Autoweek in review: Everything you missed Feb. 6-10
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Chevrolet gives its lineup the Redline treatment
Chevrolet introduced the Redline series all the way back at the 2015 SEMA show. Thanks to positive response and “the success of special editions across the portfolio” (read: higher transaction prices), the Detroit automaker introduced the Redline special-edition series across several of its vehicles at the Chicago Auto Show.
The package, which hasn’t received an official list price yet, adds black wheels with distinct red hash marks, black nameplates outlined in red, blacked-out grilles and black Chevy Bowtie logos. In addition to those bits, the Silverado and Colorado Redlines get red tow hooks, while the Camaro Redline features black hash marks above the front wheels.
The Redline package will be available on the Cruze LT, Malibu LT, Camaro LT and SS, Equinox LT, Silverado Double Cab LT Z71 and Crew Cab LTZ Z71, Trax LT, Traverse Premier and Colorado LT.
All Redline vehicles will be available for purchase by the end of the year. The first available will be Silverado Redlines.
VW won’t sell you this entire Lego set, but you can still buy the Microbus
Volkswagen’s display at the Chicago Auto Show included something we’re not used to seeing at auto shows: Lego sets. This one was custom-built from more than 20,000 Lego bricks, and it comes with the VW Atlas SUV and the original Microbus. It also features the Detroit skyline (note the unmistakable Renaissance Center, along with several other landmark buildings), which is neither VW’s headquarters in the U.S. nor Chicago, where the diorama was revealed. So, there’s that.
Dubbed “The Volkswagen Journey,” this set is meant to highlight the relationship between VW vehicles and American families through the years, as well as the evolution of VW design. We have to admit that the classic Microbus is a little more recognizable than the Atlas — the Lego Atlas looks like a lot of SUVs — but we wouldn’t mind buying either model. If VW offered them, that is.
A Microbus similar to this one is available directly from Lego.
Unfortunately, this set is not for retail sale, though the Microbus itself is offered by Lego separately. The design of the commercially available Microbus is a little different — it’s the camper version — but other than that, it’s pretty well-executed. It’s also a bit pricey, like the restored versions of the original Microbus, which have been hovering near the $100,000 mark at auctions.
2017 Nissan Titan King Cab bridges the gap between crew and standard cabs
At this year’s Chicago Auto Show, Nissan added a third cab size to its Titan pickup truck line: the Titan King Cab. While most full-size pickups, like the Chevrolet Silverado and Ford F-Series, have three cab sizes available, Nissan’s Titan was limited to just the full four-door Crew Cab and standard cab until now.
The new cab size allows seating for six and is available in both the regular Titan and heavier-duty Titan XD pickups, in the same trim levels as the rest of the Titan lineup: S, SV and Pro-4X. Nissan is also touting unique a rear-seat delete option for the King Cab for commercial customers.
The powertrains, too, are the same as the rest of the Titan lineup. Under the hood of the Titan King Cab, you’ll find a 5.6-liter V8 engine that sends 390 hp through a seven-speed automatic transmission. This combo is good enough for a maximum towing capacity of 9,420 pounds and a maximum payload capacity of 1,640.
Bumping up to the Titan XD gives you the option of replacing that 5.6-liter gas V8 with a 5.0-liter Cummins V8 turbodiesel. The oil-burner is mated to a heavy-duty Aisin six-speed automatic. Both pickups are available in four-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive. Checking the box for the diesel powertrain will raise the maximum towing limit to 12,510 pounds.
Both the Titan King Cab and Titan XD King Cab will be available this spring. Pricing hasn’t been announced, but expect the regular-duty model to slot between the single-cab and crew-cab models in the low $30K range, while XDs should start around $35K.
‘Special Edition Week’ continues: Toyota Tundra, Sequoia TRD Sport models, RAV4 Adventure debut
The Chicago Auto Show is in full swing, and Toyota has announced three special trims for the 2018 model year. Two come with some love from Toyota Racing Development, while the third is simply called the RAV4 Adventure.
Let’s start with the 2018 Toyota Tundra TRD Sport, available in 4×4 or 4×2 in either CrewMax or Double Cab configurations. Power comes from a 381-hp 5.7-liter V8 engine. Bilstein shocks, TRD front and rear sway bars, 20-inch alloy silver sport wheels and a mesh grille with body color surround are just some of the enhancements. The mirrors, hood scoop and front and rear bumpers are all color-keyed. LED Headlights are also standard.
Toyota’s enormous Sequoia SUV also gets a TRD Sport trim for 2018. This adds a new front grille and bumper grille insert, metallic-black mirror caps, 20-inch black sport wheels, darkened taillight housings and black satin-finish TRD Sport badges on the front doors. The package comes with the 5.7-liter V8 in either 4×4 or 4×2 configurations. Inside, the Sequoia TRD Sport gets TRD Sport floor mats, shift knob and sill protectors.
The final model Toyota unveiled at the show is the 2018 RAV4 Adventure. The trim is offered in front-wheel drive with an automatic limited-slip differential, or with all-wheel drive. Both versions come with a Tow Prep Package that includes an upgraded radiator, as well as engine-oil and transmission-fluid coolers. The ride height has also increased.
To differentiate itself from the other RAV4s, the Adventure wears large overfender flares, 18-inch five-spoke black alloy wheels, lower body guards, black headlight bezels, black fog-light surrounds, black roof rails and black Adventure badging.
Inside, the Toyota RAV4 Adventure gets a leather-wrapped shift knob, Adventure doorsill protectors, all-weather mats with the Adventure logo and unique interior trim pieces.
All three special-edition models will hit dealer showrooms this September. Expect pricing to be announced closer to the models’ launch date.
2018 Hyundai Elantra GT is how we’ll get the new i30
Despite a recent rush upmarket, Hyundai is still in the business of selling small, affordable cars. The most recent addition to its lineup came at Paris motor show last fall when Hyundai took the wraps off the redesigned i30. The U.S. will receive this hatch badged as the Elantra GT, which is how it debuted at the Chicago auto show this week; only the top equipment and engines from the European version will make it stateside.
Two inline-four engines will be on the menu when the new hatch goes on sale: a direct-injected 2.0-liter producing 162 hp, paired either with a six-speed manual or an automatic, and a turbocharged 1.6-liter good for 201 hp and 195 lb-ft of torque. Buyers who choose the latter Sport version will have a choice of a six-speed manual or a new seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.
The redesigned hatch is longer and wider than the outgoing model, with Hyundai boasting using more high strength steel this time around — 53 percent of the car’s structure — as well as a 22 percent increase in overall rigidity.
The Elantra GT will be offered with a choice of two engines, with the top turbo unit churning out 201 hp.
Hyundai still aims to impress with this hatch, so items like leather seats, LED daytime running lights, 18-inch wheels, alloy pedals and dual zone climate control will be available, along with Apple CarPlay and AndroidAuto. Standard equipment will include an 8-inch infotainment screen and 17-inch wheels, while a number of advanced safety features like lane-keep assist, high-beam assist, attention assist, automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection and blind-spot detection with rear cross-traffic alert will be offered as options.
Expect Elantra GT pricing to be announced closer to the start of sales this summer.
Nissan rolls out its Midnight Edition to six more vehicles at Chicago
Nissan’s trial run at an edgy, urban Maxima “Midnight Edition” package last year proved so popular that it has expanded the black-trim accessory package across its line.
On the eve of the Chicago Auto Show Wednesday night, Nissan unveiled a six-vehicle Midnight Edition campaign that now includes the Sentra, Altima, Rogue, Murano and Pathfinder in addition to the Maxima.
The automaker admits it was surprised by consumer reaction to its original black-on-black Maxima package, which it displayed during a TV awards program in late 2015 with no plans to market it.
“Our phones started ringing with people asking how they could buy it,” said Eric Ledieu, Nissan’s chief marketing director for sedans, sports cars & NISMO. “So we quickly made it available on the Maxima SR — and now it accounts for 85 percent of all SR sales.”
He said Nissan immediately asked dealers if they wanted more Midnight Editions. “Their responded by asking us to please make it happen very quickly. So every one of these models except the Rogue is now on sale. The Rogue will be available in a few weeks.”
The look consists of black wheels, black side mirrors, black spoilers, black diffusers and floor mats. The SUV models also get black roof racks and splash guards.
Nissan has limited the factory-installed treatment to four body colors — white, red, black and gunmetal gray, and priced the editions to cost half of what the separate parts would cost if added as dealer options, Ledieu said.
The package is simply “a look,” he said. “You see this level of personalization becoming popular, creating a sporty look with dark wheels, dark accents, and in some cases even a matte paint, although we’re not ready to go that far. But people are accessorizing this way. Our thought was, why not do it for them and make it more affordable?
“It’s a more aggressive hip and urban look,” he said.
The Sentra’s Midnight package costs $490, a savings of $500 from the cost of the individual pieces when sold as individual accessories. The packages range up to $1,195 for the Murano and Pathfinder.
The article “Nissan expands ‘Midnight Edition’ to six models” originally appeared on autonews.com
The Volkswagen Atlas Weekend concept is basically a rolling accessories catalog
Volkswagen’s new crossover, the Atlas, isn’t on sale for a couple more months. Nevertheless, VW is already unveiling a concept called the Atlas Weekend Edition at the Chicago show.
Based on the Atlas SEL Premium model, the Weekend Edition is basically an accessories package that includes unique wheels; an Urban Loader cargo box; bars for attaching accessories for skis, snowboards, kayaks or bikes; a cargo divider; and window and hood deflectors. There’s also a heavy-duty trunk liner and all-weather rubber mats.
The rest is all Atlas SEL Premium and its 276-hp 3.6-liter VR6 engine and eight-speed transmission, and VW’s 4Motion all-wheel drive.
Wes Raynal – Wes Raynal joined Crain Communications’ circulation department while still in college. When he graduated in 1986, he became a reporter for Autoweek sister publication Automotive News. He has worked as Autoweek’s associate editor, news editor, motorsports editor and executive editor before being named editor in 2009. Read more »
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2018 Dodge Durango SRT: the three-row rocket you didn’t know you wanted
If getting the peewee soccer team down a drag strip is a top priority (and it should be), Dodge has a new family hauler for you: The three-row Durango SUV is getting the SRT treatment to the tune of 475 hp and 470 lb-ft of torque sent to all four wheels. And no, this isn’t Dodge just cramming the 6.4-liter V8 under the hood and calling it a day. This is the fastest, most powerful three-row SUV, according to the automaker, and to get that claim past the legal team Dodge had to pack some other performance bits into this SUV.
The new SRT hood has a functional cold-air duct that is flanked by heat extractors. The lower front fascia houses LED fog lamps and more cooling ducts. The additional cooling bits lower intake temperatures by up to 18 degrees. Zero to 60 mph takes just 4.4 seconds while a quarter mile happens in 12.9 seconds — as certified by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA).
The 2018 Durango SRT comes with seven drive modes: auto, sport, track, snow, tow, valet and ECO. Track mode delivers top on-road performance. The suspension is stiffened while stability control allows for maximum rear-end slippage. Shifts can be delivered as fast as 160 milliseconds while up to 70 percent of the torque is sent to the rear wheels.
The transmission handling all that horsepower is Dodge’s standard TorqueFlite eight-speed automatic, specifically calibrated for the Durango SRT. Rev matching is standard, as are paddle shifters for those who feel like shifting their own gears.
Tow mode turns on full stability control while sending power 50/50 through the AWD system. Active Noise Cancelation is automatically engaged to reduce engine noise during high-load towing conditions. Towing capacity has been increased to 8,600 pounds — up from 7,200.
Standard are five-spoke, 20-inch wheels in “black noise” finish. Pirelli 295/45ZR-20 Scorpion Verde all-season tires are standard rubber; Pirelli P Zero three-season tires are also available. Twenty-inch forged aluminum wheels with a split five-spoke design are also available in black noise.
Stopping power is provided by 15-inch rotors with six-piston Brembo calipers up front and 13-inch rotors and four-piston calipers at the rear.
Inside, there is a hand-wrapped dashboard with silver accents, a SRT flat-bottom steering wheel, heated and ventilated front seats, and heated second-row captain’s chairs. Standard materials are nappa leather with suede inserts, while “demonic red Laguna” leather is optional and also gets carbon-fiber trim. SRT logos are plentiful on the upholstery. Also, there is a new 7-inch TFT instrument cluster with a 180-mph speedometer that allows the driver to customize the layouts and information. The BeatsAudio premium sound system, which is standard, features nine speakers, a subwoofer and a 506-watt amplifier.
This is the fastest, most powerful three-row SUV, according to the automaker, and to get that claim past the legal team Dodge had to pack some other performance bits into this SUV.
A few badges around the SUV give it away that this is more than your standard family hauler. There is an SRT badge in the grille and two 392 badges on the fenders. Other visual changes include the new hood and front fascia, a revised rear fascia and dual exhaust system with 4-inch tips finished in nickel chrome.
Pricing for the 2018 Dodge Challenger has yet to be announced. We expect that information to break closer to the SUV’s on-sale date, which is scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year. We don’t know if we can wait that long. We have some groceries to get.
The 2018 Subaru Legacy looks fresh for Chicago
The Subaru Legacy, one of just three non-luxury midsize sedans to post an increase in U.S. sales last year, is getting a midcycle freshening for the 2018 model year.
The 2018 Legacy, set to debut at the Chicago Auto Show this month, features slight new styling touches to the exterior, handling updates and a more premium interior.
At the front, there is a wider hexagonal grille and wider, lower grille openings. In the rear, Subaru added a new tailpipe design into the lower fascia.
Subaru said the C-shaped headlights, parking lights and new horizontal lines extending outward from the grille “subtly suggest the piston motion of the boxer engine.”
The 2018 Legacy will also have available steering responsive headlights, which aim the lights into turns as the driver steers, Subaru said.
The suspension, including the dampers, was retuned on the 2018 model for a smoother ride.
To limit ride noise, Subaru says it reshaped the exterior mirrors, added new sound-insulating inner film glass for the front side windows and made the rear wheel aprons thicker.
Powertrain upgrades
Additionally, the continuously variable transmission on models with a 2.5-liter engine now uses an ultra-short pitch chain, which is quieter, Subaru said. The automaker has also made adjustments to engine timing under acceleration to further limit powertrain noise.
The same engines from 2017 will be available in 2018 models. The Legacy 2.5i, available in standard, Premium and Sport trims, features a 175 hp, 2.5-liter boxer engine, while the Legacy 3.6R keeps the 256 hp, 3.6-liter boxer engine. The Limited trim is available with either engine.
The center console has been redesigned with a standard 6.5-inch Starlink multimedia system and display, up from 6.2-inches in the previous model. An 8-inch display and system is also available.
Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are now included in the Legacy as well.
To give the interior a more premium feel, Subaru added real stitching on the dash, seats and door panels on Premium and higher trims.
Additional interior upgrades include an air conditioning system that cools the cabin more quickly, a larger redesigned clock and a new color choice: gray, in addition to black or ivory.
The 2018 Legacy will also have new wheel designs and two new exterior colors, magnetite gray metallic and crimson red pearl, available. The sedan is set to go on sale this summer. Pricing was not announced.
U.S. sales of the Legacy rose 8 percent to 65,306 in 2016. The Buick Regal and Chevrolet Malibu were the only other midsize sedans to post gains last year in a highly competitive segment that shrank 12 percent and an overall car market that dropped 8.9 percent.
In January, U.S. deliveries of the Legacy dropped 13 percent to 3,882 units.
The article “Subaru polishes Legacy for 2018” originally appeared on autonews.com
Alfa Romeo Giulia coupe could be heading to the Geneva motor show
Alfa Romeo is preparing a two-door version of its Giulia sedan for the Geneva motor show, according to Australia’s Motoring.com.au. The move makes sense for Alfa — the Giulia coupe would compete directly with the Audi A5, BMW 4-series, and Mercedes-Benz C-Class coupes.
If true, this would be the third variant to roll off the automaker’s Giorgio platform — the Giulia sedan and Stelvio SUV being the other two. A convertible is also said to be in the works. Alfa has promised eight models based off the Giorgio platform by 2020.
Power will likely come from the existing stable of Giulia sedan powertrains. Expect to see a 2.0-liter four-cylinder making 276 hp and the 505-hp 2.9-liter V6 found in the Quadrifoglio. The rest of the world will also have a 2.2-liter diesel available.
The Sprint nameplate could make a comeback for the Giulia coupe, which is a moniker the two-door version of the model originally wore in the early 1960s. As we get closer to the Geneva motor show, we expect more details to solidify.
All the bizarre, wonderful JDM madness we saw at the 2017 Tokyo Auto Salon
With a history spanning back almost four decades, the annual Tokyo Auto Salon (TAS) aftermarket and tuning show has become a must-see for any enthusiast. The show is as unique as the market it attempts to promote,: varied, eccentric at times surprising and confusing, but always with an underlying purpose of fun.
The V12 Vantage takes styling cues from the GT3 car with wide fenders, a ducktail spoiler and wicked rear diffuser.
There is a style for everyone, from your more conventional modified cars like the turbocharged Mazda MX-5 Miata we found at the Blitz booth, to the very fashion-oriented overfender craze that over the last year has swept across Japan — and the word. The newest addition to the fender-pumping brigade has been the Ferrari 488 as displayed by Liberty Walk, while ACR Performance showed us how to inject GT3 race car spirit into the Aston Martin Vantage.
We knew it wouldn’t take Liberty Walk long to “stance” the Ferrari 488 GTB, which has stylized the 458 Italia, F430 and 360 Modena.
With HKS having released a complete turbo kit for the Honda S660, it wasn’t a surprise that almost everyone had one of the convertible kei cars as part of their display; the question here is when is Honda going to start bringing these fun and affordable sports cars Stateside (we’re still holding out hope).
These wild rims come from RAYS, a Japanese wheel manufacturer. Made out of Duralumin, the strong alloy allows the back and sides of the 6-spoke design to be machined out, saving weight.
And on the subject of Honda, the NSX has been getting some attention from tuners, but so far nothing beyond simple dress-up goodies and big over-styled wheels. RAYS, famed Japanese wheel manufacturer released an alloy wheel made of extra strong Duralumin, an alloy so rigid it allowed them to machine out most of the back and sides of the 6-spoke design shaving off 300 gr per 20-inch wheel.
Nope. Still no turbocharger for the Subaru BRZ STI Sport.
STI, Subaru’s tuning and racing arm, showed us the soon-to-be-released BRZ STI Sport, which aside from a polished aluminum paint job and a set of wheels brings nothing new to the table — certainly not a turbocharged version of its flat-4 motor everyone has been waiting for.
Nitto showed off its NT555 G2 rubber recipe wrapped around Donning Work Wheels’ new Meister L1 design on this Mustang.
It might not be as big as SEMA but what TAS lacks in size it makes up for with lots of character; it’s sensory overload at its finest, and it’s precisely why it is so loved by enthusiasts the world over.
Driftwagen: 2018 Mercedes-AMG E63 wagon packs 603 hp under slick new sheetmetal
Just when you thought you’d seen it all in terms of station wagons, here comes Mercedes-AMG’s 2018 E63 S wagon. Arriving in showrooms this fall, AMG’s latest longroof uses the sedan’s 603-hp/627 lb-ft 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 (hand-built, of course), AMG-tuned 4Matic+ all-wheel drive and a nine-speed automatic transmission that uses a wet clutch in place of the traditional torque converter. The combination is good for a 3.4-second zero-to-60 time and an electronically limited 180-mph top speed.
This time around, the monstrous V8 has cylinder deactivation while the all-wheel-drive system is now fully variable, able to send up to 50 percent of torque to the front wheels. More importantly for AMG drivers, the variable 4Matic+ also has a coupling that disconnects the front axle, sending 100 percent power rearward to the electronic limited-slip differential. The five driving modes — Comfort, Sport, Sport +, Race and Individual — allow you to adjust the car’s ride, handling, steering, throttle response and 4Matic settings.
AMG boss Tobias Moers says add it all up and this new wagon is more agile than the outgoing model. We can’t wait to find out in person — the E63 wagon will debut in the metal at the Geneva motor show, and first drives should happen a few months after that.
2018 Mercedes AMG E63 S wagon interior
It’s a tough-looking bugger, this wagon. The hood is inset between the fenders and bumper like a coupe, the wheel arches are wider to accommodate the wider track width (Benz hasn’t given dimensions yet) and there is an air splitter and huge air intakes in the front bumper. Side sill panels make it look like the wagon sits lower than the E400 wagon, while the rear diffuser and twin chrome-plated tailpipes look striking, at least in the photos.
The interior is typical AMG: Flat-bottom steering wheel, carbon trim, sporty buckets — you get the idea. Just in case you care, there’s 35 cubic feet of trunk space with the second row seats upright.
You can see it in person at the Geneva motor show in about a month.
Wes Raynal – Wes Raynal joined Crain Communications’ circulation department while still in college. When he graduated in 1986, he became a reporter for Autoweek sister publication Automotive News. He has worked as Autoweek’s associate editor, news editor, motorsports editor and executive editor before being named editor in 2009. Read more »
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Toyota President declares ‘No more boring cars’
Akio Toyoda has issued a companywide decree for “no more boring cars.” And to back it up, the Toyota Motor Corp. president has given designers greater clout than ever.
The shift of power away from engineers delivered its first daring design in the futuristic, fin-tailed 2016 Prius. The latest is the 2018 Camry sedan, with its bold proportions and flared sheet metal.
At the Camry’s debut this month in Detroit, Toyoda asked the overcapacity crowd if the eighth-generation sedan was sexy or really sexy. It speaks to a dramatic, if risky, move from the ho-hum Toyota of old.
The key to the automaker’s styling push is a revamped vehicle-development strategy that elevates a new “product chief designer” to work alongside the chief engineer as equal partners in creating a car.
The idea would have been unthinkable at the world’s biggest automaker just a few years ago.
For decades, design was routinely sacrificed at the hands of Toyota’s production engineers, a coterie revered internally as “production gods” for their relentless pursuit of efficiency and the brutal veto power they wielded over any product flourish deemed too frivolous for the factory.
But Toyoda, in his own pursuit of sexy cars, has cut them down a notch.
Starting with the fourth-generation Prius, Toyota has overhauled how products are designed. The product chief designer was hatched as a kind of guardian of the styling studio’s true intent, shepherding it from the day of the initial sketch to the car’s line-off.
Stronger voice
The gambit could easily have gone awry.
Camry Chief Engineer Masato Katsumata, who also led development of the current, seventh-generation Camry, remembers the old days of the overlording production gods.
“Normally Toyota styling is not so sexy or three-dimensional. That’s because, I’m sorry to say, on the production engineering side, they do not take risks,” Katsumata said.
Quality control was job one, and complicated designs that necessitated complicated production methods needlessly raised the danger of defects.
Then there were the added costs of producing complex sheet-metal stamps.
“So then finally, the designer’s direction is pulled back,” Katsumata said.
It required pressure from the very top to break the mold.
“It basically comes down to someone at the top saying, “We have to do this.’ And giving design a much stronger voice than ever before in this company,” said Ian Cartabiano, the Toyota design veteran who penned the initial 2-inch sketch of the new Camry in his calendar journal.
“And now, because of Akio, design has a really strong voice,” he told Automotive News.
In Detroit, Toyoda conceded, “It’s no secret that I like to involve myself in the design process.”
But Cartabiano, chief designer at Toyota’s Calty studio in California, also played a key role in the change. He pushed the envelope as designer of some of Toyota’s most striking recent vehicles, including the Lexus LF-LC concept sport coupe and the Toyota C-HR subcompact crossover.
For the Camry, styling stewardship was entrusted to Akira Kubota as product chief designer. Cartabiano said Kubota faithfully fulfilled his duty of shepherding the original vision.
“We actually started with that 2-inch doodle,” Cartabiano said of his calendar book drawing. “And it became sketch, bigger sketch, bigger sketch, model. But that original intention followed all the way through to the cars.
“It was totally new for us,” he said. “There’s always been a designer, but the chief engineer has been the top guy. It was always just 100 percent engineering.”
The Camry was a tough test of Toyota’s quest for zest. Go too wild, and the traditionally vanilla family sedan might alienate the masses that have made it America’s best-selling car for 15 years straight. Katsumata’s Camry development team also wanted to maximize the functionality of the car to counter the public’s stampede to utility vehicles.
Designers eschewed the fashion of ever-narrowing greenhouses to create bigger windows and clear visibility, Cartabiano said. Toyota also stretched back the car’s roof peak to give more headroom in the rear seat and added 2 inches to the wheelbase to improve rear door access. The trunk lid opens almost past vertical to allow better cargo stowing.
But the Camry makes the biggest waves with its more dynamic exterior contours.
Part of the breakthrough came from Toyoda forcing the change. But new metal-stamping innovations also cleared the way for creating the designers’ sharp creases and curvy edges without the splintering of fragile edges in the factory. The advent of high-tensile steel also helped — as does the fact that Toyota, as one of the world’s richest automakers, can afford to splurge on new technologies.
“The fact that production engineering can make the shapes that designers dream about, that’s really great for us,” Cartabiano said. “I think you’re going to see a lot of kick ass products coming out of Toyota in the next couple years. And Camry’s a good start.”
The article “Toyota lines reflect designers’ growing clout” originally appeared on autonews.com
The Mulholland Speedster is America’s Most Beautiful Roadster
What is beauty? You guys go ahead and argue that all you want, but the judges at the Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, California, have spoken: America’s Most Beautiful Roadster is Bruce Wanta’s Mulholland Speedster, a smooth, flowing 1936 Packard-based creation of Troy Ladd’s Hollywood Hot Rods.
Ladd and crew have been working on the car for six years, ever since designer Eric Black first penned an exquisite drawing of it in 2010.
“Bruce (Wanta, the owner) was originally thinking late-‘30s Ford with a Packard influence,” Black said. “We kept adding Packard influence (to the drawings) until finally we said, ‘Why don’t we just go with a Packard?”
So they started with a 1936 Packard 1401 Coupe. But the design was refined and then re-refined so many times that the finished product is about three-fourths the original size of the Packard. We think the finished product is fully deserving of the win.
The Mulholland Speedster may set the custom car world on its ear.
The AMBR is given out every year at the culmination of the Grand National Roadster Show, one of the pinnacles of the hot-rodding art form. And yes, it is an art form, with designers, sculptors and patrons of the art paying big bucks — often over a million dollars — to create what they hope will be seen by judges and others as something beautiful.
Eric Black’s drawing of the Mulholland Speedster
This year’s winner was quite a departure from the traditional ’32 Ford Hi Boy roadsters and ’29 Track roadsters that have won the award so many times in the show’s 68-year history. The biggest difference is not just that it was based on a Packard, though that is certainly a first for the show. The bigger difference is that the Mulholland Speedster represents a potential trend in the larger automotive world: the return of the coach-built automobile, where a custom shop takes a manufacturer’s chassis and drivetrain and puts its own body on top in the manner of Figoni et Falaschi, Bohman & Schwarz, Chapron, Franay and any number of classic builders.
“Originally, we based a lot of the ideas on a Delahaye and the LeBaron-bodied cars and things like that,” Ladd told us a year ago when we visited the shop. “We kind of mixed and matched. We picked pieces of things we liked and started to design a car from scratch. Two-thirds of the way through the process, we realized we unknowingly built something very Packard-ish. So then we embraced that idea, but most of it’s coach-built.”
The win is a nice touch, but there are even more plans for this car.
“We’re realizing that this is not a hot rod, it’s not a concours restoration. What is it? Maybe it’s something I need to grab onto and see if I can promote the idea. There are other people with the money to commission one of these that maybe don’t know they want this yet. Why can’t we push this idea of a kind of a couture-built car? We’ll design it for you; there’s only one in the world. You get to be a part of the process. We can sit with the designer. We’ll draw in front of you; ‘Do you like this?’ So we’re wondering if there’s a way to promote this concept.”
Ladd and Wanta have considered how to show the car at the Pebble Beach festivities. They’re pretty sure they can get into The Quail, but they’re also looking into parking it on the Concept Lawn at Pebble. We hope that works out. And we hope Ladd and other modern shops like Moal and Rick Dore can all revive the coach-built tradition.
But for now, the Hollywood Hot Rod boys are savoring the AMBR.
“I’m as happy as I could possibly be,” said Wanta.
The Coolest Cars from this weekend’s Grand National Roadster Show
The coolest custom cars and most radical roadsters rolled into the nine halls of the Pomona Fairplex on Thursday in anticipation of the Friday opening of the 68th Grand National Roadster Show, the so-called “Grand Daddy of Them All.”
While the total number of cars at a typical GNRS can easily exceed 1,000, and there seem to be at least that many trophies to hand out in the course of the weekend, only 12 cars compete for the show’s highest honor, America’s Most Beautiful Roadster. That title goes to the best of the AMBR entries, all of which must be roofless two-seaters made before or based on a car that was made before 1937. So on the day before the show opens to the public, what you could call setup day, we always go down and try to guess which of the 12 AMBR entries will win.
This year, as in previous years, there were many strong contenders.
The Mulholland Speedster from Troy Ladd’s Hollywood Hot Rods.
We saw Bruce Wanta’s Mulholland Speedster when it was in bare metal about a year ago. We got a look at it at Troy Ladd’s Hollywood Hot Rods shop in Burbank. It’s based on a real Packard 1401 C but with quite a few modifications. For instance, the fenders are straight off that Packard, but the team modified them and modified them and then modified them again. Each fender is now a reassembly of 17 pieces, but you wouldn’t know to look at it. The whole car looks like a deep red Jell-O bowl of smooth perfect Packard, albeit reimagined smooth perfect Packard swathed in “Mulholland Merlot” paint.
“The goal was to build a real hot rod and make it elegant,” said Wanta.
Time Merchant was built by Goolsby Customs in Hueytown, Alabama — home of the Allisons of NASCAR fame.
Across the floor from Mulholland was Time Merchant, a Brookville ’32 with an Oldsmobile Rocket V8 engine and “Starfire Blue” paint so perfectly sky blue that if this thing could fly, it would be invisible.
Then there’s Rick Dore, who might have found himself trapped somewhere between a Southern California speed shop and Pebble Beach, all to our benefit. Several years ago, Dore decided to go away from traditional rod and custom designs and create his own, distinctly art deco style, one that would not look out of place at The Mullin Automobile Museum. This year, Dore entered the AMBR competition with a creation called “After Shock,” based on a ’37 Ford and Art Morrison chassis. It could just as easily have been a Delage or a Delahaye.
Wayne Johnson, meanwhile, designed his AMBR winner when he was 16 years old and in high school. He thought up the design, anyway. It was just finished this year — he will be 76 years old on the day you read this. His ’29 track-nosed roadster is called Proboscis, maybe because of that track nose and its 90-pound chrome grille. It’s powered by a 351 Windsor stroked to a 419 to put out 537 hp and 567 lb-ft of torque.
Another standout was Fool’s Goldster, built by Matt Taylor of Taylor Made Kustoms.
Gordon Gray brought his ’32 Ford Roadster all the way from Surrey, British Columbia. Local entries included Don Lindfors’ ’32 Roadster Pickup from Orange, California; Bill Grant’s ’28 Ford Roadster from Upland, California; and Shawn Killion’s 1928 Lincoln Roadster built by San Diego Rod & Customs.
Which one will win it all? We’ll find out — and tell you — Sunday night.
Meanwhile, there should be as many as 900 to 1,000 cars parked in the halls and on the grounds at the Fairplex in Pomona, California, from Friday to Sunday, including the 60th anniversary of the Tri-Fives (1955, ’56 and ’57 Chevies) in hall nine; rat rods and rockabilly in the Suede Palace, and genuine Pink’s hot dogs and various barbecue and beer vendors pretty much everywhere in between. Whatever your taste in rods and or customs, you’ll find something to like at the Roadster Show. See you Sunday night!
What sets Kia Stinger, Genesis G70 apart?
Kia’s groundbreaking Stinger hatchback is fresh out of the oven. Its cousin, the Genesis G70, hasn’t been seen yet. But after the Kia’s Detroit auto show debut, the question is already brewing: What’s the difference between the two?
Answering definitively will be crucial for Kia and Genesis. Both cars look to challenge the established compact sport sedans; to do so effectively they’ll need to carve out different identities from each other — despite sharing most of their hardware — and from their competitors.
While executives who worked on both cars weren’t necessarily eager to take up the question, the clearest signal came from Albert Biermann, head of vehicle testing for Kia and Hyundai.
The most obvious differentiator, he said, will be styling, as Kia and Genesis each uses its new baby to set the tone for its brand image.
For Kia, it will be the most conspicuous pivot yet from its heritage as a builder of inexpensive appliances; the Stinger hatchback is meant to be a loud, dramatic grand tourer. “You saw this very colorful choice [on the Kia stand], so it nicely fits to the Kia brand slogan “The power to surprise’ and this is a big surprise, the Stinger,” Biermann told Automotive News. “When we talk about the other brand’s car, it’s a whole different story.”
That car, the Genesis G70, will define the direction of Genesis in a way the G90 and G80 haven’t. When it debuts this year, the G70 will be a more subdued sedan than the Stinger hatch, and stick closer to the conventional sport sedan playbook the European brands wrote decades ago.
The two models’ driving dynamics won’t be radically different, Biermann conceded.
“You can expect some difference in driving experience,” Biermann said. “It’s not so easy maybe [as] with the styling, but I think we can find good tuning and calibration that set them a little bit apart.”
“What sets Kia Stinger, Genesis G70 apart?” was originally posted at Automotive News on 1/26/17.
Dodge Challenger SRT Demon gets Nitto DOT-approved drag radials
Dodge rolled out the third teaser for the 2018 Challenger SRT Demon on Thursday. This one is called “Wide Body.” You’ve probably learned this by now, but the new Challenger will go live at the New York auto show in April.
We get a few bits of new info, like the fact that the wheels will measure 18-by-11 inches and roll on “Demon Branded” 315/40R18 Nitto NT05R tires, “making Demon the first ever factory production car built with drag radials.” It will also gain 3.5 inches of width including the wheels, tires and fender flares. Dodge “e-coated” the chassis, which means it gets dipped into a bath “that electricity converts the chemicals in the solution into a corrosion resisting primer right at the surface of the part,” according to finishing.com, the go-to site for all of your chassis-finishing needs.
Check out ifyouknowyouknow.com for the latest Demon information.
2018 Subaru Crosstrek looks meaner in pre-Geneva tease
The world has a better idea of what the next-gen Subaru Crosstrek will look like.
Subaru released a teaser photo of the 2018 Crosstrek Monday and confirmed that the crossover is to make its global debut in March at the Geneva auto show.
The teaser photo hints that the Crosstrek will incorporate some design elements from the XV Concept shown at the 2016 Geneva show, including similar taillights and a sporty, flowing side profile.
The next-generation Crosstrek will be based on the new global platform under the redesigned Impreza that went on sale in late 2016.
When the crossover was launched in the U.S. in fall 2012, it was known as the XV Crosstrek. Subaru dropped XV from the U.S. name in 2015.
In markets outside the U.S., the vehicle is known as the XV. A Subaru spokesman noted that the second-generation version will continue to be known as the Crosstrek in the U.S.
The redesigned Crosstrek comes as Subaru is cashing in on the market shift to crossovers.
The automaker is targeting a 9 percent surge in 2017 U.S. sales, for a ninth straight year of record U.S. results.
Subaru sold 95,677 Crosstreks in the U.S. in 2016, up 7.6 percent from 2015, good for third place in the brand’s lineup. Overall, the automaker sold a record 615,132 vehicles in 2016 in the U.S., a 5.6 percent increase from the previous record of 582,675 sales in 2015.
“Subaru hints at next-gen Crosstrek styling” was originally published at Automotive News on 1/25/17.