The CarGurus Blog

Finally, something from Chrysler-Fiat that makes sense: importing the Fiat 500 to the U.S. Contrary to what some skeptics are saying, this move will help struggling Chrysler regain needed positive press and, perhaps, finally establish a niche market for its new products.

The 500 is a great car: well-designed, well-built, with an Italian flair that cannot be duplicated. A year ago, it was voted Best Compact Car in Japan by some 80,000 people polled. The MINI Cooper and the New Beetle have been named as competition. I think that’s wrong, as each car will appeal to rather distinct market segments: The Fiat is more of a city car, though I recently saw one on the Oaxaca-Mexico City autopista, and it was moving along smartly. The car will be built in Mexico—at Toluca, I think.

Three versions will come to the U.S. First, the basic 1.4-liter will arrive in late 2010 in “metro areas at select dealers that house all Chrysler Group LLC brands and will include a dedicated salon inside the dealership.” This will be followed in 2011 by the 500 convertible, with rollback top (above), and in 2012 by an Abarth 500 with turbocharger and, we assume, some suspension mods. Go to Carscoop for a slew of photos.

I honestly don’t see how Chrysler can survive with its present products. The company needs a dramatic and meaningful renaissance with new cars and a new thrust. The 500 could provide the beginning of that if, and it’s a big “if,” it is marketed to the buyers who will respond. The idea of putting it in select dealerships in metro areas makes good sense.

What is nonsense is the proposed merging of Lancia and Chrysler to create, in the words of one blogger, a “Frankenstein’s Monster.” This would be the ultimate rebadging folly, as both companies have become losers, though Lancia still survives by making small numbers of quality cars. Putting a Chrysler badge on the Lancia Delta 1.8 Di (above) which some think likely, would immediately transform a good car into an also-ran, in my opinion. Kind of like putting a Saturn label on an Alfa.

Give us your opinion on whether the Fiat 500 can carve out a niche for itself in the U.S. market.

—jgoods

Car Industry News, Car Minded, Cars Coming Soon, Domestic Cars, Foreign Cars, General Chat

The annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas is all about the mods. And we’re not just talking paint jobs and rear wings, we’re talking completely rebuilt and heavily modified aftermarket car heaven.

The show wrapped up yesterday, and here are the eight best cars that were there:

Delta Tech Engineering’s Suzuki Kizashi

While the stock Kizashi looks pretty darn good (for a Suzuki), this version makes it look downright hot. It was given a big open grille, a cold air intake, custom exhaust and all LED or HID lights. Sweet!

Carbon Fiber Mustang

Carbon fiber use was a bit of a theme this year, and no one used if better than Vaughn Gittin Jr. His carbon fiber RTR-C Mustang uses real carbon fiber panels, cutting about 500 pounds of weight. Only 10 cars were made, and each will cost you about $135K. But you also get a supercharger, if that helps make your decision easier.

Hennessey HP700 Camaro

Take a Corvette ZR1 LS9 engine, stuff it into a Camaro and tune it to deliver 725 hp, with 0-60 coming in 3.5 seconds. Flat-out coolest thing ever? Quite possibly.

Rhys Millen mid-engine Hyundai Genesis Coupe

We gave you a teaser of this thing a little while ago. Here’s the finished product! Car mods don’t get much more extreme than this: A 4.6-liter V8  producing 500 horses has been mounted where the back seats should be. Add a carbon fiber roof (why not, everyone else is), a body kit and before long you’ve got yourself a Ferrari-fighting Hyundai. Imagine that!

1959 Fiat 500 Funny Car

I don’t know whether to laugh or be in awe of this thing. Either way, it’s the epitome of why the SEMA Show exists. Legacy Innovations took a 1959 Fiat 500 and gave it a 725 hp (!) 427 small block. Go, little Fiat, go!

2010 Ford Raptor 6.2

Drool drool drool…

Of all the cars and trucks at SEMA, here’s one you could potentially buy from your corner Ford dealer. Even by Raptor standards, this is one extreme truck, boasting a 6.2-liter engine rated at 411 hp and equipped with more off-road capability than any one human ever needs. And it’s a bargain too… coming in at about $42K.

Pagani Zonda R

Any of the world’s most exclusive supercars get an automatic spot in my lists. Especially when outfitted in exotic carbon fiber. You kind of have to wonder though, now that carbon fiber has shown up on a Hyundai, how long before the material is remembered as sooooo 2009?

Local Motors Rally Fighter

Local Motors is showing us that a different way of building and selling cars is possible. The Rally Fighter was designed using an open-source model and will be sold by the company directly. Buyers even get to travel to a factory and help build the car with their own hands before driving it home. The Rally Fighter uses a BMW 335d drivetrain and is said to achieve 30 miles per gallon.

If you could have one of these, which one would you drive home from Vegas?

-tgriffith

Car Accessories, Car Industry News, Car Minded, Car Parts, Car Shows, Domestic Cars, Exotic Cars, Foreign Cars, General Chat, Trucks & SUVs

BMW has created an M3 for the track, a car for club racing like Porsche’s 911 GT3 Clubsport, either of which would inspire dark lust in any Car Guru in his right mind. But it’s also homologated, says Autoweek, for the street if you register it as such. This car has all the goodies you would expect for $150-170,000—carbon-fiber roof, stripped interior, roll cage, etc. It weighs in at 3,285 pounds, 419 less than the regular M3.

And it has a revised M3 suspension, 7-speed dual-clutch tranny with paddles, electronic differential, new brakes, and much more. The M3’s V8 power is up 30 hp to 450, which should move things along nicely. The first cars will come to Germany next May, to other countries by summer of 2010. Eat your hearts out, clubsporters.

If your tastes run to less raucous open-air motoring, consider the new Boxster Spyder, which will be on view for the first time at the Los Angeles Auto Show in early December. Another lightweight at just 2,811 pounds, the Boxster Spyder (press release here) is a throwback to the 550 Spyder of the 1950s, a welcome return to the agile sportscars many of us drove and loved.

Porsche tweaked the Boxster S’s 3.4-liter engine to produce 320 hp. Choose the dual-clutch (PDK) transmission, and you will get to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds. An all-new sport suspension lowers the car and promises even better handling than the Boxster S. Drive it away for $61,200 any time after February 2010, when it goes on sale in the U.S.

Okay, fans, which one do you want—and why? Lay a comment on us.

—jgoods

Auto Racing, Car Industry News, Car Minded, Cars Coming Soon, Foreign Cars, General Chat

Fiat 500 Abarth: the most exciting car from Chrysler coming in the next two years

My memories of Chrysler are not good.

When I was a kid, my parents had a Chrysler Le Baron. It trapped my younger brother in a seat belt that refused to unclick. Not long after, the engine blew up. Thankfully, my brother was already released from the Le Baron’s ugly grasp.

I’ve been resentful of Chrysler ever since, and I have to admit I even felt a little bit of glee as I watched the company’s quality and sales numbers sink.

Today, I think it’s time to give up my long-standing ill will towards Chrysler and look toward a very different future for the company and its cars. Why now? Because yesterday was new Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne’s marathon (seven-hour) press conference unveiling his five-year plan for Chrysler. It’s mostly good, though it doesn’t inspire much confidence within the next two years. The hope, and the major change, begins when the Fiat platforms start entering the market around 2012.

Autoblog ran a great minute-by-minute recap of the entire conference. Here are some highlights, divided by brand, of what vehicles we can expect in the coming years from Chrysler, and which ones will (finally) go away:

Dodge

First, have a look at the new logo. The traditional ram-face logo is gone, replaced by bold Dodge lettering. Simple, but cool.

Dodge cars that we can expect to stick around through at least 2014 are: Charger, Challenger, Journey, Avenger, and Grand Caravan. Avenger and Journey will be refreshed for 2010 with a new interior, new engine, refreshed exterior, and a healthy dose of comfort, convenience, performance, and fuel economy. Expect a 2010 refresh of Grand Caravan, too, with some interior and exterior mods, a new engine, a complete suspension retune, and improved fuel economy. Avenger will get a Fiat platform in 2013.

Also, expect a new full-size CUV in 2010, a Fiat-based compact sedan in 2012, and another small car in 2013.

The Dodge Viper will go away in 2010, followed by the Nitro in 2011 and the Caliber in 2012. Viper fans rest easy, though, because it could come back in 2012 with some Italian influence (Fiat owns Ferrari too, remember!).

Ram

Remember Ram is becoming its own brand, separate from the Dodge brand. Dealers will get the above logo for their stores. There’s not much to report here, except:

The Dakota will be killed in 2011, possibly replaced by a unibody pickup (think Honda Ridgeline). Fiat will add some commercial vans to the lineup in 2012, while the Ram light duty and heavy duty pickups continue with a refresh in 2012.

Jeep

The Jeep brand will see a few changes. A new Grand Cherokee will arrive in 2010, along with major refreshes for Patriot, Compass, and Wrangler. Patriot and Compass get new interiors, while Wrangler gets a new engine. And check this out: Wrangler will get a diesel option, though it may not be offered in the U.S.

The Patriot and Compass will go away in 2013, replaced with a Fiat-based model. There will also be a new small SUV in 2013. Liberty will get a Fiat platform in 2013, too.

The Wrangler will get another refresh in 2011 to commemorate the Jeep brand’s 70th anniversary.

Chrysler

It’s hard to get excited about much here, aside from that Aston-esque new logo (even though the leaked version, above, looks more like clip art). There is a huge gap of anything new between now and 2012. The Sebring will get refreshed in 2010 and survive until 2013, when it’ll be replaced by a Fiat platform. Chrysler will get a new Fiat-based small car, compact sedan, and crossover in 2013, with a new Town & Country minivan in 2014. PT Cruiser will die at the end of 2010, while the 300 gets a 2010 refresh to last it through 2014.

Finally… the American-ized Fiat 500 will begin arriving in select Chrysler dealerships in 2010. We’ll even get an Abarth!

So there you go, fellow Car Gurus. I’m excited for some Fiat-based Chryslers in the next few years. Are you?

-tgriffith

Car Industry News, Car Minded, Cars Coming Soon, Domestic Cars, Foreign Cars, General Chat, Trucks & SUVs

2010 Opel Astra

GM has reneged on a deal that was almost closed, choosing not to sell Opel/Vauxhall and leaving the Germans angry. The latest chapter in this complicated story came after a Tuesday GM board meeting in Detroit that put forward the new corporate strategy. The company has pledged to pay back about €1.1 billion in bridge loans from German sources.

GM’s move is a setback for Magna, the prospective buyer, and the German government, which reacted predictably, and the German unions, which have offered to strike. As we last reported, the decision comes on the heels of European Union officials questioning the deal and workers in Opel factories in other countries protesting possible job cuts.

The decision came about because the company’s fortunes have been recently improving. European sales across the board are better, and GM’s U.S. sales were up 4 percent last month—no great shakes but the first increase in 21 months. (Ford saw a 3 percent increase; Chrysler a 30 percent decline.) Also, as one commentator said,

GM decided they just couldn’t envision a future without their German subsidiary, which provides most of their presence in Europe and is the main source of their fuel-efficient global vehicle platforms.

The company desperately needs these platforms and needs to be part of the global playing field. Restructuring Opel will cost some $4.4 billion—less, the board figured, than they would have had to pay out under the Magna deal, even with help from Germany.

The case for the renege also rested on keeping the company’s Insignia and Astra cars away from the competition in Russia (Magna’s interest was financed by a Russian bank). But GM is in no way out of the woods. Paul Horrell of Top Gear put it this way:

GM needs to have a solidly profitable European arm. So difficult days await the 55,000 workers in Britain and the rest of Europe, because factories will have to be shut to make sure that Opel and Vauxhall have a cost base that’s realistic for the number of cars they can sell. And more political battles will affect the result.

Despite the furor the decision has caused and will cause, I think it makes sense for GM to keep Opel. What do you think?

—jgoods

Car Industry News, Car Minded, Car Politics, Foreign Cars, General Chat

2009 Ferrari California

I’m a little jealous today of people in the UAE.

Normally, I count my blessings to live somewhere that never sees 120-degree days. Occasionally, though, it would be nice to experience something a little more exotic.

Take parades, for instance. In my city, the only parades we see consist of second-rate high school marching bands. Sometimes those parades include an “exotic” car, something like a 1987 Corvette. I can only dream of what a parade of over 100 Ferraris might look and sound like.

For those living in Dubai, though, a Ferrari parade is exactly what happened as part of the inaugural festivities of the city’s new (and world’s largest) Ferrari dealer. The Italian supercars wound through the streets of the UAE and ended up at the new Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

Lucky for us Ferrari-deprived Americans, the cameras were rolling and captured nearly 10 minutes of exotic car heaven. Check it out:

According to TopSpeed,

Among those participating in the parade included no less than some of the most important and influential personalities in Ferrari, including company chairman Luca Di Montezemolo, seven-time F1 champion, Michael Schumacher, current Ferrari drivers Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa, and Giancarlo Fisichella, and the region’s ambassador to Italy, Claudio Doniosi.

That’s a pretty distinguished list of paraders… one I’d take over a marching band any day. Even if that day was 120 degrees.

Did anyone in the Dubai area see the convoy of Ferraris? If you could see 100 versions of any kind of car in a parade, what would you choose?

-tgriffith

Car Industry News, Car Minded, Exotic Cars, Foreign Cars, General Chat

The new BMW ActiveHybrid 7 was recently spotted by an alert Autoweek reader in Los Angeles. Car and Driver gave it a skeptical first-drive review, suggesting (without saying so exactly) that this is a somewhat ridiculous, redundant car in the BMW lineup.

What makes the ActiveHybrid 7 strange is BMW’s boast that it is the quickest hybrid sedan on the market. If speed is the objective, we’re not sure why a hybrid is the answer. Likewise, if fuel economy is the end goal, tuning the twin-turbo V-8 gas engine for an additional 40 hp and 30 lb-ft of torque seems silly. However, if a 7-series customer believes he needs a car more powerful than the 750i but doesn’t want to step up to the 12-cylinder 760Li—which we think he should—and also wants 15 percent or so better fuel economy, BMW has just the model.

Looking at the many entrants in the rarefied-price stratum of hybrids, the question we finally ask is “Why?” Particularly since the BMW goes head to head with the Lexus LS600h L, available now for at least two years. Why would one spend all that money to get a car that offers minimal performance and fuel economy advantages? To be hybrid hip, I guess.

Fisker has a different idea. They don’t want to build $110,000 BMW or Lexus-type hybrids but “affordable” plug-ins. We wrote last week that they were in negotiation for the old GM factory in Wilmington, Delaware, where they will reportedly build in three years a “family-oriented plug-in hybrid sedan that will come in at around $40K” after federal tax credits. The Karma S sedan (right) will start at $87,000. CEO Henrik Fisker isn’t all that concerned about engines. He told Autoweek that he “envisions a future where hybrids will get their own niche powerplants, specially tuned to the need of alternative technologies. A hybrid for example, probably doesn’t need to rev to 8,000 rpm.”

Fisker got a very good deal from a Department of Energy grant to buy and refurbish this plant, and that surely will give the company a leg up on the competition. Tesla just received a $29 million tax break from the state of California, which makes that state the likely home for the company’s future production.

Another stimulus, this one for electric car production, has come to Seattle to build a network of more than 2,000 car charging stations. “By December 2010, drivers in Seattle should be able to buy mass-produced, plug-in electrics that create no emissions and run for pennies a mile.” And the state has aggressively pursued not only federal money, which will fund this effort, but also the efforts of many hi-tech businesses that are greening up.

Another reason is that lots of “Generation Y” folks live in the Northwest, and they are partial not only to hybrid powertrains, but also to considering the purchase of Chinese or Indian brands of hybrids. This according to a study by AutoPacific reported in egmCarTech. If they are really hot for hybrids, they would do well to use the Hybrid Payback Calculator, which you can download here. It helps you determine whether the cost of a hybrid is really worth it. You enter in the car’s cost, miles per gallon, price per gallon of gas, and the estimated miles you drive in a month. Clever, eh? Maybe a prospective BMW ActiveHybrid 7 purchaser could use one.

What’s your opinion on high-priced hybrids? Are they worth it—and to whom?

—jgoods

Car Industry News, Car Minded, Domestic Cars, Exotic Cars, Foreign Cars, General Chat, Green Updates, Hybrid Cars

Back when Acura was doing it right

It’s not often an automaker throws up its arms and says, “Oops, we kind of screwed up and need to start over.”

While Acura hasn’t exactly gone that far, parent company Honda admits there’s some confusion regarding the brand. Autoweek is reporting that Honda’s CEO Takanobu Ito said about Acura,

We are in the midst of big changes. We’ve changed the direction of research and development.

That simple statement has huge implications. Changing direction on research and development is as close to starting over as automakers get, considering new models spend years in the R&D phase. Dump the products in the R&D pipeline and lose a good two years of new product introductions.

Since that pipeline was going to provide V8, RWD models to go head to head with the likes of BMW, Lexus and Audi, Acura dealers are being left in a bit of a lurch. Especially the ones who have spent millions on new showrooms to feature the now nonexistent new vehicles.

Just 18 months ago, Acura promised its dealers five new models. Now there will be only two, the TSX Sportwagon (which we briefly covered here) and the ZDX crossover. Neither will do much to stop Acura’s four-year sales decline.

On the positive side of all this, I’m thrilled to see an automaker realize it has been playing somewhere it shouldn’t be. It goes back to the problem with automotive advertising, when brands try to be everything to everyone. Acura is realizing that it can let BMW build BMWs and just focus on its core values and the cars it builds best.

The place Acura can really compete and succeed is back where it started: with sensible, fun, entry-level luxury cars. Remember the original Integra? I think that’s the route we’ll see future Acuras take, with a few modern luxurious and efficient twists, I’m sure.

There’s nothing confusing about an Acura that is sensible and practical.

What kinds of cars do you think Acura should be building?

-tgriffith

Car Industry News, Car Minded, Foreign Cars, General Chat

The Chinese car industry has slowed down somewhat but, as most of you know, is still thriving. Much of its manufacturing capability has been traditionally grown by foreign carmakers who planted the seeds years ago. For instance, GM in 1997

established two joint ventures with the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation in China. One was for manufacturing. The other venture, for design and engineering, is the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center. The center has done the engineering to adapt various G.M. global models for the Chinese market.

This from The New York Times, recently reporting how the design of a new version of the Buick Riviera is being led by a team in China, as was done with the LaCrosse (above), the car responsible for much of GM’s sales success in that country.

My correspondent in Xi’an, Yue Han, remarked that the popularity of Buick has remained very steady over the years and is increasing in this decade. In Xi’an (home of the terracotta warriors and the giant wild goose pagoda), the LaCrosse is considered a highly desirable upscale car, as evidenced by the numbers seen on local roads. The car has become a status symbol because of its comfort, styling, and electronic amenities. Says Yue, “It is really an upper-middle-class car. But the Big People still drive Mercedes and BMWs.” That’s no different from what Buick’s market has almost always been in the U.S.

Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) partnered not only with GM but also with Volkswagen in a joint venture in 1984. They created Shanghai Volkswagen, one of China’s largest car factories, producing 500,000 vehicles a year. The plant makes everything from Polos (right) and Santanas (below) to Škodas (the Czech marque owned by VW since 1991). Amidst a plunging third-quarter profit, VW was pleased to announce that it was still in the black, thanks basically to its China sales.

VW Chairman Martin Winterkorn noted that while the business climate is still “tough,” China remained the company’s largest market, accounting for one in five vehicles sold. Similarly, Buick sells far more cars in China than in the U.S. Said the Times,

For the first nine months of 2009, for instance, Buick sold 312,798 vehicles in China; in the United States, it sold 72,389.

What are the implications of China’s coming dominance in automobiles? What are its implications for GM’s future? Leave us your thoughts in a comment, please.

—jgoods

Car Industry News, Car Minded, Domestic Cars, Foreign Cars, General Chat

Bad drivers know no budgets

Inspired by Honda’s newest advertising campaign, I have a theory I’d like your help proving:

Everybody knows somebody who is a bad driver.

The person I know is my grandpa. More on that, and the laughable irony behind it, later.

First, I have to wonder why people never admit to being the bad drivers. Folks are sure quick to point out if they live with one. Or are related to one. Or shared the road with one on the drive to work this morning.

Whether they admit it or not, bad drivers abound. Now there’s news that a scientific reason might be able to explain their existence. Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, say they might have discovered a gene that contributes to people driving like morons (not their exact term).

This might seem like an opportunity to crack a joke, and say that we’ve always known what gene creates bad drivers: the same gene that creates females. But I’ll never stoop to the level of that joke. Especially since, in my own family, my wife has never run her car into a stationary pole. Like I have.

So perhaps you should cut the bad driver in your life some slack. He may have a genetic disability that makes it harder for him to remember basic driving rules, such as applying the brakes when the light turns yellow. Or not colliding with poles.

Instead of yelling at these people and calling them names we’d never want our children to repeat, maybe we should open special driving schools for them and give them special (extra wide) driving lanes with 20 mile-per-hour speed limits.

We could even require genetic testing before driver’s licenses are issued. When people test positive, they could get a special placard to hang on their rear-view mirrors. This would give them access to the special lanes and make them feel important, while the rest of us benefit from having the driving outcasts separated from their driving superiors.

My grandpa would definitely get a placard. I would rank him as the worst/scariest driver I’ve ever ridden with. He doesn’t think he’s doing anything wrong when his tires scrape the curb at 40 miles an hour.

And that laughable irony I mentioned? He drives for a living. A school bus. And he has a commendable safety record.

Maybe, and thankfully, the gene turns off when the safety of kids is at stake.

Tell us about the worst driver you know. If it’s you, please speak up! And feel free to keep things anonymous.

-tgriffith

Car Industry News, Car Minded, Car Safety, Exotic Cars, General Chat