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SAN DIEGO--Lexus has introduced its first sport package on the LS 460 to take aim at the Mercedes-Benz S class.
The flagship LS, redesigned for the 2007 model year, is getting long in the tooth. And Lexus wants younger BMW and Mercedes owners. The sport package, available only on the base rear-drive 2010 model, costs $71,755, including shipping, a $6,200 premium over the $65,555 base price.
The LS 460 will have paddle shifters, and other features include a heated leather steering wheel, 19-inch wheels and summer tires, front Brembo brakes, sport-tuned air suspension, a lower body kit with sport grille and sport seats.
The sport trim has the same 4.6-liter, 380-hp engine, but software on the eight-speed automatic has been tweaked to give it a throatier sound, like that of the IS-F sports sedan.
"We want to get some European conquests--particularly the S class," says Ben Mitchell, corporate product planning manager for Lexus.
He says the typical LS owner is near 60 years old. Lexus hopes the sport trim will attract those in the upper 40s to low 50s.
The Mercedes S550 has a 5.5-liter engine making 382 horsepower. It sells for $92,475, including shipping.
Through October, LS sales were down 53 percent to 8,192 units. S-class sales totaled 8,920, off 43 percent.
(Source: Automotive News)
Our chariot awaits...
(Credit: Antuan Goodwin/CNET)The time has come for the Car Tech crew to load up a car--this year, we're taking a loaded 2010 Lincoln MKS--and make the trek down to the City of Angels for the 2009 LA Auto Show. As any lover of cars can tell you, the journey is half of the fun and some of the best stories can come out of a good road trip.
With that in mind, we'll be tweeting our journey and sharing photos along the way. Keep in the loop by popping over to the CNET River and selecting Wayne Cunningham or Antuan Goodwin from the right column or follow us on Twitter. We're @waynec_sf and @antgoo, respectively.
The Kia Cadenza, Kia Motors replacement for its Amanti large sedan, could be the first car to get Kia's new direct-injection gasoline engine.
The Cadenza, which was unveiled last week in South Korea, goes on sale in North America in 2011.
Production of the Amanti ended this year. Once inventories run out, U.S. dealers will lack a large sedan until the Cadenza arrives, spokesman Michael Choo said. In the meantime, the midsize Optima will be Kia's biggest sedan, he said.
"The U.S. wants to grow into this model," Choo said. "The market isn't ready for it yet."
The four-door, five-seat Cadenza is shorter than the Amanti but has a longer wheelbase and more interior space, according to a Kia news release.
In Korea, the car has a 3.5-liter V-6 engine and a six-speed automatic transmission. Engine specifications of the North American version of the Cadenza still are being decided. But the car could get Kia's new direct-injection gasoline engine, Choo said.
The front-drive Cadenza is the first on the company's new Type N platform. A lighter, stronger body shell and new suspension help make the Cadenza 286 pounds lighter than the Amanti.
The Cadenza makes its global auto show debut Dec. 12 at the Riyadh Motor Show in Saudi Arabia, Kia said. The car will be built at Kia's Hwasung assembly plant in South Korea.
It goes on sale this year in South Korea. Exports to global markets other than the United States and Europe begin in January.
(Source: Automotive News)
The 2011 Mustang's new engine is designed to compete with the V-6 Camaro.
(Credit: Ford)Mustang fans have been nagging Ford Motors for a better V-6 engine in the base model of the long-running pony car--one with more horsepower and less hoarse power.
Next spring they'll get it when the old 4.0-liter V-6 is replaced by a 3.7-liter, 305 horsepower, 24-valve V- 6 with double overhead cams. It's the Mustang's first high-performance six-cylinder engine.
The old, rough, 210-hp V-6--which has been built in various displacements since the late 1960s--couldn't compete with the 3.6-liter V-6 in the new Chevrolet Camaro.
The base version of the 2011 Ford Mustang, due in the spring, noses ahead of the 2010 Camaro V-6--but not by much. The Mustang has one more horsepower and one more highway mile per gallon than the Camaro.
The 3.7-liter engine in the base 2011 Mustang is also being used in several front-wheel- and all-wheel-drive Lincolns. The Mustang is the first rear-wheel-drive application.
To boost horsepower, the intake areas of the engine's heads were ported and polished to increase the volume of the air-fuel mixture. The valve tappets were polished to reduce friction. A new intake manifold improves engine breathing. The changes helped raise horsepower from 273 in the Lincoln MKS to 305.
The Mustang also gets these upgrades:
- Two new six-speed transmissions, automatic and manual
- Stronger brakes and firmer suspension from the GT model
- A slightly revised interior with a new roof-storage system.
The updated engine includes such fuel-saving technology as variable valve timing and an advanced fuel injection system that cuts off the fuel supply when the car is decelerating.
The old engine was built in Cologne, Germany, and shipped to Flat Rock, Mich., where it was installed in the Mustang. The new engine is built in Ford's Cleveland, Ohio, plant.
Camaro sales have exceeded the Mustang's for six straight months. General Motors thinks the Camaro will outsell the Mustang for the entire year, although through October the Mustang still led, 56,469 to 47,233. The Camaro went on sale in April.
Ford plans to show the 2011 Mustang V-6 this week at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Upgrades are also in store for the Mustang GT that, according to Ford, it plans to introduce in January at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit
(Source: Automotive News)
Sergio Marchionne's ambitious plan to revive Chrysler with a wave of new products divides the world into halves--one set of vehicles engineered by Chrysler for itself and Fiat and another set engineered by Fiat for itself and Chrysler.
The alliance starts to bear fruit in 2012 and gathers momentum with a spate of launches in 2013.
Marchionne said this month that the two automakers were now "inextricably intertwined."
The greatest cross-pollination of Chrysler and Fiat expertise will take place in the middle of the market. Chrysler engineers are taking a European Fiat platform called the C-Evo and re-engineering and widening it into a new platform called C/D that will spawn a fleet of vehicles.
If all goes according to plan, seven or eight new Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep vehicles will come off that C/D platform aimed squarely at the middle of the domestic market. There will be two compact sedans in 2012 to replace the Dodge Caliber and Chrysler PT Cruiser.
And in 2013 there will be a wave of vehicles, including a compact crossover to replace the Jeep Patriot; a midsized SUV to replace the Jeep Liberty; midsized sedans to replace the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger; a midsized crossover for Chrysler; and possibly a midsized crossover to replace the Dodge Nitro.
More than any other factor, it was the failure to field strong competitors to vehicles such as the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Ford Escape, and Toyota RAV4 that led to Chrysler's sales collapse and eventual trip into bankruptcy last spring.
Cross-fertilization
The two partners will lean heavily on each other to engineer and manufacture products.
"From an architectural standpoint, we're going to end up with the world [divided] into two parts," said Marchionne at the Nov. 4 unveiling of Chrysler's five-year business plan. "A part will be handled by Fiat for itself and on behalf of Chrysler, and another one will be handled by Chrysler for itself and for Fiat."
All vehicles below the compact sedan segment for Fiat Auto and Chrysler Group brands will be engineered in Italy and built there or in Fiat factories elsewhere. All larger vehicles--starting with the replacements for the Caliber and PT Cruiser and including minivans, large SUVs, and pickups--will be engineered by the Chrysler team in Auburn Hills, and most will be made in North American factories.
That means, for example, that Fiat will drop out of its minivan alliance with PSA/Peugeot-Citroen. Future Fiat and Lancia minivans will be engineered in Auburn Hills and made in North American factories for export.
On the flip side, starting in 2013, Lancia could export to North America a subcompact five-door hatchback that would become the entry model for the Chrysler brand. Dodge also will get a subcompact engineered by Fiat and imported to the United States.
But it's in the midsized segment that Chrysler benefits--starting in 2013.
In July, Fiat handed over to Chrysler the C-Evo platform with European specifications to serve as the underpinnings of a new group of vehicles.
For the United States, Chrysler is widening the platform by 1.6 inches. By redoing the platform, Chrysler could avoid the mistakes made by other automakers. In the 1990s, Ford brought its European mainstream Mondeo sedan to North America and rebadged it as the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique. But U.S. customers found the sedans too cramped.
Philippe Houchois, analyst for UBS in London, estimated that Chrysler and Fiat could produce a combined 750,000 units annually off the C/D platform.
A better fit than Daimler?
Dave Cole, head of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., said the Fiat-Chrysler alliance balances the needs of two carmakers in a way that Chrysler's merger with Daimler never did.
Such synergies weren't possible between Daimler and Chrysler because "what they were essentially doing is taking two companies with little product overlap and somehow sticking them together. It was just not in the cards that they would be able to pull that off."
Marchionne and his team face some big obstacles as he aims for U.S. market share in the 13-14 percent range. Chrysler is now hovering around 9 percent.
Houchois said, "Marchionne's plan is probably too ambitious on market share and extremely cautious on market assumptions."
If Chrysler can't hit Marchionne's market share target, he said, it could still achieve sustainable volume if the market itself grows.
John Wolkonowicz, analyst for IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Mass., said the plan sounds good, but Chrysler has to sell some vehicles between now and when the new products start arriving to pay for the planned new product assault.
"If they actually get to the new products," he said, "they have a fighting chance."
(Source: Automotive News)
Mitsubishi's i-Miev, which goes on sale next year, may get a gasoline counterpart.
(Credit: Mitsubishi)PALM SPRINGS, Calif.--Mitsubishi, which already plans to import its i-MiEV electric minicar, is considering giving U.S. dealers a gasoline version of the little car.
The four-passenger car would compete against the Smart minicar. The Smart is imported from Europe, where Daimler AG builds it using a Mitsubishi engine.
The gasoline-powered Mitsubishi i already sells in Japan and Europe with a small turbocharged 660cc gasoline engine--a powerplant smaller than those in many American motorcycles.
The gasoline engine probably would be replaced with a 1.0-liter three-cylinder engine without turbocharging for the United States, says John Koenig, executive vice president for operations at Mitsubishi Motors North America.
The Smart has the same 1.0-liter Mitsubishi engine.
The i is just 133.7 inches long--about 2 feet longer than the Smart ForTwo--and 5 feet 3 inches high. The i is surprisingly roomy, even for adults in the back seat.
Koenig estimates that a sales plan of 1,000 cars a month probably would be enough to sway Mitsubishi to re-engineer the minicar for U.S. customers. The expense of creating a left-hand-drive version of the i already has been covered for its introduction into Europe, where it sells for about $16,000.
Mitsubishi showed both the gasoline and electric versions of the car to journalists here last week.
The automaker will introduce its global electric car, the i-MiEV, to U.S. dealers in approximately 18 months.
(Source: Automotive News)
Why spend upward of $100 on a navigation app when CoPilot's on sale for $20?
At $34.99, ALK's CoPilot Live North America is already one of the least-expensive navigation apps in the iTunes App Store. At $19.99, it's an outright steal.
That's the deal ALK is offering this holiday weekend, and you can grab it starting right now.
CoPilot Live offers complete turn-by-turn navigation for the U.S. and Canada. Its features include text-to-speech (meaning it announces street names), address book integration, tap-to-call POI listings, and easy switching between different modes of travel (car, bicycle, walking, and so on).
You'll definitely want to read Dong Ngo's CoPilot Live road test that covers the highlights and letdowns--but keep in mind the app's been updated since then. For example, Ngo dings it for lacking text-to-speech, but it now has that feature.
Still missing, alas, is real-time traffic information, which apparently remains on the coming-soon list. Thankfully, future updates to the app will be free, though any premium services like traffic will cost you.
Even without that option, it's hard to pass up a full-featured navigation app for just $20, especially with competitors like Navigon, iGo My Way, and TomTom still selling in the $70-100 range.
The only missing ingredient is a dashboard or windshield mount for your iPhone. I recommend heading to a Web site like Eforcity or Meritline and picking up an inexpensive gooseneck mount.
The Lexus LF-A appeared at the 2009 SEMA Show.
(Credit: Antuan Goodwin/CNET)LOS ANGELES--Lexus has a plan to head off speculators when its limited-edition LFA sports car goes on sale in January 2011.
The company will offer only two-year leases for the $375,000 two-seater, said Brian Smith, vice president of sales and dealer development for Lexus division. Lexus will hang on to the vehicle's title.
"If someone buys it the first month and then decides to sell it, that could be damaging for the ownership experience," Smith said. "If it is not controlled and hits the speculation market, all bets are off."
Only 500 units of the 552 horsepower LFA will be built during the two-year period that begins in December 2010. No car will be built until it is ordered.
"You can personalize it right down to the stitching in the car," Smith said.
He said Lexus wants each customer to pay about the same price for the LFA, which will be powered by a 4.8-liter 10-cylinder engine. At the end of the two-year lease, customers can opt to buy the cars.
"We want people out driving the car and not just parking it in a museum or selling it at an inflated price," Smith said.
About 15 Lexus employees will get extensive training on the car before they start meeting with prospective customers in March. The LFA specialists will be stationed at each of Lexus' four regions around the country--West, Chicago, New Jersey, and Atlanta--and at Lexus headquarters in California.
Customers can choose their own dealer for delivery.
Dealers will not have to invest in special tools or training. Lexus will purchase the tools and hire trained technicians to perform the service at the stores.
(Source: Automotive News)
The Saab deal unravels: Is the Swedish tech innovator dead? What we're looking for at the L.A. auto show. The best time to buy a car may surprise you. BMW revamps the 5-Series and makes a run at the kind of diesel America never loved and Europe always has. And we take a ride in the GMC Terrain.
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EPISODE 146
SHOW NOTES• BMW launches new 5-series online
• BMW set to offer small, 4-cylinder diesels in U.S.
• Bad news for Saab: White knight turns and rides off
• Ferrari hybrid seems imminent according to what looks like a cocktail napkin sketch
• CNET Video: What you'll need to replace your factory car stereo
BMW's new 5-series incorporates many tech updates.
(Credit: BMW)
BMW released full details and photos of the new, 2011 5-series, representing a pretty significant update to the company's midsize sport-luxury sedan. An entirely new platform was developed, and is now shared between the 5-series and the new 7-series. The 550i model and 750i also share a power plant, a twin turbo 4.4-liter V-8. In the 550i, this engine produces 407 horsepower, bringing the car to 60 mph in 5 seconds. Other U.S. models are the 535i, powered by the same twin turbo 3-liter straight-six as the previous model, and a 528i.
The new 5-series serves as a platform for a host of driver aid technologies. Lane Change Warning alerts you to other cars in your blind spots while lane departure warning lets you know when you're drifting across lane lines. A night view system shows an enhanced display of the road on the LCD when it's dark out, and includes a pedestrian detection feature. Adaptive cruise control lets you set a cruising speed, and have the car slow down to match speeds with slower traffic ahead.
One of the more surprising driver aid features is automated parallel parking. This system is made possible by BMW's adoption of an electric power steering module for the 5-series. It uses sonar to determine if a parking space is long enough for the car, then automatically steers the wheel as you handle the gas and brake.
The 5-series gets the latest version of iDrive, but BMW is actually making it standard on all models. That means you get an LCD in the car whether you've chosen the navigation option or not. Without navigation, the LCD is a little smaller, and shows audio, phone, climate, and other car functions.
