Main page | September 11, 2007 »

As the Hardtops Hide, the Trunks Go Missing

THE age of the retractable hardtop is upon us, according to the New York Times.

The convertible BMW 3 Series, Volvo C70, Volkswagen Eos and Mercedes-Benz SL and SLK all wear hard hats, and the Lexus SC and Mazda Miata also offer retractable shells. With the Pontiac G6 and Chrysler Sebring convertibles, the retractable hardtop infiltrates the meat of the market, the domestic four-seat convertible.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 11:10 AM to Design | Permalink | Comments 0

When a Glass Ceiling Is Good

THE sky may be the limit, but the roof no longer is, at least to auto designers seeking a competitive advantage. While much of their attention has recently focused on the resurgence of retractable metal hardtops, many of this fall’s new models will stake their claims to novelty on skylights, according to the New York Times.

The naming of the new skylights suggests that the automakers’ knack for labeling their products remains strong. The companies that invented memorable names like Vista-Cruiser, Hydra-Matic and Stow ’n Go now offer UltraView, Sky Slider and Vista Roof. Still, at least one mystery of roof nomenclature remains unresolved: how sunroof came to mean a skylight that opens and moonroof became the designation for a fixed one.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 11:06 AM to Design | Permalink | Comments 0

A Private Viewing of Citroëns in a Museum of Sorts

Tucked to one side of Citroën’s sprawling auto factory in Aulnay-sous-Bois, about 20 minutes outside of Paris, is a gray and mirrored-glass building surrounded by a fringe of green grass.

One double-chevron logo adorns the awning of the entrance, but otherwise the structure is nondescript and incredibly reserved, like a warehouse from the future.

This is the Citroën Conservatoire, the company’s private museum, which houses an extraordinary collection of cars and an example of nearly every car the company has ever produced, according to the New York Times.

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/28/a-private-viewing-of-citroens-in-a-museum-of-sorts/index.html

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:58 AM to Citroen | Permalink | Comments 0

The Power of Unpleasant Memories

USUALLY, when Madison Avenue uses nostalgia to peddle products, the result is the kind of “misty water-colored memories” that Barbra Streisand warbled about in “The Way We Were.” By contrast, a humorous campaign from BMW stands out for asking consumers to reminisce about a time in their lives they might have sought to forget, according to the New York Times.

The theme is “Relearn to drive,” which is also the address for the campaign’s Web site. The goal is to persuade car owners to consider attending the BMW school because a good deal of what they learned when they were taught to drive is outdated or irrelevant — or may have been wrong in the first place.

To sow doubts about how people were taught to drive and persuade them to “undo the damage,” the site presents nine archetypal (or stereotypical) characters intended to represent the people who helped most Americans learn to drive.

The characters include a feckless stepfather, an impatient older sister, a brusque high school coach, a bumpkin of a country cousin and a neurotic mother. They are all dissected in droll descriptions as basically well-meaning but hopelessly unqualified for the task. Thus the need for a visit to the school, which the Web site promotes as having been “built from the ground up to make you a better driver.”

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:50 AM to BMW , Safety | Permalink | Comments 0

GM Cuts Production for Quarter

DETROIT — General Motors cut its fourth-quarter production schedule by 10 percent on Tuesday as a tightening credit market caused sales at the Ford Motor Company, Chrysler and even Toyota to decline in August, according to the New York Times.

G.M. said it planned to build 107,000 fewer vehicles in the fourth quarter, compared with the quarter in 2006, even though it had managed to increase its sales 5.3 percent in August after giving discounts on full-size pickup trucks and other vehicles.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:45 AM to GM | Permalink | Comments 0

Ford brews colors to suit your fancy

About a hundred years ago, Henry Ford declared that his Model T customers could have the vehicle in any color "so long as it's black."

But today, Ford Motor Co. engineers and designers are mixing a paint revolution in the secret confines of the company's Dearborn product development labs, according to the Detroit Free Press.

By 2009, 45% of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury cars and trucks will feature new, often trendsetting paint colors -- a color changeover that will be the biggest in the company's 104-year history.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:38 AM to Design , Ford | Permalink | Comments 0

Cheney's hand in fuel rules claimed

WASHINGTON -- A Washington auto advocacy group claimed Thursday that Vice President Dick Cheney and the Bush administration devised a 2006 change in fuel economy standards for trucks that eases requirements on automakers, with limited input from federal auto industry regulators, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Public Citizen, which has sued to block the standards, says it based its claims on data gathered through a Freedom of Information Act request showing Cheney's staffers attending at least 45 meetings on fuel economy standards between 2001 and 2003.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:35 AM to Fuel economy | Permalink | Comments 0

People add luxury cars, but not motorcycles

FRANKFURT, Germany — Luxury automakers BMW, Audi and Mercedes reported healthy sales increases for August on Friday, but Harley-Davidson lowered earnings expectations for the because of a "difficult time for the U.S. consumer," Chief Executive Jim Ziemer said, according to USA Today.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:14 AM to Sales | Permalink | Comments 0

Side-crash tests will soon get much tougher to pass

The government Wednesday ordered automakers to beef up side-crash protection by late 2012, something car companies say they're already doing faster than the new regulation requires, according to USA Today.

The rule announced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does not dictate how automakers must improve head and torso protection for occupants of vehicles that are hit from the side. But it adopts a tough test procedure that both NHTSA and automakers say will result in all vehicles having side-impact torso and head-curtain air bags.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:10 AM to Safety | Permalink | Comments 0

OPEC Members Insist Crude Is Plentiful

VIENNA -- Global oil markets are amply supplied with crude, key OPEC members said Monday, signaling that the cartel will maintain its current output targets at this week's meeting despite stubbornly high prices, according the Associated Press.

Oil and energy ministers for Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria and Venezuela told reporters on the eve of a meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries that the 12-nation group felt little pressure to loosen its taps.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:08 AM to Oil | Permalink | Comments 0