#3WTP

As the industry (or at least parts of it) and the federal government face off over forthcoming 2017-2025 CAFE/emissions standards, a Center for Automotive Research study is getting more play than ever from an industry that seeks to portray the high cost of fuel economy improvements as being not worth the additional costs to consumers. CAR has yet to publish its full study, but it’s clearly intended to counter an offensive from groups like the Consumer Federation of America, which uses its own study to show that CAFE regulation will actually save consumers money. This battle, over the cost to industry and consumers of passing a 62 MPG standard for 2025, has been playing out for months now, and will continue to go back and forth over the rest of this summer. And sure enough, the Union of Concerned Scientists and the National Resources Defense Council have both hit back against the CAR study, calling it “industry-advocate propaganda” in the Detroit News and arguing that it underestimates future reductions in technology costs.

The auto enthusiast world has been torn apart of late by the re-boot of the Lotus brand, which is transitioning from hard-core enthusiast niche manufacturer to mass-appeal, high-end, branded premiumness. The photo above shows the first steps towards building a Porsche or Ferrari-like brand: Lotus Originals sells leather jackets and other branded goods in order to build up the exclusive appeal that the brand needs to bank on once its new cars arrive. But in China, Lotus’s branding issues are going to require more than just some sexy young things pouting in leather jackets while artlessly assembled around a piece of Lotus’s brilliant past. China Car Times reports that Lotus parent company Proton’s China-market deal with new Saab partner Youngman has already created some issues, namely

UK’s Lotus will enter the Chinese market on June 15 this year, but its Chinese name is Lu Te Si (“路特斯” – a transliteration of Lotus) rather than the well-known Lian Hua (“莲花” – Chinese for Lotus Flower), because China’s Youngman Lotus has used the famous brand to market its cars first, and Lotus does not want consumers to get confused between the low cost products from Youngman and its own high end sports models.

Reuters reports that White House has approved a label for E15 ethanol blends, which warn motorists not to use the higher blend if their vehicle was built before the 2007 model-year. What Reuters won’t show you is the final label design that was approved… was it the EPA’s proposed design (above), or one of the ethanol lobby’s proposed alternatives (see gallery below). Clearly there’s a bit of a difference between the two, and the EPA was under quite a bit of pressure to not go with the orange-and-red “CAUTION!” version. In documentation from hearings on the E15 labeling issue [ PDF], you can read executives and lobbyists expounding at length about the fact that ethanol is good for America, and that labeling shouldn’t discourage the use of E15. Which it doesn’t…. in 2007 and later vehicles. And if you check the EPA’s docket on the issue, you’ll find plenty of good reasons for preventing “misfueling”. Luckily few gas station owners are likely to invest in E15 pumps anyway, so you may never actually see this label in the wild.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is taking to the internet ahead of a forthcoming increase in 2017-2025 CAFE standards, with a website called “ Consumers and Fuel Economy.” There you can find, among other things, this graph detailing the relationship between hybrid sales and fuel prices over the last three… summers? Did the fall and winter data not support the AAM’s goals? If so, and this graph has been constructed for maximum impact, it’s hardly a wildly convincing slice of data… or is it?

Panther lovers, look away! The Detroit News has picked up a story on Bayliff Custom Automotive which… well, let’s just let the words take over where that unforgettable image leaves off, shall we?

“We’ve been custom-building Packard automobiles since 1978,” said [C. Budd] Bayliff, whose Bayliff Custom Automotive of Lima, Ohio, builds old-style Packards (and other cars) from the ground up and offers Packard-inspired customization styling kits for contemporary vehicles.

Bayliff Custom Automotive also does conversion work for another Ohio-based company that specializes in funeral vehicles.

The Packard kit, as shown here on a Ford Crown Victoria, is priced from $15,000 to $18,500 and includes a Packard-style grille and overhood, headlamps, rear fender skirts, an oval rear window, stylized trunk lid, custom two-tone paint, and various changes to the interior.

If that’s a Packard, I’m Enzo Ferrari. Oh, and I have a lovely original 250 GTO to sell you…

I’ll refrain from editorializing at length here because I’m genuinely interested in hearing the B & B’s take on Chrysler’s attempt to overcome what was one of the industry’s worst reputations for interior quality. The question here isn’t “are Chrysler’s interiors better?” because there’s no debate on that point. The question is: given that they’re having to do a 180 for Chrysler’s reputation, are they good enough? Personally, I find some downright appealing, some quite passable and some still lacking… and my major complaint is that I feel like the firm tries too hard to project a veneer of premium-ness on even its cheaper products, which make the interiors feel less than entirely “honest.” But that’s just my take… what’s yours? Video of Chrysler’s interior design boss Klaus Brusse, talking about the changes in Chrysler’s interiors, after the jump

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the “Detroit Three” automakers are once again on top of the charts, as a wild and wacky month of sales closed with some serious shifts in the volume-manufacturer landscape. Not only did Chrysler claw its way back to number three for the month, but Hyundai-Kia beat out all the Japanese competition save Toyota, which narrowly escaped with the top non-Detroit volume number. Detroit fans should savor the win, as the Japanese automakers should work through most of their inventory and supply issues by sometime this summer. Things should get back to (relatively) normal at that point, but for now it’s clear that literally anything is possible.

Sometimes honesty is the best policy…

Under the terms of its contract with the US Treasury, Fiat will get an additional five percent of Chrysler Group’s equity when it builds a 40 MPG (CAFE, not EPA, so actually about 30 MPG) vehicle in the US. But it turns out that Dodge already sells a car that might qualify… unfortunately, Dodge doesn’t actually build it, offer it in the US, or, starting with the 2012 model year, even bother to rebadge the thing. That’s right, you’re looking at a 2012 Hyundai Dodge Attitude… the only non-red, and one of the only non-Dodge-branded car in the brand’s Mexican lineup [the Hyundai Atos and H100 “Ram Van” are also badged with the Korean brand’s “H.”

Surf on over to hyundaiusa.com and ford.com, and the two momentum-blessed automakers will greet you in a remarkably similar fashion: with a lineup of 40 MPG Highway-rated vehicles. Of course, Hyundai would, in its inimitable “asterisk-wrangling” style, point out that Ford’s 40 MPG requires more footnotes than a David Foster Wallace book. But then Ford might shoot back that Hyundai leaves out any reference to City or Highway ratings in its lineup, leaving consumers to play “hunt the legal disclaimer” itself. And as Autoobserver recently noted, highway ratings make for good ad fodder, but combined EPA ratings are much more helpful to consumers.

Not that many fashion models have worked in machine shops, but most people should know that loose clothing and rotating objects don’t mix, or rather they mix too well. The cape streaming off of her neck may make for a nice photo but it could easily have led to some seriously negative publicity had that cape been snagged by a spinner on those knockoff wheels. Dancer Isadora Duncan’s penchant for long flowing scarves led to her demise in 1927. Riding in a friend’s Bugatti, she was strangled when one of her signature boas got caught in a rear wheel. One would think that at least one person at BMW or their ad company would have known about Duncan’s fate when they started tossing around ideas for a photo shoot to promote their new concept, the 328 Hommage. Apparently that wasn’t the case.

Has Jack’s carping about the empty symbolism of the latest Aston-Zagato project got you down? Looking for some retro-inspired unobtainium that you can feel good about? As Jack himself pointed out just yesterday, TTAC’s all about diversity…so allow us to suggest BMW’s 328 Hommage concept, which was just revealed at the Concorso d’Eleganza at Villa d’Este. Of course TTAC wasn’t invited to that august event, but CarDesignNews was kind enough to tweet these cell phone images of the retro roadster (so be sure to go check out their fantastic site, and pick up a subscription while you’re there). Based around the Vision ConnectedDrive concept, this all-carbon roadster is described as the analog analog (so to speak) of that high-tech concept (which itself previewed the forthcoming Z2 Roadster). Like the Zagato, it’s got the whole pedigree reference thing down too, as its name refers to BMW’s 75 year-old 328 nameplate (check out a great history of the 328 at bmwblog.com). Plus, bare carbon fiber with leather straps. If this thing doesn’t make you feel at least a little tingly in the naughty bits, well, it might just be time for some medical attention.

From “promisingly awkward” mule to multiple styling “ concepts” we’ve had plenty of looks at the many possible shapes that Toyota is considering for its forthcoming “FT-86” rear-drive budget sports coupe. But now, with Toyota finalizing the production look of its eagerly-anticipated sports coupe, we’re finally getting a good look at the FT-86’s production-ready proportions, if not its approved styling cues. And by the looks of it, it’s a clean, conventional coupe with just enough of a convention-defying low-hood look (enabled by Subaru’s boxer engine) to avoid looking like a scaled-down Z. In fact, this car’s ability to appear conventional yet subtly distinctive seems to be rooted in its small, rear-drive proportions rather than any one styling feature we’ve seen on a concept. Given the inherent challenge of building sportscars that offers broad appeal as well as enough distinctiveness to get enthusiasts fired up, this looks like a good sign for the FT-86’s future.