Archive for the ‘New Car Model Intros’ Category

Yesterday Cadillac revealed the 2014 CTS at the New York auto show. In its third iteration, will the car finally threaten the dominance of the Germans? In many ways I’m impressed, but in one I’m also discouraged.

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Back when GM’s then-future HF V6 engine family first became public knowledge (circa 2000), a twin-turbo 3.6-liter capable of 360 horsepower was part of the plan. Then Bob Lutz put a 400-horsepower 6.0-liter V8 in the 2004 CTS-V instead.

The second generation CTS-V got a 556-horsepower supercharged 6.2-liter V8, opening up a huge gap in the line as the next engine down, a naturally aspirated 3.6, produced just a little over 300 horsepower. A turbocharged 3.6 seemed a most logical candidate to fill this hole, but didn’t happen. Instead, a turbocharged 2.8 (also part of the original plan, IIRC) capable of only 300 horsepower was offered in the 2010 SRX, only to be discontinued after only two model years due to a combination of its high price and disappointing performance and fuel economy.

When Cadillac introduces a new, third-generation, 2014 CTS later this year, they won’t repeat past errors. A 420-horsepower (at 5,750 rpm), twin-turbocharged 3.6-liter V6 will be available. The new engine will produce 430 pound-feet of torque at 3,500 rpm. When mated to a new eight-speed automatic capable of skipping gears, GM forecasts it will earn EPA ratings of 17 mpg city, 25 highway.

A variant of the new engine will also be offered in the Cadillac XTS, where it is also badly needed. Because the XTS has a transverse powertrain, I suspect that the new engine will have to be limited to about 365 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque in that application. This is the case with the EcoBoost V6 in the competing Lincoln MKS, which uses a related transmission.

Between the C7 Corvette and Cadillac ELR, General Motors received about 97 percent of the media’s 2013 NAIAS (Detroit auto show) love. But of the new cars introduced at the show, my personal favorite was the 2014 Lexus IS, which has received little love from other sources. How might I explain my deviance?

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Over the years minivans have gotten larger and larger, to the point that they’re far from “mini.” If a more compact van were available, with more agile handling, better fuel economy, and a lower price, would people buy it? The Mazda5 hasn’t done especially well. But maybe the 2014 Ford Transit Connect, arriving later next year, will fare better. What do you think?

Ford started importing the Transit Connect a few years ago. It has been available in Europe since 2002. But the great majority have been bought and used as commercial vehicles. But, due to many changes made with the redesign, Ford expects the share of the “wagon” variant (with rear seats) to increase from 20 percent to 60 percent.

The new Transit Connect is certainly much more attractive, with more car-like styling and less tippy proportions. In long-wheelbase form (pictured) it looks better in person than it does in photos, if still very much (too much?) like a van. The short wheelbase version is 16 inches shorter, drops the third row, and looks stubby. With either I don’t care for the combination of the side windows’ beveled bottom corners and blacked-out pillars. If you’re going to black out the pillars, whey bevel those corners?

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I haven’t reviewed a full-size pickup in years because I assume that my tastes are so different from those of the typical pickup buyer. My review simply wouldn’t be relevant to them. Or so I thought. I might be wrong.

Today I attended the reveal for GM’s redesigned full-size pickups, the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, which will launch next spring as early 2014 models. For the most part the presentations were the usual “more of everything.” Whatever people might want in a truck, these new pickups will have more of it. In particular, they’ll have more power (the actual specs to be revealed next year) and better fuel economy courtesy of a combination of direct injection (enabling high compression), variable cam timing (with a single cam still in the block), and seamless cylinder deactivation (both the 4.3-liter V6 and the 5.3-liter and 6.2-liter V8s will cruise on only four cylinders). They have more functionality courtesy of bigger, easier to used knobs and switches, more interior storage spaces than ever, steps built into the rear bumper, and LEDs built into the bed (to assist when loading and unloading in the dark). A torsion rod built into the tailgate makes for easy, slam-free opening and closing. The rear doors on the extended cab are now, as on the RAM, forward-hinged, for easier entry and exit They have more comfort in the front seats via dense, higher quality foam. (Likely for cost reasons, the rear seats remain relatively soggy.) They have more luxury in thoroughly upholstered door panels and stitching on the instrument panel. The “aluminum” trim in the GMC is actually aluminum. The superior quietness of these trucks was stressed more than anything else during the presentations.

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With the Town Car gone and the Navigator far out of fashion, Lincoln has been struggling. If they’re to survive as a premium brand, they need a reason for people to buy their cars. At the show this year, they offered a couple.

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To some extent, Acura has never recovered from the advent of Lexus. They had a very good first few years with the Asian luxury brand space all to themselves, only to be consigned to the second tier by the larger, faster, quieter, smoother newcomer. But the real damage came later. First they dropped the popular Legend and Integra nameplates. Most recently they gifted all of their cars with an unattracive chrome bucktooth grille. I was far from alone in wondering if Acura had totally forgotten what they’re about. I went to total’s triple reveal looking for a signs of intelligent life.

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Lexus badly wants us to think of it as a “dynamic and exciting” brand. So their top executive gave a speech declaring how dynamic and exciting they are, and (entirely without a sense of irony) how the car he was introducing had left him speechless–every word obviously read off a teleprompter. In this speech on speechlessness, Lexus’s fear of increasing irrelevance was palpable. They’re desperate to change their image lest they become known as the last car you’ll ever buy.

The speech did accompany a concept of a sports car that’s likely to see production in some form, but in the usual Toyota way it was overdone. They badly wanted to make the car look exciting, but didn’t really feel it themselves. So, well, they’re not where they know they need to be yet.

…or die trying. Back when I was working on my Ph.D., the potential for more intensively involving consumers in the development of new products fascinated me. I saw potential to improve the lives of people on both sites of the equation, the creators of products and those who buy and use them. Perhaps they could even get to really know one another?

Since then, the Internet has come into being, and more recently all sorts of social media. The desire for community is increasingly recognized.

Well, Chevrolet claims to have more intensively studied Gen Y than anyone else. They learned that Gen Y wants a company that understands them and involves them. Chevrolet seems to be really trying to do both.

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I had to skip Dodge’s presentation. But our good friend and photographer Eric Merrill made it and got some pics. I then stopped by to check out the car after Chevrolet.

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