I was the odd man out. A late flight meant there was no other journalist to share driving duties on this latest new vehicle launch. However, this turned out to be fortuitous, as my navigator was none other than the vehicle’s platform manager. Once he seemed assured that I wouldn’t toss it off the road, and I was comfortable that he wasn’t going to nanny me for the next few hours, the conversation turned interesting. The prompt for this was my flat-footed observation that it was silly in this day and age to put fake wood into any vehicle with aspirations to being ‘premium’. I mean—really! How much can it really save on the bottom line? I was correct about the cost of real arboreal enhancement: $200-300 per car. But just as my righteous outrage was sliding into overdrive, my erstwhile copilot started explaining to me what goes into the budgeting and development equations for a new platform. In the 21st century, car development starts roughly five years prior to anticipated launch date. In there right at the beginning is a team of marketers and designers whose task is to figure ...

Tricky business, product placement. Get it right and whole generations are imprinted with a need for something they’ve never even seen in three dimension. Think Mini in America, channeled via the ‘Italian Job’ movies; think Bullitt Mustang in England; think Aston Martin everywhere. Get it wrong and not only are you a marketing cautionary tale to industry insiders, but you’re out sales as well. Many of us had high hopes for the reimagined ‘80’s cheese-classic ‘Knight Rider’ and wondered if GM missed a trick by not bringing the ‘09 Camaro to the party. Besides, how could they allow the Mustang’s pony car nemesis to take over the role of KITT? Our questions were answered last week, and it appears that at least someone high up in the General’s ranks has a measure of discernment. Aside from some early homage shots of the ol’ Firebird’s ‘Tuned Port Injection’ manifold, the show was pretty much an unmitigated disaster for old fans and musclecar aficionados alike: poor pacing, worse acting, low-budget CGI; the works. Even a cameo by Hoff couldn’t save it. Critics and normal folk alike panned it. From the perspective of product placement, there were ...

The United States’ economic prosperity and population of over 300 million make for the world’s biggest vehicle market; the state of California alone swallows more cars and trucks per year—around two million—than all but a few countries. So the attractions for manufacturers are clear. As the saying goes: if you can make it here… The problem is that many don’t make it here. Not long-term, anyway. Gone from these shores are such historic brands as Alfa Romeo, Citroen, Fiat, Peugeot, and Renault. Most of the blame can be laid at the feet of the companies themselves. They were unable or unwilling to make the improvements in reliability, durability, and after-sale service that the American consumer demanded. That’s the oft-overlooked (or ignored) downside: once your vehicles are out there, your company has to take care of a group of finicky clients who have a myriad of other options. What’s your service plan? Warranty? Parts availability? Franchise footprint? Those customers are spread across a landscape of over nine million square kilometers. And those same folk are used to 24-hour roadside service and 4 year/80,000 kilometer coverage. Two recent manufacturer’s change of ownership ...

Like many American gear-heads, I grumble from time to time about the unavailability in our market of certain radically cool vehicles. Year’s back, I was one of 900 of my countrymen to order up the 450hp Audi RS6. It seemed the perfect ‘do-it-all’ vehicle for someone who lives in a region of extreme weather variability and an altitude 1600 meters above sea level. Except—unlike continentals—I couldn’t get the Avant model, which accounts for 80% of the RS6’s sales in Europe. No righteous stealth-wagon for me, alas. The U.S. gets no Nissan Skyline GT-Rs, no BMW CSLs, no Audi Q17 V12 turbodiesels. No rollcage n’ harness option for a Porsche GT3 RS—a car obviously designed for trackwork. The level of absurdity appears to reach epic proportions when a prospective purchaser finds out he or she can’t get the adjustable hip-hugging buckets and groovy flat-bottomed steering wheel in the sublime Audi RS4. Riddle me that, Batman. Much of the blame can be laid at the feet of the alphabet-soup of regulatory watchdog agencies that our government, in its infinite wisdom, created to ‘protect’ the American consumer. That Audi wheel? Doesn’t pass ...

To retro or not to retro is something that’s on the minds of many head designers and executives at the auto manufactures of late. After spending billions to develop a new model, will seemingly fickle buyers embrace retooled sixties surfaces, or are they more likely to flock to flame surfacing? Jaguar learned the hard way that neither Europeans nor Americans want their cutting-edge tech wrapped in recycled aluminum, and the wonderful driving XJ and S-types have never come close to sales targets. Yet, another Ford product—the Mustang—has been a smashing success in its overtly swingin’ style. What gives? And how on Earth are companies to interpret these seemingly conflicting results? Firstly, by realizing that as vehicles become more uniform in how they drive, and as the vast chasm that used to separate the good from the bad in issues like quality, reliability, and durability shrink, ineffable things like ‘character’ come more and more from great design. Clinic-driven styling blandness just doesn’t ‘play in Peoria’ anymore; not when there are so many other good—and good looking—cars and trucks available from competitors. Next, different segments of society respond differently to what’s offered to them. Some things seem ...

As car enthusiasts, we’re frequently confronted with moral conundrums, minor to major. A stretch of open road: do I just squeeze past that pesky speed limit by 5 or 10kph or lower the hammer and go for it? Or, do I pull .95g around that perfectly cambered on-ramp, even if I scare the bejeezus out of that slowpoke up ahead? It can be buying decisions that pit selfishness against nobler motives: do I get the cramped but fun sports sedan for my ego gratification, or the comfortable and efficient MPV for the family’s wellbeing? Here’s one that’s been chewing at me of late: global warming. Over here in the good ‘ole U.S. of A. we’ve been seeing a lot lately of past Vice President Al Gore—now Academy Award winner Al Gore, thanks to the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth”, and his holy mission to save us from drowning when the ice caps melt. Is it all hyperbole, or is there some real substance here? After all, I remember the ‘70s, when they said that we were entering an Ice Age. So I saw the film and did some research; and the evidence for climate change is ...

It has been something of a crazy ride for the people of the United States these past five years. Brutally awakened from the somnolence of a seeming Golden Age of indomitably by the terrorists of 9/11, we’ve had a new worldview thrust upon us that we’re still grappling with. While it may be futile to try to generalize the feelings of 300 million people, there are some basic facts about the American experience that are knowable. Despite a few isolated cases of aggression against those of Middle Eastern or Islamic background, by and large the peoples of the U.S. of A. seem to intuitively grasp that this heinous act was the work of a fringe group, and there was very little evidence of any stirrings of real or prolonged anti-Arabness in this country. That said, we were susceptible to the machinations of mad King George II, who was able to stir up nationalism and exploit it on his crusade into the heart of Araby. He was able to ride the tide long enough to be re-elected by the largest majority of votes in modern American history. What was the world to make of all ...