Commercials are a great way to learn about culture; since a seller has maybe 30 seconds to get something across, you see what people think is the most important thing to convey and the best way to convey it.
Having said that, we have no clue what’s going on with some of the South Korean ads for the 2013 . In a couple of them, a genteel pair – we’ll call them Run CUV and Jam Master – lays down some mad lyrics, presumably about the Santa Fe. When they’re not rapping, they’re set in short episodic dramas to demonstrate the crossover’s features. We’re not sure if the pair are famous in Korea and frankly, we have no idea what they’re talking about, but they look fun while they’re doing it.
for your Asian commercial fix for the day. You won’t be disappointed.
Ever get the feeling that not every grand prix on the Formula One calendar should be worth as much as every other? Aside from the bragging points that go with winning a race like, say, the Monaco Grand Prix, maybe the most prominent races should be worth more championship points, too? So says Bernie Ecclestone, according to the latest reports.
The notoriously outspoken F1 supremo is always hatching new ideas on how to make the series more interesting, and his latest borrows from the world of competitive tennis. The four most important tournaments on the tennis circuit – the Australian Open, French Open, U.S. Open and Wimbledon – are not only more prominent in every way than any other, but they’re also worth more points for the players who win them.
Since the current calendar of 20 races is the most F1 has ever seen and regarded as the most it could possibly accommodate, could awarding more points for a handful of iconic races be what the proverbial doctor ordered to mix things up? Maybe, but identifying which races would get the honor would be another matter. Out of 20 races, we’d pick Australia, Japan, Britain, Monaco, Canada and Brazil as the likely candidates. Is this a good idea? Have your own list in mind? Let’s hear your thoughts in Comments.
We’ve got to hand it to of Europe – this is one of the most brilliant marketing stunts we’ve ever seen. Blending the correct amounts of populist outrage, mockery of the common man, hidden cameras, big budget technology, and gritty urban realism into one literal over-the-top promotion that – get this – is actually relevant to the vehicle it is designed to promote? Well, we’re impressed, to say the least.
We won’t spoil the punchline to the video, created by ad agency Ogilvy of Paris (according to Co.Create), but for anyone who’s ever had to suffer through living in a big city and parking on the street, you’ll be pleased.
And for those of you who might occasionally do a little park-by-touch yourself? Ford’s new with Active Park Assist is just the vehicle for you.
In the music industry, a band’s third album is typically make-or-break. You start with the debut album, introducing the general public to the band’s polished works, then comes the sophomore record, which proves whether or not the band can keep its fan base happy and gain more traction in the music scene. But the third album must show if that band’s sound and style has a good enough mix of individual flare and mainstream appeal to keep them successful in the long-run.
If you think about it, the same can be said about the automotive landscape, and for the purpose of this review, the . The first-generation Escape, launched in 2000 as a 2001 model, entered during a time when small SUVs and “cute-utes” were booming. The redesigned 2008 Escape built upon the first model’s success, and now, as the curtain is about to close on that ruggedly handsome, boxy Escape, this new third-generation model has some mighty big shoes to fill.
Over the past year, the Escape has been an absolute sales superstar. In 2011, moved over 254,000 of the compact crossovers – a 33-percent gain over 2010’s numbers. To get an idea of just how impressive that is, know that in the same timeframe, moved just over 218,000 , while sold 137,000 and hustled around 193,000 models. Building upon that success, Ford announced that with 60,000 units sold in the first quarter of 2012, the Escape posted its best Q1 numbers in its 11-year history. Talk about going out with a bang.
But rather than sticking to the original formula of a small, trucky crossover, Ford has completely redesigned the Escape for 2013. Perhaps the biggest point of contention surrounding the new model is its styling – the two-box, upright design has been ditched in favor of the automaker’s Kinetic language, employing a more, shall we say, Focused appearance.
So here it is, the ever-important third album. Does Ford’s all-new Escape have enough mainstream appeal to take on the best and brightest of the CUV set while still being able to appeal to loyalists? We headed to the roads around San Francisco to find out.
Abu Dhabi’s Aabar Investments spent $2.7 billion buying 9.1 percent of Daimler in 2009. At the time, Aabar said it was “excited by the commercial potential of our partnership,” both companies said it was a long-term investment and spoke of joint ventures, and committed to building a training center in the emirate. Aabar then bought a share of , and later that year said it wanted to take its .
Turns out three years counts for long term these days, because a story first reported in Germany’s Manager Magazin indicates the fund wants to cash out. There are conflicting accounts as to how big a stake Aabar still has – Reuters says 9.1 percent, says three percent, but based on “sources familiar with the situation” various watchers seem sure that the stock sale is on the way.
Aabar won’t comment on the situation, Daimler has said it isn’t aware of Aabar’s intention to sell. Automotive News suggests increased fiscal discipline of Abu Dhabi’s deal making could be behind the move, other analysts say the position isn’t unusual since the stock price has doubled since Aabar bought in. Still others say that with Aabar having made $113 million from earlier this year, walking completely away from Daimler with money still on the table could indicate broader back-room disagreements.
Renault Sport invited its fans to suggest challenges for the to overcome, and one of the chosen feats was for it to play the ball in a game of ten-pin. After some establishing shots and burnouts, the 133-horsepower hot hatch gets going down the lane.
To make sure it doesn’t disappoint, a stern gang of mute, pouty models looks on because, well, you can’t have car-bowling without that, now can you?
The Lamborghini SUV that we’ll shortly be ogling over when it’s introduced at the has a name: the Urus. That’s the word according to Chinese media, at least, which would for some other Lambo creation.
We’ll save you the trip to Wikipedia: a “urus” is an extinct European ox, Bos primigenius, a forebearer of domestic cattle whose last example roamed the Polish forests until 1627. A shaggy-haired, plodding bovine is a bit down on excitement compared to its taurean siblings, so we’ll also keep Urus Khan – descendent of Gehghis and ruler of at least one horde – in the naming inspiration pool. In keeping with Lamborghini tradition, there’s presumably a fighting bull that’s carried the name at some point, as well.
The Urus is expected to have a from the , a rumored 584-horsepower and $200,000 price tag. It’s slated for a 2015 release, and following that could be a hybrid that pushes past the 600-hp mark. Stay tuned for official images and information as the Urus rolls out in Beijing.
When sold and to Tata Motors for $2.5 billion, the auto industry was in rough shape. And it didn’t help that the luxury combo pack didn’t exactly have a lineup full of fresh rides.
Only four years have past since that historic sale, but the industry is in much better shape and new vehicles like the and have seemingly done wonders for the luxury brands. In fact, Tata’s investment may be in much better shape than most anyone would have thought. According to Bloomberg, analysts predict that an Initial Public Offering could show that the brands are worth a combined $14 billion.
That’s a monumental return on investment, and there are plenty of reasons for the lofty estimate. Tata reportedly earned $2 billion off JLR in 2011, and sales are at all-time highs. The brands are also expecting major growth in China and Russia, and Tata has promised to double its investment in new products. Tata has also pledged 40 new or refreshed models in the next five years, which is likely more new metal than some full-line manufacturers would be willing to promise.
But while JLR is apparently worth an estimated $14 billion, it appears that Tata isn’t quite ready to issue an IPO. Company spokesman Debasis Ray told Bloomberg in an email that Tata is planning to fund the brands through internal cash accruals.
Some automakers roll out a new model and that’s pretty much it, while for others, a new model’s introduction is just the starting point. most definitely falls in the latter category. When a new rolls out, for example, you can bet there will be a dozen or more versions to follow. A new ? Slap a roof on it and in another year or so you’ve got a new . So it only stands to reason that the German automaker would do the same with its more family-oriented offerings, the and .
Automobile magazine’s European bureau reports that, when Porsche rolls out a restyled Panamera next year, the four-door model will yield the variants that the current model does not. That will likely include a long-wheelbase model for the Chinese market, as well as a potential shooting brake and a possible four-seat cabriolet.
A slant-back version of the Cayenne is also said to be in the works to take on the , with a new Cayman to put a roof over the new Boxster’s head later this year and a generous array of 911 variants to come out year after year. Couple all those spin-offs with the new crossover, the Pajun (baby Panamera) and a pair of new supercars (918 and 960) to slot in above the 911 range and they’re suddenly looking very busy at Zuffenhausen over the next few years.
. On a day in which has dominated the news – by and for the auto show – it completes the hat trick by announcing that its new factory will be built in Mexico. Production is slated to begin in 2016, but Audi only announced that the plant would be building “an SUV model.” Speculating on which that might be, we imagine it would make sense for one of the brand’s high-volume nameplates to be built here in North America, which would point to the .
Audi parent already operates facilities in the Mexican cities of Puebla and Silao, so the company is intimately familiar with the nuances of building cars in the country. That should help in getting the facility up to speed quickly, although Audi board members emphasized finding the right location in Mexico in their statement announcing the decision.
Audi also said it could supply vehicles from Mexico worldwide, and reiterated its goal of selling two million vehicles each year by 2020. That, of course, is part of Volkswagen’s stated intent of .
There is a point at which the amount of money poured into any aftermarket-tuned vehicle becomes entirely insane. Heck, that’s half of the appeal of tuner cars – that the best ones show such fanatical devotion to a specific model that you must respect the inspiration and effort even when the result is utterly unimaginable. Which brings us to this: A $156,000 .
Now granted, it’s not just any 1′er that German übertuner Tuningwerk is selling for more than a . There’s a in there somewhere, one that’s been fitted with 19-inch wheels and some of the widest tires we’ve ever seen on a compact : 245/35R19 up front and 285/30R19 in the rear. Available 15-inch carbon ceramic rotors from Mov’it provide stopping power for the 521-horsepower, 453 pound-foot of torque upgrade to the twin-turbo inline six. The car also carries a whole host of carbon fiber body parts, from hood to trunk to even optional carbon fiber doors.
The bottom line is that Tuningwerk says its 1 M RS will do 186 mph. to read the full press release and be sure to check out all the photos in our .
There aren’t a lot of automakers that also make motorcycles: Peugeot, , , and perhaps most pertinently, . And now is getting in the game – not with its own four-ringed motorbikes, but with today’s acquisition of Ducati.
In the announcement , Audi confirmed the deal but stopped short of confirming the reported purchase price of $1.1B. Although Audi is, of course, part of the group, it is Audi AG itself that officially bought the motorcycle manufacturer, making Ducati the third Italian operation under its umbrella alongside and ItalDesign-Giugiaro.
Tellingly, Audi also points to certain technologies developed by Ducati – particularly their control systems, combustion chamber process and competence in lightweight construction – as particular assets that “offer great potential for AUDI AG and the Volkswagen Group.” Read more in the official release after the jump.
is not going to take attacks on the electric car lying down – the closest he’ll come to that is . After spending for their attacks on the , he is switching to a positive message about how plug-in cars can help with American national security. It is not surprising that Lutz, a former Marine, co-authors the article with two former U.S. Marines commandants and the CEO of FedEx (the three are all members of Securing America’s Future Energy’s (SAFE) Energy Security Leadership Council). The gist? Well, here’s part of the opening paragraph:
When … threats exist because the United States is the protector of the world’s global oil supply lines, it is a clear illustration of how our nation’s over-reliance on a single, globally priced fuel impacts our national and economic security.
America’s addiction to gasoline costs the government billions of dollars a year, an estimated $80 billion, in fact, to guard the sea lanes, including one little area by Iran:
From a national security perspective, the U.S. military is forced to protect the world’s vital oil infrastructure. The single greatest chokepoint is the Strait of Hormuz, through which 17 million barrels of oil per day passed in 2011 – 20 percent of global supplies. Protection of the sea lanes of commerce has become an American burden and will remain so, costing the United States Treasury an estimated $80 billion per year while taxing our military, which is already engaged on multiple fronts.
It’s arguments like this that have made the recent right-wing criticism of the Volt such a mystery. If we use less gasoline, we can spend fewer lives and less treasure importing the fuel (of course, we don’t lose many lives at the Canadian border, which is where most of our imported oil comes from). The Army says that .
Lutz and his co-authors are quite clear that high gas prices are hurting Americans’ pocketbooks, “essentially” wiping out tax cuts that Presidents Bush and Obama put into place. That’s why, they say, “government action is needed to mitigate the risks of oil dependence, because there is no free market for oil.” This intervention contains both expanded domestic production and – surprise – plugging in our light-duty transportation fleet as much as possible and feeding our big trucks lots of natural gas. To that end, they write:
Regarding electrification, the beauty of plug-in hybrids and pure electric vehicles like the Chevy Volt and the is that they are powered by electricity, which can be generated from many sources: nuclear, coal, natural gas, and renewables. Best yet, these are all domestic energy sources, meaning OPEC won’t be able to corner the market. And the retail price of electricity is far less volatile that the price of oil.
Earlier this month, Rhys Millen took to Formula Drift Long Beach to introduce his newly updated racer. After securing second place during qualifying and besting Nick D’Alessio in the top 32 battle, Millen spun on his second run of the top 16 contention versus Daigo Saito. Saito was 2011’s D1 Japan champion. The spin knocked Millen from a shot at the podium all the way to sixth place, where he tied with Tyler McQuarrie with a combined 64 points. With a total of six rounds left in the season, Millen and the crew still have a shot at nabbing a championship podium finish.
Road Atlanta is next on the schedule. The sideways action gets started on May 11, so stay tuned for the results. In the meantime, you can check out the rather excellent HD video of the team’s Long Beach effort, complete with about a thousand different camera angles.
Automotive News is reporting that is set to lay down $1.1 billion to purchase Ducati from the motorcycle manufacturer’s current owner, Investindustrial. The news comes courtesy of a source “familiar with the matter,” though neither Audi nor Investindustrial have officially commented on whether that price is accurate. As Automotive News points out, the price is around seven times what Ducati earned last year before interest, taxes and depreciation – even after subtracting any debt Ducati holds. Currently, the motorcycle maker’s liabilities are less than $262.6 million.
Most analysts view the purchase as a thinly veiled jab at rival , itself a longtime motorcycle builder. Last year, the Italian firm sold somewhere in the neighborhood of 42,000 bikes with a revenue of $630 million. While that’s technically more than either or , both brands, adding a motorcycle manufacturer to the VW portfolio probably won’t do much for the rest of the company’s brands. Longtime industry watchers may remember that VW Chairman Ferdinand Piech tried to purchase Ducati once before in 2008 before loosing out to Investedindustrial.
We’ve never been falsely accused of a traffic violation, having earned every last second of our time before a judge, but when it does happen to us, we’ll certainly want to brush up on our physics. Dmitiri Krioukov, a physicist with the University of California, recently pleaded his way out of a fine for rolling through a stop sign using the power of mathematics. Krioukov worked up a four-page physics paper underscoring the differences between linear and angular motion to prove that he could have theoretically come to a complete stop and resumed traveling in the time it took another vehicle to pass between him and the citing officer.
The idea is that perception of speed can be altered depending on one’s viewpoint. Since the officer viewed Krioukov from the side and the physicist supposedly came to a complete stop very quickly before accelerating again just as fast, it appeared as if he never stopped at all. Or at least that was the notion. Whether or not the judge believed the professor didn’t matter so much as the fact that Krioukov managed to shed some doubt on the accusation. He was declared innocent and spared the $400 fine.
But the story doesn’t end there. The physicist left a flaw in his proof, and has invited everyone to see if they can figure it out. From our layman’s point of view, it appears Krioukov’s managed to fall from 22 mph to 0 and vault back up to 22 in the span of three seconds. Must be quite the machine. You can check out the full paper .
We’ve never been falsely accused of a traffic violation, having earned every last second of our time before a judge, but when it does happen to us, we’ll certainly want to brush up on our physics. Dmitiri Krioukov, a physicist with the University of California, recently pleaded his way out of a fine for rolling through a stop sign using the power of mathematics. Krioukov worked up a four-page physics paper underscoring the differences between linear and angular motion to prove that he could have theoretically come to a complete stop and resumed traveling in the time it took another vehicle to pass between him and the citing officer.
The idea is that perception of speed can be altered depending on one’s viewpoint. Since the officer viewed Krioukov from the side and the physicist supposedly came to a complete stop very quickly before accelerating again just as fast, it appeared as if he never stopped at all. Or at least that was the notion. Whether or not the judge believed the professor didn’t matter so much as the fact that Krioukov managed to shed some doubt on the accusation. He was declared innocent and spared the $400 fine.
But the story doesn’t end there. The physicist left a flaw in his proof, and has invited everyone to see if they can figure it out. From our layman’s point of view, it appears Krioukov’s managed to fall from 22 mph to 0 and vault back up to 22 in the span of three seconds. Must be quite the machine. You can check out the full paper .
We’re not so sure how scientific its poll was, but an online dating service that calls itself the U.K.’s largest for married people says that men who cheat on their wives are twice as likely to drive a than any other brand of car.
According to NineMSN.com, Illicit Encounters points to the “intrinsic link between success and cheating” to explain the connection between Bimmers and adultery. Some 19 percent of the dating website’s members drive a BMW, including 11 percent of the women who responded to the survey, according to the report. Coming in second on the survey was , with a close third. While BMW may not be outwardly proud of this “victory,” we’re sure at least someone in Munich is glad to have bested its German rivals.
Speaking of which, scroll down to watch a classic Mercedes commercial about a “happily married” couple.
The will soon arrive in dealerships, and it appears Ford has quite a few excited buyers waiting in the wings. The Detroit Free Press reports that already has about 8,000 pre-sales in-hand before buyers have even had the chance to drive the handsome crossover.
That’s good news for Ford for obvious reasons, but the new Escape is going to need all the sales it can muster. That’s because the current Escape, which dates all the way back to 2001, has been one of the most consistently hot-selling Ford vehicles ever made. For reference, Ford managed to sell in March – enough to make those 8,000 pre-sales seem like the first few drops in a very large, very important bucket. In fact, in 2012, the outgoing Escape is already ahead of its 2011 sales pace by nearly 3,000 units.
At this point, it’s difficult to project whether the new Escape will be able to surpass sales of the outgoing model, but we are pretty sure Ford will achieve . The departing CUV features a hoard of cash incentives, but the new model features pricey options and a top-of-the-line Titanium trim model that can crest $37,000 with options. Speaking of pricing, Ford has finalized the numbers and options on its Escape configurator since we , and you can check it out .
The one point that Formula One racing’s detractors dwell on more than others is the monotony. How a gaggle of high-revving, state-of-the-art race cars speeding around circuits in some of the most exotic locales in the world could be considered monotonous, of course, would leave others scratching their heads, but that’s what the haters hate most. And not entirely without reason. After all, each championship season tends to be dominated by one driver or another.
2008 saw Lewis Hamilton of McLaren and Felipe Massa of battle it out for the title until the very last turn of the the very last lap of the very last race of the season, but for many years before and every year since it’s been utter domination: five years of Michael Schumacher, two of Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen in 2007, Jenson Button in 2009 and two years of Sebastian Vettel that bring us up to the present.
The question on every race fan’s mind, then, is whether this year would again feature a single-team domination or whether we’d see another driver – or drivers – taking the lead. Heading out to Shanghai for this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, only two races had already been decided, and each was won by a different man driving for a different team, and neither had won from pole. Would this round prove any different? Keep reading to find out.
