Behind the Wheel: Saturn Vue and Mercury Mariner: Hybrids, Mild or Seasoned, From the Motor City November 18, 2006
The hybrid sport utility represents a double-whammy American automotive fantasy: the go-anywhere image of an S.U.V. that’s green to boot. But do these hybrids really deliver? BERKELEY, Calif. MUCH has changed since the advent of the automobile. Newton’s mechanistic view of the universe yielded to Einstein’s relativity. Commerce shifted from heavy machinery to packets of ones and zeroes zipping through the air.But one thing remains the same. More than a century after the car kicked the horse to the curb, the most popular measure of a vehicle’s prowess is still horsepower. The postmodern digital age has not caught up …
Design: Wax Is Waning at Vegas Show That Sets Trends November 17, 2006
Dozens of cars on display at this year’s Specialty Equipment Market Association show in Las Vegas wore nothing more than ungleaming black. LAS VEGAS A Savory Stew of Szechwan and Burning Rubber VIRGIL EXNER, the designer who headed Chrysler’s styling studio during the glory days of the tailfin era, once ordered all clay models of coming cars to be done in black clay. “Black,” he said, “is the color that shows my designs to their best effect.”His designs for signature models like the “Forward Look” land yachts of the 1950s were stunning in the satiny black of the …
Behind the Wheel: Hyundai Entourage and Kia Sedona: American Pie From a Korean Kitchen
The Entourage is virtually identical to the Sedona. The vans are also similar in shape, dimensions, powertrains, performance and features to models from Honda, Toyota and Chrysler. DETROIT MY family has a favorite recipe for sugar cookies, which we bake for nearly every holiday. We decorate the round shapes with orange frosting for Halloween, colorful sprinkles at Christmas and red sugar on Valentine’s Day.This is not unlike the auto industry’s approach to the minivan. You’ll find the same basic recipe no matter which carmaker’s kitchen is doing the baking, and the shapes are formed with cookie cutters that vary …
Head of Renault and Nissan Backs Away From Detroit
Carlos Ghosn, the chief executive of Nissan and Renault, said he was no longer interested in adding a North American partner. DETROIT, Nov. 16 - Carlos Ghosn, the chief executive of Nissan and Renault, said on Thursday that he was no longer interested in adding a North American partner, at least until earnings improved at the two automakers that he oversees. “We don’t think the timing is right,” said Mr. Ghosn, in his first public appearance in Detroit since alliance discussions with General Motors ended last month. “The right moment” to explore a partnership, Mr. Ghosn said after speaking to …
Ford Will Delay Reporting of Its 3rd-Quarter Results
The Ford Motor Company said it needed several more days to finish restating previous years’ earnings. DEARBORN, Mich., Nov. 9 - For the second time this year, a Detroit automaker will be late filing an earnings report with the Securities and Exchange Commission because of accounting errors. The Ford Motor Company said Thursday that it needed several more days to finish restating previous years’ earnings, the first time in recent memory that the automaker has sought an extension for a quarterly filing. Ford said on Oct. 23, when it reported a preliminary third-quarter loss of $5.8 billion, that it would …
Saying Crisis Is Over, Fiat Chief Broadens Role
Sergio Marchionne said he would step down as head of the auto unit and concentrate on his role as chief executive of the Fiat Group. MILAN, Nov. 9 - Sergio Marchionne, who led a two-year battle that saved Fiat from collapse, said Thursday that he would step down as head of the auto unit and concentrate on his role as chief executive of the Fiat Group. Declaring that Fiat’s period of crisis was over, Mr. Marchionne raised the auto group’s full-year profit goal by 10 percent, to 275 million euros ($352 million), citing soaring sales of the …
Toyota Gambles, Deep in the Heart of Texas
Toyota will officially open its new $1.2 billion assembly plant in San Antonio that will make the biggest version yet of its Tundra pickup. SAN ANTONIO, Nov. 15 - Toyota’s approach to the pickup truck market has always been cautious, dipping a toe in the market with small trucks, then bringing out slightly bigger models that its own executives acknowledged were meek.Even when it built its first American truck plant last decade in Indiana, Toyota did not make a complete commitment, dividing the assembly line between pickups, minivans and sport utility vehicles.Now that caution is coming to an end.Toyota is …
Turning Toughened Rules Into an Advantage
Diesel engine makers have adapted to tougher environmental mandates, treating newer, cleaner engines as a point of pride. COLUMBUS, Ind. - Executives at Cummins Inc. did not expect their blessings to come in disguise, particularly when they were disguised as government regulations. So, when engineers at Cummins, a diesel engine maker, first saw the suggested new federal clean-air standards for their engines in the early 1990s, they argued that the standards would be impossible to meet.After the standards became official in 2000, Cummins sued, and industry insiders started placing bets on whether the company would be one of the …
Wheelspin: Westward Ho! To Automotive Museums
Here is a list of museums in California, where the car is king, and also in Arizona and New Mexico. CALIFORNIA is where the car is king, home to freeways, the Pacific Coast Highway, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Élégance and several of the nation’s finest automotive museums. Here is a list of museums there, and also in Arizona and New Mexico. A list of automotive museums throughout the United States and Canada is at nytimes.com/autos. ArizonaFRANKLIN MUSEUM A museum devoted to preserving the history of the H. H. Franklin Manufacturing Company, with 22 restored Franklins. Open Wednesday through Friday, 10 …
Design: At Aston, Life Beyond Bond
Agent 007 has long driven products from Aston Martin. Soon he may wear the British sports car maker’s ties. MAREK REICHMAN pointed to the tie of an Aston Martin executive standing next to him. “This comes right from the cars,” he said. The focus of attention was not a grease spot on the neckwear, but the delicate silvery pattern on the tie’s red silk. Mr. Reichman, design director of Aston Martin, was explaining the inspiration for a new line of fabric and leather goods he is designing. The Ford Motor Company, which bought controlling interest in the British sports car …
« newer posts | older posts »