Autoblog

Sometimes news is just too good to keep to yourself. Just ask GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz. With his company supposedly claiming 13 spots on Edmund's Consumers' Most Wanted list, Lutz just had to brag a bit on the corporate blog before the winners were made public.

And he should brag. Most other car of the year awards are chosen by us automotive writers who usually prefer horsepower over hip room. As the name implies, Edmund's CMW awards are chosen by the car-buying public. And despite not voting with their wallets, the car-buying public who visits Edmund's really like their GMs.

The GMC Acadia got Most Significant vehicle of the year, beating out Honda's Fit, the Toyota Camry Hybrid, the Ford Edge and the Toyota Tundra.

Click through to see Edmund's press release as well as the other category winners.

[Source: Edmunds, GM FastLane Blog]

The Lincoln MKR may be a key ingredient to reviving Lincoln

A night at the Ford theater: The Lincoln brand has been on a streak that 's been seldom duplicated over the last 10 years. Of course, we all know that the streak has been a bad one. Terrible, in fact. Sales have gone from well over 200k in the mid-90s to only 120k in 2006. The individual vehicles within the Lincoln brand have been left to rot in many cases, and the ones that have been updated are in the worst-possible market situation (see Navigator). In the rotting category, the livery special of the millennium, Town Car, rides on an ancient body-on-frame car platform. The Panther platform stems from the late 1970s LTD. Almost as ancient as the platform on which the Town Car rides is its powerplant. The 4.6L, two-valve V8 and four-speed transmission are shared with the F-150 of all things. There are still a slim minority that say the Town Car is classic American luxury, but with a chassis and powertrain that's older than many of Autoblog's readers, classic would be the operative word.

Many more products have been unceremoniously killed off without the benefit of a redesign. Since 2000, the Aviator and LS never saw a single design change and came to market severely disadvantaged. The Aviator has been a well-chronicled failure. It reportedly shared only 40% of its hardware with the Explorer off which it was based. Amazingly, just about the only area of the Aviator that is common with the Explorer is the exterior design. That's just crazy. What executive team approves new everything except the sheet metal? Sure it had a different grille and different front and rear lights, but the decision-making there was weak. Then you have the LS, which sold 50,000 copies in 2000. It sold 8,500 just six years later. When it came out, the LS had the BMW 5 Series within leaping distance. At the end, it had $10,000 rebate stickers on the windshield.

Continue reading A Deeper Look Into the Lincoln Brand: Reviving or Dying?

When the 1993 MX-6 debuted, it made our hearts sing. Here, finally, was a Mazda 2+2 that combined all the fun of its predecessors while banishing the remaining 80's-era funk that afflicted Japanese cars. Out went the plasticky interior and stubby slab-sidedness of the '88-'92 model. Style and performance for moderate money was always the game of the MX-6, and the '93 model stepped it up a lot. Underhood was a rare (for the time) V6 connected to a manual transaxle. The exterior was a timeless Berlinetta with a tightly-wrapped form and delicate flowing lines. It looked less Mazda and more Ferrari 456.

More nostalgia after the jump

click on image to enlarge

Upon perusing our October 2006 issue of Motor Trend, we ran across the mag's review of the new 2007 Lexus LS460 and a pair of pictures caught our eye. Before us on the printed page was a bright silver LS sedan doing a burnout and... (gulp) drifting! The Japanese luxury carmaker's relentless pursuit of perfection has always been so categorically opposed to having fun while driving that the images seemed from another world altogether.

But indeed they are not. You see, the 2007 Lexus LS460 is the first LS sedan ever that allows its stability-control system to completely turned off. Once the big lady lets her guard down, the 4.6-liter V8 producing 380 hp and 367 ft-lbs. is totally and utterly at the mercy of your right foot, which makes burn outs and drifting possible for the first time in a Lexus LS sedan. In fact, we'd venture to guess that Angus Mackenzie and company over at Motor Trend are the first to perform this feat in a Lexus LS sedan, if not the first to record it on film, though they certainly won't be the last. And to think, the even more powerful hybrid LS600h is still yet to arrive.

Special thanks to Motor Trend for furnishing us with these pics, and to photographer Mark Bramley for capturing the moment.

[Source: Motor Trend - Oct. 2006, subscribe here]

Lexus has already talked about a variety of impressive pre-crash safety systems for its upcoming LS flagship sedan (see our post on the LS 600h L), but so far it has all revolved around the front end of the luxury sedan. Toyota is now saying that the Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) version of the LS 460 will get a rear collision detection system, which is believed to be the first of its type in the world.

The system uses a rear-facing radar sensor to detect imminent rear collisions, and illuminates a warning lamp for the driver as it measures the position of the front seat passengers' heads and adjusts the position of the vehicle's headrests accordingly to help reduce the risk of whiplash neck injuries.

More information has also trickled out about the front-collision detection technology in the LS, with the automaker stating that the twin front-mounted "stereo" cameras will use infrared illuminators mounted in the headlamps to provide detection and ranging capabilities. Such a system will be capable of detecting pedestrians as well as vehicles, which will give it an advantage over radar-based systems (the Lexus has one of those, too).

[Source: Japan Times]

Ford recently revealed its incentive lineup for the month of July and the Lincoln LS, which is on its way out, is now available with incentives that range from $4,000 to $8,000. It was previously being sold with $3,000 to $4,000 on the hood. The Lincoln Town Car is also being offered now with a bankroll of $6,500 to $7,000.

Other models that saw increased savings included the Ford F-150 and Lincoln Mark LT with an additional $500, the Ford Explorer and Crown Victoria with an additional $1,000, and the Lincoln Navigator with another $1,500.

Ford's payout on the Mercury Mariner and Mountaineer, however, fell $500. The Ford Focus payout also was reduced by $1,000. 

The LS was a decent attempt at domestic competition for the German luxury sedans that still epitomize the sport sedan market, but was saddled with improper engine/transmission combos that paired its healthy V8 only with an automatic transmission and the base V6 with an available manual. As such, it never struck a chord with shoppers seeking performance and luxury. Those looking for a domestic alternative found one in the Cadillac CTS.

[Source: Autoweek]

With obvious intentions of dominating the luxury sedan market, Lexus has infused its updated LS four-door with something that no competitor can provide - a V8 full hybrid drivetrain.

Based on a five-liter direct injection V8 engine, the Lexus Hybrid Drive adds a pair of high-power electric motors and a two-stage "electronic continuously variable transmission" to produce up to 430 HP - said to be equivalent to that of a six-liter V12 (hence the model nomenclature). To make sure that power makes it to the pavement, a standard full-time AWD system routes the power to all four wheels. Fuel economy has not yet been disclosed but is said to be similar to that of mid-sized V6 AWD sedans. The LS 600h L will be certified as a Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (SULEV), giving it emissions levels approximately 70% lower than that of the competition.

Adding to the wiz-bang technology credentials is the newly-developed Lexus Advanced Pre-Collision System, or APCS. It uses two forward-facing cameras and millimeter-wave radar to detect a variety of objects in front of the big sedan, and combines this with a third camera mounted on the steering column to monitor the driver's awareness. If the potential for a collision exists and the driver is not paying attention, an audible and visual alarm is activated. If no action is taken, the system will then begin to apply the vehicle's brakes. Additionally, the variable steering ratio is automatically quickened to improve the vehicle's response to evasive maneuvers. The LS 600h L also becomes the first vehicle in the world to make use of LEDs for low-beam forward lighting.

Available only in the long wheelbase configuration in North American, the new LS hybrid will be built at the Tahara assembly plant, where each vehicle will be hand-sanded twice during the painting process. 

Lexus Group VP Bob Carter was joined on-stage by Moritaka Yoshida, the Chief Engineer on the LS. The two of them seemed extremely proud of their creation, and rightfully so.

Click through for plenty more pictures.

 

Toyota doesn't usually give much away in advance of an auto show, so it didn't surprise us that the two-graph press release announcing that the company would launch the Lexus LS 460 luxury hybrid at the New York Auto Show left much to the imagination. Essentially confirming what we learned at the gasoline-powered LS' introduction in Detroit, the luxoliner will launch for the 2007 model year, and we'll find out the rest at 9:25 a.m. when the press conference takes place at the show on April 12. Stay tuned for Autoblog's first-hand coverage of the New York Auto Show, or watch the unveiling live at www.lexus.com/autoshow.