We recently had the opportunity to spend a week with the Ford Edge, which debuted for the 2007 model year. In simple terms, the Edge is yet another one of those car-based SUVs, or crossovers, that have become all the rage throughout this decade. It’s a mid-sized one, sized comparably to the Hyundai Santa Fe and Nissan Murano. As such, it’s neither particularly large nor particular small…perhaps just right, perhaps?

Ford, just like everyone else, is seeing sales of traditional truck-based SUVs plummet. The once-almighty Explorer, which for years was the best-selling SUV (over 400,000 a year by the end of the ‘90s), is expected to sell under 75,000 copies this year, according to AutoPacific’s latest sales forecast. This old stalwart made perfect sense when gasoline was cheap and truck-based SUVs with bouncy ride and handling was the norm. Now, gasoline is $4.00 per gallon and people now expect their SUVs to drive like sedans. In this environment, the Explorer is distinctly old-think.

Continue reading "2008 Ford Edge: The Traditional Ford SUV, Remixed for a Brave New World"

Posted by Ed Kim at 03:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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I’ve just had no luck in getting you, our loyal reader, the sort of in-person coverage of the past week’s cool automotive happening that I’d been hoping for! You’ll remember that last week, a traffic accident that shut down a major freeway prevented me from bringing you the reveal of the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro. Since Thursday, I’ve tried and failed to bring you full reports from two other automotive happenings, which I’ll get back to in a minute. I might be good at forecasting the automotive market, but a resourceful automotive journalist I am obviously not!

Had things gone differently, this story would have brought you some pics and insight from me attending a panel discussion at 2008 Comic-Con in San Diego with the creatives behind Click and Clack’s As the Wrench Turns, a new animated TV series on PBS based on those lovable Tappet Brothers who have entertained and informed us about cars and car care on NPR for decades. I would have also told you about me being an audience member at the taping of the pilot for Top Gear USA, the American version of the world’s best car-related TV show – ever.

Continue reading "Exhaust Note #22: There be cars on TV!"

Posted by Ed Kim at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Green technology at the Woodward Dream Cruise? Hmmm. You could fit a whole Prius under this baby’s hood, I guess.

Continue reading "Road Noise: The Green Parade"

Posted by Katrina Ohlemacher at 07:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Follow the jump for the organizer's views and plans for NextCruise. The press conference was held in a park in Pleasant Ridge, with some vehicles on display and representatives from GM, Ford, Chrysler LLC, and the Detroit Grand Prix on hand.

NextCruise can be great way to get new technology in front of people who don't think about it much, or maybe don't even know it's out there. And looking to the future is just as relevant as honoring the past. But the Dream Cruisers are often people looking to simply while away a typically muggy August Saturday.

Case in point: During the press conference, a couple of teenage girls wandered through the park. They made a beeline for the green E85-fueled Pace Car Corvette, hamming it up for a couple of photos. They didn't stick around to hear about its E85 capability, or give the hybrid SUVs or even the IndyCar a second glance. A couple of pictures with a cool car, and they were outta there.

Continue reading "NextCruise: The Official Announcement"

Posted by Stephanie Brinley at 06:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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Each year AutoPacific identifies the Brand and individual vehicles that top all others in vehicle satisfaction: The Vehicle Satisfaction Awards. AutoPacific’s Vehicle Satisfaction Award (VSA) is an industry benchmark for objectively measuring how satisfied an owner is with their new passenger car or light truck. Owner satisfaction is measured across 46 specific areas related to a vehicle's operation, comfort, safety and the overall purchase/lease experience. The 2008 ratings reflect input from 33,500 buyers and lessees of new vehicles acquired September through December 2007.

2008 Vehicle Satisfaction Award top brand honors went to Cadillac, while other luxury brands such as Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche also had strong showings. But what does it mean to have a top brand? Though calculations single out one brand as having the highest overall score, each individual attribute also has its own top scorer. Sometimes the detail underneath it all can have just as much, if not more, meaning than the final outcome.

Continue reading "Top Brands in Vehicle Satisfaction for 2008"

Posted by Deborah Grieb at 07:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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As you may have gathered when we covered this car's concept (click here) and then production (click here) introductions, Hyundai has just begun offering their U.S. rear-wheel-drive sedan with their first in-house-developed V8 under the hood. Just as the first cars were arriving at dealerships, the company invited media out for a spin, including some track time at Buttonwillow Raceway Park and the chance to drag race Genesis against a V8 BMW 7-Series.

Supporting the Genesis launch, which has the mission of improving Hyundai's overall image as much as it does of selling strongly, is an $80 million dollar budget that includes everything from the SuperBowl ads in January (click here), to national customer experience events in Discover Genesis, to training 6250 dealer personnel, to a website, to traditional and non-traditional advertising campaigns. Hyundai is serious about this car and its ability to prove that the accolades and increased placement in more recent third-party awards from the likes of AutoPacific and JD Powers is deserved and repeatable.

Continue reading "2009 Hyundai Genesis: Does Upmarket Work Here?"

Posted by Stephanie Brinley at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Once in a while, there is an opportunity to drive the same vehicle in England as in the USA. I recently had the opportunity to drive a Volvo XC90 Sport with V8 in England. My daily driver happens to be a Volvo XC90 Volvo Ocean Race V8. So with the exception of some cosmetic tweaks and right hand drive, the English example was about as close to my Volvo in the USA as it could be. While you couldn't lose the brilliant red XC90 in the parking lot, its "colour" did not seem to garner much respect from other cars on the road. But driving the XC90 for ten days in England certainly does bring home the differences in the driving environment.

Right Size in USA - Titanic in Britain

In the USA, the Volvo XC90 is surely a Luxury Crossover Sport Utility Vehicle, but in Britain it is a Chelsea tractor open to sneers and ridicule by the hoi polloi. In some places, there are restrictions on driving vehicles like this in the city center. In the USA, the XC90 is the right size. In Britain, it is huge having to hug the shoulder of the road to let a Daewoo Matiz micro mini squeeze by. How many times did I feel like I was going mirror-to-mirror with approaching traffic? Many!

Having a discussion with an elderly gentleman in Henley, he said to count the number of 4x4s driven by women. As in the USA, the proportion of female drivers was as high or higher than males. As in the USA, these vehicles have become the suburban transportation for children. Safe, secure, somewhat ostentatious, thirsty and open to ridicule. But the XC90 is just the right size to swallow a ton of luggage and transport you safely though any type of terrain or weather.

Fill-ups Stop the Heart

One thing I was terrified of was filling the XC90 V8 with petrol. The first fill-up was over $140 - double what it costs in the USA. Luckily I was using regular and not premium. The second fill-up was slightly less. Let's do the calculations...

There are 3.8 liters to the gallon so this fill-up was 55.99 litres or 14.7 gallons - it seemed like a lot more. Petrol was 120.9 pence per litre or £1.209 per litre. So, this particular fill-up was £67.70. Now, sometimes I pay that much in dollars, but in pounds it is a dramatically different situation. The dollar is $1.991 to each £1.00 British Pound. So this fill-up was $134.79. Now you understand why Europeans drive dramatically smaller cars than we do.

Pricing in Britain - Twice as Much as in USA!!!!!!!!

Not only do the British pay much more for petrol than Americans do for gasoline (mostly due to taxes), but they pay a whopping premium for the cars they drive. Take the XC90 for example. IIn the USA, the base price of the XC90 is $36,950. In Britain it is £32,845 (I'm not doing a feature by feature comparison - just base to base). So, that is $65,394. The Volvo XC90 Sport is $50,615 in the USA and the top of the line Executive model is £54,550 in Britain - $108,609. I don't know about you, but thinking of paying more than $100,000 for a Volvo blows my mind. Now, probably I'm over estimating something here - like VAT - is it in or out of the British price? Don't know. But even taking out a VAT amount, their prices still are a hugely stiff premium over USA prices.

Gillian Strikes Again

Every navigation system voice requires a name. This one is "Gillian". One of the first things I do in Britain is to set the navigation system to exclude all motorways - limited access highways like interstates. I like to lump along on scenic byways rather than on a high speed highway. Over the years I have been experiencing ever improving direction capability and the Volvo navigation system was no exception. It never put the XC90 on a motorway. It kept the directions on A-Roads and B-Roads for the most part, but occasionally a road without number would pop up. Invariably, this road would be little more than a cowpath. It would have one lane roads through picturesque villages or include a toll-bridge (even though NO TOLL ROADS was programmed into the system). By day seven, I learned to ignore all directions that lacked a number like A36 or B3094. Those were safe and navigable, but without a number, all bets were off. This is a lesson to be heeded even here in the good ol' USA.

Posted by George Peterson at 03:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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What a disappointing day today turned out to be. I was supposed to represent VehicleVoice at Chevrolet’s unveiling of the long-awaited new Camaro up in North Hollywood this afternoon. Unfortunately, a three-car pileup on the I-5 North brought my northward progress to a halt, effectively making it impossible for me to get to the press conference. Beaten, I turned around and drove back to the office.

Continue reading "Exhaust Note #21: Is the New Camaro the Way Forward or a Wistful Diversion?"

Posted by Ed Kim at 05:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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So, first Volkswagen announces that they’re building their new plant in Tennessee, and then like two hours later, General Motors comes out with another little ray of sunshine: No more health care for salaried retirees, bonuses for nobody, and they’re closing the hell out of a bunch of plants.

You know, times have been tough, but even taking that into account, we’ve had better Tuesdays, you know?

The manufacturing economy. (Artist's rendering)

Continue reading "Blue Tuesday"

Posted by Katrina Ohlemacher at 09:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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Death Notice Premature?

From reading the popular press, you'd think the Minivan business was dead and buried. But the data aren't quite so clear on that point.

Minivan sales are down, no question about it. But so is the total new light vehicle industry. Minivan sales have declined from 8% of total industry in 2000 down to 5.0% in 2007. For 2008, June CYTD the Minivan share is 4.8%. So, yes, Minivan share is down, while XSUV (Crossover Sport Utility Vehicle) and small car share is up, but Minivan share of industry is not down as much as might be expected given that GM and Ford have abandoned the segment altogether.

Who is gaining Minivan share of segment? Would you believe the Mazda5! Chrysler has picked up a point of share, and so has the Toyota with the Sienna...but Mazda5 share of segment has doubled compared with 2007. What a difference gas prices make! The underpowered, too-small Minivan of a couple years ago is setting sales records.

Posted by Jim Hossack at 05:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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First Half 2008 Data is In

As everyone knows, first half '08 Pickup sales were awful- especially the last month or two. But just how bad? And who is weathering the storm best?

Primary reasons for the sales decline:
. Potential buyers feel less well off than they did because their houses are worth less and their stock portfolio is worth less. So their net worth has taken a hit. And we have had so many good sales years in a row that the vehicle park is in pretty good shape. Manufacturers are offering great incentives, but many potential buyers find that their resale value has also taken a big hit (many are upside down) and financing is harder to come by.

. Higher fuel prices also mean that people have less disposable income. that has caused a mix shift from larger, more heavy duty pickups to lighter duty units. Fewer Crew Cabs, more Regular Cabs. Compact pickup sales have been less hard hit than the full-size HD pickup sales. The fact that diesel fuel costs so much more than regular gasoline also means that diesel pickup sales have been especially hard hit.

The Full-Size Segment

Full-Size Pickup sales were 15.1% of total industry as recently as 2004. Fell to 13.7% in 2007, and now to 11.3% in the first half of 2008. That's a catastrophic decline!

In terms of share of segment, the Ford F-Series is the only winner. Everybody else lost ground. Nissan may have given up the fight with respect to the Titan, with sales off some 70% last month.

The Compact/Mid-Size Segment

. The Compact/Mid-Size segment has declined from 6.8% of industry back in 1998 to 3.2% in 2007 and further to 3.1% of industry in 2008 CYTD through June. Not much decline from last year, but from a pretty low base.

. The Toyota Tacoma is the dominant player, and its share of segment has increased from 33.5% last year to 36.4% CYTD. Pretty impressive. the only other entrant to have increased share of segment is the venerable Ford Ranger, up from 14.1% of segment last year to 17.9% CYTD. Just proves that money talks, even with (or perhaps, especially with) dated product.

. Honda appears to be holding its own with the unitized construction Ridgeline (8.4% of segment). Perhaps a sign of things to come in this segment?

Posted by Jim Hossack at 01:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Audi's latest A4 goes on sale in fall 2008, and we recently had a chance for a spin behind the wheel of a Euro-spec car. At first drive, Audi takes everything good on its core model and ratchets it up a notch. Audi showed off the home of their owner's driving school, the Audi Forum Sonoma at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. The Audi Forum takes a track experience a step above, and we only wish the day had been longer for more track time.

I promise, you can get the A4 in a color other than red..

We drove Euro-spec 265HP 3.2L Quattro sedans, with six-speed Tiptronic automatic transmissions. Audi is not offering the dual-clutch transmission here. The standard car this fall takes Audi's 211HP 2.0L TFSI I4 (not the 250HP version once expected), standard in front-drive but available with Quattro. The wagon arrives with Quattro only. We covered the A4's introduction at the Frankfurt auto show last year and brought you most of the technical stuff then (click here to revisit).

Like many vehicles, A4 has grown with each generation. Having fallen for the A4 back in my mid-1990s Automobile Magazine days, I wondered if this iteration would finally be so big it lost some charm. The A4 has grown about six inches, with a wheelbase just over 110 inches. Instead of being slightly smaller, the A4 is seven inches longer than the either the BMW 3-Series or Mercedes C-Class. Our short drive proved that the A4 is as charming as ever, and more nimble than the size suggests. The cabin is more comfortable, but this new chassis, steering, and suspension ensure a fine-handling sedan.

Continue reading "2009 Audi A4: First Drive"

Posted by Stephanie Brinley at 08:01 AM |