Not a company to pull punches, here is what BMW had to say about the second-generation X5 when it was launched last year:
“BMW will write the latest chapter in the story of the world’s first Sports Activity Vehicle®, the BMW X5. Originally launched for the 2000 model year in late 1999, the BMW X5 permanently changed the automotive landscape. It proved that the driving dynamics, responsiveness, and linear control signature to every BMW could be compatible with utility, versatility, and other-roads capability.”
I’m not sure how to respond to the news about you being named the recipient of the 2011 Bob Akin Award by the Road Racing Drivers Club. You’ve managed to parlay a 30-year a career in “government work” at the private sector’s expense by pretending to represent both the Department of Interior and the US Senate Appropriations Committee. This has provided you with both the interior motives and the funding to support a covert career in motor sports at taxpayer expense. And I suppose all those “race weekends” never included Fridays. Oh, I get it . . . in Washington DC, Fridays are just the first day of the weekend. And if by some chance, a weekend stretched into a Monday, well, one of your annual 85 days of vacation time would suffice.
This article was originally published on July 4, 2007 in my “In Gear” column for SouthCoast Auto Today
It could have been Rainier Blue, Verde Green or one of 17 other authentic paint colors that Buick used on its 1941 vehicles. But one handsomely restored ’41 Buick “woodie” station wagon that made its way through the west end of New Bedford last week is finished with a shade the automaker officially described that year as Royal Maroon.
Owned by Yarmouth Port’s Bill Bergstrom, a man who knows the palette of official Buick colors like most people know their children, this mammoth vehicle dubbed the Estate Wagon by Buick wears its spiffy maroon fenders as if they were pants that had just been put on for the first time.
Bill has meticulously restored the car to be as authentic as possible. That’s no small task considering that once you get past the front fenders, the remaining three quarters of the body is made of wood.
That’s right. They don’t call these wagons woodies because of a splash of wood on the dash or side panels. There’s fine northern white ash and laminated mahogany inside and out from the windshield to the tailgate. The entire roof is made of wooden slats running front to rear.
You would think a car like this hardly ever saw pavement or a chance of rain anymore. But Bill has a different mind set about what he wants to enjoy now about this Buick.
“I’ve got all my awards,” he said. “I’m just enjoying driving it now.”
A few dark thunder clouds that loomed nearby to the northwest that night did not send Bill scrambling for cover.
Bill spent 15 years restoring the car. Who’s to argue if he wants to drive it around a bit.
“It’s soon going to turn over 50,000 miles since I restored it,” he said.
Most classic Buick owners will tell you that their cars were made to be driven. Get one on the highway and it’ll go forever.
“I’ve driven it to California,” added Bill.
While traveling cross country may not seem like such a big deal to most of us anymore, there are not too many people who can say they’ve done it in a car like this. There were only 838 of these Buicks made and precious few are still in existence.
The classic woodie station wagon earned its name in two ways. The woodie part is obvious. But the station wagon part is a little more obscure.
According to Bill, the name came about because big wagons like these were the vehicle of choice to make passenger and luggage runs to the train station.
Later in the ’60s, when many of these wagons from the ’40s were nearly ready for the junkyard, surfers scooped them up because they were big enough to load in their surfboards.
If one finds a woodie these days that hasn’t already been restored, chances are it’ll need a lot of care. It’s the rare aficionado like Bill who’s willing to take on the task of bringing one back to its true glory.
“It was just a body and a frame,” explained Bill. “Now it’s just a matter of maintaining it.”
Lift the tailgate on his woodie and you’ll see two buckets. One has spare parts, the other has an assortment of body polishing products.
Autodromo has a collection of the coolest watches we’ve ever seen for the motoring enthusiast. These watches capture the essence of Italian cars and truly are “instruments for motoring”. Check out the collection on their website here.
Mention the snow word to most enthusiasts and the first thing out of their mouth is likely to be: “I’ll drive the beater.”
But I grew up in Queens where ice and snow are as common as NY pizza . . . and I enjoy both. My first forays into the world of cold, low-coefficient driving came behind the wheel of a 1963 Chevy Biscayne 6-cylinder. The family car. I snuck out one night when my parents weren’t watching and drove to a large, vacant parking lot. There, on that expanse of asphalt, covered with about three inches of virgin snow, I discovered the exhilaration that led me into a life of living on the edge . . . and beyond.
The 2011 Jeep Patriot may be no Wrangler, but it represents the direction the brand MUST take to stay relevant. For the consumer, it means a crossover that does many things well, especially for those who want versatility that will pay dividends in EVERYDAY driving, rather than those few moments on the Rubicon trail.
When the Patriot was introduced along size the Compass, it resulted in a collective groan from Jeep enthusiasts, watching the brand’s iron-strong off-road reputation being smelted right in front of them.
As hard as it was to hear for those who loved the unrivaled capabilities of the Wranglers and Cherokee’s of the world, Jeep needed the Patriot and Compass to survive. As the SUV craze turned into the crossover land grab, Jeep needed an entrant. It found two, actually, in the Patriot and Compass. These two 5-passenger crossovers that share more DNA with the Dodge Caliber hatchback then they do a Wrangler.
The major setbacks for the Patriot were not its off-road prowess (or lack thereof). Rather, its sub par interior and rough ride (especially for such a road-borne SUV) were its major hindrances. It was a common thread for almost all Chrysler products going into the recession and when the auto industry took a nosedive, people favored well-designed import brands like Kia, Hyundai, and Subaru. The Patriot and Compass were no different, and sales suffered as a result.
Since the bailout (and Fiat’s new ownership of the Chrysler brand) Jeep, Dodge, and Chrysler models are quietly and quickly being improved, starting with the interior. The Patriot that we tested is no exception. The once clunky, and ill-fitting panels of the earlier Patriot have been replaced. This new cabin doesn’t blow it away from the competition, but finally puts it on an even playing field. (that competition includes the Kia Sportage and Subaru Forester). The layout of controls has not been changed, rather the fit, finish, and actual design of the new dash, instrument cluster, and center stack blend for a cabin that’s easy on the eyes, and an easy place in which to spend the daily commute.
Trims for the Patriot are the Base($15,995), Latitude ($19,695), and range-topping Latitude X ($22,195), which we drove. Complete with the $3,700 customer preferred package, that featured heated seats, a leather-wrapped multifunction steering wheel, and a trip computer with compass and ambient temperature readouts within the gauge cluster. IPod-toting drivers should get a lot of use out of the standard audio input jack and the center-stack located 115-volt wall-style power outlet is great for anyone looking to charge a laptop on the road.
Our test model also featured the optional $650 Media Center 430- CD/DVD/MP3 player, complete with 30GB hard drive (which can store up to 6,700 songs), all operated via a 6.5-inch touchscreen display. Match that with the $375 Uconnect package, featuring Bluetooth, USB input jack, and 1-year Sirius subscription, and you have a crossover highly routed in real-world utility.
The rear pop-out flashlight is something of an easter egg, and will prove useful when camping or tailgating. I don’t suggest trekking to the Rubicon Trail to camp, though- that’s where the Patriot runs into trouble.
Base power for the Patriot is a 2.0-liter inline-4, making 158 horsepower, while the uprated Latitude gets a 2.4-liter inline-4 putting out 172 horsepower. That smaller engine will get you the better fuel economy, but you’ll be struggling to make it up to highway speed. If you want any semblance of power, go with the 2.4-liter.
The Patriot is available in both front and all wheel drive forms (Jeep calls it 4WD, but lets be serious, people). A FWD Patriot is a great choice if its space and fuel economy you’re after. If you live in an inclement region, one of the two all wheel drive models would be advised. To be precise, its two AWD-to-transmission combinations. Power is sent through either a 5-speed manual, and two continuously variable transmissions. The CVT II is an $1,100 option, while the CVT with off-road crawl ratio we tested is a $1,050 option. The latter setup gets the “Trail-Rated” accolade, and works simultaneously with the downhill descent control to bring some actual off-road chops to the Patriot.
For when Patriot meets an obstacle in the road or a seriously degraded dirt road, Off-Road Crawl Mode is engaged by putting the CVT into “Low”, and lifting up on the lever located at the bottom of the center console. It won’t turn the Patriot into a Wrangler Rubicon, but it WILL get the Patriot through some relatively rough terrain that some other road-going crossover drivers may have to think twice about. It is Trail Rated, but I would say just barely.
That moderate off-road prowess comes at a cost. The all wheel drive CVT Patriot gets 20 miles per gallon city, 23 miles, highway. That’s not very impressive. The best performer in terms of MPG’s is the base 2.0L with front wheel drive and the 5-speed manual gets 23 miles per gallon city, 29 highway. Nothing to write home about, but still, near 30 MPG’s is respectable.
So, its clear that the Patriot is not a rugged example of a long line of sold off-roading machines. Traditional Jeep? No, but the Patriot is, a capable everyday runabout that has what it takes to trudge through inclement road conditions. Fact is, those likely to look at the Patriot will never push it to the bounds of its soft-roading capabilities. Taking that into consideration may not ease the gripe of those diehard Jeep enthusiasts.
What should ease the pain is in knowing that the Patriot is a competent vehicle, and fully capable of selling well. The Patriot, and for that matter redesigned Compass, and Grand Cherokee (all vehicles that Jeep diehards would argue water down the brand) all must do well to ensure Wranglers will keep being built for decades to come.
I spent time over lunch, Tuesday, interviewing my new best friend, Frank Stephenson – Design Director for McLaren Automotive Limited. The silver McLaren MP4-12C was flown from London to the Orange County Art Museum to be debuted to select members of the Automotive Press. The $238,000, nearly 600 HP piece of exquisite supercar engineering is expected to go on sale sometime this summer … so save your nickels.
In Southern California, there will be two dealerships (Newport Beach / Beverly Hills) up and running by Summer 2011.
Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011)
The first year’s production run will be for 1,000 cars worldwide with about 30%-35% expected to be bought up here in California. The car they flew out has a governor that limits the speed of the car to about 15 mph. This summer, they will have test drive capable models, in many colors, available to the right potential client.
Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011)
What McLaren Automotive Limited had to say for itself -
Through a combination of carbon fiber expertise, innovative Formula 1-inspired technologies and development programs, and a desire to launch a range of ‘pure McLaren’ road cars, the groundbreaking new McLaren MP4-12C has redefined highperformance sports car benchmarks.
By March 2010, when the 12C was first revealed, McLaren Automotive was close to achieving its own high performance targets within the intensive testing and development program. Key segment targets included:
· highest power with fastest acceleration and braking across all typical benchmark speed and distance parameters
· lightest weight, and therefore highest power to weight ratio All within a package of more subjective, but equally important, benchmarks: comfort, practicality, drivability, and ownership costs.
To be a success, and bring innovation to the market, McLaren knew the 12C had to be the first genuine ‘no compromise’ highperformance sports car.
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Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011)
Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011)
30 years of carbon innovation
In 1981, McLaren Racing introduced the carbon monocoque to Formula 1: it offered an unbeatable combination of strength and lightness. In 2011, McLaren Racing will compete with its 200th carbon fiber chassis.
The legendary McLaren F1 sports car was the first road car to feature a carbon chassis when it launched in 1993. With 2,153 SLRs manufactured in its seven-year production run from 2003 to 2009, it is still the largest volume car built on a carbon-fiber chassis.
Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011)
Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011)
Now, the 12C takes carbon innovation to a new level. It is based on a unique one-piece molded carbon chassis: the MonoCell. Weighing in at 165lbs, the MonoCell provides the perfect combination of occupant space, structural integrity, light weight, and relatively low construction costs. In addition, it is the ideal chassis from which to deliver groundbreaking efficiency and performance in the sports car market.
McLaren MP4-12C Performance Data (European Spec Vehicle*)
All we know, for a limited production supercar designed specifically to combine F1 Season Series (8 Contractors / 12 Drivers’ Championship titles), 24 Hours of Le Mans, Indianapolis 500, and Can-Am winning technology with daily road/street worthy sensibility and reliability to the retail market for under $250,000, McLaren’s MP4-12C is an unparalleled accomplishment!
At the time, many of the big automakers seemed headed for destruction. In the two years since, they seem to have come back from the brink. Even so, the central question of the blog remains relevant.
Have a read and let me know what you think. Perhaps it’s time for a followup.
The full text is below:
3/03/09
We’ve come a long way in a short 100 years with the automobile. Out of the minds of a few lone inventors and a handful of small bicycle shops and carriage manufacturers, emerged an automobile industry that has developed into a powerhouse of production and employment whose survival now seems inexorably linked to the success of world economies.
But as the big players in this industry stumble in the current mess of financial woes, one wonders if the playing field could fast be redefined by smaller start-up companies.
If so, will these new players need to make a gigantic leap across the entire last century of industrial growth in one jump? Or, will they be something that functions completely different?
Will Detroit’s automakers need to redefine their manufacturing model? Can corporations so massively industrialized become agile enough to rapidly alter production in the face of sudden changes in demand?
Each year, automakers offer consumers improvements and new features in their product lines. The evolution of the automobile into today’s lineup of vehicles has shown remarkable progress in safety, performance, function and durability.
But there’s a difference between what’s new and what’s really new. A new feature does not fundamentally change the concept of a vehicle; a new model doesn’t necessarily mean a totally new automotive entity. A new design is not a new way of bringing cars to market.
When Honda introduced North America to its first production gasoline/electric hybrid vehicle, the Insight, a decade ago, that was something really new. In both design and means of propulsion, the Insight defied convention. Toyota wasted no time in bringing out its hybrid, the Prius, soon afterwards.
The original two-seater Insight was in production until 2006 and is making its way back to market this April as a 2010 five-passenger model. Meanwhile, Toyota has launched a redesigned Prius that is bigger and more powerful.
American automakers were slow to respond to the hybrid challenge and have been playing catch-up since. At times, there were indications that they might not even embrace the technology at all.
Times have changed.
Ford tiptoed into the hybrid market (the first domestic automaker to do so) with a version of the 2006 Escape SUV. Now, it is set to go gangbusters with the Fusion Hybrid – a more mainstream type of automobile that will be in showrooms this spring. Looks like Ford wants a share of the Toyota Camry Hybrid market.
Bob Bancroft, owner of Ashley Ford in New Bedford, Massachusetts described the new Fusion Hybrid as the highest mileage hybrid made in America – chalking up a mileage rating of 41 mpg.
High-mileage is the new mantra.
“Ford’s CEO (Alan Mulally) has made a promise that every vehicle will get better fuel economy than the vehicle it replaces,” noted Mr. Bancroft. “That’s the big story.”
Good news for sure. Ford is showing good effort to change the perception that big automakers are not making the cars people want.
But big automakers worldwide may soon find their foundations being rattled by an innovative start-up company, Local Motors, located in Wareham, Massachusetts. The company describes itself as “the first disruptive entrant in the US automotive industry in decades.”
Local Motors is not looking to mass produce vehicles. If they can build 2,000 vehicles per year at each of eventually 25 locations, that would please company founder Jay Rogers. It will be proof that their idea of “challenging the paradigm of highly centralized manufacturing, embattled dealerships and dispersed service locations,” is the way to go.
Ultimately, it could change the way consumers buy (and think about buying) their vehicles.
“The world changes faster than we develop cars,” observed Mr. Rogers. “It doesn’t need to be that way.”
He expects to turn heads by demonstrating that there is a different and faster way to get the cars people actually want out to market than the way it is currently being done.
But comparing Local Motors to the small manufacturers at the dawn of the auto age is hardly accurate according to Mr. Rogers. There’s a lot of automotive infrastructure that’s developed and capable of producing high quality, off-the-shelf parts and supplies most of which is now going to non-OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) purchasers. This is what Local Motors plans to tap into instead of manufacturing automotive parts themselves.
“You can stand on the shoulders of product development,” explained Mr. Rogers.
Easy access to everything from engines to brakes is an advantage previous start-ups like the ill-fated DeLorean Motor Company did not have thirty years ago.
Aiming to produce lower-weight vehicles that are designed by an online consensus of car enthusiasts (a internet savvy technique called crowd-sourcing), built from off-the-shelf parts and marketed to specific geographic regions, Local Motors’ business model completely redefines the way cars get to market.
But how will selling 50,000 cars shake up the Detroit automotive establishment that looks at sales in the millions per year.
“We hope to be a tipping point,” said Mr. Rogers.
He’s not alone in that wish.
Dean Kamen, the inventive creator of the Segway personal transporter is busy developing an electric vehicle called the Revolt which utilizes his version of a type of external combustion engine called the Stirling (after Robert Stirling, its 19th century inventor) to provide an electrical assist to the vehicle’s batteries.
Even though Kamen’s DEKA Research & Development Corp. hopes to have a production version of the vehicle on the market in 2 years, his goal may be less that of becoming an automaker and more of becoming the inventor that paves the way for other automakers to use the technology.
The Revolt design is based on the Ford Think which was cancelled in 2002. Ford sold its stock in the company and ultimately the Think brand wound up in Norway and today is producing electric cars for the European market.
Think describes its vehicles as, “emission free and three times as energy efficient as the cars used today.” The Think City model is designed to muster 62 mph with a range of 126 miles on a charge.
But Jim Lutz, president of Alden Buick Pontiac GMC Truck in Fairhaven, Massachusetts is not holding out hope that these new smaller companies will last.
“If you look at the history of startups, it’s dismally bad,” he observed. “Even craft businesses have gone by the wayside.”
For him, the car industry, in terms of its business sophistication, ranks just below the aircraft industry. Starting a car-making business from scratch may be just too formidable a challenge to succeed.
“The development costs are so high, they create such a barrier to entry,” he said.
But faced with the economic battering they are experiencing, the big automakers are taking their hour of despair and looking differently at how they do business.
“At GM, they’ve really put all their focus on the electric hybrid,” noted Mr. Lutz referencing the hulky new Yukon Hybrid.
Although the 20 city/20 highway mpg ratings show the vehicle to have improved fuel efficiency, the numbers themselves seem to come up short of startling. But Mr. Lutz put that into perspective given the size of the vehicle and what consumers could expect in this type of vehicle not so long ago.
“It’s a very interesting technological progression to get to mileage unthinkable 20 years ago,” he said. “This is starting to show the advantage of electric power.”
On both ends of the car making spectrum, at big and small companies, long-established businesses and fresh startups, everyone is using the word change in new hopeful tones. That’s good. A change in perspective is at the heart of innovation.
January 2011 saw the unveiling of a very efficient, logically useful, polymer technologies expanding, 313 mpg on a gallon of Diesel fuel, two-seater car.
Meet the Volkswagen XL1 which was debuted at the Qatar motor show. The car, which has been dubbed by VW as the world’s most economical car, features an 800cc TDI two-cylinder diesel engine linked to an electric motor (emitting just 38 grams of carbon dioxide per mile).
One might think that this engine is way too small, but the performance of this torque-strong Diesel approach delivers acceleration from 0 to 60mph in 11.9 seconds … and a top speed of 99mph which is good enough for any large metropolitan area freeway system.
The VW XL1 gets an additional advantage due to a reduction of weight (just under 1,753 pounds) based upon a newly patented approach for the manufacture of the Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) parts called the Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) process.
Further weight savings were made through the extensive use of lightweight materials that include magnesium for the wheels; ceramics for brake discs; and aluminum for dampers, steering system and brake calipers.
The Volkswagen XL1 is expected to make its commercial debut in Britain and Germany in 2013 with no present plan to introduce this ground-breaking 12 foot long (just under four meters) and 3 foot 10.46 inch (1.18m) tall (the same size as a Volkswagen Polo – and sits lower off the ground than a Lamborghini sports car) green machine to the United States/North American marketplace.
