Recent Comments:
GM to move Opel upmarket in Europe {Autoblog}
May 13th 2008 9:32AM I would gladly pay a 3% premium for an Opel-derived Saturn here in the States. Now where's my sexy, reliable, fuel-efficient Insignia (Aura) sportwagon?
Lamborghini picks L.A. for new HQ location {Autoblog}
May 12th 2008 12:22PM Merritt, if you're updating the post... how about adding the "i" into waiver (first sentence).
Spy Shots: Opel Insignia five-door hatch caught {Autoblog}
May 11th 2008 11:26AM I would take the wagon over the hatch and the hatch over the sedan assuming Saturn provides the same options that Mazda provided with their Mazda6 (before discontinuing the wagon and hatch for the US market of course).
Mazda Biante: JDM-only seating for eight {Autoblog}
May 10th 2008 9:28PM The wheel design also bears a striking similarity to the US-market Mazda5 - not the same, but pretty close.
http://images.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/images/vehicles/gallery/MZ5/pho_gallery_MZ5_ext5.jpg
GM offers up to $200 million to end American Axle strike {Autoblog}
May 9th 2008 8:46AM Motive Magazine [www.motivemag.com] ran a news brief on another UAW strike by UAW Local 31 a few days ago and although the brief itself was unremarkable, I found the title to their story to really hit the mark... "UAW Continues Storied Tradition of Cutting off Nose, Spiting Face"
I'm all for keeping jobs in America and strong employee/management relations but sometimes it is impossible to prevent someone (UAW) from committing suicide if they're hell-bent on doing it and then you have to look elsewhere (Mexico, etc.) for the work to get done.
Time is Money: Mercedes-Benz reveals SL 63 AMG Edition IWC {Autoblog}
May 7th 2008 12:45PM "how does that watch make you think of the car and vice versa"
Both Mercedes-Benz (especially AMG) and IWC are known for their technical expertise in engineering. Beyond that basic similarity, they both are approximately equal in their brand cachet within their respective markets, at or near the top of the volume-produced luxury/sport markets for cars and watches.
Although the car does not resemble the watch and vice versa, if you were familiar with the history and reputation of both brands, this combination would be an obvious natural.
Incidentally, although IWC is a swiss watchmaker. All of the swiss watchmakers are generally divided into either the French-Swiss or the German-Swiss, with most of the upper-tier watchmakers leaning toward the French-Swiss. IWC falls into the German-Swiss category so their pairing with a German automaker is yet another natural fit.
More info on IWC at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Watch_Company
Honda Legend facelift leaks out {Autoblog}
May 5th 2008 9:28AM "Equally puzzling – and not a recent development – is why Honda trashed the established and respected Legend name for the anonymous and innocuous RL for Acura's top-tier sedan." This was discussed almost 15 years ago when Acura replaced names like the Legend, Vigor, and [later, the] Integra with designations such as RL, TL, and TSX/RSX. At the time, the general consensus was that Acura was attempting to shift the focus from their individual cars back to the brand as a whole.
If you recall the Legend from the 80's through the early 90's, the car had become immensely popular with most people simply referring to it as a Legend, not just an Acura. Acura likely killed the name(s) so as not to eclipse the Acura name which the Legend was doing at the time.
GM CEO Wagoner declares that EVs must be affordable to the masses {Autoblog Green}
May 5th 2008 9:07AM For everyone calling for GM to kick the mothballs out of the EV1 and put it back into production, you may want to see how this 15+ year old design holds up in modern-day crash testing unless you value saving the planet over saving yourself. The EV1 was never designed with 6+ airbags and the full complement of GM's modern (current day) safety systems (electronic nannies designed to keep your wheels on the pavement while motoring).
Rendered speculation: 2011 Passat {Autoblog}
May 5th 2008 9:02AM I thought the concept rendering of the Passat wagon on slide 3 looked pretty good... until I clicked through to slide 22 and saw the rendering of the Opel Insignia Caravan (Wagon) which is simply beautiful.
I'm hoping that more of these handsome euro-wagons will make it stateside sooner than later, preferably powered by diesel.
Obsidian SG1: 800 hp, twin-supercharged uber-Stang {Autoblog}
May 1st 2008 4:11PM Different, impressive even... lots of fabrication work there... but I've gotta tell ya, they really tossed an old '67/'68 fastback in the blender with a current model Mustang to make this thing and the car doesn't look old enough to be classic or new enough to be modern. Different. I'll stick with different for this thing.
It really looks like a polished up extra from the Mad Max franchise... and from that perspective, this thing is perfect.
