All Entries Tagged With: "detroit auto show"
For 1960: The National Automobile Show (@ Detroit)
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: YouTube
BOWING at the “new Cobo Hall” this is a TV spot for the 1960 National Automobile Show (the Detroit Auto Show). Among the participants – the Dodge Dart. Among this years attendees? The Dodge Dart. Funny how things come full circle.
Shock! BMW Stolen In Detroit! And Other Stories…
by Gunnar Heinrich
READ about thieves making of with one of BMW’s press 760Li’s? The MSRP starts at $137,000 not $90K, ahem, Jalopnik. Or that bit about how the filthy practice that is crude speculation is raising the cost of everyone’s trip to the pump? Reuters. Then there was that recent bit the Globe and Mail about an orphan named Saab stuck outside the Cobo Center in the freezing snow. Have you no heart, GM? So cold. So very cold.
Ferrari Snubs Detroit Auto Show, But Shows Support For Chrysler
By Gunnar Heinrich
SIGNALING an end of days for the all-encompassing, omnipotent, omniscient, and hugely expensive auto show is nigh, Ferrari took the unusual step of announcing that its official display will not grace the upcoming the North American International Auto Show (a.k.a. “Detroit Auto Show”).
But in a curious twist, Ferrari also announced that a Ferrari 599XX will be on display at the Chrysler stand to “celebrate the Fiat-Chrysler partnership”.
It’s a strange world we live in. But then again, times were a lot stranger in earlier days.
To mark this momentous occasion and in the spirit of amity, Ferrari stablemate and Fiat subsidiary Maserati didn’t announce that they wouldn’t display a Chrysler TC by Maserati as a tribute to the Trident’s former partnership with ChryCo.
Blogsite Suffers From Premature Release: Jag XFR jpegs Hit Net
2010 Jaguar XFR unleashed.
By Gunnar Heinrich
WELL, somebody had to do it.
Despite a “strict” embargo that no Jaguar XFR pictures were to be released in advance of the car’s Detroit Auto Show premiere, some snarky bloggers @ 4WheelsNews went and did the unthinkable: they let the cat out of the bag.
I’m sure that the Jaguar press team in true Captain Renault form is shocked! Shocked! to find image leaking going on here.
And so there is. Pics of Jaguar’s supercharged, M5 chasing, Hail-Mary went live all over the internet like some feral cat finding freedom from captivity.
Wisely, Jaguar sought fit to feature the sports version of its mid-size saloon a color (or colour, if you like) that wasn’t predictable-technology-silver nor pensioner’s-sick-bag-green. In midnight black, with those new bumpers and chrome matrix ventilation ducts, the XFR is actually sharp.
Five hundred and ten horsepower with 460 torques all pump through a relatively modest five liter AJV8 that lets a supercharger do all the dirty work. Judging from the delicious sound that Jaguar’s supercharged V8s have made in past models, this cat is sure to purr at idle and roar at speed.
Zero to 60 bounds right alongside the performance Audi-BMW-Cadillac-Lexus-Mercedes competition at 4.7 seconds.
But just so the record’s straight – the concept, that is the C-XF, remains far better looking. Still, the XFR’s rakish new looks has put the XF line back on the road to redemption.
And thanks to some snarky bloggers, the cat’s got a head start on that journey.
Volvo S60 Concept Finds Humor & Some…
Look closer and you’ll get the joke
By Gunnar Heinrich
ADMITTEDLY Volvo has been off ADL’s radar for some time.
If you parse through the thousand some odd columns posted on Automobiles De Luxe, there may be nine that are devoted to the Swedish automaker. And that’s funny considering how many more articles focus on Saab which drinks in the same social circles.
The cause for this, dear reader, has been more or less my own resigned disenchantment with the Volvo line post 850. Volvo cast off the (1990′s) 850′s sharp looks and sporting dynamics to embrace the bloated S80 in a horrific great leap forward that destroyed the Swedish automaker’s burgeoning performance cred.
The idea might have been that you could have your safety cage and drive it fast, too.
Some exceptions exists to the no sex while driving rule at Volvo. The C70 droptop takes the S40′s handsomeness and rolls with it. The XC90, for an SUV, also casts a kind profile. But having driven all three, I can say that they’re pretty uneventful, even sleepy undertakings. Which can’t be safe.
So, disillusioned, I only recently got around to taking a closer gander at Volvo’s upcoming S60 Concept that’s set to be unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show. I got excited.
Not because it’s pretty (it isn’t) or that it’s unique in some bold way (it’s not), but because the S60′s designer has a sense of humor and put it to good use. This Volvo comes with suicide doors.
A Volvo who’s company tag line is “Drive Safely” feature a concept even remotely risqué?
So, I read a little bit more about the man behind the plan – Steve Mattin – and discovered that his last job was at Mercedes-Benz. He’s responsible for the current S-Class; which is a significant improvement over Bruno Sacco’s last hurrah.
It’s unlikely that Mr. Mattin’s joke will make see production in the next S60. But what’s clear is that all that flame surfacing marks personality being injected back into a brand (forgive the word) that’s has forgotten the marketing buzz word of buzz words “sex”.
In his interviews Mr. Mattin euphemistically calls it “emotion” but we know what he’s driving at. Who knows? Perhaps with a little more time, money and sexual product development, this new emotion may just reep new dividends for the I-Roll people.
And that might end up putting Volvo on everyone’s radar.
[Linked: Mattin Interview | S60 Concept]
