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Category Archives: design and styling
Milestones: Cadillac Electric Starter Eliminates Hand Cranking
One hundred years ago the electric starter debuted in the 1912 Cadillac Touring Edition helped establish Cadillac’s reputation while increasing its sales. It’s hard to imagine but before the invention of the electric starter by Charles Kettering it took hand cranking, considerable muscle, and some luck to wake up a Tin Lizzie or one of its ilk. Cranking fathered the American slang term ‘cranky,’ which was said to describe someone’s mood after struggling to start a car. Continue reading
Dodge Dart Debuts Using First Fiat Architecture. More on Way
The U.S. Dart is in many ways similar to the original Ford Focus (C170) that was derived from a European Ford design a decade ago. And Dart faces the same challenges as well. Though bigger than that Focus – a decided plus in North America, and with much more content – it remains to be seen if Dart’s U.S. suppliers can rise to the quality challenge posed by competing small Japanese and Korean cars. Continue reading
Lincoln MKZ Concept Derived off Ford Fusion Debuts at NAIAS
Lincoln needs some sales successes and in the U.S – virtually its only outlet for this fading regional brand – where luxury car sales range from ~10-13% of the market annually. There’s an enormous opportunity now posed by Generation Y types, 80% of whom say they would consider a luxury car in the $30,000 range, which hasn’t escaped impending product actions at Lexus, Acura, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, among others. Continue reading
Posted in auto news, concept, design and styling, news, news analysis, sales
Tagged auto informed, autoinformed.com, automotive news, Ken Zino, lincoln, luxury cars, mks, mkz, naias, u.s. luxury cars
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Car Spy Jim Dunne Catches Revised Lincoln MKS or MKZ?
Following the Ford Jaguar debacle, success is also not a word that can be applied to Ford’s management of Lincoln, which is a poseur in the world of luxury cars dominated by the German Brands and Toyota’s Lexus, which even though it was out of the U.S. market for five months this year because of the Japan earthquake, still managed to outsell Lincoln by a better than 2:1. Continue reading
Lexus LF-LC 2+2 Sport Coupe revealed. Sort of…
In November, the Lexus Division of Toyota reported total sales of 19,458 units, up 6.7% year-over-year, the best month since March, the month of the infamous tsunami. With Lexus attempting to regain it’s top selling luxury brand spot in the U.S. that it lost this year to the Germans post tsunami, look for LF-LC to appear sooner rather than later. Continue reading
Posted in auto news, concept, design and styling, marketing, new vehicle, news
Tagged auto informed, autoinformed.com, automotive news, Ken Zino, lexus, lexus coupe, lf-lc, naias
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Buick 2013 Encore Teaser Photo – Will it Play in China?
The real challenge for all new Buicks going forward is not whether the vehicle will play in Peoria, but rather how it plays in Shanghai? Buick sold a record of 59,763 vehicles in China in November – more than 5 times what it sold in the U.S. Little wonder the head of GM advance design in China is now Chinese. Continue reading
Posted in auto news, design and styling, marketing, new vehicle, news analysis, people
Tagged auto informed, autoinformed.com, automotive news, buick, buick china, buick encore, enclave, gm design, Ken Zino, naias, wulin gaowa
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NAIAS – Acura, Lexus, Honda Will be Out in Force in Detroit
Acura announced today that it will show three all-new vehicles at the 2012 North American International Auto Show – NAIAS – including a compact sports sedan, a redesigned RDX crossover sport utility vehicle, and a concept version of the next generation Acura NSX super car. Honda, Toyota and Lexus will also have strong new vehicles. Continue reading
Posted in auto news, design and styling, new vehicle, news
Tagged 2012 toyota camry, 2013 honda accord coupe, acura 2013 rdx, acura ilx concept, auto informed, auto shows, autoinformed.com, automotive news, honda formula one racing, Ken Zino, lexus, naias, north american international autoshow, nsx concept, prius c
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Hyundai Azera Targets LaCrosse, Taurus and Avalon Sedans
The Azera – like all recently upgraded Hyundai models – is fiercely competitive entry, in this case in the large car segment. Azera will provide a real choice for shoppers of large Toyota and Lexus models, as well as the slow selling Ford Taurus – off 10% at ~53,000 ytd of 619,000 total Ford car sales. Azera is also trouble for the upcoming revised Chevrolet Impala in 2013. The existing Impala is road kill here, in my view. As always, the buyers will decide what’s the best value, with Azera likely pulling sales from less expensive and more expensive models. Continue reading
Honda Unveils new ASIMO Robot – World Debut of Autonomous Control – Production and Public Use Near?
Honda Motor Company today unveiled an all-new ASIMO humanoid robot equipped with what Honda claims is the world’s first autonomous behavior control technology. This means the all-new ASIMO can now continue moving without being controlled by an operator. In theory, with this improved artificial intelligence and the physical ability to adapt to situations, ASIMO is close to practical public use. How close production is remains to be seen. Continue reading
The Film – Chevy 100, An American Story – Debuts in Detroit
Do not confuse this Chevy 100 infomercial with other serious documentaries sponsored by GM and produced by Ken Burns during his long association with the largest automaker in the U.S. Chevy 100 lacks an organizing theme – other than it’s time to sell more Chevrolets. Instead, Chevy 100 is comprised of sporadic observations along with snapshots of the history of the brand, supplemented with large amounts of quick-cut contemporary footage from collectors clubs and fawning owners. Be forewarned, you will not see the history of Chevrolet, or the history of the automobile in U.S.A. that Chevrolet is such a significant part of, given justice in this treatment. Continue reading
Posted in auto news, design and styling, fools 'n frauds, manufacturing, marketing, milestones, news, news analysis
Tagged auto informed, auto news, Autocrat, autoinformed, autoinformed.com, automotive news, Chevrolet, chevrolet centennial, chevy 100, chevy 100 birthday, GM, gm bankruptcy, Ken Burns, Ken Zino, news, roger Sherman
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Holden Hurricane Concept Restored to its 1969 Self
Nothing even remotely like it ever saw production in Australia, although – ironically – former GM executive John Z. DeLorean marketed something sort of like it under his own name decades later. Nonetheless, Hurricane has been restored as a labor of love by a dedicated group of Holden designers and engineers. The restored Hurricane will be on display at the Motorclassica car show at the Melbourne Royal Exhibition Building from October 21-23 Continue reading
Driving the 2012 Hyundai Veloster – a Marketing Twist Aimed at Geeks over What’s a High Mileage, High Style Econobox
For the money Hyundai is selling what it dubs a “reverse halo” vehicle. Marketing babble aside,Veloster is really just a twist on the perennial attempts by salespeople to avoid the feared “econobox” label. The purported Veloster selling points therefore involve high performance electrons in the guise of Hyundai’s Blue Link telematics system with a hands-free phone system with voice recognition, Pandora internet radio, with seven-inch touch-screen display, and video game console connectivity with 115-volt power outlet. Continue reading
White is Favorite Color for Automobiles around the World
The color white is the most popular vehicle color in the world. Roughly 21% of 2011 model year cars have been produced in white. Regional differences do exist, but white’s popularity makes it the number one choice of car buyers Continue reading
IAA Frankfurt Motor Show Emphasizes Concepts and Electric Vehicles as Euro Zone Economic Crisis Threatens Automakers
The auto markets in the EC have declined for three straight years now, and 2011 is thus far following the same downward trend. It’s against this backdrop of political crisis and economic uncertainty that automakers are revealing cars at the Frankfurt Motor Show that are being dictated – or heavily influenced – by expensive EU regulations – with an emphasis on electric vehicles that will be required to meet impending EU CO2 standards. Continue reading
Posted in auto news, concept, design and styling, economy, electric vehicles, environment, new vehicle, news analysis
Tagged auto informed, auto news, autoinformed, autoinformed.com, automotive news, co2, concept cars, electric vehicles, eu, eu economy, eu emissions rules, EVs, iaa frankfurt, Ken Zino, zino
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BMW Developing Laser Lights for Vehicles; Safety Issue?
While LED lighting creates about 100 lumens per watt, laser lights generate about 170 lumens. Aside from being more efficient, the diodes used in laser lights also are much smaller, presenting the option of drastically reducing the size and shape of conventional headlights that are crucial to automotive front end design. Continue reading
