most authorities reflect that if that is to happen, there will be a whole lot more pain.

“I don’t know what you’re going to call it, but they’re going to go through bankruptcy, whether outside the bankruptcy system or with the benefit of the courts,” said Maryann Keller, who has written about the U.S. auto industry for three decades. “At the end of the day, the United Auto Workers are going to have to take a haircut, creditors are going to take a huge haircut, and equity is gone. What will effectively happen is exactly the same as bankruptcy.”

The companies’ decline (and we include Ford) didn’t happen overnight, and reconstructing the auto companies (all of them) into viable, lean competitors will take years.

Anybody reading this who has bought a Saturn? How do you feel about GM’s abandoning the brand?

—jgoods

A Car Industry Revolution in the Making

Автор: HallieGuy | среда, 22 июля 2009 г.

The gloom is everywhere, but we see some patterns emerging that may bring healthier days for the industry—at some indefinite, down-the-road time. What these patterns basically mean is that everyone will do more business abroad.

First, the bad news: One week from today GM and Chrysler will have to face the music publicly in Washington about the viability of their companies. God knows what Chrysler can say, other than play up its connection to Fiat and its capabilities.

GM workers fear more shutdowns in power train and parts factories, assembly plants, plus assorted bad deals with bondholders and the UAW. Some 10,000 salaried jobs recently were blown away; “thousands” more will undoubtedly go.

Nissan just announced 20,000 job cuts over the next year, including some 12,000 in Japan, where the country’s third-largest carmaker posted a $2.9 billion loss, its first in 9 years.

The outlook: If GM can survive, and many doubt it, the company will grow smaller in the U.S., as Bob Lutz predicted, and do more business abroad, particularly in China. That country, by the way, beat out the U.S. in auto sales, as announced today, and may be the world’s only viable car market left, though it, too, is down.

The future for a good piece of GM’s production will be abroad, particularly in China. Edmunds’ Michelle Krebs sees “tremendous opportunity” there for GM, VW, and maybe Ford—if it can sell its Volvo unit to Chery. “Buick,” she says, “sells more cars in China than it does in the U.S.”

Nissan and Toyota may be on the prowl, too. Since the yen is very strong now against the dollar, Nissan is clearly looking to foreign markets and hoping its cost-cutting strategies will position it as a smaller, leaner company. CEO Carlos Ghosn has a great record in that department.

To spur development of the car market, the Chinese government has put forward a “multibillion-dollar economic stimulus package while it also tries to promote cleaner, more energy-efficient engines.” And it’s cutting the sales tax on small-engined cars in half. Sound familiar?

If you needed more proof of a global car economy, this is it. For U.S. auto producers to thrive in it, cars will need to become more fuel-efficient, electric or hybrid-powered, and price-competitive. . . . Except for Buicks, that is.

“Buy American” hasn’t made sense for years in the car industry. Do you still believe in it?

—jgoods

The best of Detroit’s auto show… so far!

Автор: HallieGuy | воскресенье, 19 июля 2009 г.

The 2009 North American International Auto Show is in full swing, and there have been some amazing cars unveiled!

Fisker Karma

My favorite from the land of electric cars comes from a company called Fisker, who unveiled their Karma S, a stunningly exotic and curvy convertible roadster. The sedan version is set to go on sale in November for about $88,000, beating all other plug-in electrics to market.

This rocket has 408 horsepower and two electric motors, along with a 2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder that acts as a generator to recharge the car’s battery packs. It boasts a 0-60 time of 5.8 seconds.

GM and Chrysler showed some promise with electric vehicle concepts of their own, though it’s got to be quite the slap in the face to get beat to market by Fisker. Regardless, the Cadillac Converj concept and the Fisker-esque Dodge Circuit EV are worth keeping an eye on.

Ford Taurus

On the other end of the spectrum, I’m initially impressed by the new Ford Taurus which has finally dropped its air of conservativeness and features a strong, chiseled new look. It’ll be available with Ford’s EcoBoost 355-hp, 3.5-liter V6. Then there’s the massaging seats and adaptive cruise control, which are sure to translate into a winner that Ford desperately needs.

Brilliance M2

Perhaps most surprising is the prominence of two Chinese automakers: Brilliance and BYD. Both promise to enter the American market with economical commuter cars sure to undercut the competition on price. Of course, look for quality levels that are beneath their competitors’ as well. Who knows? Maybe we’ll be surprised, but I have my doubts about how these cars will measure up.

Are you following the developments at the Detroit auto show? Let us know what you like best so far!

-tgriffith

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