As expected pictures of the New Dodge challenger is popping up all over the web, the car looks great and Chrysler designers have done a great job of integrating all the retro touches into a new car.
The car is thoroughly modern and should hit a nice niche of people who where either to young to afford one, or someone who just likes the retro throw back styling.
This is really a great time to be a car nut and especially a muscle car fan, it's amazing how classic styling never really gets old.As Ford continues to struggle and rebuild its brand and image in the eyes of the public, the company continues to reorganize internally and seems to be making progress towards its goal of becoming profitable.
The latest bit of news comes from Derrick Kuzak Ford’s group vice president of global product development,Ford will update its vehicles with major face-lifts, technical improvements and other changes in three-year cycles, Kuzak said. The changes will be ones that customers notice, he said. They will be aimed at keeping vehicles fresh and drawing consumers into Ford and Lincoln Mercury showrooms.
By 2009, the average age of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles will be reduced 35 percent, bringing the average age of the automaker’s vehicles in line with the best in the industry.
This is good news, it can be argued that long product life cycles was one of the contributing factors in Fords market decline and financial problems.
While Toyota and Honda have closely followed four year product cycles to stay competitive and give it's dealer body fresh product to sell, Ford has generally followed a product refresh rate of up to or over 5 years in many of its models.
This has Ford and their dealer body at a disadvantage, it becomes increasingly difficult to sell against updated competition which in some cases would be a generation ahead of some Ford products, this leads to a vicious cycle of price reductions in the hopes that customers will buy the car based on price and not the Value of the vehicle.
The clock is ticking for Ford, and while it seems that GM will be the first of the three domestic makers to return to health,things are moving quickly within the company and it seems determined to return to health.
Minivans are practical and the Logical thing to have when one has a family, but the last thing that could ever be said is that a minivan is exciting until now.
Dodge had this beast on parade at this years North American auto Show, and reaction to it was favorable.
While this presently is a design exercise , it's not too far a reach or based on any type of one off platform that would be too hard to put into production.
This could be a first in the segment and may not be much of a surprise considering that Chrysler was the one to start the whole Minivan craze to begin with.
In what has to be one of the shortest product cycles in Ford history, CEO Allan Mulally revealed that Ford was in the process of redesigning the Taurus and would introduce the car in 2009 as a 2010 model.
"It's what we should have had originally," Mulally said of the redesigned Taurus during a speech at the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit. "It's just fabulous."
This is stunning to say the least, when one considers that the 500 and Taurus launched only three years ago and with the reintroduction of the Taurus name last year and numerous changes to the car that where introduced with the changes.
This is a very short product cycle in Detroit terms, the original Taurus was around in its last form for more years than it should have been, and guaranteed that the Japanese would cement their lead in the family car wars.
Refreshing though expensive news, with the present Taurus receiving a lukewarm reception and with Chevy and Honda introducing exceptionally well done products this year, a new Taurus couldn't come soon enough.
Well at least in the future according to Vehicle line executive Tom Wallace who sees the next Gen Corvette as smaller and greener or more eco friendly.
"I don't think we're going to design a 700-hp Corvette," Tom Wallace, vehicle line executive for the Corvette, said at the Detroit auto show. "What's going to be more important is fuel economy, carbon footprint and green. We have already paid a lot of attention to those areas. Where we can pay more attention is pounds per horsepower."
Ok that's a great way to get out of giving any information to the hungry Corvette enthusiast, but really how many Corvettes are really out there polluting the planet, the car is already very emissions friendly and doesn't even qualify for a gas guzzler tax.
Just keep the course and focus on a lighter more space and weight efficient car and keep chipping away at the weight of the truck and sedan market, that should go a long way towards helping the environment.
File this under it will never make it to market,it seems that designers at Acura can't come to an agreement as to what the final styling of the for ever under development next Gen NSX, according to an executive at the company.
"All of the designers are working together on the NSX, but they can't agree on the styling," Dick Colliver, executive vice president of American Honda Motor Co., said at the Detroit auto show.
Considering that the last NSX came to market over ten years ago and even company founder Soichiro Honda was still alive to actually drive it should say a lot about how long Honda has had to come out with a new version of the car.
No doubt Honda will find the motivation when Toyota introduces their high end car, until then I would encourage Honda to find a way to come to a decision and bring the car to market.
How about just flipping a coin?In what must be considered a moment of clarity for someone at the recently privatized Chrysler corporation....
The Jeep Compass and Patriot, widely criticized for their interiors, will get new ones this fall, according to Ralph Gilles, Chrysler LLC designer.
The interior redesign comes well ahead of what would be the normal schedule, he said at the Detroit auto show. The Dodge Caliber car, built on the same platform as its Jeep siblings, will get a new interior slightly later than the Jeeps, Gilles said.
Why do these moments come after the interior has been approved for production and the vehicles are out in the wild? wouldn't it have struck someone as obvious that the interiors are not up to par and have to be upgraded?
It's wonderful that the New Chrysler corporation can move so quickly to change what seems to have been a repetitive mistake thats plagued
the domestic auto industry for years, lets just start catching these mistakes before they get into the hands of the buyer.
Autoweek
In what has to be another sign that Chevy and GM are making all the right decisions lately,the Malibu was named the north American car of the year by a panel of distinguished automotive journalists.
Considering the depth of talent in the field every year, this is quite a accomplishment and should be taken as such.
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