What's Wrong With This Picture: A Panda For Every Purse And Purpose Edition

Meet the new Fiat Panda, which is set to debut at the Frankfurt Auto Show. The ur-Panda, nicknamed the “tolle kiste” (crazy/cool box) for its Giugiaro-designed looks and available Puch-designed 4×4 system, was built with only evolutionary changes from 1980 to 2003. Not a bad accomplishment for what was supposed to be a “peasant’s car.” The new (3rd Gen) Panda, based on the Fiat 500/Ford Ka platform, has an even tougher task ahead of it: not only must it pick up sales for Fiat in Europe, but it must also form the basis of Dodge and Jeep B-segment models, aimed at the US market. Is it up to the task?

Read more
Unraveling The Mystery Of Consumer Reports' Brand Spread

Some things have been repeated so often that many people have come to accept them as facts. I tripped across one of these in Bob Lutz’s new book, Car Guys vs. Bean Counters (review on the way). Lutz offers “a curiosity I have observed several times at various stages of my career”: when the domestics rebadge an import, the resulting model has scored “way lower” in Consumer Reports reliability survey. This has been Exhibit A in the argument, also repeated by Lutz, that import owners under-report problems on surveys in order to “retroactively justify the wisdom of their purchase.” I’ve come across this claim about CR so many times in the past that it just had to be true. Then I checked.

Read more
What's Wrong With This Picture: Along Came A Spyder Edition
Oh look, a convertible Ferrari 458. And, true to the brand’s nouveau-riche poser image, it’s one of those awful, complex, weight-adding, retracta…
Read more
Don't Eat The Apple, GM. Get The Girl

When, a few days ago, I wrote my rant about GM wanting to be like Apple, I did a bad job. My point was not that GM can’t be like Apple because it doesn’t have an aluminum unibody, my point was not GM’s number of platforms, my point was not that GM wants to marginalize Opel by being Apple, my point was not that Ford is closer to being Apple, my point was not that Sony and its “Sony timer” will never be like Apple, my point was not that Apple is like BMW.

Apparently, I failed to get my point across.

My point was that any CEO or marketing manager who wants his company to be like another company should abdicate and apply for a job at that other company. Or that he should be taken out and shot, in an act of mercy killing.

Read more
Truth Versus Advertising: Sex Is Sexier Than The Environment Edition

With the environment taking an ever-larger place in automotive advertising, it’s interesting to note that Fisker’s latest brochure puts green in its place: behind sexy. Of course these sultry images [via BusinessInsider] aren’t free from environmental overtones, featuring taglines like “designed to get you hot, not the planet,” but it’s clear that Fisker is more heavily relying on the most traditional tool in the advertising playbook. Why? For one thing, even though Fisker is delivering Karmas, the EPA has not yet certified its efficiency rating… so we don’t even know how environmentally friendly it is yet. For another the Karma’s main rival, Tesla’s forthcoming Model S, is pure electric and therefore more appealing to wealthy environmentalists. Finally, unlike environmental messaging, sex doesn’t remind people that Fisker was the beneficiary of over half a billion dollars in government loans. Plus, sex is still, well, sexy. The more things change, the more they stay the same…

Read more
GM Approves "CadiVolt" ELR For Production

Nearly three years ago, I penned an entry to TTAC’s Volt Birth Watch entitled “You Should Have Been Born A Cadillac.” True to its name, the piece argued that,

the Volt’s bailout-fodder status requires some kind of volks wagen appeal; while a $40k Chevy is a tough pill to swallow, a taxpayer-funded [Volt-based] Cadillac could create a nasty backlash.

Now that the taxpayers are off of GM’s radar, the plan is going through: GM has announced that it will build a production version of the Converj concept, to be called the “ELR” per Caddy’s alphanumeric naming scheme. Rollout, pricing and performance targets haven’t yet been released, but a production-intent concept will be shown at the upcoming Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. And though more profit out of an already-developed drivetrain makes worlds of sense, GM now has to explain why its luxury brand is getting Chevy’s leftovers with a freshly tailored suit. Hopefully GM will pull off this relatively minor PR hurdle with more aplomb than, say, Lincoln’s attempts to explain that features available in most Fords, like EcoBoost and SYNC/MyTouch, are what makes its cars so luxurious. After all, shouldn’t luxury brands be at the technological forefront, with features trickling down into the mass-market brands?

Read more
Amid Record High Transaction Prices, Chrysler Cuts Prices On Key Models

While Chrysler Group sends its Fiat 500 upmarket with Gucci special editions, its sending its Dodge, Chrysler and Ram brands downmarket with a lower prices, 90-days-same-as-cash deals and a variety of tie-ins. First up, the news [via Automotive News [sub]]that Chrysler is cutting the price on 200 and Dodge’s Avenger by $200, and the Dodge Journey by over $1,000 [UPDATE: plus, $3k off Grand Cherokee] is strange indeed. Chrysler’s sales, market share and transaction prices are up, while its incentives and fleet sales are down… and meanwhile, its key competitors are raising prices on increased material costs. Oh, and average transaction prices across the industry have been breaking records all year. With volume slow and prices (as well as costs) rising, Chrysler has no real reason to be lowering prices beyond hunting for volume that may or may not be there. At the expense, it must be added, of profitability. But if you look at Chrysler Group’s most recent maneuvers, it seems that lower prices might not an isolated move on market share. It seems that Chrysler Group is actually strategically positioning itself as the Wal-Mart automaker… literally.

Read more
The American Mercedes

No, I’m not talking about the cars and SUVs that Mercedes assembles in Alabama. Yesterday, Jack Baruth told us about the relationship between the American Steinway and German Daimler companies and the cars that Steinway started assembling under license from Mercedes in 1905. When I read Jack’s article I remembered that I had something in my collection of press kits, sales brochures, images and and assorted swag (with apologies to Mr. Zimmerman) that I’ve been accumulating for the past decade or so of working the press previews for the Detroit, Chicago and Toronto auto shows. In 2006 Mercedes Benz distributed a reproduction of a reproduction. It’s actually a very cool little piece of automobilia and a nice facsimile of a historical artifact, in a couple of ways.

It’s a small booklet, less than 40 pages, called The American Mercedes. It was originally distributed in 1906 by the Daimler Mfg. Company, on Steinway Ave. in Long Island City, and promotes the 1906 45 horsepower “American Mercedes”. It was reproduced in the early 1960s, and the copy M-B gave out in 2006 had a 1961 afterword and an insert from 1964. The whole package is chock full of historically interesting aspects.

Read more
Next-Gen Mercedes SL AMG Doesn't Have To Be Driven Like Grandpa

I’ve personally never seen a Mercedes SL driven in anything close to anger. In fact, most of the time I see an SL, it seems as though the driver is in no rush at all to return to pulling teeth or fixing braces. But, as with the “low-flying” forthcoming Mercedes ML AMG, the boys from Affalterbach are driving the new SL AMG like it’s meant to be… so you don’t have to. After all, that AMG badge does supposedly stand for more than “a little extra respect from the valet”…

Read more
Saab Working On "The Deal," As Bill Collectors Close In

Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports that Saab has to pay some $620,000 today in order to keep Sweden’s Debt Enforcement Agency at bay. Should Saab fail to pay suppliers Kongsberg Automotive and Infotiv within the next 24 hours, Swedish Debt Enforcement Agency officials say

The collection process that may start tomorrow would include investigating Saab’s bank accounts and potentially also other assets.

Assets will be frozen while Saab’s worth is assessed, a move that would essentially end the existence of Saab as it currently (barely) exists. Saab spokesman Eric Geers says

We’re of course totally aware of this situation with the collection agency, but I can’t comment on what we’re going to do,

but other than pulling out from the Frankfurt auto show in order to focus funds on restarting production and selling another tranche of value-diluting shares, Saab hasn’t done much to respond to the latest crisis. And with another $795m due to suppliers in “about a week,” time is slipping away. Luckily for the True Believers, there’s still a shred of hope-against-hope to hang on to, as Saab’s PR man Steve Wade says something called “The Deal” is in the works.

Read more
Introducing Eterniti, The Luxury Brand That Has Nothing To Do With Infiniti – Who ARE Those People?

Does the world need another luxury car brand? Hold up, let me rephrase that: does the world need another $250k luxury crossover with a new brand that sounds like a bad Infiniti knockoff? Well, whether we need it or not, it’s coming… and from Britain, not China! Or maybe it does?

Read more
Lincoln: "No More Badge Engineering"

Despite marketing its Lincoln brand as “not just luxury… it’s smarter than that,” Ford has finally admitted what the car guy world has been saying for some time: Lincoln isn’t a luxury brand… it’s a rebadge brand. Ford’s product honcho Derrick Kuzak tells Automotive News [sub] that the jig is up and there will be

No more badge engineering

Promise?

Read more
What Do Lotus, Aston-Martin And Reebok Have In Common?
The easy answer: desperation. More literally though, all three have recently employed the talents of hip hop producer Swizz Beatz in more or less desperate a…
Read more
You Seriously Want To Be Like Apple, GM?

If I would have a dollar , euro, yen for each time a marketer says “we want to be the next Apple,” I’d be rich by now and could stop writing.

Read more
Chevys Invade Germany

Chevrolet has big plans for Germany. “Mid-term” one percent market share will be in Chevy’s crosshairs, says Automobilwoche [sub]. “We have a realistic chance to reach that level, which is very important for a German importer,“ Chevy’s Germany-chief Steffen Raschig told Automobilwoche. “This is my main target.“

He is aiming low.

Read more
  • JTiberius1701 Middle of April here in NE Ohio. And that can still be shaky. Also on my Fiesta ST, I use Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires for the winter and Bridgestone Potenza for my summer tires. No issues at all.
  • TCowner We've had a 64.5 Mustang in the family for the past 40 years. It is all original, Rangoon Red coupe with 289 (one of the first instead of the 260), Rally Pac, 4-speed, factory air, every option. Always gets smiles and thumbs ups.
  • ToolGuy This might be a good option for my spouse when it becomes available -- thought about reserving one but the $500 deposit is a little too serious. Oh sorry, that was the Volvo EX30, not the Mustang. Is Volvo part of Ford? Is the Mustang an EV? I'm so confused.
  • Mikey My late wife loved Mustangs ..We alway rented one while travelling . GM blood vetoed me purchasing one . 3 years after retirement bought an 08 rag top, followed by a 15 EB Hard top, In 18 i bought a low low mileage 05 GT rag with a stick.. The car had not been properly stored. That led to rodent issues !! Electrical nightmare. Lots of bucks !! The stick wasn't kind to my aging knees.. The 05 went to a long term dedicated Mustang guy. He loves it .. Today my garage tenant is a sweet 19 Camaro RS rag 6yl Auto. I just might take it out of hibernation this weekend. The Mustang will always hold a place in my heart.. Kudos to Ford for keeping it alive . I refuse to refer to the fake one by that storied name .
  • Ajla On the Mach-E, I still don't like it but my understanding is that it helps allow Ford to continue offering a V8 in the Mustang and F-150. Considering Dodge and Ram jumped off a cliff into 6-cylinder land there's probably some credibility to that story.