You can already buy a few Chinese-made cars in North America, including the Buick Envision, Cadillac CT6 hybrid, and Volvo S60 Inscription, but not yet any from a Chinese company. Which of the many Chinese auto makers will be first? Based on a presentation at NAIAS (the Detroit Auto Show), GAC now seems to be the leading contender. Who’s GAC?… More →
Category: New Car Model Intros
New Car Model Intros
Most Disappointing New Car at the 2018 NAIAS
Most disappointing new car at NAIAS: the 2018 Ford EcoSport. Ford dragged its feet on importing this small crossover from India (a first for the U.S. market). But the segment has become so hot that, like Chevrolet with the Trax, it decided it had to offer it. Ford claims to have thoroughly upgraded the EcoSport to make it suitable for… More →
My Favorite Design from the 2018 NAIAS
Lexus LF-1 Limitless, a crossover companion for the LS sedan and LC coupe. I expect a future production Lexus to closely resemble this concept.
Has design at Toyota and Lexus turned a corner?
Judging from Toyota’s cars, design has been an afterthought at the world’s largest auto maker, something tacked onto whatever the engineers came up with. Even when the company decided to place more emphasis on design, this meant adding more extraneous details to a shape that was largely beyond the designers’ control. As a result, the cars appeared neither coherent nor… More →
Two new crossovers from Volkswagen: Atlas and Tiguan
For some time Volkswagen has aimed to become the world’s largest auto maker. Their weak spot has been North America, where they lag far behind Toyota and General Motors. To rectify this, Volkswagen invested heavily in a new Tennessee factory and in two sedans developed specifically for what they perceived to be North American priorities: interior roominess and low cost.… More →
2018 Kia Stinger, my thoughts. And yours?
Partly because there were far fewer new cars revealed than in past years, the Stinger emerged as the star of the 2018 Detroit auto show (NAIAS). Some designers I spoke with from other auto companies were fans. What do you think of the exterior styling? Is it good enough to make people who would otherwise be buying Audis and BMWs… More →
Coming (maybe): a record number of new or redesigned car models
Merrill Lynch just presented its 26th annual “Car Wars” study at the Detroit-based Automotive Press Association. Their analysis tries to predict which auto makers will fare best in coming years based on how much of its product line will be updated. Overall, the auto industry will be launching more new or fully redesigned models over the next four years than… More →
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show
Acura Acura revealed the Precision concept. Though there’s virtually no chance that they’ll actually produce a car like it, hopefully Acura’s future production sedans borrow heavily from its styling and aggressively sporty character. Currently their styling is stodgy and boring and they don’t feel nearly as sporty as some past Acuras. cars more like this concept would get Acura back… More →
A different sort of truck; should Hyundai build it?
For some time Hyundai has been trying to decide whether to product a pickup truck. Pickups are a large percentage of the North American market, and are highly profitable for the companies with large shares of the full-size segment. But large pickups from Toyota and Nissan have barely dented the market share of the dominant Detroit companies. Could Hyundai hope… More →
A redesigned Tacoma not a moment too soon
For the past decade virtually everyone has let their compact pickups whither on the vine. Ford discontinued its once best-selling Ranger altogether. The problem: it was hard to make money on them. But GM somehow got the business case to work for a new Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon. If they were counting on having the market to themselves, though,… More →