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Comments
I would be happy with the basic 911 Carrera at a measly $79,000. Still gets to 60 in 4.7 seconds and tops out at 180 MPH.
Camry -5%
Altima +24%
Sonata -3%
Accord -21%
Fusion +5%
Couldn't find the Malibu numbers. but I'm guessing a lot are buying the Cruze instead. It's pretty much a 3/4 length Malibu.
Toyota unveils new model for Japan
Toyota will no longer will ship Japanese-made Camry vehicles to the United States and other parts of North America.
I don't think they are - it just takes time to produce videos. I'm sure we'll see it soon, of course I was unplugged all weekend so I may have missed it already.
All along I said it was the incentives that boosted sales temporarily for the 'bu, and now we all know that was true.
I was right all along.
Put enough cash on the hood and look what happens: Gary buys a Toyota. True story.
Ghosn has worked miracles there.
My fear? Nissan could grow too quickly, like Toyota did. I hope they keep their focus on QC as output rises.
Maybe Toyota is just too used to hiding things, they can even reveal the good news.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z67KeFZLjX8
That giant thud you hear is every German engineers' chin hitting the floor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvL4aubO6yY&feature=player_embedded
It's in German with English subtitles. Criticisms are the price and the fact that only 50 are being made. I don't see how that sort of exclusivity will hurt it in the eyes of those lucky 50 folks.
Remember, this isn't some all-time record.
I love the sounds and that IP...phenomenal!
I saw Potenza tires, too...
I don't see the significance of it being at the Ring though. Toyota developed the car there for a decade. Everyone who is anyone tests their suoercar at the ring. It's a standard.
I've seen that first hand in the reaction to this 'ring lap time. Funny - suddenly some think 'ring times are not important.
Only a matter of months before someone beats it, but it's meaningful to have held the record at all, and not just for electrics.
Aha - Fintail is James May!!
I like May's connection of Ring tuned cars to rough rides, and how the non-Ring borne new McLaren has a smooth ride. That McLaren is pretty cool, too.
I wouldn't expect an RS Porsche to coddle my mother-in-law on the way to the opera, either.
A 911 may be too "common" for them. I remember, when I went to San Diego, thinking that Porsches were like Fords there.
http://www.autoblog.com/2011/09/07/lexus-confirms-lfa-nurburgring-record-with-ne- w-footage/
Plus it disappointed from the starting gate. People expected a V12 and got a turbo V6.
LF-A seems to be going the opposite so far, i.e. exceeding expectations.
Translation: that's what the HS face lift will look like here.
That Avensis is ugly, big dangling pig snout emblem, faddish LEDs, will keep HS sales low.
I just watched the 2012 ZR1 (7:19) for comparison.
At around 4:15 they were pretty much tied.
The LFA had a 3-4 mph advantage on the long straight near the end.
The Corvette driver using a manual trans, had to work a lot harder.
Actually, I think we can do that math - $400k times 50 is a cool $20 million.
It's not about that, though, it's about bragging rights, marketing, and, hopefully, a trickle-down effect.
LF-A is high tech, ZR1 is brute force. Both very cool.
Margin of error even with the same driver is about ~2 seconds on any given lap, so it may be even closer than it seems.
I don't know if Toyota will dare to put off their isotank zombie Lexus clientele by making a vehicle that actually responds to driving. We will see. Can't really be more that way than they are now, anything has to be an improvement.
For a lot of the cars I like, I can wait for them to depreciate to a reasonable level. Let the guillotine class eat the initial costs. Otherwise, if I had 400K to blow on cars, no Toyota would be at the top of my list.
CTS sales have certainly improved:
Year-to-date retail sales of the CTS family increased 39 percent compared to last year
http://media.cadillac.com/content/media/us/en/cadillac/news.detail.html/content/- Pages/news/us/en/2011/Sep/cadsales
It's a start...the halo doesn't hurt. They follow up with promoted events, to reinforce it.
Lexus should host more of those Taste of Lexus events and focus less on the food this time, more on the cars.
When the cars are more exciting than some cheese and wine, maybe they can do that :shades:
Bad news for you, the end is nigh:
http://www.autoblog.com/2011/09/08/daimler-chairman-dieter-zetsche-to-keynote-ce- s-2012/
So, Lexus is hammering it hard at the 'ring, while Daimler's CEO is the keynote at ... a consumer electronics show?
Didn't it used to be the other way around? :P
The CES organizers are trying to bring in more automotive companies to display at the show. Technically navs, backup cameras, telematics are all "consumer electronics". Remember, the goal of trade show organizers is to bring in companies to display.
I remember a few years ago Ford displayed at the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show. They had a Windstar with all sorts of neat family on the move gadgets.
MB wants to be seen as more performance oriented and high tech (look at all of the recent ads about MB gadgets that save errant drivers from their own downfall), CES kind of makes sense.
I sincerely doubt the Toyota CEO has spent any time at the Ring, especially while examining 98% of its products from the past 20 years...while the DB CEO is from the land where the Ring is just a road...all the while we get the most overhyped car of the year in the new GS...
Audi has been pushing tech lately, too. I like the touch pad that accepts hand writing.
Still, I mentioned that because it seemed like role reversal. Lexus was known for tech, Germans for autobahn.
BMW's last 2 events were at a local dealership, really just an invitation to test drive. At least they had a Benz to compare.
A couple of years ago BMW did an short auto cross course in Baltimore, that was fun. Before that the X3 event had a really good autocross course at FedEx Field's parking lot. BTW I won the "Best Performance" cone they hand out, and my X3 even lacked the Sport package. :shades:
Been a while since the last Benz event, I think the previous ML intro, and that was quite the production. Also at FedEx Field.
Taste of Lexus was there as well, also a bunch of autocross courses. Surprisingly, Lexus had the best variety of competitors' cars by far. I drove Cadillacs, Bimmers, and Benzes. They weren't afraid to compare side-by-side.
So definitely not focusing on food, though I'd say all of those had really good catering. Volvo even had child care (a nod to their focus on child safety, perhaps?).
When the market is at 17 million, they really rolled out the red carpet. Now it's just an invite to visit a dealer, with free cold cut sammiches. Boo. :lemon:
Last one was in 2000, IIRC. That was fun. Better to have a neutral host so we know the cars aren't rigged.
Volvo was the most guilty, they compared the S60 to the BMW 330i on price, but then on the track they compared a 325i. :surprise:
Even BMW cheats - they compared the X3 to the RX, but the RX had severely bald tires.
The bald tires thing is funny...shouldn't they all be comparing new cars? I'd assume bald tires means a rig with 20K+ miles on it, or they switched wheels from an old car onto a new one, which would really be sketchy.
I wonder if these events actually pay for themselves in sales. Maybe just an efficiency requirement in this new economy.
You would have been shocked - it was really quite a driving event.
Tires - the events are typically sponsored by a Tire company, which puts their tires on the host car, and new ones at that. Of course they rotated fresh performance tires on the Bimmer, while the Lexus had worn out all seasons.
I sat in an IS-F but it was not available to drive. To be fair, M- and AMG cars are the same way, some times they do let you go as a passenger.
Lots of ways to cheat. BMW wasn't even subtle about it.
Looks like Audi and Benz didn't even show up, so the CES appearance appears to be a MB-USA phenomenon.
Fun story - at one event Subaru had hired British instructors, and they seemed really nervous.
When I asked why, they said it was because we were located at a revolutionary war battlefield in PA. They said they hadn't fared so well at that site last time. LOL