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Report: Toyota wants improved crash scores with midcycle facelifts

Filed under: Safety, Lexus, Scion, Toyota

2013 Toyota Rav4 shown during the IIHS' small-overlap frontal crash

The performances of some Toyotas in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) regimen of crash tests leave something to be desired. Consider the small overlap frontal crash test: only six Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles have undergone the new test, yet all but one of them received a poor rating. Osama Nagata, CEO of Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc., says midcycle vehicle updates are in the works to address the safety issues brought to light by the IIHS test, Automotive News reports. He confirmed that the RAV4 is getting safety updates following its crash test performance last month, but he didn’t name any other models.

All three Toyotas that were tested – 2013 RAV4, 2012-2013 Prius V, 2012-2013 Camry – received poor ratings. The 2007-2012 Lexus ES 350 and 2006-2013 IS 250/350 also received poor ratings. The only other Toyota Motor Corp. vehicle to score better than poor is the 2014 Scion TC. It received an acceptable rating in the small overlap frontal crash test and is the only recent vehicle in Toyota’s line-up to get the IIHS Top Safety Pick+ rating.

The small overlap front crash test measures the safety of a car when its front left corner is strikes an object during an accident, bypassing traditional crumple zones, which deform in a way to protect passengers. In 2009, automakers were alerted to the forthcoming addition of the test, which was first implemented last year, IIHS spokesman Russ Rader says. They responded with differing intensity, he says, pointing out that Subaru and Honda started incorporating design changes early on so their cars would perform well in the tests.

Rader says the redesigned Corolla is being tested now, and that the IIHS will release its small overlap frontal crash test results in a few weeks.

Toyota wants improved crash scores with midcycle facelifts originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 29 Aug 2013 11:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Lincoln ‘not true luxury’ yet, says Ford design chief

Filed under: Marketing/Advertising, Lincoln, Design/Style, Luxury

2013 Lincoln MKZ front three-quarters

Lincoln is “not true luxury,” according to Ford’s design boss, J Mays. His statements come from a story in The Detroit News that saw candid language on the issues facing Ford’s troubled premium brand. Notably, there’s a need for a strong character, with Mays saying, “Every brand needs to have a DNA and a unique selling point and things in the vehicle that make you think, ‘That’s that particular brand.'”

With a range of rebadged Fords, it’s not hard to see why that DNA is missing. Mays hinted that a full recovery for Lincoln will be a ten-year process, that’s been kicked off with the MKZ sedan. While that car is still largely a Ford Fusion under its extremely pretty wrapper, it’s the first Lincoln in some time to inject its own unique take both through the exterior styling and through interior features, such as the vertical, pushbutton gear selection.

Some analysts weren’t so certain about Mays’ 10-year estimate. Jim Hall of 2953 Analytics thinks it’ll be more like 30 years before Lincoln can show a true return to form. The issue, as Hall explains it, is that, “luxury has a degree of exclusivity,” that Lincoln just doesn’t have. Michelle Krebs from Edmunds adds, “it’s definitely a wanna-be luxury brand,” comparing the troubled American brand with Infiniti and Acura, two other brands that have struggled to find their place in the luxury market.

From the language Mays is using, though, it seems that Ford is still rather committed to Lincoln. The MKZ, while plagued by production issues, has been a steady seller, although not enough to prevent an overall drop in 2013 sales for the brand. The eventual arrival of the Ford Escape-based MKC could be a boon to the brand, provided its as unique as the MKZ. Lincoln is also preparing to go on sale in China, a market that has traditionally loved brands unloved by Americans (see Buick), so while Ford’s luxury brand might be down, it’s probably nowhere close to out.

Lincoln ‘not true luxury’ yet, says Ford design chief originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Aug 2013 18:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Hyundai, Kia and U of M studying ‘highway hypnosis’

Filed under: Safety, Hyundai, Kia

Female car driver is yawning

Next up on the hot-button list of things that can kill you behind the wheel: “highway hypnosis.” That’s the zombie-like, autopilot phase you get into on a long highway drive when there isn’t much to distract you, like curves or traffic. Digging further into what it is and how to combat it, Hyundai-Kia engineers and the University of Michigan are commencing a study that will measure brainwave activity in order to track the body’s slide into highway hypnosis.

We’re not sure how much overlap this has with Mercedes-Benz’s Attention Assist, which tracks more than 70 in-car parameters to determine when you’re not focused on the road anymore. That system is billed as an alarm against fatigue, in our experience it does more than that – if you use your phone while driving, for instance, it will chirp.

They don’t know what form a warning system will take yet, but Hyundai-Kia plans to develop a method for warning drivers when they being to zone out. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were more than three thousand deaths and nearly 400,000 injuries due to distracted driving in 2011.

Hyundai, Kia and U of M studying ‘highway hypnosis’ originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Aug 2013 18:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Nissan won’t downsize the next Armada

Filed under: SUV, Nissan

2008 Nissan Armada

The Nissan Armada is aptly named, because in relative automotive terms, it’s not just the size of a ship – it’s the size of a whole fleet. And that, according to reports, isn’t about to change.

While many of the larger SUVs on the market are gradually being phased out or replaced by smaller crossovers, Nissan apparently plans on keeping the Armada right where it is. And that means a large, truck-based, eight-passenger colossus, because there are buyers out there who expect no less and Nissan isn’t about to lose them to the likes of the Toyota Sequoia, Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator, or a General Motors lineup that includes the Chevy Suburban and Tahoe, GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade.

That doesn’t mean that the next Armada – which Edmunds expects will arrive in 2015 or 2016 – will be immune to constricting environmental regulations, so Nissan will have to get creative. A vehicle the size of the Armada has all the aerodynamic efficiency of the side of a barn, but Nissan is reportedly aiming to streamline that in order to boost efficiency, for starters.

Other measures under consideration include lighter-weight construction and more transmission speeds, but for our part we wouldn’t be surprised to see a hybrid version. One thing we’re told not to expect, however, is the Cummins diesel being developed for the next Titan, on which the next Armada will be based.

Nissan won’t downsize the next Armada originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Aug 2013 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Next Lincoln MKS to get 2.9L EcoBoost, nine-speed transmission?

Filed under: Sedan, Lincoln, Rumormill, Luxury

2013 Lincoln MKS EcoBoost

Lincoln is in serious need of some relevant products, and it looks like help is on the way. In addition to the MKC crossover, which we are almost certain to see in production form this auto show season, Ford’s luxury arm is also working on the next-gen MKS sedan to go on sale in 2015 for the 2016 model year.

According to Car and Driver, the 2016 Lincoln MKS will go on sale in late 2015, and it will receive notable powertrain enhancements like a nine-speed automatic transmission (a product of the joint venture between Ford and General Motors) and a new 2.9-liter EcoBoost V6 to replace the current base engine, the 3.7-liter V6. Not much is known about this new engine other than it is codenamed “Nano” and it could put out around 300 horsepower; the optional 3.5-liter EcoBoost is said to be receiving a bump in power, too. When it comes to styling, we expect a major departure from the current MKS (shown above), and the Car and Driver article has some renderings of the 2016 MKS along with some recent spy shots of MKS test mules.

Next Lincoln MKS to get 2.9L EcoBoost, nine-speed transmission? originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Aug 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Google self-driving cars should have data recorders, says US official

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety, Technology

Driverless Cars from Google

Fears over domestic spying operations and privacy concerns have been splattered across the headlines with alarming frequency, and now it appears that even the auto industry isn’t immune. According to a report from The Huffington Post, the chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, Deborah Hersman, has argued that black boxes should be mandatory in self-driving cars, like those that Google and Nissan have been working on.

“Data capture is going to help you understand if there is a vehicle problem, or if it’s a human factors issue,” Hersman told the Post. The fear behind black boxing cars, though, has always been one of individual privacy being compromised. That isn’t likely to change regardless of whether a car is controlled by man or machine, as evidenced by an Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers survey, which claimed that nearly three-quarters of participants were worried about driverless cars recording personal information. Adding to that, 70 percent of respondents feared their info being accessed by the government, according to the HuffPo report.

Those arguments aren’t enough for Hersman, though. “When you have a driverless car, you have to demonstrate on the front end that you have the data that shows it’s safe. But we would also say, you need to make sure you have good data recording capabilities, so when there is an event, you can understand what happened.”

Google self-driving cars should have data recorders, says US official originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Aug 2013 13:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Nissan applies for ‘R-Hybrid’ trademark, but what is it for?

Filed under: Coupe, Hybrid, Performance, Nissan, Design/Style, Racing

Patent and trademark filings are sort of like tasseography for those of us in the auto industry. If you know where and how to look at something, there’s a lot to be figured out. Take this trademark filing from Nissan – it’s similar to the Pure Drive badge found on a Versa or Sentra, but the bottom half sports the phrase “R-Hybrid.” This wouldn’t be remarkable if the “R” in R-Hybrid weren’t the same style as the “R” in the Nissan GT-R’s badge, right down to the serifs.

While it’s easy to see this as grasping at straws, it makes a fair degree of sense. The R35 GT-R may be a dominant performance machine, but it’s been around since 2008, which is donkey years in the automotive industry. And based on the recent crop of hybridized hypercars and racecars, a hybrid GT-R doesn’t seem like such a stretch.

As Car And Driver points out, figuring out that the GT-R will go hybrid isn’t hard – figuring out when it will arrive, is. The buff book rightly points out that a new GT-R isn’t expected until 2017, but that designing and trademarking a badge four years ahead of time is a bit odd. Car and Driver speculates that we could see a mildly hybridized R35, although the chances do seem remarkably low. Head over to C/D for a more thorough rundown on why this just might be a GT-R badge, including comparisons with other R-badged Nissans.

Nissan applies for ‘R-Hybrid’ trademark, but what is it for? originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Aug 2013 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Chevy Colorado, GMC Canyon midsize pickup trucks to get diesel engines

Filed under: Truck, Chevrolet, GM, GMC, Diesel

Chevy Colorado, GMC Canyon teaser

The market for midsize pickup trucks has all but been abandoned in the US, but General Motors is about to shake the market up with the all-new (to the US) Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon. Launching next year, GM already told us that its new trucks would be a “fuel-efficient alternative” to fullsize trucks, and aside from the smaller size, Automotive News says that these trucks will accomplish this with a diesel engine.

According to the AN report, the next-gen Colorado and Canyon will offer a small, four-cylinder Duramax turbo diesel with a displacement of either 2.5 or 2.8 liters – both engines are currently used in this truck for other markets. This would allow GM to join the Cummins-powered Nissan Titan and Ram 1500 EcoDiesel as the only non-HD trucks in the US to offer diesel. The article goes on to say that the diesel versions of the Colorado and Canyon would launch about a year after the trucks go into production in fall of 2014.

Chevy Colorado, GMC Canyon midsize pickup trucks to get diesel engines originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 27 Aug 2013 18:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Toyota RAV4 EV lease gets cut in half to $299/month

Filed under: Car Buying, Crossover, Toyota, Electric

2013 Toyota RAV4 EV

If you’re in the market for a new electric vehicle, now is definitely the time to buy or lease. Following price drops on just about every other EV on the market, Toyota is looking to push a few more all-electric RAV4 crossovers out the door over the Labor Day weekend. The Detroit News is reporting that, through September 3, anyone looking to get into a RAV4 EV in Los Angeles or San Francisco, can get a deal: a $299 a month lease (no word on down payment, though) or zero-percent financing for 60 months for buyers.

The $49,800 RAV4 EV normally leases for twice as much – $599 a month – so this move could be an attempt to sell more of the 2,600 units Toyota has planned to produce. Or maybe, if you thought $599 was a fair price, you can now get two RAV4 Evs. Although temporary, the price drop comes at a time when many other EVs on the market have had their prices reduced, including the Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt, Smart Fortwo ED and Honda Fit EV, not to mention already low prices for the Fiat 500e and Chevy Spark EV.

*Note: 2012 RAV4 EV pictured here

Toyota RAV4 EV lease gets cut in half to $299/month originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 27 Aug 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Quartet of classic Chevys stolen during Monterey week

Filed under: Classics, Auctions, Government/Legal, Chevrolet

stolen 1961 Chevrolet Impala SS 409

The weeklong festivities that take place in Monterey, CA for the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance draw in some of the finest cars from around the world. Unfortunately, these events also seem to be drawing in some opportunistic lowlifes looking to score to some high-dollar hardware the easy way. In this case, four classic Chevy cars were stolen over the weekend of August 17th.

According to Hemmings, an extremely rare ’61 Impala SS 409, a ’61 Impala resto-mod and a one-owner, unrestored ’57 Bel Air all went missing after failing to sell at various auctions. The article states that the Impala SS 409 – worth an estimated $220,000 – disappeared from the Russo and Steele auction, while the other two cars vanished from the Mecum auction. In addition to these thefts, Jalopnik is reporting that a customized 1962 Corvette was also stolen around the same time only instead of being stolen from an auction, this classic ‘Vette was snatched up as the owner was enjoying dinner. Hemmings points out that the cars were most likely targeted to be stripped for parts, but check out both reports and keep an eye out for these beautiful rides.

Quartet of classic Chevys stolen during Monterey week originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 27 Aug 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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