See you on the 4th!

I will be traveling to rural New Mexico for the next week, and my access to the internet will be spotty at best. I will do my best to post in this time, but if I'm unable to, I'll make up for it starting on the 4th.

When are they going to offering free wi-fi in the desert?

Some quick spy shots of the new BMW X6

Not much info, but here's a few spy shots of BMW's foray into the bigger SUV market - the X6. This one was spotted near the factory where it's going to be built in Spartenberg, SC. BMW says this model should be available to the public in 2009. We think it looks pretty cool and are looking forward to seeing it on the road.

Toyota FT-HS Concept Car

Needless to say, we're really excite about the concepts being shown at the NAIAS this year. In previous years, there's been some disappointing concepts being displayed, but this year, it looks all good. Adding to the list is this concept from Toyota: The FT-HS. Toyota designers system which spits out a serious 400hp. From a Needless to say, we here at AutoZealot.com are really excited to go to the NAIASaparently thought, "what can we do, that no one else can?" Well, the answer is build a true high-performance hybrid, and that's what they did. It's powered by a 3.5 liter V6 with a new-generation hybrid system. To tame all those earth friendly ponys, they went with their parts bin and matched it up to a planatary CVT tranny with close ratios. We'd normally object to re-using old parts on a concept car, but they added a paddle shifter, so we'll forgive them. The only performance numbers Toyota is releasing is a 0-60 time which is 4 seconds. And the mileage is reported to be in the mid-20s. Not to shabby!
Besides the obvious hindrance of a heavy battery pack, Toyota is also claiming that this car is road and track worthy due to its more potent regenerative breaking system which captures a lot more energy than it's current Synergy Drive system.
This concept is supposedly not far from production which is nice, but Toyota hasn't released an estimated price yet. Based on say the Supra, which during its last days was going for $40,000, this ride probably isn't going to be cheap. Yet, we think it'll still be in the grasp of somewhat normal humans when compared to the prices of the marques Toyota is claiming to go after with this: Porsche 911, Ferrari F430, and the Corvette (probably the closest competitor as far as cost goes.)
Looks wise, we love this thing. Almost the exact size as the Nissan 300Z, has really cool flying buttress style c-pillars, and it's got a really interesting roof. The large roof is opaque and retractable like a 911 Targa, but tilts back further to allow for a good view out the back window. The only draw back to this is it's a 2+2 with the top up, but turns into a two+zero with the top down. Other features of note are functional vents that force cool air over the batter pack and a hood with a viewing window of the engine. In theory, it sort of reminds us of the engine cover of a Ferrari. Yet instead of seeing a gleaming red and aluminum v12, you see...a battery pack. Sign of the times for sure, but still pretty cool in our books.

[Source: Automobile Magazine]

Inside scoup on the next Benz name

Word on the grapevine is Mercedes-Benz has just registered the "CLC-Class" name as a trademark. Or, more accurately applied for the trademark. Rumor has it that the "C" in CLC might be a coupe version of the awesome CLS four-door. This CLC when it comes out could be a based on the ultra cool "Ocean Drive" concept and will more than likely share the same V12 engine that's also in the S600. Maybe there'll be some info on the CLC when we get the first official look at the "Ocean Drive Concept" at the NAIS?

[Source: autospies.com]

The "World's First Car, Boat, Motorcyle Race"

First of all, we have to warn you. This is AWESOME! Here's the concept. Take a Honda powered Formula 4-Stroke race boat, a Honda Works Fireblade motorcyle, and a Honda F1 car. Pit them all against each other on a single quarter mile track at London City Airport. I love the way the English think.

I don't want to spoil it for you, but if you guessed the F1 car beat the other two by a significant margin, you're right. The motorcycle was close, sort of, due to it's pretty good weight to power ratio. Motorcyles are for the most part by design, an engine with a seat on it. Yet it was still no match for the F1 car and its V10 engine and even better power to weight ratio.


All in all, a really fun segment to watch. I won't give you any more details, just watch, and enjoy.
[Source: Firth Gear London]

Mazda builds special edition roadsters

Mazda announced today that they're building a Special Edition roadster called the "Roadster Blaze Edition." What makes it different? Mazda says it will come with an updated black and tan leather interior and some exterior accents. It all seems like pretty subtle changes, barely warranting a "Special Edition" moniker, but you do get BBS wheels which is probably the hottest part of this package. It only comes in one color: "Radiant Ebony Mica" which looks like a shade of deep red wine.

It's going to cost around 3,135,000 yen (which is $26,394 USD) for the RHT Retractable Hard Top and 3,040,000 yen ($25,558 USD) for regular soft top.

You may wonder why we're quoting the prices in yen? Unfortunately, it's only being released in Japan right now. US version to follow?


[Source: Mazda Pres Release}

Auto Marketers start to think "inside the box"

Even if you didn't catch last week's episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live, chances are if you work in any type of office environment, you've seen the "D--- in a Box" skit. It's got guest host Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg doing a spoof of an 1980s/1990s boy band number. They both croon about giving their girlfriends "something special" for Christmas. Check it out here: http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/
If you haven't seen it yet, you'll thank us for the laugh.

So, you may be asking, what does all this have to do with the auto industry? Well, on NBC.com they offer two versions of the clip, the censored version and the uncensored version (which you must admit to being 18 before watching). Look up at the photo and check out he banner ad to the right. The good news here in our opinion is while you're watching both versions, you'll see ads from Ford, Cadillac, and Hummer running. Maybe not such a big deal for Hummer, but this shows a Cadillac and Ford straying away from the ultra conservative marketing theologies. It's probably a smart move since this little "SNL Digital Short" was viewed more than 3 million times last week and it's still going strong. Not to bad of an investment in our opinion.



[Source: DetNews.com]

Audi secrectly building dream team with...

According to the www.thegermancarblog.com, apparently Audi is looking to build the ultimate dream team for next year's upcoming DTM season. Who is this dream team you may ask? None less than Juan Pablo Montoya and Jacques Villeneuve. Ever hear of em? We think this would be awesome to have two experienced F1 drivers come to this league. Their big names could generate a lot of much needed buzz and support for the DTM series.
In case you're not too familiar with the German based race series, it consists of 20 drivers from 11 nations and it only consists of two factories at this point: Audi & Mercedes-Benz. Each race is preceded by short sprints called "Shoot-Outs" to determine the starting positions - lots of fun! They utilize special weight conditions to help balance the differences between the cars with older and newer engines so it's a pretty even playing field. It really is a lot of fun to watch and the competition is pretty intense. If Audi ends up adding these two guys, we suspect DTM is really going to take off. Who knows, we Americans might even start watching.

[Source: Germanautoblog.com]

2006's Top 10 Fuel Misers

	City/Hwy
1.Toyota Prius	60/51 mpg
2.Honda Civic Hybrid	49/51 mpg
3.Toyota Camry Hybrid	40/38 mpg
4.Ford Escape Hybrid FWD	36/31 mpg
5.Toyota Yaris (manual)	34/40 mpg
6.Toyota Yaris (automatic)	34/39 mpg
7.Honda Fit (manual)	33/38 mpg
8.Toyota Corolla	32/41 mpg
9.Hyundai Accent (manual) (tie) Kia Rio (tie)	32/35 mpg
10.Ford Escape Hybrid AWD (tie) Mercury Mariner Hybrid AWD (tie)	32/29 mpg

Ti's the season for the end of the year "Top 10" lists. We've got the car of the year. We've got the truck of the year. So I guess it's now down to the sub categories. With gas prices still mimicking a ride at Six Flags, it makes sense that MSN would put out a Top 10 most fuel efficient vehicles. We have to admit, there's not too many surprises here as far as who made the list - It's filled with all the usual suspects and goes down in order of fuel economy. We guess it's helpful to have these vehicles listed in a popular place, since there are so many people considering these types of cars for their next ride.
We were however moderately surprised about a few things. Like by how far the Prius leads the pack. I think we were all guilty in thinking that all these cars in this genre got great gas mileage, but the Prius leads that pack by more than 10mpg over it's closest competitor the Honda Civic Hybrid. And the Prius gers more than 30 MPG (City) over know gas sippers like the Honda Fit. Nice work Toyota.
One last thing that made us do a minor double take was Ford Escape. It's a compact, yet decent sized SUV which we still consider a truck and it still came in the top four beating out cars dwarfing it's size like the previously mentioned Honda Fit and the Toyota Yaris. Ford also seems to be embracing hybrid technology more than the other two members of the big three, so we'll see if they really start to take off in this category.
We're excited to see this technology advance even further amongst all car brands, but so far...pretty impressive.

[Source: MSN]

New BMW 3-Series drop top to get HD radio

For those who haven't heard the latest increase in buzz, "HD Radio" is the the newest player in the fight to get people to put down their iPods and keep the radio on. Almost all car makers are now offering Sirius or XM Satellite Radio as an option in the bulk of their lineups, but BMW is going to be the first to offer a factory installed HD Radio receiver. So far it's only on the 3-series hard top convertible, but other models are soon to follow.

This HD Radio thing is actually very interesting. So far, there are over 1,000 stations broadcasting in HD and the cool thing about HD Radio is each normal station like 99.4 for instance, has several substations like 99.4-HD3, 99.4-HD2, and so on. What we don't like about it is it seems to be just an extension of FM radio, albeit with better CD quality sound, with all the annoying commercials. Thats the main reason why we worry this format may not win the battle against XM and Sirius. But, BMW seems to be making a significant investment into it by starting to factory install these receivers. Good enough for BMW is usually good enough for us.

[Source: MWerks]

Tiger gets tapped to push more than Buick

One of GM's big marketing pushes this year is an attempt to breathe a little more life into the Buick, Pontiac, and GMC brands. Who better than Tiger Woods, right? According to John Larson, who's the manager of GM's Pontiac, GMC,
and Buick general manager, Tiger Woods is going to have a large roll in
promoting the new model launches For the 2007 model year. Larson says:
"Tiger is a tremendous asset for us. I think there are more
opportunities for Tiger, maybe a little more broadly, not necessarily
just in the B-P-G channel but across GM as well."

As much as we
love Tiger Woods, and no matter how good of a golfer he is, it's still
a tall order to fill. We love the match of Tiger Woods and Buick, butGMC alone has quite a few new models coming
out very soon. The new SUV crossover the Arcadia, a revamped Canyon and
an all new Sierra. We feel that by GM putting all their marketing eggs
in the Tiger basket, they may be hard stretched to make it work. Plus
with Tiger's complicated contract with Buick...well, let's just say
we've got a bad feeling about this one. In the end, we hope GM will
push it's adagencies to just start doing compelling and creative adevertising. There's some cool new sheet metal coming out of Detroit. We hope their future marketing does it justice.
[Source: AutoWeek]

BMW vs. Lexus. The horspower rumors heat up.

The rumors continue to grow as we all await the new hot models from BMW and Lexus. It's the M3 vs. the IS-F. According to the latest news on autospies.com, they seem to have some credible evidence that the Lexus is going to come with a 100 HP per liter engine which means a heart attack inducing 500 HP! Now BMW's '08 M3 is supposed to be rated at a formidable 398 HP, this would put the IS-F a whopping 100 pony advantage. This all seems to be a little too good to be true, but yet it makes sense since these cars are going up against the likes of the Audi's RS4 and the Benz Cl63. Rumors are just rumors so I guess we'll have to wait till these cars get introduced to the public (at the NAIAS?) to see what the true story is.

[Source: AutoSpies.com]

Smokey gets a new ride.

Even though this post is more fun than newsworthy, we could resist. It's every man child's most dreamt about activity - the burnout. And in what better car than this? To be honest, with a 340HP Hemi and just plain scary looks, we're surprised every police department hasn't retired the venerable, yet outdated and underperfroming Crown Vic and picked up the Charger. Many municipalities already have. Maybe ford should rethink not offering the Mustang in a 4-door version.

[Source: Popular Mechanics]

Audi gets a new ad agency.

Mr. Venables & Mr. Bell - you are the winners! Today, Audi USA has announced it's new agency of record: Venables, Bell, and Partners of San Francisco, CA. Scott Keogh, who is Audi's first Chief Marketing Officer, put the company's creative work on review just after he joined Audi this May. Venables won the significant $70 million account after being the last man standing between some big players: The incumbent McKinney & Silver (who've had the account for over a decade), Bartle, Bogle, and Hagarty (who are backed by the ad giant Publicitas), and the ever clever Fallon of Minneapolis. The pitch was just for creative work, media will still be run by the mega buying agency MediaCom.

What does all this mean? Besides a major boost in Venable's billings, hopefully some pretty cutting edge creative. Venables was a big player in the recent pitch for Merceedes-Benz's Smart car (the former employer of Mr. Keogh. Coincidince?) and are known for doing some pretty smart advertising. It's a hard blow to McKinney who picked up the business 13 years ago when Audi was on the verge of being pulled out of the US. They've been successful in building the brand, but lately with their most recent ">" ads and theme line of "Never Follow" their advertising has been a little lackluster.
Now that there's a new man in charge , and a new agency to back him up we're excited to see what comes down the pipeline. Audi is a very innovative company, hopefully their new marketing will be able to keep up.

[Source: AdAge.com]

Finally, the Cherokee is back.

Many a Jeep enthusiasts felt a little pain in their heart after they killed off the Cherokee in 2001. Maybe this new Jeep Patriot might help heal that old wound. After many delays due to computer glitches at Chrysler's Belvidere assembly plant, the new Patriot officially goes into retail production today. With a base price of only $14,985, more room, and better fuel economy, it doesn't seem like a bad replacement. Heck, it's a $1,000 less than the purist disapproving Compass and only $750 more than it's kissing cousin Caliber.

Even though Jeep has been pretty good about this in the past, with the Wrangler at least, it's still nice to see a company stick to its roots and not let its product line get too diluted. The Patriot looks like the quintessential Jeep of yesteryear and is an off-road worthy machine right off the dealer's floor. The Jeep aficionados seem to love it an so do the analysts. The word on the street from the number crunchers is that it's poised to out sell the Caliber (which is at 97,000 units world wide right now) and end up being the best selling SUV of the three produced at the Belvidere plant.

Let's see. A cool SUV that has out of the box off-road capabilities, character, some sex appeal, and it's affordable? Is Detroit starting to get the message?

[Source: Register Star]

Yes! The 4-door vert is back.

It's been a very very long time since we've seen a four-door convertible. Too long as far as I'm concerned. Thankfully, for all those who enjoy this staple of yesteryear luxury, it looks like it might be back into production soon - hopefully sooner than later. Mercedes-Benz has just unveiled it's latest design study at this year's NAIAS. They call it: Concept Ocean Drive.

I don't know why, but ever since I was a little kid I've been fascinated with the four-door convertible. I think it all stemmed from the day my neighbor showed my little brother and I his mint 1964 black Lincoln Continental under tarps in the back of his garage. It was big, beautiful, and I was hooked. Needless to say, I'm really excited to see this design in production. So excited in fact, that I'll forgive this Benz for looking somewhat like a Chrysler 300 sans top, and the strange (Cadillac inspired?) and very large front clip.

Now if it only had suicide doors...

Secret test tracks exposed

We all love Google Earth right? In case you didn't know, it's a program from Google that allows you to see up close and personal satellite images of just about anywhere. You can find your house, check out the hotel you're staying next week, see where the movie stars live, and now, see the holy grail of all car buff destinations: manufacturer's secret test tracks. Fiat, Ford, Daimler/Chrysler, Bosch, Pirelli, and yes, even Ferrari's track in Fiorano, Italy. It's the kind of stuff car mag photographers drool over, yet you can see it from he comfort of your office. You can even find the co-ordinates for these tracks and other located on www.autoexpress.uk. So if you haven't downloaded Google Earth already, do it now and bask in the knowledge that you're seeing things things that well, you're just not supposed to.

[Source: autoexpress.uk]

Think your Saab can make it?

In September of this year you may have read that a Wisconsin insurance salesman had hit the million mile mark on his 1989 Edwardian Gray Saab 900 SPG. Well, Saab this week reacted with an interesting offer - any original owner who takes their Saab past the seven-figure mark gets a free Saab 9-5 Aero. After hearing that earlier this year a man drove his 1995 Dodge Ram past the million mile mark and Tom LaSorda rewarded him with nothing more than an autographed copy of his latest book, a $40,000 car sounds like a more fitting reward. If your old Saab is getting long in the tooth and tall on the odometer, you better hurry up. The offer only stands for the next year.

[Source: Saab press release]