(editor’s note: VehicleVoice will now kick off each new week with Exhaust Note, a weekly rant or rave of automotive industry insight. Here’s our first…enjoy!)

Pickups Are At Our Core
Like ‘em or not, big pickups remain a staple of the American automotive industry, representing one of the biggest chunks of the U.S. automotive market in terms of sales. Last year, full-size pickups represented over 2.1 million sales, or just over 13% of all new light vehicles sold, and AutoPacific, VehicleVoice’s parent company, forecasts sales to remain over the 2-million mark through 2013.

What gives? Aren’t all of the green messages getting through to people? Why aren’t people ditching these guzzlers in big numbers? The fact of the matter is that big pickups are core and central to our lives. Just think about all the goods and services that are delivered by pickups, and all the livelihoods they contribute to. Or, think about the way that they enable people’s hobbies and interests. In the auto industry, we often talk about new vehicles’ innovative flexibility and utility features, but when you think about it, the good ol’ pickup is the very definition of those words. Their appeal is democratic in the truest sense of the word; for rich or for poor, for young or for old, for men or for women, for work or for play, the pickup just simply works.

Continue reading "Exhaust Note #1: It’s Pickup Week at VehicleVoice!" »

Posted by Ed Kim at 04:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Just Drove a Lincoln Mark LT

I currently have three pickups. Have had pickups of one kind or another for about 30 years. I thought of myself as frugal, practical, not much interested in image, one way or the other.

Maybe I was all wrong!

I just spent some time with a Lincoln Mark LT. The fully loaded $50,000 version, with all bells and whistles. You know, the Mark LT is the Lincoln version of the Ford F-150 SuperCrew.

The vehicle itself worked just fine. Just as I expected an F-150 SuperCrew to perform. No troubles at all. I might have preferred a more contemporary 6-speed auto, but frankly the old 4-speed was perfectly adequate, and the bed is a little deep for my taste. But generally, no complaints.

But, there was a problem! A serious problem. I was embarrassed to drive it! You see, I live in a very rural area... an area where the most popular vehicle is a Ford Super Duty. And the Mark LT just doesn't fit in, especially not in pearlescent White Chocolate and with those 20" chrome wheels. The Mark LT is just too, well, "nice". Maybe it would be more appropriate in Newport Beach? Maybe if I wore Gucci loafers rather than Tony Lamas?

Different strokes for different folks, I guess. The Mark LT seems to sell to about 9,000 people per year, just a few more than the Cadillac Escalade EXT, but far less than Ford's 300,000+ Super Duties. Nothing wrong with the truck itself, but I sure wouldn't want to claim it in the parking lot outside the bar. Maybe I'm more image conscious than I thought!

Posted by Jim Hossack at 04:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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We must have been asleep at the switch. Not paying as close attention to the medium truck market as we do to the light truck market, AutoPacific and VehicleVoice staffers were tipped to the Sterling Bullet by our colleague Bill Senefsky of Automotive West Group. Actually Sterling went public with the Bullet on March 6. Public introduction is in late Fall, 2007.

Apparently Dodge dealers are a bit "miffed" by Sterling getting this hardcore work truck. The question has to be asked, however, what will be the future of the Sterling Bullet when Chrysler Group is spun away from DaimlerChrysler? Will there be a clause in the deal maintaining the product or will it be still-born?

The Sterling Bullet is a mild derivative of the heavy duty Dodge Ram. Part of DaimlerChrysler's Freightliner universe, Sterling got its mitts on the 6.7L Cummins turbo diesel Ram and put its own front fenders lights and grille on the body in white. Their website shows two cabstyles - regular cab and quad cab - unlike Dodge, there is no Mega Cab. There is also no "pickup" version but several commercial versions - "Wrecker", "Flatbed", "Dump", "Crane", "Contractor", "Box", "Tow", "Service". The Bullet is available in 4x2 and 4x4 versions with either cabstyle.

The press release for the Bullet is below the fold.

Continue reading "Sterling Bullet - AKA Dodge Ram 4500 and 5500" »

Posted by George Peterson at 04:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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The Trip

I just completed a 3,700 mile trip from Southern California through Reno, up to Yellowstone National Park, and back via Salt Lake City and Las Vegas - in an F-250, pulling an 8,000 pound travel trailer. Hit 116 degrees, 8% grades, and 9,000 foot altitudes.

Some Observations

Despite current fuel prices, nobody is slowing down! While the maximum legal speed for a pickup towing a trailer in California is 55 mph , it is 75 mph in Nevada, Utah, and Arizona for example. But few are going 75 - they are going faster! Across I-80 even class 8 trucks, 18 wheelers and some double and even triple bottom rigs are hitting 80 mph, up hill and down. Must take a lot of power. Wonder if they can stop?

Speaking of power, more is definitely better. The first full-size Diesel pickup I drove had about 160 HP (back in the mid 1980s). Not enough. The first one I owned had 195. Not enough. The next one had 235. Not enough. I'm currently at about 300 HP and 600 lb. ft. of torque. Still not enough. The pack leader is now the GM Duramax with 360 HP and 650 lb.ft coupled with a 6-speed Allison. Maybe that would suffice? They sure ran past me in Nevada, even with bigger, heavier trailers.

Not only would more power be welcome, but more brakes too. At a GCW of about 14,000 pounds, my stopping distance is pretty long. And when I leave plenty of space between my vehicle and the one in front, somebody cuts in! This must irritate heavy truck drivers to no end, especially on damp down hill runs. What are those car drivers thinking?

The vehicles in operation up in Montana and Wyoming are really different from what I see here in Orange County, California. More pickups, of course, and especially more Heavy Duty 4x4 pickups. Not so many Minivans (school back in session) and more SUVs (vacationers). Never saw so many Subarus! More Subies than Toyotas! New ones, old ones, beat up ones. Subaru is the "in" brand with rich and poor, young and old, male and female. Even the odd-looking (to me) Tribeca is very popular. And one of the most popular rental cars in the National Park area is, predictably, the Mustang convertible.

Yellowstone really is beautiful. Great geography, geology and wildlife to see. Not so crowded after Labor Day either. We'll do it again next year.

Posted by Jim Hossack at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Welcome to Let's Talk Cars


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This week on Let's Talk Cars, exclusive, red hot test drives. And we're not just being metaphorical here.

First, VehicleVoice correspondent David Barrett revisits his racing past when he hops inside Audi's new RS4 to spend a few hours roaring through Pasadena's Old Town and whipping past the Rose Bowl. With 420 horses, the latest Quattro AWD setup and a purring/screaming V8 motor, the RS4 is everything you'd ever want a sports sedan to be, and then some. The sound alone makes this podcast special.

Plus, a ride in a big red fire truck, (a 1997 Seagrave Triple Apparatus to be exact) courtesy of the Los Angeles Fire Department. Find out what it's like to maneuver a truck that weighs over 40,000 pounds through the crowded city streets of downtown Hollywood. Sparky says this is the best job in the Department.

Yeah, this week's Let's Talk Cars is red hot.

02:06 Exclusive Test Drive - Audi's New RS4: David Barrett, VehicleVoice contributor

13:36 Exclusive Test Drive - LAFD Fire Engine: Brett Sparkman, LAFD Engineer

Posted by Cameron at 06:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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VehicleVoice (http://www.vehiclevoice.comhttp://www.autopacific.com) pay close attention to the the dynamics in one of the largest and most dynamic product segments in the North American auto market - the Premium Mid-Size SUV market. This VehicleVoice blog (http://blog.vehiclevoice.com) delves into the dynamics between Traditional SUVs and Post-Modern SUV entries.

Are Traditional SUVs Based on Trucks on Their Way Out?

Some say traditional SUVs are on their way out, but their implied death is exaggerated at best or at worst will come only after a lengthy illness that has just begun to take root. That the playing field is changing there is no doubt, but traditional SUV entries will be an important part of the mix well into the next decade, despite the amount of chatter that Post Modern SUVs (some refer to them as crossovers) are generating and the speculation that the product configuration will take over the world. Though segmentation is subjective and a constantly moving target, but a close look at the Premium Mid-Size SUV segment as currently defined indicates that it is not quite time to write off traditional SUVs.

Ford Explorer Versus Toyota Highlander: Which is the Way of the Future?

Continue reading "Traditional Premium Mid-Size SUVs: Do They Still Have LIfe?" »

Posted by Stephanie Brinley at 01:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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Autobeat Daily (http://www.autobeatdaily.com) quotes a recent poll commissioned by New York City-based environmental advocacy group Environmental Defense (http://www.environmentaldefense.org/article.cfm?contentID=4866&linkID=100) finding "fuel economy ranking three times as important as passenger space, the next most-cited attribute, among truck owners."

Does that seem right to you? I own three pickup trucks and have owned (or leased) about twenty over the last thirty years. I have used them to tow a boat, a horse trailer, a travel trailer, and to haul stuff. The Environmental Defense numbers don't sound right to me. In my experience, pickup owners value power and hauling capacity and are willing to trade-off fuel economy to get better power and cargo capability.

Continue reading "Environmental Defense Spins Pickup Data to Their Advantage" »

Posted by Jim Hossack at 09:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

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