Electronics & Computers Deals here!
NEW YORK -- With the redesigned 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee, Chrysler LLC aims to create a luxury luster for the Jeep brand.
The Grand Cherokee takes aim at luxury crossovers and SUVs such as the Lexus RX, BMW X5, Range Rover and Mercedes-Benz ML. The Jeep arrives in dealerships in spring 2010.
The Grand Cherokee will be Chrysler's most important launch until 2011, when products from its alliance with Fiat S.p.A. are expected to start rolling off North American assembly lines. And the Jeep will offer a peek at Chrysler LLC's strategy to be a smaller, more profitable company with more upscale products.
"We now have the bones to take the brand anywhere we want to," said Chrysler design chief Ralph Gilles in an interview at the auto show here.
The redesigned Jeep should boost per-vehicle profits.
(Credit: Automotive News)Luxurious features
Built on the same platform as the Mercedes-Benz ML, the next-generation Grand Cherokee was well under way when Daimler AG and Chrysler divorced in 2007. When the Grand Cherokee appears in dealerships next year, it will have features and options typically found only in luxury cars.
Those items include adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, remote start and a Quadra Lift suspension system that can lift the vehicle 4.5 inches higher than its normal mode when parked. A system called Selec-Terrain comes with a 5.8-liter Hemi V-8.
Chrysler will offer a diesel, but not for North America. The company stopped making the Grand Cherokee diesel model late last year because of lack of demand.
'Very affordable'
Chrysler hopes to keep the Grand Cherokee's price reasonable by sharing under-the-skin hardware with Mercedes and by selling the Grand Cherokee at large volumes, both in North America and around the world.
"We'll be able to offer it at a very affordable volume price," said Chrysler co-President Jim Press at the auto show. Chrysler has not determined prices or discussed volumes. The vehicle will be made at Chrysler's Jefferson North plant in Detroit.
(Source: Automotive News)
Hyundai's Nuvis concept features some wild ideas--such as an in-cabin Intranet linking the driver and passengers--but more specifically, it is meant to showcase the automaker's lithium polymer battery technology and show its malleability and flexibility of integration.
EV Innovations unveiled its own planned line of electric vehicles, starting with two models, the Wave and Inizio. The latter of the pair aims to be a Tesla Roadster competitor.
But with less range, less power, and a bigger sticker, we're not sure if Tesla has to worry about the EVI Inizio just yet.
Are you the kind of person who likes to go really fast in a really big vehicle? Well, the boys from Bavaria have just the thing for you: the BMW X6 M.
Powered by BMW's twin-turbocharge gasoline V-8, and putting power to the wheels through the xDrive all-wheel drive system, the X6 M and its sibling the X5 M will get you where you're going in a hurry.
Those of us who scratched our heads at the oddball BMW X6 now have another genre-jumping vehicle to ponder.
The Acura ZDX concept starts with the MDX platform (and, most likely, its drive train) before being massaged into a coupelike profile. The ZDX features Acura's familiar cabin tech package, but with a few new tricks up its sleeve.
The B120 Wraith uses carbon fiber forks with integrated LED headlights.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)Crotch rockets with bright farings may dominate the motorcycle world, but Confederate Motors takes a different direction. Opting for an ultraindustrial design, the company uses raw carbon fiber and unpolished aluminum to build its motorcycles. The latest example, on display at the 2009 New York auto show, is the B120 Wraith, a nasty-looking piece of work.
The three and a half gallon fuel tank is also the backbone of the bike, a thick aluminum tube welded to short, horizontal tubes, affording the kind of structural support that only a pipe can give. Carbon fiber front forks have a unique mono-shock on the steering column. Headlights are a row of LEDs integrated into the front of the forks. The wheels are also made from carbon fiber, and the brakes are from Brembo. The V-style engine puts out 125 horsepower and 130 foot-pounds of torque.
The Wraith has a unique industrial design using aluminum and carbon fiber.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)Confederate Motors only plans to build 250 of the B120 Wraith, making it a rare bike to see on the road.
With all the emphasis on eco-friendly cars at recent auto shows, we didn't expect to see so many performance cars in New York.
But many automakers had souped-up versions of existing models on display, giving driving enthusiasts something to enjoy. Mercedes-Benz had an AMG version of its E-class and BMW made the X6 into an M. VW launched the new GTI and Nissan NISMO'd its 370Z. Honda even showed up with a Mugen-equipped Fit.
The 2010 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG is to BMW's M5 what the C63 is to the M3, so the logic goes.
Mercedes sticks to the AMG formula of transplanting the 6.2-liter V-8 into the all-new E Class and boosting the power to 518 horsepower, but strays slightly with the addition of a new seven-speed dual clutch transmission.
The Counter Balance is an independent design for a pick-up truck.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)On the look out for the weird and the wonderful at the 2009 New York auto show, we saw what we first took for an amphibious car--a high-observation area for the rear-seat passengers looking like the flying bridge of a motor yacht. But the Counter Balance turned out to be a pickup truck concept from an independent designer, a garage-built labor of love. We suspect similar projects can be found all around the country in backyards and work sheds, but the Counter Balance, from Barkan Designs, found its way to the floor of the New York auto show.
With a midengine design, there is storage space under the hood.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)The concept features seating for four in the cabin and a pickup truck bed in back. The rear seat sits higher than the front because of the midmounted engine, which would require quite a bit of insulation to keep noise and vibration out of the passenger compartment. The higher rear-seat position allows for a tinted canopy, giving passengers in these seats a 360 degree view.
The lack of an engine in front allows for locking storage space suitable for groceries or luggage. The rear bed has a number of unique characteristics. In normal use, it's a short, 5-foot bed. When more space is required it can be pulled out, extending the bed length to 7.5 feet. The same mechanism that allows for the extended bed can also turn the tailgate into a ramp, for easy loading into the pickup bed.
If Barkan Designs would just make it amphibious, it might have something.
Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia take the limelight at the 2009 New York auto show, launching a futuristic concept and a sporty coupe. Hyundai's new concept takes a look at what a future crossover model might look like, while Kia takes its recently launched Forte sedan and gives it a performance treatment, taking on front-wheel-drive favorites such as the Honda Civic Si.
