Does Hyundai have the man-power and reputation to really compete with European luxury models like Mercedes-Benz, Audi, or BMW? It seems like The Genesis may have had an early growth spurt with success because of its lower price points for the luxury class.  But, ultimately, what will this do for the Hyundai brand?  It seems like a lot of consumers have recently just decided to give Hyundai “a try” because of their economic climate and their curiosity about the brand.  It should be interesting to see if The Genesis will break the ice for the company and help it fit into a category that includes some of the bigger players of the game while delivering quality parts.

However, Chrysler has now announced that it will no longer be making PT Cruisers as the model hit a significant bump in the road following its immediate popularity.  This past year’s PT Cruiser sales were a slim 12% of the PT’s first year sales.  The US certainly had a love-hate relationship with the PT Cruiser.  Many thought of the PT Cruiser as a cool, retro-style vehicle that was offered at an unbeatable price.  On the other hand, a handful of consumers also looked at the vehicle as the red-headed stepchild of the industry.  Chrysler’s move to stop the production of the PT Cruiser seems like a smart plan.  While some think that the model would have done well if it were remodeled with new features, others certainly agree that getting rid of the PT Cruiser is going to save Chrysler’s image.

Despite being half of the price of other Hybrid vehicles in such a price-sensitive economy, the Smart car has truly had a rough time to making its mark in the United States.  Sales for this vehicle are significantly down and the car seems to struggle socially with other cars that offer similar fuel-efficient car parts.  The Smart car has been looked at as more of a nerdy go-kart than a “trend-setter” in the US.  Although the size of the vehicle is a strong selling point for the company, the Smart car is still non-existent in the US locations that value smaller vehicles for their storage size.

Will the US market ever catch on and accept the buzz on the Smart car?  The company’s business strategy is optimistic as they continue to offer accessories for the vehicle including the new “Smart expressions” program which allows smart car owner’s to customize the design on their car’s side panels.   Only time will tell if the car has any potential in such a vigorous auto market.

Ford is an “American-made” brand that has been followed throughout its entire lifetime despite price changes or competitor innovation.  Ford’s loyal customers have an established “cult-following.”  Just as Ford has its followers but many consumers have stayed far away from Ford.  Many believe other car brands provide better features and higher quality auto parts resulting in superior efficiency, price, and luxury. 

However, Ford has recently revamped their business strategy and product lines. Ford’s changes have started to appeal to consumers beyond their traditional “cult-following.”  If you compare the 2007 and 2010 Ford Taurus it becomes quite obvious that GM is making the ultimate stride to gain new feature-focused consumers.  Ford’s 2007 Taurus is one of the least attractive cars known to man and had minimal features available to those who were blind enough to make the purchase.  On contrary, the 2011 Ford Taurus is mind-blowing with available features such as backseat LCD Screens, turbo, etc. which are  beyond what a typical sedan would offer.  Ford has also implemented this same pattern of innovation with most of their other sedans.   It is amazing to see how such a transformation can be made to Ford models in such a short period of time.  I feel like these models should almost be renamed as they resemble nothing of the old models.  Ford has also implemented the same pattern of innovation across all vehicle segments.

It is clear that Ford is truly expanding its horizons and making a 100% commitment to acquire a new breed of consumers beyond their patriotic followers.  The sky is the limit for Ford as it continues to make new moves with its brand and looks to establish a strong relationship with feature-focused consumers.  It should be interesting to see how such a stride will affect their future market share and sales potential.

But, more importantly, what does the future for Tesla Motors hold?  The buzz has officially begun and the company is now being publicly traded.  However, a great portion of investors do have doubts about the company’s potential because it is already hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.  Furthermore, speculations have been made about the battery’s credibility and the vehicle’s internal structure.

Yes, going “green” seems to be trend recently.  But is the political pressure of going “green” really strong enough to influence consumers to spend over 100k on a vehicle in such a weak economy?  We shall see.  Tesla looks forward to releasing vehicles at lower price points in the near future, which should help their sales and influence other competitors to add value to their brand through “green” car features.

- Heard of twin turbos? The Bugatti has Four turbochargers.  It has 16 cylinders – twice the size of your obnoxious neighbor’s Corvette.

-1000 HP and almost a 1000 lb. foot of torque.
Story Time – Mercedes’ SL65 (twin turbo v12) originally had 900 lbs of torque.  Result? the transmission ripped out from underneath the car during beta testing on tracks in pre production models.  YAHTZEE!

-Concerned with MPG? Probably not but here it is anyway – 8MPG city, 13 MPG highway.

-Rims alone cost over 7 Civics.

Enough of the basics, here are some truly frightening statistics.

-A respectable amount of braking force is .5 G.  Actually, that is only true if you drive a Nissan Z with upgraded NISMO brakes.  For ‘average cars’ a la Accord/Corolla/Prius, the number is lower (closer to .3 G).  The Beast’s wing ALONE applies .7 G of braking force within .4 seconds of applying the brakes.  Remember, this does not include the braking force provided by its giant brakes, just aerodynamic braking provided by the wing/spoiler.

-Speaking of brakes, the front rotors are over 16 inches in diameter.  The average rims on cars are the size of the Beast’s brakes.

-Perhaps the most popular statistic is the top speed clicked at approximately 250 MPH.  Here is a lesser known fact; at top speed, the Beast breathes 47k liters of air every 60 ticks.  You breathe around 11k liters a day.  It would take you almost an entire work week to breathe the same amount of air as the Beast does IN A MINUTE.

-At top speed, the Beast drinks 1.4 gallons of 93 octane juice PER MINUTE.  That comes out to 3 MPG.  OPEC rejoice!

-If you don’t know what a radiator is, it is a heat exchanger.  And the beast has 10 of ‘em.  The engine alone requires 4 radiators, four times that of the everyday Corolla.

-A set of Bugatti Tires alone cost 1 Civic.

-There is a whole PROCESS behind replacing the Beast’s tires.  The process is priced at over 4.10 Civics.  They actually have to ship them to France, the only location in the world where the tires can be taken off the rim.  A set of tires will cost you a Civic.

-At top speed, you will go through the expensive tires in under 15 minutes.  The gas tank will go from completely full to empty a skoch over 10 minutes.

-If you were to lift your foot off the accelerator at top speed (without touching the brakes), you will experience .7 G of braking force.  Compare that to earlier stated braking force of everyday cars around .3 G.

-What if you got a bit overzealous and blew out the transmission (and lived to tell about it), replacement cost is 7 Civics.

Hypothetical Situation- Lets say you hit top speed and wouldn’t/couldn’t stop.  In fact, you fried the tires, banged the rims and killed the transmission before coming to a halt.  The total cost of such a fiasco including the cost of the car – 120 Civics.

The Porsche Carrera GT Hybrid, err, I mean the Porsche 918 Spyder Plug In Hybrid Concept!

Mid mounted symphonic V8? Check.  500 ponies? Check.  9200 redline? Check.  What you might not know is nearly half of the stable is available on tap by two electric motors.   In fact, the car can run exclusively on the 218 electrocuted horses for 16 miles.

The additional hybrid equipment includes a lithium ion battery pack under the passenger’s toosh and two electric motors supplying the 218 horses, one on the front and another the rear axle.  With all the additional hardware, the car still weighs in at under 3300 lbs.  Oh and it lapped the Nurburging quicker than the Carrera GT.  And did I mention Porsche claims 78 Miles per gallon at the pump?

Mind = Blown

Before the complete upgrade was achieved, there was definitely a beta stage.  It was not perfect but it jump started the evolution of the station wagon into the “five door sportback.”  Case in point, the Dodge Magnum.  How do you make something as asexual as a station wagon into a rock star? Simple, just add a Hemi.  It wasn’t perfect.  It had a fairly bland design – an appendage on big wheels, really.  However, it had a huge V8 powering the rear wheels.  It did enough things right to make the grocery store trip with the wife and kids fun.  And by fun I mean the Hemi drowning all sounds of the passengers yapping.  Little victories..

Exhibit B – the Subaru WRX introduced in 2007.  AWD? Check.  Turbo? Check.  5 door? Check.  In fact, Subaru is so confident in their 5 door sportback, they offer the top of the line STi ONLY in a 5 door sportback.  I don’t blame them, the regular Subaru WRX 5 door sportback’s sales number simply Chris Brown-ed the sedan.  Oh and guess which car company was among only TWO who gained market share during the recession?

There is also the Mazda 3 and the Infiniti EX.  Both are fine examples of Japanese car makers taking the sportback concept seriously.  Infiniti was particularly sneaky.  The EX is simply a modern station wagon version of the G35 Sedan.  But Infiniti totally sidestepped that relationship.  Instead, they introduced it as a separate model with design akin to the sexy FX (ya, I said it).

There were some failures along the way to SW 2.0.  POP QUIZ – what would you get if Gary Busey had a child with Rosie O’Donnell and that child mated with Kelly from The Office? A BMW X6.  I don’t care if it’s fast, the thing is hideous – German Pontiac Aztek anyone?

After all the trial and error, we have finally reached SW 2.0 with Porsche’s Panamera.  The previous attempts did a great job of making the station wagon fun to drive.  The Magnum, WRX, EX, and even the BMW Aztek transformed the traditional, boring station wagon into a  genuinely fun to drive sportback.  The only thing missing were aesthetics.  Enter Porsche.  Anyone remember the last time Porsche broke tradition and entered a new segment?  The result was the Porsche Cayenne SUV which is currently the best selling Porsche model, 5 years running.  I expect nothing less of the Panamera.  Hopefully this time, the station wagon trend stays.

It is easy to forget how far car navigation has come.  10 years ago, car navigation simply entailed a series of maps uploaded onto a CD or a DVD.  GPS would find the car’s location and triangulate it to the map on the screen.  Voila.  Today, everyone with a smart phone has Google Maps and/or Mapquest.  You could argue these applications aren’t as responsive.  Fair enough, grab a TomTom and Garmin, problem solved, right? Not exactly.

Car makers are smart.  They know the navigation package has the highest mark up.  They have been charging inflated prices upwards of $5000 for the “technology package” for ages.  The selling point is convenience and the pretentious right to say  “I got a BMW with Nav! Top of the Line!” as opposed to “I got a BMW.”

Luxury car makers are successfully distancing themselves from TomSquared and company.  Mercedes Benz now offers a Navigation system with a 6 disc DVD player.  The Lexus navigation system will not only give you active traffic updates but also update you on how your stocks and Lakers are doing.  Audi’s navigation system takes it one step further and adds a TV tuner.  Great, now you can connect to your phone via bluetooth and vote for your favorite American Idol all while zooming up the on ramp.

Like Ophelia, no one out-crazy’s BMW.  On board the BMW navigation system is an 80 gig hard drive.  With the hard drive comes a CD/DVD reader and a USB port so you can not only upload songs, but movies, files, documents and family photographs as well.

How do you make something good better? Just add Google.  Yes, BMW navigation system will integrate with Google.  You can “tell the car” where you will be traveling while enjoying the morning coffee on your desktop.  When you jump in the car, the navigation is already there.  Gmail fan? Great, now all your contacts can be uploaded into the BMW Navigation system – this means the physical address will be marked on the map along with names and numbers.  Scroll to John, click the home/office address, and you have directions.  Simple.  Want to text him instead? BMW now has Google voice recognition built in, say it and it shall be texted.  Voice enabled Google search is there too.  Somewhere KITT is rolling in its grave..

Would I pass over Garmin and pay $5000 for a car navigation system? If that’s what it takes to say, “I got a BMW with Google! Top of the Line!”

My second confession – I hate paying for gas which is why I started considering hybrids, both Toyota and Honda versions. With 45 MPG, I could drive from San Diego to San Francisco on one tank of gas. Then I did the math and turns out, this reasoning doesn’t work. And be honest, did you start “going green” around the time gas hit $4 a gallon? I did. Turns out if I were to buy a Civic over the Insight Hybrid or a Corolla over the Prius, it would take me 5 years to make up the price premium in gas money.

Alas, I wish I didn’t do the math. As much as I like to go green, I’d rather save the $6000, recycle some cans, wear an organic hemp tee shirt on my drive up to San Francisco and perhaps part take in a drum circle. GO GREEN!

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